WO2024126254A1

WO2024126254A1 - Guide rail element and guide rail arrangement for an elevator system, and corresponding mounting method

Info

Publication number: WO2024126254A1
Application number: PCT/EP2023/084757
Authority: WO
Inventors: Philipp Zimmerli; Linus JOHO; Tim LUSTENBERGER; Christian Studer; Oliver Simmonds
Original assignee: Inventio Ag
Priority date: 2022-12-12
Filing date: 2023-12-07
Publication date: 2024-06-20

Abstract

A guide rail element (1) of a guide rail arrangement (3) for an elevator system (5) is described, which is of multipart construction and has an elongate guide part (7) and an elongate foot part (15). The guide part forms, with a lateral face (9), a guide face (11) for guiding an elevator component to be moved along the guide rail arrangement (3). The foot part forms a support face (17), extending transversely to the guide face, for supporting the guide rail element relative to a shaft wall (19) of the elevator system. The foot part is formed as a hollow profile (23) formed from a metal sheet (21). The foot part is shaped in such a way and the guide part is received in the foot part with a section (25) in such a way that the guide part is supported on a contact face (31) formed by an inner surface (29) of the foot part (15) in a direction transversely to the support face by way of an end face (27) extending transversely to the lateral face. A two-stage method for mounting a guide rail arrangement on a shaft wall (19) of an elevator system is also described.

Description

Guide rail element and guide rail arrangement for an elevator system and corresponding assembly method

The present invention relates to a guide rail element of a guide rail arrangement for an elevator system and to a corresponding guide rail arrangement and a corresponding elevator system. The invention further relates to a method for assembling a guide rail arrangement.

In an elevator system, a car is used to transport people or objects between different floors. The car is guided along one or more guide rail arrangements during a displacement movement along an elevator shaft. For example, a guide shoe can be attached to the car and, when the car is displaced, can be supported on a guide surface formed by the guide rail arrangement. In addition, the guide surface can be used as a braking surface, for example to be able to slow down the car using a safety brake (also known as "safety gear").

Conventionally, the guide rail arrangement is formed using several elongated guide rails that are arranged vertically along the elevator shaft, one behind the other and abutting against one another, thereby forming the continuous guide surface. Conventional guide rails are usually used as solid components in the form of steel profiles.

Such guide rails are generally manufactured using a hot rolling process and then cut to the desired lengths and reworked. The manufacturing and rework can be relatively complex and can include, for example, creating holes for attaching rail connectors (also known as "fishplates"), milling for the rail connectors, creating a tongue-groove connection by milling the corresponding tongue and groove, generating corrosion protection and/or suitable creation of the guide surfaces by cold drawing them. In addition, the guide rails, which are usually several meters long, are very heavy. For example, a guide rail with a typical length of 5 m can weigh well over 100 kg. This can be very costly during transport or during assembly in the elevator shaft. In addition, a large amount of steel is required to manufacture conventional guide rails, which significantly increases manufacturing costs and CO2 emissions. In addition, when storing the heavy rails, it may be necessary to ensure that they do not deform due to their own weight.

CN 215755826 U describes a guide rail element which is constructed in two parts, with a solid guide part being fixed to a base part in the form of a rolled profile which is formed with a sheet bent into a hollow profile.

There may be a need for an alternative guide rail element which, among other things, at least partially avoids the above-mentioned problems of conventional guide rails. In particular, there may be a need for a guide rail element which can be manufactured easily and/or with few post-processing steps, which is lightweight or requires a small amount of material used to manufacture it, such as high-quality steel in particular, and thus produces less CO2, which is easy to store and/or transport, which enables improved installation accuracy and/or which can be manufactured and/or assembled with less effort and/or lower costs overall than conventional guide rails. There may also be a need for a guide rail element in which forces such as those generated when guiding a car can be efficiently diverted to a supporting structure on which the guide rail element is supported within the elevator shaft. There may also be a need for a corresponding guide rail arrangement and a corresponding elevator system. There may also be a need for a method for mounting a corresponding guide rail arrangement in an elevator shaft of an elevator system.

Such a need can be met by the objects according to the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent claims and the following description or illustrated in the accompanying figures.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a guide rail element of a guide rail arrangement for an elevator system is described, which has an elongated guide part and an elongated foot part. The guide part forms a guide surface with a side surface for guiding an elevator component to be displaced along the guide rail arrangement. The foot part forms a support surface running transversely to the guide surface for supporting the guide rail element relative to a shaft wall of the elevator system. The foot part is designed as a hollow profile formed from a sheet metal. Furthermore, the foot part is shaped in such a way and the guide part is received with a partial area in the foot part in such a way that the guide part is supported with an end face running transversely to the side surface on a contact surface formed by an inner surface of the foot part in a direction transverse to the support surface.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a guide rail arrangement is described which has a plurality of guide rail elements according to an embodiment of the first aspect, wherein the guide rail elements are arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction and connected to one another.

