CN112141831B - Group management system for elevator - Google Patents

Abstract

An elevator group management system according to an embodiment includes a 1 st conversion unit (31), an operation prediction unit (33), and an allocation evaluation unit (35). A1 st conversion unit (31) adds information assuming that the call is going to the layer to the up/down call and converts the call into a format of a destination call. An operation prediction unit (33) predicts the waiting time and the boarding time when the up-and-down call is allocated to each car, and predicts the waiting time and the boarding time when the destination call is allocated to each car. An assignment evaluation unit (35) calculates an evaluation value when an up/down call or a destination call is assigned to each car based on the waiting time and the boarding time obtained by the operation prediction unit (33), and evaluates the up/down call and the destination call by changing a weighting coefficient for the boarding time. Thus, in the hybrid DCS, the optimal allocation evaluation for the up-down call and the destination call is performed to improve the group management performance.

Description

Group management system for elevator

This application is based on Japanese patent application 2019-120022 (filing date: 2019, 6/27), according to which priority benefits are enjoyed. This application incorporates by reference the entirety of this application.

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a group management system for elevators.

Background

In recent years, elevator systems having a Hall Destination Controller (HDC) capable of directly designating a Destination floor at a boarding location have been put into practical use. Such an elevator System is referred to as a "Destination Control System (DCS)". The DCS selects an optimal car from among a plurality of cars and responds to the elevator hall based on a call to a floor (hereinafter, referred to as a "destination call") registered by a user at the elevator hall. In this case, the same users going to the floor can ride the same car, thereby improving the transport efficiency.

Here, there is a "hybrid DCS" including a floor having an elevator hall for registering an up-down call in addition to a floor having an elevator hall for registering a destination call. In the hybrid DCS, a user who registers a destination call and rides a car can move to a departure floor without registering a car call in the car. In addition, a user who rides the car from the floor where the up-down call is registered can register the own going floor in the car as a car call and move to the going floor. In this hybrid DCS, an "up/down call" having a destination direction (up direction/down direction) of a user registered at a boarding place of an arbitrary floor and a "car call" having an outbound floor registered in a car are converted into a destination call format and are handled as a full (full) DCS. "full DCS" refers to DCS in which destination calls are registered at all levels.

Disclosure of Invention

In DCS, since the user's going-to-floor is known in advance, the assignment evaluation is performed in consideration of the boarding time in addition to the waiting time. The waiting time is a time from registration of a destination call at an elevator boarding location to response of a car to a departure floor (call registration floor) of the destination call. The boarding time is the time from when the car responds to the departure floor until the arrival of the user at the arrival floor. Wait time + elevator riding time = service time.

Here, in the hybrid DCS, the destination call destination layer obtained by the up-down call conversion is a predicted layer, and may be a layer different from an actual destination layer. Therefore, when an assignment evaluation equivalent to an original destination call registered by an elevator-to-floor registration device (HDC) is performed, a decrease in group management performance may be caused.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an elevator group management system capable of performing optimal assignment evaluation for up-down calls and destination calls in a hybrid DCS and improving group management performance.

A group management system for elevators according to an embodiment includes a 1 st registration device for registering an up-down call at an elevator riding place, and a 2 nd registration device for registering a destination call at the elevator riding place.

The group management system includes a 1 st conversion unit, an operation prediction unit, and an assignment evaluation unit. The 1 st conversion unit adds information assuming that the up-down call is forwarded to the layer to convert the up-down call into the format of the destination call, the up-down call being registered by the 1 st registration device. The operation prediction unit predicts a waiting time and an elevator riding time when the up-down call converted by the 1 st conversion unit is allocated to each elevator car, and predicts a waiting time and an elevator riding time when the destination call is allocated to each elevator car. The assignment evaluation unit calculates an evaluation value when the up-down call or the destination call is assigned to each car based on the waiting time and the boarding time obtained by the operation prediction unit, and evaluates the up-down call and the destination call by changing weighting coefficients for the boarding time.

According to the group management system for elevators configured as described above, it is possible to perform optimal assignment evaluation for up/down calls and destination calls in the hybrid DCS, thereby improving the group management performance.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an elevator group management system according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the boarding area to floor registration device in this embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the display device for going to the floor at the boarding location in the embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the operation prediction in the case where the destination call is registered by the boarding pass to floor registration device in the embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of operation prediction in a case where an up-down call is registered by the up-down call registration device in the embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the operation prediction in the case where the car call is registered in the embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the assignment evaluation process in the elevator group management system according to this embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation following the assignment evaluation process of fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a diagram for performing the tentative assignment in this embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a diagram for explaining a function of changing the weighting factor according to the operation mode (at the time of next shift) in the embodiment.

