JP6687153B1 - Passenger conveyor speed control system and speed control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To positively alleviate or eliminate a staying condition by performing a speed change that does not make passengers aware of the speed change depending on the staying condition occurring at the exit. Provided is a speed control system and speed control method for a passenger conveyor. A passenger conveyor speed control system (30) of the present invention is installed in a motor (17) that circulates a step (11) and a handrail (12) and an exit (21a), and detects a movement of a passenger (50) at the exit. A detection sensor 40, a stay status determination unit 32 that determines the stay status of passengers at the exit based on the detection result of the stay detection sensor, and a speed command that issues a speed command of the motor based on the stay status. It comprises a generating means 33 and an inverter control means 34 for controlling the motor by an inverter based on the speed command received by the speed command generating means. [Selection diagram] Fig. 7

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a speed control system and a speed control method for a passenger conveyor, which is capable of controlling an operating speed according to a staying state of passengers at an exit.

  Passenger conveyors such as escalator and moving walkways have a stay detection sensor that detects passengers at the exit, and when the stay detection sensor detects the stay of passengers at the exit, the escalator speed (motor rotation speed) is reduced. The thing is proposed (for example, refer patent document 1).

  In the escalator of Patent Document 1, the sensor continuously detects a passenger at the exit for a certain period of time, the speed of the escalator is reduced as it is judged to be stagnant, and if the state continues, the escalator is stopped. ing.

JP, 2013-170041, A

  In Patent Document 1, the determination of staying is that the sensor continuously detects passengers for a certain period of time, and when the staying duration time is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the speed of the escalator is reduced to half of the rated speed. . Since the control is to reduce the speed of the escalator to half at a time after the staying time becomes equal to or more than a predetermined threshold value, an announcement to passengers is required before the speed is reduced in consideration of safety. Further, since the amount of deceleration is large, passengers may feel uncomfortable with the change in speed.

  If an announcement is required in advance, there may be a time lag from the occurrence of retention at the exit to the start of deceleration of the escalator, and it may not be possible to quickly deal with retention. Further, depending on the staying condition, the speed of the escalator is frequently changed, which may significantly impair the serviceability.

  The present invention is a passenger conveyor that can positively alleviate or eliminate a staying condition by performing a speed change that does not make passengers aware of the change in speed depending on the staying condition occurring at the exit. An object of the present invention is to provide a speed control system and a speed control method.

The speed control system of the passenger conveyor of the present invention,
A motor that circulates the steps and the handrail,
A stay detection sensor that is installed at the exit and detects the movement of passengers at the exit,
Based on a detection result of the staying detection sensor, a staying status determination unit that determines a staying status of passengers at the exit,
Speed command generation means for issuing a speed command of the motor based on the staying condition;
Based on the speed command received by the speed command generation means, an inverter control means for controlling the inverter of the motor,
Equipped with.

The stay status determination means continuously and sequentially determines the stay status of the passenger,
The speed command generating means continuously changes the speed command of the motor based on the retention status of the passenger that is continuously determined,
It is preferable that the inverter control unit performs inverter control of the motor based on the continuously changed speed command.

The staying status determination means determines the staying status of the passenger in stages,
The speed command generating means changes the speed command of the motor stepwise based on the staying state of the passengers which is judged stepwise,
The inverter control means may also perform inverter control of the motor based on the speed command that has been changed stepwise.

The staying detection sensor is an area type sensor, and detects the position of a passenger present at the exit,
The staying status determination means may be configured to determine the staying status based on the detected moving speed of the position of the passenger.

  It is desirable that the staying detection sensors be arranged on the left and right of the exit.

Further, the speed control method of the passenger conveyor of the present invention,
A staying detection step for detecting movement of passengers at the exit,
A staying status determination step of determining a staying status of passengers at the exit based on the detected result,
A speed command generation step of generating a speed command of a motor for rotating the step and the handrail based on the determined staying state of the passenger,
An inverter control step for controlling the inverter of the motor based on the speed command;
Equipped with.

