JP2001158578A - Group supervisory operation control system for elevator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To change the content of control easily according to the availability status of an elevator in a group supervisory operation control system for elevator. SOLUTION: A group supervisory operation controller 20 is mounted on a control room away from the elevator, a transmission line is formed between unit controllers 11, 12, 13 and a group supervisory operation controller 20, and a means for monitoring the presence or absence of failure of communication between the unit controllers and the group supervisory operation controller. A lower group supervisory operation controlling means which performs at least a part of the group supervisory operation of the group supervisory operation controller is mounted on the unit controller so that the unit controller may act for the group supervisory operation controller when some failure is detected by the monitoring means. A group supervisory operation controlling function 22 and a monitoring function 21 are integrated and is structured from a personal computer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a group management control system for efficiently controlling the operation of a plurality of elevators arranged side by side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to operate a plurality of elevators efficiently, a so-called group management control in which a plurality of elevators are regarded as a group and collectively managed is known.
In order to perform this group management control, a group management control panel is usually installed in the elevator machine room separately from the elevator control panel of each elevator, and interface control with the hall call registration device, hall call registration control, hall call assignment control is performed. And operation management such as time-sharing operation at work. Normally, hall calls are shared by all elevators by providing a common power supply circuit for all elevators.

In such group management of elevators, it is necessary to change the control contents according to the change of the use situation. For example, in public office buildings, etc., during the first year after opening, the use of elevators, including visitors, is almost twice as much as planned, but after that, the number of users will decrease significantly. In addition, many elevator group management control devices that have been installed for more than 10 years do not assume a staggered attendance usage mode in which two peaks at the time of commuting are possible. It is desirable to change the content of the group management control so that In addition, there are many elevators manufactured when the average value of the estimated weight is 55 to 60 kg, but today it is the age when the weight should be 65 kg.

[0004]

However, the group management control device is generally installed in a machine room or the like on the roof of a building, and a change or modification of the control contents is performed by a technician having a high level of specialized knowledge and experience. To do it.
Therefore, it is not easy to change the group management setting conditions according to the use status of the elevator. At present, many systems have not been optimally adjusted for such reasons.

In order to cope with such a problem, a group management control device is constituted by a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a personal computer) having a graphics display function and installed in an administrator's office so that an administrator can easily change specifications. It is conceivable to be able to

However, if the group management control device is installed in an administrator room far away from the elevator mechanism side, such as an elevator machine room or a hoistway, there is a high possibility that an abnormality will occur in the transmission line therebetween. In recent years, personal computers have made remarkable progress in terms of performance and price, but have problems in reliability.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to install a group management control device in an administrator's office without lowering the reliability so that an elevator administrator can easily change the setting of operation management according to the use situation. That is.

[0008]

The above object is achieved by the following means. That is, in the elevator group management control system, which is provided on the elevator mechanism side and controls a plurality of elevators and controls the operation of the plurality of elevators, and a group management control device that collectively controls the operation of the plurality of elevators, A control device is installed in a management room remote from the elevator mechanism, and a transmission line connecting the number control device and the group management control device and a communication abnormality between the number control device and the group management control device are detected. Means for monitoring the presence / absence of the group management control device, wherein a subgroup management control means for performing at least a part of the group management function of the group management control device is provided, and when an abnormality is detected by the monitoring means, The present invention is characterized in that the group management control device is substituted by a control device.

According to the above configuration, when an abnormality occurs in the group management control device or the transmission line, the control immediately shifts to the unit control device, and the minimum necessary group management control is executed.
Safety is ensured. Therefore, even an elevator manager who is not a technician having a high level of specialized knowledge and experience can change the control content to an optimum one according to a change in the use situation.

[0010] A monitoring device for monitoring the operation status of the elevator and a group management control device can be integrated. This simplifies the wiring and reduces the installation space.

The group management control device can be constituted by a personal computer having a graphics display function. Thus, it is possible to easily perform necessary settings and operations while looking at the screen, even if the user does not have specialized knowledge and experience.

[0012] The car control device is means for periodically transmitting data including at least generated hall call information and car position information to the group management control device, and transmitting data including at least a hall call response instruction from the group management control device. It is preferable that the data include a check signal for detecting an abnormality of the group management control device. This makes it possible to continuously monitor the state of the group management control device.

[0013] At least two elevators are provided with a common hall call registration device, and among the at least two elevators, a car control device not connected to the common hall call registration device is connected to the common hall call registration device. It is also possible to intercept the data transmitted from the issued device control device to the group management control device. By doing this,
The number of hall call registration devices can be reduced.