Fig. 11 is a diagram for explaining a function of changing the weighting factor according to the operation mode (at lunch time) in the embodiment.

Fig. 12 is a diagram for explaining a function of changing the weighting coefficient in the case where a layer with glass is present in the embodiment.

Fig. 13 is a diagram for explaining the feeling of the user in the floor provided with the boarding area going to the floor registration device in this embodiment.

Fig. 14 is a diagram for explaining the feeling of the user in the floor on which the up-down call registration device is provided in the present embodiment.

Fig. 15 is a flowchart showing a process of changing the weighting coefficient according to the operation mode in this embodiment.

Fig. 16 is a diagram showing a relationship between the operation mode and the weighting coefficient in the present embodiment.

Fig. 17 is a diagram for explaining switching of the operation mode in this embodiment.

Fig. 18 is a diagram showing a relationship between a positive resolution of a derived car call obtained by estimating an up-down call and a weighting coefficient in the present embodiment.

Fig. 19 is a diagram for explaining a statistical method of the positive resolution of the derivative car call in the present embodiment.

Fig. 20 is a diagram showing an example in which data of the same day of the week (the same day of the week in each week), the same time period, and the same direction for the past month are extracted from the learning result in this embodiment.

Fig. 21 is a flowchart showing a learning process of the weighting factor in the embodiment.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. The disclosure is merely an example, and the invention is not limited to the contents described in the following embodiments. Variations that can be readily envisioned by one skilled in the art are, of course, included within the scope of this disclosure. In the drawings, the size, shape, and the like of each part may be schematically shown by being changed from the actual embodiment in order to make the description clearer. In the drawings, corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof may be omitted.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an elevator group management system according to an embodiment, and shows a configuration in which a plurality of cars are group-managed. The number of cars is arbitrary, and at least 2 cars may be used. In the figure, 21a, 21b, … … is an elevator control device (also referred to as a car controller or a car controller), and 22a, 22b, … … is a car.

The elevator control devices 21a, 21b, … … are provided corresponding to the cars 22a, 22b, … … of the respective machines. The elevator control device 21a controls the operation of the car 22a of the machine a. Specifically, the elevator control device 21a controls a motor (hoisting machine), not shown, for raising and lowering the car 22a, and controls opening and closing of doors. The same applies to the elevator control device 21B of machine B. These elevator control devices 21a, 21b, and … … are configured by a computer provided with a CPU, ROM, RAM, and the like. The cars 22a, 22b, … … are driven by a motor (hoisting machine) to move up and down in the elevator shaft.

The cars 22a, 22b, … … are provided with car call registration devices 23a, 23b, … … for registering car calls, respectively. The car call registration devices 23a, 23b, … … are used as the 3 rd registration device. The "car call" is a call registered by operation of a floor button provided on a car operation panel, not shown, and includes information on the destination floor and the car of the user.

Here, the present embodiment assumes a group management system of an elevator of a hybrid DCS system. The hybrid DCS includes an up-down call registration device 11 used in a general group management system and an elevator-boarding location-to-floor registration device (HDC) 12 used in a DCS system.

The up-down call registration device 11 and the boarding position and to-floor registration device 12 are respectively arranged at boarding positions of different floors. The up-down call registration device 11 is a 1 st registration device for registering up-down calls at the boarding area by operation of an up-down direction button not shown. The up-and-down call includes information of a departure floor (call registration floor) and a destination direction (upstream direction/downstream direction) of a user. The boarding-to-floor registration device 12 is a 2 nd registration device for registering a destination call at the boarding. The destination call includes information on a departure floor (call registration floor) and a destination floor of the user.

As shown in fig. 2, the boarding area departure floor registration device 12 includes an operation unit 12a for inputting a departure floor of a user, and a display unit 12b for notifying the user of a car (assigned car) traveling to the departure floor input by the operation unit 12 a. The "assigned car" is a car on which a call is registered, and is also referred to as an "assigned car". Note that as a method of inputting to the layer, a method realized by an operation of a numeric key (ten key) is a general method, but a method using an IC card or the like may be used, for example. The boarding area arrival floor registration device 12 may be provided at a location remote from the boarding area.

In the example of fig. 2, the passenger car 22a is shown in which the destination floor input by the user is 13 floors and the a-size machine is assigned to the destination floor. The user waits at the boarding place of the A-size airplane according to the display.

In order to allow the user to smoothly ride the assigned car, as shown in fig. 3, a boarding location to floor display device (HDI) 13 is provided in the vicinity of a boarding location door 15 at a boarding location 14. The elevator-taking-place to-floor display device 13 is a device for displaying the elevator car to the floor at a predetermined time. The "predetermined time" is a period until the response that the car has traveled to the departure floor is completed in the installation floor of the departure floor display device 13 at the boarding location. In the example of fig. 3, 7 layers, 11 layers, and 13 layers are shown as the going layers of the machine a. By such display, the user can take the car after confirming the arrival floor of the car.

