CA1134288A - Driving system for elevators in particular and other material handling installations in general - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT
A driving system which enables to move people or goods in a ver-tical, inclined, horizontal, circular pattern, or any other di-rection from a starting point "A" to a destination point "B", said driving system being based on the idea to transform rota-tional energy in translation movement by using two components:
1) a rotating drive sheave secured to a body carriage and equiped with an external helicoidal profile having a nominal medium diameter "Dm" and pitch "R", and 2) a guiding path extending between said points "A" and "B", comprising a plurality of equally spaced apart rollers, wherein the distance between two adjacent rollers is equal to said pitch "R";
sustaining means holding the said drive sheave in a constant adjacent relation to said guiding path, wherein the distance between the centre line of said drive sheave's helicoidal pro-file and the radial centre line axis of the adjacent engaged guiding path's roller is equal to "Dm"/2, enables that accord-ingly to the said drive sheave's direction of rotation, the said body carriage to be moved between said points "A" and "B"
onward or backward.
Or a driving system as described above where the two said components are:
1) a supporting body having wrapped around a helicoidal pattern a plurality of rollers, and 2) a guiding path comprising a plurality of helicoidal sectors;
both said components being coaxially disposed and having the same nominal diameter "Dm" and pitch "R".

Description

~l39~;~8t~3 SPECIFICATION
"Thi~ invention relates to a new approach of the thematic screw powered elevators, called "ROL~I~G THREADfl, which avoids the disadvantage~ of the prior art by improYing substantially the friction between the two main components and al~o enabling to drive elevators or material handling equipments not only in a vertical direction~O
"It is common in screw powerd ele~ators to make use of a draving screw, centrally disposed in the hoistway and running through the elevator cab, like in the Canadian Patent No. 67, 415 to ~orri~on issued ~ay 18, 1900, and in the Canadian Patent No. 291, 69g to Ereutækamp issued July 30, 1929; or to locate the screw outside the elevator cab and secure the driving nut on the elevator like in the Canadian Patent No.t69,120 to Schnitzer issued April 25, 1916, and in the Canadian Patent ~o. 860,727 to I~tz i~ued Jan. 12, 1971.
Elevators of this type are, however, limited in travel and capacity and the design in which the screw i9 penetrating centrally the elevator cab, cannot be used in residential buildings.
Another approach is made in the Canadian Patent No. 1259049 issued April 199 1910 to New~on, where two pairs o~ upright racks and a jac~ screw for supporting each rack are used, and the newly Canadian Patent ~o. 1,029,~13 issued April 1 11, 1978 to Blanchette, which is using two cylindrical section~ having a longitudinally e~tending slot ha~ing a width not more than one third o~ the periphery o~ the cylindrical section, and two dri~e units mounted one on the top and one at the bottom of the elevator cage and ~3~

each including a transver3ely extending dri~e sha~t entering at b~th ends into the respective cylindrical cylinder ~ections through the respective ~lots, This kind of driving sy3tems are ine~icient because o~
the complicated gear transmitions which are parts oX the patented matter, i.e, they cannot operate ~ithout them.
Moreover the synchronization of two separate machines acting simultaneously on such a precise mechanism like a square ~crew, will be a task by it self, The only sorew elevator which i~ also manu~actured - in Australia - is described in "~IEVATOR WORLD" ~ay 1980; it has four saginaw screws held stationary and in tension with movement being achieved by driving the reciprocating ball nuts. lhe available speed is 25 fpm, "I have found that the~e disadvantages may be overcome by providing a guiding path equiped with a plurality of equally ~paced apart rollers wherein the distance between two consecutive adjacent rollers is equal to a pitch "R"- e~tending between a starting point "A" and a de~tination point "B", and a rotating driving sheave 5o secured to a body carriage and equiped with a~ external helicoidal profile having the same said pitch-"R"; will transf orm its rotations in translation mo~ement by stepping on each rotation over the ne~t adjacent roller, Since the drive machine is brought into the hoistway and secured directly to the car or container, there i~ no need ~or a machine room or a hole in the ground for the ~ac~
- as by conventional tractio~ or hydraulic în~tallations-any more~
Some other equipment like the controller a~d an emergency battery bo~ to drive the car in the event of a complete failure o~ power supply, may also be secured directly on the elevator's carr~ing frame, saving in this way the travelling cable - provided the hall ætations may control the car in a wireless system - and making the car more independent in travel.
This driving system may be used in the hoistway of a build-ing~ outside a building just by securing to the building walls one or more masts equiped with equidistant rollers or helicoidal segments, or as an independent package in a self-supporting steel to~er to which will be attached the guiding means and the landing doors.
Depending on the pursueded aim this driving system may be used with a counterweight - for energy saving reasons - or without a counterweight - for more ~reedom in travel -.
If used without a counterweight and in countries where the elevator code allows contact rails ~or power supply in the hoistway, - or by using combustion engines in outseide installations - this driving system enables to have a car which is totally independent in travel ~rom an outside control. This could be a~ as~et for custom build material handling equipment; ~or example where i8 required to trans-port materials in a contaminated or a high temperature areaO
This driving s~stem ma~ be used in both vertical or inclined installations.
If used in an inclined installation this driYing system allows changes in the degree of incline, however the joint point between two adjacent degrees of incli~e 3hall be rounded with a large enough radius and the distance "R~

