HK1163641B - A safety elevator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a safety elevator, comprising: a position detecting sensor (4), wherein the position detecting sensor outputs a output mode constituted of plurality of outputs according to a lifting position of the elevator cabin (100); a position data base (23), wherein a special output mode corresponding to a special position along the lifting direction is stored in the position data base; a data stored part (22) for storing the data of the elevator cabin position, when the output mode output by the position detecting sensor (4) is changed, the data stored part (22) for storing the data of the elevator cabin position would store the output mode; and a change data base (24), wherein a detected special output mode corresponding to a special position is stored by the change data base as a change predicting data, when the elevator cabin (100) reaches a special position, if the output mode is not same with any one of the change predicting data, it is determined that there is a malfunction. Thereby the position detecting sensor of the elevator cabin becomes multifunction and could detect a malfunction so as to improve safety and reliability.

Description

Safety elevator

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an elevator in which an elevator car is raised and lowered in a hoistway, and is particularly suitable for an elevator having a position sensor for detecting the position of the elevator car (detecting a floor stop position) and the elevator door area.

Background

In a conventional elevator, for example, a photoelectric position detecting device is provided in an elevator car, and the position of the elevator car in a hoistway is detected by detecting a detected plate provided correspondingly to a floor by the position detecting device. The position detection device is also used to align the positions of the floor surface of the elevator car and the floor surface of the elevator hall (detect the floor stop position) and detect the elevator door area (the area that allows the elevator car door to open and close with respect to the elevator hall door) in order to prevent the elevator from traveling with the elevator door open.

In order to prevent a photoelectric floor stop detection switch (position detection device) from malfunctioning, for example, patent document 1 discloses a technique in which a floor stop detection plate (detected plate) is provided at a threshold of an elevator hall door, and a malfunction prevention cover for preventing light other than light from entering the floor stop detection switch is provided.

For example, patent document 2 discloses a technique in which, in order to detect whether or not a wire connecting a detection sensor portion and a detection circuit portion is broken, operation plates having different installation patterns are attached to each operation position in the lifting/lowering direction of an elevator car, four detection sensors are provided in the elevator car to detect the operation plates, and when a signal code that cannot be generated during normal operation does not match the installation pattern, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred.

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open No. 2004-224529

Patent document 2: japanese patent laid-open No. 2004-142882 (FIG. 2)

In the above-described conventional art, the technique disclosed in patent document 1 can only prevent malfunction due to external light, and therefore cannot detect a failure of the position detection sensor itself, and it is difficult to make the sensor multifunctional, that is, it is difficult to apply the sensor to detection of the elevator door region and floor slab realignment for adjusting a slight height difference, and thus the number of sensors increases.

The technique disclosed in patent document 2 does not consider the detection of a failure of the position detection sensor itself, and cannot determine an abnormality when the sensor has an ON (ON) or OFF (OFF) failure and a pattern that may occur during normal operation is present. Therefore, in order to further improve safety and reliability, for example, the detection sensor must be provided in duplicate, resulting in a complicated system configuration.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a position detection sensor that is multifunctional, that can detect a specific position (various limit switches, etc.) while identifying each floor only by the position detection sensor, and that can detect a failure of the position detection sensor itself and a failure of an elevator system, thereby further improving the safety and reliability of an elevator.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multifunctional elevator system that improves safety and reliability of an elevator, simplifies a structure of an elevator system, and improves redundancy of the entire elevator system including prevention of erroneous detection.

Further, an object of the present invention is to achieve at least one of the above objects.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a safety elevator which detects a position of an elevator car which performs an elevating operation in an elevating path and performs an operation control based on the detected position, the safety elevator comprising: a position detection sensor that outputs an output pattern composed of a plurality of outputs according to a lifting position of the elevator car; a position database storing a specific output pattern corresponding to a specific position in the lifting direction; an elevator car position data storage section that stores the output pattern output by the position detection sensor each time the output pattern changes; and a change database for storing the specific output pattern to be detected in association with the specific position as change prediction data, wherein when the elevator car arrives at the specific position, if any one of the output pattern and the change prediction data is not identical, the safety elevator determines that an abnormality has occurred, and performs operation control.

