JP7074215B1 - How to detect the status of the exit of the passenger conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for more accurately detecting the presence or absence of stagnation of passengers at the exit of a passenger conveyor.
SOLUTION: The method for detecting the situation of an exit of a passenger conveyor of the present invention is installed in an exit 21a and is provided with sensors 40R, 40L for detecting the positions of objects 51R, 51L at the exit. In the situation detection method, the exit is divided into a right side measurement area TR and a left side measurement area TL with respect to the traveling direction, the state of stay in each measurement area is detected, and staying occurs in both measurement areas. In this case, it is determined that the stagnation has occurred at the exit.
[Selection diagram] Fig. 3

Description

The present invention provides a method for detecting the situation of the exit of a passenger conveyor such as an escalator, more specifically, the staying of passengers at the exit.

Passenger conveyors such as escalators and moving walkways are equipped with a stagnation detection sensor that detects passengers at the exit, and when the stagnation detection sensor detects passenger stagnation at the exit, the speed of the escalator (motor rotation speed) is reduced. The ones have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In the escalator of Patent Document 1, the sensor detects passengers at the exit continuously for a predetermined time or longer to determine that the escalator is stagnant, and the speed of the escalator is reduced.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-170041

The direction in which passengers of the escalator move at the exit is generally the same as the direction of travel of the escalator, but in the vicinity of the exit, some people cross in front of the escalator. Since the sensor reacts to such a person, it is not possible to correctly detect the stagnation of passengers at the exit, and even if the stagnation does not actually occur, it will be erroneously detected as stagnation. The escalator may slow down.

Further, even if passengers are stagnant at the exit, if the stagnant is a part of the exit, for example, the right half and the left half of the exit, passengers can pass on the opposite side. It is not necessary to reduce the speed of the escalator until such a case. However, since the sensor detects the presence or absence of stagnation in the exit itself, it determines that the stagnation is present even when passengers can pass in this way. As a result, the speed of the escalator is reduced even though passengers are able to pass through, unnecessary changes in operation are made, and transportation efficiency is also reduced.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for more accurately detecting the presence or absence of stagnation of passengers at the exit of a passenger conveyor.

The method for detecting the condition of the exit of the passenger conveyor of the present invention is
It is a method of detecting the status of the exit of a passenger conveyor, which is installed at the exit and is equipped with a sensor that detects the position of an object at the exit.
A data acquisition step of continuously and sequentially acquiring distance data of an object existing at the exit by scanning a predetermined height of a region including the exit with the sensor in a plane.
The exit is divided into two measurement areas on the left and right with respect to the traveling direction of the passenger conveyor, and the distance data obtained in the data acquisition step is combined with the right distance data group of the right object existing in the right measurement area. , Left and right distance data acquisition step to obtain the left side distance data group of the left side object existing in the left side measurement area in chronological order,
A center of gravity position calculation step for calculating the right center of gravity position of the distance data in the right side measurement area based on the right side distance data group and the left side center of gravity position of the distance data in the left side measurement area based on the left side distance data group.
A center of gravity movement speed calculation step for calculating the right center of gravity movement speed from the right center of gravity position calculated in chronological order and calculating the left center of gravity movement speed from the left center of gravity position.
A situation detection step for detecting the situation of the exit based on the right center of gravity moving speed and the left center of gravity moving speed.
Includes.

The sensor can be installed at least one on each side of the exit.

In the situation detection step, it can be determined that stagnation has occurred at the exit when both the right center of gravity moving speed and the left center of gravity moving speed are equal to or lower than a predetermined speed.

In the center of gravity movement speed calculation step, only the movement speed in the traveling direction of the passenger conveyor at the exit can be calculated for the right side center of gravity movement speed and the left side center of gravity movement speed.

The center of gravity movement speed calculation step is based on the speed at which the right center of gravity movement speed and the left center of gravity movement speed are positive in the same direction as the traveling direction of the passenger conveyor, and the absolute value of the movement speed is added. The moving speed of the passenger conveyor in the traveling direction can be calculated.

