JP2022010769A - Car position determining device and car position determining method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a car position determining device improved in accuracy in specifying a position of a car.SOLUTION: In a car position determining device provided with a control module that, based on a detection signal of a sensor module provided on a car of an elevator, determines a position of the car, the sensor module includes a magnetic sensor and an atmospheric pressure sensor. When detecting, based on a detection signal of the magnetic sensor, an opening/closing operation of a door of the car in a state of being stopped, the control module makes a correction to the atmospheric pressure sensor and estimates a stop position of the car by using a sensor value of the atmospheric pressure sensor after the correction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to an elevator car position specifying device and a car position specifying method.

Remote monitoring systems that measure elevator abnormalities generally use information from the control device that controls the elevator to measure elevator position and speed abnormalities, confinement failures, etc., and measure the measured state at the elevator monitoring center. Notify the maintenance workers. However, depending on the elevator, it may not be possible to use the information of the control device of the elevator, and in that case, a method of detecting the position of the car based on the information obtained from the external sensor has been proposed.

Further, as this external sensor, a technique using a barometric pressure sensor has also been proposed. For example, the technique described in Patent Document 1 creates a floor data table in advance by associating pressure data with floor information, and specifies a floor corresponding to the measured pressure data. Further, in Patent Document 1, since the atmospheric pressure fluctuates depending on the climate, the atmospheric pressure data stored in the floor data table is corrected based on the atmospheric pressure sensor data output when the car arrives at the reference floor. It is also disclosed to do.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2019-199347

In the conventional method using a barometric pressure sensor, it is premised that whether or not the car is stopped is determined by the acceleration data output from the acceleration sensor. However, if there is a user in the car, the acceleration of the car may change due to the movement of the user in the car, and the acceleration signal reflecting the operation status of the car may be hidden. be. Therefore, accurate barometric pressure data correction can be performed only when there is no user in the car, and as a result, the accuracy of specifying the position of the car is affected.

An object of the present invention is to provide a car position specifying device having improved accuracy of car position specifying.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention relates to a car position specifying device provided with a control module for specifying the position of the car based on a detection signal from a sensor module provided in the car of the elevator. The sensor module includes a magnetic sensor and a pressure sensor, and when the control module detects the opening / closing operation of the door while the car is stopped based on the detection signal of the magnetic sensor, the pressure sensor is corrected. Then, the stop position of the car is estimated using the sensor value of the pressure sensor after the correction.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a car position specifying device having improved accuracy of car position specifying.

The overall block diagram of the elevator monitoring system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the car position specifying apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The graph which shows an example of the transition of the magnetic signal detected by a magnetic sensor. A flowchart showing how to estimate the car position. A flowchart showing a method of updating the atmospheric pressure value stored in the atmospheric pressure value storage unit. The graph which shows the transition of the magnetic signal detected by a magnetic sensor. A graph showing the transition of the car height output by the barometric pressure sensor when the barometric pressure value is not corrected. The graph which shows the transition of the car height which the barometric pressure sensor outputs when the barometric pressure value is corrected by this embodiment. As a comparative example, a graph showing an example of transition of an acceleration signal detected when an acceleration sensor is provided in a car.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an elevator monitoring system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the elevator monitoring system according to the present embodiment includes a sensor module 1, a control module 2, a communication line 3, a monitoring server 4, a monitoring device 5, and a terminal device 6. The car position specifying device 7 is configured by the sensor module 1 and the control module 2.

Although not shown, the elevator is equipped with a car, a balance weight, a main rope, and a hoist. The main rope suspends the car and the balance weight, and is driven by the hoist, so that the car and the balance weight move in the hoistway.

Further, the sensor module 1 is installed in the upper part of the car of the elevator and has a magnetic sensor 8 and a barometric pressure sensor 9. The barometric pressure sensor 9 outputs the detected barometric pressure signal to the control module 2 in order to detect a change in height as the car moves up and down. The magnetic sensor 8 outputs the detected magnetic signal to the control module 2 in order to detect the opening / closing operation of the car door and the number of floors passing through. Here, by installing the sensor module 1 within 20 cm from the door drive device, not only the workability at the time of installing the sensor module 1 is improved, but also the detection accuracy of the opening / closing operation of the car door by the magnetic sensor 8 is improved. improves. Further, by installing the sensor module 1 on the landing side of the car door, it is possible to further improve the detection accuracy of the opening / closing operation of the car door while preventing the user from directly touching the sensor module 1.