According to a third aspect of the invention, an elevator system is described which has an elevator shaft delimited by shaft walls, at least one guide rail arrangement according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, which is fastened to one of the shaft walls, and an elevator component to be displaced, such as a car, which can be displaced along the elevator shaft guided on the guide rail arrangement.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a method for mounting a guide rail arrangement on a shaft wall of an elevator system is described, which has at least the following method steps, preferably in the order given:

Installing wall brackets on the shaft wall, attaching a first foot part to one of the wall brackets, Attaching a second foot part to another of the wall brackets, then attaching a first guide part to the first foot part and a second guide part to the second foot part.

By way of introduction, a basic idea for embodiments of the invention described herein will be briefly explained, whereby this explanation is to be interpreted as merely a rough summary and not as limiting the invention:

A guide rail element is described which, in contrast to guide rails conventionally used in elevator systems, is essentially constructed in at least two parts and comprises a guide part and a foot part.

The guide part forms the guide surface along which an elevator component to be moved, such as the elevator car, can be guided. The guide part can be solid, for example, in particular as a solid component manufactured using an extrusion process. The guide part can be made of high-quality materials, such as high-quality steel, and thus enable the formation of the guide surface with very good properties, such as high load-bearing capacity, a smooth and even surface, etc.

The foot part can be manufactured as a separate component and only subsequently connected to the guide part. In particular, the foot part can be formed into a hollow profile by suitable punching and/or bending or by roll forming a sheet metal, in particular a steel sheet. The foot part can thus be manufactured using generally known techniques for producing rolled sheet metal profiles. The sheet metal surrounds an internal cavity. Accordingly, the foot part can be formed with significantly less weight and significantly less material compared to a solid component. In addition, a lower material quality can be selected for the foot part than for the guide part.

In order to give the entire guide rail element sufficient mechanical stability and in particular sufficient mechanical load-bearing capacity to guide the car, the foot part is shaped in a special way and the Guide part is accommodated in the foot part in a special way. In particular, the foot part is designed in such a way that it has a contact surface on which a portion of the guide part, which is introduced into the inner volume of the foot part and accommodated therein, can be supported. This makes it possible to ensure that forces acting on the guide part in different directions can be efficiently transmitted to the foot part and ultimately diverted from there to a supporting structure on which the guide rail element is mounted.

Using several of the described guide rail elements, a guide rail arrangement can be formed in an efficient manner and ultimately an elevator system can be equipped with it.

The guide rail elements can be brought to the construction site in a pre-assembled state where the elevator system is to be installed. However, it can be advantageous to bring the guide rail elements to the construction site individually and only assemble and connect them there. When assembling such a guide rail arrangement, the two-part structure of the guide rail elements can be used to advantage. In particular, foot parts can be attached to wall brackets (also known as "brackets") previously installed on the shaft wall first, and only in a subsequent step can one or more guide parts be attached to these foot parts. This can simplify the assembly process, among other things.

Possible configurations and advantages of embodiments of the guide rail element, the guide rail arrangement, the elevator system and the assembly method are described in more detail below.

The multi-part guide rail element, as described herein, can have similar or identical dimensions to conventional, one-piece guide rail segments. Furthermore, it can be used to implement similar or analogous functionalities as with conventional guide rails. In particular, a guide rail arrangement can be assembled from several guide rail elements by mounting the guide rail elements one behind the other and adjacent to one another along the elevator shaft. The guide surfaces formed by adjacent guide rail elements preferably merge continuously and flush into one another, so that a preferably flat, smooth guide surface is formed along the entire guide rail arrangement. A guide shoe attached to a car can then slide or roll along this guide surface, for example, and thereby guide the car along a desired travel path.

The guide rail element is constructed in several parts and has at least one guide part and one foot part. The guide part forms the guide surface, whereas the foot part is configured to be able to attach the guide rail element together with its guide part to a shaft wall of the elevator system and to support it on this.

The guide part is elongated. For example, it can have a length of several meters, in particular more than 2 m, preferably more than 4 m, but in most cases less than 20 m or preferably less than 10 m. The guide part can be constructed in one piece or in multiple pieces. For example, the guide part can be designed as a one-piece metal profile, in particular a steel profile. The guide part can be solid. The guide part can be manufactured by extrusion. In particular, the guide part can be designed as cold-drawn flat steel. Alternatively, the guide part can be designed in multiple pieces and/or as a composite component. At least an area close to the surface, preferably even the entire guide part, can be made of a material that can withstand high mechanical loads, in particular a metal, and in particular steel. The quality of the guide surface formed by the guide part should be the same as that of conventional guide rails. The guide part can have a cuboid-shaped cross-section. In other words, the guide part can have a constant cross-section along its length. The cross-section can be rectangular. Alternatively, the cross-section can be approximately rectangular and, for example, have rounded edges and/or surfaces that are not completely parallel but at a slight angle to one another. The guide part has wide surfaces running parallel to its longitudinal direction, which are referred to herein as side surfaces, as well as narrow surfaces running parallel to its longitudinal direction, which are referred to herein as end surfaces. At its opposite ends, the guide part has small surfaces, which are referred to herein as abutment surfaces. At least one of the side surfaces of the guide part forms a guide surface for guiding, for example, the elevator car. This guide surface is preferably straight, ie essentially flat along the longitudinal direction. The guide surface can be flat overall. The guide part can preferably have two oppositely directed side surfaces, which form guide surfaces running parallel to one another, for example.