The stay status determination step continuously and sequentially determines the stay status of the passenger,
The speed command generating step continuously changes the speed command of the motor based on the staying condition of the passengers that is continuously determined,
In the inverter control step, it is preferable that the motor is inverter-controlled based on the continuously changed speed command.

The staying status determination step determines the staying status of the passenger in stages,
The speed command generating step changes the speed command of the motor stepwise based on the staying condition of the passengers which is judged stepwise,
In the inverter control step, the motor may be inverter-controlled based on the stepwise changed speed command.

  According to the speed control system and the speed control method for a passenger conveyor of the present invention, the rotation speed of the motor is controlled by the inverter according to the staying state of the passenger at the exit. The rotation speed of the motor can be continuously or stepwise changed according to the passenger's staying condition detected by the staying detection sensor, so the time lag from the occurrence of staying to the start of deceleration can be reduced, and the speed can be increased. The retention can be eliminated. Also, by continuously or stepwise changing the rotation speed of the motor, the amount of change in the operating speed of the escalator can be small, and passengers hardly notice the speed change of the escalator. In addition, since the speed change is small, it is possible to eliminate the need for announcements to passengers.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an escalator to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 2 is a perspective view near the exit. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a speed control system for an escalator according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the vicinity of the exit. FIG. 5 shows an example of distance data of the staying detection sensor near the exit. FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of the speed control method for the escalator according to the present invention. FIG. 7A is a graph showing changes in the stay status (moving speed V) at the exit, and FIG. 7B is a graph showing operating speed Vc of the escalator.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the escalator 10 is used as an example of the passenger conveyor, but the passenger conveyor may be a so-called moving walkway or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an escalator 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention circulates a step 11 together with a handrail 12 between an upper floor 20 and a lower floor 21, which serve as an elevator door. Composed. A truss 13 that forms the skeleton of the escalator 10 has sprockets 14 and 15 at the top and bottom, and a step chain 16 that circulates by connecting a large number of steps 11 between these sprockets 14 and 15 is hung. One sprocket 14 is linked to a motor 17 via a speed reducer 18 so that power can be transmitted. Further, rails (not shown) are arranged between the upper and lower floors of the truss 13, and the step 11 is pulled by the step chain 16 to travel on the rails (not shown).

  In the present embodiment, the escalator 10 is assumed to drive down, and the entrance 20a is described as the upper floor 20 and the exit 21a is described as the lower floor 21, but it may be up, and in this case , The upper floor 20 is the exit.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the escalator 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention has a stay detection sensor 40 disposed near the exit 21a. An area-type sensor such as a ToF (Time of Flight) sensor can be exemplified as the staying detection sensor 40. The ToF sensor rotates the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit of the laser light, and the time until the laser light emitted from the light emitting unit returns to the light receiving unit after being reflected by the object and the rotation angle from the object to the light receiving unit. It is a sensor that measures distance and position. The staying detection sensor 40 is not limited to the ToF sensor.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the edge of the inner deck board 19 is formed longer than usual, and the retention detection sensor 40 is arranged on the lower surface of the projecting inner deck board 19. As a result, the staying detection sensor 40 can perform a plane scan of the height near the foot of the passenger. The installation position of the staying detection sensor 40 is not limited to this, and the staying detection sensor 40 may be installed on a skirt guard or a newel cover, or a pole may be installed upright at the exit 21a. it can. Desirably, the staying detection sensors are arranged on the left and right of the exit 21a, as indicated by reference numerals 40 and 40 'in FIG.

