CN116395520A

CN116395520A - Elevator group management device and elevator group management method

Info

Publication number: CN116395520A
Application number: CN202211570093.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 根本龙太郎
Original assignee: Toshiba Elevator Co Ltd
Current assignee: Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp
Priority date: 2022-01-04
Filing date: 2022-12-08
Publication date: 2023-07-07
Also published as: JP2023099893A

Abstract

An elevator group management device and an elevator group management method. The embodiment of the invention relates to an elevator group management device for managing actions of a plurality of elevators. The present invention provides an elevator group management device with high running efficiency without causing crowded weight between a low-rise elevator car and a high-rise elevator car. The elevator group management device of the present embodiment includes: a traffic demand determination unit that determines whether or not traffic demand for calls to the registered layers and directions of the layers exceeds the transport capacity; an operation mode selection unit that selects a normal mode in which all layers are allocated or a division mode in which all layers are divided into areas and allocated; and a group management control unit that performs control so as to allocate all layers or so as to allocate any one of the areas by dividing the plurality of areas.

Description

Elevator group management device and elevator group management method

The present application is based on japanese patent application 2022-000068 filed on 1/4 of 2022, enjoying priority of the application. This application is hereby incorporated by reference into this application in its entirety.

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to an elevator group management device and an elevator group management method for uniformly managing the actions of a plurality of elevators (cabs).

Background

In general, a hall call button is provided in a hall of each floor of a building (building) in which an elevator is provided. When a passenger of the elevator operates the hall call button, the car responds to the registered floor of the hall call. When a passenger gets into the car and operates a destination floor button of the car operating panel, the destination floor is registered, and the car moves to the destination floor.

In recent years, a hall destination floor registration system (DCS: destination Control System) which is installed in a main door of a building and can register a destination floor of an elevator in advance has been put into practical use. In this hall destination floor registration system, a passenger registers a destination floor through an operation panel such as a button or a touch panel. Such an elevator system includes, for example, a plurality of car, and an optimal car is allocated from among the plurality of cars based on a destination floor registered by operating the destination floor registration device. Thus, the passengers can ride on the assigned car and move to the destination without registering the destination in the car. In this elevator system, passengers at each destination floor designated in the hall can be carried by the same car and conveyed as intensively as possible, and the number of stops of the car is reduced, so that the time taken for the car to travel back and forth from the reference floor to return to the reference floor can be shortened, the conveying capacity can be enhanced strongly, and the waiting time of the passengers can be shortened. However, even in the DCS, when there is a demand exceeding the conveying capacity and there is no newly allocated car, countermeasures such as not newly receiving a registration of a hall destination call are required. In addition, as a technique for avoiding such limitation, when traffic demand is excessive, a technique of "area division operation" control is used in which a service layer is divided into a plurality of areas and is responded to, to improve the transport capacity.

Disclosure of Invention

However, when the degree of congestion of passengers and the balance of the number of passengers (traffic volume) in the divided areas of the elevator are different depending on the week and the time zone, it is not always possible to obtain the service of the elevator with high operation efficiency.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an elevator group management device and an elevator group management method that have high operation efficiency and high transport capacity, and that do not cause a large imbalance between a low-rise car and a high-rise car even when the balance between a passenger facing a high-rise area and a passenger facing a low-rise area changes, for example.

In order to solve the above-described problems, an elevator group management device according to an embodiment controls an elevator system including a plurality of car and a hall destination floor registration device for registering a passenger in a destination floor. The elevator group management device is provided with a traffic demand determination unit, an operation mode selection unit, and a group management control unit. The traffic demand determination unit determines whether or not the traffic demand for hall calls, which are hall calls to be registered to each floor and to the registration direction from a reference floor that is the installation floor of the hall destination floor registration device, exceeds the transport capacity, based on the destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device. The operation mode selection unit generates and outputs a control mode signal for selecting either one of a normal control mode and a divided control mode based on the determination result of the traffic demand determination unit, wherein the normal control mode controls each car so as to allocate all floors, and the divided control mode controls each car so as to divide all floors or a predetermined plurality of floors into a plurality of areas in a flowing manner and allocate any one of the divided areas. The group management control unit controls each car so as to assign all floors based on the control mode signal output from the operation mode selection unit, or controls each car so as to divide all floors or a predetermined plurality of floors into a plurality of areas in a flowing manner and assign any one of the divided areas.

