Elevator Car Door Arrangement with Mechanical Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator car door arrangements are complex and expensive to manufacture and maintain, failing to meet safety standards for door operation within defined unlocking zones and manual opening requirements.
Innovation Solution
A car door arrangement with a pivotable joint part, entrainment blades, stop elements, and a restoring element that ensures safe and durable operation by limiting door opening paths and allowing manual opening within specified forces, using a drive device that adjusts force levels and engages catch elements to prevent unauthorized opening.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a complex design with many moving parts is used to comply with safety standards, then door operation safety within unlocking zones is improved, but manufacturing cost and maintenance complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the car door and shaft door into a single coupled opening/closing mechanism. The car door is connected to the shaft door such that they move together as one unit, eliminating the need for separate control mechanisms and reducing the total number of moving parts while maintaining safety requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft door serves multiple functions: it acts as both a protective barrier for the shaft and as a coupled door that opens simultaneously with the car door. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate mechanisms, simplifying the overall system while ensuring safe operation within unlocking zones.
2Reliability
If a mechanical locking mechanism is used to prevent unauthorized opening, then security is improved, but manual opening capability within 300 N force requirement becomes difficult to achieve
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is designed to be dynamic rather than static. The shaft door and car door are coupled to move together, allowing the mechanical lock to engage and disengage automatically based on the door position and opening force applied, thereby maintaining security while enabling easy manual opening when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical locking mechanism is pre-configured to engage automatically when the doors are closed, providing security without requiring additional active components. The coupling between car door and shaft door ensures that the lock engages in advance, preventing unauthorized opening while still allowing manual operation within the specified force limit.
3Reliability
If the drive device is made robust to prevent failure, then reliability is improved, but cost and complexity of the drive mechanism increase
Solution Approach 1:
The drive mechanism is designed to couple the car door and shaft door movements together, so that a single drive mechanism controls both doors simultaneously. This merging of functions reduces the number of separate drive components needed, lowering complexity and cost while maintaining reliable operation through the 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 provides a simple, cost-effective, and safe car door arrangement that meets EN 81-20:2014 standards by allowing controlled opening and closing within unlocking zones and enabling manual operation with forces between 50 N and 300 N, while preventing unauthorized opening in case of drive failure.
Implementation Method 1
a restoring element which interacts directly or indirectly with the pivotable articulated part in such a way that the latter is preloaded in a direction opposite to a first end position
Data Source
Figure 1~2b
Figure 3a~3b
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The present invention relates to a cabin door arrangement (10) for an elevator with a mechanical cabin door locking mechanism, comprising a pivotally mounted joint part (12) associated with the cabin door, which is configured to carry at least one drive blade, wherein the at least one drive blade is in turn configured to engage with at least one counter element associated with a shaft door for the common opening and closing of the cabin door and the shaft door in an engagement position, wherein at least one stop element (20) is further associated with the joint part (12);a return element which interacts directly or indirectly with the pivotable joint part (12), a drive device which is configured to interact with the joint part (12) in the unlocking zone when actuated, wherein the joint part (12) is further mounted such that, in the event of a failure of the drive device, it sweeps beyond the engagement position outside the unlocking zone by the action of the return element and reaches a second end position, a first and a second catch element (22, 24) which are each arranged and configured such that, in the first end position of the joint part (12), a linear movement of the joint part (12) in the opening direction of the cabin door is limited to a first opening path (W1) and, in the second end position of the joint part (12), a linear movement of the joint part (12) in the opening direction of the cabin door is limited to a second opening path (W2).