Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B5/00—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators
  • B66B5/02—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators responsive to abnormal operating conditions
  • B66B5/021—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators responsive to abnormal operating conditions the abnormal operating conditions being independent of the system
  • B66B5/024—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators responsive to abnormal operating conditions the abnormal operating conditions being independent of the system where the abnormal operating condition is caused by an accident, e.g. fire
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B5/00—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators
  • B66B5/02—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators responsive to abnormal operating conditions
  • B66B5/021—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators responsive to abnormal operating conditions the abnormal operating conditions being independent of the system
  • B66B5/025—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators responsive to abnormal operating conditions the abnormal operating conditions being independent of the system where the abnormal operating condition is caused by human behaviour or misbehaviour, e.g. forcing the doors
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q90/00—Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing
  • G06Q90/20—Destination assistance within a business structure or complex
  • G06Q90/205—Building evacuation
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
  • G08B7/00—Signalling systems according to more than one of groups G08B3/00 - G08B6/00; Personal calling systems according to more than one of groups G08B3/00 - G08B6/00
  • G08B7/06—Signalling systems according to more than one of groups G08B3/00 - G08B6/00; Personal calling systems according to more than one of groups G08B3/00 - G08B6/00 using electric transmission, e.g. involving audible and visible signalling through the use of sound and light sources
  • G08B7/062—Signalling systems according to more than one of groups G08B3/00 - G08B6/00; Personal calling systems according to more than one of groups G08B3/00 - G08B6/00 using electric transmission, e.g. involving audible and visible signalling through the use of sound and light sources indicating emergency exits

Definitions

• the present disclosure relates to control systems within a building, in particular to the control and configurat ion of Occupant Evacuat ion Operations (OEO).
• OEO Occupant Evacuat ion Operations
• OEO Occupant Evacuation Operation
• OEO Occupant Evacuation Operation
• Conv entional OEO implementations often require one or more control units which may ⁇ be placed on each floor of a building or may control multiple floors and being connected with an elevator system which increases the cable connections significantly and thereby also increases system failures due to connection problems.
• At least one problem of such conventional systems is that they require many complex, manually configured generic control functions which are l ikely to be outdated and therefore need to be changed when something in the building changes.
• Those manually configurable generic control functions may comprise logic combinations of al l relevant states with Boolean functions etc. These controls then activate hard-w ired outputs which are connected to the elevator system.
• a system for controlling and configuration of an occupant evacuation operation in a multi-story building may comprise an elevator control system, a fire alarm detection system comprising a plurality of fire sensor devices, wherein the fire alarm detection system generates fire alarm information signals, and a central control system coupled w ith the elevator control system and the fire alarm detection system, wherein the central control system comprises a data processing system comprising a processor and memory operable to provide a configurable model of the multi-story buiiding, to receive signals from said fire alarm detection system and to receive signals and transmit control signals from io the elevator control system, wherein the configurable model allow s configuration of the system creating a model of the functionalities in the multi-story building required for the occupant evacuation operation, and wherein the central control system controls the occupant evacuation operation (OEO) based on the signals received from the fire alarm detection system and the elevator control system.
• OEO occupant evacuation operation
• the central control system may comprise a network connection and the configurable model can be configured using an off-line engineering tool and is downloaded after configuration into the central control system through said network connection.
• the central control system may provide control signals for the elevator system, wherein based on the control signals, the elevator system controls an evacuat ion procedure and a signage for the elev ators.
• the signage may comprise visual information.
• the fire alarm system may comprise a voice evacuation system.
• the fire alarm system can be an integrated part of the central control system.
• the elevator system may comprise a plurality of independently controlled elevator groups.
• the fire alarm detection system may comprise fire alarm detectors for each building level .
• the system may further comprise fire alarm detectors coupled with the fire alarm system and located at least in one of: an elevator engine room, an elevator shaft, and an elevator lobby.
• the central control system can be coupled with the elevator system through a BACnet network connection.
• the central control system may prov ide input signals to the elevator system and receive digital output signals from the elevator system.