between two consecutive rollers shall remai~ constantO I~

~3~

the elevator is a passenger one, then the cab shall be hanged on a pivot - to stay always in a vertioal poqition -and secured against oscillations with shock absorbersO
Furthermore this driving system ma~ ~ollow a curvelinear path, provided the radius is large enough and the distance "R" between two consecutive rollers is held constant in both linear and curve legs of path.
With this driving system any desired speed ma~ be reached by simple means since V=RxN, where V is the speed of the car in fpm, R the drive sheave's helicoidal pitch in ~t, 100 and ~ is expresed in rpm's applied on the drive ~heave's sha~t.
When using this driving system some qafety device~ may be changed from mechanical to electro-mechanical type. So the mechanical type governor bound with the car sa~ety device through a cable running along the hoi~tway, may be replaced by a microprocessor and a serie o~ microswitches or sensors mounted on equal intervals along the hoistway into the threaded segments or rollers. The microprocessor which i~
electrically conneGted with the microswitches or sensors 1lo in the hoistwsy9 will comparatively appreciate the '1EFPEC-TIVE TIME'l needed by the drive sheave to step over two or more microswitches or sensors, cutting the power supply to the drive machine if the "EFFECTIVE TI~E" ~ill be appreci-ated a~ shorter than a "C~ITICA~ TI~E" which wa~ initially preset. At the same time the power supply interuption auto~
matically applies the spring activated brake on the drive sheave or directly on the motor whatever i9 the situation.
"In drawings which illustrate embodiments o~ the invention Figure 1 is a sectional elevation o~ one embodiment shswing , ., ~ , , ~
, j, .~