  The escalator 10 is controlled by the control device 31. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the speed control system 30 of the escalator 10 showing only the main configuration related to the control according to the present invention. The speed control system 30 includes a control device 31 that controls the rotation speed of the motor 17 that rotates the step 11 and the handrail 12 based on the detection results of the staying detection sensors 40 and 40 ′. The control device 31 receives the detection results from the staying detection sensors 40, 40 ', and the staying status determination means 32 for determining the staying status at the exit 21a, and the inverter control means 34 for the motor based on the determined staying status. A speed command generating means 33 for issuing the speed command 17 is provided. The inverter control means 34 performs inverter control by changing the voltage and frequency of the power supply supplied to the motor 17. The speed of the step 17 and the handrail 12, that is, the speed Vc of the escalator 10 is variably controlled by inverter-controlling the rotation speed of the motor 17 based on the detection results from the stay detection sensors 40, 40 '.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the exit 21a viewed from above. The exit 21a is flat-scanned by the stay detection sensors 40, 40 'arranged on the left and right for a predetermined time, for example, every 25 msec, and the area detectable by the stay detection sensors 40, 40' (shown by a dotted line in the figure). By continuously detecting the object (passenger 50) existing in the vehicle, it is possible to detect the movement or stay of the passenger 50.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the distance data showing the detection result of the two-dimensional coordinate system for one scan in which the ToF sensor is adopted as the staying detection sensors 40 and 40 ′ and the height near the foot of the passenger 50 is plane-scanned. There is. In the figure, the horizontal direction is the width direction of the escalator 10, and the depth direction is the direction in which the passenger 50 is straight away from the exit 21a of the escalator 10, that is, the traveling direction of the passenger 50, and the stay detection sensors 40, 40 '. The front side where is arranged is the escalator 10 side. With reference to the figure, three pairs of points 50a, 50b, 50c showing the contour of the foot of the passenger 50 can be confirmed. The detection results of the stay detection sensors 40, 40 ′ are transmitted to the stay status determination means 32.

  The stay status determination unit 32 determines the stay status of the passenger 50 at the exit 21a based on the detection result transmitted from the stay detection sensors 40, 40 '. For example, with respect to the distance data shown in FIG. 5, the staying state determination means 32 moves the passenger 50 in the advancing direction at the exit 21a based on the time-series change and behavior of the detected object (passenger 50). The speed V is calculated, and it is determined whether or not the passenger 50 is staying. That is, the stay status determination unit 32 determines that the stay is zero or little when the moving speed V of the passenger 50 in the traveling direction is high, and the stay increases as the moving speed V of the passenger 50 decreases. To determine. It should be noted that, in a situation in which a stay occurs, a plurality of passengers 50 are present at the exit 21a, so the stay status determination unit 32 causes the moving speed of each of the plurality of detected objects (passengers 50) to move. It is desirable to calculate the position of the center of gravity 51 of all the detected objects and determine the staying state based on the moving speed V of the position of the center of gravity 51 with respect to the traveling direction, instead of calculating.

  Then, based on the staying status of the exit 21a determined by the staying status determining means 32, the speed command generating means 33 generates a speed command for the motor 17 so that the speed Vc of the escalator 10 becomes an optimum operating speed. Then, the rotation speed of the motor 17 is controlled through the inverter control means 34.

  For example, when the moving speed V of the passenger 50 at the exit 21a is equal to or higher than the rated speed Vr of the escalator 10, since the stay does not occur, the speed command generation unit 33 keeps the escalator 10 at the rated speed Vr. A speed command is generated and transmitted to the inverter control means 34 so that the motor 17 is driven to rotate. On the other hand, when the traveling speed V of the passenger 50 becomes smaller than the rated speed Vr, the occurrence of staying at the exit 21a is assumed, so the speed command generating unit 33 causes the traveling speed according to the traveling speed V. A speed command is generated and transmitted to the inverter control means 34 so that the escalator 10 is operated at Vc. As a result, the rotation speed of the motor 17 decreases, so that the number of passengers 50 reaching the exit 21a can be reduced, and as a result, the passenger 50 can be prevented from staying at the exit 21a.