• the central control system may comprise at least one configurable OEO control group module related to an elevator group coupled w ith a common OEO control module and a plural ity of OEO building level control modules.
• the fire alarm detection system may prov ide signals to the common OEO control module and each OEO building level control module.
• the system may comprise a plurality of configurable OEO control group modules each related to one of a plurality of elevator groups, w herein each OEO control group module is further coupled with an associated common OEO control module and associated OEO building level control modules.
• a common OEO control module associated with one of the OEO control group modules may provide signals for another common OEO control module associated with another OEO control group module.
• a configuration screen for configuring the model of the multi-story building shows configuration in a tree structure, wherein a root element represents a OEO control group module and elements representing the common OEO control module and the OEO building level control modules branch from said root clement, wherein the OEO building level control modules are arranged in the tree structure showing a highest building level on the top and a lowest building level on the bottom.
• the configuration screen allows to assign input signals to cause predefined events.
• each module for a building level evaluates and provides the following states: a) a first state indicating that an OEO relevant alarm has occurred on the building level; b) a second state indicating that the building level shall be evacuated with OEO; c) a third state indicating that the building level should be evacuated with OEO but no elevator is av ailable; d) a fourth state indicating that OEO is active within the elevator group but this level is currently not being evacuated; and e) a fifth state indicating none of the states a)...d) is currently active.
• a method for controlling and configuration of an occupant evacuation operation (OEO) in a multi-story building may comprise the steps: configuring a model representing the multi-story building with an engineering tool, wherein the model represents and provides configuration of all building levels and associations with at least one elevator system and control signals; installing the configured model in a central control system coupled with an elev ator control system and a fire alarm detection system within the building, wherein the central control system comprises a data processing system comprising a processor and memory operable to execute an OEO control based on the confi ured model, and receiving signals from said fire alarm detection system and receiving signals and transmitting control signals from/to the elevator control system, wherein the central control system controls the occupant evacuation operation (OEO) based on the signals received from the fire alarm detection system and the elev ator control system.
• OEO occupant evacuation operation
• the model may comprise a common OEO control for which a plurality of input signals can be assigned to predefined events.
• the method may further comprise modifying the configured model with an engineering tool to adapt the system to changes in the OEO as defined by a modified regulation or in order to adapt to changed building usage or constructional changes.
• the method may further comprise providing control signals by the central control system for the elev ator system, wherein based on the control signals, the elevator system controls an evacuation procedure and a signage for the elevators.
• the signage may comprise v isual information.
• the method may further comprise generating voice evacuation messages for each building level.
• the elev ator system may comprise a plurality of independently control led elevator groups.
• the fire alarm detection system may comprise fire alarm detectors for each building level.
• the method may further comprise arranging fire alarm detectors coupled with the fire alarm system at least in one of: an elev ator engine room, an elev ator shaft, and an elev ator lobby.
• the central control system may comprise at least one configurable OEO control group module related to an elevator group and a plurality of OEO building level control modules.
• the at least one configurable OEO control group module may be coupled with a common OEO control module.
• the method may further comprise providing signals by the fire alarm detection system to the common OEO control module and each OEO building lev el control module.
• the method may further comprise a plurality of configurable OEO control group modules each related to one of a plural ity of elevator groups, wherein each OEO control group module is further coupled with an associated common OEO control module and associated OEO building level control modules.
• a common OEO control module associated with one of the OEO control group modules may provide signals for another common OEO control module associated with another OEO control group module.
• a configuration screen for configuring the model of the multi-story building may show configuration in a tree structure, wherein a root element represents a OEO control group module and elements representing the common OEO control module and the OEO building level control modules branch from said root element, wherein the OEO building level control modules are arranged in the tree structure show ing a highest building level on the top and a lowest building level on the bottom.
• the configuration screen may al low to assign input signals to cause predefined events.
• each module for a building lev el may ev compe and provide the following states: a) a first state indicating that an OEO relev ant alarm has occurred on the building level ; b) a second state indicating that the building level shall be evacuated with OEO; c) a third state indicating that the building level should be evacuated with OEO but no elevator is available; d ) a fourth state indicating that OEO is active within the elevator group but this level is currently not being evacuated; and e) a fifth state indicating none of the states a)...d) is currently active.