120 an e~ample with one drive sheave engaged with two threaded segment~ and guided on four guide rails, Figure 2 is a section o* the line I-I o~ Figure 1, Figure 3 i9 a front and a side sectional elevation of another embodiment showing an example with one drive sheave engaged with one threaded segment, guided on two guide rails and using a counterweight, ~igure 4 is a section of the line II-II of ~igure 3, Figure 5 is another embodiment showing an application of this driYing system on a material handling installation, 130 Figure 6 is a ~ection of the line III-III of Figure 5, Figure 7 is an entlarged detail "X" of Figure 5, Figure 8 is another embodiment ~howing an example with a large freight elevator where two drive sheave~ are u3ed, Figure 9 is an elevation o~ one embodiment o~ a "SO~ID"
threaded segment, Figure 10 i~ a-se~tion~of~th~ e IV IV of Figure 9, Figure 11 is a plan view and an elevation of a "ROL~ING"
drive sheave, Figure 12 is an elevation and a plan view showing the 140 engagement between the helix of a drive ~heave and a "RO~LING" segment, Figure 13 is a side elevation of another embodiment show-ing one posible application to an inclined elevator, Figure 14 is a section of the line V-V of Figure 13.
Since the driving system which makes the object o~ thi3 invention is going to be applied to a large variety of elevatoring installation~ where capacities may vary from as little a8 150 lb by a dumbwaiter to 50,000 lb b~ a large freight, the speed~ may vary from 25 ~pm by a large ~3~
150 freight to 2,000 fpm for a high rise commercial building elevator, and the moving direction i~ ~ometimes vertical, ~ometimes inclined and ~ometimes curvilinear, it i8 ~el~-evident that although the principle used to drive the ele-vators is always the same, the design of the t~o ba~ic components - the drive sheave and the guiding segment -must vary and so does the hoistway layout to ~it the requirements of every particular job.
The basic idea o~ this driving system is shown in the Figures 12 9 11, 10 and 9.
160 Several pos~ible hoistwa~ layouts are shown in the Figures 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 ~ 6, 8, and 13 ~ 14.
In Figure 12 is shown the engagement between a helix having a nominal diameter "Dm" and a pitch "R", arranged to rotate adjacent to a mast to which are 3ecured a plu-rality o~ equidistant rollers, wherein the distance between two consecutive adjacent rollers i9 equal to "R", and the distance from the centre line of helix to the radial centre line of engaged roller is equal to half o~
"Dm" i.e. "Dm"/2 .
l70 In Figure 11 is sho~n a "RO~ING DRIVE SHEAYE" comprising a plurality of rollers wraped around a body alo~g an im-aginary helix line with the parameters I~Dm" representing the heli~'s medium diameter and "Rl' representing the heli~'s pitch. Item 1 i~ the body, item 2 the roller~.
In Figure 9 is shown one possible embodiment of a so called "SO~ID" threaded segment - to distingui~h it from a "RO~ G" one ~hown in ~igure 12 - consi~ting of iden-tical casted elements 1 which are secured with the boltes 3 to two guide rail~ 2.
180 The distance between two consecutive elements 1, is equal ~ 3~

to a pitch "R" and the medium diameter o~ each element is equal to "Dm" , since they are sector~ cut from a helix with the same parameters "R" and "Dm".
In ~igure 10, which is a section of the line IV-IV of ~igure 9,is shown the engagement between the "SO~ID"
thresded segment and a coa2ial "RO~ G" driving sheave - shown with imaginary lines - having the sams medium diameter "Dm" and pitch "R" as the threaded segment.
One possible hoistway layout ~ho~ing the use o~ a HSOLID"
190 threaded segment and a "ROLLING" dri~e shea~e is shown in the Figures 3 and 4.
In Figure 1 and 2 is shown one pos~ible hoi~tway laiout using two opposit~ "SO~ID~" threaded segments engaged by a "RO~LING" drive sheave. The machine 3 is brought into the hoistway and secured underneath an elevator cab or con-tainer 8 thra.ugh the platform 5. The "ROLLING" drive sheave 1 ls secured to machine's 3 output shaft and arranged to rotate between two oppo~ite "SOLID" threaded segments 2, e~tending lengthwise betwee~ a starting poînt "A" and a 200 destination point "B~ along the hoistway wall~. Two guide rails 7 are ~ecured along each side of the threaded seg-ments 2 with the brackets 100 The drive sheave 1 is cen-tred bet~een the threaded segment~ 2 through the frame 4 on which are secured ~our upper and ~our lower guids ~hoes 6 sliding slong the guide rails 70 To rise or lower the elevator cab or container 8 in the hoi~tway, the rotary motion produced by machine 3 will be trans~ormed into 8 linear motion by the ''RO~LI~G'I drive sheave 1 rotating between the two stationar~ "SOLID"
210 threaded segments.

