JP2013241225A - Apparatus and method for controlling passenger conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a decrease in convenience by preventing unnecessary stop of a passenger conveyor on occurrence of an instantaneous operation caused by contact with baggage and the like in a safety device.SOLUTION: A processing unit (11) constantly monitors an ON/OFF-state of a signal input from a pulsed voltage generator (21) via a contact signal (30) of a safety device. When the signal is not in a pulsed state but steadily in the ON-state, it is determined that a circuit for monitoring an operation of the safety device is broken down. When the signal is kept in the OFF-state for a predetermined period of time or more, it is determined that the safety device is operated.

Description

  The present invention relates to a passenger conveyor control device and a passenger conveyor control method for performing braking control during operation of a safety device.

  First, along with the structure of the passenger conveyor, an example of a safety device and an example of its malfunction will be described. Drawing 2 is an explanatory view about a safety device of a passenger conveyor. As shown in FIG. 2, the passenger conveyor is composed of two moving bodies including a plurality of steps 1 connected endlessly and a handrail 2 that moves along the railing.

  And as one of the safety devices, there is a stepped-in detector 3. The step pinching detection device 3 is provided at a position where the step 1 is shifted horizontally from an inclination. When foreign matter such as shoes is pinched between the steps 1, the step 1 is detected and the passenger conveyor is detected. Stop.

  As another safety device, there is a handrail retracting detection device 4. The handrail pull-in detection device 4 is provided at a position where the handrail 2 enters the handrail entrance / exit, and detects foreign objects being pushed in when a foreign object such as a hand is pulled in, and stops the passenger conveyor.

  Further, the operation panel is provided with a stop operation switch 5 for stopping the passenger conveyor in an emergency, together with the driving operation switch.

  In the stop operation switch 5, no malfunction occurs. However, the safety device is activated by the collision of the baggage such as an umbrella or a bag with the step 1 in the case of the stepped detection device 3 and the elastic body in the case of the handrail being pulled in the detection device 4. This may cause a malfunction that leads to a stop of the passenger conveyor.

  When a situation in which the passenger conveyor should be stopped occurs due to actual foreign matter being caught, the operation time of the detection device (the time required for detection) becomes somewhat longer. However, in the case of a malfunction as described above due to the collision of baggage such as an umbrella or a bag, the operation time of the detection device is shorter than when the foreign object is actually caught. .

  Next, a description will be given of a conventional method for controlling a passenger conveyor provided with safety devices such as the stepped-in detection device 3 and the handrail retracted detection device 4 shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of a control system by a conventional passenger conveyor control device. A conventional passenger conveyor control device 10 a shown in FIG. 3 includes a processing unit 11, an output circuit unit 12, and an input circuit unit 13.

  A contact 30 of the safety device is connected between the input circuit unit 13 and the constant voltage source 20 in the control device 10a. This contact 30 is normally in an ON state, and is a contact that is sandwiched between the steps shown in FIG. 2 and is turned off when the detection device 3 or the handrail is drawn and the detection device 4 operates. In the following description, the operation and state of the contact 30 of the safety device may be simply referred to as “operation and state of the safety device 30”.

  Further, a contact 30 of the safety device and a contactor coil 40 are connected in series between the output circuit unit 12 and the constant voltage source 20 in the control device 10a. The contact point 41 of the contactor coil 40 is connected between the AC power supply 50 and the induction motor 60 and between the AC power supply 50 and the braking device 70. And when driving a passenger conveyor, both the contacts 41 are turned on.

  By providing such a configuration, the processing unit 11 in the control device 10 a can read the state of the safety device 30 via the input circuit unit 13. Further, the processing unit 11 turns off the output circuit unit 12 and turns off the contact 41 of the contactor, thereby cutting off the power supply to the induction motor 60 that moves the passenger conveyor and the braking device 70 that stops the passenger conveyor. Can do.

