Technical Field
The present invention relates to an elevator system of which the
hoisting machine is provided in an upper part of the hoistway.
Background Art
Most of the "machineroom-less" elevators, which are on the
increase in recent years, have a hoisting machine provided in the top
part of the hoistway, and in the vertical projection view of the hoistway,
a drive sheave of the hoisting machine is arranged between the elevator
car and a hoistway wall and the hoisting machine is arranged so that
a part thereof overlaps with the car. Also, equipment such as the control
panel, the deflector pulleys, and the governor, etc. provided in the
machine room in the past are arranged between the elevator car and
hoistway walls in the vertical projection view of the hoistway.
In elevator systems of this kind of structure, spaces that are
larger than the thickness of equipment including the drive sheave,
the control panel, the direction-changing pulleys, the governor and
the like, are required between the elevator car and the hoistway walls
in the vertical projection view of the hoistway. These spaces become
the cause of the dead spaces throughout the hoistway, and especially,
the more the buildings become high-rise, the larger these dead spaces
become.
Furthermore, in the lengthwise direction of the top part of the
hoistway, assuming the possibility of the elevator's ascending to the
upper limit due to its running out of control, there would be a necessity
to provide a space in the top part of the hoistway in order to avoid
collision of the equipment arranged in the top part of the hoistway
and the elevator car, and to secure safety for the maintenance worker
at maintenance, and for these reasons, a dead space would be generated
also in the top part of the hoistway. Here, the dead space would be
one of the two following values: the first is a lengthwise space which
is provided so that the equipment arranged in the top part of the hoistway
do not collide with the elevator car in the event of the car running
out of control up to the upper limit ; the other is a lengthwise space
which is secured because of the necessity to keep a large space between
the elevator car and the equipment arranged in the top part of the
hoistway so that the maintenance worker does not hit his or her head
on the top of the hoistway or on the equipment arranged in the top
part of the hoistway in the case where the elevator car runs out of
control. This is because a maintenance worker would get on the top
surface of the elevator car to do his or her work to inspect equipment
such as the hoisting machine or the like that is arranged in the hoistway
in conventional elevators, or, as described in Japanese non-examined
laid-open patent publication No. Hei 97357, a maintenance worker would
work with his or her body thrust forward out of the car.
As described above, in conventional machineroom-less elevators,
a dead space for the whole height of the hoistway and also a dead space
for the top part of the hoistway are generated.
In the present invention, the dead space generated for the whole
height of the hoistway is minimized by not arranging the equipment
such as the hoisting machine etc. between the elevator car and the
hoistway walls in the vertical projection view of the hoistway.
Furthermore, the dead space provided for avoiding collision of the
equipment arranged in the top part of the hoistway and the elevator
car, and for securing safety for the maintenance worker in the case
where the elevator runs out of control and ascends to the upper limit,
is minimized. By these means, this invention has as its object the
provision of an elevator system in which the space necessary for the
hoistway is minimized.
Disclosure of the Invention
The elevator system in the present invention has a frame body
provided in the top part of the hoistway, and on the frame body, a
hoisting machine and direction-changing pulleys are fixed. The hoisting
machine has a drive sheave which is arranged so that the rotary shaft
thereof is almost vertical. The direction-changing pulleys are for
changing the direction of the main rope of the elevator which is passed
around the drive sheave of the hoisting machine. On the ceiling of
the elevator car, there is provided an opening which is openable and
closable. Here, the hoisting machine or the direction-changing pulleys
is arranged so that at least a part thereof overlaps with the elevator
car or the counterweight in the vertical projection view. Also, the
space between the hoisting machine and the direction-changing pulleys,
and the top surface of the elevator car in the state where the elevator
car is stopped at the predetermined position for maintenance, is defined
to be at least (V2/2g), which is the value obtained by dividing the
square of the rated speed of the elevator car by the double of
gravitational acceleration, or more, and is also minimized.
Furthermore, on the frame body, a control panel or a governor
for controlling the ascent and descent of the elevator car, and it
is arranged so that at least a part of the control panel or the governor
overlaps with the elevator car in the vertical projection view.
In the elevator system structured in the aforementioned manner,
the space between the control panel or the governor and the top surface
of the elevator car in the state where the elevator car is stopped
at the predetermined position for maintenance is defined to be at least
(V2/2g), which is the value obtained by dividing the square of the
rated speed of the elevator car by the double of gravitational
acceleration or more, and is also minimized.
