Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B5/00—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators
  • B66B5/02—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators responsive to abnormal operating conditions
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B17/00—Hoistway equipment
  • B66B17/34—Safe lift clips; Keps
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B5/00—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators
  • B66B5/02—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators responsive to abnormal operating conditions
  • B66B5/16—Braking or catch devices operating between cars, cages, or skips and fixed guide elements or surfaces in hoistway or well

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method as defined in the preamble of claim 1 and an appliance as defined in the preamble of claim 7 for increasing the useful area of an elevator car.
• a weight limit is set for elevator cars, especially in traction sheave elevators, which the combined weight of the car and the load may not exceed for safety reasons. If the weight limit is exceeded and an overload enters the elevator car, the friction between the hoisting ropes of the elevator and the rope grooves of the traction sheave is not necessarily sufficient to keep the elevator car in its position, and instead in an overload situation the elevator car can start moving downwards from the landing. Such undesired movement, which is also called creeping, causes hazards to passengers and according to the regulations is not permitted.
• Overload protectors are used to prevent an overload in elevators, which measure the load of the elevator car and in an overload situation prevent the starting of the elevator motor, keep the brakes of the elevator locked and report with different signaling devices that there is an overload in the elevator. In this case the elevator car cannot resume normal drive before the overload situation is removed.
• One problem is the creeping mentioned earlier, where the hoisting ropes of a traction sheave elevator slip on the traction sheave as it is kept in its position by the brake and the elevator car moves downwards causing hazardous situations.
• Mechanical locking devices for an elevator car i.e. anti- creeping devices, which lock the elevator car in its position either against the guide rail, the hoisting rope of the elevator or some other suitable point by means of a latch, safety gear or additional brake so that the elevator car cannot move downwards, are also prior-art in technical terms.
• hydraulic elevators solutions are often used in which the elevator car is mechanically gripped to be supported by the elevator shaft owing to an oil leak or to an unintended reduction in the oil volume of the hoisting cylinder for some other reason.
• Different mechanical locking devices are used e.g. in goods elevators, in which case e.g. a forklift truck can drive into the elevator car during loading and unloading. These locking devices can often be switched on and off separately, with e.g. a push-button for this purpose, thus they are not applicable as such for normal passenger elevator use.
• the purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks and to achieve a dependable, low-cost method and an operationally reliable appliance for increasing the useful area of an elevator car, particularly for use with traction sheave elevators, which will enable the use of elevator cars with a volume that is greater than normal despite the weight limit.
• a particular aim of the invention is a safe method to permit a large area for transportation in relation to the load-bearing capacity of the elevator.
• the method according to the invention is characterized by what is disclosed in the characterization part of claim 1.
• the appliance according to the invention is characterized by what is disclosed in the characterization part of claim 7.
• Other embodiments of the invention are characterized by what is disclosed in the other claims.
• inventive content of the application can also be defined differently than in the claims presented below.
• inventive content may also consist of several separate inventions, especially if the invention is considered in the light of expressions or implicit sub-tasks or from the point of view of advantages or categories of advantages achieved. In this case, some of the attributes contained in the claims below may be superfluous from the point of view of separate inventive concepts .
• different details presented in connection with each embodiment can also be applied in other embodiments .
• One advantage of the solution according to the invention is the possibility to construct large elevator cars also although the weight limit otherwise set for the cars would be low.
• An elevator car can thus be constructed that is larger than the normal volume corresponding to the rated load, in which case goods of a rather large size but light in weight can be transported in the elevator, such as e.g. furniture or children's prams.
• Another advantage is that the structures of the car can be lighter than in elevator cars with the same volume that comply with the standards because the car of an elevator dimensioned for a lighter load needs to bear a smaller load and stresses than the maximum load according to the standards .
• a load- bearing capacity that is dimensioned smaller with respect to the area also results in a saving in energy.
• traction sheave elevators with counterweight a lighter load also means savings in costs owing to the smaller counterweight and a smaller counterweight may also result in a saving in the space occupied by the elevator shaft.
• a further advantage is that a smaller motor and control unit for the motor can be used, in which case the manufacturing and operating costs of the elevator are lower than a corresponding prior-art elevator. Smaller fuses can be used with a smaller motor and control unit and the electrical connection cable is smaller.