Further, the speed control method for the passenger conveyor of the present invention is:
A passenger conveyor speed control method using the passenger conveyor exit status detection method described in any of the above.
Based on the situation of the exit calculated by the situation detection step, the rotation of the motor that circulates and drives the step and the handrail of the passenger conveyor is controlled.

Further, the method for detecting the status of the exit of the passenger conveyor of the present invention is as follows.
It is a method of detecting the status of the exit of a passenger conveyor, which is installed at the exit and is equipped with a sensor that detects the position of an object at the exit.
The exit is divided into a right side measurement area and a left side measurement area with respect to the traveling direction, and the retention status of each measurement area is detected.
When stagnation has occurred in both measurement areas, it may be determined that stagnation has occurred at the exit.

According to the method for detecting the condition of the exit of a passenger conveyor of the present invention, the exit is divided into left and right measurement areas, and the moving speed of the center of gravity of an object existing in each measurement area is calculated to cover each of the left and right measurement areas. It is possible to detect the stagnation of passengers. As a result, the situation of the exit can be grasped more accurately, and even if each measurement area on either the left or right is stagnant, if the other is passable, it is not judged that the exit is stagnant, which is unnecessary. It is possible to suppress the change of operation and the decrease of transportation efficiency.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an escalator to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vicinity of the exit. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view near the exit. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the escalator control system of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows an example of the distance data of the sensor near the exit. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a determination flow of the retention state of the exit of the present invention.

The present invention divides the exit 21a of the passenger conveyor into two measurement areas TR and TL on the left and right with respect to the traveling direction, determines the retention status of passengers in each measurement area TR and TL, and controls the operating speed of the passenger conveyor. It is something to do. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the escalator 10 is taken as an example of the passenger conveyor, but the passenger conveyor may be a so-called moving walkway or the like.

In the escalator 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the step 11 is circulated together with the handrail 12 between the upper floor side floor 20 and the lower floor side floor 21 serving as an elevating port. It is composed. The truss 13 forming the framework of the escalator 10 is provided with sprockets 14 and 15 on the upper and lower sides, and a step chain 16 is hung between the sprockets 14 and 15 in which a large number of steps 11 are connected and circulated. One sprocket 14 is linked to the motor 17 so as to be able to transmit power via the speed reducer 18. Further, a rail (not shown) is arranged on the truss 13 between the upper and lower floors, and the step 11 is towed by the step chain 16 and travels on a rail (not shown).

In the present embodiment, the escalator 10 is to be operated downhill, and the entrance 20a is referred to as the upper floor 20 and the exit 21a is referred to as the lower floor 21. However, the escalator 10 may be uphill operation. , 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 sensor 40 arranged in the vicinity of the exit 21a. As the sensor 40, an area type sensor such as a ToF (Time of Flight) sensor can be exemplified. The ToF sensor rotates the light emitting part and the light receiving part of the laser light, measures the time until the laser light emitted from the light emitting part is reflected by the object and returns to the light receiving part, and measures each rotation angle. It is a sensor that outputs distance data to an object. The sensor 40 is not limited to the ToF sensor.

For example, as shown by reference numerals 40R and 40L in FIG. 3, at least one sensor is arranged on each side of the exit 21a. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the sensor 40 has an end edge of the inner deck board 19 formed longer than usual and is arranged on the lower surface of the protruding inner deck board 19. As a result, the sensor 40 can scan the height near the feet of the passenger in a plane. Of course, the installation position of the sensor 40 is not limited to this, and the sensor 40 can be installed by installing it on a skirt guard or a new el cover, or by separately installing a pole at the exit 21a.