[0014] A plurality of group management controllers constituted by personal computers may be provided, and each group management controller may perform group management control of the assigned elevator. In this way, for example, it is possible to increase the transportation efficiency by allocating the elevators on the high floor and the low floor of the building and performing group management control independently by each group management control device.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a group management control system that performs group management and control of three elevators to which the present invention is applied. The three elevator machine control devices 11, 12, and 13 that serve a plurality of floors are provided. Prepare. Hall call registration devices 311, 331, two of which are installed for each floor,
The arrival guidance devices 411, 421, and 431 installed corresponding to each car on each floor are connected to elevator car controllers 11 to 13, respectively.

The system shown in FIG.
When 11 is pressed and a hall call signal is generated, the signal is normally taken into the car controller 11, but if the car controller 11 cannot be controlled due to a failure or the like, the car controller 12 can control the car. Configuration, but not limited to this. However, it is desirable that the hall call registration device installed between the two elevators can be input to the elevator control devices on both sides.

Although not shown in detail, the hall call registration device and the elevator control device may be connected by a multiplex transmission line. In this case, the elevator control unit 12 of the elevator which is not the main transmission unit is set to receive only for listening to the signal transmission between the main unit and the hall call registration device. In addition to switching to the main unit, the multiplex transmission line can be driven in the transmission master station mode instead of the main unit to receive a hall call registration operation signal and the like, and transmit a response lamp lighting signal and the like.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, for the No. 2 unit having no main connection of the hall call registration device, no direct wiring to the hall call registration device and no data receiving circuit are provided.
A hall call registration signal is added to the transmission data transmitted from each elevator unit control device shown in FIG. 2 described later to the group management transmission line, and this is received by each unit. Hall call registration can be executed in the same manner as the third and third units. With this configuration, registration of the hall call can be continued for a short time of about 10 seconds even if an abnormality including the transmission function occurs in the group management transmission line or another elevator machine control device. it can. In such a situation, the operation is performed only in response to the car call, or a skip operation mode (stop of only the even or odd number floor) according to an instruction from the elevator monitoring function 21 or the circulation service in response to the hall call. Driving is performed, and functional deterioration can be minimized.

The general-purpose network L1 for group management transmission is connected between the unit control devices 11, 12, and 13 and the personal computer 20 including the elevator monitoring function 21 and the group management control function 22. General-purpose networks include Ethernet, RS-422A, LON Works, and Arcnet.
It is desirable to use a general-purpose computer that can be interfaced with a commercially available personal computer. When a signal transmission system dedicated to elevator control is adopted, a dedicated adapter is not developed and incorporated into the personal computer, but connected to the personal computer 20 through an adapter that converts the signal into these general-purpose transmission means. desirable. As a result, the initially adopted personal computer becomes obsolete, and when a failure occurs after the same model becomes difficult to obtain, a new type of personal computer can be easily adopted.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, if the transmission line L1 operates even if the personal computer 20 fails, the registration of the hall call is shared or the control and response control to the registered call is performed and the common reset after the service is performed. Simple group management control including control can be performed, and the minimum necessary functions as a group management system are maintained. This is particularly important in buildings, such as hotels, where 24-hour users are constantly on the horizon.

FIG. 6 shows a modification of the above embodiment. In this example, hall call registration devices 311 and 311
Reference numeral 31 is connected only to the unit control devices 11 and 13. In this way, when the elevators face each other across the passage, the wiring route is simplified, and the cause of the failure can be easily identified and recovered. FIG.
Although the general-purpose transmission line is used as the group management transmission line L1 in the system shown in FIG. 1, in this modification, the proven and reliable group management transmission line L11 between the unit control devices 11, 12, and 13 is used. And a personal computer 20A connected to a general-purpose transmission line L12 via a transmission converter 24. In this way, even if the personal computer and the general-purpose transmission line L12 transmission converter 24 break down, the dedicated transmission line L11 can maintain its function.

Further, in the system shown in FIG. 6, the conventional group management control device 23 is connected to the dedicated transmission line L11. At 23, the operation is continued. In the configuration of FIG.
A plurality of elevator-equipment control devices 26 of other types including the devices 1 and 361, a device 27 including a group management control device 23B and a transmission conversion device 24B are connected to another personal computer 20B via a general-purpose transmission line L12. Furthermore, the general-purpose transmission line L1
2 is connected to the in-building transmission network via an information connector (router) 25. This makes it possible to optimize the operation of the elevator based on the elevator demand forecast information supplied from the building side.

