SG193704A1

SG193704A1 - Control apparatus of elevator

Info

Publication number: SG193704A1
Application number: SG2013011051A
Authority: SG
Inventors: Koizumi Jun
Original assignee: Toshiba Elevator Kk
Priority date: 2012-03-30
Filing date: 2013-02-14
Publication date: 2013-10-30
Also published as: HK1185855A1; CN103359568B; CN103359568A; JP2013209209A; JP5489303B2

Description

- 1 =

CONTROL APPARATUS OF ELEVATOR

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a control apparatus of an elevator, which detects a rope swing due to a shake of a building by an earthquake or a strong wind, and executes switching to a control operation.

BACKGROUND

With an increase in height of a building, the characteristic frequency of the building lowers, and hence a resonance phenomenon tends to occur at a time of occurrence of an earthquake or a strong wind. In this case, if the characteristic frequency of the building coincides with the characteristic frequency of a rope of an elevator which is provided in an elevation shaft, the rope swings greatly due to resonance, and there is a concern that the rope may come in contact with some device in the elevation shaft or walls of the elevation shaft and a so-called “confinement accident” may occur. Incidentally, the rope of the elevator, in this context, refers to a main rope, a governor rope, etc.

To prevent such an accident, elevators in recent years include a safety apparatus called “control operation apparatus”. According to this technique, when a building shakes, the safety apparatus detects a rope swing due to the building shake, and when the amount of the rope swing exceeds a preset threshold, the elevator car is moved to an evacuation floor (non- resonance floor) and the operation service is suspended.

However, with an increase in height, buildings in recent years have structures which tend to shake.

Thus, if the building shakes due to a wind, etc., the control operation is started each time, and the operation service is hindered. In this case, if the threshold for the control operation is lowered, there is a concern that the rope swing increases and the rope may come in contact with some device in the elevation shaft or walls of the elevation shaft. In addition, if the operation is continued in the state in which the rope 1s swinging, the car may vibrate and noise may occur.

The object of the invention is to provide a control apparatus of an elevator, which can prevent an increase in rope swing when a building shakes, and ensure safety and continue an operation service without transitioning to the control operation, and can also prevent vibrations and noise of the car due to the rope swing.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control apparatus of an elevator including a car which elevates via a rope disposed in an elevation shaft in a building, comprising: a building shake detection module configured to detect a shake of the building; a rope swing estimation module configured to estimate a swing amount of the rope, based on a building shake amount detected by the building shake detection module and a position of the car; an attenuation floor setting module configured to set a floor, at which a swing of the rope can be attenuated, to be an attenuation floor, when the swing amount of the rope estimated by the rope swing estimation module is a predetermined amount or more; and an operation controller configured to move the car to a target floor after executing a rope attenuation operation of moving the car to the attenuation floor when the attenuation floor set by the attenuation setting module is present in a direction of movement of the car.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary view illustrating the structure of an elevator according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating the functional structure of a control apparatus of the elevator in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary graph illustrating a relationship between a swing (maximum displacement) of a car—-side main rope of the elevator and a car position in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary graph illustrating a relationship between a swing (maximum displacement) of a counterweight-side main rope of the elevator and a car position in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary graph illustrating a relationship between a swing (maximum displacement) of a car—side compensating rope of the elevator and a car position in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary graph illustrating a relationship between a swing (maximum displacement) of a counterweight-side compensating rope of the elevator and a car position in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a process operation of the control apparatus of the elevator in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a rope attenuation operation of the control apparatus of the elevator in the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the rope attenuation operation of the control apparatus of the elevator in the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a process operation of a control apparatus of an elevator in a second embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a rope attenuation operation of the control apparatus of the elevator in the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a part of a process operation of a control apparatus of an elevator in a third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating the functional structure of a control apparatus of an elevator in a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a process operation of the control apparatus of the elevator in the fourth embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. (First Embodiment)

FIG. 1 shows the structure of an elevator according to a first embodiment. The case is now assumed that an elevator 11 is disposed in a building 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, a winder 12, which is a driving source of the elevator 11, is disposed in a machine room 10a at an uppermost part of the building 10. Incidentally, in a machine-room-less type elevator, the winder 12 is disposed at an upper part within an elevation shaft 10b. The machine-room-less type elevator is an elevator having no machine room.

