Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B11/00—Main component parts of lifts in, or associated with, buildings or other structures
  • B66B11/0065—Roping
  • B66B11/008—Roping with hoisting rope or cable operated by frictional engagement with a winding drum or sheave
  • B66B11/009—Roping with hoisting rope or cable operated by frictional engagement with a winding drum or sheave with separate traction and suspension ropes
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B7/00—Other common features of elevators
  • B66B7/06—Arrangements of ropes or cables

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an elevator as defined in the preamble of claim 1.
• WO 99/43589 discloses an elevator sus- pended using flat belts in which relatively small diversion diameters on the traction sheave and diverting pulleys are achieved.
• the problem with this solution is the limitations regarding lay-out solutions, the disposition of components in the elevator shaft and the alignment of diverting pulleys.
• the alignment of polyurethane-coated belts having a load-bearing steel component inside is problematic e.g. in a situation where the car is tilted.
• an elevator so implemented needs to be rather robustly constructed at least as regards the machine and/or the structures supporting it.
• the massive construction of other parts of the elevator needed to maintain alignment between the traction sheave and diverting pulleys also increases the weight and cost of the elevator.
• installing and adjusting such a system is a difficult task requiring great precision.
• the object of the invention is to achieve at least one of the following aims.
• it is an aim the invention to develop the elevator without machine room further so as to allow more effective space utilization in the building and elevator shaft than before. This means that the elevator must be so constructed that it can be installed in a fairly narrow elevator shaft if necessary.
• it is an aim of the invention to reduce the size and/or weight of the elevator or at least of the elevator ma- chine.
• the object of the invention should be achieved without impairing the possibility of varying the basic elevator layout .
• the elevator of the invention is characterized by what is presented in the characterization part of claim 1.
• Other embodiments of the invention are characterized by what is presented in the other claims.
• diverting pulleys it is advantageous to make all or some of the diverting pulleys larger than the traction sheave.
• these larger diverting pulleys may be especially those mounted in the upper part of the shaft.
• a more spacious rope passage arrangement will be achieved by using somewhat larger diverting pulleys in the upper part of the shaft.
• this also applies to elevators with machine above, not only to elevators with machine below.
• rope pas- sage arrangements are easier to realize, and when diverting pulleys have bigger diverting radius the ropes are less strained when passing the diverting pulley and the ropes are also worn less, and the ropes last longer, especially in the situation where small traction sheave is used.
• a small traction sheave makes it possible to achieve a compact elevator and elevator machine.
• the weight of the machine can easily be reduced even to about half or less of the weight of the machines now generally used in elevators without machine room.
• a good traction sheave grip and light-weight co po- nents allow the weight of the elevator car to be considerably reduced, and correspondingly the counterweight can also be made lighter than in current elevator solutions .
• All or at least part of the weight of the elevator car and counterweight can be carried by the elevator guide rails.
• the invention reduces the installation time and total installation costs of the elevator.
• the elevator is economical to manufacture and in- stall because many of its components are smaller and lighter than those used before.
• the thin and strong steel wire ropes of the invention have a diameter of the order of only 3-5 mm.
• the small traction sheave allows the use of smaller operating brakes .
• the small traction sheave reduces the torque requirement, thus allowing the use of a smaller motor with smaller operating brakes.
• the primary area of application of the invention is elevators designed for transporting people and/or freight.
• the invention is primarily intended for use in elevators whose speed range, in the case of passen- ger elevators, is normally about or above 1.0 m/s but may also be e.g. only about 0.5 m/s. In the case of freight elevators, too, the speed is preferably about 0.5 m/s, though slower speeds can also be used with large loads .
• Fig. 1 presents a diagram representing a traction sheave elevator according to the invention
• Fig. 3 presents a traction sheave applying the invention
• Fig. 4 presents a coating solution according to the invention
• Fig. 5a presents a steel wire rope used in the invention
• Fig. 5b presents another steel wire rope used in the invention
• Fig. 5c presents a third steel wire rope used in the invention.
• Fig. 6 presents a diagram illustrating a rope pulley lay-out according to the invention.
• Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the struc- ture of an elevator.