According to the elevator group management device configured as described above, the weight bias between the divided areas can be reduced, and therefore the operation efficiency and the conveying ability can be improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an elevator system 100 including an elevator group management device 20 according to embodiment 1 and its peripheral components.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the elevator apparatus 10 of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of an elevator hall 120 provided with the plurality of elevator apparatuses 10 of fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an elevator group management process executed by the elevator group management device 20 of fig. 1.

Fig. 5 (a) is a schematic diagram illustrating the arrangement of the divided areas in the division control mode of the elevator group management device 20 in fig. 1, and (b) is a schematic diagram illustrating the arrangement of the divided areas in the modification of the division control mode of the elevator group management device 20.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following modifications, the same reference numerals are given to the same components, and the description thereof will be omitted.

Embodiment 1

The elevator group management device 20 according to embodiment 1 is called, for example, a destination floor control system (DCS: destination Control System), and has a function of performing group management control by dividing the operation of a plurality of car(s) 7 (i.e., each car) into a plurality of areas so as to flow all floors of a building and assigning any one of the areas to each car(s) 7, and by assigning an optimal area from among the plurality of car(s) 7 based on the destination floor registered in the hall destination floor registration device 13, the lifting operation of the car(s) 7 is controlled, whereby the efficient operation of the elevator system can be achieved. Here, "fluidly divided into a plurality of regions" means that the number of sharing layers and the number of sharing layers of each divided region are not fixed, but are variable, respectively. With this configuration, the weight offset between the divided regions can be reduced, and therefore the running efficiency and the transportation capability can be improved.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an elevator system 100 including an elevator group management device 20 according to embodiment 1 and its peripheral components. In fig. 1, an elevator system 100 includes: an elevator apparatus 10 disposed inside a plurality of elevator passages L provided in a building such as a commercial facility or a living facility; an elevator group management device 20 that performs group management control for 6 car 7 shown by the machines a to F; a hall call button 12 for a passenger to call the car 7 in each floor and direction in each hall of each floor; and a hall destination floor registration device 13 provided in a hall of each floor of an elevator, an entrance of a building, or the like, in which a passenger registers a destination floor in advance, and guides (notifies) the passenger to the hall of the elevator assigned to the passenger. Here, the passenger presses the hall call button 12 in each floor and direction to register hall calls, and moves the car 7 to the registered floor (registered floor) and the registered direction (registered direction). In the present embodiment, 6 cars 7 are described as an example for convenience, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of cars 7 other than this may be provided.

In the hall destination floor registration device 13 of fig. 1, the passenger presses a plurality of destination floor buttons (number keys) to register the destination floors of the passengers. The plurality of destination floor buttons (number keys) correspond to the plurality of destination floors that can be registered in the hall destination floor registration device 13, respectively. Here, the hall destination floor registration device 13 is provided in a hall of each floor of an elevator or a main door of a building (building) (for example, an entrance from an above-ground floor or a station directly to a floor in the building, or the like). The hall destination floor registration device 13 further includes a display monitor composed of, for example, LED (light emitting diode), LCD (liquid crystal display), OELD (organic electroluminescent display), and displays the car 7 (any one of the a to F machines) on which passengers registered in the destination floor can ride.

The hall destination floor registration device 13 may be a device capable of reading data relating to a floor of an office of a passenger from a security card such as an identification card and a pass held by the passenger in a contact or non-contact manner. The reading means may be configured by another biometric authentication system, a voice input system, or the like, as long as the system is capable of automatically registering a floor where a passenger gets off an elevator.

