JP7387813B1 - Elevator group management control system - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To improve convenience for users by allowing the number of elevators to be changed with a simple operation and by flexibly answering calls for elevators according to the traffic volume. An elevator group management control system according to an embodiment is an elevator group management control system including a terminal, a plurality of elevators, and a plurality of group management control devices, wherein the terminal receives input from a user. A configuration instruction specifying one or more elevators to be subject to the group management control is transmitted to the plurality of group management control devices, and each of the plurality of group management control devices receives the configuration instruction. The communication unit cooperates with one or more other group management control devices corresponding to the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction to configure the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction. A group management control unit that performs group management control. [Selection diagram] Figure 2

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relate to an elevator group management control system.

For example, techniques such as group management control that integrally control the calls of elevators of multiple cars have been known. The amount of traffic in the vicinity of elevators changes depending on the time of day, etc., and the optimal number of elevators to be controlled in an integrated manner also changes depending on the amount of people in the elevator. For example, when there is a large amount of traffic, it is preferable for the elevators to arrive in response to a call for each elevator or a small number of elevators, rather than for one of several elevators to arrive.

Special Publication No. 7-80640 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-245095

On the other hand, in a system that performs integrated control, the number of elevators that make up the structure is usually one, two, or three or more, but in conventional integrated control technology, the number of elevators is fixed. It has become. For this reason, it is difficult to change the number of elevators that are subject to integrated control depending on the traffic volume of people near the elevators.

An elevator group management control system according to an embodiment is provided for a terminal, a plurality of elevators, and each of the plurality of elevators, and is connected to the terminal via a network to manage calls to the plurality of elevators. an elevator group management control system comprising: a plurality of group management control devices that perform group management control according to the user; A configuration instruction in which is specified is transmitted to the plurality of group management control devices, and each of the plurality of group management control devices includes a communication unit that receives the configuration instruction, and a configuration instruction specified in the configuration instruction. a group management control unit that performs the group management control of the one or more elevators specified by the configuration instruction in cooperation with one or more other group management control devices corresponding to the plurality of elevators; a storage unit that stores priorities assigned in advance to elevators, and the group management control unit is a group management control device corresponding to the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction. The elevator becomes the master in the group management control by determining whether the priority of the elevator connected to itself is the highest among the priorities of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction. a determination unit that determines whether or not the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction serves as a master when the priority is the highest among the priorities of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction; or a master processing unit that performs the group management control of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction by cooperating with the one or more group management control devices connected to each of the plurality of elevators as slaves; , is provided.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an elevator group management control system according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the group management control device according to this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram of group management control processing by the elevator group management and control system according to this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an input screen for configuration instructions displayed on the screen of the administrator terminal according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of group management control according to this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for group management control processing in a modified example.

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an elevator group management control system according to this embodiment. It is assumed that the elevator group management control system according to this embodiment includes n elevators (n is an integer of 2 or more). Note that in this embodiment, the car 150 corresponds to an elevator.

As shown in FIG. 1, the elevator group management control system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of cars 150, a plurality of elevator control devices 120, a plurality of group management control devices 100, An administrator terminal 10 is provided.

An elevator control device 120 is connected to the car 150. Specifically, an elevator control panel (not shown) provided in each car 150 that has push buttons for opening and closing destination floors and doors (not shown) provided in each car 150 can be operated by wire or wirelessly. connected to device 120; An operation panel (not shown) provided at the elevator landing for specifying the destination direction, destination floor, etc. is also connected by wire or wirelessly to the elevator control device 120 provided for each car 150.

The elevator control device 120 receives a destination floor call from the operation panel of the corresponding car 150 and controls the movement of the car 150. Further, the elevator control device 120 receives a hall call from the operation panel of the hall, and transmits the received hall call to the connected group management control device 100. The elevator control device 120 also performs speed control, door opening/closing control, etc. of the corresponding car 150.

Here, a platform call is an operation performed by a user of a platform in order to cause the car 150 headed for either the upper or lower destination direction to arrive at the platform. Note that the destination floor call is an operation performed by the user in the car 150 to direct the car 150 to a desired destination floor.