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, when the elevator car reaches a specific position, if the output pattern of the position detection sensor does not match any one of the specific output patterns to be detected in correspondence with the specific position, the safety elevator determines that an abnormality has occurred, and thus, the position detection sensor can be provided with a function of being able to recognize each floor and a function of detecting the specific position, and the elevator system can be made multifunctional, and the position detection sensor can be made to detect a failure, whereby the safety and reliability of the elevator can be further improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a detailed structure of a sill portion of an elevator hall door according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a logic operator according to an embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a list diagram showing a relationship among the position detection sensors, the operation pieces, and the specific output pattern when the specific position is set as the floor in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a logical operator according to an embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a state change diagram showing changes in the output of the position detection sensor in one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a relationship between a particular output mode and change prediction data, in one embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing fault detection in one embodiment.

Fig. 9 is a list diagram showing a relationship among the position detection sensors, the operation pieces, and the specific output pattern when the specific position is set as the floor in another embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a logical operator according to another embodiment.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing failure detection in another embodiment.

Description of the symbols

4 position detection sensor

5 logic arithmetic unit

10 detected board

10a, 10b, 10c, 10d action piece

11a, 11b, 11c, 11d sensor

22 elevator car position data storage section

23 location database

24 change database

25 change abnormality determination section

100 elevator car

Detailed Description

An embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an elevator system, 102 denotes a threshold of an elevator hall door, and 115 denotes a floor surface. The elevator car 100 moves between a plurality of floors in a hoistway formed in a building, and is connected to a counterweight 111 by a suspension rope 101. The elevator car 100 is provided with an elevator car door 110 that engages with the elevator hall door 109 to open and close. The elevator car 100 moves by driving a sheave 103 with a motor 105. The electric power for driving is supplied to the electric motor 105 through the power converter 107.

A pulse generator 106 such as an encoder is attached to the motor 105, and a system controller 108 counts pulses generated when the motor 105 rotates, thereby calculating the speed of the motor 105, the moving direction, position, moving distance, and the like of the elevator car 100 in the hoistway.

The position detection sensor 4 (position detection device) is constituted by a plurality of sensors 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d provided on the elevator car 100 side at predetermined intervals, and outputs 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d of the plurality of sensors are connected to the system controller 108 via the logic arithmetic unit 5. A detected plate 10 is attached to a threshold 102 of an elevator hall door so as to face the position detection sensor 4, and the position detection sensor 4 detects the detected plate 10, thereby detecting the position of the elevator car 100 in the hoistway. The position detection sensor 4 aligns the floor surface of the elevator car 100 and the floor surface 115 of the elevator hall based on the detection result (determines a floor stop position), detects an elevator door area (an area in which the opening and closing of the elevator car door 110 with respect to the elevator hall door 109 are permitted), and performs operation control.

As the sensor for detecting the position, a non-contact type detection sensor such as a photoelectric type, a magnetic type (using a magnet, a high-frequency magnetic field, or the like), or a capacitance type detection sensor can be used. In addition, since the reflective photoelectric position detecting sensor does not cause a phenomenon such as a sling or the like colliding with the sensor itself or a sensor being caught by the detection target plate 1 in an earthquake or the like, has a strong orientation, and can detect the detection target plate with high accuracy, it is preferable to use a reflective photoelectric position detecting sensor that irradiates light such as infrared light to the detection target plate 10 and detects reflected light of the light such as infrared light. However, since detection is performed by light such as infrared light, there is a possibility that false detection may occur due to influence of external light such as sunlight, dust, water droplets, and the like.

In particular, when the position detection sensor 4 that detects the elevator door region is erroneously detected or malfunctions, there is a possibility that erroneous recognition occurs such that the position detection sensor 4 makes an erroneous determination that the elevator door can be opened or closed to open the elevator door when the elevator car is located at a position where the elevator car door 110 cannot be opened or such that the position detection sensor 4 makes an erroneous determination that the elevator door cannot be opened or closed to close the elevator passenger in the elevator car when the elevator car is located at a position where the elevator car door 110 can be opened or closed.

Fig. 2 shows a detailed structure of a doorsill 102 portion of an elevator hall door, a footrest (toeguard)113 for protecting a toe and preventing a person from falling into an elevator shaft and a detected plate 10 are attached to the doorsill 102 of the elevator hall door, and the detected plate 10 is composed of operation pieces 10a, 10b (not shown in fig. 2), 10c, and 10d made of a metal such as iron or plastic for reflecting light. The position detection sensor 4 including the sensors 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d is provided on the elevator car 100 so as to face the operation pieces 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10 d. The outputs 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d of the respective sensors are input to a logic operator 5, which is a logic operation circuit configured by operation of a logic IC or a microcomputer.