Another advantage of this multi-part guide rail element, which has at least one guide part and one base part, is that it can meet high requirements in terms of corrosion resistance. Both components can each have a corrosion protection. However, it is also conceivable that the guide part has a different corrosion protection than the base part, or that the guide part has no corrosion protection at all. For example, the corrosion protection for the base part can be provided by a coating such as anti-corrosive paint or powder coating; the corrosion protection for the guide part can be provided by a wax-based coating (e.g. Tectyl ™) or a self-adhesive plastic film. The latter agents and films are usually removed at the installation site, while the corrosion protection of the base part can remain on it.

The foot part is also elongated. The foot part preferably has a length that is equal to the length of the guide part. However, it is also conceivable to make the foot part longer or shorter than the guide part. The foot part can be made in one piece or in multiple pieces. The foot part has a hollow profile that is made of a sheet metal, in particular a steel sheet. The foot part can be produced in particular using a roll forming process. In other words, the foot part can be formed using a sheet metal that is bent in such a way that it surrounds an internal cavity. Such a profile can in particular be designed as a rolled or roll-formed profile. The hollow profile does not necessarily have to completely surround the cavity, but an elongated opening can remain in the hollow profile, into which the guide part can then be inserted in order to close the hollow profile in this way and completely surround the cavity. The hollow profile can have a constant cross-section. One of the outer surfaces formed by the hollow profile forms a support surface with the aid of which the guide rail element can be supported relative to the shaft wall of the elevator system. The support surface runs transversely, preferably perpendicularly to the guide surface formed by the guide part. The support surface is generally directed away from the guide part. The support surface is preferably flat along the longitudinal direction of the foot part and can be flat overall. The support surface can be one-piece, ie continuous. Alternatively, the support surface can also be multi-piece, ie have several separate partial surfaces.

Corrosion protection can be applied to the base part independently of the guide part. This corrosion protection can be provided, for example, by an appropriate coating such as anti-corrosive paint or powder coating.

The foot part and the guide part are each shaped and arranged relative to each other in such a way that the guide part can be held on the foot part and can be efficiently supported on it.

For this purpose, on the one hand, the guide part is accommodated with a partial area in the inner volume of the hollow foot part. In other words, the guide part with the said partial area projects through an elongated opening in the foot part into its inner volume, whereas another partial area of the guide part runs outside the foot part and forms the required guide surface there.

On the other hand, the foot part is designed in such a way that it forms a partial surface on an inner surface of the sheet metal forming the hollow profile, which is referred to herein as a contact surface. This contact surface is designed, i.e. arranged, dimensioned and shaped in such a way that the guide part with its partial area accommodated in the foot part and in particular with the end face running along it can be supported on this contact surface.

The contact surface can have the same length as the guide part and/or the same width, but possibly also a larger or smaller width than the front surface of the guide part. The contact surface is aligned in such a way that that it can support the guide part in a direction transverse to the support surface of the foot part. For this purpose, the contact surface can in particular be aligned substantially parallel to the support surface. Preferably, the contact surface can run in a direction orthogonal to it at a distance from the support surface. In other words, the contact surface can be formed by a part of the sheet metal forming the foot part that projects further into the cavity surrounded by the hollow profile than a part of this sheet metal that forms the support surface.

Because the guide part can be efficiently supported on the base part, forces acting on the guide part can ultimately be diverted to the shaft wall via the base part. Overall, this results in a high mechanical load capacity of the guide rail element.

According to one embodiment, the foot part has a first curvature on the contact surface, wherein the guide part has a second curvature on the front surface that is complementary to the first curvature and wherein the first and the second curvature interact in an interlocking manner.

In other words, the sheet metal of the foot part can have an unevenness in the form of a protruding, i.e. convex curvature or an unevenness in the form of a recessed, i.e. concave curvature where it forms the contact surface. Such a curvature can also be referred to as a camber. The front surface of the guide part that rests on the contact surface can have a second curvature that is essentially complementary to this first curvature. The two curvatures can form elevations or depressions with a height of, for example, several millimeters or more. Accordingly, the guide part with its curved front surface and the foot part with its curved contact surface can engage with one another.

Because the two curvatures interact in this way, forces that act transversely on the guide surface of the guide part, which are sometimes also referred to as FF2 forces, can be efficiently transferred from the guide part to the foot part. The foot part can therefore act as a counter bearing for the guide part with regard to such forces. The first curvature on the foot part can be created, for example, during roll forming of the sheet metal to form the foot part. The second curvature on the guide part can be created, for example, during cold drawing of the flat steel used for the guide part.

