JPH0114148B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an elevator group management control method for determining a service elevator in response to a newly generated hall call command.

Recently, when a plurality of elevators are installed in parallel, responses to hall call commands from the halls of each floor are assigned to one of the elevators in order to improve the operating efficiency and service of the elevators. In other words, when a hall call command is generated, an elevator suitable for handling the hall call command is predicted, and an elevator is quickly assigned to respond to the hall call command, and other elevators are assigned to respond to the hall call command. I try not to. As the above-mentioned allocation method, it has conventionally been considered that the best method is to predict which elevator will arrive first at the floor where the hall call command has been issued, and to allocate the call command to that elevator. Therefore, various methods have been considered for predicting which elevator will arrive first. For example, prediction is performed by calculating the predicted time until the elevator arrives at each floor.

However, in the above allocation method, an inconvenient phenomenon occurs when considering the service for the entire hall call command, especially when the hall is crowded.

For example, if hall call commands that occur one after another are always assigned to the elevator that can handle the hall call commands first, the response to the hall call commands that have already been assigned will be delayed, resulting in a hall call command with a very long waiting time. arise. This phenomenon is
Even if it is judged that it can be dealt with quickly when a hall call command is assigned, other hall call commands may be assigned or a new car call command from inside the elevator may occur, causing the elevator operating status to deteriorate. It occurs because it changes. Therefore, when considering the waiting time for the entire hall call command, significant non-uniformity occurs. In particular, there is a high probability that a long-waiting call command with an extremely long waiting time will occur, causing a decrease in the reliability of the elevator service.

This invention was made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and even if the operating condition of the elevator changes drastically, the service to customers in the hall or the car will not deteriorate, and the unresponsive time on each floor will be reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a group management control method for elevators that can equalize the non-response time of each hall and bring it closer to the above-mentioned minimum value.

In addition, in this invention, the predicted waiting time is
It represents the time customers make hall calls and wait for their baskets. Furthermore, the predicted non-response time represents the time it takes for a customer in the car to make a car call and reach the destination floor.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a system to which the present invention is applied will be explained with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a hall call command registration circuit, in which registers for the corresponding floor and direction are set when a hall call command is registered, and are reset when the car arrives at the hall call command floor.
2A to 2H are elevator operation control devices provided for each of the eight elevators, and car status buffers 3A to 3H and car call command registration circuits 4A to 4.
H, quasi-car call command registration circuits 5A to 5H, and signal synthesis circuits 6A to 6H are provided separately. The car status buffers 3A to 3H are buffers that input the car status to a wiper select circuit 7, which will be described later. The car call command registration circuits 4A to 4H are
It is set when a car call command is registered, and is reset when the car arrives at the floor where the call command is registered. The semi-car call command registration circuits 5A to 5H store the hall call command assigned to the car,
It is reset when the car arrives at the hall call command floor. Signal synthesis circuit 6A to 6H
outputs the logical sum of the outputs of the car call command registration circuits 4A to 4H and the outputs of the quasi-car call command registration circuits 5A to 5H.

7 is a wiper select circuit, and 8 is a decoding circuit, which decodes an output signal from an output register 12, which will be described later, and sets secondary car call command registration circuits 5A to 5H in the corresponding floor direction of the corresponding car. 9 is a small computer using, for example, a 12-bit microcomputer, with output registers 10,
It has an input register 11, an output register 12, and an input register 13. Above output register 10
has the function of holding the same output until the next output. 14 is a minimum value setting circuit for making the minimum value of the evaluation value variable by an external signal.

Note that the arrow lines connecting the registers and interface devices having the same function, which are provided in each elevator, indicate a plurality of parallel signal lines, for example, 12 lines. All registers have a number of bits corresponding to one word of the small computer 9.

Further, the input register 13 and the reference value setting circuit 14 have a configuration as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, SW ₁ to SW ₁₂ are relay normally open contacts, and R ₁ to R ₁₂ are resistors.

Next, an embodiment of the hall call command allocation method of the present invention will be described.

