Elevator Gateway Data Stitching for Precise Car Position Alerts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Establishing precise elevator car position in a hoistway is difficult due to accelerometer drift, especially in longer runs, and existing systems face challenges in accurately combining operational and positional data for condition-based maintenance.
Innovation Solution
An elevator management system that includes a gateway to stitch together car controller data and car operational data, timestamped for precise identification of alert conditions and positions, using beacons and edge computing to process and transmit data to an elevator management center or cloud service.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If single sensors such as accelerometer are used to establish position, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to accelerometer drift in longer runs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensors (accelerometer, door sensors, operational sensors) into a unified data collection system. The gateway aggregates data from all sensors and timestamps it, then transmits to the management center where position is determined through combined analysis rather than relying on a single sensor, thereby eliminating drift errors while maintaining system simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway serves as an intermediary between sensors and the management center. It collects raw data from multiple sensors, timestamps it, and prepares it for transmission. The management center acts as a secondary intermediary that processes the timestamped data to determine position, separating the simple data collection function from the complex position determination function.
2Device complexity
If car controller data and car operational data are transmitted separately, then data transmission simplicity is maintained, but loss of information increases due to difficulty in correlating positional and operational events
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway merges car controller data (positional information) and car operational data (door events, operational status) into a single combined data stream. Both data types are timestamped at the gateway level, ensuring they are transmitted together as a unified package to the management center, eliminating information loss during transmission and correlation.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway performs preliminary timestamping and correlation of data from multiple sources before transmission. By timestamping both positional and operational data at the moment of collection and maintaining their association through the gateway, the system ensures accurate correlation is preserved during transmission without requiring complex post-processing.
3Ease of operation
If multiple sensors and controllers collect and transmit data separately to gateways, then ease of operation is improved through modular data collection, but device complexity increases due to multiple communication paths
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway is designed as a universal data collection and processing unit that handles multiple data types (positional, operational, sensor data) and communicates with both the elevator controller and the management center. This multi-functional design consolidates what would otherwise require multiple specialized communication paths into a single versatile component.
Data Source
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Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
Disclosed is an elevator system, including a gateway (200) configured to: receive, from an elevator car controller (115) of an elevator car (103), car controller data for the elevator car (103) that includes a car positional log of the elevator car (103); receive, from a beacon (220) mounted to the elevator car (103), car operational data for the elevator car (103) that includes car and door data representing car and door events; and transmit, to one of an elevator management center and a cloud service, a combination of the car controller data and the car operational data to identify an alert condition and a position of the elevator car (103) during the alert condition, wherein the gateway (200) or the one of the elevator management center and the cloud service is configured to stitch together the car controller data and the car operational data to identify the alert condition and position of the elevator car (103) during the alert condition.