SG186544A1

SG186544A1 - Elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus

Info

Publication number: SG186544A1
Application number: SG2012036778A
Authority: SG
Inventors: Hoshino Takamichi; Matsudo Takashi; Okamura Kiyoshi; Kawashiri Shinya; Matsumoto Keiji; Takayama Naoki; Yoshimoto Shinji; Naya Hidemitsu; Inoue Shinsuke; Yoshikawa Toshifumi
Original assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Priority date: 2011-06-08
Filing date: 2012-05-18
Publication date: 2013-01-30
Also published as: JP2012254851A; CN102815584A; CN102815584B; JP5677897B2

Abstract

ELEVATOR-USE ELECTRONIC SAFETY ASSURANCE CONTROL APPARATUSAn elevator-use electronic safety assurance controlapparatus has a safety controller configured to output a command signal used to shift the elevator by using the operating states of various safety switches andsafety devices, including final limit switches, an elevator car door switch, and a bumper, in the elevatoras input information and also has a governing controller configured to control the operation of the elevator according to the command signal; since input information items are input in parallel, the safety controller can identify which of the safety switchesand safety devices has operated to indicate an abnormality, and the safety controller also decides whether to stop operation; when detecting the operation of a stop switch or a maintenance switch manipulated by a maintenance person, the governing controller sendsinformation about a place of a safety switch or safety device due to which the operation of the elevator has been stopped and about a type of abnormality to a lamp attached to a general elevator hall button on a lobby floor.Figure 1

Description

TITLE OF INVENTION

ELEVATOR-USE ELECTRONIC SAFETY ASSURANCE CONTROL

APPARATUS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION . To

The present invention relates to an electronic safety assurance system of an elevator that makes a decision as to whether an abnormal operating state has occurred in various safety switches (such as final limit switches that detect an elevator car position outside an operation range and a governor switch that detects an excess elevator car speed) and safety devices (such as a bumper and an emergency stop device) of the elevator, and more particularly te an elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus that enables even non- specialists to appropriately determine the location of an abnormal operating state.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Usually, safety switches and safety devices for an elevator include final limit switches that detect that an elevator car exceeded its normal operation range, a door switch in an elevator car, a door switch at an elevator hall, the rotary encoder of a governor that detects an excess speed of an elevator car, a circuit breaker that shuts off power to the driving motor of a hoisting machine that stops the elevator car when the rotary encoder detects an emergency, a hoisting machine brake, and an emergency stop device. As for the circuit breaker and hoisting machine, mechanical parts such as.switches, relays, and contactors are combined with electric parts.

As for the emergency stop device that directly stops an elevator car in the event of an emergency, mechanical parts such as a governor, a governor rope, and a gripping device are combined with electric parts.

A conventional elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus uses a safety device (safety controller) that, to make a decision as to whether an abnormal operating state has occurred in various safety switches and safety devices, uses electronic input information from the safety switches, the safety devices, and sensors to detect abnormalities, computes command signals used to shift the elevator to a safe state with a central processing unit (CPU), and outputs these signals to a plurality of stopping devices (circuit breaker, hoisting machine brake, emergency stop device). A safety system is structured with these constituent elements.

With a known conventional technology as disclosed in

Patent Literature 1, an oscillator sensor is attached to the contact of each switch to determine which of the switch contacts in a safety circuit has operated, thereby informing a monitoring panel of the place of a failure.

With another known technology as disclosed in Patent

Literature 2, the states of control buttons are changed so that the.status of a facility such: as an elevator can Co. be easily monitored on the screen of a display unit on a monitoring panel. As for a plant monitoring and control apparatus, a screen display technology is disclosed in

Patent Literature 3 that displays the operation status of system devices constituting a plant in an easy-to- understand manner.

PRIOR TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS

PATENT DOCUMENTS

Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei 7 (1995) -274268

Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-277109

Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei 7 (1995) -38131 :

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In conventional technologies including those in

Patent Literatures 1 to 3 described above, a dedicated display unit to display abnormal states of devices is needed and the location in which the dedicated display unit is installed and its display is confirmed is a dedicated space such as a building manager room. This has been inconvenient in that everybody cannot grasp abnormal states of devices with ease. 5 . + “An. object of the present invention is. to provide an. - ..-° elevator control apparatus that displays the location of failure in a safety switch or safety device in such a way that particularly, maintenance persons can see that place in an easy-to-understand manner without installing a dedicated display unit or adding a new display unit, and that can significantly reduce a time during which the elevator is not available after it has stopped.