  In addition, as a result of reducing the operation speed Vc of the escalator 10 in accordance with the moving speed V of the passenger 50, if the staying state at the exit 21a, that is, the moving speed V of the passenger 50 at the exit 21a is improved, The speed command generation means 33 may generate and transmit the speed command of the motor 17 so that the traveling speed Vc of the escalator 10 becomes faster according to the moving speed V. On the other hand, even if the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 is reduced, if the moving speed V of the passenger 50 at the exit 21a decreases, the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 is further decreased in accordance with the moving speed V. First, the speed command of the motor 17 is generated and transmitted, and the number of passengers 50 reaching the exit 21a is reduced, so that the stay is eliminated.

  The staying status determination unit 32 described above continuously and sequentially determines the staying status of the passengers 50, for example, the moving speed V, and the speed command generation unit 33 determines the staying status of the passengers 50 based on the continuously determined staying status of the passengers 50. It is desirable to generate a continuously changing speed command and continuously change the rotation speed of the motor 17 through the inverter control means 34. As a result, the rotation speed of the motor 17 changes so as to follow the stay condition in real time, that is, the control has a variable threshold value according to the stay condition, and the continuity of the control causes almost no speed change to the passenger 50 of the escalator 10. It is possible to eliminate the retention without being aware of it.

  Of course, the staying status determination unit 32 determines the staying status in stages, and the speed command generating unit 33 generates a speed command that changes in stages based on the staying status of the passenger 50 that is determined in stages. However, the rotation speed of the motor 17 can be changed stepwise through the inverter control means 34. For example, when the rated speed Vr of the escalator 10 is set to 30 m / min, the escalator 10 can be controlled at five operating speeds of 25, 20, 15, 10, 0 m / min. The larger the number of steps, the closer the speed control can be to continuously changing.

  According to the present invention, the rotation speed of the motor 17 is inverter-controlled and the operation speed Vc of the escalator 10 is controlled according to the staying state of the passenger 50 at the exit 21a. The rotation speed of the motor 17 can be continuously or stepwise changed according to the staying condition of the passenger 50, so that the time lag from the occurrence of staying to the start of deceleration can be reduced, and the staying can be quickly eliminated. be able to. Further, by changing the operation speed Vc of the escalator 10 continuously or stepwise, the passenger hardly notices the speed change, the discomfort can be reduced, and the speed change is small, the speed of the escalator 10 is small. For the control, an announcement to the passenger 50 can be unnecessary.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the embodiment, with respect to the escalator 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, ToF sensors are arranged as the retention detection sensors 40, 40 ′ on the left and right of the exit 21a having a width of 1.5 m and a depth of 1 m, and the retention detection sensor 40 , 40 ', the rotation speed of the motor 17 is controlled by an inverter.

  In this embodiment, the inverter control of the motor 17 is performed with reference to not only the moving speed V of the center of gravity 51 of the entire object (passenger 50) at the exit 21a but also the area A of the object occupying the exit 21a. . The reason for this is that when there is no object in the detection area, that is, when the area A of the object is zero, there is no passenger 50 at the exit 21a, so no stagnation has occurred, but the moving speed of the passenger 50. This is because V is not detected and the moving speed V also becomes zero. Further, even if the object is detected by the stay detection sensors 40 and 40 ′, if the object occupies an area that does not affect the stay, the object is ignored and the escalator 10 is disabled. This is because it is possible to suppress various speed changes.

  Table 1 shows the moving speed V of the center of gravity 51 of the object (passenger 50) detected at the exit 21a (indicating the staying status of the exit 21a), the occupied area A of the object, and the corresponding operating speed Vc of the escalator 10. It is a table showing a relationship. Based on the table, the speed command generation means 33 generates a speed command for the motor 17, and the inverter control means 34 controls the motor 17.

  However, as shown in step S1 of the flowchart in FIG. 6, the escalator 10 is set to the rated speed Vr (= 30 m / min) and the operation is performed. Specifically, the speed command generation means 33 issues a speed command of the motor 17 so that the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 becomes the rated speed Vr, and the inverter control means 34 controls the rotation of the motor 17. At this time, a timer value Tm described later is reset to zero. From this state, the staying condition of the exit 21a of the escalator 10 is measured (steps S2 to S5).