According to one embodiment, the hollow profile of the foot part has a groove extending in the longitudinal direction of the foot part and forming an undercut.

In other words, the sheet metal that forms the foot part can be bent in such a way that a groove is formed that runs in the longitudinal direction of the foot part. This groove can be designed with a cross section such that an undercut is formed. For example, the groove can be designed with a T-shaped cross section. The groove can have a constant cross section along the longitudinal extent of the foot part. The groove can preferably run centrally or in the middle along the support surface of the foot part.

The undercut groove can be used, for example, to accommodate a widened part of a fastening component such as a screw head, a screw nut, a threaded sliding block or similar in the groove and then use the fastening component to fix the foot part to the shaft wall or a wall bracket anchored there. Using the groove and the fastening component, the foot part can therefore be attached to the shaft wall in a very simple manner. In addition, the fastening component can be moved along the groove relative to the foot part. On the one hand, this allows the foot part to be easily moved and thus aligned relative to the fastening component held on the wall bracket, for example, during the assembly process. On the other hand, the fastening component can also shift at least slightly within the groove during the subsequent service life of the elevator system, provided it is not fixed relative to the groove, for example by subsequently tightening the screw used for this purpose, so that, for example, a changing length of the elevator shaft, such as can result from building settlement, can be compensated for. According to a specific embodiment, the contact surface is arranged on a partial area of the hollow profile of the foot part surrounding the groove.

In other words, the part of the sheet metal of the foot part that forms the hollow profile and on which the contact surface for supporting the guide part is arranged can be provided on the part of the sheet metal that surrounds the elongated groove of the foot part, or coincide with it. In this area, the hollow profile can be particularly resilient due to its profiled shape surrounding the groove. On the other hand, forces can also be transferred particularly efficiently to a fastening component accommodated in the groove.

According to one embodiment, the foot part has two tabs which are formed by edge regions adjacent to opposite edges of the sheet metal forming the foot part, wherein the tabs rest against opposite side surfaces of the guide part.

In other words, opposite edges of the sheet metal that forms the base part can be referred to as tabs and can be designed and arranged on the base part in such a way that these tabs rest on opposite side surfaces of the guide part when the latter is attached to the base part. The base part can thus use its tabs to clamp the guide part arranged between them from both sides. This means that the base part can use its tabs to hold the guide part at least temporarily, for example during an assembly process, in particular as long as no significant guiding forces are yet to be transferred from the guide part to the base part.

In order to be able to divert the often considerable guiding forces that occur during operation of the elevator system from the guide part to the base part and ultimately to the shaft wall, the tabs can, according to one embodiment, be connected to the guide part in a force-fitting, form-fitting and/or material-fitting manner. To do this, the tabs of the base part can be pressed together with the guide part held between them using pliers, for example, riveted, glued, nailed, screwed, welded or mechanically connected in another way that is permanent and sufficiently resilient. According to one embodiment, the guide part is arranged offset in the longitudinal direction to the foot part.

In other words, the guide part and the foot part can have the same or similar lengths, but do not need to be arranged congruently relative to one another in terms of their longitudinal extension. Instead, the foot part can protrude longitudinally beyond the guide part with a partial area, or vice versa. An offset between the guide part and the foot part can be at least several millimeters, preferably several centimeters long. In other words, the offset can be, for example, between 1% and 50%, preferably between 3% and 20% of the total length of the guide part or the foot part.

Due to such an offset arrangement, in a guide rail arrangement according to the second aspect of the invention, in which several guide rail elements are arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction and connected to one another, a guide part of one of the guide rail elements can overlap several adjacent foot parts and be supported on them.

In other words, a single foot part can overlap two adjacent guide parts and connect them to one another, or vice versa, a single guide part can overlap two adjacent foot parts and be held by both. The overlapping arrangement of the guide parts and foot parts can, among other things, ensure that adjacent guide parts or foot parts are connected to one another by the foot part or guide part that overlaps them together. With conventional one-piece guide rails, however, it was necessary to connect adjacent guide rails with very stable rail connectors (sometimes also referred to as "fish plates"), whereby on the one hand the rail connectors added additional weight to the guide rail arrangement and on the other hand the rail connectors had to be attached to the guide rails in a complex and stable manner. Instead of conventional very stable and heavy rail connectors, the concept presented here can use significantly less stable and therefore lighter rail connector plates due to the possible overlaps of the guide parts and foot parts. In addition, forces acting on a guide part can be distributed to several foot parts and diverted from them.

According to one embodiment, the guide rail elements can be provided with a groove running along the foot part and forming an undercut, as described above, and adjacent guide rail elements can be connected to one another via rail connector plates which are fastened to the guide rail elements by means of fastening elements which engage in the grooves in the respective guide rail elements.

