KR100258282B1 - Elevator horizontal suspensions and controls - Google Patents

Abstract

The semi-active secondary suspension device according to the invention comprises a relatively large actuator which handles low frequency forces, such as caused by a non-uniform passenger distribution, for example by a position control loop. A pair of such suspensions on opposite sides of the car or rail can be operated in concert, for example by operating only one at a time. An inner loop may be added to the position control loop for each secondary suspension device to restore the actuator to the selected preload position when not used as an actuator. Semi-active secondary suspension can be operated sufficiently actively by adding a relatively small actuator that handles high frequency dynamic forces. The roller guide embodiment has a roller rotatably mounted on a spring biased link towards the rail blades. Relatively large actuators are coupled to the link springs to slowly increase or decrease the preload on the springs operating on the link to offset low frequency disturbances. Relatively small actuators also operate on the link so that high frequency disturbances can be quickly canceled to ensure a substantially vibration free ride. These suspension devices include sliding guides, electromagnets and the like.

Description

Elevator horizontal suspension device {ELEVATOR HORIZONTAL SUSPENSIONS AND CONTROLS}

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to elevators and, more particularly, to a horizontal suspension device and a control system thereof.

Elevator cab assemblies typically include a passenger cap mounted within a rectangular frame. The elevator cap assembly moves up and down within the hoistway along a guide rail mounted to the opposing wall of the hoistway.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-23185, published January 31, 1991, discloses a system for stabilizing an elevator cap when the elevator cap moves along a guide rail in a hoistway, wherein the guide rail has a variable compliance. System is disclosed. The system has a cross beam above and below the cap assembly, which can be moved adjustable relative to the cap assembly. On the end of this transverse beam, a rail guide is mounted by anti-vibration rubber pads. These beams are also connected to the cap assembly by anti-vibration rubber pads. The guide member formed by simulating the compliance value of the rail is fixed to the hoistway wall, and the contact sensor is mounted on the beam so as to be slidable on the guide member. The movement of this contact sensor is monitored by a control device that operates the actuator to move the beam laterally in response to its movement. Thus, the rail guide is moved laterally relative to the cap assembly as the rail compliance changes. The problem with this published patent relates to the fact that when the beam is moved to the left to shift the left rail guide in response to the compliance change of the left rail, the right rail guide must be moved in the same direction as the left rail guide. Thus, the purpose of moving the rail guides towards the rails when the rail compliance is increased and away from the rails when the rail compliance is reduced is achieved for only one of the rails, while the opposite rail guide movement is at the opposite rail. In addition, the use of such guide members is cumbersome and problematic even if the ability to reflect rail compliance is best. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-51280, published March 5, 1991, discloses other features of the same system as described above.

Another approach disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 3-51279, issued March 5, 1991, hangs on a pulley from one corner of the diagonal across the cap ceiling to the other and controls the tilt of the cap to control the tilt of the cap. Use an operable horizontal rope focused on one point of the

Co-pending U.S. Patent Application Nos. 07 / 555,130, 07 / 555,131, 07 / 555,132, 07 / 555,133, 07 / 555,135, 07 / 555,140, 07 / 668,544 As disclosed in US Pat. Nos. 07 / 668,546 and 07 / 739,631, elevators running vertically in a hoistway can cause load unbalance and wind gusts, which can cause a horizontal acceleration of the car. Are affected by direct car force and rail guide force. As also disclosed in these specifications, it is to be appreciated that these forces occur at various frequencies, which can effectively neutralize these frequencies. In addition, unbalance due to total forces can be handled gently in a position control loop as shown in co-pending US patent application Ser. No. 07 / 555,130. These forces may include load imbalances that can be static or dynamic depending on whether the occupants are moving in the car. On the other hand, the smaller force needed to neutralize the high frequency force has to be processed quickly in an acceleration loop as shown in US patent application Ser. No. 07 / 555,130. To construct a complete magnetic actuator as described in this US patent application Ser. No. 07 / 555,130 (and related applications cited in this patent application) or a sliding guide capable of handling all the forces mentioned above, very expensive materials are required. Required.

1 is a view showing an elevator car according to the present invention running in the vertical direction in the hoistway,

2A is a block diagram of a secondary suspension within a specific boundary, in accordance with the present invention;

2b shows an embodiment according to the invention in the form of a semi-active roller guide controlled by a position feedback control loop for controlling a relatively large actuator,

3 is a block diagram illustrating a simplified vibration control method;

4 is a view for explaining attenuation induction using acceleration feedback;

5 is a view for explaining the synthesis of mass using the acceleration feedback,

6 is a diagram showing a direct force response when active vibration control is performed and when it is not performed;

7 shows a response to a rail position offset,

8 shows attenuation of rail induced acceleration,

9 illustrates an embodiment of a secondary suspension device in accordance with the present invention, with an active roller guide having a position-based feedback loop for controlling a relatively large force actuator and an acceleration-based feedback control loop for controlling a relatively small force actuator. A diagram showing an embodiment of a secondary suspension device implemented,

10 shows a control loop for controlling an active roller guide having both a relatively large force actuator and a relatively small force actuator, FIG.

FIG. 11 is a view schematically showing some of the control parameters shown in FIG. 10;

12 is a perspective view of a primary suspension device comprising a guide roller cluster adapted for use with an embodiment of a secondary suspension device according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a side view of the guide roller cluster shown in FIG. 12 detailing the lateral roller adjustment mechanism of the secondary suspension device; FIG.

14 is an exploded schematic view showing the roller adjustment crank of the front-back direction secondary suspension device to which the spring of FIG. 15 is connected;

15 is a plan view of a planar spiral spring used in the fore and aft secondary suspension device for damping and adjusting the fore and aft primary suspension rollers in a cluster;

16 is a front view of the front and rear direction guide roller of the primary suspension cluster,

17 is a partial plan view of one of the rollers of the guide rail cluster of the primary suspension device shown in FIG. 12 and the secondary suspension device, showing the positioning of the electromagnet of the relatively small force actuator;

18 shows a gap sensor,

FIG. 19 illustrates a magnetic flux sensor that may be used in the acceleration loop of FIG. 10.

20 is a side view of the electromagnet core,

21 is a plan view of a core having a coil shown in dashed lines in FIG. 20,

FIG. 22 is a simplified block diagram of a steering circuit for controlling two active guides located on opposite surfaces of an elevator car for lateral control, which may be used for front and rear control of the suspension on opposite sides of the rail blades;

FIG. 23 biases the force command in the positive direction and biases the force command for the right active guide shown in FIG. 22, for example, to provide a composite response that avoids abrupt switching between a pair of opposing electromagnets, in accordance with the present invention. A bias technique for controlling a pair of opposing electromagnets, biased against a force command in a negative direction,

24 is a detailed view of the discrete signal processor shown in FIG. 22 according to the present invention;

FIG. 25 shows a control system for a pair of active guides as shown in FIG. 22 including a steering configuration for a large actuator and a control configuration for a large actuator and a small actuator in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 26 shows some of the parameters illustrated in the control system of FIG. 25 in accordance with the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 27 shows a response of a single position transducer associated with each of the position transducers, eg, as illustrated in FIG. 18, in accordance with the present invention;

28 illustrates a composite response of two transducer responses, such as may be represented by line 698 of FIG. 25, in accordance with the present invention;

29 illustrates an elevator car having a plurality of magnetic primary suspension devices associated with a secondary suspension device, in accordance with the present invention;

30 shows a relatively long electromagnet core for vertical adaptation, in accordance with the present invention;

31 is a view showing a state in which the long core as shown in FIG. 30 is adapted to be in contact with a C-shaped rail according to the present invention;

32 shows a state in which a pair of long cores as shown in FIG. 30 is adapted to contact a standard rail, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 33 shows a sliding guide shoe used as a primary suspension device, for example, in contact with a plurality of hydraulic actuators. FIG.

Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

10, 27, 444: elevator car 14, 312: elevator

16, 18, 29, 31a, 634, 636, 752, 758, 786: rail

19a, 19b, 630, 632: hoist wall 20, 22, 24, 26: horizontal suspension

28, 31: primary suspension device 30, 31b, 90: secondary suspension device

27a, 27b, 27c, 27d, 48, 56a, 126, 636, 678: sensor

32, 92: guides 34, 100, 638, 670: rollers

36: arm 38: turning point

40: base 46, 106, 108, 230, 710: actuator

60, 62, 129a, 129b: boundary 110, 450: accelerometer

120: electromagnet 221: reference material

229: connecting member 300: roller cluster

302: lateral guide roller 304, 306: front and rear direction guide roller

314, 759: blades 328, 416: cup

364: recess 366: magnetic button

368, 418: tube 496, 502: hole cell

According to one aspect of the invention, the position of the car relative to the primary suspension device (or rail) is controlled to control the position of the outer position loop for holding the car in the center of the hoistway and the position of the actuator of the secondary suspension device to the car. The secondary suspension can then be controlled by an inner position loop that maintains at least a selected force with respect to the primary suspension.

If the positioning of the opposing actuators (not with respect to the opposite surface of the car for lateral stability or against the opposite surface of the rail for forward and backward stability) is not properly adjusted, there may be a problem that the actuators interoperate with each other. Thus, in the present invention, the car is in the hoistway in response to a sensed signal indicative of the degree of centering of the car in the hoistway (e.g., the position of the car relative to the rail, ie the primary suspension device or any other reference indicative thereof). Control using an outer loop that instructs the actuator to center at and an inner loop that maintains at least the selected preloading force for the primary suspension in response to a sensed signal indicative of the position of the actuator relative to the car. A technique is proposed.