The group management control device 100 is provided for each car 150 and is connected to the elevator control device 120 by wire or wirelessly. Furthermore, the plurality of group management control devices 100 are also connected via a wired or wireless network.

The group management control device 100 receives a hall call from the elevator control device 120, and cooperates with other group management control devices 100 to perform integrated control of one or more cars 150 that are subject to group management control. Take control. Specifically, the group management control device 100 performs processing such as assigning, in response to a landing call, the car that will arrive at the landing earliest from among the one or more cars 150 that are subject to group management control. .

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the group management control device 100 performs a process of changing the configuration of the number of elevators (cars 150) that are subject to group management control in response to instructions from the administrator terminal. Details of the group management control device 100 will be described later.

The administrator terminal 10 is a terminal that can be operated by the administrator of the elevator group management control system 1. The administrator terminal 10 has the configuration of a normal computer such as a PC, which includes a CPU, ROM, RAM, storage device, and the like. In addition to this, the administrator terminal 10 may be a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet.

In the administrator terminal 10, a management application is executed by reading and executing an elevator management program stored in a ROM using a CPU.

The administrator terminal 10 is provided with a wireless communication device 30. The administrator terminal 10 is connected via a wireless communication device 30 to a plurality of group management control devices 100 via a wireless communication network. Note that the administrator terminal 10 is connected to the plurality of group management control devices 100 through communication other than the wireless communication network, such as a public line or elevator communication that is a dedicated wire within the elevator group management control system 1. It may be configured as follows.

The administrator terminal 10 receives, from the administrator, a configuration instruction specifying one or more elevators (cars 150) to be subject to group management control using the management application. Then, the administrator terminal 10 transmits the input configuration instructions to the plurality of group management control devices 100 using the management application.

Next, details of the group management control device 100 will be explained.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the group management control device 100 according to this embodiment. The group management control device 100 according to this embodiment mainly includes a communication section 101, a group management control section 102, and a storage section 110, as shown in FIG.

The communication unit 101 controls wireless communication with the administrator terminal 10 and communication with other group management control devices 100 . In this embodiment, the communication unit 101 receives from the administrator terminal 10 a configuration instruction specifying one or more elevators (that is, cars 150) to be subject to group management control.

The storage unit 110 is a storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive), and stores the priorities of all the group management control devices 100.

In this embodiment, the group management control unit 102 performs group management control of the elevator (that is, the car 150). In cooperation with one or more other group management control devices 100 corresponding to the car 150, it performs group management control of one or more cars 150 specified by the configuration instruction.

The group management control unit 102 according to this embodiment includes a determination unit 103, a master processing unit 107, a slave processing unit 105, and a notification unit 104, as shown in FIG.

The determining unit 103 determines whether the own device is a group management control device corresponding to one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction, based on the car number of the car 150 specified in the configuration instruction. If the own device is a group management control device corresponding to one or more cars 150 specified by the configuration instruction, the judgment unit 103 reads the priority order from the storage unit 110 and selects the cars connected to the own device. By determining whether the priority of the car 150 is the highest among the priorities of one or more cars 150 designated by the configuration instruction, it is determined whether or not it will become the master in group management control.

Then, when the priority is the highest among the priorities of the one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction, the determination unit 103 determines that the priority is the one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction. If the priority is not the highest among the priorities, the self-device is determined to be a slave.

When the notification unit 104 becomes the master, the communication unit 101 notifies the other group management control devices 100 corresponding to one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction that it will become the master. Notify via.

When the priority is the highest among the priorities of the one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction, the master processing unit 107 acts as a master for one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction. One or more group management control devices 100 connected to each of the cars 150 are cooperated as slaves to perform group management control of one or more cars 150 specified by the configuration instructions.
If the priority is not the highest among the priorities of one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction, the slave processing unit 105 executes the slave processing unit 105 based on a command from the group management control device 100 that is the master. As a result, group management control is performed for one or more cars 150 specified by the configuration instruction.