It should be noted that the number of sensors may be one as long as the exit 21a can be divided into the left and right measurement areas TR and TL and the staying status of passengers can be detected, or two or more sensors may be arranged on the left and right respectively. The location where the sensor is installed is not limited to the above, and may be a floor surface, a ceiling surface, or the like.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the exit 21a as viewed from above. At the exit 21a, predetermined measurement areas TR and TL are plane-scanned by sensors 40R and 40L arranged on the left and right. In the present embodiment, the measurement areas TR and TL have a Y-axis as the traveling direction which is the depth direction of the escalator 10 with respect to the exit 21a, and a horizontal direction (width direction of the escalator 10) orthogonal to the Y-axis in a plane. It is specified as the X-axis. The coordinates of the X-axis and the Y-axis will be described later.

The sensors 40R and 40L output the distance data of the measurement areas TR and TL to the control device 31 (see FIG. 4). For example, the sensors 40R and 40L can be configured to continuously and sequentially detect the distance data of an object by scanning the exit 21a in a plane at predetermined time intervals, for example, every 25 msec.

The outputs of the sensors 40R and 40L are transmitted to the control device 31 of the escalator 10. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the control system 30 of the escalator 10 showing a main component configuration related to the control according to the present invention. The control device 31 includes a situation determining means 32 that processes the distance data received from the sensors 40R and 40L, and a speed command generating means 33 that issues a speed command of the motor 17 based on the situation determined by the situation determining means 32. The inverter control means 34 for controlling the motor 17 with an inverter based on the speed command may be provided. The rotation speed control of the motor 17 is not limited to the inverter control.

The situation determination means 32 determines the retention status of each of the left and right measurement areas TR and TL from the distance data acquired from the sensors 40R and 40L. The retention state can be calculated from the moving speeds of the objects 50R and 50L existing in the left and right measurement areas TR and TL. The moving speed of the objects 50R and 50L can be the moving speed of the center of gravity of the objects 50R and 50L existing in each measurement area TR and TL, but due to the characteristics of the sensors 40R and 40L, the complete contour of the objects 50R and 50L is Since it cannot be grasped, the moving speed of the center of gravity of the objects 50R and 50L is obtained by dividing the distance data of the objects 50R and 50L acquired from the sensors 40R and 40L into the left and right measurement areas TR and TL, and moving the position of the center of gravity of each distance data group. The speed is regarded as the moving speed of the objects 50R and 50L.

That is, the situation determination means 32 divides the acquired distance data into a right distance data group of the object 50R existing in the right side measurement area TR and a left side distance data group of the object 50L existing in the left side measurement area TL, and each measurement is performed. The position of the center of gravity of the distance data group of the regions TR and TL is calculated, and the moving speed of the center of gravity is calculated from the displacement of the position of the center of gravity in chronological order.

Then, the retention state of the exit 21a is determined from the moving speeds of the center of gravity positions of the left and right measurement areas TR and TL obtained. In the present embodiment, as a situation in which the escalator 10 is decelerated or stopped in operation, the moving speeds of the centers of gravity (or their moving averages, etc.) of both the left and right measurement areas TR and TL are equal to or lower than the predetermined speeds. This is the case.

As described above, since it is determined that the escalator 10 is decelerated only when the stagnation occurs in the left and right measurement areas TR and TL, the escalator 10 is decelerated. When the moving speed exceeds a predetermined speed, it is not necessary to decelerate the escalator 10. Even if the moving speed of the center of gravity of one of the measurement areas TR and TL is equal to or less than the predetermined speed, if the other exceeds the predetermined speed, passengers can pass through at least one side of the exit 21a, so that the passenger stays. This is to avoid one side of the exit 21a where the above is generated.

As a specific embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the situation determination means 32 obtains distance data from a data acquisition unit 32a that acquires distance data from the sensors 40R and 40L, and obtains distance data from the data acquisition unit 32a, and each distance data is obtained. The left and right distance data acquisition unit 32b that determines which distance data is in each of the left and right measurement areas TR and TL and calculates the distance data group of the objects 50R and 50L existing in each measurement area TR and TL, and the obtained left and right distance data. The center of gravity calculation unit 32c that calculates the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L of the left and right objects 50R and 50L from each distance data group, and the center of gravity movement speed calculation unit 32d that calculates these movement speeds from the calculated center of gravity positions. The configuration may include a status determination unit 32e for determining the status of the exit 21a based on the movement speed of the center of gravity of each measurement area TR, TL.

