Elevator Control Network Topology Visualization for Fault Location
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional elevator and escalator control networks lack effective visualization tools for maintenance personnel to quickly identify and address network issues, leading to potential operational disruptions and safety concerns.
Innovation Solution
A user interface that retrieves and visualizes status information from network elements, including location data and active data communication paths, allowing for rapid identification of faults and enabling remote monitoring and control, thereby facilitating efficient maintenance and minimizing downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a dedicated control network is used for elevators and escalators, then reliability and safety are improved, but device complexity and difficulty of detecting faults increase
Solution Approach 1:
A network management system acts as an intermediary between the complex EECN and maintenance personnel. This system retrieves status information from multiple network elements, generates a simplified topology representation, and provides fault detection capabilities, thereby maintaining high reliability while reducing the operational complexity burden on users
Solution Approach 2:
The network management system implements continuous feedback by retrieving status information from network elements and providing it back to operators through a user interface. This feedback mechanism enables real-time monitoring and quick fault detection, maintaining reliability while making the complex network manageable through visible status indicators
2Reliability
If redundancy is increased in the EECN, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and difficulty of detecting faults increase
Solution Approach 1:
The network management system extracts and separates the complexity of monitoring redundant network paths from the EECN itself. By taking out the status retrieval and topology generation functions into a dedicated management system, the EECN can maintain high redundancy while the complexity of tracking and analyzing multiple paths is handled externally
Solution Approach 2:
The management system serves as a mediator that simplifies the view of complex redundant networks. It retrieves status from multiple redundant paths, generates an organized topology, and presents it through a clear user interface, allowing operators to manage redundancy without being overwhelmed by complexity
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If comprehensive status monitoring is implemented, then ease of detecting faults is improved, but use of energy and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system retrieves status information from network elements selectively and generates topology representations that focus on relevant fault detection information. Rather than continuously monitoring every possible parameter at maximum detail, the system uses partial action by retrieving only necessary status data and presenting it in optimized visualizations, reducing energy consumption while maintaining effective fault detection
Data Source
AI summary
A user interface shows status of network elements in an infrastructure network. The network elements are used to provide a communication channel for elevators, escalators and similar. In addition to network elements status of peripheral devices and other elevator and escalator related network connected devices may be shown. The user interface showing the status of network elements and other devices provides the maintenance person an easy way of spotting possible sources of problems.