Elevator of fig. 1 the apparatus 10 includes: the elevator is composed of a driving device 4 having a lifting motor 2 and a pulley 3, a car 7 and a counterweight 6 which are suspended by a wire rope 5 hung on the pulley 3 and lifted in a lifting path L by the driving force of the lifting motor 2, and a platform control device 1 for controlling the running of the car 7 of each machine by a single body.

The elevator group management device 20 of fig. 1 includes a traffic demand determination unit 21, a storage unit 22 the operation mode selecting unit 23 and the group management control unit 24.

The traffic demand determination unit 21 in fig. 1 calculates traffic demand for hall calls from the reference floors, which are the installation floors of the hall destination floor registration device 13, to the respective floors and the hall call in the registration direction based on the destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device 13, and determines whether or not the calculated traffic demand exceeds the transport capacity. Specifically, the traffic demand determination unit 21 determines that the traffic demand is within the transportation capability range when the number of assignable persons that can be accommodated in the plurality of passenger cars of the reference floor provided with the hall destination floor registration device 13 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and transmits a signal to the operation mode selection unit so that the operation mode selection unit 23 selects the normal control mode, and determines that the traffic demand exceeds the transportation capability when the number of assignable persons is greater than the predetermined threshold value, and transmits a signal to the operation mode selection unit 23 so that the operation mode selection unit 23 selects the division control mode.

According to this configuration, it is possible to detect whether or not the traffic demand for hall calls in the registration floor and the registration direction exceeds the conveying capability based on the traffic demand information registered by each passenger from the hall destination floor registration device 13, and therefore it is possible to quickly and highly accurately detect whether or not the traffic demand for hall calls in the registration floor and the registration direction exceeds the conveying capability. Further, the necessary and sufficient information can be obtained directly on the basis of capturing the characteristics of the riding conditions which are the basis for detecting the traffic demand.

The traffic demand determination unit 21 in fig. 1 outputs traffic demand information for hall calls, which are hall calls to be registered to each floor and registered directions from a reference floor that is a floor where the hall destination floor registration device 13 is installed, to the storage unit 22 based on the destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device 13.

The operation mode selection unit 23 in fig. 1 generates a control mode signal for selecting any one of a normal control mode for controlling each of the cars 7 so as to be assigned to all the floors and a divided control mode for controlling each of the cars so as to be assigned to any one of the divided areas by dividing all the floors into a plurality of areas in a flowing manner based on the determination result of the traffic demand determination unit 21, and outputs the control mode signal to the group management control unit 24. Here, the normal control mode refers to a control mode as follows: the operation of a plurality of car 7 is controlled so that all floors of a building are allocated to each car 7, and a registered destination floor is allocated to any car 7 to which the destination floor is allocated. The split control mode is a control mode as follows: the operation of the plurality of car 7 is controlled so that all floors of the building are divided into a plurality of areas in a fluidized manner, and each car 7 is assigned to any one of the areas, and the registered destination floor is assigned to any one of the car 7 to which the destination floor is assigned.

The storage unit 22 stores a use condition database indicating the use condition of the elevator in the past, based on destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device 13. The storage unit 22 stores traffic demands between layers for each week and each time zone for each layer and direction as a usage status database. That is, the usage status database is configured by, for example, information such as the number of passengers (the number of registers in the destination layer) indicating traffic demands between layers in each week and each time zone. Here, the time period may include not only time (time, minute, second, etc.), but also information such as month and season. The storage unit 22 includes a nonvolatile recording medium such as a hard disk (HDD), a flash memory, and a Solid State Drive (SSD), and may be any type as long as it is a nonvolatile recording medium.

