Elevator Call Assignment Indications for Multiple Elevators
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator systems with multiple cars in a single hoistway fail to adequately inform passengers which car to enter to reach their registered destination, leading to inefficient service during peak and off-peak times.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an elevator system that uses unique color or letter designations on signage adjacent to hoistways, matching corresponding indicators on a call entry panel display, to easily identify the assigned elevator car for a passenger's destination, while ensuring only assigned cars are announced upon arrival.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple elevator cars operate in a single hoistway, then elevator capacity and service coverage are improved, but passenger identification of the correct car to enter deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies color coding to hoistway signs and car indicators to enable passengers to easily identify their assigned car. Each hoistway is assigned a unique color that matches the color displayed on the car call assignment indicator, allowing passengers to visually match and locate their designated car among multiple cars in the same hoistway.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary color-matching system between the call assignment mechanism and the physical cars. The color serves as a mediator that connects the abstract car assignment information to the physical identification of the correct car, bridging the gap between system control and passenger understanding.
2Loss of information
If signage indicates next stop of arriving car, then passenger information is provided, but service adequacy to waiting passengers deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent provides car assignment information to passengers in advance, before the car arrives. By displaying the assigned car identifier on the call entry panel and matching it with hoistway signage, passengers can prepare and locate their assigned car ahead of time, rather than receiving information only when the car is already at the floor.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback system where the displayed car identifier on the call entry panel is matched with visual indicators on the hoistway signage. This creates a closed-loop information system that confirms to passengers which car serves their destination, enabling them to make informed decisions about which car to enter.
3Loss of information
If all cars are announced as they approach floors, then passenger awareness is improved, but service efficiency during peak times deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and highlights only the relevant car assignment information for each passenger, separating it from general car arrival announcements. By focusing attention on the specifically assigned car through color-matched signage and indicators, the system filters out unnecessary information about other cars, reducing passenger confusion during high-traffic periods.
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of hoistways (11, 12) in a building serving a plurality of floors utilizes destination call entry panels (22, 22A) having buttons (23) with which passengers can enter destination call requests. A display (26, 26a) adjacent the request buttons provides an indication of the car that is assigned to answer the passenger's request by a controller (27), which indication is also presented on illuminatable signs (16-19, 40, 41), utilizing either colors, letters or other easily identifiable and rememberable indications. As the car assigned to the call approaches the landing upon which the call was made, an illuminatable sign, adjacent the hoistway of the assigned car, will present the same color or indicia as was presented to the passenger upon entering the passenger's desired destination; the controller does not announce approaching cars that are not assigned a call at that landing.