JPH0780636B2 - Elevator control equipment - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for a distributed control elevator or a group management elevator controlled by a plurality of microcomputers, and more particularly to signal transmission between the microcomputers. is there.

[Conventional technology]

With recent remarkable progress in microelectronics, a so-called distributed control system using a plurality of microcomputers has come to be used also in elevator control. This distributed control system aims at reducing wiring in the tower and facilitating system configuration. For example, a certain microcomputer has a sequence function for starting, running, and stopping a car, and another microcomputer. Distributes the elevator control function by multiple microcomputers, such as call registration in the car and guide function in the car such as guidance display in the car, so that one or more elevators can be installed as a whole. This is a control method.

In this way, the distributed control method is a method in which a plurality of microcomputers each perform independent processing and exchange information with each other to control the entire elevator, but the information exchanged between each microcomputer is: Big 2
It can be divided into two. One is information related to the basic functions of the elevator, such as elevator start / stop commands, elevator acceleration / deceleration commands, door opening / closing commands, call registration information in halls and cars, call response completion commands in halls and cars, etc. Hereinafter, this is called control information. The other is information for instructing the display contents of a display device or a remote monitoring device in a car or a hall, information on the number of times of operation of elevator constituent devices or actual measurement values of operation timing, information on a change in specifications of an elevator (for example, door opening time, Information related to improvement of the additional value of the elevator, not the basic functions of the elevator, such as the operation mode of the hall and the alarm device of the car, the non-stop floor, etc.), and is hereinafter referred to as non-control information.

On the other hand, also in a group management elevator that manages a plurality of elevators as a group, a microcomputer that manages the operation of each elevator and a judgment as to which machine should be assigned to each call from the overall situation There is a group management computer, and a plurality of microcomputers also exchange information with each other to manage the operation of the entire group.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in recent years, due to the development of information communication technology, an information communication network in a building has been improved, and an elevator system has been required to transmit and receive a larger amount of information as a part thereof.

For example, (1) real-time operation monitoring and failure notification of the elevator by a remote monitoring system, or information transmitted from the elevator side such as collecting the operation history of the elevator used for elevator performance evaluation and preventive maintenance (2) setting of non-stop floor and Information such as control operation commands, specification changes, commands to change the display contents of the character / graphic display device at the car or hall, and information to be sent to the elevator such as automatic scheduling commands.

These pieces of information all contribute to improving the performance and value of the elevator as a whole, but are additional information from the viewpoint of the elevator's basic function of "elevating passengers safely up and down". Applicable to information.

In the elevator of the distributed control system, it is necessary to send and receive both the control information and the non-control information as described above between the respective microcomputers, but in the conventional method, there is only one communication system, and therefore as described above. Since the out-of-control information is transmitted and received between control information, there is a limit to the amount of information that can be transmitted and received, and as a result, there has been a problem that improvement of added value is hindered.

In addition, as a method for ensuring the reliability of communication between microcomputers, which is important for a distributed control system, a dual communication system is also used. However, this dual system uses the other when one system becomes defective, or always sends the same information to the two systems, and the receiving side confirms that the content received from these two systems is the same. It is due to a method such as checking, and therefore it does not solve the above problem of increasing the added value, and it is hardware-redundant and costly to have two systems that are functionally equivalent. It was also a factor in the improvement. These problems also apply to the group control elevator.

An object of the present invention is to improve the added value of an elevator by transmitting / receiving a large amount of out-of-control information without affecting the transmission / reception of control information, and to control the elevator with high communication reliability. To provide a device.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a distributed control type elevator or a group management elevator, in which a communication system between arbitrary microcomputers transmits and receives control information which is information relating to a basic function of the elevator.
And a second communication system for transmitting and receiving non-control information, which is additional information not related to the basic function of the elevator.

Further, the present invention is characterized by further comprising communication mode switching means for transmitting / receiving the control information via the second communication system when it is detected that an abnormality has occurred in the first communication system.

[Action]

The control information that is indispensable to the elevator operation control is transmitted and received by the first communication system, and the non-control information, which is additional information, is transmitted and received by the second communication system, so there is no effect on the communication of control information. A large amount of out-of-control information can be transmitted and received without giving. Further, even if an abnormality occurs in the first communication system, the control information is transmitted and received by the second communication system, so that the elevator can continue operation without any trouble.