The group management control unit 24 in fig. 1 assigns hall calls in the registration layer and the registration direction to each car 7 or each divided area based on the control mode signal output from the operation mode selection unit 23. That is, the group management control unit 24 controls the cars 7 to be assigned to all floors based on the control mode signal output from the operation mode selection unit 23, or controls the cars to be assigned to any one of the divided areas by dividing all floors into a plurality of areas in a flowing manner. When receiving the control mode signal indicating the division control mode, the group management control unit 24 learns the demand for interlayer traffic constituting each week and each time zone based on the use condition database stored in the storage unit 22, and allocates the sharing layer and the sharing layer number of each divided area so that the demand for the user of each divided area becomes uniform.

According to this configuration, the degree of congestion of the passengers and the weight of the passengers between the divided areas can be avoided in advance based on the past use condition database, and therefore the running efficiency and the transportation capacity can be improved.

The group management control unit 24 in fig. 1 further controls the destination floor registration device 13 so that the car 7 (any one of the a-F machines) on which the passenger registered in the destination floor can ride is displayed on the display monitor of the destination floor registration device 13 based on the control mode signal output from the operation mode selection unit 23. That is, the car 7 to which the divided area including the destination floor of the passenger is allocated is extracted based on the destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device 13, and the extracted car 7 is guided and displayed on the display monitor.

With this configuration, the passenger can immediately move to the front of the car 7 displayed on the display without having to search for the front of which car 7 is to be moved (without consciousness), and therefore can effectively move to the hall to which the car 7 registered for hall call responds by merely registering the destination floor in the hall destination floor registration device 13.

In fig. 1, the deck control device 1 is connected to a driving device 4 provided for each car 7, and controls the driving device 4 based on a control signal from the group management control unit 31 to move the car 7 upward or downward toward a floor (registered floor) where hall calls are registered.

The hall call button 12 registers the floor and direction in which the car 7 is called in response to the passenger operating the hall call button 12, generates a signal indicating that there is a hall call, and sends the signal to the group management control unit 31. The group management control unit 24 receives a signal indicating that there is a hall call from the hall call button 12, assigns the best car 7 to the hall call in the registration floor and the registration direction based on the received signal, and moves the car 7 to the registration floor. That is, the group management control unit 24 performs allocation control of the car 7 for each car based on the signal from the hall call button 12. The number of cars 7 allocated to hall calls (the number of allocated cars) may be 2 or more, and the number of allocated cars may be determined in advance. The number of the components may be different depending on conditions such as the week or the time zone. Further, the group management control unit 24 receives the command signal from the operation mode selection unit 23, generates a control signal for controlling the dispatch stations for hall calls assigned to the registration layer and the registration direction based on the command signal, and transmits the control signal to the station control device 1.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the elevator apparatus 10 of fig. 1. In fig. 2, the direction opposite to the gravity direction is referred to as a Z axis, and 2 axes forming a plane orthogonal to the Z axis are referred to as X and Y axes. The elevator apparatus 10 of fig. 2 includes: the car 7, the counterweight 6, the driving device 4 having the lifting motor 2 and the pulley 3, the guide rails 50, 51, 52, 53, and the table control device 1.

In fig. 2, in a coordinate system having mutually orthogonal X, Y and Z axes, each of the guide rails 50 to 53 is constituted by a member in the Z axis direction in a direction opposite to the gravitational direction. The guide rails 50, 51 are constituted by a pair of members for guiding the car 7 to be movable up and down. The guide rails 52 and 53 are formed of a pair of members for guiding the counterweight 6 to be movable up and down. The guide rail 50 and the guide rail 51 are arranged apart in the Y-axis direction perpendicular to the Z-axis. Similarly, the guide rail 52 and the guide rail 53 are disposed apart from each other in the Y-axis direction. In fig. 2, the guide rails 52, 53 of the counterweight 6 are arranged apart from the guide rails 50, 51 of the car 7 in the X-axis direction. The arrangement of the guide rails 50 to 53 is not limited to the arrangement shown in fig. 2.