Further, at least one of the surfaces of the hoisting machine
and the control panel that are subject to maintenance is arranged in
the vertical downward side.
Moreover, the hoisting machine is formed so that the thickness
in the direction of the rotary shaft thereof is smaller than the dimension
in the radial direction.
According to the above-mentioned invention, it is possible to
obtain an elevator system wherein the space required for the hoistway
is minimized by minimizing the dead space generated between the elevator
car and the surfaces of the side walls of the hoistway throughout the
whole height of the hoistway by arranging to gather the equipments
such as the hoisting machine etc. in the top part of the hoistway,
and the dead space provided for avoiding collision of the equipments
provided in the top part of the hoistway and the elevator car and for
securing safety for the maintenance worker.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure 1 shows an example of an arrangement of an elevator system
in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention, and is
a plan view of the elevator system viewed from above;
Figure 2 is a rear view of the elevator system in Figure 1 viewed
from the rear side of the hoistway;
Figure 3 is a side view of the elevator system in Figure 1 viewed
from a side, and is a drawing explaining the method of the maintenance
work;
Figure 4 is a conceptual drawing for explaining the motion of
the elevator car of the present invention when running out of control,
on the assumption of a state in which the elevator car runs out of
control, in the elevator system in accordance with the embodiment of
the present invention; and
Figure 5 is a drawing for explaining the method of the maintenance
work for an elevator of a high rated speed, in the elevator system
in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention.
Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention
To describe the present invention in more detail, the invention
will be described by referring to the accompanying drawings. In each
of the drawings, the same numerals are given to the same parts or the
corresponding parts, and repeated explanation will be appropriately
simplified or omitted.
Figure 1 shows an example of an arrangement of an elevator system
in accordance with the present invention, and is a plan view of the
elevator system viewed from above. Figure 2 is a rear view of the elevator
system in Figure 1 viewed from the rear side of the hoistway.
In the figures, inside the hoistway 1, there are provided a pair
of guiderails 3 for an elevator car and another pair of guiderails
4 for a counterweight, via rail brackets (not shown) provided on the
walls 2 of the hoistway 1. The elevator car 5 ascends and descends
through the hoistway 1 being guided by the guiderails 3 for the car,
and the counterweight 10 ascends and descends through the hoistway
1 being guided by the guiderails 4 for the counterweight, in the direction
opposite to the car 5.
In the front side of the elevator car 5, there is provided an
entrance doors 7. In the following explanation on Figure 1, the surface
of the wall facing the entrance doors 7 will be called 'the front side' ,
and the surface of the wall opposite to the front side will be called
'the rear side'. In addition to this, both the surfaces of the walls
which are orthogonal to the surface of the entrance doors will be called
'the sides'. Further, the bottom surface and the both the side surfaces
of the car 5 are supported by a car frame 6 formed from a plurality
of beams. Here, on the top surface 8 of the car 5, an opening 9 for
maintenance work, which is openable and closable by means of an
opening/closing lid 9a, is provided. The counterweight 10 is provided
behind the car 5 in the hoistway 1, and also one of the sides thereof
is arranged near the wall 2 of the hoistway 1.
Next, in the top part of the hoistway 1, a frame body 30 which
is supported by guiderails 3 for the car and guiderails 4 for the
counterweight are provided. On the frame body 30, a hoisting machine
13 having a drive sheave 14 around which the elevator main rope 12
is passed is provided. The drive sheave 14 is arranged so that the
rotary shaft thereof is almost vertical. The hoisting machine 13 is
provided so that at least a part thereof and the car 5 overlap with
each other in the hoistway 1 in the vertical projection view. In the
arrangement example shown in Figure 1, the hoisting machine 13 is
arranged at a different corner part of the car 5 at the other side
from the corner part where the counterweight 10 is arranged, with,
in the vertical projection view of the hoistway 1, the main part thereof
overlapping with the car 5, and also partially with the opening 9 of
the top surface 8 of the car 5. The hoisting machine 13 is formed so
that the thickness in the direction of the rotary shaft thereof is
smaller than the dimension in the radial direction.
