HK1114595B - Elevator car with fold-away shock absorbing legs, and the corresponding elevator - Google Patents

Description

Elevator car provided with foldable impact absorbing columns and corresponding elevator

Technical Field

The invention relates to an elevator car provided with a foldable impact absorbing column and a corresponding elevator.

Background

It is known that elevators can be provided with a mechanism to absorb the possible impact of the elevator car at the bottom of the hoistway, which mechanism generally comprises a rigid column mounted centrally to the surface of the bottom of the hoistway; and an impact absorbing bumper located below the elevator car opposite the rigid column. However, this mechanism requires drilling a hole in the bottom of the well to provide a rigid column, which poses the risk of groundwater seepage to the bottom of the well and requires a lot of time and resources.

Further, U.S. patent 6,481,534B1 to MALONE, JR-TOMAS f discloses an elevator car with a chassis provided with upper rigid shock absorbing legs mounted to fold over the cross-members prior to being secured in an operating position to protect workers on top of the elevator car. This arrangement has the extra height of the car chassis resulting in an increased height along the top of the cross beam.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the invention is to improve these drawbacks and to provide an elevator car with a chassis supporting the car platform, said chassis being provided with at least one shock-absorbing leg mounted so as to fold up under said chassis before being mounted in its operating position.

Such an arrangement avoids the installation of shock absorbing columns at the bottom of the elevator hoistway. Furthermore, since the posts can be folded under the chassis, they can be factory mounted to the chassis, packaged together adjacent the car platform chassis, do not add bulk to the chassis, and can be easily and quickly mounted in an operative position.

The elevator car is preferably provided with two collapsible shock absorbing legs mounted to opposite sides of the chassis and car.

This arrangement avoids having to reinforce the central region of the chassis supporting the car platform, as in conventional platform designs with a chassis provided with a rigid central region and a supporting central bottom shock absorbing buffer.

The two shock absorbing legs are preferably hinged to the lengthwise sides of the chassis, are foldable inwardly under the chassis, are accommodated in a folded position adjacent the car platform prior to installation in the operating position, and are rigidly mounted upright under the chassis in a lower vertical operating position.

The two legs can be arranged and hinged in the same plane parallel to and close to the middle plane of the car platform, and before being fixed in the operating position, the legs are arranged in a folded position, stacked one above the other under the chassis and interconnected for packaging with the platform chassis, and the platform chassis with the tie ring does not increase in volume.

The two posts may be hinged to the bottom vertical skirt on the lengthwise sides of the platform chassis, may simply be hinged to a higher point, mounted to a lower point.

The legs have a rectangular or square cross-section and are preferably each received in an inwardly opening retaining skirt which are complementary in shape within the hinge gap and are connected to the car chassis bottom skirt. The retaining skirt may be rigid with a U-shaped cross-sectional shape. Furthermore, each post is hinged to the retaining skirt at a higher level by means of a through-bolt forming a hinge axis, allowing the post to be folded inwards to be packed with the chassis and to be mounted in a vertical operating position after rotation, and to be mounted in a lower position of the skirt by means of at least one second through-bolt.

Of course, each pillar supports a shock absorbing bumper at the lower end, although the bumper may also be attached to the floor at the bottom of the hoistway, within the vertical projection (projection) area of the pillar.

The invention also relates to an elevator with a car as described above, in which the bottom of the shaft is free of the vertical shock-absorbing element that a conventional car has, and a rigid plate mounted to the cabin guide can be provided as required, which can form the shock-absorbing receiver of the shock-absorbing buffer of the column in the event of an accidental impact of the column against the plate.

The column vertical projection at the bottom of the hoistway is preferably marked and indicated to ensure safe access by maintenance personnel.

Drawings

The invention will now be described by way of exemplary embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a view of a bottom car platform mounting an impact absorbing mast, with the mast folded under the floor;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the extension of one of the shock absorbing posts to be mounted in an operative position;

FIG. 3 shows an extension of a second impact absorbing column;

fig. 4 shows the shock absorbing leg mounted in the operating position of the elevator car; and

fig. 5 is a partial view of the bottom of a hoistway of an elevator of an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to fig. 1, an elevator car 1 is shown only in its lower part, which is sufficient for understanding the invention. The elevator car comprises a chassis 3 supporting a platform 5 accommodating passengers. The chassis 3 has a rigid metal peripheral skirt 7 consisting of two opposite vertical sides (flaps) 9 at a higher position of the length of the chassis and two opposite vertical sides 11 at a lower position of the width side of the chassis.

Two shock absorbing columns 13 are arranged in a folded position under the chassis 3, close to the platform 5. These legs 13, which may be vertically mounted to the chassis, are designed to cushion the bottom of the hoistway from accidental impact of the elevator car, as described below. In the folded position, it is preferably possible to pack the chassis 3 and the column 13 in one piece, the shock-absorbing column 13 does not require additional space in the packaging, and the packaging may be formed of a heat-shrinkable film.