  FIG. 3 shows a case where there is no inverter. However, when there is an inverter, an inverter is added between the contact 41 and the induction motor 60. As with the induction motor 60, the supply / cutoff of power is controlled by / OFF.

  And when stopping a passenger conveyor immediately, the process part 11 turns off the contactor coil 40, cuts off the power supply of the induction motor 60 and the braking device 70, and mechanical braking is applied, passengers The conveyor stops suddenly. On the other hand, when it is desired to stop gently, the processing unit 11 controls the inverter and decelerates the contactor with the contactor turned on. Therefore, by providing such a configuration of FIG. 3, it is possible to urgently stop the passenger conveyor as necessary.

  In addition, there has been such a control device that performs a stop based on the electric braking means during operation of the safety device. However, as a means for ensuring further safety, a control device suspended from a safety circuit is used to electrically There is a method of interrupting a stop signal output to the braking means (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-007244 A

However, the prior art has the following problems.
In the conventional circuit configuration shown in FIG. 3, when the safety device 30 operates regardless of the presence or absence of the inverter, the contactor coil 40 is turned off in a hardware circuit, and the induction motor 60 and the braking device 70 are turned off. When the power supply of is cut off, the passenger conveyor stops.

  The braking force of the braking device 70 in this case is constant, and is set so that it can be stopped at a predetermined distance or less even when there are many descending passengers whose stopping distance is long. As a result, when there are few passengers or when there are many passengers in ascending driving, the stop distance is shortened.

  Therefore, when the passenger conveyor stops due to the operation of the safety device 30, there is a possibility that the passenger on the step 1 falls to a secondary disaster that falls. In addition, after the safety device 30 is operated and temporarily stopped, an activation operation by an attendant is required, and thus the use cannot be performed until then, leading to a decrease in convenience.

  Moreover, the method of patent document 1 is limited to the case where the stop signal is configured by a signal line, and cannot respond to a stop command in communication. Also, the operation determination itself of the safety device 30 remains dependent on the contactor. Therefore, it is conceivable that the response time changes due to the influence of the size of the contactor used.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and when a momentary operation that occurs due to contact with luggage or the like occurs in the safety device, the passenger conveyor is prevented from being stopped unnecessarily, It is an object of the present invention to obtain a passenger conveyor control device and a passenger conveyor control method capable of preventing a decrease in convenience.

  The control device for a passenger conveyor according to the present invention reads a contact signal that is closed in a normal state and opened in a normal state as a signal from the safety device, and determines whether the safety device has operated according to the open / closed state of the contact signal. Passenger conveyor provided with a processing unit that outputs a control signal so as to cut off the power supply to the induction motor that moves the passenger conveyor and the braking device that stops the passenger conveyor when it is determined that the safety device has been operated The control device is connected to one end of the contact signal, and a power supply voltage for causing the processing unit to which the other end of the contact signal is connected to read the open / close state of the contact signal is inserted with a period of OFF at a constant cycle. The processing unit constantly monitors the ON / OFF state of the signal input from the pulsed voltage source via the contact signal, and the signal is not pulsed. If the circuit is constantly on, it is determined that the circuit for monitoring the operation of the safety device has failed, and the signal is defined in advance as a period longer than the period during which the signal is turned off at a constant period. If it is OFF for a predetermined time or more, it is determined that the safety device has been operated.

  In addition, the passenger conveyor control method according to the present invention reads a contact signal that is closed when normal and open when abnormal as a signal from the safety device, and whether or not the safety device is operated according to the open / closed state of the contact signal. And a processing unit that outputs a control signal so as to cut off the power supply to the induction motor that moves the passenger conveyor and the braking device that stops the passenger conveyor when it is determined that the safety device has been operated. A method for controlling a passenger conveyor, in which a processing unit constantly monitors an ON / OFF state of a signal input from a pulsed voltage source through which a period of OFF is inserted via a contact signal. If the signal input from the pulsed voltage source is not pulsed but is steadily on, the circuit that monitors the operation of the safety device has failed. The safety device operates when the judgment step and the signal input from the pulsed voltage source are in the OFF state for a predetermined time as a period longer than the OFF period in a certain cycle. And a step of determining that it has been performed.