Fig. 2 shows an example in which four sensors are provided, and only three operation pieces 10a, 10c, and 10d are provided on the detection target plate 10, and three sensors among the four sensors can detect (for example, output 1 indicates that an operation piece is detected at a position where the operation piece 10a and the sensor 11a face each other, and output 0 indicates that an operation piece is not detected (since 10b is not provided in fig. 2, there is no operation piece facing the sensor 11 b)).

Fig. 3 shows the position detection sensor 4 and the logic calculator 5, and the logic calculator 5 is composed of two microcomputers to which the outputs of the position detection sensor 4 are inputted. In addition, a software error and a hardware error are detected by comparing between the two microcomputers with each other.

The logic operator 5 outputs a signal 14 to the system controller 108. The signal 14 is failure diagnosis information of an elevator door region, a sensor, identification information of a floor, or the like. When the elevator car needs to be stopped due to a failure of the sensor or arrival of the elevator car at a specific position, a power-off signal for turning off the power supply to stop the elevator car and a signal for operating the brake are output from the logic arithmetic unit 5, and a signal indicating that the turning-off process is executed is output to the system controller 108. More complicated processing can be performed by using two microcomputers, but the present invention is not limited to the use of two microcomputers, and may be provided as a programmable (programmable) or semi-custom LSI in which one microcomputer and one logic IC or FPGA (Field programmable) are used, or as an Array (Array) of logic gates, or as a single microcomputer.

Fig. 4 shows the configuration of the detected plates 10 (operation pieces 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d) provided on each floor to identify each floor (one floor to six floors), and as shown in fig. 4, specific output patterns corresponding to a plurality of specific positions in the ascending/descending direction are output at a specific position on each floor. The length of the detected board 10 is the same as the length of the elevator door zone indicating the elevator door openable and closable zone.

The length of the detected plate 10 may be determined according to a function performed by the specific output mode, and for example, when a function of a final limit switch for detecting whether or not the elevator car exceeds a final floor is performed, the length of the detected plate 10 may be set to a length from the buffer to the lowermost floor.

In addition to the elevator door area and the final limit switch, the fixed positions in the hoistway, such as a maintenance limit switch for securing a ceiling clearance required for a maintenance worker to perform work safely, a direction limit switch for detecting whether or not the elevator car has reached the terminal floor, and a terminal floor forced deceleration switch for causing the elevator car to collide with the buffer at a speed equal to or lower than the rated speed when the elevator car is in an overspeed state due to an abnormality, may be determined as specific positions.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the logical operator 5. The output of the position detection sensor 4 is input into the position determination section 21. The position judging section 21 compares the output pattern of the position detecting sensor 4 with a specific output pattern stored in the position database 23 corresponding to each floor and required for the output pattern when the elevator car 100 arrives at a specific position. As a result, when the output pattern of the position detection sensor 4 coincides with the specific output pattern stored in the position database 23, the current elevator car position information of the elevator car position data storage section 22 is updated and stored, and information for executing the function decided in the elevator car position data storage section 22 is sent to the function execution section 26.

When the output pattern of the position detection sensor 4 does not exist in the position database 23 and the output pattern of the position detection sensor 4 does not coincide with any one of the specific output patterns, it is determined that the sensor has failed, and a signal indicating the failure is sent to the function executing section 26.

Since the output pattern is stored in the elevator car position data storage section 22 every time the output pattern detected by the position detection sensor 4 changes, the change abnormality determination section 25 determines that a change abnormality has occurred when the change and transition between the current output pattern and the output pattern before update do not match the change prediction data stored in the toilet database 24, and sends the abnormality to the function execution section 26.

The function executing section 26 is for executing a function corresponding to a specific output mode, and when the elevator car stops at a floor, since a function of detecting an elevator door openable and closable area, that is, an elevator door area is to be executed, an elevator door area signal is transmitted to the transmitting section 27. The transmission section 27 is a process for outputting a signal to the outside, and is connected to, for example, an operation control system of an elevator.