The car 7 in fig. 2 accommodates a passenger and moves up and down in the elevator shaft L. The car 7 is disposed between the guide rails 50, 51 and is attached so as to be movable in the up-down direction relative to the guide rails 50, 51. An opening 7b for entering and exiting the interior is formed in the +x side surface of the car 7. The opening 7b is closed or opened by a pair of doors 7a that move along the side surfaces of the car 7.

The counterweight 6 of fig. 2 is attached to be movable in the up-down direction with respect to the guide rails 52, 53. The weight of the counterweight 6 is adjusted to a predetermined ratio with respect to the weight of the car 7.

The lifting motor 2 in fig. 2 is a lifting motor for lifting and lowering the car 7. The lift motor 2 is disposed above the lift path L such that the rotation axis is parallel to the Y axis. A pulley 3 is fixed to a rotation shaft of the lifting motor 2. A wire rope 5 is wound around a pulley (drive sheave) 3 of the lifting motor 2 in fig. 2. One end of the wire rope 5 is fixed on the car 7, and the other end of the wire rope 5 is fixed on the counterweight 6.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of an elevator hall 120 provided with the plurality of elevator apparatuses 10 of fig. 2. An operation panel 41 for registering the destination floor and opening and closing the door 7a is provided in the car 7. A car calling panel 43 for calling the car 7 is provided on the wall of the elevator hall 120. Here, the "car call" refers to a call signal registered by an operation of a destination call button of the operation panel 41 provided in the car 7, and includes information of a destination floor. The hall 120 is further provided with the hall destination floor registration device 13 of fig. 1.

Next, the operation of the elevator group management device 20 according to embodiment 1 will be described.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an elevator group management process executed by the elevator group management device 20 of fig. 1. The elevator group management device 20 executes the process shown in the flowchart of fig. 4 at regular time intervals or at predetermined time intervals. In fig. 4, based on the destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device 13, a use condition database indicating past use conditions of traffic demand information for hall calls, which are hall calls to the registration floors and the registration directions of the respective floors from the reference floor as the installation floor of the hall destination floor registration device 13, is stored (step S101), and the process proceeds to the next step S102.

In fig. 4, in step S102, based on the destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device 13, traffic demand for hall calls that are hall calls to the registration floors and the registration directions of the floors from the reference floor that is the installation floor of the hall destination floor registration device 13 is calculated based on the destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device 13, and it is determined whether or not the calculated traffic demand exceeds the conveying capacity (step S103). In step S103, when the number of assignable persons that can be accommodated in the plurality of car bodies of the reference floor provided with the hall destination floor registration device 13 is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value, the traffic demand determination unit 21 determines that the traffic demand is within the transportation capability range, and a signal is sent to the operation mode selection unit 23 so that the operation mode selection unit 23 selects the normal control mode (no in step S103), and the process proceeds to the next step S104.

In step S104, the group management control unit 24 controls each car 7 in the normal control mode for controlling the cars to be assigned to all floors based on the control mode signal from the operation mode selection unit 23, and ends the elevator group management process.

In step S103, when the assignable person number is greater than the predetermined threshold, the traffic demand determining unit 21 determines that the traffic demand exceeds the transportation capability, and if it determines that the traffic demand exceeds the transportation capability, the operation mode selecting unit 23 sends a signal to the operation mode selecting unit 23 so that the operation mode selecting unit 23 selects the division control mode (yes in step S103), and the process proceeds to the next step S105.

In step S105, the group management control unit 24 learns the demand for inter-floor traffic for each week and time zone based on the usage status database stored in the storage unit 22, and controls the allocation layer and the allocation layer number of each divided area so that the demand for the user for each divided area becomes uniform and so that any one of the divided areas is allocated to each car 7 (step S106), thereby ending the elevator group management process.