• Fig. I shows an exemplary multi-level building.
• Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a software model according to various embodiments.
• Fig. 3 show s a more specific block diagram of a coupling of a central control unit running the software model with an elevator control unit.
• Fig. 4 shows a configuration screen according to various embodiments;
• Fig. 5 and 6 show various emergency scenarios and their associated modeling in the central control unit.
• OEO Occupant Evacuation Operation
• a first alarm sets a fire alarm state within the building level, e.g. setting it into an ⁇ alarm ' state.
• Such an alarm state indicates that the respective building level needs to be evacuated with, highest priority.
• two levels above as well as 2 levels below that level will also set in into an evacuation state, e.g. an ⁇ evac' state.
• Subsequent alarms set all levels between the respective level of a newly reported alarm and the level of the first alarm into an evacuation state and into an ⁇ evac " state.
• the two levels above as w ell as two levels below the level of the newly reported alarm are also set into evacuation mode and ⁇ evac ' state.
• the levels in state ⁇ alarm ' need to be evacuated with high priority than the ones in state ⁇ evac ' .
• Manual pull stations must not activate the OEO.
• An alarm on the discharge level shal l not activate the OEO.
• the various embodiments disclosed ensure that there is only one source of information (prov ided by the fire alarm system) which is used by ail relevant control systems (fire alarm system, elevator system) but the evacuation procedure and the signage for the elevators is done by the elevator system.
• the system coordinates the evacuation procedure and signage by Elevator control.
• appropriate voice messages/evacuation instructions are issued by the fire alarm system.
• a dedicated control application evaluates the OEO status of each building level and reports the status on dedicated communication lines and communication busses, e.g., v ia the standardized Building Automation and Control Network (BACnet ) connection. Only the signals from/to the elevator system which are required by code are hard- wired, everything else is communicated via the standardized BACnet communication bus. OEO states are used as criteria for Voice messages.
• v ia the standardized Building Automation and Control Network
• a single central source of information for al l relevant applications is provided according to various embodiments to provide control for the elevators and voice messages as well as other indication means.
• This solution provides for a minimum number of connections between elev ator system and fire alarm system and the ma jor part of information is prov ided via a high lev el connection.
• the central control system creates a model of the functionalities in a building that are necessary for an OEO.
• the central control system may according to an embodiment comprise a processing system with a processor and memory that is coupled with respective elevator control system and a fire alarm detection system.
• the central control system may have various network connection couplings.
• the configurable model provided by the central control system allows the system to be configured using an engineering tool, for example, an off-l ine engineering tool that is not part of the system.
• an engineering tool for example, an off-l ine engineering tool that is not part of the system.
• other embodiments may include an integrated configuration tool .
• the system/model can be configured on or off-line and in case of an off-l ine configuration, once the system is set up it can be downloaded into the actual control unit.
• This configured model provides for universal logic control blocks or modules within the central control system.. These blocks or modules also implement ail relevant legal regulation. Each module is configurable and can therefore easily be adapted to changes in the regul ation or to specifics of each building.
• the blocks or modules are completely integrated within the control system and provide for display and manual interaction, such as keyboard, mouse, touch screen interfaces, etc.
• the communication with external components can be prov ided through dedicated communication lines, in particular digital communication lines and through a central communication bus, such as BACnet.
• System configuration is particularly facilitated through the use of the control blocks or modules of the OEO control system and as mentioned above can be configured using an external engineering tool .
• configuration may also be performed directly within the system.
• the system may comprise an intuitive model of the building, for example, a graphical or a hierarchical tree structure, to further facilitate configuration.
• the system provides control blocks or modules for each building level separately and combines common functionalities in a common block or module.
• only the causes for an evacuation of a building level need to be evaluated by the system.
• the modular structure of the system provides for great flexibility and, therefore, many other special situations can be addressed by the functionality of the system.
• the system provides, for example, on a dedicated display or a system screen, a clear representation of the structure of the building.