To solve the problem described above, the present invention uses a structure described below.

In the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in the present invention that has a safety controller configured to a) decide whether an abnormal operating state has occurred in various safety switches and safety devices, including final limit switches, an elevator car door switch, and a bumper, in the elevator by using the operating states of those : switches and devices as input information and b) output a command signal used to shift the elevator to a safe state and also has a governing contreller configured to control the operation of the elevator according to the command signal; since input information items from the various safety switches and safety devices are input in parallel, the safety controller can identify which of the various safety switches and safety devices has operated

Co 5 . .abnormally, and the safety controller also decides Ce whether to stop the operation of the elevator; the governing controller controls stopping of the operation of the elevator according to the decision by the safety controller as to whether to stop the operation of the elevator, and when the operation of a stop switch or a maintenance switch manipulated by a maintenance person is detected, the governing controller sends information about the location of the safety switch or safety device that operated abnormally due to which the operation of the elevator has been stopped and about a type of abnormality to a lamp attached to a general elevator hall button on a lobby floor or a general elevator car position display unit in the elevator car.

According to the present invention, to ensure safety for an elevator and passengers in the elevator-use oo electronic safety assurance control apparatus that decides whether an abnormal operating state has occurred in various safety switches and safety devices, if the operation of the elevator is stopped due to an operating state of any one of the safety switches and safety devices, the location of abnormal operation in the safety switch or safety device can be indicated without having to install a dedicated display unit. Therefore, even non-specialists such as building owners can easily grasp ©. 5 the operating state. oo i

In addition, since the location of failure is : displayed in an easy-to-understand manner, when the operation stops, the maintenance person can quickly take appropriate action. Therefore, it is possible to quickly avoid passengers from being stuck in the elevator and reduce the number of man-hours required to restore the elevator.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the entire structure of an elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 outlines detection of abnormal operating states by various safety switches and safety devices used in the elevator-use governing controller as well as a breaking circuit, on which the embodiment is based.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of processing carried out by the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus according to this embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows a diagnosis table based on the blinking modes of the safety switches and safety devices used in the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in this embodiment. 3 FIG. 5 illustrates an example: in which. an abnormal : . operating state detected by some of the safety switches and safety devices used in the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in this embodiment is indicated by the timing of turning on and off the elevator hall button.

FIG. 6 illustrates examples in which abnormal operating states detected by the safety switches and safety devices used in the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in this embodiment are displayed on the display screen of an elevator car position display unit (liguid crystal CPI}.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGs. 1 to 6. FIG. 1 illustrates the entire structure of an elevator including the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in this : embodiment.

The elevator in FIG. 1 includes an elevator car 1, a motor 2, a hoisting machine brake 3, an inverter 5, a circuit breaker 6, an alternating power supply 7, a main rope 10, a counter weight 11, a governor rope 12, a governor 13, a gripping device 14, an emergency stop ST device 15, a rail 16, a bumper 17, a rotary encdbder 21, final limit switches 22 and 23, a governing controller 30, a safety controller 40, an elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus 50, an intra-car manipulation panel 60, elevator hall buttons 61, 62 and 63, an elevator car door switch 70, elevator hall door switches 71, 72, and 73, a specific distance sensor 80, and shielding plates 81, 82 and 83.

In the entire structure of the electronic safety assurance elevator illustrated in FIG. 1, when the motor 2 drives the main rope 10 to which the counter weight 11 is connected, the elevator car 1 moves in the hoistway.

The motor 2 is driven by the inverter 5 connected through the circuit breaker 6 to the alternating power supply 7.

If the safety controller 40 detects the operation of the elevator car door switch 70 while the elevator car 1 is moving or detects the elevator hall door switch 71, 72, or 73 on a floor on which the elevator car is not present and if the circuit breaker 6 thereby operates, the driving force of the motor 2 is eliminated. When the hoisting machine brake 3, which is constantly operating, 1s turned on, its operation is canceled.

The elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus 50 placed near the hoistway includes the : : 5 - governing controller 30 and safety controller 40. The. .- : governing controller 30 controls the inverter 5 and operates the elevator car 1 according mainly to the input information from a destination floor button on the intra- car manipulation panel 60 having a liquid crystal car position indicator (CPL) or the elevator hall button 61, 62 or 63. The safety controller 40 receives signals from the rotary encoder 21 and final limit switch 22 or 23.