The problem of horizontal vibration in conventional passive suspension technology is largely due to the primary suspension landing on the car, for example, by using manual roller guides to contact pivot stops. Thus, according to a first aspect of the invention, primary suspensions (rollers, sliding guides, electromagnetic bearings, etc.) are provided by neutralizing the unbalance of forces on the elevator car in the manner described above, ie by keeping the car in the center of the elevator. Contacting the elevator car via a secondary suspension device (connecting the primary suspension device to the car) is automatically prevented.

Thus, this neutralization takes place automatically within the position boundary by controlling the secondary suspension by a centering control loop. In this case, for each axis, one or more springs and position adjusters can be seen as secondary suspensions. The measured car position signal is manipulated to actuate one or the other of the pair of opposing actuators. While one actuator is in operation, the other actuator is retracted by the inner loop from the centering position of the car to a selected zero or centering position that maintains the selected preload force for the primary suspension.

This feature of the invention has a primary suspension device, such as a sliding shoe, an electromagnetic bearing, or the like, which guides the car along the hoist rails, and is connected between the primary suspension device and the lift car, to one or more car guide assemblies. Elevator guide assemblies with secondary suspension automatically adjustable within boundaries in response to uneven occupant loads that impose enhanced guide rail thrust forces and relatively low frequency forces such as hoist wind power. May be related.

Such assemblies may include, but are not limited to, a rail guide having a primary suspension comprising a roller cluster and a secondary suspension comprising automatically adjustable springs to press the roller against the rail. It may be. As an example, it has been found that these springs have a spring rate of 40 N / mm with a preload of approximately 50 Newtons per roller. Thus, according to an embodiment of this feature of the invention, the guide rollers are mounted on an elastically biased rotatable link to propel the roller against the guide rail blades with a predetermined thrust. The pivotable link is associated with a pivot stop member to limit the degree of movement of the guide roller in a direction away from the guide rail by limiting the extent of possible pivotal movement of the link. In addition, the link is associated with a position sensor to obtain a primary suspension (roller), i.e. an indication of the position of the rail relative to the car (for the purposes of the present invention the roller can be assumed not to be compressed). Thus, the position of the link relative to the pedestal may be measured, and the measurement may be used as an indication of the position of the car relative to the rail. An automatic link positioner is connected to the position sensor to automatically adjust the pivot position of each link so that the car is held at the center of the hoistway and the link is separated from the pivot stop member. In this way, the pivot position of each link with respect to each pivot stop member of each link can be automatically controlled to prevent contact. This can be done by 'bang-bang' type control whenever the position sensor detects an undesirable small gap between the link and its associated pivot stop member. This eliminates or at least limits the continued contact between the link and their associated pivot stop member during operation of the elevator. Alternatively, the prevention of such contact phenomenon may be achieved by the guide being completely in response to the centering control signal sensed by a feedback loop comprising, for example, proportional, proportional-integral (PI) or proportional-integral-differential (PID) control. This may be done by approximately continuous (eg, proportional) control to maintain the guide in response.

In roller guide embodiments, the lifter cap is subjected to the greater of these loads when subjected to direct car force, such as uneven occupant loads, which may cause uneven propulsion of the guide rails for a particular guide roller. A link supporting the guide roller to be pivoted toward its pivot stop member. The sensor detects its position, causing the regulator to continuously or (eg, proportionally) or selectively ('bang-bang') maintain the affected links in the commanded position or move them away from the pivot stop member. You can let This maintains the orientation of the cab in the hoistway at the no-load neutral position or restores it in the hoistway, either by tightening the commanded propulsion (actuator position multiplied by the spring constant) or by selectively back propagating the affected guide roller relative to the guide rail. Let's do it. Then, when the cap moves up and down in the hoistway, there is little or no possibility that the links continue to be pushed in contact with their stop members, so that an abnormal condition of the rail can be easily absorbed by the guide roller link springs. As such, a secondary suspension device in accordance with this aspect of the invention can be used to correct occupant uneven distribution and load between sides or front and back within an elevator cap.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a pair of opposing secondary suspension devices on the opposite surface of the elevator car (relative to the horizontal horizontal suspension device) or a pair on opposite surfaces of the rail blades (for the forward and backward horizontal suspension device) A difference signal having a magnitude and a sign indicating a difference between a pair of signals, each indicating a position of a car for each of a corresponding pair of opposite primary suspension devices controlled relative to each other by differential signals). The sign of the measured difference signal may, but not necessarily, be used to control the operation of either of the facing suspensions.

That is, the position of each of the pair of opposing primary suspension devices (e.g., both sides of the rail in the front-rear direction or a pair of opposing rails in the lateral direction) is measured relative to the car and the associated opposing secondary suspension It is differentially coupled with the other location for use in indicating the location of the devices.

As such, according to this second aspect of the invention, for the opposing suspension device in the front-rear direction or the lateral direction, the opposing secondary suspension device responds to the car position signal according to its sign. It is also possible to provide a selected deadband near the zero intersection to ensure that their operations are confined to each other.

As described above, the car position signal is relative to one rail (or other side of the rail) that is different from the magnitude of the first position sensor signal indicating the position of the elevator car relative to one of the rails (or one side of the rail). And a difference signal having a magnitude indicating the magnitude of the difference between the magnitudes of the second position sensor signals indicative of the position of the elevator car. However, this difference signal also has a sign, which in the lateral case indicates not only the overall position of the car relative to a single selected reference, such as just one of the rails, but also for both rails. By measuring the position of the car with respect to the two rails (this may be done by measuring the car position with respect to both primary suspensions), automatically equalizing the gap for either side of the car, automatically by the position control loop You can bring the car to the optimal center position. By ensuring that the outer position control loop centers according to the symmetric centering signal, the available combined dynamic range of the opposing actuators is maximized. As an embodiment of this manner, a novel combination of two novel nonlinear position sensors for providing a symmetric self-centering signal is disclosed. Of course, a pair of more expensive linear position sensors may be used.

As described above, the adjustment of the differential control signal is performed so that when one suspension is operated to cancel the disturbing force, the other suspension remains at zero or is in the zero position if it is not already at zero. do. In light of the disclosure of the first and second features of the invention, the meaning of zero may mean a position that most closely holds the preload of the selected primary suspension device. In the embodiments described below, the zeroing of the inactive actuators is done much slower than the operating speed. It should be appreciated that this zeroing may be done faster than illustrated, or may be done in a number of other ways, including mechanically by restoring springs. Once the disturbance force is effectively canceled, as indicated by the zero differential position signal, the active actuator remains as long as the disturbance force exists. When the disturbing force is removed, the reaction force still acting on the active actuator drives the car in the other direction, which continues until control on the other actuator is made by the sign change of the differential position signal. At this point, the previously active suspension device will start zeroing in response to a zero input command or the like into its position control loop.

According to a third aspect of the invention, the secondary suspension device may comprise a relatively large actuator combined with a relatively small actuator. The inventors have found that the low frequency force that the actuator has to neutralize is about several thousand Newtons. In this configuration, the large actuators handle the low frequency powers, while the high frequency forces known as about several hundred Newtons are designed to be handled by the small actuators. can do.

In fact, these two types of actuators are not completely separated. Lag filters or other averaging techniques can be used to create a relatively slow operating position based control loop for controlling relatively large actuators, and a controlled lift in a relatively fast acceleration based control loop for controlling relatively small actuators. Coupled by the system. That is, due to the action on the same system, the forces exerted by the two force actuators reflected in their respective control loops are mixed to some extent. Nevertheless, these two actuators may, but not necessarily, be handled separately as described herein.

Thus, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the secondary suspension device uses an acceleration feedback loop for controlling a small actuator that cancels high frequency forces and a position based control loop for controlling a large actuator that cancels low frequency forces. Is controlled.

In the case of a roller guide embodiment, the large actuator may be a linear actuator such as a ball drive actuator, which has a very slow response but is powerful and usually inexpensive. This large actuator may also be a rotary actuator. These two types of actuators are described in more detail below and may be used interchangeably in consideration of design considerations. The small actuator may be, for example, an electromagnet actuator as described later.

According to the method and apparatus shown herein, an inexpensive and effective method for improving the riding comfort of an elevator is provided. In addition, the present invention can be used very effectively for new equipment as well as for modernization agreements. Thus, modernization techniques for replacing passive guides with semi-active guides (large actuators with only position-based control loops) or active guides (large and small actuators with position and acceleration loops respectively), as disclosed herein, By providing an inexpensive and effective technique, it is possible to substantially increase the modernization capability of the elevator by improving the ride comfort of the old elevator car.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the best embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a state in which the elevator car 10 is suspended from the rope 12 so that the elevator car 10 can be lifted in the vertical hoistway 14. The rails 16 and 18 are provided with the hoistway walls on both sides of the car 10. 19a, 19b). The horizontal suspension devices 20, 22 and 24, 26 may be guides in the form of sliding guides, electronic bearings or roller guides, and may be attached to the upper and lower portions of the car 10, which are roller-like. In the case of a guide, it may have a circular roller rolling on the rail surface.

Hereinafter, the primary suspension device having a roller guide and the secondary suspension device having linear and rotary actuators and springs will be mainly described in detail, but there are various types of suspension devices, and many of them will be described below. It is specifically disclosed and can be adapted to carry out the invention. Thus, the claims of the present invention, which are not limited to particular types of suspensions, may optionally be applied to any type of primary and secondary suspensions and control systems thereof.

The purpose of the horizontal suspension devices 20, 22, 24, 26 is to provide as smooth a ride as possible to the occupant in the elevator car 10. Of course, this field is non. W. It is known to provide various types of manual guides, including roller guides as disclosed in US Pat. No. 3,099,334 to B. W. Turker Jr ..