• each building level is shown in its actual 'vertical' order with respect to the other levels, for example, by a respective element such as a row in a tree structure as will be explained in more detail below.
• a tree structure may be used to represent the building and its system which may provide for an Engineering tool used to configure the system (e.g., on a PC).
• an Engineering tool used to configure the system (e.g., on a PC).
• such a representation is preferably designed to be self-explaining and easy to understand since a service engineer configures the OEO functions using this tool.
• the distribution of the various functionalities, in particular between the elevator system and the fire alarm notification system with integrated voice evacuation provides for congruity of optical and acoustic evacuation signals.
• the central control system calculates and/or determines the building levels that have to be evacuated by itself and informs the elevator system accordingly.
• This information source namely the central control system, provides information to all participating units, such as elevators, alarm displays and ail voice outputs.
• the system avoids that different applications process evacuation procedures in parallel and provide inconsistent results with respect to each other.
• the separate modeling of the OEO and voice allows for configuration fle ibility of the voice subsystem.
• a dedicated, intuitive SW model of the building and the OEO functionality allows for reliable, clearly arranged and manageable configuration of all OEO relevant criteria and prov ides the relevant states once for ail involved applications.
• Such a functionality can be implemented within a central control unit that is coupled with existing fire detection hardware at the elevators and each floor of the building.
• existing communication networks can be used without requiring new communication lines to be installed within the building. Little or no additional hardware for each floor may be necessary in buildings that provide for a basic hazardous alarm system.
• a single control system can be used for a variety of different types of buildings and the system is flexible to be configured to comply with various different regulations.
• a Fire detection & Voice evacuation system generally is required to monitor the status of a building with respect to hazardous conditions and in case of one or more such hazardous conditions to efficiently provide means to evacuate the building.
• the system guides the occupants in case of. for example, a fire through the fastest exit route possible.
• This may include acoustic messages generated by the Voice evacuation system, and visual guidance as well as the operation of elevators by the elevator system based on information prov ided by the Fire alarm system in the most efficient way wherein the conditions on each floor of the building may require different measurements for such an evacuation.
• Any of these measures may be provided by the Fire alarm system or by the Elevator system.
• the Fire alarm system may provide for visualization of escape routes etc. (flashlights, arrows, ..) and/or the Elevator system may also provide for visual indication of elevator status etc.
• Other implementations of the visual guidance and Voice ev acuation system may apply depending on the embodiment.
• each elev ator group in a building there is one control block or module per building lev el plus one control block or module for the common functions of the elevator group.
• the system with its various blocks or modules can be seen as a model of the building with respect to the various inputs and outputs that are relevant for an OEO.
• a model incorporates ail functions required by the standards and regulations and only the site-specific details need to be configured. These may include: OEO-relevant alarm causes per building level; and
• the central control unit provides for a dedicated model for the OEO and is fully integrated into the overall Fire detection & Voice evacuation system and therefore can benefit from all general functions like display and operation on operating terminals, parallel indicators etc. Furthermore, this ensures a smooth and easy inclusion of the OEO states into the configuration of the voice ev acuation part.
• Model l ing the building within the central control system provides flexibility for the configuration of specific requirements as well as changes in the standards and regulations.
• Fig. 1 shows an exemplary building and system 1 00 according to various embodiments.
• This building may have 1 5 levels 0- 14, wherein the bottom two levels 0 and 1 are underground.
• Two groups of elevators are prov ided, wherein each group may comprise a plurality of elevators.
• Fig. 1 only shows a single elevator 1 10 and 1 0 for each group.
• Each elevator 1 1 0, 130 may have an associated elevator control unit 1 1 5, 1 35 coupled w ith a central control unit 120.
• Each elevator control unit 1 15, 1 35 may be coupled through a separate dedicated communication lines 180, 1 90. respectively as wel l as a common bus. for example the BACnet bus.
• the communication between the elevator control units may.
• a staircase 140 may be provided which serves all building levels 0- 14. Each level 0- 14 may have at least one fire alarm sensor and optionally a plurality of other sensors indicated by numeral 1 50 coupled with the central control unit 1 20. Fire alarm sensors may thus, be spread at critical locations throughout the building.