If the safety controller 40 thereby detects an event of an excess speed at a prescribed position or an exceeded position of the elevator car 1, the safety controller 40 brakes the elevator car 1 by using the hoisting machine brake 3, the circuit breaker 6, and the emergency stop device 15 operated through the gripping device 14.

The governor rope 12 is pulled by the elevator car 1 as the elevator car 1 moves, rotating the governor 13.

The governor 13, which includes the gripping device 14 : and rotary encoder 21, grips the governor rope 12 when the gripping device 14 operates. If the elevator car 1 is moving at that time, the emergency stop device 15 disposed in the elevator car 1 is displaced by the governor rope 12, which has been gripped and has stopped, by which the emergency stop device 15 holds the rail 16 running along the elevator car 1, urgently stopping the elevator car 1. The rotary encoder 21 rotates together

So 5 with the governor 13 and generates pulse signals. .

Amounts by which pulse signals generated by the : rotary encoder 21 have changed are accumulated to determine the position of the elevator car 1, and the time-average of the amounts of changes is calculated to determine the speed of the elevator car 1. When the elevator car 1 arrives at the target floor, the specific distance sensor B80 placed on the elevator car 1 faces the shielding plate 81, 82, or 83 attached to the elevator hall on the target floor, enabling the safety controller 40 in the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus 50 to detect a stop position (in the zone in which the door can be opened).

If the elevator car 1 cannot be completely stopped by the braking forces of the hoisting machine brake 3 or emergency stop device 15, the bumper 17, which is placed at the bottom of the hoistway, receives the elevator car 1 and absorbs shock.

The final limit switch 22 is disposed near the bottom of the hoistway, and the final limit switch 23 is disposed near its top. These final limit switches 22 and

23 are normally tuned off. If the elevator car 1 enters an area below the final limit switch 22, it is turned on and detects that the elevator car 1 has exceeded the normal operation range. Similarly, if the elevator car 1 : 5 enters an area above the final limit switch 23, it is turned on and detects that the elevator car 1 has exceeded the normal operation range.

In the conventional system, on which this embodiment is based, the abnormality deciding apparatus, which decides whether an abnormal operating state has occurred in various safety switches and safety devices in the elevator, is structured with a mechanical apparatus including electric circuits. Switches in the abnormality deciding apparatus are connected in series with the circuit breaker 6 with respect to the power supply, as shown in FIG. 2, for example. Therefore, if even one safety switch or safety device shows an abnormality, the circuit breaker 6 shown in FIG. 1 is immediately operated to stop the elevator car 1 to ensure safety. In the conventional system, however, it has been necessary to visually check the safety switches and safety devices one by one to identify the safety switch or safety device, in the abnormality deciding apparatus, that has operated, requiring extra effort and time.

Hence in the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus 50 in the embodiment of the present invention, the abnormality deciding apparatus is structured so that, in place of the conventional system shown in FIG. 2, an electronic safety assurance system, - that is, the safety controller 40 (contreller in the Coe elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus 50) including a CPU, can make a decision as to whether an abnormal operating state has occurred; for example, the abnormality deciding apparatus is structured so that the safety switches and safety devices are mutually connected in parallel to the safety controller 40 to supply inputs. Thus the safety controller 40 can grasp the operating state of any one of the safety switches and safety devices. The safety controller 40 then notifies the governing controller 30, which controls the operation of the elevator, of the location of an abnormality or the plurality of locations of abnormalities indicated by any one or more than one of the safety switches and safety devices shown in FIG. 2.

If, according to the received notification, the governing controller 30 detects that, for example, a maintenance switch, which is a manipulation switch used to change to an elevator maintenance operation mode, or a stop switch, which is a manipulation switch used to stop the operation of the elevator, has operated, the governing controller 30 can indicate the location of the abnormality due to which the operation of the elevator was stopped by making a lamp blink a prescribed number of times, the lamp being attached to an elevator hall button on a reference floor such as a. lobby floor on which many . --- passengers get on and get off the elevator.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of processing carried out by the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus 50 according to this embodiment. In step 301, the operating states of the safety switches and safety devices are first checked to decide whether they have operated abnormally. If it is decided that they have operated abnormally, the sequence proceeds to step 302. In step 302, to decide whether the display mode of the elevator hall buttons is a normal mode (normal display state in which the safety switches and the like are not operated) or a display mode where the location of an abnormal operating state is indicated, it is decided whether the stop switch, which is a manipulation switch for stopping elevator car operation, or the maintenance switch, which is a manipulation. switch for changing to the elevator maintenance operation mode, is turned on or off (the stop switch and maintenance switch are disposed in the elevator car and are operated by a& maintenance person during a check for failures). If either switch is turned on, the sequence proceeds to step 303. If both switches are turned off, the sequence proceeds to step 304; if the previous mode is not the display mode, the sequence is terminated. | : +. 5 In step 303, a blinking mode is set based on. the location of failure in a safety switch or safety device (see the relationship between the item names and the number of blinks shown in FIG. 4). In this blinking mode, a lamp attached to the elevator hall button 61 on the lobby floor is used, for example. If there are abnormal operations at a plurality of locations, such as, for example, the rotary encoder 21 in the elevator car 1 detecting an excess speed, corresponding to a prescribed position, and the final limit switch 22 or 23 detecting an excess position, a blinking mode is set according to the priority preset as shown in FIG. 4. If a speed excess and a position excess are detected at the same time as described above, in the example in FIG. 4, the speed excess at No. 1 is prioritized. If the number of blinks is a prescribed value or more (five or more in FIG. 4, for example) in this blinking mode, it indicates that the location of the failure is in the tower excluding the elevator car (rather than at the elevator halls).

