WO2001000519A1

WO2001000519A1 - Movable double deck elevator control device

Info

Publication number: WO2001000519A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/017105
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tomoe Muto; Takashi Saiki; Shingo Matsuki; Tadaaki Nabetani
Original assignee: Otis Elevator Company
Priority date: 1999-06-28
Filing date: 2000-06-21
Publication date: 2001-01-04
Also published as: JP2001019287A; MY137017A

Abstract

A control device for a moveable deck elevator controls the movement of the car frame and the movement of an upper and lower passenger car within the car frame. The movable double deck elevator includes a car frame that is guided to slide freely up and down on a main guide rail, a drive mechanism for driving the car frame to a target destination, an upper passenger car and a lower passenger car, an actuating mechanism for moving said upper and lower passenger cars within the car frame to an upper and a lower destination floor. The control device adjusts the distance between the upper and lower passenger cars to conform to the height difference between the upper and lower destination floors in advance of the car frame arriving at the target destination floor.

Description

MOVABLE DOUBLE DECK ELEVATOR CONTROL DEVICE

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention pertains to a movable double-deck elevator control device where, in the car frame for example, an upper passenger car and a lower passenger car that are stacked on two levels above and below can move relatively and more particularly to a method and apparatus for the car frame and for positioning upper and lower passenger cars relative the car frame in advance of the car frame arriving at the target destination floor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventionally, a double deck elevator can consist of a means for positioning the upper and lower passenger cars relative the car frame. Commonly assigned Japanese Kokai Patent No. Hei 10-279232 illustrates this type of conventional movable double deck elevator. Shown in Figure 6, car frame 3 is installed to slide freely up and down on a pair of main guide rails 2 and 2 that are installed vertically along opposite inside walls of elevator shaft 1, and at the same time two level upper and lower passenger cars 5 and 6 are installed to slide freely up and down along sub-guide rails 4 and 4 that are installed vertically along opposite inside walls of said car frame 3. Car frame 3 is constructed in the form of a rectangle of metal material, and will move up and down to the target destination floor while its weight is balanced by weight 15 and drive sheave 7 installed at the top of elevator shaft 1.

The passenger cars 5 and 6 will slide up and down in opposite directions by crank mechanism 8 that is installed therebetween. This crank mechanism 8 has large diameter drive gear 11 that is driven to rotate by electric motor 10 and is supported in the center of support frame 9. The support frame 9 is positioned vertically centered on car frame 3. First and second links 13 and 14 are connected to rotate freely at both ends of crank rod 12 that is affixed along the diameter of said drive gear 11. The opposite ends of each of said links 13 and 14 are connected to rotate freely to the centers of the lower ends of upper and lower passenger cars 5 and 6 via sprockets.

Then, when the actual heights of the upper and lower floors at which car frame 3 will arrive are different from the current position of the upper and lower passenger cars 5 and 6, the actual electric motor 10 is driven to rotate by control current from a control device not shown. The two links 13 and 14 are moved in opposite directions by the rotation of drive gear 11. Thus moving upper and lower passenger cars 5 and 6 move in opposite directions either toward or away from each other. US Patent 5,907, 136, owned by applicant, also describes a mechanism for positioning an upper and lower passenger car relative a car frame. However, an adjustable pantograph linking mechanism replaces the linking apparatus of Japanese application 10-279232.

However, for a conventional movable double deck elevator, while the two passenger cars can move rapidly based on the height of each destination floor by being moved in opposite directions simultaneously within the car frame, there has been no actual consideration given to the relative movement of the two passenger cars within the car frame in advance of the car frame arriving at the destination.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a movable double deck elevator that is equipped with a car frame that is guided to move freely up and down on a main guide, a drive mechanism by which said car frame is driven up and down to the called destination floor, passenger cars on at least two levels, upper and lower, that are guided to slide freely up and down via a sub-guide rail inside the car frame, an actuating mechanism by which each of said passenger cars is moved in opposite directions inside the car frame, and a controller that controls the drive mechanism and actuating mechanism based on the destination floor.

The controller includes a stored data map of the actual distances between upper and lower destination floors, a first control section for positioning the car frame relative the target destination floor via a drive mechanism, and a second control section that positions the upper and lower passenger cars, relative the upper and lower destination floors, via an actuation mechanism. The controller is responsive to a, floor height difference sensing means that senses the difference in height between upper and lower destination floors, a destination floor sensing means that senses that the car frame has arrived at the destination floor, a speed sensing means that senses the speed at which the car frame moves.

