WO2008012593A1

WO2008012593A1 - Governor arrangement for a rucksack elevator

Info

Publication number: WO2008012593A1
Application number: PCT/IB2006/002029
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cristobal Gil; Jose Luis Vergara; Marco Ferrari
Original assignee: Otis Elevator Co
Current assignee: Otis Elevator Co
Priority date: 2006-07-25
Filing date: 2006-07-25
Publication date: 2008-01-31
Anticipated expiration: 2009-01-25

Abstract

A cantilever elevator system (2) comprises an elevator car (4), a counterweight (30) a pair of car guide rails (6a, 6b), a pair of counterweight guide rails (32a, 32b), a governor (8) and a tensioner (10) associated with the governor (8). At least one car guide rail (6b) and one counterweight guide rail (32b) are spaced apart from one another so as to define a gap (38) therebetween. The governor (8) and the tensioner (10) are arranged within that gap (38) or within a vertical projection thereof.

Description

GOVERNOR ARRANGEMENT FOR A RUCKSACK ELEVATOR

The present invention relates to elevators and in particular to a cantilever elevator arrangement which reduces hoistway space.

It is normal for modern-day elevators to incorporate a governor. The governor typically comprises a governor wheel and a governor cable which is attached to the elevator car and runs over the governor wheel. The governor cable is maintained in driving engagement with the governor wheel by means of a tensioner aligned with the governor. As the elevator car moves up and down within a hoistway, it moves the governor cable which in turn rotates the governor wheel. The rotation of the governor wheel may be used to operate safety devices should the car move too quickly within the hoistway, or it may provide other information to a control system, for example information as to the position of the elevator car within the hoistway.

In a cantilever elevator installation, the elevator car is cantilevered from a pair of car guide rails. A pair of counterweight guide rails is provided parallel to and adjacent the car guide rails. This arrangement provides relatively little space to accommodate a governor and tensioner, so the governor and tensioner are mounted between the elevator car and the counterweight or between the elevator car and the hoistway wall. As the governor and tensioner may be fairly large, this may require a significant space to be provided within the hoistway. Specifically, a larger hoistway may be necessary to accommodate these devices or a hoistway of a given size may only be able to accommodate a smaller elevator car. Neither of these options is particularly attractive.

The present invention seeks to overcome or at least mitigate the problems described above, and from a first aspect provides a cantilever elevator system comprising: an elevator car; a counterweight; a pair of car guide rails; a pair of counterweight guide rails; a governor; and a tensioner associated with the governor; wherein at least one car guide rail and one counterweight guide rail are spaced apart from one another so as to define a gap therebetween, said governor and said tensioner being arranged within said gap or within a vertical projection thereof.

Thus in accordance with the invention, the car and counterweight guide rails are spaced from one another so as to define a space which accommodates the governor and tensioner. This allows the governor and tensioner to be accommodated more compactly within the hoistway, thereby providing a space saving.

Only one pair of car/counterweight guide rails need be spaced apart to accommodate the governor and tensioner although it may be preferable for load balancing purposes to introduce an equivalent spacing between the other pair of car and counterweight guide rails.

The respective car and counterweight guide rails may be spaced apart in just one direction across the hoistway, i.e. spaced apart in a direction generally parallel to or perpendicular to the hoistway wall. Preferably, however, they are spaced apart in two directions so as to provide greater flexibility as to where the tensioner and governor should be positioned.

Depending on the particular arrangement of the guide rails, the governor and tensioner may be arranged to extend generally perpendicular or parallel to the wall of the hoistway. Preferably however, they are arranged to extend at an angle thereto.

Preferably the guide rails each have a base member and a blade extending from the base member. The spacing between the respective car and counterweight guide rails is preferably provided between the respective base members thereof.

Preferably the governor is located at the top of the hoistway. It may advantageously be attached to one or both of the spaced apart car and counterweight guide rails or in the space above the guide rails. Depending on the particular layout, it may be mounted to an adjacent hoistway wall or to the ceiling of the hoistway.

The tensioner is preferably placed at the base of the hoistway. Again it may be attached to one or both of the spaced guide rails, to an adjacent wall or to the bottom of the hoistway.