A main rope 13 is wound around the winder 12. A car 14 is attached to one end portion of the main rope

13, and a counterweight 15 is attached to the other end portion of the main rope 13. In addition, a compensating sheave 16 is provided at a lowermost part of the elevation shaft 10b. Both end portions of a compensating rope 17 are attached via the compensating sheave 16 to a lower part of the car 14 and a lower part of the counterweight 15, respectively.

In addition, a car control device 18 is provided at an upper part of the car 14. When the car 14 arrives at any one of halls 2la, 21b, 21c¢,..., of respective floors, the car control device 18 controls opening/closing of a car door 19. Incidentally, the car control device 18 is connected to a control apparatus 22 (to be described later) via a transmission cable 20 which is called “tail cord”.

On the other hand, a control apparatus 22 for controlling the operation of the elevator 11 is disposed in the machine room 10a of the building 10 or in the elevation shaft 10b in the case of the machine- room-less type.

The control apparatus 22 is composed of a computer in which a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc. are mounted. The control apparatus 22 executes a series of processes relating to the operation control of the elevator 11, such as driving control of the winder 12. Furthermore, the control apparatus 22 includes a function of estimating a swing of the rope due to a shake of the

- 7 = building 10 when the building 10 has been shaken by an earthquake, a strong wind, etc., and a function of controlling opening/closing of the door of the car 14, based on the result of the estimation.

The term “rope swing” refers to a swing of a rope in the horizontal direction, which is caused by a shake of the building 10. The “rope”, in this context, refers to ropes relating to the elevation operation of the car 14, the ropes including the compensating rope 17, as well as the main rope 13, in the example shown in FIG. 1.

An acceleration sensor 23, which functions as a building shake detection module for detecting a shake of the building 10 by an earthquake, a strong wind, etc., 1s disposed near the upper part of the building 10. The acceleration sensor 23 is composed of a two- axis acceleration sensor which can detect accelerations in the horizontal directions (x direction and y direction) of a building, and outputs a detection signal thereof to the control apparatus 22.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the functional structure of the control apparatus 22 of the elevator in the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control apparatus 22 includes a rope swing estimation module 31, an operation controller 32 and a notification module 33.

The rope swing estimation module 31 estimates a swing amount of the rope, based on the shake amount of the building 10, which is detected by the acceleration sensor 23, and the position of the car 14. The car position can be detected, for example, from a pulse signal which is output, in synchronism with the rotation of the winder 12, from a pulse generator (not shown) which is attached to a rotation shaft of the winder 12. The swing amount of the rope can be calculated by using a predetermined function expression. Since a concrete method of calculating the swing amount is publicly known, a detailed description of the method is omitted here.

The operation controller 32 controls the operation of the car 14, based on the swing amount of the rope, which is estimated by the rope swing estimation module 31. The operation controller 32 includes an attenuation floor setting module 32a. The attenuation floor setting module 32a sets a floor, at which a rope swing can be attenuated, to be an attenuation floor, when the swing amount of the rope is a predetermined amount or more, which is set as a reference for determining the control operation.

The operation controller 32 executes a rope attenuation operation which moves, when an attenuation floor, which is set by the attenuation floor setting module 32a, is present in a direction of movement of the car 14, the car 14 to this attenuation floor, and then moves the car 14 to a target floor. The “target floor” in this context refers to a floor, a call (hall call/car call) for which is responded to by the car 14.

The notification module 33 notifies passengers in the car 14 that the rope attenuation operation is being executed. A concrete example of the method of notification is a speech announcement or a display message. Incidentally, both the speech announcement and display message may be used for the notification.