Thus, with this invention, while the car frame is moving to the target destination floor via the drive mechanism based on the called registration of each destination floor. the actuating mechanism is operated by signals from second control section, to move each passenger car based on the heights of the upper and lower floors. For this reason, at the point where the car frame arrives at the destination floor and the doors are opened, movement of each passenger car to a prescribed position is already completed, so overall movement efficiency of the double deck elevator will be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is the control block diagram of control device associated with this invention.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of movable double deck elevator of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a flow chart of first control section of the present invention. Figure 4 is a flow chart of second control section of the present invention. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of actuation of car frame and passenger cars with another control device. Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional, prior art. movable double deck elevator.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 2, the movable double deck elevator of the present invention. there is rectangular car frame 21 that slides up and down along a main guide rail inside the elevator shaft, and upper and lower passenger cars 22 and 23 on two levels that slide up and down along a sub-guide rail inside said car frame 21. Car frame 21 is driven up and down by drive sheave 25 through the force of rotation, via rope 24 and by the weight of weight 26. The drive sheave 25 is driven by drive mechanism such as an electric motor (not shown). At the same time the two passenger cars 22 and 23 will be driven closer to or further away from each other by crank mechanism 27 that is installed therebetween. Operation of this crank mechanism 27 is controlled by an actuation mechanism, which is illustrated by electric motor 28 in the present embodiment. The drive mechanism and electric motor 28 will be controlled by control current output from controller 29. This controller 29 is composed of first control section 30 that primarily controls the drive mechanism, and second control section 31 that primarily controls electric motor 28 via information output from said first control section 30. Information signals from the data map 32, in which distances between upper and lower destination floors are stored in advance, a floor height difference sensing means 34 that senses the difference in height between upper and lower destination floors based on the data map 32, a destination floor sensing means 36 that senses whether or not car frame 21 has arrived at the destination floor, a speed sensing means 38 that senses the speed at which car frame 21 moves, and a relative position sensing means 40 that senses the relative positions of each passenger car 22 and 23 are input to first control section 30; and the rotation of drive sheave 25 will be controlled by internal calculation means, and at the same time the rotation of electric motor 28 will be controlled via second control section 31.

The flow chart of Figure 3 shows the control routine for the first control section 30, and the flow chart in Figure 4 shows the control routine for the second control section 31. Referring to Figure 3, first normal operation of car frame 21 is started at SI when a passenger presses a call button. The call button signal is sensed at S2 where it is determined whether or not passengers on each floor have pressed the call button at the elevator boarding. When it has not been pressed, return to SI, and when it has been pressed, advance to S3. The destination floors actual height difference is provided by data map 32. The measured floor height is provided by the floor height difference sensing circuit 34, and at the same time the difference in height between upper and lower destination floors is calculated.

Next, at S4, drive current is output to the drive mechanism to rotate the drive sheave 25, based on the information signals in step S3, moving the car frame 21 to the target destination floor. Concurrently, the relative position information for the two passenger cars 22 and 23 is input from the relative position sensor 40. An actuating command signal is output to second control section 31. The actuating command signal is sensed in S 13 as shown in Figure 4. Based on that signal, an actuating command is output to electric motor 28. Next, at S5, it is determined whether or not the operation of electric motor 28, that moves the two aforementioned passenger cars 22 and 23, and that of other electric circuitry is normal. When it is determined to be abnormal here, that is when electric motor 28, etc. is faulty and the two passenger cars 22 and 23 cannot be brought to the target boarding entrances, go to S8. If no abnormality is detected the control process proceeds to step S6.

At S8, first, in order to bring either upper or lower passenger car 22 or 23 to the nearest boarding entrance above or below, drive sheave 25 is driven to move the position of car frame 21 slightly upward or downward and deliver the passengers in one passenger car 22 or 23. After that, drive sheave 25 is moved slightly in the opposite direction, bringing the other passenger car 22 or 23 to the boarding entrance on the other floor and delivering the passengers in the other passenger car 22 or 23.

At step S6 it is determined whether or not car frame 21 has arrived at the target destination floor. When it is determined that it has not yet arrived, step S4 is returned to and drive sheave 25 is again driven, but when it is determined that it has arrived at the destination floor, advancement to step S7 occurs.

At step S7 it is determined from second control section 31, from step SI 6, whether or not the two passenger cars 22 and 23 are operating normally, and whether they have moved to their prescribed boarding entrances. When it is determined that they have moved to the prescribed boarding entrances, the doors at each boarding entrance are opened and control is ended. On the other hand, if it is determined they still have not moved to each boarding entrance, step 5 is returned to and the aforementioned judgment is repeated again.

The control routine for second control section 31 shown in Figure 4, remains in a standby state at step S 11 until the actuating command signal from step S4 is sensed. The presence of the actuating signal indicates that the car frame 21 is moving. Upon detection of the actuating signal at step S12 the control advances to step SI 3 to determine if an error has occurred e.g., a fault in the actuating mechanism, e.g., drive motor 28.

A signal is transmitted from the second controller 31 to the first controller 30 in step SI 7, upon detection of an error in step SI 3, and processing to stop relative movement of each passenger car 22 and 23 is performed. On the other hand, when it determined that there is no error has occurred, advancement to step S14 occurs.