Fig. 5 (a) is a schematic diagram illustrating the arrangement of the divided areas in the division control mode in the elevator group management device 20 of fig. 1. In the normal control mode in the elevator group management device 20 of fig. 1, each car 7 can be assigned to all of the floors 1 to 9, and a new destination floor call can be assigned to any of the cars 7 of the machines a to F. In contrast, as shown in fig. 5 (a), in the case of the division control mode in the elevator group management device 20 of fig. 1, the group management control unit 24 learns the inter-floor traffic demand for each of the weeks and the time zones based on the use condition database stored in the storage unit 22, learns the user demand for each of the divided areas, determines the sharing layer and the sharing layer number of each of the divided areas so that the user demand for each of the divided areas becomes uniform, and controls the allocation of any one of the divided areas to each of the car 7. For example, as will be readily understood with reference to fig. 5 (a), the group management control unit 24 is configured to determine the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 2 floors, the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 3 floors to 20 floors, the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 4 floors to 30 floors, based on the utilization condition database (number of passengers) related to the inter-floor traffic demand (number of passengers) for a certain period of time (for example, 8:00 to 9:00 as a working period, 12:00 to 13:00 as a noon break period, 17:00 to 18:00 as a working period, etc.), the number of passengers moving from floor 1 to floor 5 is 20, the number of passengers moving from floor 1 to floor 6 is 35, the number of passengers moving from floor 1 to floor 7 is 30, the number of passengers moving from floor 1 to floor 8 is 15, and the number of passengers moving from floor 1 to floor 9 is 10), the control is performed in such a manner that the zones of floors 1 and 7 to 9 are allocated to the machines a and B, the control is performed in such a manner that the zones of floors 1 and 5 to 6 are allocated to the machines C and D, and the control is performed in such a manner that the zones of floors 1 to 4 are allocated to the machines E and F. Thus, if the region is divided, the number of users in each divided region is 55, and the user demand becomes uniform. Then, the group management control unit 24 assigns a new destination floor call to any one of the cars 7 of the a-car to the F-car, which is assigned a zone including the destination floor indicated by the destination floor call. That is, the group management control unit 24 controls to assign any one of the divided areas to each car 7.

According to the elevator group management device 20 of the present embodiment described above, it is possible to detect whether or not the traffic demand for hall calls in the registration floor and the registration direction exceeds the conveying capacity based on the traffic demand information registered by each passenger from the hall destination floor registration device 13, so that it is possible to quickly and highly accurately detect whether or not the traffic demand for hall calls in the registration floor and the registration direction exceeds the conveying capacity. Further, the necessary and sufficient information can be obtained directly from the characteristics of the riding conditions, which are the basis for detecting the traffic demand.

Further, according to the elevator group management device 20 of the present embodiment, the degree of congestion of passengers and the weight of passengers in the divided areas can be avoided in advance based on the past use condition database, and therefore the operation efficiency and the transportation capability of the elevator can be improved.

Further, according to the elevator group management device 20 of the present embodiment, since the sharing floor and the sharing floor number are determined so that the service performance of the elevator in each divided area becomes uniform according to the result of learning, for example, it is unnecessary to adjust the allocation machine or the like to determine the sharing floor and the sharing floor number of each divided area by detecting the length of the waiting queue, and thus it is unnecessary to provide a weight sensor, an infrared sensor, or the like to detect the flow of passengers, the length of the waiting queue, or the like, for example, and thus the elevator system can be simplified.

Modification 1

In the above embodiment, the operation mode selection unit 23 is configured to control so as to divide all the floors into a plurality of areas and to allocate any one of the divided areas to each car. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and for example, the operation mode selection unit 23 may be configured to control so as to divide a predetermined plurality of floors among all floors into a plurality of areas and to allocate any one of the divided areas to each car 7. In this case, the same effects as those of the present embodiment can be obtained. Further, the number of layers in each divided area can be further reduced as compared with the present embodiment, so that the weight of passengers between divided areas can be further reduced, and an elevator service with higher efficiency can be provided.