The control module 2 estimates the position of the car based on the barometric pressure signal and the magnetic signal detected by the sensor module 1, and if the estimated position of the car is not at a position corresponding to any floor, the control module 2 estimates the position of the car. It is transmitted to the monitoring server 4, the monitoring device 5, or the terminal device 6. Further, when the control module 2 detects the opening / closing operation of the car door while the car is stopped based on the detection signal of the magnetic sensor 8, it corrects (calibrates) the barometric pressure sensor 9. The control module 2 may be installed at the upper part of the car by being integrally configured with the sensor module 1, or may be installed at a place different from the sensor module 1. A specific method for correcting the barometric pressure sensor 9 will be described later.

The monitoring server 4 is connected to the control module 2 (car position specifying device 7) via a communication line 3, and is installed in a monitoring center or the like, which is a base for remotely monitoring the state of the elevator car. The monitoring server 4 has a database for specifying an elevator based on a report from the car position specifying device 7. The database stores information such as building information and elevator information of the building where the elevator for which the maintenance contract is installed is installed. Therefore, when the monitoring server 4 receives an alarm such as an abnormal stop from the control module 2, the monitoring server 4 transmits the building information, the elevator information, and the abnormality report contents to the display device of the business office having jurisdiction over the specified elevator. The manager of the sales office confirms the contents displayed on the display device and gives an instruction to the maintenance staff of the elevator that has issued the alarm.

Since the monitoring device 5 is installed in the management room of the building where the elevator is installed and is connected to the control module 2 via the communication line 3 like the monitoring server 4, it receives an abnormality report of the elevator. Is possible. The terminal device 6 is a device carried by a maintenance person who performs maintenance and inspection of an elevator, and by connecting to the control module via a communication line 3, the maintenance person can confirm the position information of the car. There is.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a car position specifying device 7 according to the present embodiment. Here, the function of the control module 2 in the car position specifying device 7 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the control module 2 of the present embodiment includes a door open / close detection unit 21, a moving floor number detection unit 22, a barometric pressure value storage unit 23, a movement direction determination unit 24, and a drift amount calculation unit. 25, a barometric pressure value correction unit 26, a car position estimation unit 27, an abnormality diagnosis unit 28, and a communication unit 29 are provided.

The door open / close detection unit 21 detects the opening operation or the closing operation of the car door based on the magnetic signal detected by the magnetic sensor 8. The moving floor number detecting unit 22 detects the number of floors on which the car has moved based on the magnetic signal detected by the magnetic sensor 8. The barometric pressure value storage unit 23 stores the barometric pressure value detected by the barometric pressure sensor 9 while the car is stopped. The movement direction determination unit 24 determines the movement direction (up or down) of the car by comparing the detection signals of the barometric pressure sensor 9 before and after the movement of the car. The drift amount calculation unit 25 calculates the drift amount of the barometric pressure sensor 9 based on the detection signals of the barometric pressure sensor 9 before and after the movement of the car. The barometric pressure value correction unit 26 corrects the barometric pressure sensor 9 by subtracting the drift amount calculated by the drift amount calculation unit 25 from the detection signal of the barometric pressure sensor 9 of the car after movement. The car position estimation unit 27 estimates the stop position of the car by using the sensor value of the corrected barometric pressure sensor 9. The abnormality diagnosis unit 28 diagnoses that the car has stopped abnormally when the estimated stop position of the car does not satisfy a predetermined condition. When the abnormality diagnosis unit 28 diagnoses that the abnormality has stopped, the communication unit 29 issues a notification to the monitoring server 4 or the like via the communication line 3.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of the transition of the magnetic signal detected by the magnetic sensor 8. When the downward convex magnetic signal is detected, the door open / close detection unit 21 detects that the door has been opened or closed. Here, the downwardly convex magnetic signal is a magnetic signal having a large groove shape as a whole by sandwiching a small groove-shaped portion before and after a flat portion (for example, a time zone of 40 ms to 55 ms in FIG. 3). Point to. It is probable that such a downwardly convex magnetic signal was generated because the metal parts moved with the opening / closing operation of the door.