  According to the passenger conveyor control device and passenger conveyor control method of the present invention, the applied voltage for reading the operation of the safety device is pulsed, and the pulsed applied voltage is read via the contact signal of the safety device. By judging the operating state of the safety device based on the ON / OFF state of the reading result, it is possible to prevent the passenger conveyor from being unnecessarily stopped when a momentary operation occurs due to contact with a load or the like on the safety device. Thus, it is possible to obtain a passenger conveyor control device and a passenger conveyor control method capable of preventing a decrease in convenience.

It is a whole block diagram of the control system by the control apparatus of the passenger conveyor in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing regarding the safety apparatus of a passenger conveyor. It is a whole block diagram of the control system by the control apparatus of the conventional passenger conveyor.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a passenger conveyor control device and a passenger conveyor control method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In the present invention, when the safety device is operated, the operation of the safety device is monitored by the processing unit in the control device in accordance with the operation time of the safety device instead of eliminating the configuration in which the contactor coil is turned off in a hardware circuit. The technical feature of this is to judge whether to continue or stop operation. More specifically, in the present invention, instead of eliminating the configuration in which the contactor coil 40 is turned off in a hard circuit by the contact signal of the safety device, in order to ensure the reliability of the operation based on the safety device, The technical feature is that the applied voltage for reading the operation is pulsed and the processing unit is duplicated as necessary.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a control system by a passenger conveyor control apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The passenger conveyor control apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes duplicated processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2), an output circuit unit 12, an input circuit unit 13, an AND circuit 14, and an OR circuit. 15.

  Further, only the contactor coil 40 is connected between the output circuit unit 12 in the control device 10 and the constant voltage source 20. The contact point 41 of the contactor coil 40 is connected between the AC power source 50 and a series circuit of the inverter device 80 and the induction motor 60 and between the AC power source 50 and the braking device 70. And when driving a passenger conveyor, both the contacts 41 are turned on.

  Further, a contact 30 of the safety device is connected between the input circuit unit 13 in the control device 10 and the pulsed voltage source 21. This contact 30 is normally in an ON state, and is a contact that is sandwiched between the steps shown in FIG. 2 and is turned off when the detection device 3 or the handrail is drawn and the detection device 4 operates.

  Therefore, a specific operation of the control device for the passenger conveyor according to the first embodiment having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail by taking the case where the inverter device 80 is provided as an example. Here, as an input / output signal to the control device 10, as shown in FIG. 1, an input signal for reading the state of the safety device 30 is R1, an output signal for controlling ON / OFF of the contactor coil 40 is D1, The output signal of the operation command to the inverter device 80 is D2, and the output signal of the stop command is D3.

  When operating the passenger conveyor, the control device 10 outputs the operation command D2 to the inverter device 80 after the contactor coil 40 is turned on by the output signal D1. On the other hand, when the passenger conveyor is gently stopped, the control device 10 outputs a stop command D3 to the inverter device 80 while keeping the contactor coil 40 in the ON state.

  The processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) in the control device 10 monitor the operating time of the safety device 30 read by the input signal R1. Specifically, each of the processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) causes the unnecessary operation (malfunction) of the safety device 30 when the time during which the safety device 30 is OFF is shorter than a predetermined time. And continue operation of the passenger conveyor.

  On the other hand, each processing unit 11 (1) and 11 (2) determines that the safety device 30 is in a normal operation when the time during which the safety device 30 is OFF is longer than a predetermined time, and determines that the safety device 30 is operating normally. Stop.