Figure 3 is a schematic representation of a 10-story building with three elevators A, B, and C, and shows the assignment of car call commands and hall call commands and the positions of elevators A, B, and C in a certain state. It shows. In FIG. 3, □↑ and □↓ are the car, ▲ and ▼ are the assigned hall call commands, ● is the car call command, and 〓 is the hall call command that has just occurred. According to FIG. 3, the allocation of hall call commands for the i floor will be expressed using a mathematical formula.

When car j is assigned a hall call on floor i, the predicted waiting time (or predicted unanswered time for a car call) for the hall call already assigned, Tj ⁱ , is the time required for car j to travel from its current position to floor i. ,
Time lost due to stopping on the way to the i floor (mainly acceleration/deceleration time, door opening/closing time, etc.)
(opening time). Next, when the hall call command for floor i is provisionally allocated to car j, the predicted waiting time Tj ^kl of the already allocated hall call command for car j is...
..., Tj ^kn (kn = number of allocated hall call commands (number of car call commands in the case of predicted unanswered time)) is determined by the following formula. However, only the call command (assigned hall call command) that stops after the i floor changes (delays) the predicted waiting time.

Tj ^kl = (Kl floor hall call command (or car call command)
elapsed time since the occurrence of the problem) + (estimated waiting time until the car arrives at the KL floor) + (
Time required for car j to stop at floor i)...(1) However, floor kl is a floor that stops after floor i,
For the floor to be stopped first, the time required for the car to stop at the i floor is not required in the above equation.

Based on the above formula, the hall call command for the i floor is sent to A, B,
Average evaluation value Ej when assigned to three cars C
is determined by the method described below. The evaluation value for each call command is calculated from the predicted waiting time or predicted ^non -response time using the common characteristics shown in Fig. ^{4 .} ). Therefore, the average evaluation value Ej (j=A,
B, C) can be found using the following formula.

Ej=1/kn+1{ _ko 〓 ^l=1 f(Tj ^l +(Tj ⁱ )}...(2) After calculating the average evaluation value of all three units using these two formulas, the minimum average evaluation value E Find _MIN using equation (3).

E _MIN = min (E _A , E _B , E _C ) ......(3) The car corresponding to E _MIN in equation (3) becomes the service elevator in the hall on the i floor and displays a forecast in the hall.
Upon starting the calculation, the predicted non-response time and predicted waiting time to the hall call command floor and the allocated hall call command floor are calculated for each elevator. Next, the calculated time is weighted and an evaluation value is obtained for each call command. At this time, the first-order polygonal curve characteristic shown in FIG. 4 is used as the weighting.

This characteristic has a predicted waiting time Tj of 15 seconds (standard value)
When , the evaluation value f(Tj) becomes the minimum value 11. Therefore, when the predicted waiting time Tj is shorter than 15 seconds, the evaluation value f
(Tj) becomes large, which is disadvantageous. Also estimated waiting time
Naturally, when Tj is longer than 15 seconds, the evaluation value f(Tj)
becomes large and indistinguishable, but the predicted waiting time Tj is 30
When the time is longer than seconds, the evaluation value f(Tj) increases rapidly, and a call command that is predicted to have a long unanswered time is given weight.

Next, the average evaluation value Ej of the all-stop scheduled call command is calculated for each car, the minimum value is searched, and the corresponding car is selected as a service elevator and the forecast is displayed in the hall.

The above calculations will be explained with reference to a flowchart.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure for allocating call commands according to the present invention. First, it starts at step 51, and immediately after that, each data is initialized at step 52, passes through the repeat point (REPEAT) at step 53, and then at step 54, the out-of-group/in-group information, position, and direction of all machines are displayed. , reads the door status, etc. Next, in step 55, it is checked whether there is a new descending call command on the top floor, and if there is, the answering machine is determined in step 56, a response machine selection routine, which will be described later. If not, jump to step 57.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process between Y ₁ and Y ₂ in FIG. First, in steps 61 and 61A, for car A, the predicted waiting time on the floor where a new hall call command has been issued and the floor where the hall call command has already been issued, and the predicted non-response time on the floor where the car call has already been issued.
Calculate Tj and proceed to step 62.

In step 62, as shown in FIG. 7, a specific value of the weighting function (-next line time curve characteristic) is read based on the predicted waiting time and predicted non-response time.

