EP1344740B1 - Escalator or moving walk - Google Patents

Abstract

The moving stairs or pavement comprises a chain to drive a step or pallet belt, and has a deflection wheel (12) connected with torsional resistance to a drive wheel (22) which changes the direction of a transmission chain (26) which revolves between a transmission pinion (28) and the drive wheel. The drive wheel, chain and pinion form a transmission unit (24) which compensates for the polygon effect. The ratio of the speed of the transmission chain to the step or pallet belt is constant at any rotational angle of the deflection wheel.

Description

The invention relates to an escalator or moving walk, according to the preamble of claim 1.

An escalator according to the preamble of claim 1 is eg off GB-A-2243430 known.

Moving walks usually have a revolving pallet band and escalators usually have a revolving step band, which are each driven with step or pallet chains. It is important that the step / pallet chains accurately perform their conveying task, while at the same time being able to absorb significant loads. In particular, there must be no significant lengthening of the chains in the longitudinal direction, otherwise the gap between adjacent steps or pallets would ever increase beyond the permissible level.

On the other hand, these step / pallet chains are deflected during operation under load, so that it is unavoidable that these chains wear out. Due to their high quality required, the replacement is expensive, so that the endeavor is to keep the cost of these chains in proportion to the quality provided, as far as possible. In addition, efforts are being made to reduce the production costs of the chains by means of a higher step / pallet pitch or to reduce the installation space.

In order to achieve improvements in this context, various measures have become known. Thus, it has become known to make especially low-wear bearings for the chains. By this measure, the wear can be reduced and extend the life of the chains, but only in a manageable frame. Further, basically, the chain pitch of the step / pallet chain can be increased. However, for this purpose, the number of teeth of the guide wheel for driving the step / pallet chain must be reduced, because the available installation space is usually on-site, so limited by the customers of the escalator and moving platform manufacturer.

By reducing the number of teeth, on the other hand, increases the so-called polygonal effect, which arises due to the non-uniform velocity at the emergence of the chain consisting of individual chain links on the gear. The polygon effect introduces longitudinal vibrations in the drive train and in particular in the step / pallet chain, which not only give the passengers a sense of insecurity, but in particular significantly increase the wear, so that the desired effect is reversed.

To reduce the polygon effect, various measures have been proposed. Thus, it has already been proposed to give the teeth of the deflection wheels a special shape, which should partially compensate for the polygon effect by a corresponding movement of the chain rollers. However, this solution has the disadvantage that it only has an effect on an unworn deflection wheel, while the wear is even increased by the additional rolling of the chain rollers.

Furthermore, it has been proposed to compensate for the polygon effect by a special control of the drive motor of the escalator or moving walk. However, this solution has the disadvantage that the drive motor and its downstream drive train must be constantly accelerated and decelerated alternately, which is energetically unfavorable. Also, the control is extremely expensive, especially when the chain wear is to be compensated. The special mode of operation creates alternating loads in the drive train, for which the drive train is not designed per se, so there is an increased risk of fatigue fractures.

To avoid the polygon effect, it has also become known to use other funding instead of the usual stage or pallet chains, such as timing belts or even ropes. However, these solutions have not prevailed due to the inherent advantages of chains. Another way to avoid the polygon effect is the realization of a linear drive. With skillful placement can be in such a solution, the chain deflect almost no load, so that the wear is reduced by more than an order of magnitude. However, a linear drive is quite expensive and due to its space requirements with scarce lines of an escalator can also accommodate poorly in the course of the escalator,

Therefore, the invention is based on the object to provide an escalator or a moving walk according to the preamble of claim 1, which allows despite the use of step / pallet chains a drive in which the polygon effect is at least reduced and yet a chain can be used with enlarged chain pitch and small number of teeth of the deflection wheel. This has the consequence that the chain can be manufactured much cheaper and / or the installation space of the escalator / moving walk can be significantly reduced.

The solution according to the invention makes it possible to compensate for the polygon effect by a corresponding design of a countershaft transmission. For this purpose, a drive chain is provided which rotates between the drive wheel and counter gear teeth. Due to the special shape of the wheel and / or pinion, the polygon effect is reduced according to the invention. For example, the drive wheel, which is non-rotatably connected to the guide wheel of the step / pallet chain, be specially designed so that it by the countershaft in the opposite direction to the stage / pallet chain has a polygon effect, so that cancel the two polygonal effects against each other. This solution has the particular advantage that the drive train itself is vibration-free, so that the wear is significantly reduced.