In other words, the undercut grooves optionally provided on the guide rail elements can not only be used to fix the guide rail elements to the shaft wall or a wall bracket anchored there using fastening elements that engage in the grooves, but also to attach rail connector plates to them, with the help of which adjacent guide rail elements can be connected to one another with sufficient stability. The fastening elements in this case can be, for example, screws, bolts or similar, the head of which can be inserted into a groove and can thus engage behind the undercut. An opposite end of the fastening elements can then be fixed to a rail connector plate, for example screwed to it. Rail connector plates can thus be attached to the adjacent guide rail elements in a simple and quick manner and connect them to one another in a mechanically resilient manner.

In an elevator system according to the third aspect of the invention, at least one of the guide rail arrangements described herein is fastened to one of the shaft walls. For this purpose, the individual guide rail elements can be fixed to anchored wall brackets, for example. If the guide rail elements are designed with an undercut groove as described above, the guide rail elements can be fastened to the shaft wall via wall brackets, wherein the wall brackets are fastened to the guide rail elements by means of fastening elements that engage in the grooves in the respective guide rail elements. In order to attach the guide rail arrangement described here to a shaft wall of an elevator system, the assembly method according to the fourth aspect of the invention can be used in particular. In contrast to an assembly of conventional one-piece rail segments, the multi-piece design of the guide rail elements described here can be used to also design the assembly method in a correspondingly multi-stage manner.

In particular, a first and a second foot part can be attached to wall brackets that were previously installed on the shaft wall, and only then can a first guide part be attached to the first foot part and a second guide part to the second foot part. The attachment and, if necessary, adjustment of the foot parts can thus be carried out as a separate first process step, whereby due to the low weight of the hollow foot parts, their assembly is much easier to carry out than the conventional assembly and adjustment of heavy guide rails. The guide parts can then be attached to the pre-assembled foot parts in a second process step. For example, a guide part can be pushed between opposing tabs of the associated foot part and thus at least temporarily held to the foot part. The guide part can then be firmly and mechanically resiliently connected to the foot part, for example by clamping, screwing, riveting, welding, etc.

According to one embodiment, at least one of the guide parts can be attached in an overlapping manner to both the first foot part and the second foot part. As already explained above, the overlapping arrangement of the guide part relative to two adjacent foot parts can create a mechanical connection between the two foot parts and also allow forces acting on the guide part to be diverted to the shaft wall in a distributed manner across both foot parts. Such an overlapping arrangement can be easily implemented by first mounting the two foot parts on the shaft wall and only then mounting the guide part.

According to one embodiment, the guide rail elements can be designed with an undercut groove as explained above. In this case, during the assembly process, adjacent guide rail elements can be connected via rail connectors. plates are connected to one another, which are fastened to the guide rail elements by means of fastening elements that engage in the grooves in the respective guide rail elements. Alternatively or additionally, the guide rail elements can be fastened to the shaft wall using wall brackets, which are fastened to the guide rail elements by means of fastening elements that engage in the grooves in the respective guide rail elements.

The two-stage design of the assembly process enables the rail connector plates to be easily attached to the lightweight foot parts of adjacent guide rail elements, for example using screws that engage in the groove of the respective foot parts on the one hand and in recesses in the rail connector plate on the other hand, connecting them together. Furthermore, the two-stage assembly process enables the lightweight foot parts to be attached to one of the wall brackets on the shaft wall using the fastening elements that engage in the groove. Only after both process steps have been carried out can the associated guide part be attached to the foot parts that were previously connected to one another and attached to the shaft wall.

It is pointed out that some of the possible features and advantages of the invention are described herein with reference to different embodiments, on the one hand, of the guide rail element described herein and of the guide rail arrangement and elevator system formed therewith, and on the other hand with reference to an assembly method. A person skilled in the art will recognize that the features can be combined, transferred, adapted or exchanged in a suitable manner in order to arrive at further embodiments of the invention.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein neither the drawings nor the description are to be construed as limiting the invention.

Fig. 1 shows an elevator system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 shows a sectional view of a guide rail element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 shows a side view of a guide rail arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The figures are merely schematic and not to scale. Identical reference symbols denote identical or equivalent features.

Figure 1 shows an elevator system 5 with a guide rail arrangement 3 according to an embodiment of the invention. An elevator component 13 to be displaced, for example in the form of a car 14 or a counterweight (not shown), is accommodated in an elevator shaft 6. The car 14 is held by support means 57 and displaced vertically along the elevator shaft 6 by a drive 59. The car 14 is guided along the guide rail arrangement 3 with the aid of guide shoes 61. The guide rail arrangement 3 is made up of a plurality of guide rail elements 1 which are arranged one behind the other in a longitudinal direction 45 and connected to one another.

Figure 2 shows a guide rail element 1 in cross section. Figure 3 illustrates the guide rail arrangement 3 with several guide rail elements 1, which are attached to a shaft wall 19.

The guide rail element 1 is constructed in several parts. In particular, the guide rail element 1 is composed of an elongated guide part 7 and an elongated foot part 15.