FIG. 2 shows that each of the elevator car control devices 11, 12, and 13 transmits a personal computer 20 via the group management transmission line L1.
1 shows an example of a communication format of the machine control-side transmission data transmitted to the device. In addition to operation status signals such as maintenance operation, suspension, and independent operation, hall call registration signals, and hall call response signals, the advance car service floor, car load, and car call registration required for more advanced management control with the personal computer 20 Transmit signals and so on. Here, the operation state signal may be collected into a 1-bit group management transfer enable signal, or, as shown in FIG. 7 described later, the unit control device generates unit control operation mode information, that is, an operation control state code signal. You may make it transmit.

Depending on the contents executed by the group management control function 22, although not shown in FIG.
A photoelectric device operation, a door closing signal, a door opening signal, and the like may be added to the transmission data. In addition, a wheelchair call signal or a special hall call signal can be added as needed.

When the personal computer 20 also monitors the elevator, it transmits a car position display floor signal, a running signal, a control operation state signal such as the completion of earthquake control, a failure state signal, and the like. Here, the failure state signal has a wide variety of causes, and can be transmitted after being converted into a trouble monitor code in order to facilitate determination of the failure state.

In order to determine whether or not the personal computer 20 is normal, the transmission data includes healthy check data. The confirmation signal 2TX transmitted from the unit control device is a healthy check 1RX shown in FIG. 3 when the personal computer is normal.
Come back as. Thereby, it is possible to know whether or not the personal computer is normal. Here, the healthy check data is bit data of “1” or “0”.
It may be 1-byte data.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a transmission format of an operation control signal and a supervisory control command signal transmitted from the personal computer 20 to each of the unit control devices 11, 12, and 13 via the group management transmission line L1.

In the transmission data from the personal computer 20, the service floor of each elevator is changed or limited in order to increase the assigned hall call signal created by the group management control function 22 and the transportation capacity in order to efficiently operate the plurality of elevators. And a car call service floor signal. Elevator monitoring function 2
1 includes a signal such as an earthquake control signal and a signal such as self-running manual continuous operation.

Also, the hall call service floor and the car call service floor described above are provided with information obtained from security equipment such as a key management system on the building side, and a personal computer 20 by the monitoring function 21.
This is a common output signal that can be generated from a non-stop signal or the like input from a dialogue screen with the administrator of the system.

The aforementioned machine transmission data shown in FIG. 2 is data transmitted as reply data by the machine which has received the transmission data from the personal computer 20 shown in FIG. In each elevator unit control device, the unit No. of the received data is used. Is determined, and if it is the own machine, the data of the own machine in FIG. 2 is returned.

The personal computer 20 sequentially transmits the group management side transmission data TX1 to 3 including the hall call assignment signal shown in FIG. 3 to each of the elevator machine control devices 11 to 13 periodically, for example, every 100 ms.

Further, it is desirable that the unit status signal and the operation control signal can be transmitted and received not only between the unit control unit and the personal computer but also between the unit control units. In the present embodiment, when the unit detects that the communication from the personal computer 20 has been interrupted for a certain period, the representative unit controller, for example, the first unit controller 11, performs the group management control process and the group management transmission path in the bank. Of the transmission control is started.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of control of the entire system from the occurrence of a hall call to the provision of service by the elevator. When the hall call registration device 311 is pressed (step 100), the unit control device 1
Any one of Nos. 1 to 13 takes in the hall call signal (step 101). The number control device registers the fetched hall call signal in the hall control UP registration or DN registration portion of the unit control side transmission data described in FIG. 2 which is transmitted periodically (step 102).

The group management control function 22 checks the hall call portion received periodically (step 103).
If the presence of a hall call is detected, step 10
At 4, it is determined to which car the hall call is assigned.
Since a well-known technique can be applied to the method of determining the assignment, the description is omitted. In step 105, the determined assignment signal is transmitted to each car on a regularly transmitted operation control signal. Each unit control device executes step 106
Receiving the allocated hall call determined in step 10
The number assigned to the hall call registered in 7 corresponds to the number.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the machine control device. After starting in step 200, it is determined in step 201 whether or not a hall call registration device is connected to the own device control device. For example, the hall control unit 311 has a hall call registration unit 311 and the unit control unit 1
3 is connected to the hall call registration device 331, and in step 202, the car control device 11 receives the data of the hall call registration device 311 and the car control device 1
3 receives the data of the hall call registration device 331, respectively. Since the hall control unit 12 is not connected to the hall call registration unit, the hall call registration unit 311 or 311 and 311 connected to the counter unit is connected in step 203.
Listen to both 31 data.