The following describes details of the processing of the change abnormality determination section 25, and the change abnormality determination section 25 detects a failure by using a change in the state of the output pattern of the position detection sensor 4.

Fig. 6 is a state change diagram showing changes in the output of the position detection sensor 4 in a six-story building, showing an example in which a specific position is a floor position. The state of the position detection sensor 4 repeatedly changes between a state in which the outputs of all the sensors are 0, that is, a state in which each sensor does not detect a specific floor and a state in which a specific floor is detected (specific output pattern). Therefore, when the output pattern jumps from one layer to six layers at a time, or after the detection of two layers, the next output pattern should be a specific output pattern of one layer, two layers, or three layers, but when a specific output pattern indicating five layers is detected as the output pattern of the position detection sensor 4, it is determined that a change abnormality has occurred.

Fig. 7 shows specific output patterns to be detected after the detection of the second layer, and in this case, since specific output patterns of the first layer, the second layer, and the third layer should be detected as the change prediction data, it is determined that a failure has occurred when a specific output pattern other than the above-described specific output patterns is detected. The change database 24 has change prediction data shown in fig. 7 for each floor. Fig. 8 shows a specific processing flow. In fig. 8, the specific output pattern detected at the present time and at the previous time is read from the elevator car position data storage section 22 and compared with the change prediction data to determine whether the sensor is normal or abnormal, thereby detecting a failure of the sensor or a failure of the position determination section 21.

As described above, the specific position and floor can be identified from the plurality of position detection sensors 4 provided on the elevator car side and the detected plate 10 having the plurality of operation pieces provided on the elevator hall side, and a failure or the like of the sensor can be detected.

In addition, from the viewpoint of enabling effective use of space, a reflection type photosensor is preferably used, and a transmission type photosensor and a magnetic sensor may also be used as well.

Fig. 9 shows another embodiment in which the detected panel 10 (operation pieces 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d) provided on each floor has a different structure. The failure detection of the position detection sensor 4 will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 9

The sensors 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d constituting the position detection sensor 4 are likely to have an ON failure due to sensor element defects or an OFF failure due to disconnection or element defects. Specifically, when an ON failure occurs, 1 is outputted when 0 should be outputted between floors, and when an OFF failure occurs, 0 is outputted when 1 should be outputted at a specific floor.

In the configuration shown in fig. 9, since the number of sensors whose outputs are 1(ON) in the specific output pattern is set to an even number by the operation pieces 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d, it is immediately known that a sensor has failed when the number of sensors whose outputs are ON is an odd number, that is, it is known whether a sensor has failed or not from the output pattern of the position detection sensor 4. Similarly, the operation pieces 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d may be provided so that the number of sensors whose output in the specific output mode is 1(ON) is odd. At this time, when the number of sensors whose outputs are ON becomes even, it is immediately known that there is a failure in the sensors.

The following is a more specific description. In the configuration shown in fig. 9, when the position detection sensor 4 is normal, the number of sensors whose output in the specific output mode is 1(ON) is two or four. The outputs of all the position detection sensors 4 are 0(OFF) from floor to floor. When at least one of the position detection sensors 4 has an ON failure or an OFF failure, the number of sensors whose output is 1 in the specific output pattern becomes one or three. Further, even between floors, when an ON failure occurs in one of the position detection sensors 4, the number of sensors whose output is 1(ON) becomes one. Therefore, by determining that the output pattern in which the outputs of the even-numbered sensors of the position detection sensors 4 are 1(ON) is normal and the output pattern in which the outputs of the odd-numbered sensors of the position detection sensors 4 are 1(ON) is failed, it is possible to detect that the sensors of the position detection sensors 4 are failed. Since this failure detection method can function between floors, it is possible to immediately determine whether or not the position detection sensor 4 has failed when the position detection sensor 4 outputs an output.

The above fault detection is performed in both normal and abnormal output modes, meaning that the hamming distance (hummingdistance) is 2 or more. The hamming distance represents the number of characters located differently at corresponding positions between two codes having equal numbers of data. For example, since the data a of 1100 is different from the data B of 1101 by the last bit number, the hamming distance is 1. In the present embodiment, by setting the hamming distance between the output pattern "the position detection sensor 4 is normal" and the output pattern "the position detection sensor 4 is faulty" to 2 or more, it is possible to detect that at least one of the position detection sensors 4 is faulty. In the present embodiment, as a configuration for detecting a single failure of the position detection sensor 4, a configuration is adopted in which the output pattern is divided into odd and even numbers and the hamming distance is set to 2 or more. When detecting whether or not the position detection sensors 4 have failed simultaneously, a configuration may be adopted in which the hamming distance is set to 3 or more.