  Here, in the present invention, when the safety device 30 operates, the processing unit 11 in the control device 10 monitors the operation of the safety device 30 instead of eliminating the configuration in which the contactor coil 40 is turned off in a hardware circuit. The technical feature is to determine whether to continue or stop the operation according to the operating time of the safety device 30. As described above, in the present invention, the stop process based on the operation of the safety device 30 has the following two configurations because the processing unit 11 is interposed without depending on the hardware circuit.

(First configuration)
In order to ensure the reliability of the operation based on the safety device 30, the processing unit 11 is duplicated and the processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) are provided. And each processing part 11 (1), 11 (2) monitors the safety device 30, outputs the output signal D1 to the contactor coil 40, and outputs the operation command D2 and the stop command D3 to the inverter device 80. Do.

  Here, the output signal D1 to the contactor coil 40 is ANDed with the outputs of the two processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) by the AND circuit 14, and only when both outputs are permitted. The contactor coil 40 is in the ON state.

  Further, the stop command D3 to the inverter device 80 is obtained by ORing the outputs of the two processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) by the OR circuit 15, and when there is any stop output, The inverter device 80 is stopped.

  Thereby, even when either of processing parts 11 (1) and 11 (2) becomes abnormal, a passenger conveyor can be stopped reliably. In addition, when the processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) themselves check each other's operation so that the processing unit on the other side determines that there is an abnormality, the passenger conveyor is not started up and is in operation. If so, it can be stopped.

(Second configuration)
Furthermore, in the present invention, the output voltage from the pulsed voltage source 21 is used as the voltage applied to the safety circuit in order to constantly monitor the abnormality of the circuit that reads the state of the safety device 30. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the pulsed voltage source 21 outputs a pulsed voltage in which a period of OFF is inserted at a constant cycle. This OFF period is set as a length sufficiently shorter than a predetermined time for identifying a malfunction of the safety device 30.

  As a result, the processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) allow the circuit such as the input circuit unit 13 to be turned on when the signal read via the input circuit unit 13 is steadily turned on instead of a pulse. It can be determined that a failure has occurred. When such a determination is made, the input circuit unit 13 does not start the passenger conveyor or stops the passenger conveyor if it is in operation.

  On the other hand, the processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) can determine that the safety device 30 has been activated when the signal read through the input circuit unit 13 is steadily OFF instead of a pulse. .

  In addition, the period in which the pulsed voltage source 21 is turned off at a constant cycle is set to a length sufficiently shorter than a predetermined time for identifying the malfunction of the safety device 30, so that the malfunction is determined. It can be made not to affect. That is, the processing units 11 (1) and 11 (2) perform unnecessary operations (malfunctions) of the safety device 30 when the signal read via the input circuit unit 13 is OFF for a shorter time than the predetermined time. It is possible to continue the operation of the passenger conveyor.

  In addition, the control apparatus of the passenger conveyor in this invention makes the 2nd structure using the pulsed voltage source 21 an essential requirement, and adds the 1st structure using duplication as a further reliability improvement measure. It can be included as a requirement.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the applied voltage for reading the operation of the safety device is pulsed, the pulsed applied voltage is read through the contact signal of the safety device, and the ON / OFF of the read result is obtained. The operating state of the safety device is determined based on the OFF state. As a result, by detecting the operation of the safety device centered on the processing unit in the control device without depending on the characteristics of the hardware circuit, it is possible to prevent unnecessary operation (malfunction) of the safety device and It is possible to achieve both control stop.

  Specifically, when the operation time read as the operation time of the safety device is shorter than a predetermined time, the operation of the passenger conveyor can be continued. Thus, for example, in a safety device intended to detect pinching, when the original pinching does not occur and an instantaneous operation (false detection operation) occurs due to contact with a load, etc., the passenger conveyor Therefore, it is possible to prevent an unnecessary stop and a decrease in convenience.

  Furthermore, if an inverter is provided, the stop when it is determined that the stop is necessary due to the operation of the safety device is not due to the braking device due to the power shutoff, but to a gentle control stop due to the inverter control. The passenger can be prevented from falling.