That is, in step 71 of FIG. 7, the numerical value B input from the input register 13 is read. This value is used to change the reference value for non-response time. In this embodiment, only contacts SW ₁₀ and SW ₁₂ are closed in FIG.
Assuming that the others are open, B=5.
Next, to read the function table, step 72
The starting address of the function table is A ₀ (A ₀ = 95 in the example).
The table reference address A is determined using the following equation using the predicted waiting time or predicted non-response time Tj (integer value rounded down to the nearest whole number).

A=Tj+A ₀ +B (4) The table is constructed as shown in FIG. 8, and the corresponding values of f(Tj) are stored starting from address 95.
However, it is stored as an integer value, rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Therefore, in the case of Unit A 5U (hall call command in the ascending direction from the 5th floor in Unit A), Tj = 16,
Since A ₀ =95 and B=5, address A=16+95+5=116 (5), and f(Tj)=12 is read out in step 73. Note that in this method, any functional form can be realized.

Returning again to step 63 in FIG. 6, such a functional conversion is performed for the floor of the newly generated call command, and all kn of previously allocated hall call commands and car call commands. Next, in step 64, the average evaluation value is calculated using equation (2).
Calculate Ej. In the case of Unit A, E _A = 24 + 12/2 = 18 (6). When the A machine is completed, it is checked in step 65 whether all the machines have been completed. If all the machines are not completed, the process returns to step 61. Similarly, calculations are made for the B and C machines, and if all the machines are completed, the process returns to the step 66 to calculate the following formula.

E _MIN = min (E _A , E _B , E _C ) = min (18, 23, 35)
......(7) Then, in step 67, machine A, which is number 18, is selected as the service elevator. Note that the numbers below the decimal point are rounded down and treated as integers.

At this stage, all floors have not yet been investigated, so in step 57 in Figure 5, the next down hall call command below the top floor is investigated, and the same goes for the down halls on the second floor from the bottom. Following the call command, ascend in order from the lowest floor ascending hall call command,
Finally, the system checks up to the ascending hall call command one level below the top floor, returns to REPEAT in step 53, and repeats this process cyclically to process successive call commands and determine the answering machine.

Next, in order to explain the above explanation more specifically, the case of FIG. 3 will be explained as an example.

For example, as shown in Figure 3, the A machine goes up (UP) direction □↑ to the 2nd floor, the B machine goes up (UP) direction □↑ to the 4th floor, and the C machine goes down (Down) direction □ Assume that you are on the 7th floor in ↓. In addition, for machine A, a hall call command in the ascending direction on the 3rd floor ▲,
A car call command ● to the 8th floor has been issued. For Car B, a hall call command ▲ in the ascending direction for the 6th, 8th, and 9th floors, and a car call command ● for the 10th floor have been issued. For Car C, a hall call command ▼ in the descending direction for the fourth and second floors and a car call command ● for the first floor are issued.

In this situation, if a hall call command is issued from the 5th floor in the upward direction, we will discuss which elevator it will be assigned to. In calculating the predicted waiting time and predicted non-response time, we assume that the time required for one stop due to a hall call command or car call command is 10 seconds, and the travel time between floors is 2 seconds. do. In order to simplify the calculation, the elapsed time from the generation of the hall call command and the car call command is assumed to be 0 seconds in total. 6 for the hall call command from the 6th floor when assigned to machine B, in response to the hall call command (5U) in the ascending direction from the 5th floor
The predicted arrival time T _B ^6U to the floor is calculated from equation (1) as follows: T _B ^6U = 2 x 2 + 10 x 1 = 14 seconds (8). Using the above formula, calculate the three elevators A, B, and C and the generated call commands (car call command, allocated hall call command, and ascent to the 5th floor (5U)) and summarize them in a table. It will look like Figure 9.

In FIG. 9, evaluation values are obtained on the right side of the predicted waiting time and predicted non-response time, and are obtained by the method described below. For example, when T _B ^6U =14, the evaluation value f(Tj) when the predicted waiting time Tj is 14 seconds is 12 when read from the graph in FIG. Therefore, the average evaluation value Ej for each elevator is the value shown in Figure 9 and (2)
Using the formula, it can be found as follows.