Further, when the spike-shaped magnetic signal is detected, the moving floor number detecting unit 22 detects that the car has moved on the floor by the number of the spikes. For example, since there are two spikes in the time zone of 60 ms to 70 ms in FIG. 3, the moving floor number detection unit 22 causes the car to pass through the two floors (in the example of FIG. 3, it moves from the third floor to the first floor). ). Here, the spike-shaped magnetic signal refers to a magnetic signal that changes by a certain amount or more within a predetermined time. In addition, the number of moving floors is spike-shaped magnetism between the time when the door closing operation is detected by the downwardly convex magnetic signal and the time when the door opening operation is detected by the next downwardly convex magnetic signal. It is specified by how many signals there are. It is probable that the spike-shaped magnetic signal was generated when passing through the landing doors on each floor.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method of estimating the car position. As shown in FIG. 4, first, when the car is stopped, the door open / close detection unit 21 of the control module 2 opens / closes the car door (here, the door before the start of movement) based on the detection signal of the magnetic sensor 8. (Closed operation) is detected (step S101). Next, after the movement of the car is detected by the generation of the spike-shaped magnetic signal (step S102), the door open / close detection unit 21 again opens / closes the car door (here, the door opening operation after the start of movement). Detect (step S103).

After that, when the barometric pressure sensor 9 acquires the latest barometric pressure value (step S104), the movement direction determination unit 24 of the control module 2 previously (before movement) stored in the barometric pressure value storage unit 23 before the movement of the car. The moving direction of the car is determined based on the atmospheric pressure value and the latest (after moving) atmospheric pressure value (step S105). Further, the car position estimation unit 27 of the control module 2 is determined from the determined movement direction, the number of moving floors detected by the moving floor number detecting unit 22 (specifically, the number of spikes), and the pressure value before movement. The floor position of the car is estimated using the floor position before the movement (step S106).

On the other hand, when the barometric pressure sensor acquires the latest barometric pressure value in step S104 above, the drift amount calculation unit 25 calculates the drift amount of the barometric pressure sensor 9 by, for example, a linear function, based on the previous barometric pressure value and the latest barometric pressure value. Step S107). Next, the barometric pressure value correction 26 unit corrects the barometric pressure sensor 9 by subtracting the drift amount calculated by the drift amount calculation unit 25 from the latest barometric pressure value (step S108). After that, it is determined whether or not the weather flag is set (step S109). This weather flag is set to OFF when the atmospheric pressure fluctuates greatly due to the influence of the weather due to the passage of a front or a low pressure, for example, and prevents the pressure sensor 9 from estimating the detailed position of the car. be. When the setting of the weather flag is ON in step S109, the car position estimation unit 27 estimates the detailed position of the car using the air pressure value of the air pressure sensor 9 corrected by the air pressure value correction unit 26 (step S110). ).

At this time, the car position estimation unit 27 converts the corrected sensor value of the barometric pressure sensor 9 into the height of the car in the hoistway. For example, when the air pressure immediately before the door closes and the car starts moving is P ₀ , the air pressure immediately after the car moves and the door opens, and the temperature at which the car is moving is T, the car is used. The change h in height due to the movement of the door is estimated by the following (Equation 1).