As mentioned above, the present invention, among others, discloses both semi-active and active secondary suspension devices, both of which provide a smooth ride and prevent the primary suspension or rails from contacting the elevator car.

Secondary suspension with inner and outer position loops

Referring to FIG. 2A, the elevator car 27 has a primary suspension 28, which is mounted on the rail 29 and moves, i. And by moving on the air cushion), which is disposed close to the rail 29 and mechanically and electromagnetically connected to the secondary suspension device 30, which is likewise attached to the car 27. On the other side of the hoistway, another primary suspension device 31 is placed in contact with or close to the second rail 31a and mechanically and electromagnetically mounted to the secondary suspension device 31b which is likewise attached to the car 27. Is connected.

2A, an elevator car is suspended vertically in a hoistway by means of a rope (not shown) and also attached to the primary suspension device on one side and on the other side in contact with or almost in contact with each of the hoist rails. Shown above is a lifted car horizontally hung between hoist rails on opposite sides of the car by a pair of corresponding secondary suspension devices attached to the car. According to the invention, the primary suspension device may be a roller, a sliding guide or an electromagnetic bearing or the like. On the other hand, each secondary suspension device may be a semi-active or active suspension device, whereby the position of its associated primary suspension device indicates one or more sensors (eg, the position of the car in the hoistway) relative to the car. The position of the secondary suspension device relative to the car from the pair of sensors 27c and 27d relative to the sensed position signal provided by 27a and 27b and also to the corresponding pair of sensed position signals. Controlled in response to the signal. By centering the car using the centering position sensors 27a, 27b, each secondary suspension device is automatically controlled within the boundary, thereby preventing the primary suspension device from touching the boundaries of one or more secondary suspension devices. Prevent the primary suspension from touching the car or rail. As mentioned earlier, the term 'semi-active' refers to a secondary suspension using only closed loop position control, and the term 'active' refers to closed loop position and acceleration control. It is. While most of the embodiments described below deal with roller guides, the disclosed principles can equally apply to other types of suspensions, and therefore, the claims of the present invention that do not specifically describe any particular type of suspensions are arbitrary. It includes a suspension device for the type of elevator system as a whole.

Another imbalance due to relatively large direct car forces can be offset by a large force actuator (which can exert a large force in excess of about 1,000 Newtons), although this actuator is not necessarily so (e.g. about 250 Newtons / May have an inherent relatively slow response. Of course, if the actuator is inherently fast, its response speed can be lowered to any desired response speed by a compensation technique as described in detail below.

Semi-active secondary suspension

A 'semi-active' guide 32 is shown in FIG. 2B. The guide may consist of, but is not limited to, rollers 34 rolling on the surface of the rails 16 or 18, the rollers 34 being armed with pivot points 38 attached to the base 40. 36, and base 40 is also attached to elevator car 10.

A portion of the arm 36 extends above the pivot point 38 and is operable by a spring 44. This spring is driven by a ball drive actuator 46 with a screw 47 inserted therein and mounted to the base 40. The position sensor 48 senses the position of the arm 36 and provides the detected position signal to the position control device 52 via the line 50, which also controls the position control device 52 via the line 54. Provide actuator control signal to actuator 46. This position control device 52 is also supplied via a line 55 from the position sensor 56a which measures the position of the screw 47 with respect to the base 40 or actuator 46, although not necessarily. And may respond to the second sensed position signal.

The position sensor 56a may be used for position feedback of the internal position control loop described below in connection with FIG. 25 to maintain at least a selected preload force for the primary suspension device. On the other hand, with respect to the mechanically connected roller of Fig. 16, no position sensor 56a is needed. The position sensor 56a may be a potentiometer, LVDT, optical position sensor, position encoder, or the like, or a function thereof from a particular type of motor that may or may be compatible with the position sensing capability and used in the actuator 46 as a driver. It can be achieved by the pulse of. Such a motor may be used in connection with one or more limit switches to determine that the actuator has reached a travel boundary. The position control device 52 is also, but not necessarily, a closed loop position based feedback control for position control of the arm 36 by responding to a position reference signal on line 56 for comparison with the sensed position signal. You can also configure the system. According to the disclosed subject matter, the reference signal on line 56 may be a fixed voltage reference, or a function thereof may be positioned by a balanced or complex signal between two opposing position control loops as described in more detail below. May be omitted by any such configuration that controls. The spring and ball screw actuators 42, 46, together with the position sensor 48, the position controller 52, and the sensor 56a in some circumstances (such as when the opposing primary suspension is not mechanically connected). A self-adjustable secondary suspension device 57 is constructed. Also in accordance with the present invention, the position of the primary suspension, for example the roller 34, is controlled by the controller 52 within the boundaries 60, 62 so that the primary suspension can be driven by the car 10 through the base 40. Do not touch). In other words, this control ensures that the primary suspension device has little or no mechanical contact with its boundary. The same is true for the opposing guides on the other side of the car, with the two guides working together through their respective position controls to keep the car in the center of the hoistway.

The lower horizontal suspension devices, such as but not limited to the guides 24 and 26 shown in FIG. 1, may be, for example, semi-active guides of the type shown in FIG. 2B, or for example active guides which will be described in detail later. The guides 20, 22 shown on top of the car in FIG. 1 are in the form disclosed in US Pat. No. 3,099,334 to Tucker, in the form disclosed in US Pat. No. 3,087,583 to Bruns, or any other known in the art. It may be a manual roller guide of the manual form. On the other hand, these four guides 20, 22, 24 and 26 can all be replaced with semi-active roller guides of the type shown in Fig. 2b or active roller guides as described below.

The actuator 46 shown in FIG. 2B may be a relatively large actuator that is compensated with a very slow response (eg, less than about 250 Newtons per millimeter) or is originally operating slowly, more particularly due to abnormalities induced by the rails. Some of the high frequency vibrations may not be processed. In the following, active high frequency vibration control is also disclosed which also utilizes acceleration feedback.

Design of Small Actuator Control Unit

To illustrate a method of designing a high frequency control system according to the present invention, preliminary control design considerations for such a system are shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. These block diagrams are prepared by the controller engineer during the preliminary design process to set up the steps for subsequent hardware design. While various hardware embodiments of the present invention are shown, those skilled in the art of control systems will employ a secondary suspension device, using the control concepts provided, including the information provided in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 and subsequent related figures. Various other embodiments of functionally equivalent high frequency control devices may be provided.

3 schematically shows a vibration control / suspension system. The output of the input summer consists of all the forces acting on the controlled mass (M). Except for the acceleration loop, a classical quadratic linear dynamic system is shown in FIG. Block A is an acceleration (accelerometer) feedback block. In practice, this consists of sensed acceleration signals, processing circuits and a force actuator. Block D represents mechanical damping, for example by a mechanical damper, such as a viscous damper (dashpot). Block K represents the spring constant of the elevator suspension.

The designer should observe the system as having an effective mass, damping constant (ζ) and natural frequency (ω ₀ ). Since the present invention seeks to increase the effective system mass with the characteristic of lowering the natural frequency of the system, as a preliminary design consideration, it is desirable to reduce the natural frequency of the system by a factor of at least three. Whether this can be achieved or not depends on the structural resonance encountered. As another preliminary design consideration, it is desirable to keep the damping constant within the range of 0.3 to 0.7. However, even if a particular embodiment does not achieve this purpose, there is the possibility of significant electromechanical damping to improve ride comfort.

FIG. 4 illustrates the manipulation of the block diagram of FIG. 3 to enable the mechanical damping of FIG. 3 by electromechanical means other than purely mechanical means. The output of the block A + D / S is the force. Element A + D / S is actually implemented by a combination of accelerometers, processing circuits and force actuators. 3 and 4 are performed differently but are totally equivalent in terms of transfer functions.

Control operation is also performed in FIG. Here, block A is combined with block M, which shows that the mass increase is caused electromechanically by the acceleration feedback. Therefore, FIG. 5 is provided for the purpose of showing that the mass increase is obtained electromechanically by the acceleration feedback. 5 is useful for understanding the magnitude of the acceleration feedback A in relation to the mass M. FIG. The mass M of the elevator car is influenced by the force which is the factor of acceleration which the present invention intends to cancel. The present invention must 'augment' the mass.

In a practical system, a low pass (lag) filter is used rather than an integrator to obtain damping. In addition, pure acceleration feedback is not practical unless it rolls off the high frequency response to reduce high frequency noise. In an ideal system, the accelerometer feedback transfer ratio would be (As + D) / s. On the other hand, in a non-ideal system, the accelerometer and its associated network transfer function is s (As + D) / (s + ω ₁ ) (s / ω ₂ +1) (s + ω ₃ ), where ω ₁ is an integral function Is a low frequency roll-off of, for example, 0.1 rad / sec, ω ₂ is at least about 100 rad / sec, and ω ₃ is about 0.1 rad / sec. The term s / (s / ω ₂ +1) (s + ω ₃ ) is used to roll off the high frequency to lower the DC gain of the accelerometer feedback to zero. s is always jω.

The POS / F transfer function for the block diagram of FIG. 5 is G = POS / F = 1 / ((M + A) s ² + Ds + K). From this equation, it can be seen that the system natural frequency ω ₀ is ω ₀ = (K / (M + A)) ^1/2 . The damping constant ζ is ζ = D / (2ω ₀ (M + A)).

From the above equations, it can be seen that the natural frequency and the damping constant are reduced by the acceleration feedback A. FIG. In an elevator suspension system, the damping constant is preferably in the range of 0.3 to 0.7.