• the elevator is preferably an elevator without machine room, in which the drive machine 6 is placed in the elevator shaft.
• the elevator shown in the figure is a traction sheave elevator with machine above.
• the passage of the hoisting ropes 3 of the elevator is as follows: One end of the ropes is immovably fixed to an anchorage 13 located in the upper part of the shaft above the path of a counterweight 2 moving along counterweight guide rails 11.
• the ropes run downward and are passed around diverting pulleys 9 suspending the counterweight, which diverting pulleys 9 are rotatably mounted on the counterweight 2 and from which the ropes 3 run further upward to the traction sheave 7 of the drive machine 6, passing around the traction sheave along rope grooves on the sheave.
• the ropes 3 run further downward to the elevator car 1 moving along car guide rails 10, passing under the car via diverting pulleys 4 used to suspend the elevator car on the ropes, and going then upward again from the elevator car to an anchorage 14 in the upper part of the elevator shaft, to which anchorage the second end of the ropes 3 is fixed.
• An- chorage 13 in the upper part of the shaft, the traction sheave 7 and the diverting pulley 9 suspending the counterweight on the ropes are preferably so disposed in relation to each other that both the rope portion going from the anchorage 13 to the counterweight 2 and the rope portion going from the counterweight 2 to the traction sheave 7 are substantially parallel to the path of the counterweight 2.
• Fig. 2 presents a diagram representing another traction sheave elevator according to the invention.
• This type of elevator is generally a traction sheave elevator with machine below.
• the elevator car 101 and the counterweight 102 are suspended on the hoisting ropes 103 of the elevator.
• the elevator drive machine 106 is mounted in the elevator shaft, preferably in the lower part of the shaft, and the hoisting ropes are passed via diverting pulleys 104,105 provided in the upper part of the elevator shaft to the car 101 and to the counterweight 102.
• the diverting pulleys 104,105 are placed in the upper part of the shaft and preferably separately mounted with bearings on the same axle so that they can rotate independently of each other.
• the hoisting ropes 103 consist of at least three parallel ropes.
• the elevator car 101 and the counterweight 102 move in the elevator shaft along elevator and counterweight guide rails 110,111 guiding them.
• the hoisting ropes run as follows: One end of the ropes is fixed to an anchorage 112 in the upper part of the shaft, from where it goes downward to the counterweight 102.
• the counterweight is suspended on the ropes 103 via a diverting pulley 109. From the counterweight, the ropes go further upward to a first diverting pulley 105 mounted on an elevator guide rail 110, and from the diverting pulley 105 further to the traction sheave 107 driven by the drive machine 106.
• the ropes From the traction sheave, the ropes go again upward to a second diverting pulley 104, passing around it, after which they pass via diverting pulleys 108 mounted on top of the elevator car and then go further to an anchorage 113 in the upper part of the elevator shaft, where the other end of the hoisting ropes is fixed.
• the elevator car is suspended on the hoisting ropes 103 by means of diverting pulleys 108.
• one or more of the rope portions between the diverting pulleys or between the diverting pulleys and the traction sheave may deviate from an exact vertical direction, a circumstance that makes it easy to provide a sufficient distance between different rope portions or a sufficient distance between the hoisting ropes and other elevator components.
• the traction sheave 107 and the hoisting machine 106 are preferably disposed somewhat aside from the path of the elevator car 101 as well as that of the counterweight 102, so they can easily be placed almost at any height in the elevator shaft below the diverting pulleys 104 and 105. If the machine is not placed directly above or below the counterweight or elevator car, this will allow a saving in shaft height.
• a coating 202 is provided in the hub of the rope pulley.
• a space 203 for a bearing used to mount the rope pulley is also provided with holes 205 for bolts, allowing the rope pulley to be fastened by its side to an anchorage in the hoisting machine 6, e.g. to a rotating flange, to form a traction sheave 7, in which case no bearing separate from the hoisting machine is needed.
• the coating material used on the traction sheave and the rope pulleys may consist of rubber, polyurethane or a corresponding elastic material increasing friction.