The data acquisition unit 32a continuously and sequentially acquires the distance data measured by the sensors 40R and 40L at predetermined time intervals, respectively. The acquired distance data may include distance data in a range wider than the required measurement areas TR and TL, depending on the measurement range of the sensors 40R and 40L. Since the areas other than the measurement areas TR and TL are irrelevant to the flow of passengers in the escalator 10, in such a case, the data acquisition unit 32a extracts only the distance data of the predetermined measurement areas TR and TL. You just have to do it. FIG. 5 is an example of distance data showing the detection result of a two-dimensional coordinate system for one scan in which a ToF sensor is used as sensors 40R and 40L and the height near the feet of passengers (objects 50R and 50L) is scanned in a plane. Shows. Referring to the figure, the left and right measurement areas are based on the distance data detected by the sensor 40R on the right side (indicated by the black circle in the figure) and the distance data detected by the sensor 40L on the left side (indicated by the black triangle mark in the figure). Three pairs of points 50a, 50b, and 50c indicating the contour of the passenger's foot can be confirmed in TR and TL.

The distance data acquired by the data acquisition unit 32a is sequentially and continuously transmitted to the left and right distance data acquisition unit 32b. The left-right distance data acquisition unit 32b divides the acquired distance data of the sensors 40R and 40L into a distance data group for each of the left and right measurement areas TR and TL. For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, in the measurement areas TR and TL, the center of the handrails 12 and 12 in the width direction with respect to the exit 21a is set as the zero point on the X axis, and the vicinity of the tips of the handrails 12 and 12. In a coordinate system with Specifically, in FIG. 5, the black circle mark and the black triangle mark in the right side measurement area TR are the right side distance data group, and the black circle mark and the black triangle mark in the left side measurement area TL are the left side distance data group.

The distance data group divided into the left and right measurement areas TR and TL by the left and right distance data acquisition unit 32b is transmitted to the center of gravity calculation unit 32c. The center of gravity calculation unit 32c calculates the position of the center of gravity for each of the measurement areas TR and TL from the received distance data (black circles and black triangles in the left and right measurement areas TR and TL in FIG. 5). The positions of the left and right center of gravity calculated by the center of gravity calculation unit 32c are indicated by reference numerals 51R and 51L in FIG. The center of gravity calculation unit 32c can calculate the left and right center of gravity positions 51R and 51L by, for example, adding the X-axis direction component and the Y-axis direction component of the left and right distance data groups and dividing by the number of distance data.

The calculated left and right center of gravity positions 51R and 51L are transmitted to the center of gravity movement speed calculation unit 32d. Then, the center of gravity movement speed calculation unit 32d calculates the movement speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L from the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L that are sequentially received. The center of gravity movement speed calculation unit 32d can calculate the movement speed from the difference between the sequentially received center of gravity positions 51, for example. When calculating the moving speeds of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L, it is desirable to extract the speeds only in the traveling direction of the escalator 10. Further, in order to suppress the influence of measurement error and the like, the moving speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L can be set to, for example, a moving average to smooth a minute change in the calculated data.

Then, the movement speeds of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L calculated by the center of gravity movement speed calculation unit 32d are transmitted to the situation determination unit 32e. The situation determination unit 32e determines the retention of passengers at the exit 21a based on the moving speed of the center of gravity positions R and 51L. In any of the measurement areas TR and TL, the faster the moving speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L is, the smoother the passengers are flowing, and the slower the moving speed of the center of gravity position 51 is, the more the passengers stay in the measuring areas TR and TL. It can be determined that it is done. The situation determination unit 32e determines whether the moving speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L is equal to or lower than the preset predetermined speed, and as described above, the moving speeds of both the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L are predetermined. It is determined that the stagnation of passengers has occurred only when the speed is less than or equal to the speed. In other cases, that is, when the moving speed of at least one of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L exceeds a predetermined speed, it is determined that there is no stagnation. When it is determined that stagnation has occurred, the moving speeds of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L can also be used as the stagnation parameter.