In the example of fig. 3, only the boarding area to floor display device 13 of the a-size car is shown, but actually, the boarding area to floor display device 13 is provided for each car, and the boarding areas to the floors of the corresponding cars are displayed.

The group management control device 30 collectively controls the operation of the cars 22a, 22b, … …. The group management control device 30 is configured by a computer in the same manner as the elevator control devices 21a, 21b, … …. In the present embodiment, the group management control device 30 includes, as components related to the hybrid DCS, a 1 st conversion unit 31, a 2 nd conversion unit 32, an operation prediction unit 33, a weighting coefficient storage unit 34, a distribution evaluation unit 35, a distribution management unit 36, and a distribution output unit 37.

The 1 st conversion unit 31 adds a hypothetical destination layer to the up-down call registered by the up-down call registration device 11 and converts the up-down call into a destination call format. Further, an assumed arrival to a floor, which is estimated from up and down calls, is referred to as a "derived car call". The 2 nd conversion unit 32 adds the floor on which the registration operation is performed to the car call obtained from the elevator control devices 21a, 21b, … …, and converts the car call into the format of a destination call as a departure floor.

The operation prediction unit 33 predicts the operation of the cars 22a, 22b, and … … using the destination call, the up/down call (the up/down call after being converted into the destination call format), the car call (the car call after being converted into the destination call format), and the call/assignment stored in the assignment management unit 36, and calculates the waiting time and the boarding time based on the prediction results.

The assignment evaluation unit 35 calculates an evaluation value when the call to be evaluated is assigned to each of the cars 22a, 22b, and … …, based on the waiting time and the boarding time obtained as a result of the prediction by the operation prediction unit 33. Specifically, the assignment evaluation unit 35 calculates the evaluation value according to an evaluation expression shown in the following expression (1).

{ (1.0-R) × predicted value of waiting time + R × predicted value of riding time }2 … … (1)

"R" is a weighting coefficient for determining the ratio of the waiting time to the weight of the boarding time. Here, the weighting coefficient R is set to the boarding time, and takes a value of 0 to 1. The weighting coefficient for the waiting time is represented by "1.0-R". The weighting coefficient R is set for each type of call (up/down call, destination call, car call), and the value thereof is stored in the weighting coefficient storage unit 34.

The assignment evaluation unit 35 assigns the call to the car with the highest evaluation among the cars 22a, 22b, and … … based on the evaluation value obtained by the above expression (1). The evaluation value means that the smaller the value, the higher the evaluation. Therefore, the car having the smallest evaluation value is selected as the assigned car.

The assignment management unit 36 holds the car (assigned car) to which the call is assigned until the car arrives at the outward floor every time the call of the user is registered. The assignment output unit 37 outputs an assignment signal to the elevator control device corresponding to the assigned car among the elevator control devices 21a, 21b, … …, and causes the assigned car to respond to the starting floor of the call. The assignment output unit 37 transmits information on the assigned car to the boarding area to the floor registration device 11, and causes the display unit 11b of the boarding area to the floor registration device 11 to display the information.

The learning unit 38 acquires the operation information of the cars 22a, 22b, and … … via the elevator control devices 21a, 21b, and … …, and learns the accuracy of the assumed destination floor added to the up/down call (that is, the probability of the arrival at the destination floor to which the car to which the up/down call is assigned actually traveled) based on the operation information.

Next, the various functions related to the hybrid DCS provided in the elevator group management system according to the present embodiment will be described as (a) a function of changing a weighting factor according to a call type, (b) a function of changing a weighting factor according to an operation mode, and (c) a function of learning a weighting factor.

(a) Function for changing weighting coefficient according to call type

As shown in fig. 1, the present system is divided into a floor provided with an up-down call registration device 11 at a boarding location and a floor provided with a boarding location to floor registration device 12 at the boarding location. In the hybrid DCS, a shortened service time (waiting time + boarding time) is set as a control target. The control of shortening the service time including the elevator riding time as compared with the control of shortening only the waiting time can reduce the number of times of stopping the car until the car makes one round in the ascending/descending path, and can convey more users, and therefore, is particularly effective in the case of congestion.

Here, the predicted values of the waiting time and the boarding time will be described.

Fig. 4 shows the operation prediction in the case where the destination call is registered in the boarding pass to the floor registration device 12, and fig. 5 shows the operation prediction in the case where the up-down call registration device 11 registers the up-down call.

