WO2000034169A1

WO2000034169A1 - Wireless elevator hall fixtures

Info

Publication number: WO2000034169A1
Application number: PCT/US1999/023671
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alan M. Finn; Armando Servia; Peter L. Herkel; Helmut L. Schroder-Brumloop; Hans-Kilian Josef Spielbauer; Jean-Pierre Pougny; Jean-Noel Cloux
Original assignee: Otis Elevator Co
Current assignee: Otis Elevator Co
Priority date: 1998-12-07
Filing date: 1999-10-08
Publication date: 2000-06-15
Anticipated expiration: 2001-06-07
Also published as: WO2000034170A1

Abstract

Elevator hall fixtures including lanterns, hall call button switches and lights, gongs, and floor position indicators, are responded to and controlled by electromagnetic transmissions between a group controller transceiver and transceivers on each floor; up and down lanterns may be controlled by the corresponding floor transceivers, or by separate receivers related to each car on each floor responding to the group transceiver; or the lantern receivers may receive messages from corresponding car controller transmitters.

Description

Wireless Elevator Hall Fixtures

Technical Field

This invention relates to elevator systems in which electromagnetic transmissions are used to communicate between the hall fixtures on each floor and a group or other controller, in order to respond to and inform passengers on the floors.

Background Art A conventional elevator system group has a "rise" which includes, for each floor, an up hall call request button with an associated light to indicate that the group controller has registered the request (except for the highest floor), a down hall call request button with an associated light to indicate that the group controller has registered the request (except for the lowest floor), and a gong for providing an audible indication that an elevator car is about to arrive. In addition, on each floor, each elevator hatchway has associated with it a set of lanterns that identify which of the elevators is about to arrive, and depending on which of the lanterns is lit, the direction in which the elevator is currently traveling. The highest and lowest floors have only one elevator in a set of lanterns; the remaining floors have two lanterns per set. In addition, on major floors such as lobby floors, car position indicators are provided for each elevator in the group, and indicate the current floor position of the corresponding elevator car. Herein, floor position is taken to be equivalent to the committable floor of the car (that is, the next floor where the car could possibly stop, or a floor where it is stopped).

Regardless of how many individual processors are utilized, multi-elevator groups all employ a car controller for each car, and a group controller for the entire group. Each car controller communicates with the corresponding elevator car by means of a traveling cable, and the various car controllers communicate with the group controller over wires. In turn, the group controller communicates over wires with the hall fixtures described hereinbefore.

In large systems, that is, several groups each having 1 5-25 floors, the amount of wire involved in enormous. Whenever upgrading is to be achieved, modifications to the elevator wiring which is embedded in the building can be extremely difficult, if not sufficiently prohibitive so as to confine the nature of the upgrade to that which will conform to the wiring. When upgrades or new elevator systems are to be provided in occupied buildings, the time required to rewire or reconfigure the wiring of a building can be prohibitive, due to the need to have minimal intrusive shutdown of elevators during the work, so that use of portions of the elevator system by paying tenants can continue throughout the work period.

Disclosure of Invention Objects of the invention include improved elevator systems which eliminate the need for tremendous amounts of wire; the ability to upgrade or change elevator systems without utilizing a vast amount of the wiring embedded in the building; improved elevator communications which facilitate change in system parameters; and elevator systems which can be installed at greatly reduced cost compared to the prior art.