• the elevator system may comprise separate fire alarm sensors, for example in the elevator shaft, the elevator lobby, engine room, etc. These fire alarm sensors are also connected to the fire alarm system, even though they specifically protect monitor parts/location of the elevator system.
• each level 0- 14 may have an evacuation indication system 160 coupled w ith the central control unit 120 v ia either a bus or dedicated l ines 1 70.
• Al l communication busses may be configured in a ring form for maximum redundancy as indicated by the dotted lines.
• the evacuation indication system 160 may for example include a voice evacuation system, such as a PA system w ith speakers distributed around the respective building level, and optional ly also a light indication system and/or any other means distributed around the level for guiding the occupants of that level in case of an emergency.
• the OEO system can be added without or with l ittle additional hardware.
• building 105 as shown in Fig. 1 would provide for the essential sensors and control units. If additional sensors in specific areas of each level are necessary, they can be added and if possible existing connection to the central control unit can be used.
• the central control unit 1 20 may be expanded by additional hardw are such as a OEO control unit.
• a OEO control unit may have enough processing capacity to add the functionality of an OEO unit according to various embodiments.
• the OEO unit generates a model of the entire building w ith respect to input and output values that are relevant in case of an emergency.
• the model generates automatically al l dependencies betw een the various levels and their respective conditions and prov ides for an adapted evacuation operation.
• Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of main functions of the OEO unit within a central control system.
• the OEO unit comprises various control blocks or modules that are arranged in a tree structure. Another view of the tree structure organization is shown in Fig. 3 which shows the various modules and exemplary more detailed subsections of the modules.
• each elevator group comprises an associated
• OEO control group 210 Associated with each OEO control group 2 1 0 are a common OEO control unit 220 and an OEO building level control unit 230.
• an OEO building level control unit 230 may serve more than one building level .
• the OEO control unit 220 manages common functions of the group, in other words causes that affect ail elevators in that group equally.
• the OEO building level control units 230 manage all elevators of the group.
• the main point of the common OEO control unit 220 is that it manages special functions for al l building levels equal ly - without this common OEO control unit, for the respective functions the same configuration and evaluation would need to be done separately for each building lev el .
• a “cause” can. thus, either be a hardw are input or a state of another logical element in the system.
• "causes" can be:
• Fig. 2 further shows the fire detection module 240 w hich can be configured to provide input to the respective OEO building level control unit 230 and the common OEO control unit 220.
• the fire detection module 240 can be organized in a tree structure which models the building regarding the fire detection eval uation .
• Such a tree structure may have fore example the fol lowing levels:
• Section organizational level which combines geographically or functional ly related zones, typical ly al l zones of a floor or al l zones of a fire compartment.
• Zone Has one or several devices (detectors) assigned which can be evaluated individually or in combination. This is the level that takes the alarm decision based on the signals from the devices.
• a zone typical ly represents a room.
• Each element within the fire detection module 240 has a number of states which are reported when reached and which then can be used as causes for control functions. This is always also possible as a summarized cause on a higher level in the tree. For example, if as a cause 'alarm of a section' is assigned, then this cause is active each time a zone within the section reports an alarm. All levels also serve as an entry point for operation functions on a person machine interface (PMI) of the fire detection module 240.
• PMI person machine interface
• Reference symbol 250 provides output signals from other OEO control group (similar to control group 210) for another elevator group within the bui lding.
• OEO control group 210 receives cross reference information from, other OEO control groups if multiple elevator groups are present in the bui lding. Therefore, an occupant evacuation operation can be optimized and coordinated for the different bui lding levels and with respect to the avai lable elevators.
• Fig. 3 shows more details of the common OEO control unit configuration screen 300 as displayed, for example, on a PC.
• the 'Phase I recall' control function may incl ude a plural ity of inputs that can trigger the ' Phase I recall".
• Fig. 3 shows that a mass notification alarm will trigger the 'Phase I recal l'.
