Hollow Counterweight with High-Density Filling for Elevator Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Elevator installations with multiple counterweights face challenges in optimizing counterweight dimensions, weight, and safety, particularly in preventing unbraked impacts that can cause damage to the shaft and elevator cars, necessitating a more efficient use of the elevator shaft cross-section and enhanced safety measures.
Innovation Solution
The design of a hollow counterweight body filled with high-density materials, equipped with mechanisms for controlled dissipation of kinetic energy during freefall, such as explosive charges or gas bags, to prevent damage and ensure safety, combined with a traction system that allows for lighter and more efficient counterweights, optimizing the shaft cross-section and reducing the need for complex mechanical safety systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the counterweight is made solid to ensure safety during freefall, then safety is improved, but the weight and volume of the counterweight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The counterweight is divided into a hollow body structure filled with high-density material, separating the structural framework from the mass-providing filling, allowing optimized weight and safety characteristics
Solution Approach 2:
The counterweight combines a hollow structural body with high-density filling material (such as metal powder, metal scrap, or liquid) to achieve the required mass with reduced overall volume and improved safety characteristics
2Productivity
If the counterweight volume is reduced to optimize shaft cross-section utilization, then shaft utilization is improved, but the safety margin against freefall damage decreases
Solution Approach 1:
By using high-density filling materials within a hollow body, the counterweight achieves sufficient mass for safety while maintaining compact dimensions for optimal shaft utilization
Solution Approach 2:
The counterweight design changes the density parameter by using high-density filling materials, allowing reduced volume while maintaining the required mass for safety and improving shaft cross-section utilization
3Reliability
If a mechanical safety system is installed to prevent unbraked impact, then safety is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hollow body design with high-density filling converts the potential harm of freefall into a controlled energy dissipation mechanism, where the filling material absorbs impact energy, eliminating the need for complex mechanical safety systems
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
This solution enables effective dissipation of kinetic energy, ensuring safety for other elevator cars and simplifying the construction of multiple elevator installations by reducing counterweight weight and volume, allowing for improved shaft utilization and reduced installation costs.
Implementation Method 1
The counterweight is constructed as a hollow body which is filled with a material or substance with a high mass density... in the case of a 'freefall' it is divided or destroyed and thereby its content released in finely distributed form into the elevator shaft. A dissipation, without harm, takes place of the kinetic energy which the counterweight develops by its freefall.
Data Source
AI summary
An elevator installation includes at least one elevator car and at least one counterweight, wherein the at least one elevator car is capable of being moved on guide rails in an elevator shaft by a drive with a driving pulley and with a supporting and propulsion apparatus. The at least one counterweight is formed with a hollow body enclosing a filling. In the event of a freefall, the hollow body is destroyed allowing the filling to emerge.