In the example shown, the guide part 7 is a cold-drawn flat steel. The guide part 7 has a rectangular cross-section. Opposing side surfaces 9 of the cuboid-shaped guide part 7 form two parallel guide surfaces 11. The component 13 to be moved can be guided along these guide surfaces 11. The guide shoes 61 can be provided with rollers along the guide surface 11. roll or slide with sliding elements along this guide surface 11. In addition, the guide surfaces 11 can serve as a braking surface for a safety brake.

The foot part 15 forms a support surface 17 which runs transversely or, in the example shown, perpendicular to the guide surface 11 and with the help of which the foot part can be supported relative to the shaft wall 19 of the elevator system 5. The support surface 17 is directed towards the shaft wall 19 and can run essentially parallel to the shaft wall 19. The foot part 15 of the guide rail element 1 is generally not supported directly on the shaft wall 19, but is connected to it via several wall brackets 55 which are anchored in the shaft wall 19.

The base part 15 is not solid, but is designed as a hollow profile 23 produced, for example, by means of a profiling process using a suitably bent sheet metal 21. The base part 15 is thus advantageously rolled from sheet metal and butt welded at a suitable point. A flat outer surface of the hollow profile 23 directed towards the shaft wall 19 forms the support surface 17.

Edge areas adjacent to the two opposite edges 43 of the sheet metal 21 forming the base part 15, which run in the longitudinal direction 45, form two tabs 41. The tabs 41 delimit an elongated opening on a side of the base part 15 directed away from the support surface 17. When assembling the guide rail element 1, the guide part 7 can be partially inserted through this opening with a partial area 25 of the same into an inner volume of the hollow profile 23. The tabs 41 then lie laterally against the opposite side surfaces 9 of the guide part 7 and can at least temporarily clamp the guide part 7 between them.

In order to subsequently connect the guide part 7 to the foot part 15 in a highly resilient manner, the tabs 41 can be pressed, riveted, glued, nailed, screwed and/or welded to the guide part 7, for example using pliers, and in this way a force-fitting, form-fitting and/or material-fitting connection can be created between the guide part 7 and the foot part 15. It can be particularly advantageous if the foot part 15, which consists of a sheet metal, is connected to the guide part 7 in the area of the tabs 41 using a clinching process. For clamping by clinching Special tools can be used to deform the sheet metal at specific points and thus achieve a sufficiently strong clamping.

However, the guide part 7 is not only connected along its side surfaces 9 to the foot part 15, in particular to its tabs 41. In addition, the foot part 15 also contacts a surface of the sheet metal 21 forming the foot part 15, which surface faces into the interior of the hollow profile 23, with an end face 27 which runs transversely, in particular perpendicularly, to the side surfaces 9. In particular, the end face 27 of the guide part 7 rests against a contact surface 31 formed by an inner surface 29 of the foot part 15 and is supported by this in a direction transversely to the support surface 17.

In the example shown, the hollow profile 23 of the foot part 15 is provided with a groove 37 which extends in the longitudinal direction 45 of the foot part 15. In the example shown, the groove 37 is T-shaped and thus forms an undercut 39. The groove 37 is formed by suitable bending of the sheet 21 forming the hollow profile 23. The contact surface 31, on which the front side 27 of the guide part 7 is supported, is arranged on a partial area of the hollow profile 23 surrounding the groove 37.

The contact surface 31 has a first curvature 33 in the form of a crown. In the example shown, the first curvature 33 protrudes towards the guide part 7, i.e. is convex, and is formed by a suitably curved area of the sheet metal 21. The guide part 7 has a second curvature 35 on its front surface 27 that is complementary to this first curvature 33. The second curvature 35 is designed as a depression, i.e. concave. Accordingly, the two curvatures 33, 35 can engage with one another on the contact surface 31 of the foot part 15 on the one hand and on the front surface 27 of the guide part 7 on the other. As a result, in addition to support forces which are transmitted from the guide part 7 to the foot part 15 in a direction perpendicular to the contact surface 31, so-called FF2 forces which act transversely to these support forces, in particular forces which act perpendicularly to the guide surfaces 11, can also be transmitted to the foot part 15.

The undercut groove 37 can also be referred to as a sliding groove. The groove 37 can be used to connect adjacent guide rail elements 1 to one another using rail connector plates 47. Alternatively or additionally, the groove 37 can be used to fasten guide rail elements 1 to wall brackets 55 which are anchored in the shaft wall 19.

For this purpose, a fastening element 49 can engage in the groove 37. In particular, a widened area of such a fastening element 49 can be introduced into the undercut 39 of the groove 37 and serve there as a counter bearing for the fastening element 49. Specifically, for example, a screw head 53 of a screw 51 serving as a fastening element 49 can be pushed from a longitudinal end of the hollow profile 23 in the longitudinal direction 45 into the groove 37 and its undercut 39. An opposite end of the screw 51 can then, as illustrated in Figure 2, for example, be guided through a suitable opening in the rail connector plate 47 and secured using a screw nut 54.

