DK2703329T3 - Elevator - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a lift, in particular an external lift according to the preamble of claim 1. Such a lift is, for example, known from JP10-182034.

External lifts are, for example, used on building sites to transport persons and material to the upper floors of the building being built or renovated.

Such external lifts generally feature a guideway which is fixed to one of the walls of the building and thus generally extends in a vertical direction. The guideway consists of one or two mast towers to which a lift car is attached in such a way that it can travel. The lift car carries the persons or goods which are to be transported.

The mast towers thus serve to guide the movement of the lift car, whereby these may also represent a part of the drive train. As a rule, at least one of the mast towers is provided with at least one rack which extends in a longitudinal axial direction of the guideway and with which a pinion of an electrical lift drive engages. In such lifts, the lift drive is thus housed in the region of the lift car and is, accordingly, moved along with the lift car.

Because of the not inconsiderable power of the lift drive of such lifts, these are, virtually without exception, supplied with electrical energy by means of a cable. In the case of a lift drive which is moved with the lift car, the cable must therefore be of sufficient length in order to permit the lift car to be moved to its highest position on the guideway. However, many lifts reach heights on the guideway of up to several hundred metres, which imposes demanding requirements in terms of the storage and guidance of the cable. In particular, the cable must be stored safely in the vicinity of a ground station of the lift when the lift car is located in a position relatively low down on the guideway. In some cases, several hundred metres of cable must be stored in a space-saving manner in such a way that it is possible to lengthen or shorten the section of cable connecting the ground station with the lift car without any problem. It must be possible to perform such lengthening and shortening over numerous cycles without damaging the cable and without the cable becoming caught up or tangled. Moreover, an uncontrolled movement of the cable in the region of the ground station of the lift should be prevented.

In many cases, the cables are simply stored in more or less the same form in a round cable container, which is open at the top, also known as a cable tray.

It is also known, in particular in the case of lifts with a relatively high guideway, for so-called cable trolleys to be used, which are also guided on the guideway and which possess a pulley over which the cable is guided. The section of the cable coming from the ground station is fixed at around half the height of the guideway. The section between the fixing point and the lift car has a length which makes it possible for the lift car to reach the highest and lowest stopping positions on the guideway. The surplus section of the cable, depending on the distance between the fixing point and the lift car, is passed in a loop over the pulley of the cable trolley. The cable trolley is also guided on the guideway of the lift, always being positioned below the lift car and following its movement at half the speed. The cable trolley is thereby positioned directly below the lift car when this is located in the ground station and at around half the height of the guideway when the lift car has reached its highest position on the guideway. A disadvantage here is that the lift car has to stop in a raised position at its stopping point in the ground station in order to avoid colliding with the cable trolley below. The lift thus has to be loaded and unloaded over a comparatively high entry threshold.

Starting out from this prior art, the invention was based on the problem of describing an improved lift. In particular, a lift of this generic type was to be described in which the entry threshold is as low as possible.

This problem is solved by means of a lift according to the independent claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the lift according to the invention are the subject of the dependent claims and are derived from the following description of the invention.

The invention is based on the idea that, in a lift of the generic type, which cossesses (at least) one guideway, (at least) one lift car running up the guideway, (at least) one cable running along the guideway to the lift car and (at least) one cable trolley following the movement of the lift car with (at east) one deflecting apparatus over which the cable is passed, the entry threshold is to be lowered in that the cable trolley is not arranged beneath the lift car when the lift car is positioned in a ground station of the lift. Instead, according to the invention the lower end of the cable trolley is positioned at same height as or above the lower end of the lift car, which means that the sable trolley does not prevent the lift car from being lowered to its fullest axtent on the guideway. Then, a guiding mechanism of the cable trolley and/or the cable trolleys are advantageously at least partially arranged aetween the lift car and the guideway.

The solution, according to the invention, to the problem of lowering the entry :hreshold in a lift of the generic type can be achieved through virtually any design which prevents the lift car and cable trolley from colliding before the ift car has reached the desired lowest position on the guideway. Since, in the arior art, the guiding mechanisms (in particular roller guide mechanisms) of :he lift car and cable trolley, running on the same rails of the guideway, would generally collide, the solution according to the invention can, in particular, be achieved through the suitable arrangement and design of the guiding mechanisms. In particular, it is possible to arrange the (lower) guiding mechanism of the lift car so far above the lower end of the lift car that there is still space beneath this to accommodate the guiding mechanism of the cable :rolley or the entire cable trolley.. In addition, or alternatively, it is possible to nave the guiding mechanism of the cable trolley engage, at least partially, with other guide rails or with different sides of the same guide rails of the guideway than the guiding mechanism of the lift car, which also allows a collision of the two guiding mechanisms to be avoided.