〔Example〕

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the following embodiments, a microcomputer provided in the control panel of the machine room to share the function of controlling the operation of the car, and a car provided to share the function of controlling the inside of the car such as door control and call registration in the car. A case where communication is performed with the microcomputer will be described. Communication between other microcomputers, for example, between a microcomputer provided in a hall and a microcomputer in a control panel, or in a group management elevator, between a group management microcomputer and each unit control microcomputer Is the same.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is a microcomputer for operation control provided in the control panel of the machine room, which is a CPU 11 and an RO connected to the CPU 11 via a bus 15.
M12, RAM13, ACIA (Asynchronous Com) for serial multiplex communication
munication Interface Adapter) 14A and 14B. Similarly, 20 is a car control microcomputer provided in the car, and the CPU 22 is the ROM 22 via the bus 25,
RAM23, ACIA24A and 24B are connected. 16A, 16B and
26A and 26B are transmission / reception level conversion circuits, for example RS4
22 Convert to standard. Although 30A and 30B are transmission lines and are actually composed of a plurality of lines, they are shown as a single line for simplicity. In the above configuration, the ACIA14A and 24A, the transmission / reception level conversion circuits 16A and 26A, and the transmission line 30A constitute the first communication system, and similarly, the ACIA14B and 24B, the transmission / reception level conversion circuits 16B and 26B, and the transmission line 30B form the first communication system. Control information relating to the basic functions of the elevator is normally communicated by the first communication system, and non-control information, which is additional information other than that, is communicated by the second communication system. .

Fig. 2 is an operation flow showing the overall operation of the operation control microcomputer. It is started by turning on the power, input processing (M1), car position confirmation processing (M2), and for car control, which will be described in detail later. Car communication control processing (M3) for communicating with a microcomputer, abnormality monitoring processing (M4), operation mode determination processing (M5), call registration processing (M6), direction determination processing (M7), travel control processing (M8) ), The display control process (M9), etc. are sequentially executed to perform an infinite loop calculation.
The description of the overall operation of the car control microcomputer is omitted, but it is almost the same as the second flowchart, and the communication control process with the operation control microcomputer is also executed in the operation of the infinite loop. There is.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a bit configuration of data transmitted / received between the microcomputers. Here, one data is composed of 8 bits, and the most significant bit of one data is “1” or “0”. It distinguishes between the data that represents and the data that represents the content. That is, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), when the most significant bit is "1", the following bits represent the type of data, and the most significant bit is "0" as shown in FIG. 3 (b). ", Indicates that the following bits represent the content of data. Here, for communication with the microcomputers 10 and 20, it is assumed that the data representing the "data type" and the data representing the "data content" constitute one set and are transmitted and received in this order. For example, when it is necessary to transmit certain control information from the microcomputer 10 to the microcomputer 20, the microcomputer 10
10 transmits 8 bits of data of the corresponding "data type" via the first communication system, that is, ACIA14A,
Then, 8 bits of data of "data content" are transmitted. The microcomputer 20 can receive these data via the ACIA 24A and know the meaning of the information from the type and content of the data. Similarly, when the information to be communicated is the non-control information, the information is transmitted / received via the second communication system. In the case of asynchronous communication, it is actually necessary to add a start bit and a stop bit before and after the data, but the description is omitted here.

Next, a specific example of the data type, the value of the data content, and the meaning indicated by them will be described. Here, the data type is "¥ 01"
Control information is assigned to "\ 3F" and non-control information is assigned to "\ 40" to "\ 7F". "\ 00" and "\ 01" are common information (Which communication system is used to send is limited. Not). Here, “¥” is a symbol (the same applies hereinafter) indicating that it is a hexadecimal number, and in the following description, ^# 1 indicates the first communication system and ^# 2 indicates the second communication system. I shall.

(1) Data type “¥ 00” ... with microcomputer 10
Regarding the communication control of 20, the data contents at this time are as follows.

(I) Data content “¥ 00” ... ^# 1 for communication of control information,
Request to use ^# 2 for communication of out-of-control information.

(Ii) Data content "¥ 01" ... ^# 1 is not used for communication, ^# 2
Request for communication of control information.

(Iii) Data content “¥ 10” ... Response to communication request with data content ¥ 00.

(Iv) Data content “¥ 11” ... Response to communication request of data content ¥ 01.

(2) Data type “¥ 01” ... With microcomputer 10
Regarding all data communication between 20, the data contents at this time are as follows.

(I) Data content “¥ 00” ... Request for all data.

(Ii) Data content “¥ 01” …… Reception confirmation of all data.

(3) Data type “¥ 02” ... Information regarding the car position when transmitting from the microcomputer 10 to 20, and information regarding the door position when transmitting from the microcomputer 20 to 10.