E _A = 1/3 (24 + 12 + 22) = 19.3 ……… (9) E _B = 1/5 (44 + 13 + 12 + 24 + 74) = 33.4 ……… (10) E _C = 1/4 (20 + 14 + 72 + 22) = 32 ……… (11 ) Therefore, the 5U service elevator can be found using equation (3).

E _MIN = min (E _A , E _B , E _C ) = 19.3 ………(12) Therefore, the hall call command for the 5th floor UP direction is A
Assigned to machine number.

Next, the effects of this embodiment will be described in comparison with the conventional method.

In other words, in the conventional method of allocating to the car with the least waiting time, min(T _A ^5U , T _B ^5U , T _C ^5U = min(16, 2, 50)
......(13) Therefore, the waiting time for Unit B is the shortest, and the 5th floor
Hall call commands in the UP direction will be assigned to machine B. However, in that case, the waiting time for the UP direction hall call commands for the 6th, 8th, and 9th floors and the car call command for the 10th floor, which are assigned to car No. B, will each increase by 10 seconds.

Therefore, the probability of long waiting times increases, resulting in degraded and uneven service. However, according to the allocation method described in this embodiment, the hall call command for the UP direction on the 5th floor is allocated to car A, so the number of serviced elevators is made equal, and the waiting time is made more uniform. It will improve the service.

Note that this invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, when weighting the predicted waiting time or predicted non-response time, the characteristics shown in FIG. 4 were used, but FIG. The same is true.

(a) There is one minimum evaluation value (minimum value), and the predicted waiting time at that time is not zero. (In Figure 4, the predicted waiting time is 15 seconds) (b) When the predicted waiting time exceeds a certain value, the evaluation value becomes worse; in Figure 4, the predicted waiting time is > 30 seconds) Also, the above (a) ) has been assumed to be constant in the explanation up to now, but it can also be varied by operating a switch from the outside using the method described below. That is, in FIG. 2, the normally open contacts SW ₁ ~
By encoding SW ₁₂ and inputting it to the input register (for digital input, 12 bits) 13, the minimum value can be moved arbitrarily.

Furthermore, the value of B can be changed by changing the contact points SW ₁ to _{SW 12} in FIG. 2 depending on the traffic demand zone. For example, B may be set to 15 during off-peak hours, B may be set to 5 during normal times, and B may be set to 0 during lunch. This shifts the position of the minimum value with respect to Tj, so the reference value of the predicted non-response time can be changed.

It goes without saying that various other modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the predicted waiting time for hall call commands that have already been assigned and the predicted non-response time for car call commands that have already been generated are calculated for each elevator every time. Even if the operating conditions of the elevator change drastically, the service to customers in the hall or car will not deteriorate, and the non-response time is weighted with an appropriate function, and the function is set to a minimum value. Therefore, it is possible to provide an elevator group management control method that can equalize the non-response time on each floor and bring the non-response time in each hall closer to the above-mentioned minimum value.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a system configuration diagram to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the reference value setting circuit of Fig. 1 together with an input register, and Fig. 3 is for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing weighting, FIG. 5 is an overall flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the responding car selection routine of FIG. 5, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the procedure of function conversion, FIG. 8 is a chart showing a function table, and FIG. 9 is a chart showing evaluation values for each call command. 1...Hall call command registration circuit, 2A to 2H...
...Elevator operation control device, 3A to 3H...Car status buffer, 4A to 4H...Car call command registration circuit, 5A to 5H...Car call command registration circuit, 6
A, 6H...Signal synthesis circuit, 7...Wiper select circuit, 8...Decode circuit, 9...Small computer, 14...Reference value setting circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an elevator group management control method that uses an evaluation formula to determine a service elevator from among multiple elevators installed for multiple floors in response to a newly generated hall call command, when a hall call command is Each time a new hall call command occurs, the newly generated hall call command is provisionally assigned, and the predicted waiting time of the already assigned hall call command and the predicted unresponse time of the already generated car call command are calculated for each elevator. , and each of the predicted waiting time and predicted non-response time is weighted according to the linear curve characteristic having the minimum value and converted into an evaluation value, the average of the evaluation values for each elevator is determined, and this average value is calculated. 1. A group management control method for elevators, characterized in that an elevator with a minimum value is selected as a service elevator.