As shown in fig. 4, it is assumed that: the car responds 10 seconds after the user registers a destination call at floor 5 at the 3F elevator hall, and reaches floor 5 after 30 seconds. The predicted value of the waiting time at this time is 10 seconds, and the predicted value of the boarding time is 20 seconds. As shown in fig. 5, the following are provided: the car responds 8 seconds after the user registers the call in the upward direction at the 2F elevator, and reaches 5 floors (assumed to go to floors) 30 seconds later. The predicted value of the waiting time at this time is 8 seconds, and the predicted value of the boarding time is 22 seconds.

Here, regarding the "up/down call" registered by the up/down call registration device 11, the destination floor of the user who registered the call cannot be specified until the car responds to the departure floor. Then, the destination floor is assumed as a "derived car call", and is prepared in a table, not shown, in association with the departure floor, the departure direction, and the like. When such a subsidiary car call is prepared, predicted values of waiting time and boarding time can be obtained for an up-down call as well as for a destination call.

However, the predicted value of the boarding time obtained here is different from the predicted value of the actual boarding time to the floor. Therefore, the evaluation of the up-down call is lower than that of the destination call (in view of the higher reliability of the prediction, the lower the evaluation). Therefore, when evaluating an up-down call, it is preferable to set the weighting coefficient for the boarding time lower than that in the case of evaluating a destination call.

Specifically, as described below, the weighting coefficients R in the evaluation formula shown in the above formula (1) are set to respective values for the destination call and the up-down call.

Destination calling: r =0.4

And (3) calling up and down: r =0.2

The weighting coefficient R of the elevator taking time for the destination call is larger than the weighting coefficient R of the elevator taking time for the up-and-down call. In other words, the weighting factor R for the boarding time for the up-and-down call is smaller than the weighting factor R for the boarding time for the destination call.

As shown in fig. 6, even in the up-down call, after the user gets into the car, the car is driven to the actual destination floor by the registration of the car call. That is, it is not assumed to go to the layer. The following is shown in the example of fig. 6: when the user gets into the car that responded to 2F by the registration of the up-down call, the car call to the floor of 4F is registered.

When the assignment process is performed in association with the registration of an up/down call or a destination call, data of the up/down call to which the car responded immediately before the registration of the car call is acquired for the car call other than the call to the floor of the destination call among the registered car calls. When the time at which the up-down call is registered is t1, the time at which the response is made to the departure floor is t2, and the future time at which it is estimated that the car will respond to the destination floor of the newly registered car call is t3, the predicted values of the waiting time and the boarding time of the car call are as follows.

Predicted value of waiting time for car call = t2-t1

Predicted value = t3-t2 of car call riding time

That is, the predicted value of the waiting time for the car call is calculated as the waiting time for the up-down call in which the car responded immediately before. The predicted value of the car call boarding time is calculated as a predetermined time from the registration of the car call to the boarding of the user at the landing or a predetermined time from the response of the car at the departure landing to the boarding of the user at the landing.

The estimated values of the waiting time and the boarding time are substituted into an evaluation expression shown in the above expression (1) to obtain an evaluation value. The weighting factor R used at this time is used separately from the values for the destination call, up and down calls. In this case, since the arrival floor is determined, the value of the weighting coefficient R for the boarding time for the destination call may be equal to (R = 0.4).

Since the car call is a correct destination floor, it is preferable that the weighting coefficient R is set to a large value in accordance with the destination call. On the other hand, the waiting time is more strongly evaluated for the user who registered the car call at the stage before the response of the departure floor. If the method of evaluation is changed greatly on the way for the same user, the consistency of evaluation is reduced, and the evaluation of the entire operation schedule is changed greatly, and the situation up to that point is not considered to be optimal. As a result, the assignment change (the assignment change to another car) is easily caused. In order to avoid such excessive change, the change in the evaluation method may be suppressed to be small, or the weighting coefficient R may be set to 0.3, which is not 0.4 as the destination call but is deliberately low.

By performing such processing, there is generated an operation of giving a preferential treatment to the boarding time for the user who has been waiting for a long time in the boarding place. This is because: the evaluation formula is made such that the longer the waiting time, the larger the increment of the evaluation value with respect to the increment of the boarding time.

The operation of the assignment evaluation process will be described below.

Fig. 7 and 8 are flowcharts showing the operation of the assignment evaluation process in the elevator group management system according to the present embodiment. The flow of the overall process is the same as that of the general assignment evaluation process, and is different in that the weighting coefficient is changed in steps S11 to S15 according to the call type.

When either one of the destination call and the up-down call is registered, the group management control device 30 executes the following assignment evaluation process for each car (step S1). Here, the evaluation value of the car = evaluation value with hypothetical assignment — evaluation value without hypothetical assignment. Therefore, it is necessary to predict the operation in a case where the tentative assignment is present and a case where the tentative assignment is absent, and to obtain the evaluation value in each case.

The situation is shown in fig. 9.