The movement speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L when the stagnation occurs and the stagnation status (with stagnation, without stagnation) of the passengers in the left and right measurement areas TR and TL of the exit 21a determined by the situation determination unit 32e is the operation of the escalator 10. It can be used for speed control. The retention status determined by the status determination unit 32e is transmitted to the speed command generation means 33 shown in FIG. The speed command generating means 33 generates a command value of the rotation speed of the motor 17 for decelerating or stopping the operating speed of the escalator 10 when there is a stagnation. Alternatively, a command value of the rotation speed of the motor 17 is generated so that the operating speed of the escalator 10 is optimized from the moving average and duration of the residence speed and the movement speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L when the residence occurs. In this case, the speed command generation means 33 has a memory that stores a table of the command value of the rotation speed of the motor, the movement speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L at the time of the retention time and the retention occurrence, and refers to the table. Then, the command value of the rotation speed of the motor 17 may be generated. The command value of the rotation speed of the motor 17 is a change that follows the duration of residence and the moving speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L at the time of retention in real time, that is, control having a variable threshold value according to the situation of the exit 21a. It may be a speed command that changes step by step.

Then, the inverter control means 34 controls the rotation speed of the motor 17 based on the speed command generated by the speed command generation means 33, so that the measurement regions TR and TL on the left and right of the exit 21a are retained. The operating speed of the escalator 10 can be controlled. Specifically, when stagnation occurs in both measurement areas TR and TL, the operating speed of the escalator 10 is slowed down to reduce the number of passengers arriving at the exit 21a by the escalator 10. It is possible to eliminate the stagnation of 21a. Before slowing down the operating speed of the escalator 10, an announcement may be made to alert the user to move from the exit 21a, if necessary. If there is no stagnation at the exit 21a, the operating speed of the escalator 10 may be returned to the rated speed.

According to the present invention, the exit 21a is divided into two measurement areas TR and TL on the left and right, and the state of retention is determined for each measurement area TR and TL. As a result, if stagnation occurs only in the measurement areas TR and TL on one side, but no stagnation occurs on the other side, passengers pass through one side without stagnation, so that the escalator 10 does not need to be operated. It is possible to suppress the change of. On the other hand, when stagnation occurs in both measurement areas TR and TL, by controlling the operation speed of the escalator 10 such as deceleration and stop, it is possible to promote the elimination of stagnation of passengers at the exit 21a, which is smooth. You can secure a good flow.

Hereinafter, the distance data is measured by the sensors 40R and 40L with respect to the measurement areas TR and TL in the predetermined range of the exit 21a shown by the dotted line in FIG. 3, and the passenger situation is measured based on the moving speed of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L. Judgment was made, and the speed of the escalator 10 was controlled.

The measurement areas TR and TL are set to have a width slightly wider than the width of the escalator 10, and the traveling direction which is the depth direction of the escalator 10 is the Y axis, and the horizontal direction orthogonal to the Y axis in the plane is the X axis. It was set as a rectangular area (indicated by the following equations (1-1) and (1-2)). In FIGS. 3 and 5, the measurement region T has a zero point at the center in the X-axis direction.

Hereinafter, the control according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the plan view 3 and the flowchart 6 of the exit 21a.

<Data acquisition step>
When the measurement of the passenger situation is started (step S1 in FIG. 6), first, the sensors 40R and 40L are the exits 21a (measurement areas TR and TL) represented by the following equations (1-1) and (1-2). Is plane-scanned, and as shown in FIG. 4, the respective sensors 40R and 40L are transmitted to the data acquisition unit 32a (step S2). In the measurement areas TR and TL, the center in the width direction of the handrails 12 and 12 is the zero point on the X axis with respect to the exit 21a, and the vicinity of the tip of the handrails 12 and 12 is the zero point on the Y axis. The measurement areas TR and TL are surrounded by a dotted line in FIGS. 3 and 5. The data acquisition unit 32a extracts distance data from the acquired sensors 40R and 40L (step S3). Data other than the measurement areas TR and TL measured by the sensors 40R and 40L should be removed as unnecessary data by substituting zero for the distance data in the data acquisition unit 32a, and only the necessary distance data should be extracted. Just do it.