As an example, consider a manual spring mass system with ω ₀ = 10 and no mechanical damping. It is desirable to reduce ω ₀ by a factor of 3 and to have a damping constant of 0.5, which condition is satisfied by A = 8M and D = 9ω ₀ M.

For M = 1,000 Kg, the result is A = 8,000 Newtons (m / s ² ), which equals 78.4 Newtons / mg (where 'mg' refers to the 'milligravitational force constant'). D is 90,000 newtons / (m / s). The ratio D / A is 11.25. This is the integral ratio of the proportional gains to be used in the accelerometer feedback loop.

Now, the board diagram for the example just given is explained. In addition, a method of modifying the G = POS / F transfer function is described to find other important transfer functions. For the example considered here, the damping constant of the passive system was 0.1 rather than 0 to facilitate the illustration. This is equivalent to starting with a passive system with some damping, as described above. The damping constant of the active suspension is 0.5 as before.

First, s ² G = G 1 is found and shown as a function of frequency for the passive suspension and the passive suspension improved by the accelerometer feedback. G1 is the ratio of car acceleration to applied force. G1 is expressed in decibels (dB) expressed in mg / newtons. 6 shows the result. Active suspension exhibits a moderate 20 dB sensitivity reduction for direct car power in the frequency range up to 10 Hz. This is set as the design goal for active vibration control of the elevator system. Typically, the human perception of horizontal vibration is known to be the largest in the 0.5 to 2 Hz range, and the present invention primarily emphasizes attenuating most of the motion in this band. The system response to the rail position offset, known to be on the order of millimeters, is given by a curve similar to that shown in FIG. 6 except for the scale factor. Rail position offset X causes force KX. The car acceleration related transfer function for X is simply G1 * K. K = ω ₀ ² M = 100,000 N / m = 100 N / mm. Figure 7 shows the car acceleration caused by the rail offset, the unit of mg / mm is used. The amplitude of FIG. 7 is simply 40 dB greater than the amplitude of FIG. 6. The rail deviation is about several mm or less. The aim of the present invention is to attenuate the vibration level measured as low as 0.5 mg RMS using a filter with a roll-off from 0.5 Hz to 2.0 Hz, but this objective can be varied depending on the designer's task. Clearly, active suspension offers significant advantages over passive suspensions. As an alternative, it is also possible to use a more flexible manual suspension, but this entails problems due to static unbalance, such as occupant load distribution.

FIG. 8 illustrates another method of observing system performance, in which K * G is shown, which represents the ratio of car displacement to rail displacement. It is also equal to the ratio of car acceleration to acceleration at the rail surface. The importance of this disclosure is to show attenuation of rail induced acceleration using passive and active suspension devices. The graph shows that the performance is improved compared to the 'hard ride', where the mass is driven directly by the rails. These basic principles may be used to design advanced active vibration control systems. More detailed description is as follows. In other words,

First, acceleration feedback must be followed by an increase in damping.

Secondly, damping can be derived by integrating the output of the accelerometer.

Third, active vibration control can provide a significant improvement over passive vibration control. This applies to positional position disturbances such as those caused by elevator guide rail abnormalities and forces acting directly on the controlled mass (elevator car).

According to another important principle of the invention, for example, a relatively small actuator capable of exerting a force exceeding 1,000 newtons, but not necessarily a relatively large actuator having a rapid response, for example exerting a force of less than 1,000 newtons And may be combined into one actuator. Provided in this way is an embodiment of the 'active' secondary suspension device of the present invention, which may be implemented by any type of guide including a roller guide, magnetic bearing or sliding guide.

Active secondary suspension

Figure 9 illustrates an embodiment 90 of the secondary suspension device of the present invention that can be used with a roller, or so-called 'active' roller guide 92. However, the illustrated second suspension device embodiment may be used together with a magnetic bearing, a sliding guide, or the like instead of the roller for the primary suspension device. With this in mind, the roller 100 is attached to one leg 102a of the arm that rolls on the rails 16 or 18 and has a pivot point 104, and the other leg 102b of the arm is relatively It is operated by a large force actuator 106 and a relatively small force actuator 108. Accelerometer 110 senses the horizontal acceleration of the elevator car and provides the detected signal to active control device 114, which may be a computer, via line 112. The control device 114 provides a control signal to line 116 that may be used to control the relatively small force actuator 108 by the magnet driver 118 when the actuator 108 is an electromagnet 120.

The centering control device 122 may be similar to the position controller 52 described above with respect to FIG. 2B, and responds to the sensed position signal on the line 124 provided from the gap sensor 126 and includes a potentiometer, light sensor, In response to a position signal on line 127 provided from position sensor 127a, such as an LVDT, motor encoder, or the like, the primary suspension is provided with a control signal via line 128 to the actuator 106, thereby providing one or more boundaries. 129a and 129b, and as described later in connection with FIG. 25, it is possible to prevent opposing suspension devices from 'fighting' each other.

10 shows a control device for an active guide. Such a control device is required for the front-rear secondary suspension device to be described with reference to FIG.

The elevator car is indicated at block 140 as having a mass M acting on a plurality of summed forces working together on line 142. This summed force is provided from the sum point 144, which sums up the response of the direct car indicated on the line 146, which will be described later, among others.

The forward and backward acceleration of the elevator car is indicated by the acceleration on the line 148, integrated by the elevator system at block 152, and indicated by the speed on the line 150, by the system indicated by block 156. Once integrated, it is also indicated by the change in position of the elevator car.

The accelerometer 110 of FIG. 9 may be used to detect the forward and backward acceleration appearing on the line 148, but inevitably also detects the vertical acceleration component due to the imperfection or alignment problem of the accelerometer itself. This is summed in summer 160 together with the acceleration itself on line 148 as shown, and accelerometer 110 responds to the acceleration signal on line 162 contaminated by the vertical acceleration component. Similarly, the accelerometer is affected by a drift component, as shown also in summing unit 164, where a sensed signal on line 166 from the accelerometer indicates accelerometer drift. ) Is added to the signal. The summed signal on line 170 is then provided to the filter and compensation network, represented by block 172, which may of course be implemented in software. Signal adjustment characteristics have already been proposed in connection with FIGS. 3 to 5, and those skilled in the art may implement the software in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention. The filtered and compensated signal on line 174 is provided to summer 176, which is summed with a position control speed-up signal at summer 176, thereby accelerating the signal on line 116. FIG. For example, it is supplied to the electromagnet actuators and drivers 118, 120 shown in the embodiment of FIG. The canceling force indicated by line 180 is provided to adder 144 to cancel the acceleration sensed by accelerometer 110.

Mechanical damping, indicated by block 182, provides mechanical damping force through line 184 to summer 144 in response to the car speed on line 150. In the acceleration loop, on the other hand, much can be implemented by electronic signal manipulation or software as already described.

The signal on line 186 indicating the rail offset from the vertical reference is indicated by the adder 188 providing a gap signal on line 190 indicating the position of the car relative to the surface of the rail. Is subtracted from the signal on line 154. The gap signal is sensed by position sensor 192, which also provides position signal to summer 196 via line 194. The adder 196 subtracts the position signal on the line 194 from the reference signal on the line 198 indicating the required gap size. The gap error signal is provided to the filter and compensation network 202 via the line 200, where the signal on the line 204 is filtered, averaged or otherwise delay compensated by the motor controller 206. May be, for example, a lag filter that provides a lag of 1.0 second, the motor controller 206 provides the motor force through the line 208 to drive the actuator 210, and the actuator 210 Line 212 also provides an actuation signal in the form of a positional motion that is added up by summator 214 with a gap signal on line 190. The spring constant of the actuator spring can be, for example, about 40 Newtons / mm. When the gain of this loop is set to about 6 mm / sec, a relatively slow speed of 6 mm / sec x 40 N / mm = 240 N / sec is obtained. Thus, in response to the summed signal on line 218, the spring constant 216 providing on line 220 an offset force signal to be summed with signals 146, 180, and 184 at summation 144. No need to be particularly fast

FIG. 11 shows in schematic form some of the parameters represented by the signals of FIG. 10 in relation to the actuator for one of the rollers of the vertical reference line 221, the car and the forward and backward roller guide embodiment. The roller on the other side of the rail is not necessarily so, but may be mechanically connected directly to the roller 100. However, for the controller of FIG. 10, it is assumed that the rollers are mechanically connected as shown in FIG. 16, so that FIG. 11 is in this environment, ie only one position controlled for two rollers. It should be observed to have only (large) actuators. If the forward and backward rollers are not directly connected as in FIG. 16, a control system as shown in FIG. 25 is used to independently drive the two rollers by separate position-based control loops. In this case, the car 10 is connected by the rigid connection member 229 to the motor drive actuator 230 attached to the car. The spring portion 232 of the actuator 106 may be a rotatable spring with a spring constant 216 as shown in FIG. 10. This spring 232 is attached to the wheel 100 of FIG. 9 by arms 102a and 102b. Wheel 100 represents the primary suspension of FIG. 2A, and spring 216 and actuator 230 represent the secondary suspension. Although the secondary suspension is shown to be firmly attached to the car, it is possible to implement it in other ways. Alternatively, it is also possible to omit all the rigid deposits by elastically connecting both sides. In either case, such a change can be easily devised by merely roughly changing the control system and its drawings shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 to perform the same function. The same applies to the principle.

