Elevator Car Holder for Undamped Mobile Sensor Data
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator monitoring methods using passenger mobile devices are unreliable due to damping of motions and accelerations, leading to insufficient or inaccurate measurement data for detecting malfunctions.
Innovation Solution
A holder structure is fixed to the elevator car to securely couple a passenger's smart mobile device, allowing direct transmission of forces and accelerations without damping, enabling precise measurement of physical parameters using the device's sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a passenger holds a mobile device freely in the elevator car, then the monitoring system can be simple and easy to operate, but the measurement data becomes unreliable due to damping of motions and accelerations
Solution Approach 1:
The holder structure serves as an intermediary mechanical coupling between the elevator car and the mobile device. It directly transmits forces and accelerations from the elevator car to the mobile device sensors without damping, enabling reliable measurement data acquisition while keeping the overall system simple and using existing consumer devices
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of installing dedicated professional sensors in the elevator car, the system uses the mobile device's existing sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes) as copies or substitutes. The holder structure ensures these consumer-grade sensors receive undamped mechanical inputs equivalent to what professional sensors would measure directly on the elevator car
2Measurement precision
If measurement values are continuously transmitted to the evaluation unit, then the monitoring accuracy is high, but the energy consumption and data transmission load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs continuous supervision of measurement values (excessive action) but only triggers full measurement acquisition and transmission when specific parameter patterns are detected. This partial transmission approach maintains high monitoring accuracy for critical events while significantly reducing overall energy consumption and data transmission load during normal operation
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors measurement values and uses feedback from the holder structure's mechanical coupling to detect when the mobile device is properly positioned. This feedback mechanism enables the system to know when to activate full measurement acquisition versus when to remain in low-power supervision mode, balancing accuracy and energy consumption
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
An elevator (1) comprising a displaceable elevator car (3) is proposed, wherein a holder structure (17) is fixed to the elevator car (3) and is configured to hold a passenger's smart mobile device (19), the mobile device (19) including at least one sensor (20), and the holder structure (17) being specifically configured to mechanically couple the mobile device (19) to the elevator car (3) in a releasable manner. Furthermore, a method for monitoring an operation of an elevator (1) is proposed, the method comprising providing a passenger's smart mobile device (19) including a plurality of sensors (20) with a specific application software, the application software controlling the smart mobile device (19) to execute the following monitoring procedure: - repeatedly supervising measurement values of at least one of the sensors (20) of the mobile device (19); - upon occurring of a specific parameter pattern in the measurement values, starting of a measurement acquisition procedure during which measurement values are sensed by at least one of the sensors (20) and the sensed measurement values are transmitted to an evaluation unit (37) for further evaluation. Therein, the specific parameter pattern specifically results upon the mobile device (19) being held in at least one of a predefined position and a predefined orientation in the elevator car (3).