• the material of the traction sheave and/or rope pulleys may also be so chosen that, together with the hoisting rope used, it forms a material pair such that the hoisting rope will bite firmly on the pulley after the coating on the pulley has been worn out. This ensures a sufficient grip between the rope pulley 200 and the hoisting rope 3 in an emer- gency where the coating 202 has been worn out from the rope pulley 200. This feature allows the elevator to maintain its functionality and operational reliability in the situation referred to.
• the traction sheave and/or the rope pulleys can also be manufactured in such manner that only the rim 206 of the rope pulley
• the traction sheave diameter is preferably 120-200 mm, but it may even be less than this.
• the traction sheave diameter depends on the thickness of the hoisting ropes used.
• the use of a small traction sheave makes it possible to achieve a machine weight even as low as about one half of the weight of currently used machines, which means producing elevator machines weighing 100-150 kg or even less.
• the machine is understood as comprising at least the traction sheave, the motor, the machine housing struc- tures and the brakes.
• the weight of the elevator machine and its supporting elements used to hold the machine in place in the elevator shaft is at most about 1/5 of the nominal load. If the machine is exclusively or almost exclusively supported by one or more elevator and/or counterweight guide rails, then the total weight of the machine and its supporting elements may be less than about 1/6 or even less than 1/8 of the nominal load.
• Nominal load of an elevator means a load defined for elevators of a given size.
• the supporting elements of the elevator machine may include e.g. a beam, carriage or suspension bracket used to support or suspend the machine on/from a wall structure or ceiling of the elevator shaft or on the elevator or counterweight guide rails, or clamps used to hold the machine fastened to the sides of the elevator guide rails.
• the ratio of machine weight to nominal load is given for a conventional elevator in which the counterweight has a weight substantially equal to the weight of an empty car plus half the nominal load.
• the combined weight of the machine and its supporting elements may be only 75 kg when the traction sheave diameter is 160 mm and hoisting ropes having a diameter of 4 mm are used, in other words, the total weight of the machine and its supporting elements is about 1/8 of the nominal load of the elevator.
• a 4:1 sus- pension ratio a 160 mm traction sheave diameter and a 4 mm hoisting rope diameter are used in an elevator designed for a nominal load of 500 kg
• a total weight of machine and its supporting elements of about 50 kg will be achieved.
• the total weight of the machine and its supporting elements is as small as only about 1/10 of the nominal load.
• Fig. 4 presents a solution in which the rope groove 301 is in a coating 302 which is thinner at the sides of the rope groove than at the bottom.
• the coating is placed in a basic groove 320 provided in the rope pulley 300 so that deformations produced in the coating by the pressure imposed on it by the rope will be small and mainly limited to the rope surface texture sinking into the coating.
• Such a solu- tion often means in practice that the rope pulley coating consists of rope groove-specific sub-coatings separate from each other, but considering manufacturing or other aspects it may be appropriate to design the rope pulley coating so that it extends continuously over a number of grooves.
• the wires in the steel wire rope may preferably have a thickness between 0.15 mm and 0.5 mm, in which range there are readily available steel wires with good strength properties in which even an individual wire has a sufficient wear resistance and a sufficiently low susceptibility to damage.
• ropes made of round steel wires have been discussed. Applying the same principles, the ropes can be wholly or partly twisted from non-round profiled wires. In this case, the cross-sectional areas of the wires are preferably substantially the same as for round wires., i.e. in the range of 0.015 mm 2 - 0.2 mm 2 .
• wires in this thickness range it will be easy to produce steel wire ropes having a wire strength above about 2000 N/mm 2 and a wire cross- section of 0.015 mm 2 - 0.2 mm 2 and comprising a large cross-sectional area of steel material in relation to the cross-sectional area of the rope, as is achieved e.g. by using the Warrington construction.
• particularly well suited are ropes having a wire strength in the range of 2300 N/m 2 - 2700 N/mm 2 , because such ropes have a very large bearing capacity in relation to rope thick- ness while the high hardness of the strong wires involves no substantial difficulties in the use of the rope in elevators.
• a traction sheave coating well suited for such a rope is already clearly below 1 mm thick.