• a 5000 kg car dimensioned in its area according to prior art can be used in the solution according to the invention as a 4000 kg car, in which case all the regulating elements can be dimensioned according to a 4000 kg car, but achieving the clearance of a 5000 kg car as a benefit.
• the invention is especially suitable for use in connection with an elevator without counterweight.
• the invention can be implemented by constructing a control for the existing brake devices or safety gear devices of the elevator car, which is activated to stop the elevator car when the elevator car is at the floor level if the elevator car unintentionally, e.g. with the doors open, moves a greater distance than the pre-set distance.
• the elevator car is controlled to move, said control for keeping the elevator car in the proximity of the landing is switched off.
• the control can be based on at least partly the load information of the elevator or can be fully independent of the load information.
• One method to implement the invention is to achieve gripping of the elevator car resulting from an unintended downward movement of the elevator car by stopping the overspeed governor or the rope of the overspeed governor if it moves e.g.
• Stopping of the overspeed governor can be effected by e.g. adding a prevention means to the overspeed governor, which always activates during the time the elevator car is stopped and which by means of a detent or impediment or some other means stops the rotation of the overspeed governor if the elevator car tries to move for a longer distance than that permitted beforehand.
• stopping the rope of the overspeed governor can be effected e.g. by fitting a brake device that acts on the overspeed governor, which always activates during the time the elevator car is stopped and which restrains the rope of the overspeed governor from moving more than the distance permitted beforehand.
• Fig. 1 presents a diagrammatic and simplified side view of an elevator shaft, in which the elevator car has stopped normally at the floor level
• Fig. 2 presents a diagrammatic view of the most important mechanisms of the solution according to the invention and their connection to each other and
• Fig. 3 presents a diagrammatic side view of a solution according to another embodiment of the invention, in which a speed governor is used as an aid.
• Fig. 1 presents in diagrammatic and simplified form a traction sheave elevator applicable to one concept according to the invention, which comprises at least an elevator hoisting machine 6 with its hoisting motor, a traction sheave 7, a counterweight 9, an elevator control system 11 and an elevator car 2 that moves in essentially the vertical direction along guide rails 3, said elevator car being suspended by means of hoisting ropes 8 such that as the hoisting ropes 8 rotate around the traction sheave 7 the elevator car 2 obtains its movement as a result of the friction between the traction sheave 7 and the hoisting ropes 8.
• the elevator car 2 is equipped with a load-measuring device 4, e.g.
• the load- measuring device 4 is used as a measuring device that monitors a change in the status of the elevator car 2 when it is at the landing, said change in status being in this case a change in the load of the elevator car.
• the load-measuring device that monitors a change in the status of the elevator car 2 will be referred to below also with the reference number 4.
• An elevator applicable to the concept of the invention also includes a sliding inhibitor 5, which locks the elevator car in its position such that the hoisting ropes 8 of the elevator cannot slip a dangerously long distance on the traction sheave
• the sliding inhibitor 5 can be any prior-art anti-creeping device whatsoever. It can be e.g. a mechanical catch, a guide rail brake or a rope brake, which locks directly onto the hoisting ropes 8 of the elevator.
• Fig. 2 presents a diagrammatic view of the most important mechanisms of the solution according to figure 1 and their connection to each other.
• the load-measuring device 4 is connected to the elevator car 2 and measures the combined weight of the elevator car and the load, or at least the weight of the load.
• the load-measuring device 4 is connected to the control unit 10 of the sliding inhibitor 5, said control unit 10 also being connected to the sliding inhibitor 5 as well as to the control system 11 of the elevator.
• the anti-creeping device used in the solution according to the invention can also be a rope brake 14 according to figure 3 , which locks the rope 13 of the overspeed governor 12 in its position, or a device for preventing or braking the rotation of the rope wheel of the overspeed governor 12 , in which case when the elevator car 2 moves downwards a little distance when at the landing the rope 13 of the overspeed governor activates the safety gear 5a of the elevator and thereby prevents the elevator car 2 sliding downwards when the elevator car 2 at the landing has moved more than the pre-set travel distance.