Here, the air temperature T during movement is acquired by a temperature sensor or the like built in the sensor module 1. Further, the sensor value of the barometric pressure sensor 9 may be estimated by using a table in which the relationship between the sensor value and the floor height is predetermined in addition to the conversion formula such as the above (Equation 1). good.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method of updating the atmospheric pressure value stored in the atmospheric pressure value storage unit 23. As shown in FIG. 5, first, it is determined whether or not the stopped state of the car has elapsed for a predetermined time (for example, 1 minute) from the time when the atmospheric pressure value is finally acquired or corrected (step S201). The stopped state of the car can be detected by the magnetic sensor 8 not detecting the spike-shaped magnetic signal. After the above-mentioned predetermined time elapses, the barometric pressure sensor reacquires the barometric pressure value (step S202). The timing for reacquiring the barometric pressure is, for example, while there is no user (calling the elevator), the car is stopped on the reference floor (the floor with the most users such as the first floor), and the door is closed. It is conceivable to do it.

Next, it is determined whether or not the difference between the re-acquired atmospheric pressure value and the (previous) atmospheric pressure value stored in the atmospheric pressure value storage unit 23 at the present time is larger than the threshold value (for example, 0.5 hPa / min). (Step S203). If the above difference is smaller than the threshold value, after the weather flag setting is turned ON (step S204), the atmospheric pressure value of the atmospheric pressure value storage unit 23 is updated to the atmospheric pressure value reacquired from the previous atmospheric pressure value (step S206). ). On the other hand, when the above difference is larger than the threshold value, after the setting of the weather flag is turned off (step S205), the atmospheric pressure value of the atmospheric pressure value storage unit 23 is updated to the atmospheric pressure value reacquired from the previous atmospheric pressure value (step S205). Step S206).

Hereinafter, the effects of correcting the barometric pressure sensor at the timing when the opening / closing operation of the door while the car is stopped is detected based on the detection signal of the magnetic sensor are shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 on a common time axis. This will be explained using the graph of. FIG. 6 shows the transition of the magnetic signal detected by the magnetic sensor, FIG. 7 shows the transition of the car height output by the barometric pressure sensor when the barometric pressure value is not corrected, and FIG. 8 shows the transition of the car height. The transition of the car height output by the barometric pressure sensor when the barometric pressure value is corrected according to the present embodiment is shown. The horizontal lines in the graphs of FIGS. 7 and 8 indicate the actual heights corresponding to the floors of the building.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the barometric pressure value of the barometric pressure sensor 9 before correction deviates from the actual height of the 7th floor, whereas the barometric pressure value of the barometric pressure sensor 9 after correction as shown in FIG. 8 is. It can be seen that it almost matches the actual height of the 7th floor. As described above, according to the car specifying device of the present embodiment, it is possible to improve the accuracy of specifying the position of the car.

As a comparative example, FIG. 9 is a graph showing an example of transition of an acceleration signal detected when an acceleration sensor is provided in a car. As shown in FIG. 9, it can be seen that the vibration when the user gets on and off the car or moves in the car is larger than the vibration caused by the operation of the car itself. Therefore, when there is a user in the car, it is difficult to accurately correct the barometric pressure sensor only with the accelerometer.

Further, the abnormality diagnosis unit 28 in the present embodiment determines whether or not the position (height) of the car estimated by the car position estimation unit 27 corresponds to the height corresponding to each floor, and responds. If not, it is assumed that the car is stopped at a position where it should not be stopped, and it is diagnosed as an abnormal stop. When the abnormality diagnosis unit 28 diagnoses that the abnormality has stopped, the communication unit 29 issues a report to the monitoring server 4 or the like via the communication line 3. When an abnormality is reported, the monitoring center contacts the sales office and dispatches maintenance personnel to the target elevator.

As described above, in the car position characteristic device according to the present embodiment, the barometric pressure sensor 9 is corrected at the timing when the opening / closing operation of the car door is detected by the magnetic sensor, so that even if there is a user in the car. Can be corrected. Therefore, the frequency of correction of the barometric pressure sensor 9 can be increased, the position of the car can be accurately specified, and as a result, the erroneous determination of abnormal stop can be suppressed.

It should be noted that the above embodiment has been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and is not necessarily limited to the one including all the described configurations. Further, it is possible to add / delete / replace a part of the configuration of the embodiment with another configuration.