Alternatively, the screw 51 can be used to fix the foot part 15 of the guide rail element 1 to one of the wall brackets 55, as indicated in Figure 3. In this case, it can be advantageously used that the screw head 53 can be displaced along the groove 37 running in the longitudinal direction 45. Accordingly, for example, a sinking or shrinking of the elevator shaft 6, as can occur due to so-called building shrinkage, can be compensated by a corresponding displacement of the fastening elements 49, which are used to fasten the guide rail arrangement 3 to the shaft wall 19 and which can be displaced within the groove 37 in the longitudinal direction 45.

Furthermore, it is also possible to attach other components such as various additional equipment using screws 51 or other fastening elements 49 via the groove 37 to the base part 15 of the guide rail element 1.

As can be seen in Figure 3, in the guide rail arrangement 3, several guide rail elements 1', 1" are arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction 45 and connected to one another. The foot parts 15', 15" and the guide parts 7', 7" are arranged with an offset 63 to one another in relation to the longitudinal direction 45.

Accordingly, the guide part 7" of the lower guide rail element 1" overlaps both the foot part 15" of this guide rail element 1" and the foot part 15 ' of the adjacent guide rail element 1' arranged above it. The Adjacent guide rail elements 1', 1" are thus connected to one another not only via the rail connector plate 47, but also via the guide part 7" which overlaps their two foot parts 15 15".

Due to the supporting connection provided by the overlapping guide part 7", the rail connector plate 47 can therefore be significantly smaller and lighter than conventional rail connectors, such as those used in conventional, non-overlapping and solid and therefore very heavy guide rails.

In order to mount the guide rail arrangement 3 on the shaft wall 19 of the elevator system 5, first several wall brackets 55 are installed on the shaft wall 19 at a distance from one another in the vertical direction.

A first foot part 15' is then attached to one of the wall brackets 55 and a second foot part 15" is attached to another wall bracket 55. This can be done very easily, for example by inserting a screw 51 with its screw head 53 into the groove 37 of the respective foot part 15', 15" and then securing it to the wall bracket 55 with a screw nut 54. The screw nut 54 is preferably only slightly tightened during the assembly process so that the screw head 53 is loosely received in the undercut 39 of the groove 37 and the screw 51 can thus move along the groove 37.

After the foot parts 15', 15" have been assembled in this way, the corresponding guide parts 7', 7" are attached to these foot parts 15', 15". The guide parts 7', 7" can initially be pushed with their partial area 25 between the tabs 41 of the foot parts 15', 15" until they abut with their front surface 27 on the respective contact surface 31 of the foot parts 15', 15", whereby they are clamped by the tabs 41 and thus held at least provisionally.

It can then be checked, if necessary, whether a tongue and groove connection at the abutting ends of the two guide parts 7', 7" of the adjacent guide rail elements 1', 1" fits snugly into one another. After the two guide parts 7', 7" have been adjusted relative to each other if necessary, they can then be firmly connected to the associated foot parts 15', 15", for example by pressing, screwing, riveting, welding, etc. with the tabs 51 of the foot parts 15', 15".

Subsequently, the first rail piece formed in this way can be suitably aligned relative to the shaft wall 19 or the wall brackets 55.

The sliding screws 51 received in the groove 37 can then be tightened with a predetermined torque in order, on the one hand, to ensure that the guide rail elements 1 are sufficiently held on the wall brackets 55 and, on the other hand, to possibly enable the guide rail elements 1 to be displaced at least slightly relative to the wall brackets 55 along the longitudinal direction 45.

In order to form the entire guide rail arrangement 3, the above-mentioned process can be repeated several times with a suitable number of guide rail elements 1.

The guide rail elements 1 described here or the guide rail arrangement 3 formed therewith can provide a number of advantages. For example, the individual parts from which the guide rail arrangement 3 is composed can be significantly lighter than in conventional rail constructions and thus easier to transport. Due to their low weight, the rail parts do not bend as easily when stored incorrectly, as is sometimes the case with conventional heavy guide rails. The sensitive guide parts can also be stacked better due to their relatively simple shape and are therefore less susceptible to damage. The foot parts can be made of relatively lower quality material than the guide parts and than conventional guide rails. In other words, high-quality material only needs to be used where its properties are actually required, ie only for the guide parts, but not necessarily for the foot parts. This can save material costs. Another advantage is that with regard to corrosion resistance, the respective parts can be specifically equipped with corrosion protection. The foot parts can, for example, have a different corrosion protection than the guide part, or at least one guide part can have no corrosion protection. Furthermore, conventionally used heavy connector plates can be replaced by relatively lighter rail connector plates, since the possible offset between the guide parts and the foot parts means that a mechanical connection between adjacent guide rail elements does not have to be created exclusively via the connector plates. This can also save weight and material. Finally, assembly speed can be maintained, since the fastening of the guide rail elements proposed here using the fastening elements engaging in the groove and the possible sliding ability in the longitudinal direction within the groove means that as a rule only a single fastening element is required per wall bracket and thus, for example, only a single screw serving as a fastening element needs to be tightened.

