Elevator Maintenance Device Using Multi-Sensor Fusion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator maintenance technologies lack the ability to autonomously detect and evaluate sensor signals from elevator installations, leading to inefficient maintenance and potential operational issues.
Innovation Solution
A device mounted on elevator cars or counterweights, equipped with processors, sensors, and a communications interface, which autonomously detects movement, position, speed, acceleration, and other environmental parameters, and evaluates sensor signals to provide maintenance information, allowing for remote monitoring and alert generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a device with multiple sensors and processors is mounted on elevator cars or counterweights, then autonomous detection of maintenance needs is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device is designed to perform multiple functions: detecting sensor signals from various sensors (position, speed, acceleration, camera, noise, light, infrared, smoke), evaluating these signals through a processor, and communicating maintenance information. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate systems into a single integrated device, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining autonomous detection capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The device acts as an intermediary between the elevator installation components and the remote maintenance center. It collects data from multiple sensors, processes this information locally, and transmits only relevant maintenance information to the remote center. This intermediary role simplifies the architecture by filtering and preprocessing data before transmission, reducing the complexity of the overall system.
2Productivity
If sensor signals are detected and evaluated autonomously by the device, then maintenance efficiency is improved, but loss of information increases due to potential signal processing errors
Solution Approach 1:
The device includes a communication interface that transmits maintenance information to external systems. This feedback loop allows verification and correction of processed sensor signals, ensuring that autonomous detection maintains high accuracy. The system can receive updates and corrections, reducing information loss through continuous validation.
Solution Approach 2:
The processor evaluates sensor signals in advance to identify potential maintenance issues before they become critical problems. By performing preliminary analysis of sensor data, the system can detect early signs of deterioration and transmit alert signals proactively, preventing information loss that would occur if detection happened too late in the degradation process.
3Measurement precision
If multiple sensors are integrated into the device housing, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sensors (position sensor, speed sensor, acceleration sensor, camera, noise level sensor, light sensor, infrared sensor, smoke sensor) are merged into a single device housing. This consolidation improves measurement precision by co-locating sensors that can cross-validate each other's readings, while the unified housing structure manages the complexity through integrated mounting and shared processing resources.
Data Source
AI summary
An elevator system and a method for maintenance of such an elevator system include a device for receiving a plurality of sensor signals. The device is mounted on at least one elevator car or at least one counterweight of the elevator system. The device includes at least one processor and at least one computer-readable data store in at least one device housing. A first sensor for generating a sensor signal is a position sensor and/or a speed sensor and/or an acceleration sensor which is mounted in and/or on the device housing.