That is, if at least one of the safety switches and safety devices operates abnormally, the display state of the lamp attached to the relevant elevator hall button is changed from the normal mode {a mode indicating a display state in normal elevator operation) to the abnormal operation location display mode (blinking mode indicating : 5 the location of the abnormal operation by the number of blinks). The location of the abnormal operation is identified by the number of times the lamp blinks (the : location of the abnormal operation is identified by checking the number of times the lamp attached to the elevator hall button blinked against the diagnosis table shown in FIG. 4). When the number of blinks is five or more, it indicates that the failure involves a risk; a maintenance person must enter the tower for inspection.

Information as to whether there is a need to inspect the interior of the tower (instead of completing inspection only in the elevator car) is important decision information in maintenance work. Therefore, to display and indicate the location of a safety switch or safety device that indicates an abnormal operating state and the type of abnormality is important in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows a diagnosis table based on the blinking modes of the safety switches and safety devices used in the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the item names of abnormal operating states indicated by the safety switches and safety devices, the number of blinks corresponding to the item names, and a priority order for the item names in terms of safety are tabulated in advance. 5 . In step 305, processing to. have the lamp, which is attached to the elevator hall button 61 on the lobby floor, blink is performed according to the blinking mode setting as illustrated in the timing diagram in FIG. 5, that is, commands to turn on and off the lamp attached to the elevator hall button 61 are output to the elevator hall button 61. In steps 304 to 306, the elevator hall button 61 on the floor lobby is turned off only once when the display mode is cleared, and processing is then terminated.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example in which detection of abnormal operating states of -the safety switches and safety devices used in the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in this embodiment is indicated by the timing of turning on and off the elevator hall button. The example in FIG. 5 illustrates the blinking state of the lamp attached to the elevator hall button when, it is detected that the emergency stop device 15 has operated abnormally due to excess speed based on an output from the rotary encoder 21. In this example, six blinks in 10 seconds are indicated for the

- 17 = elevator hall button 61. The safety switch or safety device that has operated abnormally can be identified by comparing the number times the lamp attached to the elevator hall button has blinked with the number of : 5. blinks in the diagnosis table .in FIG. 4. EE "In a series of processes in FIG. 3, diagnosis is carried out at periodic intervals {0.5 second intervals for example) by using a timer of the CPU mounted in the governing controller 30, according to information that is i0 sent from the safety controller 40 and related to the . location at which an abnormal operation occurred {information about the installation location of an abnormal safety switch or safety device indicating an abnormality and about the type of abnormality in input information, by which the stopping of operation was decided). Therefore, a process load is minimized and the operation of the elevator is not impeded.

FIG. 6 illustrates examples showing how abnormal operating states detected by the safety switches and safety devices used in the elevator-use electronic safety .. assurance control apparatus in this embodiment are displayed on the display screen of an elevator car position display unit (liquid crystal CPI). In the examples in FIG. 6, if a safety switch or safety device operates abnormally and the maintenance person then manipulates a maintenance switch (it may be the stop switch) and if the switching of the switch manipulated by the maintenance person is detected, the location of the abnormal operation of the safety switch or safety device, - 5 due to which the operation.of the elevator has been .. stopped, is displayed on the liquid crystal CPI in the elevator car 1, rather than by the number of blinks of the lamp attached to the elevator hall button on the lobby floor.

FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary screen displayed during normal operation. The screen is divided into three areas (indicating an operation direction, the position of the elevator car, and a message indicating the opening/closing of the door, the floor at which to stop next, and usage caution) to indicate an operation guide. FIG. 6B illustrates an exemplary screen displayed while the elevator is stopping. To notify passengers of a situation different from normal operation, the background of the screen is in red. An operation direction and an elevator car position are indicated. at the top of the screen (while the elevator is operating, an arrow indicating the operation direction is scrolled in the operation direction). An operation guide is displayed at the center of the screen.

When, in this embodiment, it is detected that a maintenance switch or stop switch has been operated, the operation direction and the position of the elevator car are displayed on the top of the screen of the liquid crystal CPI as illustrated in FIG. 6C (when the elevator : 5 is not being operated, the operation direction.is not. displayed) so that the location of the abnormality by which the operation of the elevator was stopped is indicated. An elevator operation guide is also displayed at the center of the screen. The location of the abnormality is thus indicated.

As described above, in the elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus in the present invention that has a safety controller configured to decide whether an abnormal operating state has occurred "15 in various safety switches and safety devices in the elevator by using the operating states of those switches and devices as input information and output a command signal used to shift the elevator to a safe state and also has a governing controller configured to control the operation of the elevator according to the command signal; if the safety controller decides, according to the input information, stopping the operation of the elevator, the safety controller outputs a command signal, to the governing controller, that indicates the location of a safety switch or safety device due to which the operation of the elevator has been stopped.

The governing controller notifies, for example, the lamp attached to an elevator hall button on the lobby floor (or the lowest floor) or the liquid crystal CPI in the elevator car, which is connected to the governing : controller, so that the location of failure can be seen at a glance according to the command signal.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus that has a safety controller configured to decide whether an abnormal operating state has occurred by using operating states of various safety. . . switches and safety devices, including a final limit switch, an elevator car door switch, and a bumper, in an elevator, as input information and output a command signal used to shift the elevator to a safe state and also has a governing controller configured to control an operaticn of the elevator according to the command signal, wherein: since input information items from the various safety switches and safety devices are input in parallel, the safety controller identifies which of the various safety switches and safety devices has operated abnormally, and the safety controller also decides whether to stop the operation of the elevator; and the governing controller controls stopping of the operation of the elevator according to the decision by the safety controller as to whether to stop the operation . of the elevator, and when an operation of a stop switch or a maintenance switch manipulated by a maintenance person is detected, the governing controller sends information about a location of a safety switch or a safety device due to which the operation of the elevator has been stopped and about a type of abnormality to a lamp attached to a general elevator hall button on a lobby floor.

: 2. An elevator-use electronic safety assurance. - = . - ‘ control apparatus that has a safety controller configured to decide whether an abnormal operating state has occurred by using operating states of various safety switches and safety devices, including a final limit switch, an elevator car door switch, and a bumper, in an elevator, as input information and output a command signal used to shift the elevator to a safe state and also has a governing controller configured to control an operation of the elevator according to the command signal, wherein: since input information items from the various safety switches and safety devices are input in parallel, the safety controller identifies which of the various safety switches and safety devices has operated abnormally, and the safety controller also decides whether to stop the : operation of the elevator; and : the governing controller controls stopping of the operation of the elevator according to the decision by the safety controller as to whether to stop the operation of the elevator, and when an operation of a stop switch or a maintenance switch manipulated by a maintenance person is detected, the governing controller sends information about a location of a safety switch or a safety device due to which the operation of the elevator has been. stopped and about a type of abnormality to a general elevator car position display unit in an elevator car.

3. The elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the information about the location of the abnormality of the safety switch or safety device due to which the operation of the elevator has been stopped and about the type of abnormality is distinguished by the number of times the lamp attached to the general elevator hall button on the lobby floor blinks.

4. The elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus according to Claim 3, wherein when the number of times the lamp blinks is at least a prescribed number of times, the safety switch or the safety device 29 that has operated abnormally is decided as a safety switch or a safety device disposed in a tower.

5. The elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus according to Claim 3, wherein correspondence between the number of times the lamp blinks and an operating state of each safety switch or safety device is stipulated as a diagnosis table in advance.

6. The elevator-use electronic safety assurance control apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein when the governing controller controls stopping of the operation Ce of the elevator according to the decision by the safety ~~ controller as to whether to stop the operation of the elevator before the operation of the stop switch or the maintenance switch is detected, only an event that the operation of the elevator is being stopped due to an abnormal operation of any one of the various safety switches and safety devices is sent to the general elevator car position display unit in the elevator car.