, ~l3~

Inside drive qheave 1 is brought an internal type oY brake 9, usually u~ed where rotation ocures in both dlrection~.
The blocks will be lined with a ~uitable Yriction material and the braking force will be ~upplied by an adjustable spring which iq counteracted by the force o~ a ~olenoidO
Interuption of current automatically applies the spring activated blocks on the drive sheave 1.
The rubber insulati~n pads 11 are brought between the threaded segments 2 and the hoistway walls as well as 220 between the machine 3 and the platform 5, to diminish the transmittance of noise or vibrations o-utside the hoistway or into the car. For the ~ame reasons the dri~e sheave's 1 rollers may be covered with a suitable rubber or other synthetic material to diminish the noi~e produced by the roller~ (not shown) stepping over the threaded segments 2.
Considering the possibility on having current rails in the hoistway and current collector shoes on the car, a~ well as to control the car in the hoistway in a wirelees manner, under these circumstances this driving 3ystem could make an 230 elevator totally independent in travel~
In the Figures 3 and 4 is ~hown another possible hoistway layout where ~or more efficiency, a counterweight is added to the system.
A "RO~LI~G" drive sheave 1 is secured on machine's 3 out-put sha~t and arranged to rotate adjacent to one "SOIID'I
threaded segment 2 extending lengthwise along the hoist-way'~ back wall. Said threaded segment 2 i~ fixed to the wall with ~pecial bracket~ 14, on ~hich will be slso secured the guide rail~ 13, on whioh will run the coun-240 terweight 11. ~he machine 3 is mounted eccentrically underneath car 8 through the platform 5 which is al~osecured ~o frame 4 consisting o~ two side channels, called slings, secured to two upper channel~ - the cross head -and on two more lower channels - the safety plank -.
Two upper guide shoe3 6 bolted to the cross head and two lower guide shoes 6 bolted directly or through a safet~
device (not ~hown) to the sa~ety plank, will guide the elevator cab 8 in the hoistway o~ two guide rails 7 extending lengthwise along the hoistway' 9 side walls and 250 secured to them through the brackets 15. To have a better distribution of forces in the platform 5, frame 4 and guide shoe~ 6, the box 9 which may contain emergency batteries for driving the car in the event of a complete failure o~
pover supply, and eventually may contain the controller, is secured underneath plat~orm 5 opposite to machine 3.
As mentioned earlier, for energy saving reason~, in this installation the elevator's weight - i.e. cab 8, frame 4, platform 5, machine 3, drive sheave 1, guide shoes 6 and the battery and controller bo~ 9 - will be counterbalanced 260 with the counterweight 11; the connection bet~een them being done by the cable 17 running over the counterweight's sheave 10 which is sitting on two beams 18 on the top o~
the hoistway.
In the Figures 5, 6 and 7 is another embodiment o~ thi~
invention applied to a material handling equipment7 having the target to move a container 8 from a-~tart~ng point "A"
to a destination point ":EI", and bac~ o drive the contain-er on the rails 7, lRill be used a similar drivîng 3~9tem as shown in the ~igure~ 1, 2, ~ and 4 - i,e. a threaded 270 drive sheave 1 which may be ~ecured to the output 3ha~ o~

~ 3~ "~

a gear 9 as shown, or directly on the machine' 8 3 output ~haft and arranged to rotate ad~acent to a statio~ary threaded segment 2 extending lengthwi~e along the way between ~aid points "A" and "~"~. The machine 3 i8 ~ecured to a cha~sis consisting of frame 4, platform 5 and ~our weels 6 rolling on two rails 7.
If desired, the thread detail shown in Figure 7 may be replaced with those shown in the Figure 12 or in the Figures 9 and 10.
280 In Figure 8 this driving system is applied to a large freight elevator. The difference to the layout~ shown in the Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 is that here, to overcome the platform's 5 width, two drive sheaves 1 will be used instead of one. ~he drive sheaves 1 are Recured to two oppo~ite outputs of a high ratio reducing gear 10 - iY
de~ired there could have been three or four outputs, each with its own drive sheave -. The machine 3 is flanged in the middle of gear 10 and the break 9 is operating on an extention of machine's 3 ~haft.
290 The gear 10 i~ secured underneath platform 5, which supports the elevator cab 8, and together with the frame 4 centred the installation in the hoistway through four upper and four lower guide shoe~ 6 running on four guide rails 7, each pair of rails being secured to one threaded segment 2 and together to the hoi~tway ~alls.
lhe above described installation could be also employed as a temporary hoisting device in the event that i~ a multi~loor factory emerge~ the need to lift a large ma-chine -let say from the ~rd to the 5th floor - which doe~
300 not fit in the existing elevator and from s~me rea~on~