Finally, it should be noted that terms such as "having", "comprising", etc. do not exclude other elements or steps and terms such as "a" or "an" do not exclude a plurality. Furthermore, it should be noted that features or steps that have been described with reference to one of the above embodiments can also be used in combination with other features or steps of other embodiments described above. Reference signs in the claims are not to be regarded as a limitation.

Claims

Patent claims

1. Guide rail element (1) of a guide rail arrangement (3) for an elevator system (5), comprising: an elongated guide part (7) which forms a guide surface (11) with a side surface (9) for guiding an elevator component (13) to be displaced along the guide rail arrangement (3), and an elongated foot part (15) which forms a support surface (17) running transversely to the guide surface (11) for supporting the guide rail element (1) relative to a shaft wall (19) of the elevator system (5), wherein the foot part (15) is designed as a hollow profile (23) formed with a sheet metal (21), wherein the foot part (15) is shaped in such a way and the guide part (7) is received with a partial region (25) in the foot part (15) in such a way that the guide part (7) is connected with an end face (27) running transversely to the side surface (9) to a surface formed by an inner surface (29) of the foot part (15) formed contact surface (31) is supported in a direction transverse to the support surface (17).

2. Guide rail element (1) according to claim 1, wherein the foot part (15) has a first curvature (33) on the contact surface (31), wherein the guide part (7) has a second curvature (35) complementary to the first curvature (33) on the end face (27), and wherein the first and the second curvature (33, 35) interact in an engaging manner.

3. Guide rail element (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the hollow profile (23) of the foot part (15) has a groove (37) extending in the longitudinal direction (45) of the foot part (15) and forming an undercut (39).

4. Guide rail element (1) according to claim 3, wherein the contact surface (31) is arranged on a partial region of the hollow profile (23) of the foot part (15) surrounding the groove (37).

5. Guide rail element (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the foot part (15) has two tabs (41) which are formed by edge regions adjacent to opposite edges (43) of the sheet (21) forming the foot part (15), and wherein the tabs (41) rest against opposite side surfaces (9) of the guide part (7).

6. Guide rail element (1) according to claim 5, wherein the tabs (41) are connected to the guide part (7) in a force-fitting, form-fitting and/or material-fitting manner.

7. Guide rail element (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the guide part (7) is arranged offset in the longitudinal direction (45) to the foot part (15).

8. Guide rail arrangement (3) comprising: a plurality of guide rail elements (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the guide rail elements (1) are arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction (45) and are connected to one another.

9. Guide rail arrangement (3) according to claim 8, wherein a guide part (7) of one of the guide rail elements (1) overlaps several adjacent foot parts (15) and is supported on them.

10. Guide rail arrangement (3) according to one of claims 8 to 9, wherein the guide rail elements (1) are designed according to one of claims 3 and 4, and wherein adjacent guide rail elements (1) are connected to one another via rail connector plates (47) which are fastened to the guide rail elements (1) by means of fastening elements (49) which engage in the grooves (37) in the respective guide rail elements (1).

11. Elevator installation (5) comprising: an elevator shaft (6) delimited by shaft walls (19), at least one guide rail arrangement (3) according to one of claims 8 to 10, which is fastened to one of the shaft walls (19), an elevator component (13) to be displaced, which is displaceable along the elevator shaft (6) guided on the guide rail arrangement (3).

12. Elevator installation (5) according to claim 11, wherein the guide rail elements (1) are designed according to one of claims 3 and 4, and wherein the guide rail elements (1) are fastened to the shaft wall (19) via wall brackets (55), wherein the wall brackets (55) are fastened to the guide rail elements (1) by means of fastening elements (49) which engage in the grooves (37) in the respective guide rail elements (1).

13. Method for mounting a guide rail arrangement (3) on a shaft wall (19) of an elevator installation (5), comprising:

Installing wall brackets (55) on the shaft wall (19),

Attaching a first foot part (15’) to one of the wall brackets (55),

Fastening a second foot part (15") to another of the wall brackets (55), then fastening a first guide part (7) to the first foot part (15') and a second guide part (7") to the second foot part (15").

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein at least one of the guide parts (7', 7") is attached in an overlapping manner to both the first foot part (15') and the second foot part (15").

15. Method according to one of claims 13 and 14, wherein the guide rail elements (1) are designed according to one of claims 3 and 4, wherein adjacent guide rail elements (1) are connected to one another via rail connector plates (47) which are fastened to the Guide rail elements (1) are fastened, and/or wherein the guide rail elements (1) are fastened to the shaft wall (19) via wall brackets (55) which are fastened to the guide rail elements (1) by means of fastening elements (49) which engage in the grooves (37) in the respective guide rail elements (1).