Elevator Car Door Locking Mechanism Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator car door lock systems fail to prevent opening outside of a floor level, leading to non-compliance with elevator standards and requiring high precision and costly manufacturing, resulting in noise issues during operation.
Innovation Solution
A car door lock system with a displaceable driver element that interacts with a counter-element to control the car door bolt position, ensuring the lock is directly coupled to the driver element, allowing for a simple, cost-effective, and low-noise mechanism that blocks or allows opening based on the driver element's position relative to the counter-element.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a simple and inexpensive car door lock is used, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but the lock cannot prevent opening outside of floor level
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a feeler skid as an intermediary element that mediates between the driver skid and the car door latch. The feeler skid detects the presence of counter-elements on shaft door leaves and transmits this information to control the latch, enabling reliable floor-level detection without complex mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical locking mechanisms with a simpler system based on linearly displaceable feeler and driver skids that interact through controlled contact. This mechanical substitution reduces complexity while maintaining reliability through the inherent mechanical interaction between skids and counter-elements
2Reliability
If high precision manufacturing is used to ensure proper lock function, then door locking reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the door locking function into separate, simple components: driver skid for coupling movement, feeler skid for detection, and latch for locking. Each component has a single, well-defined function with simple geometry, eliminating the need for high-precision complex mechanisms while maintaining overall system reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses simple, inexpensive skid elements with basic geometries that can be manufactured at low cost. These components are designed to be robust and functional rather than precision-critical, reducing manufacturing requirements while achieving the desired reliability through their interaction design
3Reliability
If complex coupling mechanisms are used to prevent opening outside floor level, then door locking reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the detection function from the main coupling mechanism by introducing a separate feeler skid that operates independently. This separation allows the coupling mechanism to remain simple while the feeler skid handles the complex detection and control function, reducing overall system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses dynamically interacting linearly displaceable skids instead of fixed complex mechanisms. The driver and feeler skids move linearly and interact with counter-elements through controlled contact, creating a dynamic system that adapts to positioning variations without requiring complex adjustment mechanisms
4Productivity
If high speed door operation is implemented, then productivity is improved, but noise increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical linkages with linearly displaceable skids that slide along guided paths. This substitution reduces mechanical impact and friction noise while maintaining fast operation, as the linear sliding motion is inherently quieter than rotational joints and linkages
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~3A
AI summary
Disclosed is an elevator comprising an elevator car that has a horizontally movable car door leaf (2), further comprising a horizontally movable shaft door leaf, a car door locking mechanism (40) encompassing a car door bolt (45) and a bolt stop (47), and a coupling device (20) that is connected to the car door leaf in order to transmit an opening movement or a closing movement from the car door leaf to the shaft door leaf. The coupling device (20) has at least one movable entraining element (21) which is brought in contact with an opposite element (30) located on the shaft door leaf. A locking action of the car door locking mechanism depends on the cooperation of the coupling device with the opposite element. In each situation, the position of the car door bolt relative to the bolt stop exclusively depends on the position of the entraining element.