The rail offset is the distance from the rail 16 surface to the vertical reference 221, which is schematically shown in FIG. 11 by dashed line 240. Of course, this offset changes due to the imperfections in the front-rear direction at the time of installation. This rail offset is shown as a signal on line 186 in FIG. The gap signal on line 190 of FIG. 10 is shown in FIG. 11 as the distance between line 240 and vertical line 242 of the vertical edge closest to line 240 as the vertical edge of car 10. The position signal on line 154 of FIG. 10 is shown in FIG. 11 as the distance between vertical reference 221 and line 242.

The movement of the actuator shown by line 212 in FIG. 10 (which is obtained from the gap error signal on line 200) is indicated as the distance X _A between line 242 and line 244 in FIG. 11. Thus, this distance X _A can be thought of as the position of the actuator moving with the magnitude of the gap error signal on the line 200. Also, the difference between the position of the actuator relative to the car and the gap between the car and the rail is shown in FIG. 11 as corresponding to the distance between line 240 and line 244. This is indicated as the signal on line 218 in FIG. This difference signal is converted in accordance with the spring constant at block 216 of FIG. 10 to become a force on line 220 to be summed at adder 144, thereby canceling the forward and backward offset from the correct vertical position.

12 and 13 illustrate another embodiment of the secondary suspension device in the form of an 'active' roller guide according to the present invention, in which the primary suspension device in the form of a roller cluster 300 is shown in detail. While one of the rollers (lateral roller) is positioned high relative to the other two rollers, it can be seen that the roller cluster 300 is a roller of a relatively conventional configuration located on the rail 301. However, it is only known that such clusters are used passively, and it is not known at all that such conventional roller clusters are used with actuators. In addition, in this embodiment of the present invention, the use of actuators in conjunction with such clusters is also disclosed, as well as novel methods with unique selections and configurations to operate in accordance with the present invention.

The cluster 300 has a lateral guide roller 302 and front and rear guide rollers 304, 306. The roller cluster 300 is mounted on a base plate 308 fixed to the crosshead (not shown) of the elevator cap frame. The guide rail 301 is a conventional generally T-shaped structure having a base flange 310 for fixing to the hoist wall and a blade 314 protruding into the hoistway toward the rollers 302, 304, 306. . The blade 314 has an end face 316 which is engaged by the lateral roller 302 and a side 318 which is engaged by the front and rear rollers 304, 306. The guide rail blade 314 extends through the slot 320 in the roller cluster base plate 308 so that the rollers 302, 304, 306 can engage the blade 314.

As clearly shown in FIG. 13, the lateral roller 302 is journaled on a link 322 mounted on the pedestal 324 to pivot through the pivot pin 326. The bearing 324 is fixed to the base plate 308. Link 322 has a cup 328 for receiving one end of coil spring 330. The other end of the spring 330 is engaged by a spring guide 332 connected by a bolt 336 to the end of the insert ball screw adjustment device 334. This adjusting device 334 can be stretched or retracted by the spring 330 to change the force on the link 322, ie the roller 302. This ball screw adjustment device 334 is mounted on a U-shaped link 338 that is bolted to the platform 340, which platform 340 is also secured to the base plate 308 by brackets 342 and 344. . Using the platform 340 and the brackets 342 and 344 in this way allows a conventional roller guide assembly to directly unfasten onto an existing base plate 308. The ball screw adjusting device 334 is driven by the electric motor 346. Ball screw actuators suitable for use in connection with the present invention are available from Motion Systems Corporation, 07702 Shrewsbury Box 11, NJ. The actuator motor 346 may be a direct current or alternating current motor, all of which are available from Motion Systems Corporation. Motion Systems Model 85151/85152 actuators have been found to be particularly suitable for use in the present invention. These devices have an AC or DC motor 346 attached to a gear reducer 348 for motor speed reduction to drive a ball drive actuator, which is an epicyclic ball screw 334, the cover of which is only Is shown. Alternatively, a brushless DC motor may be provided. Although only schematically shown, a position sensor 349, such as a potentiometer or light sensor, is attached to the car frame by attaching the reducer 348 to a lip on the back of the spring holder 332, so that the straightness of the screw is also increased. Can also be measured. This position sensor fulfills the role of the sensor 127a shown in FIG. Of course, other position sensors may also be used.

The guide roller 302 is journaled on an axis 350 mounted in the adjustable receptor 352 in the upper end of the link 322. The pivot stop member 354 is mounted on a threaded rod 356 extending through the passage 358 in the upper end of the bearing 324. Rod 356 is screwed into a hole 362 in link 322. The stop member 354 is operated by selectively interlocking with the bearing 324 to limit the degree of movement of the link 322 counterclockwise about the pin 326 and thus away from the rail (arrow D To limit the degree of movement of the roller 302. The bearing stand 324 is formed to have a well 364 having a magnetic button 366 containing a rare earth compound. Samaririum cobalt is a rare earth compound that can be used in the magnetic button 366. At the closest end of the end 370, a steel tube 368, including a Hall effect detector (not shown), is mounted in the passage extending through the link 322. The magnetic button 366 and the hall effect detector form a proximity sensor and are operably connected to a switch that controls power to the electric motor 346. This proximity sensor detects a gap between the magnetic button 366 and the steel pipe 368, which reflects the distance between the pivot stop member 354 and the bearing 324. As shown in FIG. Thus, when the steel pipe 368 and its Hall effect detector are moved away from the magnet 366, the pivot stop member 354 is moved toward the bearing 324. The detector generates a signal proportional to the magnitude of the gap between itself and the magnetic button 366, which is used to control the electric motor 346, whereby the ball screw 334 jack is coupled with the link 322. The roller 302 is moved towards the rail, or optionally away from the rail. Depending on the type of control system used, the stop member 354 may be prevented from contacting the bearing 324 or at least not from contacting continuously. By doing so, the roller 302 is continually damped by the spring 330 and is ensured not to contact the base plate 308 by the stop member 354 and the bearing 324. Lateral mechanics of the car due to asymmetrical passenger loads or other direct car force are also corrected. As mentioned, the electric motor 346 can be a reversible motor, whereby adjustments to each side of the cap can be made in both directions, ie in the direction towards the rail and away from the rail.

12, 13, and 14, mounting of the front and rear rollers 304, 306 on the base plate 308 is now described. Each roller 304, 306 is mounted on a link 370 connected to the swing pin 372, which has a crank arm 374 on its end remote from the rollers 304, 306. . The shaft 376 of the rollers 304, 306 is mounted in an adjustable recess 378 in the link 370. Swivel pin 372 is mounted in split bushings 380 received in groove 382 formed in base block 384 and cover plate 386, and block 384 and cover plate 386 Bolted together on base plate 308. A planar spiral spring 388 (see FIG. 15) is mounted in a space 389 (see FIG. 12) and is connected to a crank arm 374 with an outer end 390 and a rotatable collar ( Has an inner end 392 connected to it (not shown), the rotatable collar is rotated by a gear train (not shown) mounted in the gear box 394, and the gear train is reversed. Possible electric motor 396 can be rotated in any direction. Spiral spring 388 is a suspension spring for roller 306 that provides a spring bias force that propels roller 306 against rail blades 318. Spiral spring 388 provides restoring force to roller 306 via crank arm 374 and pivot pin 372 when rotated by electric motor 396, thereby providing direct restraint in the front-rear direction, such as asymmetric occupant load on the car. Offset the capping in the fore and aft direction caused by the car force.

Rotating position sensors (not shown), such as RVDTs, rotatable potentiometers, or the like, may be provided to perform the functions of sensor 127a of FIG. 9. One end of this sensor may be attached to the crank arm 374 and the other end to the base plate 308.

Each roller 304, 306 is independently controlled by a respective electric motor and, if necessary, by a spiral spring, as shown in FIG. 25, or as shown in FIGS. 10, 11, 12, and 16, It can be mechanically interconnected and controlled by only one motor / spring set. The interconnects operable for the rollers 304, 306 are shown in detail in FIG. 16. In Figures 14 and 16, the link 370 has a U-shaped link 398 extending downward, in which a bolt hole 400 is formed. This U-shaped link 398 extends downwardly through the gap 402 in the base plate 308. The collar 404 is connected to the U-shaped link 398 by bolts 406. The connecting rod 408 is inserted through the collar 404 and secured with a pair of nuts 409 threaded onto the threaded end of the rod 408. Coil spring 410 is mounted on rod 408 to bias collar 404 to rotate link 370 counterclockwise about pivot pin 372 as shown in FIG. It can be seen that the opposing roller 304 has the same link and collar assembly connected to the opposite end of the rod 408 and biased clockwise by a spring. It can be seen that the clockwise movement of the link 370 by the electric motor 396 also results in the counterclockwise movement of the opposing link due to the connecting rod 408. At the same time, the spring 410 allows the two links to pivot in opposite directions if necessary due to discontinuities on the rail blades 318. Thus, smooth and smooth running is also performed by two roller links connected together by a connecting rod.

As shown in FIG. 16, a stationary and position sensor assembly similar to that described above is mounted on link 370. Block 412 is bolted to base plate 308 under arm 414 formed on link 370. Cup 417 is secured to block 412 and includes a magnetic button 416 formed of rare earth elements such as samarium cobalt. The steel pipe 418 is mounted in the passage 420 in the link arm 414, and a hall effect detector is attached to the lower end of the steel pipe 418 to constitute a proximity sensor that monitors the position of the link 370. The pivot stop member 422 is mounted on the end of the link arm 414 facing the block 412 to limit the range of possible pivotal movements of the link 370 and the roller 306 moving away from the rail blades 314. do. The distance between the pivot stop member 422 and the block 412 is proportional to the distance between the hall effect detector and the magnetic button 416. The Hall effect detector may, for example, stop member 422 come within a preset distance from block 412 such that motor 396 pivots link 370 through spiral spring 410 to stop stop member 422. Each time it moves away from block 412, or in another example, in a proportional, proportional-integral, or proportional-integral-differential feedback loop, the position signal is compared to a reference point and the difference therebetween is somewhat continuous by the loop. And as a feedback signal operative to operate the electric motor 396 to be zero. The position sensor 127a of FIG. 9 may then be used to track the position of the actuator relative to the base plate 308 as described in connection with FIG. 25. In either case, this movement will push the roller 306 against the rail blade 314 and force the roller 304 through the connecting rod 408 in the direction as shown by arrow E in FIG. 16. do. Simultaneous shifting of the rollers 304, 306 corrects the inclination or bias of the lift cap in the fore and aft direction caused by, for example, asymmetrical occupant load.

