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
  • B66B5/0006—Monitoring devices or performance analysers

Definitions

• Lift installation guide rails for said lift, kit for monitoring said installation and methods for monitoring and use thereof
• the present invention relates to a lift installation, a term which is intended to indicate both a lift for transport of objects and people and an elevator which is designed for transport of objects only, guide rails in order to construct the paths of said installation, and methods for monitoring and use thereof.
• lift installations comprise at least one car which is towed or suspended by an actuation system which for example is electrical or electro-hydraulic, so that it can slide in a shaft along respective guide rails, generally constituted by metal profiles mounted in the shaft with reciprocal parallelism and alignment.
• Such guide rails are an essential element of the lift, and at the same time represent a source of potential problems.
• the guide rails for lifts are aligned using the vertically reference provided by a common plumb line or a laser beam. It is apparent however that this reference is necessarily imprecise, in particular as the height of the shaft increases, since many factors can affect the actual arrangement of the line, in particular when the free portion is very long. In addition, this mounting methodology is relatively slow and excessively subject to human errors which cannot be immediately detected and corrected.
• the shaft of the lift is normally a very rigid part which is closely interconnected with the bearing structure of the building which it serves. Consequently, if it were possible to monitor the shaft adequately, in response there would be sufficiently reliable monitoring of the entire bearing structure of the building.
• fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a lift installation for a building
• fig. 2a is a perspective view of a closed box of a sensor for the installation in the preceding figure
• fig. 2b is a perspective view of an open box of the sensor in fig. 2a;
• figs. 3 and 4 are partial wiring diagrams of the installation in the preceding figures.
• fig. 5 is a table relating to the sensors used and to the data generated in the installation in the preceding figures;
• fig. 6 is a diagram for the actuation of an installation kit
• fig. 7 is a diagram of the installation process
• fig. 8 is an example of an interface for a user
• fig. 9 is a diagram representative of an example of the main components of software used according to the present invention.
• fig. 10 is a perspective view of an assembled control unit
• fig. 11 is a view from above of the control unit in figure 10 open;
• figs. 12 to 14 are views of a detail of the installation in the preceding figures.
• 1 indicates as a whole building in which a lift installation is mounted which is indicated overall as 2.
• the building 1 has multiple floors P, and the floor slab of each floor is indicated by the letter P followed by the progressive number of the floor, counted starting from the ground floor P0.
• the installation in figure 1 comprises a shaft 4 at the base of which there is a pit 10, the bottom wall of which is indicated as 11.
• an opening with doors which are controlled manually or automatically is provided in a manner known per se.
• two (or more) guide rails 12 are mounted which are vertical, parallel, and face opposite walls of the shaft 4. These guide rails 12 are used to control the course of ascent and descent of a car 13 by means of actuation using a cable 14 or oleodynamic cylinders which in themselves are known in the field.
• the guides 12 have a cross section generally in the form of a“T” with a wing 16 and a core 17, and are mounted by means of brackets or a clamping device 18 spaced apart from one another on the walls of the shaft 4; in turn, the brackets 18 are secured by means of direct application on these walls or elsewhere, for example by means of counter brackets which are not shown.
• the brackets 18 have a cross section which, by way of example, is in the form of an omega, and they are designed to receive, in a central recess 19, a box 20 made of plastics material, for example polycarbonate filled with glass fibre, which box is welded on its perimeter by means of ultrasound or by another suitable means.
• each box 20 advantageously contains a PCB 21 on which a plurality of sensors 21a is mounted, preferably selected from triaxial MEMS accelerometers and triaxial MEMS inclinometers; the boards 21 are all connected to a single data bus 23 of the CAN type, which also carries the direct current supply (12 V) obtained from a control unit 22.
• a microcontroller is mounted on the PCB 21 , the firmware of which microcontroller can be updated by the control unit 22, for example via the CAN bus 23.
• the acceleration and gradient of the sensors are calibrated according to the use of the sensors.
• the boxes 20 with the corresponding sensors 21a are connected in the form of a chain, which can be supplied pre-wired and ending in a cable for connection to the control unit 22.
• the control unit can be positioned either in the shaft or in the technical shaft 15 of the lift, or elsewhere.
• the sampling frequency of the accelerometers is set for example at between 1 and 150 Hz, advantageously at 100 Hz, for structural monitoring (low-frequency accelerometers) and at between 1 Hz and 1 kHz, advantageously at 200 Hz, for monitoring of the vibrations transmitted to the guide rails 12 (high-frequency accelerometers).
• the accelerometers for the structural monitoring are always active, i.e. they transmit data continuously to the control unit 22 when they are supplied with power, whereas the high-frequency accelerometers are active only when the car is in motion.
• the raw data generated by the sensors is saved in a local memory of the control unit 22, for example on an SSD board or an equivalent system.
• the data is transmitted by the control system to a Cloud, for as long as the energy content of the signal continues to be significant.
• the data which reaches the Cloud is stored for subsequent processing.
• the safety status of the building can be obtained by means of the modal identification.
• the standard deviations of the sensors are also transmitted to the Cloud at predetermined intervals, for example every 5 or 10 seconds (heartbeat).
• Fig. 3 shows an example of a basic wiring diagram of the lift installation according to the present invention.
• the control unit 22 is inserted in an electrical panel to be mounted in the technical area of the lift, and the CAN bus 23 extends from the control unit 22 to the shaft 4 of the lift.