According to the invention, the chain pitch is greatly increased. As a result, as viewed on the longitudinal extent of the step or pallet band per stage or pallet significantly fewer links and intermediate bearing pins and bearing sleeves are required, so that the chain can be produced more cheaply. In addition, the number of possible places where An elongation of the chain can take place, reduced. For each bearing pin, a larger chain elongation is permissible for such a modified working chain, so that the maintenance intervals and the service life of the chain can be increased. Furthermore, the deflection wheel can be reduced in diameter by the increased chain pitch, so that the entire installation space of the escalator / moving walk can be reduced.

For example, the counter gear teeth may have an elliptical shape and rotate substantially at a constant angular velocity. In this way, a low-cost drive motor can be used, which can be driven in an energetically favorable manner with a constant rotational speed. An elliptical shape produces a sine curve which can almost completely compensate for the chain line curve of the step / pallet chain speed when it runs on the deflection wheel.

Further advantages, details and features will become apparent from the following description of two embodiments of the invention with reference to the drawings.

• Fig. 1 eine schematische Darstellung eines Umlenkrads und Vorgelegegetriebes für eine erfindungsgemäße Fahrtreppe oder einen erfindungsgemäßen Fahrsteig in einer Ausführungsform;
• Fig. 2 eine Darstellung gemäß Fig. 1, jedoch in einer anderen Drehstellung; und
• Fig. 3 eine Darstellung einer weiteren Ausführungsform eines erfindungsgemäßen Vorgelegegetriebes.

Show it:

• Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a diverter wheel and countershaft transmission for an inventive escalator or a moving walkway according to the invention in one embodiment.
• Fig. 2 is an illustration of Figure 1, but in a different rotational position. and
• Fig. 3 is an illustration of another embodiment of a countershaft transmission according to the invention.

An escalator according to the invention has a step chain 10, which is deflected end side via a driven deflecting wheel 12. The deflection wheel, which is shown here schematically, has only 5 teeth 14, between each of which indentations 16 extend for receiving rollers. The step chain has quite long chain links 20, and because of the small number of teeth of only 5 teeth while the diameter of the guide wheel 12 is small, so that the existing installation space is sufficient, but without the measures according to the invention a substantial polygon effect would be expected.

A drive wheel 22 is rotatably connected to the guide wheel 12, which is mounted in a conventional manner on the same shaft. The drive wheel 22 is part of a countershaft transmission 24, which has a countershaft 26 and a countershaft gear 28 which is rotatably connected to a drive motor of the escalator, not shown.

In the illustrated embodiment, the countershaft 26 is further guided over a Umlenkritzel 30, and their strands 32 and 34 extend substantially parallel to each other away from the drive wheel 22.

Preferably, the step chain 10 is guided on the inlet side and outlet side rails that prevent transversal vibrations of the step chain.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the shape and orientation of the drive wheel 22 is selected to the guide wheel 12 so that the polygon effect is compensated if possible.

The polygon effect is due to the effective radius changing during the chain transport. This is explained using the example of the 0 ° position shown in FIG. 1 and the 36 ° position illustrated in FIG. 2. The effective radius for the chain transport in the guide wheel 12 is in the 0 ° position shown in FIG. 1 R '. If the guide wheel 12 has rotated further by half a tooth angle, ie 36 °, the effective radius is only R. The chain speed of the step chain 10 Accordingly, when rotating the guide wheel 12 at a constant driving speed, it varies by the difference between R 'and R.

A computational verification of a 5-corner polygon wheel according to Figures 1 and 2 gives the following:

0 ° position

$${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}\mathrm{\omega }\mathrm{\cdot }\mathrm{R}\mathrm{\text{'}}$$

$${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{1}}\mathrm{\cdot }\cos \left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}\mathrm{\omega }\mathrm{\cdot }\mathrm{r}\mathrm{\text{'}}$$

$${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}{\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{1}}\mathrm{\cdot }\cos \left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)\mathrm{\cdot }\frac{\mathrm{R}\mathrm{\text{'}}}{\mathrm{r}\mathrm{\text{'}}}$$