At the time of transmission from the microcomputer 10 to 20, (i) data content “¥ 01”… the car position is on the first floor (ii) data content “¥ 02”… the car position is on the second floor (iii) data content “¥ 03” or less Is omitted.

At the time of transmission from the microcomputer 20 to 10, (i) data content “¥ 00”… door closed completed (ii) data content “¥ 01”… door intermediate position (iii) data content “¥ 02”… door opened completed ( iv) Data contents "¥ 03" and below are omitted. (4) Data type "¥ 03": When sending data from the microcomputer 10 to 20, it relates to the running condition of the car, and when sending data in the opposite direction, it relates to the door open / closed condition information.

When sending from the microcomputer 10 to 20, (i) Data content “¥ 00”… The car is stopped.

(Ii) Data content “¥ 01” ... Running at high speed.

(Iii) Data content “¥ 02”… Maintenance operation is in progress.

(Iv) Data content “¥ 03”… Releveling is in progress.

(V) Data contents "¥ 04" and below are omitted.

When transmitting from the microcomputer 20 to 10, (i) Data content "\ 00" ... Door stop.

(Ii) Data content “¥ 01” ... Door opening operation in progress.

(Iii) Data content "¥ 02" ... Door is being closed.

(Iv) Data contents "¥ 03" and below are omitted.

(5) Data type “¥ 04” ... Information regarding whether or not car call registration is possible when transmitting from the microcomputer 10 to 20, and information regarding whether or not car call registration is performed during transmitting in the opposite direction.

(6) Data type “¥ 40”: Information regarding the in-car display message when transmitting from the microcomputer 10 to 20, and information regarding a minor abnormality when transmitting in the opposite direction.

(I) Data contents when sending from the microcomputer 10 to 20 ... Indicates the character code displayed by the in-car message display system.

(Ii) Data contents when sending from microcomputer 20 to 10
00- ¥ 3F ”… Detects mechanical auction of car call buttons for the 1st to 64th floors.

(7) Data type “¥ 41” ... Door open time specification is specified when sending data from the microcomputer 10 to 20, and information related to minor abnormality when sending data in the opposite direction.

(I) Data content when sending from microcomputer 10 to 20
00- ¥ 7F ”... Specify the door opening time from 0 seconds to 12.7 seconds in 0.1 second increments.

(Ii) Data contents when sending from microcomputer 20 to 10
00- ¥ 3F ”... Detected door open defects on the 1st to 64th floors respectively. Data content “¥ 40 to ¥ 7F”… Detects door closing defects on the 1st to 64th floors respectively.

(8) The description for the data type “¥ 42” and below is omitted. The above is an example of the data type and data contents. For example, when transmitting the information that the elevator car position is on the first floor to the microcomputers 10 to 20, this information is control information, and therefore ^# 1 is set. Via the first 8 bits, ¥ 02 is sent as the data type, and then ¥ 01 is sent as the 8 bits of the data content. If this is shown similarly to FIG. 3, the first 8 bits are “10000010” and the subsequent 8 bits are “00000001”. Microcomputer 20, ACIA
Knowing that the car is on the ground floor by receiving this information via 24A.

In this way, in the normal state, the control information is transmitted and received via the first communication system and the out-of-control control is transmitted and received via the second communication system, respectively, but then some abnormality occurs in the first communication system. The case will be described.

Since the first communication system handles control information relating to the basic functions of the elevator, if an abnormality occurs, the elevator will immediately become inoperable as it is. Therefore, in the present invention, when an abnormality occurs in the first communication system, the use is stopped and the control information is transmitted and received by the second communication system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the operation control microcomputer 10 and the car control microcomputer 20 in that case, and here, when the microcomputer 10 detects an abnormality in the first communication system. An example in which the communication mode is switched and only the control information is communicated using the second communication system will be described.

In FIG. 4, steps N101 to N117 show an operation flow on the microcomputer 10 side, and steps N201 to N214 show an operation flow on the microcomputer 20 side.
This corresponds to a part of the process M3 in the figure.

First, on the microcomputer 10 side, ^# 1
Communication of control information using ^# 2 and non-control information using ^# 2 (N101), but at the same time, it constantly checks whether or not ^# 1 is normal (N102). Return to the main program and execute the following processing. This abnormality detection is performed periodically (for example, once every few seconds) between the microcomputers 10-20 even if there is no data to be transmitted.
It is either a software thing called a watchdog that checks the status of the communication system by sending each other and checking the reception, or a hardware thing such as parity, framing, overrun in asynchronous communication. Good.