In step 204, it is checked whether or not a communication error exists between the unit control devices 11 to 13 and the personal computer (group management control device) 20 by the communication error detection function which is performed periodically, and the communication is performed. If there is no abnormality, the hall call data received in step 207 is transmitted to the group management control device 2.
Send to 0. Thereafter, in step 208, a control command and a control state signal are received from the personal computer 20, and control operation control such as group management control operation or self-start return operation is performed.
In step 204, the unit control devices 11 to 13 and the personal computer 2
If a communication error between 0 and 0 is detected, hall call registration control is performed in step 262. The unit control device performs group management control to respond to the registered call in place of the control system of the personal computer 20 that has failed or stopped in step 264. As an example, the unit control device 11 and the unit control device 1
2 is DSK based on the data of the hall call registration device 311
The operation is performed, and the number control device 13 performs an independent operation based on the data of the hall call registration device 331. As another example, the number control device 13 transmits data of the hall call registration device 331 to the number control device 11, and the number control device 11
Performs subgroup management control based on the data of the hall call registration devices 311 and 331.

At step 266, a hall call service is performed based on the command processed by the representative unit control device.

In step 210, the assigned elevator is performed in response to the registered car call or the hall call, and general elevator drive control such as speed control and door opening / closing control is executed.

At step 220, in addition to the hall call input signal or registration signal created at step 202, a transmission buffer for transmitting a set of elevator control status signals required for group management or status monitoring shown in FIG. Create table TBL1-TX.

In step 230, when it is determined that the own unit is the representative unit in the situation where the abnormality of the personal computer is detected, the execution of the floor group management process of step 264 is requested, and the group management control is executed in step 240. Device 2
3 and the personal computer 20 to perform communication management control with other devices. At this time, the representative unit transmits the other unit assignment signal shown in FIG. 3 and receives the other unit status signal included in the data of FIG. 2, and performs the lower-level group management control in step 264.

In a normal state in which no abnormality has occurred, the control of each of the units proceeds to step 235 in which the personal computers 20 and 20 are connected.
A, 20B or the group management function control device 23 or the data of FIG.
A preparation is made to receive an assignment signal shown in FIG. 3 or a control operation command or a hold-hole call command shown in FIG. In addition, it is periodically determined whether or not the communication has returned to normal. If the communication abnormality continues, the single operation or the lower group management operation in step 264 is continued.

FIG. 7 shows another example of the transmission format sent from the machine side to the personal computer, and FIG. 8 shows another example of the communication format sent from the personal computer side to each machine. These communication formats include more items than the communication formats shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 in order to display, monitor, and control more detailed information by a personal computer.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the group management control performed by the personal computer. When the personal computer is started in step 100, information from the number control device is taken in step 101. Based on this information, hall call registration and car call registration are performed in step 102, and an allocation hall call table for which reservation guidance has been completed is created. Step 1
At 03, the arrival time and the degree of congestion in the car are predicted, and a predicted arrival time table and a table of congestion degree in the car are created.
Next, in step 104, a responsible floor is assigned to each car by GA (Genetic Algorithm) application simulation,
Create a floor call service floor table.

Next, the above-mentioned allocation is collectively reviewed by a GA application simulation function for evaluating the operation results.
In step 106, a new hall call service floor table is created, or a signal for instructing each unit to cancel or add is created. In step 107, a hall call registration information table to be transmitted to the elevator control devices of all elevators is created, and in step 108, a hall call handling signal and the like are sequentially transmitted to each of the elevator control devices.

In the configuration of the embodiment described above, the group management control processing is performed using a commercially available general-purpose personal computer that is increasingly sophisticated and inexpensive. Therefore, inspection, adjustment, maintenance, improvement, and the like of the functions of the group management control processing are performed. Work becomes extremely efficient. Also,
Base-up remodeling work to the latest group management control system software newly developed after operation, and work to switch to customized group management software suitable for the operating state become extremely easy.

Further, remote inspection and software improvement from a maintenance company are possible. The maintenance work of the elevator group management system cannot be standardized as in the failure handling of general equipment and activities to prevent the occurrence of failures, and various considerations are taken according to the building environment, elevator specifications, number of vehicles, and traffic demand conditions It is necessary to contact the administrator on the customer side for any changes in specifications or changes and make modifications. Therefore, diagnosis of the elevator group management function requires advanced knowledge and abundant experience, but by using a personal computer, a dedicated group diagnosis from a maintenance company maintenance service center in a remote location becomes possible, Leads to improvement. As a result, it is possible to frequently and frequently carry out the maintenance business by switching to the group management control software according to the change in the number of users or the use situation from the time of completion of the building, which has often been neglected in the past.

