Automated Elevator Guide Rail Alignment via Pulse Strikes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator systems face challenges in precisely aligning guide rails, which is costly, difficult, and requires experienced installers, leading to inefficiencies and increased wear on components.
Innovation Solution
An aligning device equipped with a detection system and a hammer mill that automatically detects position deviations and corrects them with pulse-like strikes in horizontal directions, allowing for precise and automated alignment of guide rails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional manual alignment methods are used, then alignment can be performed with existing tools, but the process is expensive, difficult, and requires experienced installers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical alignment operations with an automated system that uses sensors to detect position deviations and a hammer mill to automatically apply corrective forces. This substitution eliminates the need for experienced installers to perform complex manual adjustments while achieving higher precision alignment through automated control loops.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment system performs self-alignment by automatically detecting its own position deviations using sensors and correcting them through the hammer mill without requiring external human intervention. The system autonomously monitors and adjusts the guide rail position, making the alignment process self-sufficient and eliminating dependency on skilled operators.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual alignment by experienced installers is used, then alignment can be performed, but it increases installation time and costs
Solution Approach 1:
The automated alignment system enables continuous alignment operations by eliminating the intermittent nature of manual adjustments. The sensors continuously monitor position deviations and the hammer mill continuously applies corrective forces as needed, allowing the alignment process to proceed without interruption and significantly reducing total installation time compared to manual methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection of position deviations using sensors before applying corrective forces with the hammer mill. This preliminary action allows the system to plan and execute alignment corrections efficiently, avoiding repeated trial-and-adjustment cycles that characterize manual alignment processes and thereby reducing installation time.
3Ease of manufacture
If guide rails are not precisely aligned, then installation is simpler, but wear-promoting loads increase and vibrations occur
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment system uses sensors to continuously detect position deviations of the guide rail and feeds this information back to the control system. Based on this feedback, the hammer mill automatically applies corrective forces to eliminate deviations, ensuring precise alignment that prevents wear-promoting loads and vibrations while maintaining installation simplicity through automation.
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
Enables simple, precise, and damage-free alignment of guide rails, reducing installation costs and improving the reliability of elevator systems by minimizing wear and vibrations.
Implementation Method 1
detection device (23) configured to automatically detect a position deviation of the guide rail (13) from a nominal position
Implementation Method 2
hammer mill (25) configured to automatically hammer the guide rail (13) as a function of the detected position deviation by exerting pulse-like strikes in one of the horizontal directions
Data Source
AI summary
An aligning device is used for aligning a guide rail of an elevator system. The guide rail is held on a shaft wall of an elevator shaft and is displaceable in at least two horizontal directions, oriented crosswise with respect to each other, before a final fixation. The aligning device has a detection device that is configured to detect, in an automated manner, a position deviation of the guide rail from a nominal position, and has a hammer mill that is configured to hammer the guide rail in an automated manner depending on the detected position deviation by exerting pulse-like strikes in one of the horizontal directions toward the nominal position.