^When the abnormality of ^# 1 is detected, if the elevator is running, stop the elevator to the nearest floor or stop immediately,
If it is already stopped, keep the state as it is (N10
3). When the elevator is stopped, the microcomputer 10 instructs the 20 to switch to the communication mode in which the use of ^# 1 is stopped and the control information is transmitted and received using ^# 2, that is, the data type is “¥ 00” and the data is Data whose content is “¥ 01” (expressed as ¥ 00-01 in FIG. 4, and so on) is transmitted using ^# 2 (N104), and then normal transmission is stopped for both ^# 1 and ^# 2 (N105). ).

On the side of the microcomputer 20, normally, ^# 1 sends and receives control information and ^# 2 sends and receives control information (N201), but when the above instruction is received (N202), door control is stopped (N203). , After transmitting the data (¥ 00-11) to the microcomputer 10 to the effect of the above request through ^# 2 (N204), both ^# 1 and ^# 2 stop normal transmission (N205). .

After the above processing, the microcomputer 10 waits for a reply from the microcomputer 20, and if there is no reply even after a predetermined time (several seconds), it is considered that the above instruction is not correctly transmitted and the instruction is repeated again. (N106, N107, N104).

When the reply from the microcomputer 20 is confirmed by N107, the microcomputer 10 then
Request all data (control information), that is, send a signal of 01-00
It is transmitted via ^# 2 (N108). This is a request to send all kinds of control data to the microcomputers 20 to 10. The reason for requesting all data in this way is that when the abnormality occurs in ^# 1, the microcomputer 20 The latest control information that has already been recognized as having been transmitted, if the microcomputer 10 has not actually received it yet, there will be a gap in the recognition of control information between the microcomputers 10 and 20, This is to prevent this because it may hinder the operation of the elevator.

Upon receiving the above request, the microcomputer 20 sequentially updates all the latest control information to the microcomputer 20.
Send to 10 (N206, N207).

After the above, the microcomputer 10 waits for all kinds of control information to be transmitted from the microcomputer 20. If all types of data are not available even after the lapse of a predetermined time (several seconds to several minutes), "microcomputer 20 cannot receive all data request" or "microcomputer 20 sends all data." However, due to the influence of noise or the like, the microcomputer 10 cannot receive the data. ", And again (all data requests are retransmitted (N109, N110, N108).

When confirming that all types of control information have been sent by the N110, the microcomputer 10 sends 20
“All data reception confirmation”, that is, a signal of ¥ 01-10 is transmitted via ^# 2 (N111). This is for notifying the microcomputer 20 of that fact and for prompting the next operation.

When the microcomputer 20 receives the above-mentioned "all data reception confirmation" (N208), this time it requests all data from the microcomputers 20 to 10 (N209). This is because, for the same reason as described above, the control information may not be accurately transmitted from the microcomputers 10 to 20 at the time of detecting the abnormality ^# 1.

When the microcomputer 10 receives the “all data request” as described above, it sequentially sends all control information data to the microcomputer 20 (N113, N114). However, if the “all data request” is not received from the microcomputer 20 (N112, N113) even after the lapse of a predetermined time (several seconds) after the above, it may be affected by noise, so return to N111. Then, the “all data reception confirmation” is sent again to the microcomputer.

After the above, the microcomputer 20 waits for all kinds of control information data to be transmitted from the microcomputer 10. If all types of data are not available even after the lapse of a predetermined time (several seconds to several minutes), the "all data request" is sent again in the same manner as above (N210, N211, N20).
9).

When it is confirmed by N211 that all types of control information data have been sent, the microcomputer 20 sends "all data reception confirmation" to 10 (N212). This is for notifying the microcomputer 10 of that fact and for prompting the next operation.

The microcomputer 10 is a microcomputer
When the “all data reception confirmation” is received from 20, the process proceeds to N117, but even if a predetermined time has elapsed after the transmission of all the control information data in the above, this “all data reception confirmation” is performed.
If is not received, the process returns to N104, and the signal of "¥ 00-01" is transmitted again.

In the microcomputer 20, after the above processing,
It is confirmed whether or not the “all data reception confirmation” is correctly transmitted to the microcomputer 10. That is, it is confirmed whether or not the predetermined time has passed in N213 (this predetermined time is N115
(Slightly larger than that), if the signal of "¥ 00-01" is not sent during this time, the microcomputer 10 receives the "all data reception confirmation" and considers that it has proceeded from N116 to N117, The microcomputer 20 side also proceeds to N214.