  Furthermore, the voltage applied to read the operation of the safety device when adopting the configuration in which the contactor coil is turned off by the signal processing by the control device is eliminated by eliminating the configuration of turning off the contactor coil in the hardware circuit during the operation of the safety device. Is pulsed. As a result, it is possible to identify the presence / absence of a failure in the circuit for monitoring the operation of the safety device and the presence / absence of a malfunction of the safety device based on the ON / OFF state of the reading result obtained by the constant monitoring. Furthermore, further reliability of the operation based on the safety device can be ensured by duplicating the processing unit.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Control apparatus, 11 Processing part, 12 Output circuit part, 13 Input circuit part, 14 AND circuit, 15 OR circuit, 20 Constant voltage source, 21 Pulsed voltage source, 30 Safety device (contact of safety device), 40 Contactor coil, 41 contacts, 50 AC power supply, 60 induction motor, 70 braking device, 80 inverter device.

Claims (5)

As a signal from the safety device, a contact signal that is closed in a normal state and in an open state in the event of an abnormality is read, and it is determined whether or not the safety device has been operated according to the open / closed state of the contact signal. If it is determined, it is a passenger conveyor control device comprising a processing unit that outputs a control signal so as to cut off the power supply to the induction motor that moves the passenger conveyor and the braking device that stops the passenger conveyor,
A pulse that is connected to one end of the contact signal and inserted with a period of OFF at a constant cycle as a power supply voltage for causing the processing unit connected to the other end of the contact signal to read the open / closed state of the contact signal. Shaped voltage source,
The processor is
The ON / OFF state of a signal input from the pulsed voltage source via the contact signal is constantly monitored, and if the signal is constantly on rather than pulsed, the safety Judge that the circuit that monitors the operation of the device has failed,
Passenger conveyor characterized in that the safety device is activated when the signal is in an OFF state for a predetermined time or longer as a period longer than the period of OFF in the constant cycle Control device. In the control apparatus of the passenger conveyor of Claim 1,
The said processing part is comprised by the double system. The control apparatus of the passenger conveyor characterized by the above-mentioned. In the control apparatus of the passenger conveyor of Claim 1 or 2,
The processor is
When the signal input from the pulsed voltage source is in an OFF state for the predetermined time or more and it is determined that the safety device has been operated, the control signal is output,
When the time during which the signal is in the OFF state is shorter than the predetermined time, it is determined that the contact signal of the safety device is not in the open state, and the operation of the passenger conveyor is continued. Control device. In the control apparatus of the passenger conveyor of Claim 1 or 2,
The processor is
In a state where the induction motor is controlled by an inverter, when the signal input from the pulsed voltage source is OFF for the predetermined time or more and it is determined that the safety device has been operated , By controlling the inverter while maintaining the power supply without outputting the control signal, to implement a stop by electrical braking in a desired deceleration pattern,
When the time during which the signal is in the OFF state is shorter than the predetermined time, it is determined that the contact signal of the safety device is not in the open state, and the operation of the passenger conveyor is continued. Control device. As a signal from the safety device, a contact signal that is closed in a normal state and in an open state in the event of an abnormality is read, and it is determined whether or not the safety device has been operated according to the open / closed state of the contact signal. If it is determined, it is a passenger conveyor control method comprising a processing unit that outputs a control signal to cut off the power supply to the induction motor that moves the passenger conveyor and the braking device that stops the passenger conveyor,
In the processing unit,
Constantly monitoring the ON / OFF state of a signal input from a pulsed voltage source inserted with a period of OFF at a constant cycle via the contact signal;
Determining that the circuit for monitoring the operation of the safety device is faulty when the signal input from the pulsed voltage source is not pulsed but is constantly in an ON state; ,
When the signal input from the pulse-shaped voltage source has been in an OFF state for a predetermined time or longer as a period longer than the period in which the signal is turned off at a certain period, the safety device has been activated. A method for controlling the passenger conveyor.

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