When detecting a failure using a change in state, for example, failure detection can be performed only when a specific output pattern is detected on each floor, and when performing failure detection by limiting the output pattern of the sensor to an even number or an odd number, failure detection can be performed at any time, and a failure can be detected as soon as possible.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram of the logical operator 5, to which a position determination section 20 is added as compared with fig. 5. Fig. 11 shows a processing flow of the position determination section 20. The position determination section 20 extracts the outputs of the position detection sensors 4, and determines whether or not the number of outputs that become 1 among the outputs of the position detection sensors is an odd number by a simple logic, thereby being able to detect whether or not the sensors have failed. Therefore, by employing a logic IC or an FPGA as the position determination section 20, higher-speed failure detection can be performed.

In addition, by combining with the failure detection by the state change, it is possible to detect the failure of the detection sensor itself, and it is possible to perform double check of the system configuration. This can further improve the safety and reliability of the elevator.

Claims (13)

1. A safety elevator which detects the position of an elevator car which performs lifting operation in a lifting channel and performs operation control according to the detected position, the safety elevator is characterized by comprising:

a position detection sensor that outputs an output pattern composed of a plurality of outputs according to a lifting position of the elevator car;

a position database storing a specific output pattern corresponding to a specific position in the lifting direction;

an elevator car position data storage portion that stores the output pattern output by the position detection sensor each time the output pattern changes, and that updates and stores current elevator car position information when the elevator car reaches the specific position and the output pattern matches the specific output pattern; and

a change database that stores the specific output pattern to be detected in association with the specific position as change prediction data,

in the specific output mode, an even number of the outputs that are turned on is set, and it is determined that the position detection sensor has failed when an odd number of the outputs that are turned on are set in the specific position and between the specific position and the specific output mode.

2. A safety elevator which detects the position of an elevator car which performs lifting operation in a lifting channel and performs operation control according to the detected position, the safety elevator is characterized by comprising:

a position detection sensor that outputs an output pattern composed of a plurality of outputs according to a lifting position of the elevator car;

a position database storing a specific output pattern corresponding to a specific position in the lifting direction;

an elevator car position data storage portion that stores the output pattern output by the position detection sensor each time the output pattern changes, and that updates and stores current elevator car position information when the elevator car reaches the specific position and the output pattern matches the specific output pattern; and

a change database that stores the specific output pattern to be detected in association with the specific position as change prediction data,

in the specific output mode, the number of the outputs to be turned on is set to an odd number, and it is determined that the position detection sensor has failed when the number of the outputs to be turned on is even in the specific position and between the specific position and the specific position in the output mode.

3. A safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the specific position represents the floor at which the elevator car stops.

4. Safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the specific position represents a final limit switch detecting whether the elevator car has passed a terminal floor.

5. Safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the special position represents a service limit switch for ensuring the top clearance.

6. Safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the specific position represents a direction limit switch detecting whether the elevator car has reached the final floor.

7. Safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the specific position represents a terminal floor forced deceleration switch.

8. A safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said position detecting sensor is a plurality of sensors provided on said elevator car, and outputs said output pattern by detecting a detected plate provided with an operation piece provided on the elevator hall side in opposition to said sensors.

9. The safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the specific position indicates a floor at which the elevator car stops, the position detection sensor is a plurality of sensors provided on the elevator car, and the output pattern is output by detecting a detected plate provided with an operation piece provided on an elevator hall side opposite to the sensor, and a length of the operation piece in a lifting direction is a length corresponding to an elevator door area.

10. A safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the specific position is each floor and at least any one of a final limit switch, a limit switch for maintenance, a direction limit switch, and a terminal floor forced deceleration switch.

11. The safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is determined that the position detecting sensor has failed if the output pattern does not coincide with any one of the specific output patterns stored in the position database when the elevator car arrives at the specific position.

12. Safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the output of the position detection sensor is input into two microcomputers.

13. Safety elevator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the output of the position detection sensor is input into a microcomputer and an FPGA.