In the present embodiment, the case in which notification is made by a speech announcement is described by way of example.

In the car 14, destination floor buttons 41 corresponding to the respective floors, a door opening button 42a, a door closing button 42b and a speaker 43 are provided. If a destination floor of a user is designated by the operation of the destination floor button 41, the designated destination floor is notified to the control apparatus 22 as a car call. Upon receiving the car call, the control apparatus 22 moves the car 14 to the floor designated by the user.

The door opening button 42a is an operation button for the passenger to instruct door opening, and the door closing button 42b is an operation button for the passenger to instruct door closing. In addition, the speaker 43 outputs a speech sound indicating that the car 14 is performing the rope attenuation operation at

- 10 = the attenuation floor.

Besides, the hall 21a, 21b, 21c¢,..., of each floor is provided with hall call buttons (not shown). If a hall call (destination direction) is registered by the operation of the hall call button, the hall call is sent to the control apparatus 22. Upon receiving the hall call, the control apparatus 22 moves the car 14 to the floor for which the hall call has been registered.

Next, the relationship between a rope swing and a car position is explained.

The “rope” refers to the main rope 13 and compensating rope 17. Specifically, the main rope 13 is divided into a main rope 13a which is attached to the car 14, and a main rope 13b which is attached to the counterweight 15. The compensating rope 17 is divided into a compensating rope 17a which is attached to the car 14, and a compensating rope 17b which is attached to the counterweight 15.

The lengths of the ropes 13a, 13b, 17a and 17b vary depending on the position of the car 14. For example, paying attention to the main rope 13, when the car 14 is at the lowermost floor, the main rope 13a on the car 14 side becomes longest. Conversely, the main rope 13b on the counterweight 15 side becomes shortest.

The rope swing estimation module 31, which is provided in the control apparatus 22, monitors the ropes 13a, 13b, 17a and 17b as monitor targets, and

- 11 = analyzes, by using a predetermined function expression, the relationship between the rope swing and the car position in relation to a building shake.

FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show examples of results of analysis of the relationship between the rope swing and the car position, with respect to the ropes 13a, 13b, 17a and 17b.

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a swing (maximum displacement) of the main rope 13a on the car 14 side and the car position. FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a swing (maximum displacement) of the main rope 13b on the counterweight 15 side and the car position.

The main rope 13a on the car 14 side has such characteristics that the main rope 13a swings to a maximum degree when the car 14 is near the lowermost floor, and the swing of the main rope 13a is small when the car 14 is in a range from a middle floor to the vicinity of the uppermost floor. On the other hand, the main rope 13b on the counterweight 15 side has such characteristics that the main rope 13b swings to a maximum degree when the car 14 is near the uppermost floor, and the swing of the main rope 13b is small when the car 14 is in a range from the middle floor to the vicinity of the lowermost floor.

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a swing (maximum displacement) of the compensating rope 17a on the car 14 side and the car position. FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a swing (maximum displacement) of the compensating rope 17b on the counterweight 15 side and the car position.

The compensating rope 17a on the car 14 side has such characteristics that the compensating rope 17a swings to a maximum degree when the car 14 is at a floor slightly above the middle floor, and the swing of the compensating rope 17a is small when the car 14 is on the downward side of the middle floor. On the other hand, the compensating rope 17b on the counterweight 15 side has such characteristics that the compensating rope 17b swings to a maximum degree when the car 14 is at a floor slightly below the middle floor, and the swing of the compensating rope 17b is small when the car 14 is on the upward side of the middle floor.

FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 illustrate examples in the case where the building 10 shakes with a fixed shake amount.

As the shake amount of the building 10 becomes greater, the swing amount of the rope 13a, 13b, 17a, 17b increases in proportion. In addition, the relationship between the rope swing and the car position varies depending on the characteristics of the building 10 and the characteristics of the elevator 11.