The group management control device 100 of this embodiment includes a control device such as a CPU, a storage device such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM, an external storage device such as an HDD, an SSD, or a CD drive device, and a display device. It is equipped with a display device and input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, and has a hardware configuration that uses a normal computer.

The group management control program executed by the group management control device 100 of this embodiment is a file in an installable or executable format and can be stored on a CD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), CD-R, or DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). ) and other computer-readable recording media.

Alternatively, the group management control program executed by the group management control device 100 of this embodiment may be configured to be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet, and provided by being downloaded via the network. good. Further, the group management control program executed by the group management control device 100 of this embodiment may be configured to be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

Further, the group management control program executed by the group management control device 100 of this embodiment may be configured to be provided by being incorporated in a ROM or the like in advance.

The group management control program executed by the group management control device 100 of this embodiment has a module configuration including the above-mentioned units (communication unit 101, determination unit 103, notification unit 104, master processing unit 107, slave processing unit 105). In actual hardware, the CPU (processor) reads the group management control program from the storage medium and executes it, so that the above-mentioned parts are loaded onto the main storage device, and the communication part 101, judgment part 103, notification part A master processing section 104, a master processing section 107, and a slave processing section 105 are generated on the main storage device.

Next, group management control processing by the elevator group management control system 1 according to the present embodiment configured as above will be explained.
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram of group management control processing by the elevator group management control system 1 according to the present embodiment.

First, if the administrator wants to understand the current traffic volume of people near the elevators and change the configuration of the number of elevators that are subject to group management control, the administrator can Input configuration instructions for the number of units for group management control in the management application.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an input screen for configuration instructions displayed on the screen of the administrator terminal 10 according to the present embodiment. On the configuration instruction input screen, all elevators (cars 150) that can be subject to group management control are displayed as icons 401.

On this input screen, when the administrator specifies the icon of the car 150 to be subject to group management control using a touch operation or the like and inputs a configuration instruction, the administrator terminal 10 inputs the configuration instruction. It is accepted (S11). In the example of FIG. 4, the cars 150 of cars 1 to 10 can be subject to group management control, and among them, the three cars 150, cars 1, 2, and 10, are subject to group management control. Assume that you have entered the configuration instructions for . For this reason, in the example of FIG. 4, the three icons 401 of No. 1 car, No. 2 car, and No. 10 car are displayed inverted. The configuration instruction includes the number of the designated car 150.

Next, the administrator terminal 10 transmits the input configuration instruction to all the group management control devices 100 of Nos. 1 to 10 (S13a, S13b, S13c, . . . , S13d).

In each group management control device 100, the communication unit 101 receives the configuration instruction. and. The determination unit 103 of the group management control device 100 determines whether or not the car number of the car 150 corresponding to the own device is included in the number of cars specified in the configuration instruction, so that the own device can perform group management. Confirmation is made as to whether or not the object is to be controlled (S15a, S15b, S15c, . . . , S15d).

In this example, the group management control devices 100 of Nos. 1, 2, and 10 determine that they are the targets of group management control. Then, the determination unit 103 of the group management control device 100 of No. 1, 2, and 10 machines compares the priority of the No. 1 machine specified in the configuration instruction with its own priority order, and gives priority to the No. 1 car specified in the configuration instruction. By determining whether the device itself has the highest priority among the rankings, it is determined whether the device itself becomes the master or the slave (S17a, S17b, S17d).

In this example, it is assumed that the priority of the second machine is higher than the priority of the first and tenth machines. Therefore, the group management control device 100 of the No. 2 car becomes the master (S19), and the group management control devices 100 of the No. 1 and No. 10 cars become slaves (S21a, S21d). Then, the group management control device 100 of the second car notifies the group management control devices 100 of the first and tenth cars that it is the master (S24a, S24b). The group management control devices 100 of the No. 1 and No. 10 cars that received the notification will thereafter transmit the calls received from the respective elevator control devices 120 to the group management control device 100 of the No. 2 car, which is the master, and follow the commands of the master. It turns out.