According to the present invention, communication between the controllers and the hall fixtures is by means of electromagnetic radiation transmissions. According to a first embodiment of the invention, all communication with the elevator hall fixtures in the building are carried out by electromagnetic radiation transmissions between a group controller and each individual floor, there being a transceiver for the group controller and a transceiver for each of the floors. In accordance with a second embodiment of the invention, communication between the group controller of an elevator system, and the gongs, hall call buttons and button lights on each floor of the building are carried out between a transceiver for the group controller and a transceiver disposed on each corresponding floor in association with the gong and call buttons, and the communication between the lanterns for each elevator on each floor, are carried out between the group transceiver and individual receivers associated with each set of directional lanterns. In accordance with a third embodiment of the invention, the group controller transceiver communicates with transceivers on each floor which respond to and control the gong and car call buttons, and the lanterns on each floor have receivers which are responsive to transmitters in the corresponding car controller. The invention eliminates the need for wiring between the controllers and the individual floors, and reduces the wiring necessary on each individual floor to a minuscule amount. The invention permits altering fixtures without regard to wiring already embedded in the building. The invention eliminates the need for tremendous amounts of wire and provides flexibility. The invention may be utilized in new construction to save wire and costs and permit future upgrades, as well as being advantageously used in retrofit and upgrade applications to existing systems.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in the light of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is a simplified, stylized, front plan view of an elevator system incorporating a first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a simplified, stylized, sectioned side elevation view of the system of Fig. 1 .

Fig. 3 is a simplified, stylized, front elevation view of an elevator system incorporating a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a simplified, stylized, front elevation view of an elevator system incorporating a third embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Referring to Fig. 1 , an elevator system employing the invention serves a plurality of floors F1 -FN. In this exemplary embodiment, there are four elevator hoistways C1 -C4, each floor F1 - FN has, for each of the hoistways C1 -C4, a lantern set which comprises a down lantern 1 2 for each floor except the lowest floor and an up lantern 1 3 for each floor except the highest floor. Each of the floors except the top floor FN has an up hall call request button 1 7 with an associated call-registered light 1 8, that may comprise the conventional "halo" or ring surrounding the button 1 7. Pressing the button 1 7 informs the group controller 24 that a passenger desires a call to travel upwardly on the related floor; when the group controller registers the call, it sends a signal back to light the light 1 8 so as to inform the passenger that the call has been registered. Each of the floors except the lowermost floor F1 has a down hall call button 1 9 and a corresponding light 20. On each floor, a gong 21 is sounded when a car in any one of the hoistways C1 -C4 is about to stop on the corresponding floor. Each of the hoistways C1 -C4 has a corresponding car controller 23 and the group is supervised by a group controller 24. The car controllers are interconnected with the group controller 24 by wire cables 25. This, of course, is no difficulty since it occurs on a machine floor where the wiring can be channeled through easily accessible ducts, within the space, rather than in the walls. On important floors, such as lobby floors, each of the hoistways C1 -C4 has a car position indicator 26 that at any moment when the car is in service, displays the committable position of the corresponding car. As seen in Fig. 2, the conventional elevator cab 28 communicates with its car controller 23 by means of a traveling cable 29. The foregoing is a description of a conventional elevator system, known to the prior art. Of course, instead of individual lights for car position indicators 26, and in place of the distinct directional lanterns 1 2, 1 3, modern elevators may well use liquid crystal displays which include both car position and directional information. The nature of the individual fixtures is, however, irrelevant to the present invention.

According to the invention, the group controller 24 has an electromagnetic transceiver 30 which communicates with any and all of corresponding transceivers 31 on each floor of the building. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the fixtures have locally positioned electronics associated with them so as to permit operation in response to state commands. For instance, pressing one of the call buttons 1 7, 1 9 will cause a corresponding transmission from the transceiver 31 of the related floor indicating a request for an up call or a down call on that floor. Similarly, a single transmission from the group controller transceiver 30 addressed to a specific one of the transceivers 31 may order it to sound the related gong 21 . These signals are thus discrete, and are responded to in order to cause the corresponding desired action. The remainder of the required signals are simply to either turn on or turn off a hall button light 1 8, 20, a lantern 1 2, 1 3 or any of the car position indicator lights 26. It should be understood that whenever liquid crystal displays are used in place of discrete lights, the required action is simply causing a commensurate change in the template of the liquid crystal display.

