EP4696637A1

EP4696637A1 - Operating system for elevator, and elevator operating method

Info

Publication number: EP4696637A1
Application number: EP23932508.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Chengdong Pu; Qiang Sun; Shuning WEI; Guangcai ZHU; Yongqing LU; Ye Wang
Original assignee: Kone Corp
Current assignee: Kone Corp
Priority date: 2023-04-14
Filing date: 2023-04-14
Publication date: 2026-02-18
Also published as: WO2024212225A1; CN121039040A

Abstract

An operating system for an elevator and an elevator operating method. The operating system comprises: a passenger detection apparatus, configured to detect whether there is a passenger in an elevator car and to send out a signal indicative of whether there is a passenger; a car door state detection apparatus, configured to detect whether a car door has an opening degree smaller than or equal to a preset opening degree and to send out a signal indicative of whether the car door has an opening degree smaller than or equal to the preset opening degree; and a processing apparatus, communicatively coupled to the passenger detection apparatus and the car door state detection apparatus, and configured to: receive the signal indicative of whether the car door has an opening degree smaller than or equal to the preset opening degree; and when an elevator has a fault, and when the processing apparatus receives from the passenger detection apparatus a signal indicating that there is a passenger in the elevator car and receives from the car door state detection apparatus a signal indicating that the car door has an opening degree smaller than or equal to the preset opening degree, send out an alarm signal.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an operating system of an elevator and a method for operating an elevator.

BACKGROUND

In a current elevator, when the elevator fails, it is impossible to accurately detect the opening and closing state of the elevator-car door, which will affect the accuracy of detecting passenger trapped. Although there are sensors in the existing elevators that can detect whether the elevator-car door is closed, it is not possible to determine the opening width of the elevator-car door and further determine whether passenger can escape.