Thereafter, the group management control device 100 of the second car executes group management control as a master (S23). On the other hand, the group management control devices 100 of Nos. 1 and 10 execute group management control as slaves (S25a, S25d). As a result, the group management control devices 100 of cars Nos. 1, 2, and 10 designated by the configuration instruction cooperate to perform group management control of the cars 150.

In the above example, group management control is configured for cars 150 of cars 1, 2, and 10 among cars 150 of cars 1 to 10, but the configuration of the number of cars 150 is not limited to this. Alternatively, a plurality of configurations may be specified to perform a plurality of group management controls, or one configuration may perform group management control, and the remaining cars 150 may be configured not to perform group management control. .

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of group management control according to this embodiment. In the example of FIG. 5(a), the car 150 of car No. 1 is not subject to group management control, the cars 150 of car No. 2 and 3 are subject to the first group management control, and the cars 150 of car No. 4, 5, and 6 are subject to the first group management control. An example is shown in which the car 150 has a second group management configuration.

Furthermore, the example in FIG. 5(b) shows an example in which the cars 150 of cars No. 1 to 5 are subject to group management control, and the car 150 of car No. 6 is not subject to group management control.

In this embodiment, the administrator terminal 10 transmits a configuration instruction input from the administrator specifying one or more cars 150 to be subject to group management control to the plurality of group management control devices 100. Each of the plurality of group management control devices 100 receives the configuration instruction and cooperates with one or more other group management control devices 100 corresponding to the one or more cars 150 specified by the configuration instruction. Then, group management control of one or more cars 150 specified by the configuration instruction is performed. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the number of configured cars can be changed with a simple operation, calls and responses to the car 150 can be flexibly performed according to the traffic volume, and convenience for administrators and users is improved. Can be done.

More specifically, in this embodiment, when the group management control device 100 is the group management control device 100 that corresponds to one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction, By determining whether the priority of the car 150 is the highest among the priorities of one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction, it is determined whether or not it becomes the master in group management control, If the priority is the highest among the priorities of the one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction, it is connected as a master to each of the one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction. One or more group management control devices 100 work together as slaves to perform group management control of one or more cars 150 specified by the configuration instruction.

On the other hand, if the priority is not the highest among the priorities of one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction, the elevator is designated as a slave based on the command from the group management control device 100, which is the master, in the configuration instruction. performs group management control of one or more elevators.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the number of units configured can be changed with a simple operation, and by cooperation between the group management control device 100 as a master and the group management control device 100 as a slave, it is possible to flexibly change the number of devices according to the traffic volume. It is possible to call and answer calls for the car 150, improving convenience for administrators and users.

For this reason, in consideration of cases where there is a large amount of user traffic, we have set up a VIP operation in which a specific elevator is made independent from group management control and operated exclusively with a dedicated platform button, and multiple elevators can be operated independently from group management control. For example, it is possible to avoid adopting a configuration in which the elevators are operated separately into elevators for the 1st to 10th floors and elevators for the 11th to 20th floors.

Further, in this embodiment, when the priority is the highest among the priorities of the one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction, the other cars specified in the configuration instruction are designated as masters. The group management control device corresponding to the one or more elevators is notified. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, cooperation between the plurality of group management control devices 100 can be performed smoothly.

(Modified example)
Various modifications can be made to the above embodiment.
For example, when there is an upward call from an elevator, the group management control is not performed and only the car 150 of the elevator that made the call is instructed to move, and when there is a downward call from the elevator, , the group management control unit 102 of the group management control device 100 is configured to perform group management control that selects the optimal car 150 from among one or more cars 150 specified in the configuration instruction and instructs movement. may be configured.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for group management control processing in a modified example. The processing in the flowchart of FIG. 6 is executed by the group management control unit 102 of the group management control device 100 that is the master.

First, the group management control unit 102 determines whether an upward landing call has been received from the slave group management control device 100 (S41). If an upward platform call is received from the slave group management control device 100 (S41: Yes), the group management control unit 102 requests the group management control device 100 that sent the platform call to move the car. An instruction is given (S43). That is, in this case, group management control is not performed, and each time an upward hall call is made, the movement of the car 150 corresponding to the elevator control device 120 to which the upward hall call has been made is controlled. Become.