  The staying status of the exit 21a includes measurement of the area A occupied by the object (passenger 50) at the exit 21a (step S2) and measurement of the moving speed V of the center of gravity 51 of the object at the exit 21a (step S4). There is. The stay detection sensors 40, 40 'detect the object at the exit 21a and send it to the stay status determination means 32. Based on the detection result, the stay status determination means 32 indicates the exit 21a in which the exit 21a is in a congestion state. The area A occupied by the object is measured (step S2). Actually, the moving speed V of the center of gravity 51 of the object is also measured at the same time as shown in step S4.

  When the area A occupied by the object is zero (NO in step S3), the object (passenger 50) does not exist at the exit 21a, and no stagnation can occur. Therefore, as shown in Table 1, the escalator 10 has the rated speed Vr. Then, the operation is continued and the timer value Tm is reset (step S1). On the other hand, if the area A exceeds zero, that is, if there is any object at the exit 21a (YES in step S3), the moving speed V of the center of gravity 51 of the object is measured (step S4). As for the moving speed V of the center of gravity 51 of the object, it suffices to refer only to the traveling direction component (depth direction in FIG. 5), and the component in the width direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 5) orthogonal to the traveling direction is the user's exit 21a. Since there is a high possibility that the vehicle has simply crossed, it is desirable not to include it in the moving speed V.

  When the measured moving speed V is equal to or higher than the rated speed Vr of the escalator 10 (Vr ≦ V) (NO in step S5), there is no retention at the exit 21a, so the process returns to step S1 and the operating speed of the escalator 10 is increased. Let Vc be the rated speed Vr. Also, the timer value Tm is reset.

  If the moving speed V is slower than the rated speed Vr of the escalator 10 (Vr> V :) and the timer value Tm is zero (step S6), the timer is started and the timer value Tm is counted up (step S7). ). Note that the timer value Tm has already been counted in the previous flow, and if Tm> 0, step S7 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S8.

  In step S8, it is determined whether or not the timer value Tm exceeds a predetermined time. That is, steps S2 to S6 are looped, and the loop is repeated until the state where the area A> 0 and the moving speed V is slower than the rated speed Vr (Vr> V) continues for a predetermined time or longer (NO in step S8). If the area A or the moving speed V does not satisfy the conditions of steps S3 and S6 during that time (NO in step S3, NO in step S5), the process returns to step S1.

  When the area A> 0 and the moving speed V is slower than the rated speed Vr (Vr> V) continues for a predetermined time or longer (YES in step S8), the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 is set to match the moving speed V. Yes (step S9). Specifically, the speed command generating means 33 issues a speed command of the motor 17 so that the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 becomes the moving speed V, and the inverter control means 34 controls the rotation of the motor 17.

  The control (Vc = V) is continued while the area A> 0 and the moving speed V is slower than the rated speed Vr (Vr> V) (except for YES in step S10 shown below) and continuously. With respect to the area A and the moving speed V of the center of gravity 51 of the passenger, which are sequentially determined, the operating speed Vc continuously changes according to the moving speed V. As a result, the traveling speed Vc of the escalator 10 matches the moving speed V of the object, and it is possible to prevent the staying at the exit 21a from increasing.

However, if the moving speed V becomes equal to or lower than the extremely slow speed Vx (for example, 10 m / min which is ⅓ of Vc) (YES in step S10), the process proceeds to step S11. The result of step S10 is YES in the case where there is a possibility that a large amount of stagnation may occur due to some abnormality occurring at the exit 21a, such as the passenger 50 falling down to block the exit 21a. is there. In such a situation, if the escalator 10 is operated, the retention is not eliminated, and there is a possibility that the escalator 10 becomes worse. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the area A of the object occupying the exit 21a is measured (step S11), and the area A becomes equal to or larger than Aq (for example, 0.75 m ² which is 1/2 of the exit area). (YES in step S12), the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 is controlled to be zero, that is, the escalator 10 is stopped (step S13). If the area A is less than Aq (NO in step S12), the retention status is improved by, for example, issuing an alert to the passenger 50 at the exit 21a to move from the exit 21a using a speaker or the like. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the passenger 50 is warned such as withdrawing from the exit 21a (step S14), and the process returns to step S2.