Next, the direction-changing pulleys used in this embodiment
indicate the car-side deflector sheave 15, counterweight-side
deflector sheave 16, car pulleys 17 and the counterweight pulley 18.
Explanation on these direction-changing pulleys will be given
successively together with explanation on the roping route of the main
rope 12 passed around the drive sheave 14 of the hoisting machine 13.
One of the ends of the main rope 12 is passed around the car-side deflector
sheave 15; the direction thereof is changed from the horizontal
direction to the vertical direction; is passed around the car pulleys
17 provided on both sides of the lower part of the car frame 6 one
by one; and again the direction thereof is changed from the horizontal
direction to the vertical direction; and is engaged to the frame body
30 in the top part of the hoistway 1. The other end of the main rope
12 is passed around the counterweight-side deflector sheave 16 from
the hoisting machine 13; the direction thereof is changed from the
horizontal direction to the vertical direction; is passed around the
counterweight pulley 18; and is engaged to the frame body 30 in the
top part of the hoistway 1. Here, the car-side deflector sheave 15
and the car pulleys 17 are arranged so that at least a part of them
overlaps the car 5 in the vertical projection view of the hoistway
1. That is, as the main rope part in the direction from the car-side
deflector sheave 15 to the car pulleys 17 and the main rope part in
the direction from the car pulleys 17 to the frame body 30 are arranged
in a position that is as close as possible to the side of the car 5,
a large part of the car-side deflector sheave 15 and the car pulleys
17 overlap with the car 5 in the vertical projection view, and therefore,
it is not necessary to keep a long distance between the car 5 and the
hoistway walls 2. The car-side deflector sheave 15 is arranged so as
to overlap with the opening 9 of the top surface 8 of the car. Also
the counterweight-side deflector sheave 16 is arranged to overlap with
the counterweight 10 at least partially with the counterweight 10 in
the vertical projection view of the hoistway 1, and the counterweight
pulley 18 is arranged so as to entirely overlap with the counterweight
10 in the vertical projection view of the hoistway 1. That is, there
is no necessity to leave a large space between the counterweight 10
and the elevator car 5.
Next, the control panel 31 for controlling the ascent and descent
of the elevator car 5 is arranged so that at least a part thereof overlaps
the car 5 in the vertical projection view of the hoistway 1. In the
arrangement example in Figure 1, the entire control panel 30 is arranged
so as to overlap with the car 5, and also with the opening 9 of the
top surface 8 of the car in the vertical projection view.
Next, the governor 32 is, similarly to the control panel 31,
provided on the frame body 30 in the upper part of the hoistway 1,
and has a governor rope 33 wound around itself. Also, a governor rope
tension sheave 34 for applying tension to the governor rope 33 is provided
in the lower part of the hoistway 1. Also the governor 32 is, similarly
to the control panel 31, arranged so that at least a part thereof overlaps
with the elevator car 5 in the vertical projection view. A part of
the governor 32 overlaps with the opening 9 of the top surface 8 of
the car. That is, except for the sheave part of the governor 32, equipment
are arranged to overlap with the car 5, and there is no necessity to
take a useless space between the governor 32 and the car 5 due to the
thickness of the governor 32.
As explained above, in this embodiment, equipments provided in
the top part of the hoistway such as the hoisting machine 13, the car-side
deflector sheave 15, the counterweight-side deflector sheave 16, the
control panel 31, the governor 32, etc. are arranged gathered on the
frame body 30 (in this description, 'equipments provided in the top
part of the hoistway' refers to the hoisting machine 12, the car-side
deflector sheave 15, the counterweight-side deflector sheave 16, the
control panel 31 and the governor 32). In the above-mentioned
explanation, an example that the frame body 30 is supported by the
car guiderails 3 and the counterweight guiderails 4 is described,
however, it can also be supported by the walls 2 of the hoistway 1.
Figure 3 is a side view of the elevator system viewed from the
side, and is a drawing for explaining the method of maintenance work.