12, 13 and 17, an electromagnet having coils 430, 432 is mounted on U-shaped core 434, which is also mounted on bracket 344. The bracket 334 itself is mounted on the base plate 308. As noted above, the shaft 334 of the ball drive exerts a force along the axis of the ball screw against the pivoted link 322. The link 322 pivots about the turning pin 326, extends downwardly down the turning pin toward the electromagnet coils 430, 432, and separates from the core faces of the electromagnet core 434 and crosses the gap therebetween. The thrust electrons have a face 438 that receives the flux.

18 shows cup 364, which should be made of a ferromagnetic material, in which a rare earth magnet is mounted. The depressions in the cup may, for example, have a depth of 15 mm, as shown, having an inner diameter of 25 mm and an outer diameter of 30 mm. The sleeve 368 may have, for example, a length of 45 mm, an inner diameter of 12 mm, and an outer diameter of 16 mm. A hall cell 440 is located near the opening of the sleeve 368, where it can sense the flux from the magnet 366. The composition of the sleeve is, according to the principles of the present invention, a ferromagnetic material, which allows the hole cell's ability to sense magnetic flux from the magnet and also provide isolation from the flux generated by an electromagnet mounted elsewhere on the roller guide. It is to improve.

Position transducer specification

1. Magnetic transducers may be used.

2. Working range: 10mm

3. Repeatability: 0.1mm

4. Temperature range: 0-55 ℃

5. Temperature Coefficient: <.02% / C

6. Magnetic field sensitivity: The effect on the transducer output by 100 gauss at a distance of 30mm should be less than 0.5%.

7. Power supply voltage: 9-15VDC

8. Lead: Separate signal and power ground wires and use twisted shielded pairs.

19 shows a hole cell 440a mounted on the surface of the reaction plate 438 and a plate associated with the coil 430 (also shown as the projection 430a) shown in FIGS. 12, 13 and 17 ( The protrusion 434a of the electromagnet core 434 mounted on 438 is shown. The sensor may also be mounted on the surface of the core itself, but may overheat at that location.

Hall sensor assembly specification

1. Use on the surface of electromagnets or on opposite surfaces.

2. Operation range: 0.05-1.0 Tesla

3. Accuracy: Up to 5% is allowed, but 2% is preferred.

4. Scale factor: 10V / Tesla

5. Temperature range: 0-55 ℃

6. Temperature Coefficient: <.02% / ℃

7. Thickness: Can't exceed 2.0mm.

8. Power supply voltage: ± (12 ~ 15) VDC

9. Lead: Separate signal and power ground wires and use twisted shielded pairs.

Returning now to the forward and backward direction roller 306, a pair of electromagnets 444 and 446 are shown in FIG. The block 448 portion of the link 370 shown in FIGS. 14 (perspective view) and 16 (section view) has an extension 450 (not shown in FIG. 14) shown in FIGS. The extension has a surface 452 opposite the pair of core faces (only one surface 454 thereof is shown in FIG. 16) associated with the core 456 on which the coils 444 and 446 are mounted.

20 is a side view of the ferromagnetic core and is used to mount the coils 430, 432 of FIG. 12 or the coils 444, 446 of FIG. 13. Dimensions shown are in millimeters. 21 is a plan view of the same core, having a depth dimension shown along a pair of coils, shown in dashed lines. The cores of FIGS. 20 and 21 can be made of particle-oriented (M6) 29 gauge steel, mounted on an angle iron, for example by welding. For example, the coils 430 and 432 need to be paired, each with about 350 turns of 1.15 mm diameter, for example. Coil connections shall be in series to achieve parallel reconnection. Wire insulation may be medium (double) structure GP200 or equivalent constant 200C at 200 ° C. Impregnation may be a vacuum rate of at least 180C. The coil operating voltage can be about 250 volts, and the coil itself can be high potential, so if necessary, ground test at about 2.5 kilovolts. The connecting coil lead may be a twisted wire, having a diameter of 1.29 mm and a length of about 50 cm. It weighs approximately 2.0 kg and consists of 0.8 kg of iron and 1.2 kg of copper. At an air gap of 2 to 10 mm with a magnetic flux density of about 0.6 Tesla, a force of about 200 N (Newtons) can be obtained. This design is suitable for the active roller guide described above. It has an opposing force capability of more than double that required.

FIG. 22 illustrates a pair of active roller guides 440, 442 for lateral secondary suspension mounted to the bottom of elevator car 444. 22 also shows a control system for the corresponding pair of electromagnets 446 and 448. Although other control means may be used, acceleration feedback is used in the above-described control circuit for the electromagnet. Acceleration control is described again (in more schematic form) in relation to the position control of the high-force actuator with reference to FIG. 25. Accelerometer 450 measures the lateral acceleration of the platform bottom and may be located between two active roller guides 440 and 442. The direction of sensitivity of the accelerometer is represented by an arrow labeled S-S, which is perpendicular to the wall of the hoistway. The sensed signal on line 452 is provided to signal processor 454, which, in response, provides a force command signal to second signal processor 458 via line 456. The second processor can be made up of separate components to provide faster response. The force command signal on line 456 is summed with the force feedback signal on line 458 in summer 460, which adds a force to the steering circuit consisting of a pair of diodes 464 and 466 via line 462. Provide an error signal. Positive force error signal is conducted through diode 464, while negative force error signal is conducted through diode 466. Left and right sides provided to the PWM control device to prevent sudden turn-on or turn-off operation of the two electromagnets 446,448 near the intersection between the positive and negative force responses as shown in FIG. A bias voltage is provided to bias the signal. This is done by potentiometer 472 and a pair of summers 468 and 470 biased to a suitable voltage to provide the force summing technique illustrated in FIG. By doing so, the transition between the two electromagnets can be made flexible. The pair of pulse width modulation control means 474, 476 responds to the summed signals from the summers 468, 470 and the signals on the respective output lines 482, 484 from the summers 468, 470. Signals with variable duty cycles according to magnitude are provided on lines 478 and 480, respectively.

Force feedback on line 458 is provided from summer 486 responsive to a first force signal on line 488 and a second force signal on line 490. Square circuit 492 responds to the sensed flux signal on line 494 from hole cell 496 and provides a first force signal on line 488 by square and scaling the flux signal on line 494. do. Similarly, square circuit 498 responds to the sensed flux signal on line 500 from hall cell 502. These pairs of hole cells 496 and 502 are placed on one of the core faces of their respective electromagnets so as to be in a position to detect the flux between each arm 504 and 506 of the roller guides 440 and 442 and the electromagnet. Is mounted on.

The signal processor 454 of FIG. 22 is programmed to perform the compensation described in detail with respect to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5.

The signal processor 458 of FIG. 22 is shown in more detail in FIG. Here, the integrated circuit 530, which may be an analog device AD534, responds to a force command signal on line 456, a first flux signal on line 494, and a second flux signal on line 500, as shown in FIG. 22. Provide a force error signal on line 462 as shown. PI controller 552 amplifies the force error signal and passes through a circuit of 100 volts per volt (i.e. gain 100) to a precision rectifier or diode control circuit 464, 466 similar to that briefly shown in FIG. Provide an amplified signal through line 554. Inverter 558 inverts the output of steering circuit 464 such that the signals on lines 560 and 562 applied to summers 468 and 470 have a corresponding polarity. The summed signal on lines 482 and 484 is provided to a PWM controller, which may be a Signals NE / SE 5560 type controller. These controllers provide variable duty cycle signals through lines 478 and 480, which are also provided to high voltage gate drive circuits 560 and 562, which drive circuits to gate circuits 564 and 566. In addition, the bridge circuit also supplies current to the electromagnets 446 and 448.

Amplifiers 568 and 570 monitor the current in the bridge circuit and provide a shutdown signal to PWM controllers 474 and 476 in the presence of overcurrent.

The reference signal may also be provided by a potentiometer 572 to a comparator 574 that compares the output of the current sensor 570 with respect to the reference signal, where the output signal of the current sensor 570 has a potentiometer 572. Provide a signal on line 576 as signal on line 580 to high voltage gate driver 562 when the reference signal from &lt; RTI ID = 0.0 &gt; Thermistors or thermocouples 582 can also be used in a heat sink of the circuit shown to be compared to an overtemperature reference signal on line 584 in comparator 586. Comparator 586 provides an output signal on line 588 to OR gate 578 when the temperature of the heat sink exceeds an overtemperature reference. In this case, a signal on line 580 is provided to the high voltage gate driver to shut down the H-bridge. Although the current and overtemperature protection circuit described above is not shown in the H-bridge for magnet 1 446, this is not shown for simplicity of the drawings but the same protection circuit can be provided equally for the bridge of magnet 1. Should know.