In N117 and N214, microcomputers 10 and 20
Have mutually transmitted the latest control information and have confirmed the reception thereof, thereafter start continuous transmission of control information using ^# 2 and restore the elevator operation to the normal state. That is, ^# 1 continues to stop the use, and when the control information changes in accordance with the operation of the elevator, it is transmitted as the latest control information data between the microcomputers via ^# 2, and the elevator To continue operation.

In the above embodiment, the case where the microcomputer 10 detects the abnormality ^# 1 has been described. However, even when the microcomputer 20 detects the abnormality ^# 1, the respective processes of the microcomputers 10 and 20 are performed in FIG. The same operation can be performed by exchanging them. That is, although omitted in FIG. 4, it is actually necessary for each of the microcomputers 10 and 20 to be a program that combines both the processes N101 to N117 and N201 to N214.

Further, when an abnormality occurs in ^{# 1} in the above embodiments, ^#
Although the control information is transmitted using No. 2 and the non-control information is not transmitted, the control information may be prioritized and the non-control information may be transmitted after the interval.

Further, although the above embodiment does not mention the transmission speed of each communication system, since the electric / magnetic noise resistance generally decreases as the transmission speed increases, the transmission speed of the control information transmission / reception ^# 1. Is not preferable.
However, it is necessary to temporarily transmit a large amount of extra control information, which is additional information, and it is required to be as fast as possible in terms of work efficiency (operation efficiency). Moreover, unlike the control information, the non-control information does not cause a fatal deterioration in the function even if the data is garbled, and it is practically almost time-consuming to recover the information by means such as "retransmission". It doesn't matter. Therefore, from such a viewpoint, the transmission speed of ^# 2 may be set higher than the transmission speed of ^# 1. The case, considering that the control information at the time of the ^{# 1} abnormality is transmitted using a ^{# 2,} in the normal may be set higher transmission rate of the ^{# 2, and # 2} when an abnormality occurs in the ^{# 1} The economic efficiency and reliability can be improved by lowering the transmission speed.

In the above embodiment, ^{# 1} with the structure of the transmission path ^{# 2} is exactly the same, but may be included in the same cable, or include ^{# 1} and ^{# 2} in separate cables, or cable by changing the types, such as ^# fault tolerance characteristics of ^{# 1} 2
It can be made larger to improve reliability.

In addition, optical fiber, which is expensive but has high reliability against electric / magnetic noise, is used for the ^# 2 transmission line to perform high-speed transmission, while a conductor is used for ^# 1 to store a large amount of data under normal conditions. It is possible to use the optical fiber of ^# 2, which is capable of transmission and obtains the function of maximum capacity, and which is much more resistant to noise than the conductor in case of failure of ^# 1. It is possible to economically realize a highly reliable system as a whole.

In addition, parallel communication is generally used, such as communication between a speed control microcomputer having a function of calculating a speed pattern of an elevator and a sequence control microcomputer for controlling the timing of releasing / engaging a brake. In such a case, the same effect can be obtained by configuring a parallel communication circuit for reading and writing to the buffer memory for ^# 1 and a communication circuit having a serial interface for ^# 2.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, the information to be communicated between the microcomputers is divided into control information relating to the basic functions of the elevator and non-control information which is additional information in advance, and communication is performed by different communication systems. Therefore, even if a large amount of information needs to be transmitted in order to improve the added value of the elevator, the elevator operation control can be reliably performed without any interruption.

Further, even if an abnormality occurs in the communication system that transmits the control information, since the control information can be continuously transmitted in the other communication system, the elevator operation can be continued without any trouble, It is possible to provide a highly reliable and economical system as a whole.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the overall operation of the operation control microcomputer according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a bit configuration of transmitted / received data. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure of each microcomputer for explaining the present invention. 10 …… Microcomputer for operation control 20 …… Microcomputer for car control 11,21 …… CPU, 12,22 …… ROM 13,23 …… RAM 14A, 14B, 24A, 24B …… ACIA 16A, 16B , 26A, 26B …… Transmit / receive level conversion circuit 30A, 30B …… Transmission path

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a control device for a distributed control elevator or a group management elevator controlled by a plurality of microcomputers, a communication system between arbitrary microcomputers transmits and receives control information which is information relating to a basic function of the elevator. And a second communication system that transmits and receives out-of-control information that is additional information not related to the basic function of the elevator, and detects an abnormality in the first communication system. At this time, the elevator control device is provided with a communication mode switching unit that transmits and receives the control information via the second communication system with priority over the non-control information. 2. Normally, the transmission speed of the second communication system is set higher than the transmission speed of the first communication system, and when an abnormality occurs in the first communication system, The elevator control device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission speed is reduced.