Explanation on the method of maintenance of the elevator system
will be given referring to Figure 3. Firstly, the elevator car 5 is
stopped at the predetermined maintenance position near the uppermost
floor, and the maintenance worker 20 gets on the workbench 21, opens
the opening/closing lid 9a of the opening 9 of the upper surface 8
of the car, and does the work of inspecting the equipments provided
in the top part of the hoistway. The workbench 21 used here is permanently
installed and foldable, and is folded housed in an inside surface of
a side wall in the car during normal operation of the elevator. The
workbench 21 has a mechanism of adjusting the height thereof in the
up and down directions, and the height is adjusted according to the
height of the worker 20. The surfaces 22 of the hoisting machine 13
and the control panel 31 which are subject to maintenance is arranged
in the vertical downward side. In this invention, as the aim is to
make the dead space in the top part of the hoistway 1 as small as possible,
there is the necessity to lessen the space between the upper surface
8 of the car and the equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway
as much as possible, thus calculation of the distance between the top
surface 8 of the car and the equipments provided in the top part of
the hoistway is carried out in the manner explained as follows.
Figure 4 is a conceptual drawing for explaining the motion of
the elevator car, assuming that the elevator car runs out of control,
and Figure 4 (A) is a drawing showing the moment the elevator ascends
at the rated speed and the counterweight collides with a buffer. Figure
4 (B) is a drawing showing the limit position of the elevator car when
further ascended by inertial force after colliding with the buffer.
During ascent at the rated speed, it is necessary to keep a space
between the top surface 8 of the car 5 and the equipments provided
in the top part of the hoistway in order to avoid collision against
each other, assuming the possibility of the car's 5 running out of
control due to some cause. In other words, the distance between the
top surface 8 of the car 5 and the equipments provided in the top part
of the hoistway should be the distance that the car 5 does not collide
the equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway, or longer
in the event that the car 5 runs out of control.
Here, as shown in Figure 4(A), in the case where the elevator
car 5 continues ascending during ascent in the rated speed (V) due
to some cause, the counterweight 10, which continues descending in
the direction opposite to the car 5, collides the buffer 11. As shown
in Figure 4(B), because of this collision, the tension of the main
rope 12, which had until then been generated, is lost. At this time,
the car 5, which had been ascending at the rated speed (V), springs
up with this rated speed (V) as the initial speed. The amount of spring
can be calculated using the following equation:
S=V2/2g
Here, (S) denotes the amount of spring of the car, (V) denotes
the initial speed (rated speed) of the car, and (g) denotes gravitational
acceleration.
Therefore, by setting as the distance between the upper surface
8 of the car and the equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway
an amount which is at least the amount of spring (S) or longer, in
the event that the car 5 runs out of control during ascent in the rated
speed, it is possible to avoid a situation where collision of the car
5 with the equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway occurs.
However, on the other hand, in order to shorten the dead space in the
top part of the hoistway, it is required to minimize this distance
as much as possible in addition to securing a distance enough for avoiding
collision of the upper surface 8 of the car and the equipments provided
in the top part of the hoistway when the car runs out of control. For
this reason, as the space obtained by the above-described equation
is the amount of spring (S) beginning from the position where the
counterweight 10 collides the buffer 11, in order to minimize this
space, it is preferable to set the maintenance position to where the
maintenance worker 20 moves the car 5 for maintenance work a position
just before the counterweight 10 comes into contact with the buffer
11. In fact, there is the necessity of providing room between the
counterweight 10 and the buffer 11, however, it would be enough to
take about 20% of the amount of spring (S) of the car 5 as the room.
According to the above, the space at the maintenance position
between the top surface 8 of the car and the equipments provided in
the top part of the hoistway will be enough when set at a distance
between the amount of spring (S) to the distance which is about 20%
more than the amount of spring (S). For example, to actually calculate
the distance for an elevator of the rated speed of 120 m per minute,
the amount of spring (S) is about 20 cm, and taking the room into
consideration, it would be enough to secure about 20 to 24 cm as the
space. Thus, as shown in Figure 3, at maintenance work, the maintenance
worker 20 can avoid hitting his or her head on the equipments provided
in the top part of the hoistway by not poking his or her head out of
the opening 9 of the upper surface 8 of the car, but by setting the
height of the workbench 21 at a height that would allow his or her
hands to reach the equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway
such as the hoisting machine 13, in the event that the car 5 drives
out of control.
Next, Figure 5 is a drawing for explaining the method of maintenance
work for an elevator of a high rated speed.