In a preferred embodiment of the lift according to the invention, the guiding mechanism of the cable trolley can possess (at least) one U-shaped supporting frame with two parallel beams and a cross-beam connecting the parallel beams, wherein guide rollers are provided on the parallel beams, which roll on the guideway.

Also preferably, at least one of the parallel beams can possess (at least) one vertical beam extending in the longitudinal direction of the guideway with (at least) one guide roller. This allows a relatively great distance (in the longitudinal direction of the guideway) between the guide roller of the vertical beam and the other guide rollers of the guiding mechanism and therefore good tipping stability of the cable trolley to be realised, in particular if the guide roller of the vertical beam - in comparison with the other guide rollers of the guiding mechanism - is in contact with another guide rail or another side of the same guide rail.

Also, in a further preferable design of the lift according to the invention, the guiding mechanism of the cable trolley can be provided with a support beam with a gearwheel which meshes with a rack of the guideway. In addition, the support beam can also be provided with a guide roller which runs against the side of the rack opposite the gear teeth. The tipping stability of the cable trolley can be further increased through the support beam with gearwheel and guide roller, preferably extended in the longitudinal direction of the guideway. Naturally, the support beam can also be the vertical beam of the preferred embodiment described above. The gearwheel can also perform the function of the guide roller in the embodiment described above.

The invention is described in more detail in the following with reference to an exemplary embodiment represented in the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1: shows a perspective view of a lift according to the invention with the lift car in a position above the ground station;

Fig. 2: shows a perspective view of a part of the lift as shown in Fig. 1 with the lift car in the ground station;

Fig. 3: shows a side view of a part of the lift as shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4: shows a front view of a part of the lift as shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5: shows view from below of a part of the lift as shown in Figs. 1 to 4;

Fig. 6: shows a perspective view of a part of the lift as shown in Fig. 2, not showing the guideway; and

Fig. 7: shows a separate perspective view of the cable trolley of the lift as shown in Figs. 1 to 6.

The lift shown in the drawings comprises a ground station 1, from which a guideway 2 extends in a vertical direction. The guideway 2 consists of individual guideway segments which are connected together. The guideway segments are structured as a lattice framework of interconnected struts, wherein four (alternatively: two) parallel vertical struts 3 are provided which are connected together by means of a plurality of transverse struts. The cross section of the guideway 2 is rectangular, with the vertical struts being circular in cross section. A lift car 4 is guided, allowing it to travel, on the sides of the guideway 2. For this purpose, several roller guides 5 with guide rollers are provided which roll on two adjacent vertical struts 3 serving as guide rails. A total of four roller guides 5 are fixed to the lift car 4 in the vicinity of its upper end (not shown) and four further roller guides are fixed to the lift car in the vicinity of its lower end.

The lift car 4 also comprises a lift drive (not shown) with one or several electric motors, the drive pinions of which engage in a rack 7 which runs parallel to the vertical struts 3. The lift car 4 can be moved along the guideway 2 through operation of the electric motors. 'he electric motors are supplied with electrical energy by means of a cable i. The cable 8 extends between the lift car 4 and a deflection apparatus 9 of l cable trolley 10 as well as between the deflection apparatus 9 and a fixing loint 19 which is fixed to the guideway 2 slightly above half the (total) height if the guideway 2. At the fixing point 19, the cable 8 is connected with an ilectrical cable running along the guideway 2 to the ground station 1, where : is connected to an electrical energy source. The distance between the xing point 19 and the ground station 1 is somewhat greater than the listance between the fixing point 19 and the position of a cable holder 20 xed to the lift car 4 at the height of the electric motor when the lift car 4 is Dcated in its highest stopping position. This ensures that the lift car 4 can ravel to all the intended stopping positions despite the cable 8 being fixed to he fixing point 19. It is thereby guaranteed that the cable 8 is always guided π a loop over the deflection apparatus 9 of the cable trolley 10, which irevents the cable 8 guided in the loop from performing uncontrolled novements as a result of the movement of the lift car 4 and due to the wind crces acting on it. The deflection apparatus 9 features at least one pulley iver which the cable 8 is guided. n addition to the deflection apparatus 9, the cable trolley 10 also possesses i guiding mechanism 11 through which the deflection apparatus 9 is guided in the guideway 2. During a movement of the lift car 4, the cable trolley 10 noves in the same direction, albeit - due to the single deflection, at only half he speed. n Fig. 1, the lift car 4 is shown in a position above the ground station 1. The :able trolley 10 is thereby located below the lift car 4. n Fig. 2, the lift car 4 is shown in its stopping position in the ground station. According to the invention, in this position the cable trolley 10 is no longer Dcated below the lift car 4. Instead, the lower ends of the lift car 4 and cable rolley 10 are substantially at the same height. The guiding mechanism 11 of he cable trolley 10 is thereby largely located between the guideway 2 and the lift car 4, whereas the deflection apparatus 9 is arranged to the side of the guideway 2. This makes it possible to arrange the stopping position of the lift car 4 in the ground station 1 particularly close to the ground.