• the sliding inhibitor 5 acts as a mechanism that stops the rope 13 of the overspeed governor, which therefore can comprise e.g. a rope brake 14 and a safety gear 5a.
• the rope brake 14 is connected to the control unit 10, which is further connected to the control system 11 of the elevator.
• the measuring device 4a that monitors a change in the status of the elevator car 2 is a measuring device that monitors and measures the distance the elevator car travels when at the landing or the position of the elevator car when at the landing, in which case therefore the change in the status of the elevator car 2 is the distance traveled by the elevator car when at the landing or a change in the position of the elevator car when at the landing.
• the measuring device 4a can be e.g. an element that measures the rotational movement of the overspeed governor 12 , which calculates the distance traveled by the elevator car 2 based on the rotational movement.
• the measuring device 4a can just as well measure the distance traveled by the rope 13 of the overspeed governor or directly the distance traveled by the elevator car, in which case the measuring device is connected to e.g. the elevator car 2.
• the measuring device 4a can also be a position sensor at the landing, which measures the position of the elevator car 8 when at the landing. Many other structural and positional solutions for the measuring device 4a are also possible.
• an important feature is to allow the elevator car a certain free movement, of at least the amount of the normal vertical movement resulting from loading of the elevator car, via the structure or operation of the inhibitor itself and/or the structure or operation of the system controlling its operation.
• the free movement allowance can be somewhat greater than that required for loading, e.g. covering the zone of that specific floor level in which the doors of the elevator car are permitted to open or being some other pre-set permitted travel distance of the elevator car.
• the useful area of the elevator car 2 can be increased owing to the fact that a change in the status of the elevator car 2 when at the landing is actively monitored and when the status exceeds a pre-defined limit value the elevator car 2 is locked in its position in the landing zone.
• the combined weight of the elevator car 2 and the load in it is the change of status monitored by the load-measuring device 4 and if the weight exceeds the permitted weight limit, the creeping - i.e. sliding downwards - of the elevator car is prevented by locking the elevator car 2 in its position with the sliding inhibitor 5.
• the load-measuring device 4 functioning as the measuring device monitoring the status of the elevator car informs the control unit 10 of the sliding inhibitor 5 of the exceeding of the weight limit, which for its part locks the guide rail brake functioning as the sliding inhibitor 5 in the case according to the embodiment, and therefore the elevator car 2 cannot slide downwards.
• the control unit 10 of the sliding inhibitor 5 also notifies this fact to the control system 11 of the elevator, which keeps the operating brake of the elevator locked and does not start the elevator because of the overload and announces the overload with e.g. a buzzer.
• a corresponding safety function is achieved by monitoring a change in the status of the elevator car 2 by measuring the downward movement of the elevator car or the position of the elevator car with the measuring device 4a, and the sliding downwards of the elevator car 2 is prevented when a certain, pre-defined creeping distance of the elevator car 2 is exceeded by locking the elevator car 2 in its position with a sliding inhibitor fitted to act in connection with the overspeed governor 12, which comprises in addition to the overspeed governor 12 at least the rope 13 of the overspeed governor, the rope brake 14 acting on the rope 13 of the overspeed governor and the safety gear 5a connected to the elevator car 2, which stops the elevator car 2 when the rope 13 of the overspeed governor stops or slows its speed in relation to the speed of the elevator car.
• the sliding inhibitor 5 can instead of a guide rail brake be some other type of device for preventing creeping of the elevator car 2 , such as e.g. the aforementioned catch, rope brake or safety gear.
• control unit of the sliding inhibitor does not necessarily need to be separate but can be directly integrated into the control system of the elevator.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Maintenance And Inspection Apparatuses For Elevators (AREA)
• Elevator Control (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (3)

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Family Applications (1)

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Citations (2)

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• 2005
  • 2005-08-16 FI FI20050828A patent/FI118731B/fi not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2006
  • 2006-07-03 WO PCT/FI2006/000235 patent/WO2007020320A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2006-07-03 ES ES06764461T patent/ES2405617T3/es active Active
  • 2006-07-03 EP EP06764461.7A patent/EP1915312B1/de not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (2)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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