Elevator Passenger Guiding System for Social Distancing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Elevator installations face challenges in maintaining social distancing while ensuring efficiency, as traditional methods often result in passenger crowding and increased interaction times, particularly during high-capacity operations or infectious disease outbreaks, leading to a tradeoff between safety and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that directs passengers to dedicated waiting zones and assigns them to elevator cars based on spacing rules, ensuring minimal interaction and maintaining adequate spacing, using a passenger guiding system that receives destination calls, selects appropriate elevator cars and waiting zones, and manages arrival times to reduce infection risk while maintaining operational efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If social distancing rules are implemented in elevator installations, then passenger safety is improved, but elevator efficiency deteriorates due to reduced capacity and increased wait times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the elevator system into multiple independent elevator cars that can operate simultaneously, allowing the system to maintain high capacity while enforcing social distancing within each individual car. The control system divides passengers into separate groups assigned to different cars, preventing mixing and ensuring adequate spacing while preserving overall transport efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary assignment of passengers to specific elevator cars before they reach the elevator. The control system receives destination calls, selects appropriate elevator cars in advance, and directs passengers to waiting zones where they are pre-assigned to specific cars. This preliminary organization ensures that when passengers board, social distancing is already established, reducing need for additional spacing measures during transport.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If elevator car capacity is reduced to maintain social distancing, then infection risk is reduced, but passenger wait time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic control of elevator car allocation based on real-time conditions. The system continuously monitors elevator car availability, passenger destinations, and waiting zone occupancy to dynamically assign passengers to appropriate cars. This dynamic optimization ensures that passengers are efficiently matched to available cars while maintaining social distancing, preventing unnecessary wait times caused by artificial capacity limits.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces waiting zones as intermediary spaces between the elevator lobby and the elevator cars. These waiting zones serve as缓冲 areas where passengers are directed to specific locations before boarding. The waiting zones act as intermediaries that organize passenger flow, ensure proper spacing, and coordinate with elevator car arrivals, thereby reducing overall wait times while maintaining infection risk mitigation strategies.
3Reliability
If multiple elevator cars are deployed to maintain spacing, then social distancing is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal control system that manages multiple elevator cars using the same software architecture and control logic. The control system performs multiple functions: receiving destination calls, selecting appropriate cars, directing passengers to waiting zones, and coordinating car arrivals. This multi-functional approach allows the system to handle social distancing requirements through standardized procedures rather than requiring separate control mechanisms for each elevator car, thereby limiting complexity growth.
4Reliability
If passengers are directed to waiting zones, then spacing between passengers is improved, but operational steps increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functions of passenger direction, waiting zone assignment, and elevator car selection into a single integrated control process. The control system simultaneously determines which waiting zone a passenger should occupy, which elevator car they should board, and when the car should arrive. This consolidation of operations into one coordinated action sequence reduces the number of separate operational steps while maintaining effective passenger spacing through the waiting zone mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for operating an elevator installation includes receiving a destination call of a passenger at a control unit and selecting an elevator car from a set of available elevator cars for transporting the passenger. The elevator car is selected such that elevator car spacing rules are observed. The method further includes determining an arrival time of the selected elevator car at the boarding floor, and determining a first arrival time of the passenger at an elevator landing corresponding to the selected elevator car on the boarding floor. The method includes directing, under the proviso that the first arrival time of the passenger at the elevator landing precedes the arrival time of the selected elevator car by a defined margin, the passenger to a waiting zone of a set of available waiting zones. The waiting zone is selected such that waiting zone spacing rules are observed.