SUMMARY

In order to overcome or at least partially alleviate the abovementioned problem, the present disclosure is proposed.
According to a first aspect, the present disclosure discloses an operating system of an elevator, which includes: a passenger detection device configured to detect whether a passenger is present in an elevator car and output a signal indicating whether a passenger is present in the elevator car; an elevator-car door state detection device configured to detect whether an opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to a predetermined opening width and output a signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width; a processing device communicatively coupled with the passenger detection device and the elevator-car door state detection device and configured to: receive the signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width; when the elevator fails, output an alarm signal in response to that the processing device receives a signal indicating that a passenger is present in the elevator car from the passenger detection device and a signal indicating that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width from the elevator-car door state detection device.
Advantageously, the elevator-car door state detection device includes: a first electromagnetic switch, installed on an elevator-car door frame, with a predetermined distance from a closed position of the elevator-car door; a second electromagnetic switch, installed on the elevator-car door frame, adjacent to the first electromagnetic switch, with a distance from the closed position of the elevator-car door being greater than the predetermined distance; a third electromagnetic switch, installed on the elevator-car door and being able to move together with the elevator-car door, when the third electromagnetic switch first moves past the second electromagnetic switch and then moves past the first electromagnetic switch, the processing device determines that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width.
Advantageously, the elevator-car door state detection device is further configured to detect a complete closure of the elevator-car door and output a signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door, and the processing device is configured to output an alarm signal if it is determined that the signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door is received from the elevator-car door state detection device when the elevator fails.
Advantageously, the elevator-car door state detection device comprises a fourth electromagnetic switch installed on the elevator-car door frame, and an installation position of the fourth electromagnetic switch corresponds to the closed position of the elevator-car door, when the third electromagnetic switch moves past the fourth electromagnetic switch, the processing device is configured to receive a signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door and output an alarm signal.
Advantageously, the passenger detection device is configured to detect whether a passenger is present in the elevator car after a predetermined time when the elevator fails.
Advantageously, the predetermined time is 1 minute.
Advantageously, the predetermined opening width is 40cm.
The present disclosure further provides a method for operating an elevator, which includes: detecting whether a passenger is present in an elevator car by using a passenger detection device and outputting a signal indicating whether a passenger is present in the elevator car; detecting whether an opening width of an elevator-car door is less than or equal to a predetermined opening width by using an elevator-car door state detection device, and outputting a signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width; using a processing device communicatively coupled with the passenger detection device and the elevator-car door state detection device to: receive the signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width; when the elevator fails, output an alarm signal in response to that a signal indicating that a passenger is present in the elevator car is received from the passenger detection device and a signal indicating that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width is received from the elevator-car door state detection device.
Advantageously, the elevator-car door state detection device includes: a first electromagnetic switch installed on an elevator-car door frame, with a predetermined distance from a closed position of the elevator-car door; a second electromagnetic switch installed on the elevator-car door frame, adjacent to the first electromagnetic switch, and with a distance from the closed position of the elevator-car door being greater than the predetermined distance, and a third electromagnetic switch installed on the elevator-car door and being able to move together with the elevator-car door, detecting whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width by using the elevator-car door state detection device comprises determining that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width when the third electromagnetic switch first moves past the second electromagnetic switch and then moves past the first electromagnetic switch.
Advantageously, the method further includes: using the elevator-car door state detection device to detect a complete closure of the elevator-car door, and output a signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door; using the processing device to determine that the signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door is received from the elevator-car door state detection device when the elevator fails, and output an alarm signal.
Advantageously, the elevator-car door state detection device further includes a fourth electromagnetic switch installed on the elevator-car door frame, and an installation position of the fourth electromagnetic switch corresponds to the closed position of the elevator-car door, and the method further comprises determining the signal indicating that the complete closure of the elevator-car door is received and output an alarm signal when the third electromagnetic switch moves past the fourth electromagnetic switch.
Advantageously, the passenger detection device is used to detect whether a passenger is present in the elevator car after a predetermined time when the elevator fails.
Advantageously, the predetermined time is 1 minute.
Advantageously, the predetermined opening width is 40cm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In order to explain the technical solution of the embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly, the following drawings will be briefly introduced. It should be understood that the following drawings only show some embodiments of the present disclosure, so they should not be regarded as limiting the scope of protection. For ordinary people in the field, other related drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative work.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an operating system according to the present disclosure;
Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an elevator-car door state detection device according to the present disclosure; and
Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of the method according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiment of the disclosure more clear, the technical solution of the embodiments of the disclosure will be described clearly and completely with the attached drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments is a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, not the all embodiments. For example, those skilled in the art can understand that features in various embodiments of the present disclosure can be combined with each other, and the combined embodiment still falls within the scope of the present disclosure. Based on the described embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary people in the field without creative labor belong to the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
Unless otherwise defined, technical terms or scientific terms used in this disclosure shall have their ordinary meanings as understood by people with ordinary skills in the field to which this disclosure belongs. The terms "first", "second" and the like used in this disclosure do not indicate any order, quantity or importance, but are only used to distinguish different components. Similar words such as "including" or "containing" mean that the elements or objects appearing before the word cover the elements or objects listed after the word and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or objects. "Up", "Down", "Left" and "Right" are only used to indicate the relative positional relationship. When the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship may also change accordingly.