In order to allow the guiding mechanism 11 of the cable trolley 10 to be moved into the intervening space between the lift car 4 and the guideway 2, the four (lower) roller guides 5 of the lift car 4 are arranged at a distance from the lower end of the lift car 4. In addition, the guiding mechanism 11 of the cable trolley 10 is relatively flat in design.

This comprises a U-shaped supporting frame with two parallel beams 12 and a cross-beam 13 connecting the two parallel beams 12. The deflection apparatus 9 is fixed to one of the parallel beams 12. In addition, two guide rollers 6 are mounted rotatably on this parallel beam 12. A further guide roller 6 is mounted rotatably on the second parallel beam 12. In addition, a first vertical beam 14 is fixed to its free end which extends upwards parallel to the guideway 2 and possesses a fourth guide roller 6 at the free end. The first vertical beam 14 creates a quite considerable distance between the two guide rollers 6 of this parallel beam 12, as a result of which a relatively stable (in terms of tilting) guidance of the cable trolley 10 on the guideway 2 is realised.

The four guide rollers 6 of the parallel beams 12, which each have a flat running surface, roll on the same vertical struts 3 of the guideway 2 as the guide rollers (with concave running surface) of the roller guides 5 of the lift car 4, wherein the two guide rollers 6 of the cable trolley 10, each associated with a vertical strut 3, roll on opposite sides of the vertical strut 3 and are thus arranged offset by 180° (in relation to the longitudinal axis of the associated vertical strut 3). In contrast, the roller guides 5 of the lift car 4 roll on adjacent sides; these are thus offset at 90° (in relation to the longitudinal axis of the associated vertical strut 3). A second vertical beam 16 is fixed to the cross-beams 13 of the U-shaped supporting frame. This possesses a fifth guide roller 6 (also with a flat running surface) as well as a non-driven gearwheel 17. The gearwheel 17 and the fifth guide roller 6 are arranged at a distance from one another both in the longitudinal direction and also in the transverse direction of the second vertical beam 16, and thus also of the guideway 2. The gearwheel 17 engages in the rack 7 of the guideway 2; the fifth guide roller 6 rolls on the side of the rack 7 opposite the gear teeth. On the other hand, a stable guidance of the cable trolley 10 on the guideway 2 is realised through the guide roller 6 and the gearwheel 17 of the second vertical beam 16.

The deflection apparatus 9 is connected with the U-shaped supporting frame by means of a connecting flange 18. Such a connecting flange 18 is provided on each side of the supporting frame, so that the deflection apparatus can be arranged accordingly on either side of the guideway 2.

Claims (7)

1 Elevator with a guide (2), an elevator cage (4) which is guided on the guide (2), a cable (8) which is guided along the guide (2) to the elevator cage (4) and which via a cable car (10) is guided by a diverting device (9), which cable carriage follows a movement of the elevator cage (4), the cable carriage (10) not being arranged under the elevator cage (4) when the elevator car is located in a base station (1) of the elevator, characterized in that a guide device of the elevator cage, which guide device engages with the guide (2), is arranged over the lower end of the elevator cage (4), and that a guide device (11) of the cable carriage (10), which guide device engages with the guide (2), and / or the cable carriage is at least partially arranged between the elevator cage (4) and the guide (2) when the elevator cage (4) is in the base station (1). Elevator according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that guide devices (11) of the elevator cage (4), which guide devices engage with the guide (2), and of the cable carriage (10) engage with different guide rails and / or with different sides of the same guide rails of the guide (2). Elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the guide device (11) of the cable carriage (10) has a U-shaped support frame with two parallel carriers (12) and a crosspiece (13) connecting the parallel carriers (12), wherein on the parallel carriers (12) guide rollers (6) are provided, which roll on the guide (2). Elevator according to claim 3, characterized in that at least one of the parallel carriers (12) has a vertical carrier with a guide roller (6), which vertical carrier (14) extends in the longitudinal direction of the guide (2). Elevator according to claim 4, characterized in that the guide roller (6) of the vertical carrier (14) engages with a different guide rail or with a different side of the same guide rail of the guide (2) than the guide device of the elevator cage (4) . Elevator according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the guide device (11) has a carrier with a gear wheel (17), the gear wheel (17) combing with a rack (7) of the guide (2). Elevator according to claim 6, characterized in that the carrier has a guide roller (6) which engages with one side of the rack (7), which side is opposite the toothing.