For example, in the above embodiment, the sensor module 1 is composed of the magnetic sensor 8 and the barometric pressure sensor 9, but it does not prevent the accelerometer from being further provided. By further providing an acceleration sensor as the sensor module 1, even if the magnetic sensor 8 fails, it is possible to detect that the car is stopped based on the detection signal of the acceleration sensor. Further, if the acceleration sensor is used, not only the moving direction of the car can be determined, but also the sudden stop of the car can be detected, so that the accuracy of diagnosing the abnormal stop is improved.

Further, by further providing a camera or a motion sensor as the sensor module 1, the control module 2 may correct the barometric pressure sensor 9 when it is detected that there is no user in the car. If a camera is used, it can be determined whether or not the user operates a button. In this way, by correcting the barometric pressure sensor while the car is stopped without a user, it is possible to further improve the accuracy of the correction.

1 Sensor module 2 Control module 3 Communication line 4 Monitoring server 5 Monitoring device 6 Terminal device 7 Car position identification device 8 Magnetic sensor 9 Atmospheric pressure sensor 21 Door open / close detection unit 22 Moving floor number detection unit 23 Atmospheric pressure value storage unit 24 Moving direction determination Part 25 Drift amount calculation part 26 Barometric pressure value correction part 27 Car position estimation part 28 Abnormality diagnosis part 29 Communication part

Claims (12)

In a car position specifying device provided with a control module for specifying the position of the car based on a detection signal from a sensor module provided in the car of an elevator.
The sensor module includes a magnetic sensor and a barometric pressure sensor.
When the control module detects the opening / closing operation of the door while the car is stopped based on the detection signal of the magnetic sensor, the control module corrects the barometric pressure sensor and uses the corrected sensor value of the barometric pressure sensor to ride the car. A car positioning device characterized by estimating the stop position of a car. In the car position specifying device according to claim 1,
When the car moves, the control module has a floor position on the floor before the movement determined by the detection signal of the pressure sensor before the movement, a movement direction determined by the detection signal of the pressure sensor before and after the movement, and the magnetic sensor. A car position specifying device characterized in that the number of moving floors detected based on a detection signal and the position of the floor after the movement of the car are estimated. In the car position specifying device according to claim 1,
When the car moves, the control module calculates the drift amount of the pressure sensor based on the detection signals of the pressure sensor before and after the movement, and subtracts the drift amount from the detection signal of the pressure sensor after the movement. By doing so, the car position specifying device is characterized in that the pressure sensor is corrected. In the car position specifying device according to claim 1,
The control module is a car position specifying device, characterized in that the corrected sensor value of the barometric pressure sensor is converted into the height of the car in the hoistway. In the car position specifying device according to claim 1,
The control module is a car position specifying device, characterized in that, when the estimated stop position of the car does not satisfy a predetermined condition, an alarm is issued via a communication line as an abnormal stop. In the car position specifying device according to claim 1,
A car positioning device characterized in that the sensor module is provided on the upper part of the car or on the door of the car. In the car position specifying device according to claim 6,
A car positioning device characterized in that the sensor module is provided on the upper part of the car and within 20 cm from the door driving device. In the car position specifying device according to claim 1,
The sensor module further has an accelerometer.
The control module is a car position specifying device, characterized in that it detects that the car is stopped based on a detection signal of the acceleration sensor. In the car position specifying device according to claim 8,
The control module is a car position specifying device, characterized in that it detects a moving direction and an abnormal stop of the car based on a detection signal of the acceleration sensor. In the car position specifying device according to claim 1,
The car position specifying device, characterized in that, when the stopped state of the car has elapsed for a predetermined time, the control module corrects the barometric pressure sensor. In the car position specifying device according to claim 1,
The sensor module further comprises a camera or motion sensor.
When it is detected that there is no user in the car, the control module corrects the barometric pressure sensor. In the car position specifying method for specifying the position of the car based on the detection signal by the sensor provided in the car of the elevator.
When the opening / closing operation of the door while the car is stopped is detected based on the detection signal of the magnetic sensor, the barometric pressure sensor is corrected, and the stop position of the car is estimated using the corrected sensor value of the barometric pressure sensor. A method of identifying the position of a car, which is characterized by the fact that.

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