Fig. 1 shows a schematic wire block diagram of an operating system of an elevator according to the present application. The operating system 1 includes a passenger detection device 11 configured to detect whether a passenger is present in an elevator car and output a signal indicating whether a passenger is present in the elevator; an elevator-car door state detection device 12 configured to detect whether an opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to a predetermined opening width and output a signal indicating whether the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width, a processing device 13 communicatively coupled with the passenger detection device and the elevator-car door state detection device, and configured to: receive the signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width; and, when the elevator fails, output an alarm signal in response to that the processing device receives a signal indicating that a passenger is present in the elevator car from the passenger detection device and if the processing device determines that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width.
In other words, when the elevator fails, the processing device 13 receives the signal that a passenger is present in the elevator car from the passenger detection device 11 and a signal indicating that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width from the elevator-car door state detection device 12, and the processing device outputs an alarm signal, indicating that the passenger is trapped in the elevator car and cannot escape by himself.
Fig. 2 shows an example of an elevator-car door state detection device. The elevator-car door state detection device 12 includes a first electromagnetic switch 121, a second electromagnetic switch 122 and a third electromagnetic switch 123. As shown in Fig. 2, the first electromagnetic switch 121 and the second electromagnetic switch 122 are fixedly installed on an elevator-car door frame 2. The first electromagnetic switch 121 is arranged by a predetermined distance away from a closed position of the elevator-car door (shown by the vertical dotted line in Fig. 2), and the second electromagnetic switch 122 is adjacent to the first electromagnetic switch 121, but further away from the closed position of the elevator-car door than the first electromagnetic switch 121. That is, when the closed position of the elevator-car door is taken as a reference, the first electromagnetic switch 121 is closer to the reference than the second electromagnetic switch 122. The third electromagnetic switch 123 is installed on the elevator-car door 3 and is able to move together with the elevator-car door. In the present application, the electromagnetic switches are configured such that when two electromagnetic switches are aligned with each other or one electromagnetic switch moves past the other electromagnetic switch, a corresponding signal will be sent to indicate that the two electromagnetic switches are aligned with each other or pass by. Such a process is well known to those skilled in the art, so it will not be described in detail in the present disclosure.
Specifically, if the processing device 13 receives from the passenger detection device 11 that a passenger is present in the elevator car (preferably, the processing device 13 receives a signal indicating that a passenger is present in the elevator car after a predetermined time, for example, 1 minute after stopping due to a fault) and receives a signal from the elevator-car door state detection device 12 that the third electromagnetic switch 123 first passes through the second electromagnetic switch 122 and then passes through the first electromagnetic switch 121 (this signal is actually a signal indicating that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width), then it is determined that a moving direction of the elevator-car door is a closing direction (shown by the double arrow at the elevator-car door in Fig. 2) and the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width. In this case, the passenger is trapped in the elevator car and cannot escape by himself, because the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width. Generally speaking, the predetermined opening width is 40cm, that is, the distance between two elevator-car doors, which is indicated by "L" in Fig. 2.
In addition, if the processing device 13 receives the presence of passenger in the elevator car from the passenger detection device 11 (preferably, the processing device 13 receives the presence of passenger in the elevator car after a predetermined time, such as 1 minute, after the elevator stops due to a fault), but receives a signal from the elevator-car door state detection device 12 that the third electromagnetic switch 123 first passes through the first electromagnetic switch 121 and then passes through the second electromagnetic switch 121 (this signal is actually a signal that the elevator-car door is larger than a predetermined opening width), it is determined that the moving direction of the elevator-car door is the opening direction. In this case, the passenger can escape from the elevator car by himself, because the elevator-car door is larger than the predetermined opening width.
The elevator-car door state detection device 12 is also configured to detect a complete closure of the elevator-car door and output a signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door. In this case, the processing device 13 is configured to output an alarm signal if it is determined that the signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door is received from the elevator-car door state detection device when the elevator fails. Specifically, the elevator-car door state detection device 12 further includes a fourth electromagnetic switch 124 installed on the elevator-car door frame, and an installation position of the fourth electromagnetic switch 124 corresponds to the closed position of the elevator-car door. Thus, when the third electromagnetic switch 123 moves past the fourth electromagnetic switch 124, a corresponding signal will be output to indicate that the elevator-car door is closed. In this case, when the passenger detection device 11 detects that a passenger is present in the elevator car, the processing device outputs an alarm signal to indicate that the passenger is trapped.
The present disclosure also relates to a method for operating an elevator. As shown in Fig. 3, a flowchart of the method is shown.
In the case that the elevator fails and stops, the method of the present application starts at block 100. The failure and stop of the elevator can be obtained by a device well known to those skilled in the art, so the device will not be described in detail here. In block 100, a passenger detection device is used to detect whether a passenger is present in the elevator car and output a signal indicating whether a passenger is present in the elevator. The passenger detection device may be various well-known devices such as an imaging device. If the presence of passenger is detected, in block 200, the elevator-car door state detection device is used to detect whether an opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width, and a signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width is outputted. When it is determined that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width, a processing device communicatively coupled with the passenger detection device and the elevator-car door state detection device is used to receive the signal and output an alarm signal to indicate that the passenger is trapped and cannot escape by himself.
As described above, the elevator-car door state detection device 12 includes the first electromagnetic switch, the second electromagnetic switch, the third electromagnetic switch and the fourth electromagnetic switch, so that it can detect whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width.
Through the operating system and method provided by the invention, the opening and closing state and the opening width of the elevator-car door can be accurately detected, thereby improving the accuracy of detecting passenger trapped and improving the safety.
The scope of the present disclosure is defined not by the above-described embodiments, but by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

