EP2295364B1

EP2295364B1 - Structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors

Info

Publication number: EP2295364B1
Application number: EP09762658.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Woo Sung Hwang
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp; Mitsubishi Elevator Korea Co Ltd
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp; Mitsubishi Elevator Korea Co Ltd
Priority date: 2008-06-10
Filing date: 2009-06-10
Publication date: 2017-01-04
Anticipated expiration: 2029-06-10
Also published as: JP2011520737A; KR100899955B1; EP2295364A2; EP2295364A4; CN102056832A; CN102056832B; JP5518849B2; WO2009151271A3; WO2009151271A2

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors, and more particularly to a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors, which prevents opening of elevator car doors by an external force and accidents caused by such opening of the elevator car doors through reinforcement of a door closure force when the elevator car doors are in a closed state.

Description of the Prior Art

In general, elevator car doors are installed in places where passengers can make direct contact with the doors rather than any other place of an elevator, and are exposed to passenger's mischief and accidents.
With reference to FIG. 1, a left door LD and a right door RD are installed in a hoistway portion of an elevator, and upper portions of the left door and the right door are connected to connection plates 400 of an elevator car door device.
Also, the left door LD and the right door RD have lower portions with respective shoes 100, and a sill 200, in which the shoes 100 are inserted and guided, is installed in the lower portions of the hoistway portion.
Accordingly, when the left door LD and the right door RD are opened or closed by the driving of the elevator car door device, the door opening or closing operation is performed by operation of the connection plate 400 and guide operation of the shoes 100 and the sill 200.
That is, the elevator car door device may have a structure in which the elevator car doors are connected together through a wire 300 or the like in the elevator car door device and if one door (e.g. LD) is moved, the other door (e.g. RD), which receives force transferred through the wire 300, is opened or closed, or a structure in which the respective connection plates are driven to operate. When the doors are closed, the upper portions of the doors are fixed to the connection plates 400 which are connected together through the wire 300. However, according to this structure, the doors interlock with each other only when the doors move in the left or right direction, but on the rigidity or mass which supports the doors against pushing and lifting forces that occur when an impact is applied to a lower front surface of one door (e.g. LD), the other door (e.g. RD) exerts no effect.
Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 2, if the door does not have sufficient rigidity when an abnormal impact is applied to the door LD or RD (as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2) due to an unavoidable accident or the like, the bending of the door occurs greatly, and thus the shoe 100, which serves to guide the lower portion of the door, may be separated from a groove 210 of the sill 200.
KR 2001/0027076 A discloses features falling under the preamble of claim 1. JP 2004/224494 A and JP 2005/096977 A are further prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the related art while advantages achieved by the related art are maintained intact.
One subject to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors, which prevents opening of elevator car doors by an external force and accidents caused by such opening of the elevator car doors through reinforcement of a door closure force when the elevator car doors are in a closed state.
The invention is defined by the independent claim 1.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors including left and right doors having lower portions on which respective shoes are installed and sills having grooves for guiding the shoes, which includes stepped portions formed on lower ends of the shoes by bending lower ends of the shoes; and slits formed on inner surfaces of the grooves of the sills to correspond to the stepped portions.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors including left and right doors having lower portions on which respective shoes are installed and sills having rail grooves into which the shoes are inserted, which includes locking brackets which are formed on lower end portions of the left and right doors, which have "┘"-shaped cross sections, and which include vertical portions and horizontal portions, and grooves or projection portions which are formed on inner walls of the rail grooves and into which front ends of the horizontal portions of the locking brackets are inserted.
With the above-described construction, the elevator car door separation preventing structure according to the present invention can reduce unnecessary expenses for reinforcing the strength of the elevator car door in order to prevent the separation of the door. Also, the elevator car door separation preventing structure according to the present invention can prevent a user or a resident from falling into a shaft due to the separation of the elevator car door that occurs frequently caused by an abnormal impact.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating the structure of a general elevator;
FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating an elevator car door that is bent by an external force;
FIG. 3 is a front view illustrating a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to a first example;
FIGS. 4 and 5 are side cross-sectional view and a plan view illustrating an insertion state of the structure according to the first example as illustrated in FIG. 3;
FIGS. 6 and 7 are a side cross-sectional view and a plan view illustrating a locking state after insertion according to the first example as illustrated in FIG. 3;
FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating a second example which is a modification of the first example;
FIGS. 9 and 10 are side cross-sectional views illustrating the second example;
FIGS. 11 to 13 are views illustrating a process of engaging a locking bracket with a sill by stages according to the second example;
FIGS. 14 and 15 are views illustrating a third embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 16 and 17 are view illustrating a modified embodiment of the third embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 18 and 19 are a side view and a front view illustrating a fourth embodiment of the present invention; and
FIGS. 20 and 21 are a side view and a front view illustrating a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 3 is a front view illustrating a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 4 and 5 are side cross-sectional view and a plan view illustrating an insertion state of the structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in FIG. 3, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are a side cross-sectional view and a plan view illustrating a locking state after insertion according to the first example as illustrated in FIG. 3.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to the first example A1 includes left and right doors LD and RD having lower portions on which shoes 100 are installed, and sills 200 having rail grooves 210 into which the shoes 100 are inserted. On the lower ends of the left and right doors LD and RD, brackets 21, which have "┘"-shaped cross sections and include vertical portions and horizontal portions, are installed, and on the inner walls of the rail grooves 210, locking grooves 212, into which front ends of the horizontal portions of the locking brackets 21 are inserted, are formed.