Since a concrete method of calculating the swing amount of the rope 13a, 13b, 17a, 17b from the shake

- 13 = amount of the building 10 is publicly known, a detailed description of the method is omitted here.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment is described.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process operation of the control apparatus 22 of the elevator in the first embodiment.

If the building 10 shakes due to an earthquake or a strong wind, an acceleration signal corresponding to the shake amount of the building 10 is output from the acceleration sensor 23, which is disposed in the machine room 10a, to the control apparatus 22. If the shake of the building 10 is detected (Yes in step 5101), the rope swing estimation module 31, which is provided in the control apparatus 22, estimates the rope swing amount, based on the shake amount of the building 10, which is obtained from the acceleration signal, and the present car position (step $5102).

Specifically, with respect to each of the ropes 13a, 13b, 17a and 17b, the rope swing estimation module 31 calculates the rope swing amount, relative to the shake amount of the building 10, by using a predetermined function expression.

The rope swing amount estimated by the rope swing estimation module 31 is delivered to the operation controller 32. If the swing amount of the rope is a predetermined amount or more (Yes in step S103), the operation controller 32 sets, via the attenuation floor setting module 32a, a floor, at which a rope swing can be attenuated, to be an attenuation floor (step S104).

In this case, the attenuation floor setting module 32a sets a floor, at which a rope swing is small, to be an attenuation floor, based on the analysis result of rope swing characteristics by the rope swing estimation module 31.

Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the swing of the main rope 13a on the car 14 side is small in the range from the middle floor to the vicinity of the uppermost floor. The swing of the main rope 13b on the counterweight 15 side is small in the range from the middle floor toward the lowermost floor.

In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the swing of the compensating rope 17a on the car 14 side is small on the downward side of the middle floor. The swing of the compensating rope 17b on the counterweight 15 is smaller on the upward side of the middle floor.

Attenuation floors can be found from the result of comprehensive analysis of the swing characteristics of the ropes 13a, 13b, 17a and 17b. In general, since the swing amount of the rope 13a, 13b, 17a, 17b is small near the center of the building 10, a floor near the center is set as one of most effective attenuation floors. The attenuation floor is also called “non- resonance floor” at which no resonance phenomenon occurs, and this floor is used as an “evacuation floor” to which the car 14 is evacuated.

In the case where the car 14 is moving in response to a call (hall call/car call) (Yes in step S105), if an attenuation floor is set in the direction of movement (Yes in step $5106), the operation controller 32 moves the car 14 to the attenuation floor, and stops the car 14 at the attenuation floor with the door closed, thus waiting until the rope swing attenuates (step S107). The operation at this time is referred to as “rope attenuation operation”.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of the rope attenuation operation.

For example, in a building 10 with a first floor 1F to a 60th floor 60F, it is assumed that the target floor of the car 14 is the 60th floor 60F and that the car 14 is currently moving upward in the vicinity of a 15th floor 15F. If a 30th floor 30F has been set as an attenuation floor, the car 14 stops at the 30th floor 30F with the door closed, and waits until the swing of the rope attenuates. In this case, passengers are not made to get off at the 30th floor 30F, but the car 14 only stands by with the door closed.

At this time, the notification module 33, which is provided in the control apparatus 22, is activated, and outputs from the speaker 43 in the car 14 a speech announcement to the effect that the rope attenuation

- 16 —= operation is being executed, such as “Please wait awhile since a building shake has been sensed.” (step 5108). If the swing of the rope attenuates and decreases below a predetermined amount while the car 14 stands by at the attenuation floor (Yes in step S109), the operation controller 32 resumes the operation of the car 14 and moves the car 14 from the attenuation floor toward the target floor (step S110).

In the meantime, in the case where a plurality of attenuation floors have been set in step S104, it is assumed that an attenuation floor, which is most effective for attenuating the swing of the rope, is selected and the rope attenuation operation is executed. Specifically, when the rope is divided into the main rope 13a on the car 14 side, the main rope 13b on the counterweight 15 side, the compensating rope 17a on the car 14 side and the compensating rope 17b on the counterweight 15 side, top priority is given to an attenuation floor which is effective for the rope 13a, 13b, 17a, 17b.