Further, by using the group management control processing personal computer as an elevator monitoring device, the space can be reduced.
The simplification of on-site wiring and an increase in maintenance costs such as replacement of a personal computer can be suppressed.

Further, by simultaneously using a personal computer for performing the group management control function and a personal computer for performing the elevator monitoring function, the group management control device and the elevator monitoring device separately transmit and receive data to two or more networks. Communication can be integrated. That is, since the control panel transmission line for displaying the unit control status and the control operation command signal, and the group management operation control signal transmission line can be one transmission line, the circuit scale of each elevator control device can be reduced. Can be. Further, although there are many overlapping signals in both transmission data, if a dual-purpose personal computer is used, the group management control transmission and the elevator monitoring transmission can be made common, so that software processing related to communication can be simplified.

Further, if the group management control device is integrated with a monitoring device usually installed in an elevator management room, it is not necessary to go to a rooftop machine room which is inconvenient and dangerous, as in the related art. The advantage is that the integrated device can be accessed from a safe place such as a control room in a building or a disaster prevention center, which is convenient for checking the operation of the elevator. Adjustment is also possible.

In particular, the number of buildings without an elevator machine room is increasing. In such a building, if the group management control device is integrated with the elevator monitoring device, the following advantages can be obtained.

(1) If the group management control device is installed in the elevator hoistway, development and manufacture of a thin group management control panel and installation wiring work are required. The need for development and cost is eliminated.

(2) Compared to the case where a group management control device is provided in the elevator hoistway, it is extremely advantageous in both easiness and safety of inspection and maintenance work.

(3) Compared with the case where the group management control device is provided in the elevator hoistway, there is less interaction with the building construction work and the construction period is shortened.

[0054]

According to the present invention, it is possible to install a group management control device in an administrator's office without deteriorating safety and reliability, and an elevator administrator can easily set an elevator manager according to the use situation. The control content can be updated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a communication format of data transmitted from a machine control side.

FIG. 3 is an example of a communication format transmitted from a group management side.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a service responding to a hall call.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the machine control device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is another example of a communication format of data transmitted from the machine control side.

FIG. 8 is another example of a communication format transmitted from the group management side.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the group management control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

Unit 11, 12, 13 control device 20, 20A, 20B Shared personal computer 21, 21A, 21B Elevator monitoring function 22, 22A, 22B Group management control function 23B Group management control device 24, 24B Transmission conversion device 25 Information connector 26 Other Elevator number control device 27 Transmission conversion device with group management control function 51 Hall terminal transmission device 311,321,322,331,341,361 Hall call registration device 411,421,431 Arrival guidance device

Claims (7)

[Claims] A number control device installed on an elevator mechanism side for controlling operation of each of a plurality of elevators;
An elevator group management control system comprising: a group management controller that collectively controls the operation of the plurality of elevators; wherein the group management controller is installed in a management room remote from the elevator mechanism, and the unit controller and the group A transmission path connecting the management control device and means for monitoring the presence or absence of an abnormality in communication between the number control device and the group management control device; and providing the number control device with the group management of the group management control device. A sub-group management control unit for performing at least a part of the function, wherein when the abnormality is detected by the monitoring unit, the group control unit is substituted for the group control unit by the unit control device. Group management control system. 2. The elevator group management control system according to claim 1, wherein a monitoring device that monitors the operation status of a plurality of elevators and the group management control device are integrated. 3. The elevator group management control system according to claim 1, wherein the group management controller is a personal computer having a graphics display function. 4. The car control device according to claim 1, wherein the car control device periodically transmits data including at least the generated hall call information and car position information to the group management control device. Means for receiving data including a call response instruction from the group management control device, wherein the data includes a check signal for detecting an abnormality of the group management control device. 5. The car control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the car control device is configured to control at least a hall call registration device and an arrival guidance device installed on each floor.
The group management control device transmits a signal instructing an elevator responding to the generated hall call or a signal preliminarily instructing an elevator responding to the hall call on each floor based on the operation state information from the car control device. A group management control system for an elevator, which is transmitted to a control device. 6. A car control system according to claim 1, wherein a common hall call registration device is provided for at least two elevators, and the at least two elevators are not connected to the common hall call registration device. A group management control system for an elevator, wherein the device intercepts data transmitted from the unit control device connected to the common hall call registration device to the group management control device. 7. The group management control of an elevator according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of group management control devices each including a personal computer are provided, and each group management control device performs group management control of an assigned elevator. system.