<Left and right distance data acquisition step>
The obtained distance data is transmitted to the left / right distance data acquisition unit 32b. The left-right distance data acquisition unit 32b separates the distance data obtained for each of the measurement areas TR and TL, and creates a left-right distance data group (step S4). As for the left and right measurement areas TR and TL, equations (2-1) and (2-2) indicate the right side measurement area TR, and equations (2-3) and (2-4) indicate the left side measurement area TL.

Then, the separated left and right distance data groups are transmitted to the center of gravity calculation unit 32c.

<Center of gravity calculation step>
The center of gravity calculation unit 32c calculates the average value of the distance data in the depth direction and the horizontal direction of the distance data group separated to the left and right by the following equations (3-1) to (3-4), thereby calculating the right side measurement area TR. , The center of gravity positions 51R and 51L of the respective objects 50R and 50L in the left measurement area TL are calculated (step S5). The center of gravity position calculated by this is not the center of gravity position of each object actually existing in each measurement area TR, TL, but the center of gravity position 51R, 51L of each of the extracted left and right distance data groups.

<Center of gravity movement speed calculation step>
Next, from the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L calculated above, the moving speeds of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L are calculated using the following equations (4-1) to (4-4) (step S6). Here, the sampling period dt can be, for example, 25 msec.

The center of gravity movement speed calculated by the above equations (4-1) to (4-4) indicates the speed at which the left and right distance data groups move as a group, but the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L are calculated. As long as it is, it is affected by the degree of distribution (distribution shape) of the distance data in the measurement areas TR and TL. That is, even when the moving speed of the passenger is constant, the timing at which the first person leaves the measurement area TR or TL in the traveling direction, or the timing at which the subsequent person enters the measurement area TR or TL. Depending on the situation, the degree of distribution of the distance data changes abruptly, and a sudden change in the moving speed of the position of the center of gravity that does not actually occur is detected. Both of these two timings are detected as speeds opposite to the traveling direction. Therefore, as shown in the following equation (5-1), only the moving speed whose positive speed is the same as the traveling direction at the exit 21a of the escalator 10 is extracted. Specifically, by calculating the movement speeds of the left and right center of gravity positions 51R and 51L based on the movement speed in which the traveling direction at the exit 21a is positive and the speed obtained by adding the absolute value of the movement speed, the movement speed is positive. Only the velocity that becomes the value is extracted (step S7). As a result, the moving speed detected in the direction opposite to the traveling direction becomes zero, and the negative speed that does not actually occur can be prevented from being reflected in the moving average shown later.

In the present embodiment, since the distance data group in the measurement areas TR and TL of the sensors 40R and 40L is processed for each sampling, a minute speed change may occur due to the influence of measurement error and the like, which may cause an erroneous determination. .. Therefore, by using a moving average filter as shown in the following equation (6-1), the moving average of the moving speeds of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L obtained from the left and right measurement areas TR and TL is calculated, and the minute changes are smoothed. Can be done (step S8). Of course, data processing is not limited to moving averages.

As described above, the movement speeds of the left and right center of gravity positions 51R and 51L obtained are transmitted to the situation determination unit 32e.