If there is no attenuation floor which is effective for the rope 13a, 13b, 17a, 17b, an attenuation floor, which can suppress the swing of the main rope 13a on the car 14 side, is selected since the swing of this rope 13a is greatest in general. Then, it is preferable to select attenuation floors in the order of an attenuation floor which is effective for

- 17 = the main rope 13b on the counterweight 15 side, an attenuation floor which is effective for the compensating rope 17a on the car 14 side and an attenuation floor which is effective for the compensating rope 17b on the counterweight 15 side.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example in the case where a plurality of attenuation floors have been set.

For example, in a building 10 with a first floor 1F to a 60th floor 60F, it is assumed that the target floor of the car 14 is the 60th floor 60F and that the car 14 is currently moving upward in the vicinity of a 15th floor 15F. It is also assumed that a 30th floor 30F and a 45th floor have been set as attenuation floors. If the 30th floor 30F is effective for suppressing the swing of the rope la, 13b, 17a, 17b, the car 14 is stopped at the 30th floor 30F with the door closed, and waits until the swing of the rope attenuates.

In the above-described step $5107, the car 14 is stopped at the attenuation floor with the car door closed. However, it is not always necessary to stop the car 14 at the attenuation floor. Although depending on the state of the rope swing, if the rope swing is likely to immediately attenuate, it may be possible to move the car 14 at a speed lower than a normal speed so that the car 14 may slowly pass by the attenuation floor.

- 18 =

In addition, in the above-described step S109, the operation of the car 14 is resumed after confirming that the swing of the rope has attenuated.

Alternatively, the operation of the car 14 may be resumed after the passing of a predetermined time, assuming that the swing of the rope has attenuated.

As has been described above, according to the first embodiment, when the building 10 shakes and the rope swings to a degree greater than a predetermined amount, the car 14 is moved to the attenuation floor.

Thereby, an increase in rope swing due to a resonance phenomenon is prevented, and the operation service can safely be continued without transitioning to the control operation. Moreover, since the operation is resumed after the rope swing has been attenuated, vibrations and noise of the car due to the rope swing can also be prevented. (Second Embodiment)

Next, a second embodiment is described.

In the description of the first embodiment, the case 1s assumed that an attenuation floor is present in the direction of movement of the car 14. However, depending on the position of the car 14 that is moving, an attenuation floor is not always present in the direction of movement of the car 14. In the second embodiment, a description is given of the case where an attenuation floor is not present in the direction of movement of the car 14.

In the meantime, since the basic structure of the control apparatus 22 is the same as that in the first embodiment, the process operation will be described below with reference to FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process operation of the control apparatus 22 of the elevator in the second embodiment. The process from step $201 to step S206 is the same as the process from step S101 to step S106 in FIG. 7 in the first embodiment.

Specifically, when a shake of the building 10 has been detected and the swing amount of the rope due to the building shake is a predetermined amount or more, which is set as a reference for determining the control operation, a floor, at which the swing of the rope can be attenuated, is set as an attenuation floor (steps

S201 to S204).

If the car is moving (Yes in step $5205) and an attenuation floor is not set in the direction of movement of the car 14 (No in step S206), the following process is executed.

Specifically, that an attenuation floor is not present in the direction of movement of the car 14 means that an attenuation floor is set in a direction opposite to the present direction of movement. Thus, the operation controller 32 of the control apparatus 22 reverses the direction of movement of the car 14 and

- 20 = moves the car 14 in the direction opposite to the present direction of movement (step $207). Then, the operation controller 32 stops the car 14 at the attenuation floor with the door closed, and waits until the rope swing attenuates (step 5208). The operation at this time is referred to as “rope attenuation operation”.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of the rope attenuation operation.