An operating system of an elevator, comprising:
a passenger detection device configured to detect whether a passenger is present in an elevator car and output a signal indicating whether a passenger is present in the elevator car;

an elevator-car door state detection device configured to detect whether an opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to a predetermined opening width and output a signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width;

a processing device communicatively coupled with the passenger detection device and the elevator-car door state detection device and configured to:
receive the signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width;

when the elevator fails, output an alarm signal in response to that the processing device receives a signal indicating that a passenger is present in the elevator car from the passenger detection device and a signal indicating that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width from the elevator-car door state detection device.
The operating system according to claim 1, wherein the elevator-car door state detection device comprises:
a first electromagnetic switch, installed on an elevator-car door frame, with a predetermined distance from a closed position of the elevator-car door;

a second electromagnetic switch, installed on the elevator-car door frame, adjacent to the first electromagnetic switch, with a distance from the closed position of the elevator-car door being greater than the predetermined distance;

a third electromagnetic switch, installed on the elevator-car door and being able to move together with the elevator-car door,

wherein when the third electromagnetic switch first moves past the second electromagnetic switch and then moves past the first electromagnetic switch, the processing device determines that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width.
The operating system according to claim 2, wherein the elevator-car door state detection device is further configured to detect a complete closure of the elevator-car door and output a signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door, and the processing device is configured to output an alarm signal if it is determined that the signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door is received from the elevator-car door state detection device when the elevator fails.
The operating system according to claim 3, wherein the elevator-car door state detection device comprises a fourth electromagnetic switch installed on the elevator-car door frame, and an installation position of the fourth electromagnetic switch corresponds to the closed position of the elevator-car door, when the third electromagnetic switch moves past the fourth electromagnetic switch, the processing device is configured to receive a signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door and output an alarm signal.
The operating system according to claim 2, wherein the passenger detection device is configured to detect whether a passenger is present in the elevator car after a predetermined time when the elevator fails.
The operating system of claim 5, wherein the predetermined time is 1 minute.
The operating system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined opening width is 40cm.
A method for operating an elevator, comprising:
detecting whether a passenger is present in an elevator car by using a passenger detection device and outputting a signal indicating whether a passenger is present in the elevator car;

detecting whether an opening width of an elevator-car door is less than or equal to a predetermined opening width by using an elevator-car door state detection device, and outputting a signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width;

using a processing device communicatively coupled with the passenger detection device and the elevator-car door state detection device to:
receive the signal indicating whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width;

when the elevator fails, output an alarm signal in response to that a signal indicating that a passenger is present in the elevator car is received from the passenger detection device and a signal indicating that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width is received from the elevator-car door state detection device.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the elevator-car door state detection device comprises: a first electromagnetic switch installed on an elevator-car door frame, with a predetermined distance from a closed position of the elevator-car door; a second electromagnetic switch installed on the elevator-car door frame, adjacent to the first electromagnetic switch, and with a distance from the closed position of the elevator-car door being greater than the predetermined distance, and a third electromagnetic switch installed on the elevator-car door and being able to move together with the elevator-car door,
wherein detecting whether the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width by using the elevator-car door state detection device comprises determining that the opening width of the elevator-car door is less than or equal to the predetermined opening width when the third electromagnetic switch first moves past the second electromagnetic switch and then moves past the first electromagnetic switch.
The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: using the elevator-car door state detection device to detect a complete closure of the elevator-car door, and output a signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door; using the processing device to determine that the signal indicating the complete closure of the elevator-car door is received from the elevator-car door state detection device when the elevator fails, and output an alarm signal.
The method according to claim 10, wherein the elevator-car door state detection device further comprises a fourth electromagnetic switch installed on the elevator-car door frame, and an installation position of the fourth electromagnetic switch corresponds to the closed position of the elevator-car door, and the method further comprises determining the signal indicating that the complete closure of the elevator-car door is received and output an alarm signal when the third electromagnetic switch moves past the fourth electromagnetic switch.
The method of claim 9, wherein the passenger detection device is used to detect whether a passenger is present in the elevator car after a predetermined time when the elevator fails.
The method of claim 12, wherein the predetermined time is 1 minute.
The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined opening width is 40cm.