In 'high-speed elevators', of which the rated speed is higher
than 120 m per minute, the aforementioned amount of spring (S) of the
car 5 becomes larger in proportion to the square of the speed, thus
the minimum space required between the top surface 8 of the car and
the equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway becomes longer
as the rated speed of the elevator increases. Even in these cases,
as shown in Figure 5, it is possible for the maintenance worker 20
to carry out the maintenance work by poking his or her head out of
the opening 9 of the top surface 8 of the car and by adjusting the
height of the workbench 21 so that his or her hands will reach the
equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway such as the hoisting
machine 13, and in the event that the car 5 runs out of control, the
maintenance worker 20 can avoid hitting his or her head to the equipments
by merely ducking his or her head.
Moreover, in this embodiment, a workbench 21 which is permanently
installed in the car 5 is described as an example, however, the workbench
21 does not have to be limited to a permanently installed type, and
can also be brought in from outside for maintenance work. Also, in
the figure, the maintenance worker 20 is working standing, however,
it is obvious that it is also effective to have the maintenance worker
20 work sitting by raising the height of the workbench 21 more.
According to the above-described embodiment, the following
effects can be attained:
By not arranging equipment between the hoistway walls 2 and the
elevator car 5 in the vertical projection view by gathering the
equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway such as the hoisting
machine 13, the car-side deflector sheave 15, the counterweight-side
deflector sheave 16, the control panel 31, the governor 32, etc. on
the frame body 30, and by arranging the equipments provided in the
top part of the hoistway to at least partially overlap with the car
5 or the counterweight 10 in the vertical projection view, the plan
dimension of the hoistway 1 becomes minimum, thus making it possible
to minimize the dead space throughout the whole height of the hoistway
1. Furthermore, as the equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway
overlap with the opening 9 of the top surface 8 of the car in vertical
projection view in addition to at least a part of the equipments provided
in the top part of the hoistway overlapping the car 5 or the counterweight
10, it becomes easier for the maintenance worker 20 to reach out his
or her hands to the subject of maintenance when carrying out maintenance
work from inside the car 5, thus improving workability as well.
Furthermore, as the space between the top part of the hoistway
1 and the top surface 8 of the elevator car 5 is set to be the minimum
along with making it able to avoid collision of the elevator car 5
and the equipments provided in the top part of the hoistway when the
elevator runs out of control, it is possible to minimize the dead space
in the top part of the hoistway 1. In addition to this, along with
the surface 22 of the hoisting machine 13 and the control panel 31,
which is the subject of maintenance, being arranged in the vertical
downward side, it is possible to maintain the equipments provided in
the top part of the hoistway if the maintenance worker 20 reaches his
or her hands out of the opening 9 of the top surface 8 of the car on
a workbench 21 without poking his or her head out, or if necessary,
poking only his or her head out of the opening 9 of the top surface
8 of the car and reaching out his or her hands, and in the event that
the car 5 runs out of control, it is possible to avoid collision of
the head of the maintenance worker 20 and the car 5 if the maintenance
worker 20 just ducks his or her head, thus making it possible to secure
safety for the maintenance worker 20. Due to this, it is possible to
shorten the dead space which has heretofore been necessary for securing
safety at maintenance work.
Moreover, the hoisting machine 13 is formed so that its thickness
in the direction of the rotary shaft thereof is smaller than the dimension
in the radial direction, thus contributing to the shortening of the
whole height of the hoistway 1.
Furthermore, as the elevator car 5 explained in this embodiment
is arranged so that it ascends and descends being supported by the
car pulleys 17 that are provided in the lower part of the car frame
6, there is no necessity to provide an upper beam on the top surface
8 of the car, thus contributing to the shortening of the whole height
of the hoistway 1. The same effects can be attained also in roping
arrangements other than the 2:1 roping arrangement, provided that the
elevator does not require an upper beam on the top surface 8 of the
car, like elevators of the type which suspend the elevator car 5 from
both sides thereof.
According to the above, it is possible to minimize the dead spaces
existing in machineroom-less elevators, and also to minimize the spatial
volume of the hoistway 1.
Industrial Applicability
As mentioned above, in the elevator system according to the present
invention, the dead spaces which have heretofore been existing in the
hoistway of conventional machineroom elevators can be minimized, thus
it is possible to provide an elevator system even more improved in
saving space, which is a merit of machineroom-less elevators. Also,
it is possible to economize building cost of the building, and to provide
an elevator to be installed under strict conditions such as limits
to the exterior or the height of the building.