• the accelerometers are indicated as A1-n, and the inclinometers are indicated as 11-n.
• the accelerometers are positioned at at least one floor slab of a floor (e.g. at the first floor, second floor, etc.).
• the inclinometers are positioned at a predetermined reference point, preferably an intermediate floor (e.g. at the ground floor, third floor, sixth floor, ninth floor, etc.).
• an intermediate floor e.g. at the ground floor, third floor, sixth floor, ninth floor, etc.
• additional sensors are provided, mounted on the car 13 of the lift, which sensors communicate with the control system 22 for example by means of a broadband powerline modem Pm, with a gateway G which translates the signals from the CAN bus 23 at the Ethernet input of the powerline modem Pm.
• the control unit also measures the three-phase electrical power consumed by the lift by means of ammeter clamps or an equivalent system.
• the sensors which are mounted on the car 13 comprise a first additional accelerometer AC1 , a second additional accelerometer AC2 mounted in a position so as to detect the vibratory phenomena associated with the car 13 and/or with the cable 14, as well as a magnetometer for checking at the floor. If the mobile phone network reception is not sufficient inside the technical shaft, an external antenna is provided, to be mounted in the lift shaft.
• the table in fig. 7 indicates the type of sensors and their positioning.
• the levelling of the car 13 at the floor is measured by means of the magnetometer which is present in the sensor 21a, and a fixed magnet Ma placed at each floor.
• the distance between the fixed magnet Ma and the sensor 21a can be approximately 10 cm.
• a sensor-equipping kit for producing a lift installation for buildings of up to three floors preferably comprises a sensor 21a provided with a MEMS accelerometer A 1 sampled indicatively at 100 Hz, which sensor is mounted in the pit.
• Identical sensors A2 and AC1 are provided for example at the floor slab of the first floor P1 , and on the roof of the car 13.
• These sensors are used to detect the vibrations of the car, which, compared with the vibrations detected on the guide rails by means of appropriate algorithms, indicate the state of wear of the runners or wheels for running the car itself on the guide rails, the state of wear of the suspension cables, and any operating abnormalities of the motor and of the mechanical units connected thereto.
• Two sensors of the inclinometer type 11 , I2 are also provided, mounted in an intermediate position on the ground floor and on the third floor. All of the aforementioned sensors, with the exception of those mounted in the car and in the pit, are applied on the guide rails 12 at the recess 19 of the brackets 18.
• a permanent magnet Ma is applied at each floor, which magnet detects the position of levelling of the car 13 relative to the unloading threshold, by means of the magnetometer provided in one or more of the sensors AC1 , AC2.
• an accelerometer A5 sampled indicatively at 100 Hz, is also provided at the roof slab of the third floor shaft, two intermediate inclinometers I3, I4 are provided, respectively and indicatively at the third and sixth floors, and an accelerometer A6 is provided, sampled at 200 Hz, at the floor slab of the third floor.
• the sensor 21a comprises at least one temperature sensor to be associated with the shaft 4 at respective floor openings.
• this additional sensor can be used both in installations for use by firemen in order to monitor the level of danger at a specific floor, and for use of the installation, in association with the data relating to deformation of the guide rails detected by all the other sensors applied to the guide rails, for monitoring functions to assist in evacuation of people from the building, for example during a fire.
• the method for emergency control of a lift installation involves the lift installation being able to be used safely for the evacuation of personnel from a building during or after a fire or earthquake.
• the lift installation could be switched, by means of its own control panel, to emergency use operation, thereby making the system of sensors, suitably applied to the guide rails, on the roof of the car and at the floors, interact with the control panel, giving the approval for use of the lift installation for as long as the lift can slide freely in the guide rails, and putting it out of use when the condition of safe usage no longer exists.
• the equipment of sensors on the roof of the car and at the floors could be completed with smoke sensors to avoid the risk of suffocation of any people present in the car in the case of approval for operation of the lift installation.
• the installation can also make use of the lift or the platform or the car in emergency conditions (egress), such as fires, earthquake situations and the like, safer.
• emergency conditions egress
• the sensors described hitherto can be integrated with any temperature sensors and smoke detectors positioned at the floors.
• these temperature sensors and smoke detectors are preferably installed in the top part of the access doors, where smoke and temperatures are most concentrated in the event of fire.
• a radon sensor can additionally be provided, which sensor can assess any presence and concentration of this gas, which in fact tends to accumulate in the lowest parts of the installation and typically to be concentrated in the pit.

Landscapes

• Indicating And Signalling Devices For Elevators (AREA)
• Testing Of Devices, Machine Parts, Or Other Structures Thereof (AREA)
• Maintenance And Inspection Apparatuses For Elevators (AREA)
• Conveying And Assembling Of Building Elements In Situ (AREA)
• Types And Forms Of Lifts (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=63491840

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Families Citing this family (2)

Family Cites Families (19)

• 2018
  • 2018-03-02 IT IT102018000003252A patent/IT201800003252A1/it unknown
• 2019
  • 2019-03-01 JP JP2020545636A patent/JP2021514914A/ja active Pending
  • 2019-03-01 WO PCT/IB2019/051672 patent/WO2019167018A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2019-03-01 EP EP19721014.9A patent/EP3759040A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2019-03-01 CN CN201980016639.XA patent/CN111819144A/zh active Pending
  • 2019-03-01 BR BR112020017917-5A patent/BR112020017917A2/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2019-03-01 CA CA3092759A patent/CA3092759A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2020
  • 2020-08-31 CL CL2020002229A patent/CL2020002229A1/es unknown
  • 2020-09-02 IL IL277109A patent/IL277109A/en unknown

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events