<Situation detection step>
The situation determination unit 32e compares the center-of-gravity movement speeds of the left and right measurement areas TR and TL calculated by the equation (6-1) with the predetermined speed, and if the center-of-gravity movement speed is equal to or less than the predetermined speed, it is "retained" and predetermined. If the speed is exceeded, it is determined that there is no stagnation. Then, as shown in Table 1, a comprehensive judgment is made from these results, and when at least one of the left and right measurement areas TR and TL is "no stagnation", "no stagnation" and the left and right measurement areas TR and TL are Only when both are "retained", it is determined that "retained" (step S9). The operation control of the escalator 10 is decelerated or stopped. If the comprehensive determination is "no stagnation", the speed command generating means 33 may be given a motor speed command for normal operation, and if "with stagnation", a deceleration or stop motor speed command may be given.

According to the above embodiment, the presence or absence of passenger stagnation can be determined from the average value of the moving speeds of the center of gravity positions 51R and 51L of each measurement area TR and TL, and when stagnation occurs in both the left and right measurement areas TR and TL. Since the escalator 10 is decelerated or stopped only, it is possible to eliminate the stagnation at an early stage, suppress unnecessary changes in operation, and provide a comfortable escalator 10.

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

For example, in the present embodiment, the presence or absence of retention is determined based on the distance data of the objects existing in the left and right measurement areas TR and TL, but if the retention status can be individually determined in the left and right measurement areas TR and TL. , The method is not limited to this.

10 Escalator 17 Motor 21a Exit TR Right side measurement area TL Left side measurement area 30 Speed control system 31 Control device 32 Situation determination means 32a Data acquisition unit 32b Left / right distance data acquisition unit 32c Center of gravity calculation unit 32d Center of gravity movement speed calculation unit 32e Situation determination unit 33 Speed command generation means 34 Inverter control means 40R, 40L Sensor

Claims (6)

It is a method of detecting the status of the exit of a passenger conveyor, which is installed at the exit and is equipped with a sensor that detects the position of an object at the exit.
A data acquisition step of continuously and sequentially acquiring distance data of an object existing at the exit by scanning a predetermined height of a region including the exit with the sensor in a plane.
The exit is divided into two measurement areas on the left and right with respect to the traveling direction of the passenger conveyor, and the distance data obtained in the data acquisition step is combined with the right distance data group of the right object existing in the right measurement area. , Left and right distance data acquisition step to obtain the left side distance data group of the left side object existing in the left side measurement area in chronological order,
A center of gravity position calculation step for calculating the right center of gravity position of the distance data in the right side measurement area based on the right side distance data group and the left side center of gravity position of the distance data in the left side measurement area based on the left side distance data group.
A center of gravity movement speed calculation step for calculating the right center of gravity movement speed from the right center of gravity position calculated in chronological order and calculating the left center of gravity movement speed from the left center of gravity position.
A situation detection step for detecting the situation of the exit based on the right center of gravity moving speed and the left center of gravity moving speed.
Including,
How to detect the status of the exit of the passenger conveyor. The sensor is installed at least one on each side of the exit.
The method for detecting a situation at the exit of a passenger conveyor according to claim 1. The situation detection step determines that stagnation has occurred at the exit when both the right center of gravity moving speed and the left center of gravity moving speed are equal to or lower than a predetermined speed.
The method for detecting the condition of the exit of a passenger conveyor according to claim 1 or 2. The center of gravity movement speed calculation step calculates only the movement speed in the traveling direction of the passenger conveyor at the exit for the right center of gravity movement speed and the left center of gravity movement speed.
The method for detecting a condition at the exit of a passenger conveyor according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The center-of-gravity movement speed calculation step is based on the speed at which the right center of gravity movement speed and the left center of gravity movement speed are positive in the same direction as the traveling direction of the passenger conveyor, and the absolute value of the movement speed is added. To calculate the moving speed of the passenger conveyor in the traveling direction.
The method for detecting a situation at the exit of a passenger conveyor according to claim 4. A speed control method for a passenger conveyor using the method for detecting the condition of the exit of the passenger conveyor according to any one of claims 1 to 5.
Based on the situation of the exit calculated by the situation detection step, the rotation of the motor that circulates and drives the step and the handrail of the passenger conveyor is controlled.
Passenger conveyor speed control method.

Images