Elevator Brake Release Unit With Eccentric Roller Rail Engagement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator brake devices triggered by a speed limiter rope face issues with contamination, noise generation, and reliability due to direct contact with the guide rail during activation, especially when activated prophylactically to prevent unintended car movement (UCM), leading to potential malfunctions and noise.
Innovation Solution
A release unit with a clamping roller and an eccentric roller design, where the eccentric roller contacts the guide rail first, protecting the clamping roller from direct contact and using a roller carriage guide for precise guidance, ensuring the clamping roller rolls smoothly onto the guide rail only when necessary, thus avoiding contamination and noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the clamping roller directly contacts the guide rail during activation, then the brake device can be reliably activated, but the clamping roller becomes contaminated and generates noise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an eccentric roller as an intermediary element between the clamping roller and the guide rail. The eccentric roller contacts the guide rail first during activation, allowing the clamping roller to approach the guide rail without direct contact. This mediator transfers the activation force while protecting the clamping roller from contamination and noise-generating direct contact with the guide rail.
Solution Approach 2:
The eccentric roller performs a preliminary contact with the guide rail before the clamping roller makes contact. This preliminary action initiates the activation sequence, allowing the clamping roller to be positioned close to the guide rail without actually contacting it, thereby preventing contamination and noise while maintaining activation reliability.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the clamping roller is held away from the guide rail during stops, then noise and contamination are reduced, but the brake activation response time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The eccentric roller is positioned to make preliminary contact with the guide rail before the clamping roller needs to engage. This preliminary action is already in place during stops, so when activation is required, the clamping roller can quickly follow without waiting for positioning, thus reducing response time while maintaining the benefit of being held away from the guide rail during normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The eccentric roller acts as a mediator that can be quickly engaged with the guide rail to initiate activation. Since it is already positioned near the guide rail during stops, it can immediately transfer force to activate the brake, reducing the time delay that would otherwise occur if the clamping roller had to travel the full distance from its retracted position.
3Ease of manufacture
If the release unit is designed as a separate assembly, then installation flexibility and maintenance ease are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The release unit is segmented into distinct functional components: the clamping roller assembly, the eccentric roller assembly, the coupling element, and the guide rail interface. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured, installed, and maintained independently, improving installation flexibility and ease of maintenance while the modular design actually reduces overall system complexity compared to an integrated design.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enhances the reliability and reduces noise by preventing direct contact between the clamping roller and guide rail, maintaining the brake device's functionality and reducing wear, while allowing for precise and reliable activation of the brake mechanism.
Implementation Method 1
it only releases the further positioning of the clamping roller against the guide rail by rolling on the guide rail
Implementation Method 2
the clamping roller is clamped between the release clamping surface and the elevator rail and rolls between the release clamping surface and the elevator rail
Data Source
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AI summary
A release unit for actuating an elevator brake device, comprising a release base body mountable on the elevator car, a release mechanism, and a coupling element via which the release unit can be connected to an elevator brake device, wherein the release unit is preferably designed as a completely separate assembly from said elevator brake device, which, in its intended mounted state, is connected to the elevator brake device exclusively via the coupling element, wherein the release unit comprises a release clamping surface actuated by a release mechanism, which, after release, moves together with a clamping roller transversely to the direction of elevator travel in the direction of its associated elevator guide rail until the clamping roller is clamped between the release clamping surface and the elevator rail and rolls between the release clamping surface and the elevator rail, characterized in thatthat the clamping roller is guided by a roller carriage guide in a direction parallel to the directions of travel, which consists of a guide rod on which a guide carriage movable along it is mounted, which in turn holds the axis of rotation of the clamping roller by means of a transverse guide, along which the axis of rotation of the clamping roller and with it the clamping roller can be moved towards or away from the guide rail.