For example, in a building 10 with a first floor 1F to a 60th floor 60F, it is assumed that the target floor of the car 14 is the 60th floor 60F and that the car 14 is currently moving upward in the vicinity of a 40th floor 40F. If a 30th floor 30F has been set as an attenuation floor, the direction of movement of the car 14 is reversed and the car 14 is moved downward. Then, the car 14 stops at the 30th floor 30F with the door closed, and waits until the swing of the rope attenuates. In this case, passengers are not made to get off at the 30th floor 30F, but the car 14 only stands by with the door closed.

At this time, the notification module 33, which is provided in the control apparatus 22, is activated, and outputs from the speaker 43 in the car 14 a speech announcement to the effect that the rope attenuation operation is being executed, such as “Since a building shake was sensed, the car has been moved to a safe position. Please wait awhile.” (step 5208).

If the swing of the rope attenuates and decreases below a predetermined amount while the car stands by at the attenuation floor (Yes in step $210), the operation controller 32 resumes the operation of the car 14 and moves the car 14 from the attenuation floor toward the target floor (step S211).

In the meantime, in the case where a plurality of attenuation floors have been set in step S204 and all the attenuation floors are present on the rear side of the car 14, it is assumed that the direction of movement of the car 14 is reversed and is moved to an attenuation floor which is most effective for attenuating the swing of the rope.

In the above-described step 5208, the car 14 is stopped at the attenuation floor with the car door closed. However, it is not always necessary to stop the car 14 at the attenuation floor. If the rope swing is likely to immediately attenuate, it may be possible to move the car 14 at a speed lower than a normal speed so that the car 14 may slowly pass by the attenuation floor.

In addition, in the above-described step $210, the operation of the car 14 is resumed after confirming that the swing of the rope has attenuated.

Alternatively, the operation of the car 14 may be resumed after the passing of a predetermined time,

assuming that the swing of the rope has attenuated.

As has been described above, according to the second embodiment, when an attenuation floor is not present in the direction of movement of the car 14, the direction of movement of the car 14 is reversed and the car 14 is moved to the attenuation floor. Thereby, an increase in rope swing due to a resonance phenomenon is prevented, and the operation service can safely be continued without transitioning to the control operation. Moreover, since the operation is resumed after the rope swing has been attenuated, vibrations and noise of the car due to the rope swing can also be prevented. (Third Embodiment)

Next, a third embodiment is described.

In the case where the car 14 is moving, in particular, toward a terminal floor (uppermost floor or lowermost floor) in the state in which the rope is swinging, the rope swing concentrates at the terminal floor as the car 14 is approaching the terminal floor.

Consequently, the possibility of occurrence of vibrations and noise of the car 14 increases. In the third embodiment, such vibrations and noise occurring at the terminal floor due to the rope swing are reduced.

In the meantime, since the basic structure of the control apparatus 22 is the same as that in the first embodiment, the process operation will be described below with reference to FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a part of a process operation of the control apparatus 22 of the elevator in the third embodiment. This flowchart illustrates a process at a time when the car 14 moves toward the target floor after the rope swing has attenuated at the attenuation floor in step S109 in

FIG. 7 or in step $5210 in FIG. 10.

When the operation of the car 14 is resumed from the attenuation floor and the car 14 moves toward the target floor, the operation controller 32, which is provided in the control apparatus 22, determines whether the target floor is the terminal floor (uppermost floor or lowermost floor) or not, based on call registration information stored in a storage module (not shown) (step S301).

Specifically, in the preceding process, even if the car 14 is stopped at the attenuation floor with the door closed and the operation of the car 14 is resumed after the swing of the rope has attenuated, it is possible that the rope actually swings to some extent and vibrations and noise may occur in the car 14 if the car 14 moves toward the terminal floor in this state.

Thus, if the target floor is the terminal floor (Yes in step S301), the operation controller 32 moves the car 14 toward the target floor by making the speed lower than a normal speed (step S302). By lowering the speed of movement of the car 14, it becomes possible to reduce vibrations and noise due to the swing of the rope.