On the other hand, if an upward landing call has not been received from the slave group management control device 100 in S41 (S41: No), the process in S43 is not performed.

Next, the group management control unit 102 determines whether a downward landing call has been received from the slave group management control device 100 (S45). If a downward landing call is received from the slave group management control device 100 (S45: Yes), the group management control unit 102 selects the most A car 150 that can arrive at the platform early is determined, and an instruction to move the car 150 is given to the group management control device 100 corresponding to the car 150 (S47). That is, in this case, group management control will be performed using a known method. Then, the process ends.

On the other hand, if a downward landing call has not been received from the slave group management control device 100 in S45 (S45: No), the process in S47 is not performed. Then, the process ends.

In this way, in this modification, when there is an upward call from an elevator, the group management control is not performed, and only the car 150 of the elevator that made the call is instructed to move, and the elevator receives a downward call. If there is, group management control is performed to select the most suitable car 150 from among the one or more cars 150 specified by the configuration instruction and issue a movement instruction. For this reason, for example, if there are many users coming to work near the elevators on the lobby floor in the morning, group management control is performed for multiple upward platform calls, and only one of them is optimal. Rather than calling a different car 150, it is preferable to move and call the corresponding car 150 each time a landing is called, since this allows a large number of users to quickly board the car 150 and go to the desired floor.

On the other hand, since there are not many users at the platforms on floors other than the lobby floor as mentioned above, even if there are multiple downward platform calls, group management control is performed to select the most suitable boarding area. It is more efficient to call the car 150.

In this way, in this modified example, it is possible to realize efficient calling in cases where the traffic volume of users is large.

Although several embodiments of the invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and gist of the invention, as well as within the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Elevator group management control system, 10... Administrator terminal, 100... Group management control device, elevator control device, 150... Car (elevator), 101... Communication department, 102... Group management control section, 103... Judgment section , 104... Notification unit, 105... Slave processing unit, 107... Master processing unit, 110... Storage unit, 401... Icon.

Claims (4)

a terminal, a plurality of elevators, and a plurality of elevators that are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of elevators, are connected to the terminal via a network, and perform group management control to collectively make calls to the plurality of elevators. An elevator group management control system comprising a group management control device,
The terminal is
transmitting a configuration instruction input by a user specifying one or more elevators to be subject to the group management control to the plurality of group management control devices;
Each of the plurality of group management control devices includes:
a communication unit that receives the configuration instruction;
Performing the group management control of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction in cooperation with one or more other group management control devices corresponding to the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction. A group management control unit that performs
a storage unit that stores priorities assigned in advance to the plurality of elevators,
The group management control unit includes:
If the group management control device corresponds to the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction, the priority of the elevator connected to itself is the priority of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction. a determination unit that determines whether or not it becomes the master in the group management control by determining whether or not the degree is the highest among the degrees;
connected as a master to each of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction if the priority is the highest among the priorities of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction; a master processing unit that performs the group management control of the one or more elevators specified by the configuration instruction in cooperation with the one or more group management control devices as slaves;
Elevator group management control system. The group management control unit includes:
If the priority is the highest among the priorities of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction, the other one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction are notified that the elevator will become a master. a notification unit that notifies the corresponding group management control device;
The elevator group management control system according to claim 1 , further comprising: The group management control unit includes:
If the priority is not the highest among the priorities of the one or more elevators specified in the configuration instruction, the configuration a slave processing unit that performs the group management control of the one or more elevators specified by the instruction;
The elevator group management control system according to claim 1 , further comprising: The group management control unit includes:
When there is an upward call from the elevator, the group management control is not performed and a movement instruction is given only to the elevator that made the call, and when there is a downward call from the elevator, performing the group management control to select the most suitable elevator from among the one or more elevators specified by the configuration instruction and issue a movement instruction;
The elevator group management control system according to claim 1, further comprising:

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