• a list of alarms states in specific locations arc shown which will also tri ger the 'Phase I recall'. In most cases these are the alarms from elevator lobbies on each building level + alarm from elevator shaft and machine room. However, other location may trigger this event.
• a respective 'Phase I recall' output which is connected to the elevator system and the control function triggering the output are not shown here.
• the 'Common OEO control' just evaluates the OEO-related conditions for the 'Phase I recall' and then provides that information as a state + controls the OEO functions accordingly.
• the system generally allows to specify a variety o triggers that cause a specific event.
• Fig. 3 further shows, the causes ⁇ unav ailable * and 'Total building ev acuation ' which each can be configured to receiv e respective hardware input signals or states from other logical elements in the system.
• the OEO system allows for a flexible configuration wherein submodules al low configuration of common functions that affect all elevators of a group and individual building levels can be configured.
• the OEO building level control units also manage all elevators of the group.
• the main point of the common OEO control unit is that it manages special functions for all building levels equally - without this common OEO control unit, for the respectiv e functions the same configuration and evaluation would need to be done separately for each building level.
• FIG. 4 An exemplary configuration opt ions window 400 for the sett ing of the behav ior of the common OEO control module or block is shown in detail in Fig. 4.
• Fig. 2 shows this configuration window with numeral 205.
• This configuration window 205 may be configured to show the specific properties of the tree element 220 as it is presented in the Engineering tool which is used to configure the system. For example, this can be a configuration screen that runs on a PC.
• Such a configuration window allows for defining which of the various building levels is the discharge lev el in dialog window 405, the number of building levels below a first building lev el serv ed by an elevator in window 41 0, the number of building lev els abov e a building lev el in OEO alarm which is set to an OEO evacuation state in window 4 1 5, the number of building levels below a building level in OEO alarm which is set to an OEO evacuation state in window 420, and whether building levels located between 2 building levels in OEO alarm should also be set to an OEO evacuation state in check box 425.
• the discharge lev el is the level where people can leave the building. In many cases this is the ground level but it could also be another lev el .
• FIG. 3 shows exemplary details for floor 7 including the causes assigned to floor 7.
• these are references to automatic alarm states of 'Section' elements in the detection tree -> this element combines the logical 'Zones' of a building level or a part of a building lev el (e.g. fire compartment ). Therefore, depending on the building structure and the detection tree defined for it, there can be one or several sections and thus one or several causes assigned to these sections.
• each building level may be configured through the configuration window 205 ( Fig. 2 ) with respect to whether it is served by the elevator group or not.
• the configuration is done with an Engineering tool, for example, on a PC and can then be downloaded to the respective target system.
• Reference symbol 205 shows the control unit/PMI of the target system.
• the configuration allows to define whether a building lev el is a discharge level, which is usually the ground level, al lowing exiting the building. For easy orientation, the elements are arranged in ascending order with the lowest floor at the bottom.
• Reference symbol 222 in Fig. 2 represents hardware inputs which are assigned to logical elements 224. The separation of these 2 element is however not critical, and may only be used for internal modeling. General ly, both combined are a cause for a function of the OEO control 220 or 230. Thus, other embodiments may directly provide an input signal to the common OEO control 220 or 230.
• Fig. 5 shows the coupling of a Fire alarm functions 510, central OEO control functions 520 with the elev ator system 1 15/135 and the v arious incoming and outgoing signals prov ided by the OEO system.
• the Fire alarm functions 5 10 may be provided by a distinct system separate from a central OEO system providing the central OEO control functions 520.
• the Fire alarm functions 5 1 0 prov ide events to the central OEO control functions 520 which feeds back OEO states to the Fire alarm functions 510.
• Alarms are such events which of course are most relev ant in the OEO context. How ev er, there can be also other events which could be taken into account if required, such as, for example, troubles, activations of other controls, etc.
• these Fire alarm functions 510 and the central OEO control functions 520 could also be implemented with separated 'Fire alarm system' and ⁇ control system', respectively.
• the central Fire alarm functions 510 receives fire detection signals 525 which may be provided by individual connection lines with the fire detectors or a common bus.