On the other hand, if the target floor is a floor other than the terminal floor (No in step $301), the operation controller 32 moves the car 14 toward the target floor at the normal speed (step S303).

In the meantime, when the a floor near the terminal floor, for example, a floor next to the terminal floor, is the target floor, it is possible that some vibration or noise occurs due to the rope swing. Thus, the car 14 may be moved toward the target floor by making the speed lower than the normal speed.

As has been described above, according to the third embodiment, by lowering the speed of movement of the car 14 when the car 14 moves toward the terminal floor, it becomes possible to reduce vibrations and noise occurring due to the swing of the rope at the terminal floor. (Fourth Embodiment)

Next, a fourth embodiment is described.

In a general control operation, the car 14 is temporarily stopped at a nearby floor and passengers are made to get off. Thereafter, the car 14 is moved to the attenuation floor (evacuation floor) in the state of no load, and the operation is suspended.

Thus, the characteristics of the rope swing are generally analyzed on the assumption that the load is zero. Based on the analysis result, the attenuation floor is fixedly set. However, in the present system, since the car 14 is moved to the attenuation floor without passengers being made to get off, the load is not always necessarily zero, and the attenuation floor may change. Thus, in the fourth embodiment, the attenuation floor is set by taking the load of the car 14 into account.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating the functional structure of a control apparatus 22 of an elevator in the fourth embodiment. The same components as those in FIG. 2 in the first embodiment are denoted by like reference numerals, and a description thereof is omitted.

In the fourth embodiment, a load sensor 44 functioning as a load detection module is disposed at the bottom of the car 14. The load sensor 44 detects the load that varies due to getting on/off of passengers. Information about the load that is detected by the load sensor 44 is sent to the control apparatus 22 via the car control device 18. The attenuation floor setting module 32a of the operation controller 32, which is provided in the control apparatus 22, sets an attenuation floor by taking the load of the car 14 into account, when the swing amount of the rope is a predetermined amount or more, which is set as a reference for determining the control operation.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a process operation of the control apparatus 22 of the elevator in the fourth embodiment. The flowchart of

FIG. 14 is the same as that of FIG. 7, except for the process of steps S404 and S405.

Specifically, if a shake of the building 10 has been detected and the swing amount of the rope due to the building shake is the predetermined amount or more, which is set as the reference for determining the control operation (steps S401 to S403), a floor, at which the swing of the rope can be attenuated, is set as an attenuation floor. At this time, the attenuation floor setting module 32a of the operation controller 32 sets the attenuation floor by taking into account the load of the car 14 which has been detected by the load sensor 44 (step S404, S405).

To be more specific, the attenuation floor setting module 32a corrects the rope swing characteristics (see

FIG. 3 to FIG. 6) at the time of the zero load, which is obtained as the result of the analysis by the rope swing estimation module 31, by adding thereto the present load, and finds a floor, at which the swing of the rope is small, from the corrected rope swing characteristics, and sets this floor as the attenuation floor. Alternatively, attenuation floors corresponding to loads are preset in the attenuation setting module 32a, and the attenuation floor is set by, for example, a method of switching the attenuation floor in accordance with the load detected by the load sensor 44,

The subsequent process is the same as the process in the above-described first embodiment.

Specifically, if an attenuation floor is set in the direction of movement of the car 14, the operation controller 32 moves the car 14 to the attenuation floor, and stops the car 14 at the attenuation floor with the door closed, thus waiting until the rope swing attenuates (steps S406 to S408).

At this time, the notification module 33, which is provided in the control apparatus 22, is activated, and outputs from the speaker 43 in the car 14 a speech announcement to the effect that the rope attenuation operation is being executed, such as “Please wait awhile since a building shake has been sensed.” (step 5409). If the swing of the rope has attenuated, the operation controller 32 resumes the operation of the car 14 and moves the car 14 from the attenuation floor toward the target floor (step $410, S411).