For example, the machine No. A, B, C is set as an allocation candidate. When assigning a new call, the cases considered as future assumptions are three cases, namely, a case where an assignment to a number of machines is assumed, a case where an assignment to B number of machines is assumed, and a case where an assignment to C number of machines is assumed. In each case, the operating schedule is simply the one that is supposed to be assigned to change. The change in the group management performance accompanying the change in the operation schedule can be regarded as a difference between the service performance considered in the case where the tentative assignment is not made and the service performance considered in the case where the tentative assignment is made. Therefore, for each car, it is sufficient to obtain "an evaluation value of an operation prediction which is not assigned on a tentative basis but is assigned only according to an existing call" and "an evaluation value of an operation prediction which is assigned on a tentative basis", and to use the difference between these evaluation values as the evaluation value of each car.

In the initial state, the total value of no tentative assignment =0, and the total value of tentative assignment =0 (step S2). The following processing is repeatedly executed in a case where there is no tentative assignment and a case where there is tentative assignment (step S3).

That is, first, the operation prediction unit 33 of the group management control device 30 adds a currently registered call (destination call, up/down call, and car call) to the evaluation target of the operation prediction (step S4). At that time, if there is a tentative assignment (step S5: YES), the operation prediction unit 33 adds the call for the tentative assignment to the evaluation target of the operation prediction (step S6).

Here, if there is an up-down call among the calls to be evaluated, the 1 st converting unit 31 adds the destination floor of the derived car call to the up-down call, and sets the destination call to the form of the destination call (step S7). In this case, it is assumed that: information indicating that the call is originally an up/down call is left in the data of the call, and can be recognized later.

When there is a car call in the call to be evaluated, the 2 nd converting unit 32 adds the departure floor, registration time, and response time of the departure floor of the up-down call that has responded immediately before to the car call, and sets the car call to a destination call format (step S8). In this case, it is assumed that: information indicating that the car call is originally made is left in the data of the call, and can be determined later.

The operation prediction unit 33 predicts the operation when the call to be evaluated is assigned to each car 22a, 22b, … …, and calculates the predicted values of the waiting time and the boarding time from the prediction results (step S9). In the process of step S9, the operation in the case where the call to be evaluated is assigned to each car 22a, 22b, … … is not predicted at a time, but 1 car 1 in the process is predicted as a loop from step S1.

Specifically, the operation prediction unit 33 obtains current operation information such as the current car position, the current operation direction, the current door state, and the current traveling state from the elevator control devices 21a, 21b, and … …. The operation prediction unit 33 calculates predicted values of the waiting time and the vehicle time as follows, while simulating the operation when the call to be evaluated is sequentially assigned to the car to be processed in each of the cars 22a, 22b, and … … every 1 cycle based on the operation information.

Predicted value of waiting time = elevator-taking predicted time-generation predicted time

Predicted value of elevator taking time = elevator taking predicted time-elevator taking predicted time

When the predicted values of the waiting time and the boarding time are obtained when the calls to be evaluated are allocated to the cars 22a, 22b, and … …, respectively, the allocation evaluation unit 35 executes the following processing for each call (step S10).

That is, the assignment evaluation unit 35 first determines the type of the call to be evaluated (steps S11 and S12), and switches the weighting coefficient R used in the assigned evaluation formula according to the type of the call (steps S13 to S15). Specifically, for example, a weighting coefficient R = "0.4" for the boarding time for a destination call, and a weighting coefficient R = "0.2" for the boarding time for an up-down call are set, and the evaluation of the boarding time is reduced for the up-down call. The weighting coefficient R for the car call riding time is set to a value equal to (0.4) or slightly smaller than (0.3) the destination call.

In this way, the assignment evaluation unit 35 obtains the evaluation value of no tentative assignment and the evaluation value of tentative assignment while changing the weighting factor R according to the type of call (steps S16 to S21), and obtains the final evaluation value from these evaluation values (step S22).

After the final evaluation values are obtained for the cars 22a, 22b, and … … (step S23), the assignment evaluation unit 35 selects the car having the smallest evaluation value as the assigned car and responds to the departure floor of the call (step S24).

By changing the weighting factor R according to the type of call in this way, the evaluation value can be obtained by lowering the evaluation according to the uncertainty of the destination call as compared with the destination call, and the optimum assigned car can be selected using the evaluation value. That is, even when a destination call or an up-down call is registered at each floor, the car with the shortest service time (waiting time + boarding time) can be appropriately selected and responded to the departure floor.

(b) Function of changing weighting coefficient according to operation mode

[ operation mode ]

The "derived car call" as the estimated value of the going-to-floor in which the user who made the up-down call is registered may coincide with the original going-to-floor or may not coincide with the original going-to-floor depending on the operation mode (such as the on-duty mode or the off-duty mode) of the elevator.