The columns 13 are identical and have a rectangular shape. The columns are located near the middle of the longitudinal sides of the car, respectively, and at the same height position of the car chassis 3. The posts are hinged to the same plane parallel to the width sides of the chassis and near the middle portion. The legs are each mounted to an inwardly open U-shaped planar plate 15 which is attached to the side 9 of the vertical car chassis skirt. The hinge axis is formed by a bolt 17 which is mounted through the top of the planar plate 15, parallel to the sides and in the body of the post 13. The bottom of each flat plate is provided with two holes for two further bolts 19 which also pass through the body of the column 13 and the holes of the flat plate 15, fixing the column 13 in a vertical operating position (see figure 4).

The posts 13 are respectively provided with shock absorbing buffers 21 attached to the center of the lower ends of the posts, for example, made of a cylindrical rubber block of a low height having a diameter substantially equal to the cross-sectional side of the posts.

The buffer 21 is designed to be applied simultaneously to the bottom of the hoistway (not shown) when the elevator car impacts the bottom of the hoistway, providing balanced absorption of the car impact on both legs.

The mounting of the column 13 will now be described. The packing rings 23 tying the columns together in the folded position in the packing are first opened and the car is suspended from the bottom of the hoistway at one person's height.

The lower column 13 is manually rotated so that it is vertical at the end of the rotation, as indicated by the arrow in fig. 2, and the back of the U-shaped flat plate 15 remains vertical. The two bolt shafts 19 are passed through the lower holes of the flat plate and the posts and the corresponding nuts are then tightened until the posts are fully and rigidly mounted to their holding flat plate 15 (see fig. 3).

The second post 13 is mounted in the same manner, rotating the post as indicated by the arrow until it abuts the back of the holding flat plate 15, and then attached to the flat plate 15 with the bottom bolt 19.

The mounting into the operating position corresponding to fig. 4 is thus completed.

Of course, other embodiments of the invention may be employed within the scope of the following claims. For example, instead of hinged columns, vertically telescopic columns may be provided which may be shortened to a shorter length for packaging with the platform chassis.

Fig. 5 is a partial view of the bottom 29 of the elevator shaft 25 of an alternative elevator embodiment of the invention, in which the shock-absorbing stud 13 does not contact the shaft bottom 29 as previously described, but is provided with a plate 27 connected horizontally to the car guide rails 31, the height of which can be adjusted in order to set an acceptable overtravel of the car. The plate 27 may also be replaced by a single beam (not shown) which is connected to the car guide rail 31 by means of a bridging plate, flush with the impact absorbing stud 13. This mechanism allows the accommodation level of the column 13 to be adjusted independently of the shaft bottom 29.

Claims (11)

1. Elevator car having a chassis (3) supporting a car platform (5), characterized in that the chassis (3) is provided with at least one shock absorbing leg (13) mounted so as to fold up under the chassis before being mounted in its operating position;

the elevator car is provided with two folded shock absorbing legs (13) mounted on the chassis (3) and on two opposite sides of the car (1);

the two shock absorbing legs (13) are hinged to the lengthwise sides (9) of the chassis (3) and are capable of being folded inwardly under the chassis (3) to be accommodated in a folded position close to the car platform (5) before being mounted in an operating position and are capable of being mounted rigidly upright under the chassis (3) in a lower vertical operating position.

2. Elevator car according to claim 1, characterized in that the two shock-absorbing legs (13) are arranged and hinged in the same plane parallel to the width sides of the chassis and close to the middle part of the chassis, the shock-absorbing legs (13) being arranged, before installation for operation, in a folded position, one above the other under the chassis (3) and interconnected so as to be packed with the chassis without increasing the bulk of the chassis.

3. Elevator car according to claim 1, characterized in that the two shock-absorbing legs (13) are each hinged to the bottom vertical skirt (7) of the lengthwise side (9) of the chassis, to its higher point and mounted to its lower point.

4. Elevator car as per claim 3, characterized in that said shock-absorbing legs (13) with rectangular cross section are each housed in a retaining skirt (15), said retaining skirt (15) being complementary in shape to said shock-absorbing legs (13) within the hinging gap and being connected to said bottom vertical skirt (7), opening towards the inside of the chassis.

5. Elevator car as per claim 4, characterized in that each shock-absorbing leg (13) is hinged to the retaining skirt (15) at a higher level, which allows it to be folded inwards for packaging with the chassis and, after turning, to be mounted in a vertical operating position, and to be fixed to the retaining skirt (15) at a lower level by means of at least one second through-bolt (19).

6. Elevator car as per claim 4, characterized in that said retaining skirt (15) is of U-shaped cross-sectional profile, open inwards.

7. Elevator car according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each shock-absorbing leg (13) supports a shock-absorbing buffer (21) at its lower end.

8. Elevator car as per claim 7, characterized in that the buffer (21) is designed so that when the elevator car (1) impacts the bottom of the hoistway, the buffer (21) can be applied to the bottom of the hoistway at the same time to provide balanced absorption of the impact of the car (1) on both impact absorbing legs (13).

9. Elevator car according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that one or both shock-absorbing legs (13) are vertical telescopic legs which can be retracted to a short length for packing with the chassis.

10. Elevator with a car (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the bottom of the shaft contains no central standing shock absorber for the car.

11. Elevator according to claim 10, characterized in that the shaft bottom (29) contains a rigid plate (27), which rigid plate (27) is fixed to a cabin guide (31) and which rigid plate (27) is able to form a shock receiver for a shock-absorbing buffer (21) of the shock-absorbing column (13) if the shock-absorbing column accidentally impacts the rigid plate (27).