• the central OEO control functions 520 may receive separate digital inputs for total bui lding evacuation 530 and/or other signals 535 from each level, for example, manual ly in itiated commands which set a specific level into status ⁇ alarm'. These input signals may also result from manual operation from, a Fire Command Center. At least some of these signals may also be commun icated via a h igher-level commun ication network like BACnet. There would then be a separate logical BACnet connection (not shared with the logical BACnet connection to the elevator system).
• the central OEO control functions 520 can furthermore be coupled with each elev ator system 1 15/135 which normal ly may consist of several elev ator control lers.
• a network connection such as BACnet 560
• individual input l ines 570 and output l ines 580 may be prov ided between control system 520 and individual elevator controllers 1 15/135.
• Each line may indicate a dedicated status as shown in Fig. 5.
• in ut signals may incl ude ⁇ unavai lable " , ⁇ confirmed " .
• Output signals may include 'Phase I recall (designated level)' and 'Phase I recal l (alternate lev el ) ' .
• Visual evacuation signs are control led through control signals 550 by the elevator system 1 15/135 based on OEO states from the Central OEO control functions 520 and further calculation by the elev ator system 1 15/135, for example through the BACnet 560. These signs can, for example, show an elev ator status in formation. These signs may show an actual elevator status.
• the Fire alarm functions 510 may also generate the respective voice ev acuation signals 540 wh ich are independent for each bui lding lev el because NFPA requires that the voice messages clearly indicate the elevator avai labi l ity.
• Figs. 6 A and 6B show four different exemplary scenarios of how the status of various building levels with respect to each elevator group is determined according to inputs received by the central OEO control system 500.
• the v arious scenarios relate to a bui lding similar to the one shown in Fig. 1 using a di fferent bui lding lev el numbering.
• the first elev ator group is designed not to serve building levels -2, 2 and 3
• elevator group 2 is designed not to serve building levels -2, 5, 6, and 7 in this embodiment.
• Scenario l b in Fig. 6 A is based on scenario l a.
• the elevator group 1 control unit transmitted an 'unavailable' signal to the OEO system reporting that group is not operational.
• the levels whose status have been previously set to ⁇ evac' or ⁇ alarm ' which includes status ⁇ evac ' are now set to ⁇ unavailable " .
• the remaining levels associated with group 1 are set to ⁇ quiet " .
• Scenario c in Fig. 6B is based on scenario l b. Now, an additional alarm has been received from level 6. This results for elevator group 2, in setting level 8 into ⁇ evac ' and levels 7 and 8 are changed for elevator group 1 to 'OEO unavailable " .
• Scenario I d in Fig. 6B is based on scenario l c. Now, an additional alarm has been received from level - 1 . This results for elevator group 2, in setting level - 1 into ⁇ alarm ' and ground level and level 1 also into "OEO evac " . All served levels of elevator group 1 are now set to ⁇ unavailable'.
• the central control system 500 is configured to allow the elevators to serve the levels with status ⁇ alarm ' and 'OEO evac ' and to send appropriate voice messages to the respective building levels. According to the requirements of NFPA, these messages must announce whether an elevator is available or not. In addition, the voice system may be controlled to announce alternative escape routes in particular when an elevator cannot serve the floor. Light signs may be activated accordingly. Due to the centralized modular control, an OEO can be well coordinated to speed up the evacuation as fast as possible. The solution provides one single source of states which serves as a basis for al l relevant applications like voice evacuation and elevator control. This allows for the highest-possible degree of consistency between the voice evacuation messages and the visual information provided to the building occupants which is crucial for a fast, reliable and secure evacuation in case of an incident.
• the SW model and configuration tool as provided by the central OEO control system with its various blocks or modules allows for a well understandable, consistent and reproducible configuration of OEO relevant criteria and functions. This saves time and money due to a shorter configuration time and it greatly simplifies main tenance/ update of an existing configuration by any user.

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• 2016
  • 2016-12-22 CN CN202310833647.1A patent/CN116853919A/zh active Pending
  • 2016-12-22 EP EP20202496.4A patent/EP3789954A1/en not_active Withdrawn
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