For further understanding, consider the following sequence in which boldface type indicates electromagnetic transmissions of the invention:

I . Down button pressed F2 2. F2 transmits "down request F2", addressed to group

3. Group registers down call request on 2

4. Group transmits "turn on down button light", addressed to F2

5. Group assigns call to car 3 6. Group sends "stop on 2" to car 2 control

7. Car 3 sends "committable floor car 3 = F2" to group control

8. Group transmits "turn on car 3 position = floor 2" addressed to lobby 9. Group transmits "sound gong, turn on down lantern car 3, turn off button lights" , addressed to F2

1 0. Car 3 stops with its door opening

I I . Door of car 3 closes

1 2. Cab 3 sends "door fully closed" to car 3 controller 1 3. Car 3 controller sends "door fully closed, car 3" to group controller

14. Group transmits "turn off lanterns", addressed to F2

1 5. Car 3 control sends "committable floor car 3 = lobby" to group controller

16. Group transmits "turn on car 3 position = lobby" , addressed to lobby

17. Group transmits "sound gong, turn on lantern, car 3, turn off down button light", addressed to lobby Note in the above it is assumed that the circuitry is such that whenever a turn on request is made, a latch corresponding to the device involved will have an input such that an accompanying gating signal will turn it on if it has the input, and otherwise will either turn it off or allow it to remain off, whereby each turn on of one light in the position indicator 26 or lantern will be accompanied by turning off of all the remaining lights. Of course, other protocols may be used for controlling the actual fixtures. Also, the button light at the lobby in the above sequence was turned off automatically, whether or not it had been turned on, just to simplify the operation. These factors are irrelevant to the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 3, a second embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of electromagnetic receivers 28 associated with corresponding cars, which receive from the group controller transceiver 30 messages to turn on and turn off the directional lanterns 1 2, 1 3. The remaining functions, described with respect to Figs. 1 and 2, are handled in this embodiment by the floor transceivers 31 . Thus, the floor transceivers 31 will transmit hall call requests and will receive instructions to sound the gong and to turn on and turn off the call button lights. This avoids the need to have wiring between the floor transceivers 31 and the hall lanterns 1 2, 1 3.

In the foregoing sequence, lines 9, 1 4 and 1 7 would read as follows: 9a. Group transmits "sound gong, turn off down button light" , addressed to F2

9b. Group transmits "turn on down lantern" addressed to car 3, F2

14a. Group transmits "turn off lanterns", addressed to car 3, F2

17a. Group transmits "sound gong, turn off button lights", addressed to lobby

17b. Group transmits "turn on down lantern", addressed to car 2, lobby floor In the above, it is assumed that the message to turn off the down lantern will be interpreted at the lobby to simply turn on the up lantern since arrival at the lobby requires a direction reversal. On the other hand, the car transmitter could keep track of where car 3 is and send a message to turn on the up lantern; all of this is irrelevant to the present invention.

Referring now to Fig. 4. instead of the group controller transceiver 30 communicating with each of the car receivers 28, a transmitter 50 is provided for each of the car controllers 23. In this embodiment, the turn on and turn off of the lanterns is effected by electromagnetic transmissions from the transmitters 50 to the receivers 28. This embodiment allows the group controller 31 to send only one message for each event, because the lantern message of Fig. 3 is sent by the corresponding car transmitter 50.

In the foregoing sequence, lines 9, 1 4 and 1 7 would be as follows:

9c. Group transmits "sound gong, turn off button lights", addressed to F2

9d. Car 3 transmits "turn on down lantern" addressed to car 3, floor 2

14b. Car 3 transmits "turn off lanterns", addressed to car 3, floor 2

17a. Group transmits "sound gong, turn off down button light", addressed to lobby 17c. Car 3 transmits "turn on down lantern", addressed to car 2, lobby floor