At step S14 electric motor 28 is actuated and, based on the distance, calculated in advance, to which the two passenger cars 22 and 23 must be moved, said passenger cars 22 and 23 are moved to the desired position, and at the same time a signal for the current relative position of the two passenger cars 22 and 23 is output to first control section 30. Next, at step S 15 it is determined whether or not the two passenger cars 22 and 23 have moved the prescribed distance based on the distance between the upper and lower boarding entrances on the destination floors to which car frame 21 will move. When it is determined that they have not moved the prescribed distance, step S 13 is returned to and the aforementioned judgment and control is repeated. When it is determined that they have moved the prescribed distance, at step S16 the fact that movement of the two passenger cars 22 and 23 is ended is transmitted to first control section 30 ending the operation of second control section 31. For this embodiment, due to the fact that the two passenger cars 22 and 23 can be simultaneously moved by crank mechanism 27, it is possible to have rapid movement of the two said passenger cars 22 and 23 to each boarding entrance and to finish the relative movement of these two passenger cars 21 and 22 while car frame 21 is moving to the target destination floor. Thus, it will be possible to make the overall speed of operation of the elevator faster.

Also, in accordance with this embodiment, since the relative position of the two passenger cars 22 and 23 is sensed in advanced when car frame 21 is moved, the amount of movement by car frame 21 can be controlled by taking into account the amount of movement by the two passenger cars 22 and 23 toward each boarding entrance, so the distance that car frame 21 moves can be shortened. That is, for example, when the two passenger cars 22 and 23 in car frame 21 are at positions where they are nearest to each other, as shown in Figure 5 A, when car frame 21 is to move to the top position shown in Figure 5B by command signals from first control section 30, if the two passenger cars 22 and 23 are moved in the direction of their furthest separation while this car frame 21 is moving as shown in the figure, the amount of movement by car frame 21 will only have to travel the distance Z, that is the distance Y that lower passenger car 22, 23 moves downward subtracted from distance X, the height of the lower floor to the height of the upper floor. Thus, if a control circuit such as this is incorporated into controller 29, the amount of movement by car frame 21 can be made as small as possible and improved efficiency of movement will be achieved.

Note that this invention is not limited to the constitution of the aforementioned embodiment. Depending on the specifications and size, etc., of the elevator, for example, not only can the travel speed of car frame 21 and the two passenger cars 22 and 23 be changed as desired, but the actuating mechanism by which the two passenger cars 22 and 23 are moved relative to each other is not limited to crank mechanism 27 but could be another construction. As is clear from the explanation above, with the movable double-deck elevator control device of this invention, due to the fact that each passenger car can be simultaneously moved with an actuating mechanism, e.g., a crank mechanism, of course it is possible to make the speed at which each of said passenger cars moves toward each boarding entrance faster, and the relative movement of each of these passenger cars can be finished while the car frame is moving to the target destination floor, so the overall speed of movement of the elevator will be increased coupled with an increase in relative speed of each passenger car due to the aforementioned actuating mechanism; that is, efficiency of movement can be improved.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to an exemplary embodiment thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing, and various other changes, omissions, and additions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A movable double deck elevator control device, wherein the movable double deck elevator includes a car frame that is guided to slide freely up and down on a main guide rail, a drive mechanism for driving the car frame to a target destination, an upper passenger car and a lower passenger car, an actuating mechanism for moving said upper and lower passenger cars within the car frame to an upper and a lower destination floor said control device comprising: a target destination floor sensing means for sensing if the car frame has arrived at the target destination; a floor height sensing means for sensing a height differential between the upper and the lower destination floors; a speed sensing means for sensing a travel speed of the car frame; a relative position sensor for sensing a distance between the upper and the lower passenger cars; and, a control means responsive to the target destination floor sensing means, floor height sensing means, speed sensing means and relative position sensing means, for driving the drive mechanism to position the car frame and the actuation mechanism to position the upper and the lower passenger car, wherein said control means adjusts the distance between the upper and lower passenger cars to conform to the height difference in advance of the car frame arriving at the target destination floor.

. The control device of claim 1 further comprising: a first control section for positioning the car frame; and a second control section for adjusting the distance between the upper and lower passenger cars.

3. The control device of claim 1 further comprising a data map of the height differentials between the upper and lower destination floors.

4. The control device of claim 1 further comprising a means for detecting a malfunction in the actuating mechanism wherein said control means is responsive to said means for detecting a malfunction for driving the car frame to a first position to align the upper passenger car with the upper destination floor; and driving the car frame to second position to align the lower passenger car with the lower destination floor when the malfunction is detected.

5. A method of operating a double deck elevator, the elevator including a car frame that is guided to slide freely up and down on a main guide rail, a drive mechanism for driving the car frame to a target destination, an upper passenger car and a lower passenger car, an actuating mechanism for moving said upper and lower passenger cars within the car frame to an upper and a lower destination floor, said method comprising the steps of: sensing the presence of a target destination; determining a height differential between the upper and the lower destination floors; measuring a distance between the upper and lower passenger cars; driving the car frame to the target destination; and driving the distance between the upper and lower passenger cars to be approximately equal to the height between the upper and lower destination floors in advance of the car frame arriving at the target destination.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step positioning the upper and lower passenger cars within the car frame to minimize a time interval for the car frame to reach the target destination.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of determining the height differential further comprises the steps of retrieving data representing the height differential between the upper and lower destination floors from a data map.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising the steps of: detecting a malfunction in the actuating mechanism; driving the car frame to a first position to align the upper passenger car with the upper destination floor; and driving the car frame to second position to align the lower passenger car with the lower destination floor when the malfunction is detected.