Next, referring to FIG. 25, a pair of opposing secondary suspension devices, such as the suspension devices 30 and 31b shown in FIG. 2A and the two lateral active roller guides 440 and 442 shown in FIG. 22. A system-level drawing is provided to illustrate the control method. This figure includes, for example, both the acceleration feedback as previously described for the pair of small actuators 446 and 448 and the position feedback for the pair of high power actuators, such as the screw actuators 600 and 602. In addition, the arrangement of FIG. 25 is also applicable to opposing suspensions (on both sides of the same rail blade) independently controlled, ie suspensions that are not mechanically linked as in FIG. 16. The elevator car mass 604 shown in FIG. 25 sums all of these in response to a disturbing force on line 610 and a number of forces on lines 612, 614, 616, 618, 620, and 622. Is influenced by the total force signal on line 606 from summer 608. The disturbance forces on line 610 may be multiple disturbance forces, all represented by one line 610. These disturbance forces may include direct car force or rail induction. The difference between these two types of forces is that the direct car force is strong but slower like wind or more static like load unbalance, and the rail inductive force is a weak high-frequency disturbance force. The force indicated on lines 612-622 represents the force that counteracts the disturbing force on line 610. In either case, the total force on line 606 accelerates elevator mass 604 with the acceleration shown on line 624. The elevator system integrates acceleration (ACC) at integrator 626 to represent a specific speed of the moving car as represented by line 628, which is then again integrated at integrator 630 and represented by line 632. The change in position relative to the lift car mass as shown.

The electromagnets 446, 448 and the driver as represented by the signal processor 458 of FIG. 22 are shown together in FIG. 25 as a block 634 responsive to a signal on the line 636 from the summer 638, Summer 638 responds to a force command signal on line 456 from digital signal processor 454 shown in FIG. 22, which in FIG. 25 is shown as a 'filter and compensation network 454'. have. This block performs the compensation and filtering described in detail with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5. The position control acceleration signal on line 640 may be provided from the gap error signal on line 698. It is noted that the acceleration signal may be used to enable high speed control to assist low speed control. This assistance is also uniquely provided by direct sensing with an accelerometer. Accelerometer 450 of FIG. 22 responds to elevator car acceleration on line 624 which is modulated by an acceleration vertical component on line 650 that is summed with the actual acceleration signal in summer 652 as shown in FIG. . In this way, since the lateral acceleration indicated by reference numeral S-S in FIG. 22 is modulated by a small vertical component, the signal on the line 452 may not be a purely lateral acceleration. Similarly, the accelerometer is subject to drift as shown on signal line 654, which component of the drift is summed with the output of accelerometer 450 at summer 656 to produce a spurious acceleration signal. Form. Finally, the sensed acceleration signal is provided to processor 454 via line 658. This concludes the description of the acceleration loop.

The two electromagnets 446 and 448 in FIG. 22 do not exhibit the problem of 'opposition' or 'fighting' each other due to the fact that control is coordinated between the two. In the case of two large actuators facing each other, for example, two ball screw actuators 600 and 602, there is a similar problem in operating them separately because they may be in conflict with each other. Next, the concept of controlling the two high power actuators 600 and 602 shown in FIG. 22 by manipulating the operation of one or the other of the actuators will be described.

As shown in FIG. 25, a novel technique for generating a centering command signal and adjusting the signal to control two opposing actuators, similar to FIG. 11, but enlarged to show both sides of the car and guide rolls. It is explained in connection with. The reference point is marked with '0'. The pair of elevator hoist walls 660 and 662 have corresponding pairs of rails 664 and 666 attached thereto. On the surface of the rail, primary suspension devices, such as rollers 668 and 670, move on the surface of the corresponding rail at the distances indicated by XRAIL2 and XRAIL1, respectively. In FIG. 25, the spring constant K2, shown by block 671a, acts between the roller 668 and the actuator 600, and the block 671b, the spring constant K1, acts as the roller 670 and the actuator 602. Acts between). The position of the actuator 600 relative to the car 604 is indicated by the distance X2 and the distance between the car 604 and the centering position 671 is indicated positively relative to the left side of the centering position. The distance between the elevator car 604 and the rail 664 surface is denoted by GAP2, and thus the distance between the actuator 664 and the rail surface is GAP2-X2. GAP20 represents the distance between the hoist wall 660 and the car 604 when the car 604 is centered. The same applies to the other side of the car.

Referring first to FIG. 2A again, the position sensor 27c measures the distance between one side of the secondary suspension device 30 and the elevator car 27 and provides a signal indicative thereof. The amount X1 is shown in relation to the position of actuator 602 in FIG. 26. In FIG. 2A another position sensor 27a measures the distance GAP1 between the elevator car 27 and the primary suspension device 28 and provides a signal indicative thereof. A quantity representing this, that is, gap 1 (GAP1) is shown in FIG.

On the other side of the car 27 in FIG. 2A, a pair of sensors 27d and 27b respectively measure the amounts X2 and GAP2 to determine the distance between one side of the suspension device 31b and the car 27 and 1. Signals indicative of the distance between the vehicle suspension system 31 and the car 27, respectively.

In designing a control system that controls the secondary suspension devices 30, 31b of FIG. 2A to properly maintain the position of the car to prevent the two suspension devices 30, 31b from quarreling with each other or crashing into their acceptable driving boundaries. At the same time, we must devise a control strategy to prevent such things from happening.

Referring now again to FIG. 25, a position sensor similar to sensor 126 shown in FIG. 9 is shown in FIG. 26 as block 676 for measuring both GAP1. Similarly, position sensor 678 measures both GAP2. Although a pair of sensors 676, 678 are shown in Figures 22 and 25, this function of measuring these gaps GAP1, GAP2 is a single, but no amount of self-centering signal obtained by taking the difference between the two GAP signals. Can be performed by a sensor. It will be appreciated that these measured amounts relate to the amounts shown in FIG. 25 according to the following equation.

GAP1 = -POS-XRAIL1 + GAP10, and

GAP2 = POS-XRAIL2 + GAP20.

FIG. 25 is similar to FIG. 10 in many respects, but with two position sensors 676, 678 responsive to the position POS of the cap indicated on line 632, and the home position whenever a large actuator is not used as an actuator. Or it has an additional inner loop with a position sensor for retracting to the zero position. The two gap position lines GAP10 and GAP20 in FIG. 26 represent the distance between the car and the hoistway wall when the car is centered. They are also represented as 'signals' applied to summers 684, 686 in generating the physical gaps indicated as GAP1 and GAP2. They are useful for understanding the system.

Output signals from position sensors 676 and 678 are provided to summer 696 via respective signal lines 692 and 694, which summer 696 finds the deviation between the two signal magnitudes, and line 698. Provides a difference (centering control) signal to the lag filter 700 through the lag filter 700, the lag filter 700 provides a filtered centering control signal to the junction 704 via the line 702, the junction 704 Each of the pair of precision rectifiers 706 and 708 provides a filtered difference signal, which, together with the junction 704, outputs the filtered centering signal on the line 702 to only one rectifier at a time. A steering control circuit is configured. A pair of geared motor control circuits 710 and 712 are shown, one of which is a relatively slow signal on line 714 or 712 integrated by the system represented by integrating circuit 716 or 718. Actuating the spring constant 671d or 671c in response to the steered centering command signal by moving to the actuator position X1 or X2 indicated by line 720 or 722 to either line 616 or 614. Provide the power marked with. In such a control system, it should be noted that the spring constants 671b and 671d are associated with the same spring that is actuated by the actuator 710. Likewise, the spring constants 671a, 671c are associated with the same spring as in this case operated by the actuator 712. The pair of position feedback circuits 720 and 722 are responsive to the actuator positions indicated by lines 720 and 722 and provide a feedback position signal on lines 728 and 730 indicating the position of the actuator relative to the car. It includes a sensor. These location signals may be subject to signal conditioning that may include providing a low gain feedback path. A pair of summers 732 and 734 indicate the difference between them in response to a feedback signal on lines 728 and 730 and a centering command signal on lines 740 and 742 steered by the steering control circuit, respectively. The difference signal is provided through lines 736 and 738. One of the pair of output signals on lines 740 and 742 from precision rectifiers 706 and 708 will include a steered centering command signal on line 702 and the other will be '0'. Of course. 0 means a command having the same magnitude as is required to return the actuator to its zero position, where the zero position is the position required to maintain the preload for the primary suspension at least as the desired preload.

Next, referring to FIG. 27, the response of the position transducer as shown in FIG. 18 is shown. This is an experimentally determined response characteristic. Although the response characteristics for a particular transducer are shown, it will be appreciated that any other suitable type of position sensor can be used, including linear position sensors. The summation of the two signals on lines 692 and 694 is shown in FIG. 26 over the entire range of elevator car displacements (measured for the particular sensing configuration shown). The positioning of the link on the active guide according to the embodiment shown is anticipated that the displacement will not be greater than 10 mm. Thus, it will be appreciated that two position sensors for the corresponding two roller guides may be seamlessly coupled, as shown in FIG. 28 in response characteristics, to be provided for the lag filter 700 of FIG. 24. .

Disclosure of the Invention

Recall that the principles of the present invention can be applied to a general guide, so that a number of guides 20, 22, 24, 26 are described as general guides in FIG. Subsequently, an embodiment of the present invention employing a roller guide is illustrated. It is now briefly explained that the present invention can also be used for other types of guides.