For example, in an office building, there is a high possibility that a large number of users go downward from a floor located above an entrance floor of the building during a departure time period. Therefore, in the next-shift mode, as shown in fig. 10, for a call in the downward direction from a floor located above the entrance floor, the entrance floor of the building is set as a subsidiary car call. This derived car call has high certainty, and therefore corresponds to a destination call of DCS. Therefore, in the case where a call in the downlink direction is registered in the next-shift mode, the weighting coefficient R at that time may be set to a value equal to that of the destination call. For example, if R =0.4 is set for the destination call, R =0.4 may be set for the above-described call in the downlink direction. For example, R =0.1 may be set for an up/down call in the up direction, in which the user is not sure about going to a floor and which is registered after boarding.

In addition, in the lunch time zone, the possibility that the user gets off the dining hall is high. Therefore, as shown in fig. 11, in the lunch time mode, the derived car call is set as the lobby floor regardless of the call in the up direction or the call in the down direction. At that time, R =0.4 may be set similarly to the destination call. In addition, for an up-and-down call that cannot be directed to the lobby floor even when riding an elevator, it is difficult to estimate the heading floor. For such up and down calls, R =0.1 may be set.

[ layer inlaid with glass ]

For example, as shown in fig. 12, a building has a door with glass embedded in a part of floors, and the movement of a car can be seen from a boarding place. In the example of fig. 12, 4F and 5F are layers with glass. When such a floor is present, the user will know when the car passes, and the user will feel uncomfortable, and therefore it is preferable to respond to the car by giving priority to the waiting time over the boarding time. Then, a call in which a specific layer such as a glass-lined layer is set as a departure layer is evaluated using only the predicted value of the waiting time, assuming that R =0.0 regardless of the type of the call.

On the other hand, among 1F to 3F in which the passage of the car cannot be confirmed from the boarding location, it is preferable to perform efficient operation in which the service time including the boarding time is the highest priority. Then, as described above, the value of the weighting coefficient R is switched according to the kind of call. For example, in the case of a downlink call, since there is a high possibility of going to the starting reference layer, R =0.4 is set, and in the case of an uplink call, it is difficult to predict the going to layer, R =0.1 is set.

[ feeling of the user ]

Sometimes the user's feeling may be different between the "HDC setting layer" and the "up-down button setting layer". That is, as shown in fig. 13, a user who takes the elevator from the floor where the elevator taking place to the floor registration device 12 is provided is presented with the assigned car by one person. Therefore, the car is often divided into a plurality of cars to wait, and even if the car that has responded first cannot be taken, there is a feeling that there is no way (sitting is not possible). This is because the following control is performed: even if a car which responds later is seated, the car passes through the intermediate floor of Xu Duotu and can finally reach the departure floor earlier.

On the other hand, as shown in fig. 14, in the floor on which the up-down call registration device 11 is installed, it is assumed that a plurality of users who want to go in the same direction ride on the same assigned car. Therefore, the car that responds first by riding (i.e., the waiting time is desired to be shortened) is likely to be in a mood.

Then, for a destination call whose departure floor is the floor on which the elevator is going to the floor of the floor registration device 12, the value of the weighting coefficient R is set to a value close to 0.5, and an index close to the service time is used for assigning the evaluation value. On the other hand, for an up/down call in which the setup floor of the up/down call registration device 11 is the departure floor, the weighting coefficient R is set to a value close to 0.0, and an index close to the waiting time is used for assigning the evaluation value. This enables assignment evaluation close to the user's feeling.

In addition, when the assignment evaluation is performed in a time zone where the number of users is extremely large and the user's feeling is close, the number of calls to be set with a small weighting coefficient R may increase, and the efficiency of the entire group management system may be reduced. Therefore, it is preferable to set a time zone in which the user is less (time zone in which the user is avoided from the work, lunch time, and work out time) for performing the assignment evaluation of the feeling of approaching the user.

The assignment evaluating unit 35 shown in fig. 1 has the following functions: the weighting factor R corresponding to each call stored in the weighting factor storage unit 34 is appropriately changed on the condition of the above-described operation mode, the specific layer such as glass, the installation layer of the HDC/up/down button, and the like. In addition to the distribution evaluation unit 35, the group management control device 30 may be provided with a coefficient change unit that changes the weighting coefficient R.

Hereinafter, the process of changing the weighting coefficient R will be described by taking the operation mode as an example.

Fig. 15 is a flowchart showing a process of changing the weighting factor according to the operation mode. Further, the processing shown in this flowchart is executed instead of step 15 of fig. 8.

Now, as the operation modes switched according to the time period, an on-duty mode, an off-duty mode, a lunch mode, and a normal mode are assumed. A switching signal to be set to an operation mode during elevator operation is input to the assignment evaluating unit 35.