• the coating should be thick enough to ensure that it will not be very easily scratched away or pierced e.g. by an occasional sand grain or similar particle having got between the rope groove and the hoisting rope.
• a desirable minimum coating thickness, even when thin-wire hoisting ropes are used, would be about 0.5...1 mm.
• a coating having a thickness of the form A+Bcosa is well suited.
• Fig. 5a, 5b and 5c present cross-sections of steel wire ropes used in the invention.
• the ropes in these figures contain thin steel wires 403, a coating 402 on the steel wires and/or partly between the steel wires and in Fig. 5a a coating 401 over the steel wires.
• the rope presented in Fig. 5b is an uncoated steel wire rope with a rubber-like filler added to its interior structure
• Fig. 5a presents a steel wire rope provided with a coating in addition to a filler added to the internal structure.
• the rope presented in Fig. 5c has a non-metallic core 404, which may be a solid or fibrous structure made of plastic, natural fiber or some other material suited for the purpose.
• a fibrous structure will be good if the rope is lubricated, in which case lubricant will accumulate in the fibrous core.
• the core thus acts as a kind of lubricant storage.
• the steel wire ropes of substantially round cross-section used in the elevator of the invention may be coated, uncoated and/or provided with a rubber- like filler, such as e.g. polyurethane or some other suitable filler, added to the interior structure of the rope and acting as a kind of lubricant lubricating the rope and also balancing the pressure between wires and strands.
• a filler makes it possible to achieve a rope that needs no lubrication, so its surface can be dry.
• the coating used in the steel wire ropes may be made of the same or nearly the same material as the filler or of a material that is better suited for use as a coating and has properties, such as friction and wear resistance properties, that are better suited to the purpose than a filler.
• the coating of the steel wire rope may also be so implemented that the coating material penetrates partially into the rope or through the entire thickness of the rope, giving the rope the same properties as the filler mentioned above.
• the use of thin and strong steel wire ropes according to the invention is possible because the steel wires used are wires of special strength, allowing the ropes to be made substantially thin as compared with steel wire ropes used before.
• the ropes presented in Fig. 5a and 5b are steel wire ropes having a diameter of about 4 mm.
• Fig. 6 illustrates the manner in which a rope pulley 502 connected to a horizontal beam 504 comprised in the structure supporting the elevator car 501 is placed in relation to the beam 504, said rope pulley being used to support the elevator car and associated structures.
• the rope pulley 502 presented in the figure may have a diameter equal to or less than the height of the beam 504 comprised in the structure.
• the beam 504 supporting the elevator car 501 may be located either below or above the elevator car.
• the rope pulley 502 may be placed completely or partially inside the beam 504, as shown in the figure.
• the hoisting ropes 503 of the elevator in the figure run as follows:
• the hoisting ropes 503 come to the coated rope pulley 502 connected to the beam 504 comprised in the structure supporting the elevator car 501, from which pulley the hoisting rope runs further, protected by the beam, e.g. in the hollow 506 inside the beam, under the elevator car and goes then further via a second rope pulley placed on the other side of the elevator car.
• the elevator car 501 rests on the beam
• the beam 504 also acts as a rope guard for the hoisting rope 503.
• the beam 504 may be a C-, U- , I-, Z-section beam or a hollow beam or equivalent .
• Passing the ropes under the car in a diagonal or otherwise oblique direction relative to the form of the bottom provides an advantage when the suspension of the car on the ropes is to be made symmetrical relative to the center of mass of the elevator in other types of sus- pension lay-out as well .

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

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• 2003
  • 2003-05-08 DE DE60315027T patent/DE60315027T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-05-08 CN CNB038131668A patent/CN100540441C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-05-08 ES ES03722650T patent/ES2286427T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-05-08 WO PCT/FI2003/000359 patent/WO2003104128A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 2003-05-08 AT AT03722650T patent/ATE367354T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2003-05-08 EP EP03722650A patent/EP1511683B1/fr not_active Revoked
  • 2003-05-08 JP JP2004511209A patent/JP2005529042A/ja active Pending
  • 2003-06-03 TW TW092115007A patent/TWI286117B/zh active

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