Modification 2

In the above embodiment, the divided areas are allocated to all the cars. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, the present invention may be configured such that all floors are allocated to one or more car 7, instead of the divided areas. For example, referring to fig. 5 (B), the group management control unit 24 is configured to determine the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 2 floors, the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 3 floors, and the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 4 floors to 20 floors based on a utilization condition database (number of passengers) related to inter-floor traffic demand (number of passengers) in a certain time zone (for example, 8 to 9 points as a working time zone, 12 to 13 points as a noon break time zone, 17 to 18 points as a working time zone, etc., the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 5 floors is 20, the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 6 floors is 10, the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 7 floors is 10, the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 8 floors is 10, the number of passengers moving from 1 floor to 9 floors is 30), the control is performed in such a manner that the zones of 1 floor and 8 floor to 9 floors are allocated to the machine a and the machine B, the control is performed in such a manner that the zones of 1 floor and 5 floor to 7 floor are allocated to the machine C and the machine D, and the control is performed in such a manner that the zones of 1 floor to 4 floor are allocated to the machine E. Thus, if the division is performed, the number of users in each divided area is 40, and the user demand becomes uniform. Then, the group management control unit 24 assigns a new destination floor call to any one of the cars 7 in the areas including the destination floor indicated by the destination floor call, and the F car assigns all floors. In this case, the same effects as those of the present embodiment can be obtained. Further, since the car 7 capable of distributing the floors where the number of users increases sharply is provided, the weight of passengers in the divided areas can be further reduced, and the elevator service with higher efficiency can be provided. According to this configuration, even when a group (20 passengers) moving to 9 floors suddenly uses an elevator, the F-number machine can transport the group guests to 9 floors. Therefore, the weight of passengers between divided areas can be further reduced, and more efficient elevator service can be provided.

Modification 3

In the above embodiment, the number of passengers moving between floors in each week and each time zone is learned as the user demand, and the sharing layer number of each divided area are determined so that the user demand of each divided area becomes uniform. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, the average unresponsive time as an elevator group may be calculated, and the sharing layer number of each divided area may be determined using the calculated average unresponsive time. In this case, the same effects as those of the present embodiment can be obtained. Here, the "non-response time" refers to the time from the start of a call generated by the hall call button operation of the elevator to the arrival of the car in response to the call, and the "average non-response time" refers to the average of non-response times associated with hall calls generated within a predetermined period.

Modification 4

In the above embodiment, the traffic demand between floors in each week and each time zone is calculated as the use condition database by using the information registered by the passenger from the hall destination floor registration device 13. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the present invention may be configured to calculate the traffic demand between floors of each week and each time zone by adding data as a use condition database, for example, data (information) generated based on the operation of the hall call button 12 for a passenger to call the car 7 in each floor and direction, the destination call button of the operation panel 41 provided in the car 7, and data related to the number of passengers moving between floors, which is measured by a weight sensor, an infrared sensor, or the like capable of measuring the weight in the car. In this case, the same effects as those of the present embodiment can be obtained. Further, since the traffic demand can be calculated with higher accuracy than in the present embodiment, the weight of passengers in the divided areas can be further reduced, and the service of the elevator with higher efficiency can be provided.

Modification 5

In the above embodiment, the sharing layer and the sharing layer number of each divided area are configured to be distributed so that the user demand of each divided area becomes uniform, using the use condition database indicating the use condition of the elevator in the past. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and for example, the present invention may be configured to learn "the number of people in the hall, which has moved on the day, obtained by learning" as a future need from the number of people in the hall for each week and each time zone, and to distribute the sharing layer and the sharing layer number of each divided area so that the user needs of each divided area become uniform. In this case, the same effects as those of the present embodiment can be obtained. Further, the number of layers in each divided area can be further reduced as compared with the present embodiment, so that the weight of passengers between divided areas can be further reduced, and an elevator service with higher efficiency can be provided.