When the call to be processed is an up-down call, the assignment evaluation unit 35 confirms the current operation mode. As a result, in the working mode (yes in step S51), the assignment evaluation unit 35 sets the weighting factor R for the boarding time for the up-and-down call to 0.1, and reduces the evaluation of the boarding time (step S63).

In addition, in the case of the off-duty mode (step S52: YES), the assignment evaluation unit 35 changes the value of the weighting coefficient R in accordance with the relationship between the departure floor and the departure direction (destination direction) of the call. That is, as described with reference to fig. 10, if there is a departure reference floor in the departure direction from the departure floor of the call (yes in step S56), the assignment evaluation unit 35 sets the weighting factor R for the boarding time for the up-and-down call to 0.4, and evaluates the boarding time in the same manner as the destination call (step S62). On the other hand, if there is no starting reference floor in the outgoing direction from the starting floor of the call (no in step S56), the assignment evaluation unit 35 decreases the weighting coefficient R for the boarding time for the up-and-down call to 0.1 (step S66).

Similarly to the lunch mode (step S53: YES), the assignment evaluating unit 35 changes the value of the weighting coefficient R in accordance with the relationship between the departure floor and the departure direction of the call. In this case, as described with reference to fig. 11, if there is a lobby floor in the departure direction from the departure floor of the call (yes in step S54), the assignment evaluation unit 35 evaluates the boarding time in the same manner as the destination call by setting the weighting factor R for the boarding time for the up-and-down call to 0.4 (step S68).

On the other hand, if there is no lunch floor in the departure direction from the departure floor of the call (no in step S54), the assignment evaluation unit 35 decreases the weighting coefficient R for the boarding time for the up-and-down call to 0.1 (step S57).

In the normal time mode (no in step S53), when the assignment evaluation unit 35 has a departure reference floor in the departure direction from the departure floor of the call (yes in step S55), the assignment evaluation unit 35 sets the weighting factor R for the boarding time for the up-and-down call to 0.3 (step S60). If there is no departure reference floor in the departure direction from the departure floor of the call (no in step S55), the assignment evaluation unit 35 sets the weighting coefficient R for the boarding time for the up-down call to 0.1 (step S59).

In the example of fig. 15, the weighting coefficient R for the up-down call is described, but the destination call and the car call are as shown in fig. 16. As shown in fig. 17, the operation mode is switched according to the day of the week and the time period.

By appropriately changing the weighting coefficient R in accordance with the time zone, the structure of the building, the service performance requested by the user, and the like, the optimum assigned car in accordance with the situation at that time can be selected and responded.

(c) Learning function of weighting coefficient

The learning unit 38 shown in fig. 1 has the following functions: during the operation of the elevator, it is determined whether or not a derived car call (assumed to go to a floor) found by estimating an up-down call is the same as a going floor of a car call registered after actually responding to the up-down call. The assignment evaluating unit 35 receives the learning result of the learning unit 38, and increases the weighting coefficient R of the boarding time for the up-down call as the positive resolution of the derived car call becomes higher, that is, as the probability that the assumed boarding floor added to the up-down call matches the boarding floor of the car call becomes higher.

For example, as shown in fig. 18, the weighting coefficient R is changed in stages so that the positive rate is "80% or more", "50% or more and less than 80%", "30% or more and less than 50%", and "less than 30%". R = positive resolution × 0.5 may be used. However, the upper limit of the weighting coefficient R in this case is 0.4, and the lower limit thereof is 0.1.

The positive rate of resolution of the derived car call is counted in the form shown in fig. 19, for example, and is held in the learning unit 38 as a learning result. In addition, a plurality of car calls may be registered in response to one up-down call. In that case, for example, if the destination floor of the derived car call is included in the car calls, the solution is positive, and if the destination floor is not included in the car calls, the solution is not positive.

When a new up-down call is registered, data of the same day of the week, the same time period, and the same direction for the past month are acquired from the learning result, for example. The example of fig. 20 shows that in 2019, on day 5, month 23 (thursday) 08:15, an example in which data of the same day of the week, the same time period, and the same direction of the past month is acquired when the upward call is registered. From these data, the total value of the number of responses =138 and the total value of the number of positive solutions =45, and therefore, the positive solution rate is 33%. Therefore, for the above-described upward call, the assignment evaluation is performed with R =0.2 set according to fig. 18. In addition, when the number of responses is 0, a default value of, for example, 30% may be used as the positive resolution.

In the example of fig. 20, data of the same day of the week for the past month is counted, but data of different periods and types may be recorded and counted. For example, it may be assumed that data of festivals are excluded and recorded and counted, only for a weekday process.