cannot be take~ apart~ The only thing should be done in such a case is to provide suitable holes in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th ~loor slab~ and to install temporary side mas~
with guide rails and threaded segment~, on which will slide a suitsble plat~orm with the drive system mounted underneath.
In the ~igures 13 and 14 is shown o~e pos~ible applicatio~
o~ this driving system by an inclined elevatoring in~tal-lation. Although the principle used is the same a~ in the 310 embodiments shown in the ~igures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8, the hoistway layout wa~ modi~ied to meet the requirements of an inclined in~tallation~ So here i~ only one guide rail 7, which may be a wideflange beam secured on its upper flange on a plurality of transversal beams 8 which may be resting on the hoistway walls. In~ide the wide-flange beam 7 -on the lower ~lange- are rolling four wheels 6, two wheels on each side of the beam. ~ach wheel 6 i~ ed through its shaft to one end of a hanger piece 4 and the other end of said hanger is secured to the 320 plat~orm 5. To compen~ate the slope of guide rail 7 the two hangers on the hill have to be accordingly longer.
A plurality of equally spaced -~part roller~ 2 - wherein the di~tance between two adjacent rollers iæ alwai~ a constant pitch equal "R" - are secured underneath the guide rail 7 forming the "RO~ING ~HREAD~ against which the drive sheaYe'~ helix 1 having the ~ame pitch egual "Rl' is rotating 9 moving the entire asYembly up or down the hill accordingly to the drive sheaYe' 3 direction o~ rota-tion. The drive sheaYe 1 i~ secured on the machi~e's out-~30 put sha~t, while the machine itsel~ i3 ~ecured to the plat~orm 5 through an inclined ~upport 10 to bring thedriving a~i~ Y-Y to be paralel with the guide rail 7, re-spectively with the engaged rollers 2 - wherein the dis-tance between the a~i~ Y-Y o~ helix 1 and the radial-centr~ line o~ each roller 2 is alwai~ equal to one hal~
o~ helix' 9 1 medium diameter "Dm".
Contrary to embodiments shown in the ~igures 1~ 2, 37 4, 5, 6, and 8 where the driving system was mounted under-neath the platform~ here the driving system iB mounted on 340 the top of the platform 5, so that the imaginary drawn elevator cab or container will be secured underneath said platform.
For the very unlikely event that the drive sheave's helix 1 breaks-down and the elevator begins to run down the hill at e~cesive speed, there must be at lea3t two centrifugal actionated safety devices built-in into two opposite wheels 6.
The hoistway walls and the elevator cab or container are drawn with imaginary lines on account o~ the ~act that 350 this kind o~ driving system may find a very large range of applications in di~ferent ele~atoring installation~, 352 running inside or outside a hoi~tway."

, .

Claims (2)

"The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: It

1) A driving system which enables to drive a body carriage in a vertical, inclined, horizontal or any other pattern, from a starting point 'IA" to a destination point "B" and vice versa, said driving system being based on the idea to transform rotational energy in translation movement by using two components:
a) guiding means extending between the said starting point "A" and the said destination point "B", on which are secured a plurality of equally spaced apart rollers, wherein the distance between two consecutive rollers is equal to a constant nominal pitch "R", and b) a driving sheave having as a driving element a helix with a nominal medium diameter "Dm" and a nominal pitch "R", said driving sheave being connected to means for conveying rotational energy, said means for conveying rotational energy being secured to the said body carriage adapted to move paralel along the said guiding means on a predeter-mined adjacent position, wherein the distance between the centre of said helix and an imaginary radial centre line of each engaged roller is alwais a constant equal to one half of the said helix's medium diameter "Dm", so that for each complete rotation of said drive sheave the effect will be that the said body carriage will be moved within a distance equal to the said pitch "R", onward or back-ward, accordingly to the said drive sheave's direction of rotation.

2) A driving system as defined in claim 1, where in the component a) the said rollers are substituted with helicoidal sectors, and the component b) consists of a supporting body having wrapped around an helicoidal pattern a plurality of rollers, both said a) and b) components being coaxially disposed and having same nominal diameter "Dm" and pitch "R".