In the meantime, in the above-described step $405, if a plurality of attenuation floors have been set, it is assumed that an attenuation floor, which is most os effective for attenuating the swing of the rope, is selected and the rope attenuation operation is executed.

In the above-described step 5408, the car 14 is stopped at the attenuation floor with the door closed.

However, it is not always necessary to stop the car 14 at the attenuation floor. If the rope swing is likely to immediately attenuate, it may be possible to move the car 14 at a speed lower than a normal speed so that the car 14 may slowly pass by the attenuation floor.

In addition, in the above-described step S410, the operation of the car 14 is resumed after confirming that the swing of the rope has attenuated.

Besides, the processes of the second embodiment and the third embodiment may be combined.

As has been described above, according to the fourth embodiment, the attenuation floor is set by taking the load of the car 14 into account. Thereby, it is possible to more surely prevent an increase in rope swing due to a resonance phenomenon, and to safely continue an operation service without transitioning to the control operation. Moreover, since the operation is resumed after attenuating the rope swing, vibrations and noise of the car due to the rope swing can also be prevented.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the case 1s assumed that the car 14 is responding to a call, that is, the car 14 is moving toward the target floor. However, even in the case where the rope swing exceeds a predetermined amount when there is no call and the car is at rest, it is preferable to execute the rope attenuation operation in the same manner as described above, and to secure safety by moving the car to the attenuation floor.

In addition, in each of the above-described embodiments, the “attenuation floor” is not limited to a floor at which passengers can get on/off the car, but may be a location between floors or a specific position, at which the rope swing can be attenuated.

According to at least one of the above-described embodiments, there can be provided a control apparatus of an elevator, which can prevent an increase in rope swing when a building has shaken, can safely continue an operation service without transitioning to a control operation, and can prevent vibrations and noise of a car due to the rope swing.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms;

furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions.

The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.

Claims

- 31 = WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A control apparatus of an elevator including a car which elevates via a rope disposed in an elevation shaft in a building, comprising: a building shake detection module configured to detect a shake of the building; a rope swing estimation module configured to estimate a swing amount of the rope, based on a building shake amount detected by the building shake detection module and a position of the car; an attenuation floor setting module configured to set a floor, at which a swing of the rope can be attenuated, to be an attenuation floor, when the swing amount of the rope estimated by the rope swing estimation module is a predetermined amount or more; and an operation controller configured to move the car to a target floor after executing a rope attenuation operation of moving the car to the attenuation floor when the attenuation floor set by the attenuation setting module is present in a direction of movement of the car.

2. The control apparatus of the elevator of Claim 1, wherein the operation controller is configured to stop the car at the attenuation floor with a car door closed, after moving the car to the attenuation floor.

3. The control apparatus of the elevator of Claim 1, wherein the operation controller is configured to cause the car to slowly pass by the attenuation floor by making a speed of movement of the car lower than a normal speed.

4. The control apparatus of the elevator of any one of Claim 1 to Claim 3, wherein the operation controller is configured to execute the rope attenuation operation by selecting an attenuation floor which is most effective for attenuating the swing of the rope, when a plurality of attenuation floors have been set by the attenuation floor setting module.

5. The control apparatus of the elevator of any one of Claim 1 to Claim 3, wherein the operation controller is configured to move the car toward the attenuation floor by reversing a direction of movement of the car, when the attenuation floor set by the attenuation floor setting module is not present in the direction of movement of the car.

6. The control apparatus of the elevator of any one of Claim 1 to Claim 3, wherein the operation controller is configured to move the car toward the target floor by making a speed of movement of the car lower than a normal speed, when the target floor is a terminal floor.

7. The control apparatus of the elevator of Claim 1, further comprising a load detection module configured to detect a load of the car, wherein the attenuation floor setting module is configured to set the attenuation floor by taking into account the load of the car which has been detected by the load detection module.

8. The control apparatus of the elevator of Claim 1, further comprising a notification module configured to notify a passenger in the car that the rope attenuation operation is being executed, when the car has been moved to the attenuation floor.