Modification 6

In the above embodiment, the sharing layer and the sharing layer number of each divided area are configured to be distributed so that the user demand of each divided area becomes uniform at regular time intervals or at predetermined time intervals. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be configured so that the allocation of the shared layer and the number of shared layers of each divided area is not changed during movement in a predetermined divided control mode, for example. In this case, the same effects as those of the present embodiment can be obtained. Further, in comparison with the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the destination floor of the moving passenger from being included in the changed divided area, and the moving passenger can move to the destination floor without any uncomfortable feeling.

While certain embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are given by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other modes, 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 gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the scope of equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. An elevator group management device controls an elevator system including a plurality of elevator cars and a hall destination floor registration device for registering a destination floor for a passenger,

the elevator group management device is characterized by comprising:

a traffic demand determination unit that determines whether or not a traffic demand for hall calls, which are hall calls to be registered to each floor and to a registration direction from a reference floor that is a floor where the hall destination floor registration device is installed, exceeds a transport capacity, based on destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device; and

an operation mode selection unit that generates and outputs a control mode signal for selecting either a normal control mode for controlling each car so as to allocate all floors, or a division control mode for controlling each car so as to divide all floors or a predetermined plurality of floors into a plurality of areas in a flowing manner and to allocate any one of the divided areas, based on a determination result of the traffic demand determination unit; and

and a group management control unit that controls each car so as to be assigned to all floors based on the control mode signal output from the operation mode selection unit, or controls each car so as to be divided into a plurality of areas so that all floors or a predetermined plurality of floors are flown, and assigns any one of the divided areas to each car.

2. The elevator group management device of claim 1, wherein,

further comprising a storage unit for storing a use condition database indicating the use condition of the past elevator based on destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device,

the group management control unit learns the inter-layer traffic demand for each week and each time zone based on the utilization status database stored in the storage unit, and assigns the sharing layer and the sharing layer number of each divided area so that the user demand for each divided area becomes uniform.

3. Elevator group management device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that,

when the number of assignable persons that can be accommodated in the plurality of car floors of the reference floor registration device for the hall destination is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the traffic demand determination unit determines that the traffic demand is within a transportation capability range, and transmits a signal to the operation mode selection unit so that the operation mode selection unit selects the normal control mode, and when the number of assignable persons is greater than the predetermined threshold value, the traffic demand determination unit determines that the traffic demand exceeds the transportation capability, and transmits a signal to the operation mode selection unit so that the operation mode selection unit selects the division control mode.

4. Elevator group management device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that,

the destination registering device includes a display for display,

the group management control unit extracts the car assigned with the divided area including the destination floor of the passenger based on the destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device, and guides and displays the extracted car on the display.

5. The elevator group management device of claim 2, wherein,

the storage unit stores traffic demands between layers of each week and each time zone in each layer and direction as the usage status database.

6. An elevator group management method for controlling an elevator group management device of an elevator system having a plurality of elevator cars and a hall destination floor registration device for registering a passenger in a destination floor,

the elevator group management method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

determining whether traffic demand for hall calls from a reference floor as a setting floor of the hall destination floor registration device to a registered floor of each floor and a hall call in a registered direction exceeds a conveying capacity based on destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device;

based on the determination result of the traffic demand determination unit, a control mode signal is generated and output, the control mode signal selecting either a normal control mode that controls each car so as to allocate all floors, or a predetermined plurality of floors, to be divided into a plurality of areas in a flowing manner, and a divided control mode that controls each car so as to allocate any one of the divided areas; and

based on the control mode signal outputted from the operation mode selection unit, the control is performed so that all floors are allocated to each car, or so that all floors or a predetermined plurality of floors are divided into a plurality of areas in a flowing manner, and any one of the divided areas is allocated to each car.

7. The elevator group management method of claim 6, wherein,

the method also comprises the following steps:

storing a utilization condition database indicating utilization conditions of past elevators based on destination call registration information from the hall destination floor registration device,

the control of assigning any one of the divided areas to each car includes learning the traffic demand between the floors of each week and each time zone based on the stored usage status database, and assigning the sharing layer and the sharing layer number of each divided area so that the user demand of each divided area becomes uniform.