The shoe 100 is a roughly rectangular metal plate that is formed on the lower portion of the left or right door LD or RD, and a stepped portion for preventing the separation of the door is formed on the lower end of the shoe 100. The sill 200 is a guide member of a predetermined length, that has the rail groove 210 into which the stepped portion formed on the lower portion of the shoe 100 is inserted. Accordingly, when the left and right doors LD and RD are opened or closed, the shoe 100 moves along the rail groove 210 of the sill 200. The locking bracket 21 is formed of a "┘"-shaped metal plate with a predetermined thickness, which is attached to the lower end of the left and right doors LD and RD. To correspond to this, a locking groove 212, into which the front end of the locking bracket 21 is inserted, is formed on the inner wall of the rail groove 210. Accordingly, by inserting the locking bracket 21 into the rail groove 21 as illustrated in FIG. 5 and then rotating the locking bracket 21 by 90° clockwise as illustrated in FIG. 7, the front end of the locking bracket 21 is inserted into the locking groove 212 as illustrated in FIG. 6.
At this time, it is preferable that the vertical portion of the locking bracket 21 is positioned in the center of the shoe 100 as illustrated in FIG. 6, and in this case, by inserting the locking bracket 21 into the rail groove 210 and rotating the locking bracket 21 by 90°, the front end of the locking bracket 21 can be easily inserted into the locking groove 212. In this rotated state of the locking bracket, by fastening a bolt 300 to the vertical direction, the locking bracket 21 can be fixed to the door LD or RD.
Referring again to FIG. 5, it is preferable that the horizontal portion of the locking bracket 21 is formed so that the length of a vertical side a of the horizontal portion is longer than the length of a horizontal side b of the horizontal portion, and the length c up to the locking groove 212 is longer than the length of the vertical side a of the horizontal portion. Accordingly, the lengths a, b, and c are set to be c>a>b.
On the other hand, the locking bracket 21 may be formed to be in any one of "┤", "⊥", and "┼" shapes in addition to "┘" shape so that the front end of the locking bracket 21 is locked in the locking groove 212.
FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating a second example which is a modification of the first example, and FIGS. 9 and 10 are side cross-sectional views illustrating the second example.
As illustrated in FIGS. 8 to 10, a structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to the second example A2 includes left and right doors LD and RD having lower portions on which shoes 100 are installed, and sills 200 having rail grooves 210 into which the shoes 100 are inserted. On the lower ends of the left and right doors LD and RD, brackets 22, which have a "┘"-shaped cross section and include vertical portions and horizontal portions, are installed, and on an inner wall of one side of the rail grooves 210, locking grooves 212, into which front ends of the horizontal portions of the locking brackets 21 are inserted, are formed. Also, the horizontal portion is formed long so that the vertical portion of the locking bracket 22 becomes adjacent to an inner wall of the other side of the rail groove.
FIG. 10 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a locking state of a door according to the second example when an impact is applied to the door and the door is pushed backward.
As illustrated in FIG. 10, if an impact is applied to the door and the door is pushed backward, the locking bracket 22 is twisted and removed upward, and the front end of the horizontal portion is inserted into the locking groove 212 of the rail groove 210 to be kept in a locking state.
FIGS. 11 to 13 are views illustrating a process of engaging a locking bracket 22 with a sill 200 by stages according to the second example.
Referring to FIG. 11, the locking bracket 22 is inclined and the front end of the horizontal portion of the locking bracket 22 is inserted into the rail groove 210.
Referring to FIG. 12, the locking bracket 22 in the rail groove 210 is gradually made stand in a vertical direction, and the front end of the horizontal portion is inserted into the locking groove 212.
Referring to FIG. 13, when the locking bracket 22 stands vertically in the rail groove 210, the front end of the horizontal portion is completely inserted into the locking groove 212. At this time, the vertical portion is positioned almost adjacent to the opposite inner wall of the rail groove 210.
FIGS. 14 and 15 are views illustrating a third embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIGS. 14 and 15, according to the third embodiment A3 of the present invention, the locking groove 212, into which the front end of the horizontal portion of the locking bracket 23 is inserted, is formed on the inner wall of the rail groove 210, and a round 213 or an inclination 213a is formed on the lower portion of the locking groove 212 to prevent foreign particles from being accumulated thereon.
FIGS. 16 and 17 are view illustrating a modified embodiment of the third embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIGS. 16 and 17, according to the modified embodiment A3-2 of the third embodiment of the present invention, the lock groove 212, into which the front end of the horizontal portion of the locking bracket 23 is inserted, is formed on the inner wall of the rail groove 210, a round 213 is formed on the inside of the locking groove 212, and lower side walls 2123 and 2123a, which are continuously extended downward from the lower portion of the locking groove 212, are formed to be further recessed inwardly from an upper side wall 2122 of the locking groove 212.
Accordingly, the foreign particles are prevented from being accumulated on the inside of the locking groove 212, and a wider space is formed in the lower portion of the rail groove 210 to accumulate much more foreign particles therein. Accordingly, the structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors can be used for a longer time, and the interference between the shoe 100 and the locking bracket 23 can be minimized.
FIGS. 18 and 19 are a side view and a front view illustrating a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 18, according to the fourth embodiment A4 of the present invention, a projection locking portion 215 is formed so that the front end of the locking bracket 24 is locked on the one side of the rail groove 210.
The projection locking portion 215 may be made of one selected from a bolt, a plate, a pin, a bar, and a square bar.
Referring to FIG. 18, a groove portion 2162 is formed by partially cutting off a buffer portion of the shoe 216 on the door center side so that the locking bracket 24 is in a "┐" shape, and thus the shoe 216 does not interfere with the projection locking portion 215 during the operation of the door.
FIGS. 20 and 21 are a side view and a front view illustrating a fifth embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIGS. 20 and 21, according to the fifth embodiment A5 of the present invention, a locking bracket 25 and a shoe 216 are integrally produced.
Accordingly, the locking bracket 25, which is applied to the door center portion and the outside of the door, has the same locking function as that in the fourth embodiment A4, and the number of components is reduced to simplify the structure.
Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

A structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors (LD, RD) including a door having a lower portion on which a shoe (100) is installed and a sill (200) having a rail groove (210) into which the shoe (100) is inserted, comprising:
a locking bracket (23) which is formed on a lower end portion of the door (LD, RD); and

a locking groove portion (212) which is formed on an inner wall of the rail groove (210) and into which a front end portion of the locking bracket (23) is inserted,

characterized in that

an inclination (213a) is formed in the locking groove (210) to prevent foreign particles from being accumulated therein.
The structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to claim 1,
wherein the locking bracket (23, 24) is formed to be in any one of "┘", "┤", "⊥", and "┼" shapes so that the locking bracket (23, 24) is locked in the rail groove.
The structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to claim 1,
wherein the shoe (100) and the locking bracket (23) are integrally formed.
The structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to claim 1,
wherein a hole is formed on an inner wall of the rail groove (210).
The structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to claim 1,
wherein a hole, a projection, or a bent portion is formed on the entire cross-sectional shape of the sill (200).
The structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to claim 1,
wherein a projection portion is formed on an upper or lower portion of the sill (200) to provide an end portion by attaching or inserting one selected from a bolt, a plate, a pin, a bar, and a square bar into the upper or lower portion.
The structure for preventing the separation of elevator car doors according to claim 1, wherein a lower side wall, which is continuously extended downward from a lower portion of the locking groove, is formed to be further recessed inwardly from an upper side wall of the locking groove (210).