The manner in which the messages can be formulated so as to provide an indication of the desired action and the address of the recipient, along with error control codes and the like, may conveniently be of the type illustrated in U.S. patent application Serial No. 08/71 4,647. On the other hand, protocols such as that illustrated in U.S. Patent 5,535,21 2, the Echelon Lon Works communication protocol, or any simplified communication protocol that will serve the purposes herein may be utilized. The particular choice is irrelevant to the present invention. The electromagnetic transmissions of the invention may preferably be radio frequency transmissions. In many instances, it is possible that narrow band surface-acoustic-wave-stabilized (SAW) transmitters and receivers operating at 41 8 MHz AM, transmitting randomly and infrequently with on the order of one milliwatt of output power or so, can be used without a site license under U.S. FCC Part 1 5.231 . On the other hand, any suitable RF transmissions may be utilized. The SAW transmitters may be formulated utilizing RF Monolithics, Inc. type HX 1 003 integrated circuits (IC's) and the SAW receivers may be formulated by utilizing RF Monolithics, Inc. type RX 1 300 IC's, all as is known in the art, or other suitable transmitter and receiver components may be utilized in any embodiment of the invention. The radio frequency transmissions are generally able to circumvent the individual elevator cars in the hoistways, to provide adequate transmissions throughout. In any case where deemed necessary, repeater transceivers may be provided either on the elevator cars themselves, or at various points on the walls, inside the adjacent hoistways, as necessary. All of this technical detail is irrelevant to the present invention.

The car controllers and group controller may each be implemented in a separate processor, may be implemented in a distributed processing system as in U.S. Patent 5,202,540, or all in one processor. The lanterns may be turned on and off in conjunction with other events, when appropriate; for instance: turned on at the outer door zone; turned off as the door begins to close; or otherwise.

The aforementioned patent application and patents are incorporated herein by reference.

Thus, although the invention has been shown and described with respect to exemplary embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and additions may be made therein and thereto, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

Claims

Claims 1 . An elevator system in a building having a plurality of elevator hoistways, each having an elevator car moving vertically therein to provide service to a plurality of floors of the building, comprising: a car controller for each of said cars; a group controller; each floor of the building having a plurality of hall fixtures selected from the group consisting of a gong, an up hall call request button switch, an up hall call request button light, a down hall call request button switch, and a down hall call request button light; said group controller having an electromagnetic transceiver; each of said floors having an electromagnetic transceiver for exchanging electromagnetic messages between itself and said group controller; said floor transceivers transmitting messages indicating the activation of one of said hall call buttons to said group controller transceiver, said group controller transceiver transmitting messages to selected ones of said floor transceivers to cause a gong, if any, on the corresponding floor to sound, and to cause a hall call request button light to be turned on in response to registering a corresponding call request and to be turned off in response to a car approaching the related floor for a stop.

2. An elevator system according to claim 1 wherein: the fixtures on each floor include for each of said hoistways, a set of one or more hall lanterns including an up direction hall lantern on each floor except the highest floor and a down direction hall lantern on each floor except the lowest floor; and said group controller transceiver transmits messages addressed to the transceiver of a selected floor to cause a corresponding one of said lanterns to light in response to one of said cars approaching the related floor for a stop, and transmits messages to the transceiver of a related floor to turn off a corresponding lantern in response to closing of the door of a corresponding elevator car stopped at said floor.

3. An elevator system according to claim 1 wherein: the fixtures on each floor include for each of said hoistways, a set of one or more hall lanterns including an up direction hall lantern on each floor except the highest floor and a down direction hall lantern on each floor except the lowest floor; each of said floors has a receiver interconnected with each of said sets of hall lanterns; and wherein said group controller transmits messages to selected ones of said receivers to cause a related one of the lanterns on the corresponding floor to be turned on in response to one of said elevator cars approaching the related floor for a stop, and transmits messages to the receiver related to one of said sets of lanterns to turn off a corresponding lantern in response to closing of the door of a corresponding elevator car stopped at said floor.

4. An elevator system according to claim 1 wherein: the fixtures on each floor include for each of said hoistways, a set of one or more hall lanterns including an up direction hall lantern on each floor except the highest floor and a down direction hall lantern on each floor except the lowest floor; each of said car controllers has a transmitter; each of said floors has a plurality of receivers, each receiver interconnected with a corresponding one of said sets of hall lanterns; and said car controller transmitters each transmit messages to selected ones of said receivers relating to the same car on a given floor to cause a selected one of the lanterns on the corresponding floor to be turned on in response to the related car approaching the related floor for a stop, and to be turned off in response to the door of said related car closing after said stop.