For large distances from wheel to pinion, the angle α becomes very small, and thus cos (α) approaches 1. $${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}{\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{1}}\mathrm{\cdot }\frac{\mathrm{R}\mathrm{\text{'}}}{\mathrm{r}\mathrm{\text{'}}}$$

Tau / 2-position

$$\mathrm{\omega }\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}\frac{{\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{1}}}{\mathrm{r}}$$

$$\mathrm{\omega }\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}\frac{{\mathrm{V}}_2}{\mathrm{R}}$$

$${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}{\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{1}}\mathrm{\cdot }\frac{\mathrm{R}}{\mathrm{r}}$$

$$\mathrm{r}\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}\cos \left(\frac{\mathrm{\tau }}{\mathrm{2}}\right)\mathrm{\cdot }\mathrm{r}\mathrm{\text{'}}$$

$$\mathrm{R}\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}\cos \left(\frac{\mathrm{\tau }}{\mathrm{2}}\right)\mathrm{\cdot }\mathrm{R}\mathrm{\text{'}}$$

$${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{:}\mathrm{=}{\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{1}}\mathrm{\cdot }\frac{\mathrm{R}\mathrm{\text{'}}}{\mathrm{r}\mathrm{\text{'}}}$$

If one then rotates the guide wheel 12 with a phase-shifted catenary curve speed, the polygon effect would be completely compensated. In the embodiment according to FIGS. 1 and 2, it is provided for this purpose to give the drive wheel 22 a corresponding shape. In principle, a corresponding shaping would also be possible with the countershaft pinion 28, the embodiment according to FIGS. 1 and 2 preferably providing a corresponding shaping for the drive wheel 22 and thus avoiding speed changes in the countershaft chain 26.

In this embodiment, it is provided that the countershaft 26 is at the shaping tip 42 in the effective radius r 'if and only if the step chain 10 with the roller 18 has the maximum effective radius R'. To compensate for the polygon effect, it is necessary that the number of shaping tips 42 of the drive wheel 22 corresponds to the number of teeth of the teeth 14.

It is particularly favorable if the deflecting wheel is realized with 11 teeth. As a result, an odd number of teeth is realized, yet the required diameter of the guide wheel 12 is not substantially larger than in a deflection wheel with four teeth. Due to the odd number of teeth, the tensioning wheel 30 has to perform only small movements.

Another embodiment of the solution according to the invention can be seen from FIG. In this solution, 5 teeth and corresponding indentations 16 are provided for the guide wheel 12, so that quite long chain links 20 are present. The compensation of the polygon effect takes place in this solution by a special shaping of the countershaft sprocket 28. Again, the strands 32 and 34 extend substantially parallel to each other when they emerge from the drive wheel 22. With a number of teeth z = 5, the gear ratio is chosen here to be i = 2.5. The counter gear 28 has a polygon shape.

Claims (6)

1. An escalator or moving walkway with a step/pallet chain for driving the step or pallet strip, and with at least one return gear via which the step/pallet chains can be driven and which, in turn, can be driven by a drive motor via a countershaft transmission, the return gear (12) is connected in a manner precluding relative rotation to a drive gear (22) which deflects a countershaft chain (26) which circulates between a countershaft sprocket (28) and the drive gear (22), wherein the drive gear (22), countershaft chain (26) and countershaft sprocket (28) form the countershaft transmission (24), and the countershaft transmission (24) compensates for the polygon effect, characterised in that the countershaft transmission (24) has a return sprocket (30) for the independent adjustment of the direction of the strands (32,34) and thereby optimum compensation of the polygon effect is achieved, in particular in the event of reversal of the direction of travel.
2. An escalator or moving walkway according to Claim 1, characterised in that the countershaft sprocket (28) has an odd number of form peaks.
3. An escalator or moving walkway according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the return gear (12) has 11 teeth.
4. An escalator or moving walkway according to Claim 3, characterised in that the drive gear (22) is connected in a manner precluding relative rotation to the return gear (12) of the step/pallet chain and the drive gear (22) is designed so that owing to the countershaft chain (26) it has a polygon effect in the opposite direction to the step/pallet chain, whereby the polygon effects are compensated by the drive gear (22) and the return gear (12).
5. An escalator or moving walkway according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the countershaft sprocket (28) is of elliptical shape and rotates substantially at a constant angular velocity.
6. An escalator or moving walkway according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the return gear (12) has 5 teeth and corresponding indentations (16).

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