  According to the speed control system and the control method of the escalator 10 of the present invention as in the above embodiment, the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 can be continuously changed in accordance with the staying condition of the exit 21a. The retention of the exit 21a can be eliminated.

  FIG. 7 is a graph showing the changes in (a) the staying state (moving speed V) of the exit 21a and (b) the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 by solid lines, respectively, in an example of the present invention. Referring to the figure, it can be seen that the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 continuously and sequentially changes according to the staying state of the exit 21a.

  For comparison, when the moving speed V of the exit 21a is kept below a predetermined stay threshold (one-dot chain line in FIG. 7 (a)) for a predetermined time or longer, the operating speed Vc is half the rated speed Vr. As a comparative example, the retention status (moving speed V) of the exit 21a of the escalator 10 that has been operated as shown in FIG. 7A is indicated by a dotted line, and the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 controlled as a result is shown in FIG. ) Are indicated by dotted lines.

  First, referring to FIG. 7A, when comparing the staying state (moving speed V) of the exit 21a, in the invention example, the change in moving speed V is smoother than in the comparative example, and the moving speed V stays. It can be seen that the time to be less than or equal to the threshold value could be shortened as compared with the comparative example. That is, according to the invention example, the staying condition of the exit 21a can be improved as much as possible. Similarly, it can be seen that the change in the operating speed Vc of the escalator 10 is also made smooth so that the passenger 50 does not feel it. On the other hand, in the comparative example, since the operating speed Vc changes abruptly, announcements or the like are required in advance for the safety of passengers. Therefore, it takes time from the occurrence of the retention to the elimination, and the retention time becomes long. There is.

  The above description is for explaining the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the invention described in the claims or limiting the scope. Further, it goes without saying that the configuration of each part of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the technical scope described in the claims.

10 Escalator 17 Motor 21a Exit 30 Speed control system 31 Control device 32 Retention status determination means 33 Speed command generation means 34 Inverter control means 40 Retention detection sensor 50 Passenger

Claims (4)

A motor that circulates the steps and the handrail,
A stay detection sensor that is installed at the exit and detects the movement of passengers at the exit,
Based on a detection result of the staying detection sensor, a staying status determination unit that determines a staying status of passengers at the exit,
Speed command generation means for issuing a speed command of the motor based on the staying condition;
Based on the speed command received by the speed command generation means, an inverter control means for controlling the inverter of the motor,
A passenger conveyor speed control system of the Ru comprises a,
The staying status determination unit determines the staying status of the passenger based on the center of gravity of all passengers at the exit and the moving speed of the center of gravity,
The speed command generating means generates a speed command of the motor based on a staying state of the passenger so that the operating speeds of the steps and the handrail match the moving speed of the center of gravity.
Passenger conveyor speed control system. The residence detecting sensor is an area-type sensor,
The speed control system for a passenger conveyor according to claim 1 . The staying detection sensor is arranged on the left and right of the exit,
The speed control system for a passenger conveyor according to claim 1 or 2 . A staying detection step for detecting movement of passengers at the exit,
A staying status determination step of determining a staying status of passengers at the exit based on the detected result,
A speed command generation step of generating a speed command of a motor for rotating the step and the handrail based on the determined staying state of the passenger,
An inverter control step for controlling the inverter of the motor based on the speed command;
The A speed control method of the sushi obtaining passenger conveyor,
The staying status determination step determines the staying status of the passenger based on the center of gravity of all the passengers at the exit and the moving speed of the center of gravity,
The speed command generating step generates a speed command of the motor so that the operating speeds of the steps and the handrail match the moving speed of the center of gravity, based on the staying state of the passenger,
Passenger conveyor speed control method.

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