Referring to FIG. 29, guides 20a, 22a, 24a, 26a are shown for guiding the car 10a between pairs of hoist rails 16a, 18a attached to the hoist walls 19c, 19d. Each of these guides has a primary suspension comprising an electromagnet denoted as 'P' and a secondary suspension denoted as 'S'. As mentioned above, the secondary suspension device may be similar to that shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. On the other hand, the primary suspension device may each have a core 750 that is considerably longer than its width, as shown in FIG. 30. This provides superior high speed performance and stronger forward and backward guide forces than those provided in the previously disclosed electromagnet actuators as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-39753 or Publication No. 60-36279, which disclose shorter cores. This can provide Regardless of the length of the core, the primary suspension associated with the secondary suspension may be an electromagnet. This can be oriented with respect to the C-shaped rail 752, and as shown in FIG. 31, the C-shaped rail has a core having a coil 754 on one leg and a coil 765 on the other leg. 750 is contacted to provide flux for a flux path consisting of C-shaped rail 752, core 750 and gaps therebetween. The core 752 is, of course, attached to the secondary suspension attached to the car. In this case, the ball screw actuator 757 is pushed on a core having a spring similar in configuration to that shown in FIG. 2B. Also shown is a pair of stabilization guides 757a, 757b, which may be passive or active actuated, eg, solenoid operated. In the active case, it can be placed in parallel with the actuator 757 and used as an accessory for adding stability. Such suspension can also be used on the opposite hoist wall for lateral stabilization. Also shown in FIG. 31 are a pair of additional front and rear suspensions 757c and 757d, which are used in the same way on the opposite rail.

As shown in FIG. 32, for example, a pair of electromagnet actuators or electromagnet bearings 760, 762 for a more conventionally shaped rail 758 that may have a blade 5 cm in length and 19 mm in end face dimension. Are disposed facing each other to face the opposing faces 764, 766 of the blade 759. A pair of coils 768, 770 are wound around the member connecting the two legs of each of the cores 772, 774, respectively. In this type of configuration, lateral control is achieved by the natural resistance of the electromagnet to lateral movement.

In one embodiment of the primary suspension shown in FIG. 32, the width of the core surface is 1 cm. Assuming these cores are 25 cm long and the flux is 0.6 Tesla, the force per core is about 716 Newtons of attraction. This is, of course, a force in the front-rear direction, but a lateral force of the same size is available without the need to add an electromagnet. If desired, a third rail is used at the rear of the car to aid in lateral stabilization, and a similar pair of cores can also be used on that rail.

Thus, for the presented example, the length of the core is observed to be five times longer than the width, which should not be considered as limiting because it is merely an example, and the purpose is that the pole is much larger than its width. It is intended to provide an indication that it has a greater length. As mentioned above, the shape of the electromagnet used is not essential because the various types of primary suspension devices have been disclosed for the purpose of demonstrating the broad applicability of the disclosed general concepts rather than limitations.

Likewise, the primary suspension device 28 of FIG. 1, 2A or 2B may be a sliding guide that travels along a guide rail as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B of US Pat. No. 4,570,590, the guide in this patent. The shoe is laterally adjustable using a hydraulic cylinder mounted to the elevator car.

Another example of a primary suspension is shown in FIG. 33, which is a guide rail 786 mounted on a hoist wall 788 with a pair of springs 776, 778 inserted between a corresponding pair of hydraulic cylinders 780, 782. A guide shoe having a 45 degree inclined actuator similar to that of Otala and that disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,750,778, except for operating the guide shoe 784 running on. In addition, a base or carriage 790 is mounted on the elevator car 792. If the designer wants to avoid the complexity introduced by using non-orthogonal force actuators and does not mind the increase in cost due to the additional actuators per rail, three orthogonally oriented actuators may be used as described above. In this case, the sliding guide shoe 784 is not essential, but of course, unlike the integral shoe shown, may include independent front and rear shoes.

It will be readily appreciated from the foregoing that the guide system and control system of the present invention provide an improved good ride comfort for the occupant in the elevator cap. Various changes and modifications to the disclosed embodiments of the present invention can be made without departing from the concept of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to other than the claims.

Claims (15)

A pair of secondary suspensions are connected to each of the associated primary suspension and one of the pair of opposing primary suspensions to guide the elevator car to the associated pair of opposing hoist rails. In the secondary horizontal suspension device having, First and second gap sensors respectively providing first and second gap signals having a magnitude indicative of a distance of the car from the rail, Means for providing a first difference signal having a magnitude and a sign indicating a difference therebetween in response to the first and second gap signals; In response to the primary signal, providing the primary signal and a return to zero signal to the first and second output signal ports, respectively, if the sign of the difference signal is positive; Steering means for providing the zero return signal and the primary signal to the first and second output signal ports, respectively, when the sign of the difference signal is negative; First and second position sensors responsive to positions of the first and second actuators, respectively, to provide first and second position signals having magnitudes indicating their positions; First and second summing means for respectively responsive to output signals from said first and second output signal ports and responsive to said first and second position signals, respectively, to provide first and second actuation signals, respectively; Including, The first and second actuators, respectively in response to the first and second actuation signals, are alternatively positioned for actuation or maintain at least a selected force on an associated one of the primary suspension devices. Horizontal suspension suspended to the selected position. The method of claim 1, Each of the gap sensors, A ferromagnetic tube having one end where the hole cell is positioned to detect the flux and provide the sensed flux signal; A ferromagnetic cup having a recess for receiving the one end of the tube; A magnet positioned in the cup to provide the flux to be sensed by the hole cell, And the magnitude of the sensed flux increases as the hole cell approaches the magnet. In a horizontal suspension device for suspending a lift car between a pair of opposing lift rails, First and second primary suspension devices provided on opposite sides of the elevator car for guiding the elevator car along the rails; Including first and second secondary suspension devices, The first and second secondary suspension device, The first and second respectively connected between the first and second primary suspension devices and the elevator car to control the position of the actuable spring within its position range in response to first and second control signals, respectively; A second operable spring, Sensor means for providing one or a corresponding pair of sensed position signals having a magnitude indicative of the position in response to the position of the car relative to one or both of the primary suspension devices; In response to the one or a pair of sensed position signals, a horizontal suspension comprising control means for providing the first and second control signals having a magnitude within a control range corresponding to the position range of the actuable springs. Device. The method of claim 3, wherein Means for responding to a sensed acceleration signal having a magnitude indicative of a horizontal acceleration of the elevator car, wherein the control means reacts movement between the car and one or both of the primary suspension devices in response to the acceleration signal. Horizontal suspension to control. The method of claim 3, wherein Further comprising third and fourth sensors responsive to a position of said actuated springs relative to one or more reference positions, respectively, to provide corresponding third and fourth position signals having magnitudes indicating said position, said control Means for controlling the position of the actuated spring of the secondary suspension relative to the one or more reference positions in response to the third and fourth position signals. The method of claim 3, wherein The sensor means, A ferromagnetic tube having one end at which a hole cell is located that senses the flux and provides the sensed flux signal; A ferromagnetic cup having a recess for receiving the one end of the tube; A magnet positioned in the cup to provide the flux to be sensed by the hole cell, And the magnitude of the sensed flux increases as the hole cell approaches the magnet. In the secondary horizontal suspension device connected to the primary suspension device for guiding the elevator car along the hoist rail, A spring means connected between said primary suspension device and said elevator car, Actuator means connected to the spring means to control the position of the car relative to the primary suspension device in response to a control signal between the elevator car and the primary suspension device; Control means for providing the control signal in response to the car position error signal; Summing means for providing the car position error signal in response to the sensed car position signal and the reference position signal; First sensor means for providing said sensed car position signal in response to said position of said primary suspension device relative to said elevator car; Second sensor means, in response to the position of the actuator relative to a reference, to provide a sensed actuator position signal having a magnitude indicative of the position Including, Said control means providing said control signal for controlling said position of said actuator relative to said reference in response to said sensed actuator position signal. The method of claim 7, wherein Said primary suspension is a roller cluster, said secondary suspension comprising a linear actuator for a lateral roller and a rotary actuator for at least one forward and backward roller. The method of claim 7, wherein A secondary horizontal suspension device in which a pair of forward and backward rollers are connected by a rigid, self-adjusting linkage. The method of claim 7, wherein Said actuator actuating said spring connected to a sliding guide shoe primary suspension. The method of claim 7, wherein Said actuator actuating said spring connected to an electromagnet primary suspension. The method of claim 7, wherein An acceleration sensor for providing a sensed acceleration signal in response to the acceleration of the elevator car, wherein the control means provides an acceleration-based control signal in response to the sensed acceleration signal; The actuator means includes a relatively small force actuator responsive to the acceleration based control signal and a relatively large force actuator responsive to the position-based control signal. secondary horizontal suspension comprising a force actuator. The method of claim 7, wherein The sensor means, A ferromagnetic tube having one end at which a hole cell is located that senses the flux and provides the sensed flux signal; A ferromagnetic cup having a recess for receiving the one end of the tube; A magnet positioned in the cup to provide the flux to be sensed by the hole cell, And the magnitude of the sensed flux increases as the hole cell approaches the magnet. The method of claim 3, wherein Only one control signal at a time of the first and second control signals is effective for controlling the position of the respective actuable spring. In the horizontal suspension device 32 of the elevator car 10, Primary guide means (34, 36) for guiding the elevator car along the hoist rail (16) in hoistway; A secondary guide means 57 for attaching the elevator car to the primary guide means, The secondary guide means has a control device 52 for providing a control signal 54 in response to the sensed signal, The control device In response to a first sensed signal 50, indicating the tilt or centering of the elevator car in the elevator to control the elevator car with respect to the rail to maintain the level or centering of the elevator car in the elevator. A first portion having a size to In response to the second sensed signal 55, the parameters of the operable portion 47 of the secondary guide means 57 are maintained in order to maintain at least a selected preload force with respect to the primary guide means 34, 38. With a second portion having a size to display Horizontal suspension of the lift car.