The following describes a learning process of the weighting coefficient R.

Fig. 21 is a flowchart showing the learning process of the weighting coefficient R. In addition, the processing shown in the flowchart is executed by the learning unit 38 every time an up-down call is registered during the elevator operation unlike in fig. 8.

Now it is assumed that: an up-down call is registered by an up-down call registration device 11 provided at an arbitrary floor, and the assigned car responds to the departure floor (call registration floor) of the up-down call (step S101: yes). When a car call is registered at the departure floor of an up/down call (step S102: YES), the learning unit 38 judges whether or not the going floor of the car call matches the going floor (assumed going floor) of a derived car call obtained by estimating the up/down call (step S103). As a result, when the destination layers of both are identical (YES in step S103), the learning unit 38 counts as a positive solution (step S105). Specifically, the learning unit 38 counts up (+ 1) the number of responses and the number of positive solutions corresponding to the call shown in fig. 19.

On the other hand, when the destination floors of both are not matched and the response to the car call is completed, that is, when the assigned car completes the response to the up-down call and the door is completely closed (yes in step S104), the learning unit 38 counts the number as a non-positive solution (step S106). Specifically, the learning unit 38 counts up only the number of responses corresponding to the call shown in fig. 19 by one.

In this way, every time an up-down call is registered, a forward rate of a supposed going to a floor added to the up-down call as a derived car call is learned. As shown in fig. 18, the learning result is reflected in the weighting coefficient R of the boarding time for the up-down call to perform assignment evaluation, thereby balancing the evaluation values for the up-down call and the destination call. This improves the accuracy of assignment evaluation in the hybrid DCS, and can further improve the group management capability.

According to at least one embodiment described above, it is possible to provide an elevator group management system capable of performing an optimal assignment evaluation for up-down calls and destination calls in a hybrid DCS to improve group management performance.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These new embodiments can be implemented in various other ways, and various omissions, substitutions, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and spirit of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Claims (8)

1. A group management system for elevators, which is provided with a 1 st registration device for registering an up-down call at an elevator riding place and a 2 nd registration device for registering a destination call at the elevator riding place, is characterized by comprising:

a 1 st conversion unit which adds information on an assumed destination floor to the up/down call registered by the 1 st registration device and converts the up/down call into a format of the destination call;

an operation prediction unit which predicts a waiting time and an elevator riding time when the up-down call converted by the 1 st conversion unit is allocated to each elevator car, and predicts a waiting time and an elevator riding time when the destination call is allocated to each elevator car; and

and an assignment evaluation unit that calculates an evaluation value when the up-down call or the destination call is assigned to each car based on the waiting time and the boarding time obtained by the operation prediction unit, and evaluates the up-down call and the destination call by changing a weighting coefficient for the boarding time.

2. Group management system of elevators according to claim 1,

the weighting coefficient of the boarding time for the up-and-down call is smaller than the weighting coefficient of the boarding time for the destination call.

3. The group management system for elevators according to claim 1, comprising:

a 3 rd registration device for registering a car call of a user in the car; and

a 2 nd conversion unit which adds information on a departure floor of the car to the car call registered by the 3 rd registration device and converts the car call into a format of the destination call,

the operation prediction unit calculates a waiting time of the car call converted by the 2 nd conversion unit as a waiting time of the up-down call in which a response is made immediately before the car, and calculates an elevator boarding time of the car call as a predetermined time from registration of the car call until landing of a user on a landing, or a predetermined time from response of the car on a departure floor until landing of the user on the landing.

4. Group management system of elevators according to claim 3,

the above-mentioned distribution evaluation unit is provided with,

evaluating the car call using a weighting factor different from the up-down call and the destination call,

the weighting coefficient of the boarding time for the car call is set to be equal to or smaller than the weighting coefficient of the boarding time for the destination call.

5. Group management system of elevators according to claim 1,

the allocation evaluation unit increases the weighting factor of the boarding time for the up-down call when the probability that the assumed boarding floor added to the up-down call matches the boarding floor determined according to the operation mode of the elevator is high.

6. Group management system of elevators according to claim 1,

the assignment evaluation unit switches to a weighting factor that gives priority to waiting time when the up-down call or the destination call includes a specific layer as a departure layer.

7. Group management system of elevators according to claim 1,

further comprises a learning unit for learning the accuracy of the assumed destination floor added to the up/down call,

the assignment evaluating unit changes a weighting coefficient of the boarding time for the up-and-down call based on the accuracy learned by the learning unit,

the accuracy is a probability that the destination floor matches the destination floor to which the car to which the up-down call is assigned actually traveled.

8. Group management system of elevators according to claim 7,

the assignment evaluation unit increases the weighting factor of the boarding time for the up-and-down call when the accuracy after learning by the learning unit is high.

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