In order to minimise the space requirements, the governor and tensioner device are preferably designed to be relatively thin. Most preferably, the respective thicknesses of the governor and tensioner are less than one third, preferably one quarter of their respective widths.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows, schematically, an elevator car with a governor;

Figure 2 shows a plan view of an elevator system in accordance with the invention; and

Figures 3A and 3B show alternative guide rail arrangements.

With reference firstly to Figure 1 , a cantilever elevator system 2 is shown schematically. This system 2 comprises an elevator car 4 which runs on car guide rails 6. The car 4 projects from the guide rails 6 in a cantilever manner.

The elevator car 4 is coupled to a counterweight (not shown) and is moved up and down in the hoistway by an elevator machine (also not shown).

The elevator system 2 is further provided with a governor 8. The governor 8 is mounted at the upper end 12 of the hoistway 14 and comprises a rotary member around which passes a governor cable 10. The governor cable 10 also extends around a tensioner 16 arranged in the bottom of the elevator hoistway 14 and generally aligned with the governor 8.

The governor cable 10 is attached by means 18 to the elevator car 4 such that as the elevator car 4 moves up and down along the guide rails 6 the governor cable 10 moves with the car so as to rotate both the tensioner 16 and the governor 8. The tensioner 16 ensures that the governor cable 10 remains in driving engagement with the governor 8. The rotation of the governor 8 is communicated to a control 20 for safety or other control purposes. Turning now to Figure 2 an arrangement in accordance with the invention is shown in greater detail. In this arrangement, the car 4 is shown mounted to a pair of car guide rails 6a, 6b. Each guide rail 6a, 6b is generally T-shaped in cross-section, comprising a base 22 mounted to a support 24 and a blade 26 which engages rollers 28 provided on the car 4. Also shown is a counterweight 30 which runs on counterweight guide rails

32a, 32b. Again each counterweight guide rail comprises a base 34 attached to the support 24 and a blade 36 which engages with a guide 38 provided on the counterweight 30.

It will be seen that the base 22 of car guide rail 6b and the base 34 of the adjacent counterweight guide rail 32b are spaced apart in directions parallel to and perpendicular to the hoistway wall 40 so as to define a gap 38 therebetween. The governor 8 and the tensioner 10 (which is aligned vertically under the governor 8), are arranged in the gap 38 or in a space vertically aligned therewith.

In order to minimise the space requirement, the governor 8 and tensioner 10 are arranged at an inclined angle α to the wall 40 of the hoistway 14. The governor 8 and tensioner 10 may be mounted to one or both of guide rails 6b, 32b or to surrounding structure e.g. the hoistway ceiling or wall 40. In a preferred embodiment, the governor 8 is arranged above the mounting 24 for the guide rails 6b, 32b so as not to compromise the mounting of the guide rails 6b, 32b. It will be seen that the governor 8 is relatively thin, having a thickness t which is significantly smaller than (typically less than one third of) its width w.

Various layouts of car guide rails 6 and counterweight guide rails 32 maybe envisaged in accordance with the invention. As shown in Figure 2, the left hand pair of guide rails 6b, 32b, are spaced apart more than the right hand pair of guide rails 6a, 32a. However, the guide rails may be symmetrically arranged as shown in Figure 3 a. The governor 8 and tensioner 10 may be provided in either gap 38 in this configuration. The guide rails may also be arranged such that one pair of guide rails 6a, 32a is substantially aligned in a direction perpendicular to the hoistway wall, as shown in Figure 3b, with the governor 8 and tensioner 10 being positioned in the gap 38 between the guide rails 6b, 32b. It will be understood that the above is merely a description of some preferred embodiments of the invention and that modifications can be made to the arrangements shown without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A cantilever elevator system comprising: an elevator car; a counterweight; a pair of car guide rails; a pair of counterweight guide rails; a governor; and a tensioner associated with the governor; wherein at least one car guide rail and one counterweight guide rail are spaced apart from one another so as to define a gap therebetween, said governor and said tensioner being arranged within said gap or within a vertical projection thereof.

2. An elevator system as claimed in claim 1 wherein .the respective car and counterweight guide rails are spaced apart in directions generally parallel to and perpendicular to a hoistway wall.

3. An elevator system as claimed in claim 2 wherein said governor and tensioner are arranged to extend at an angle to the hoistway wall.

4. An elevator system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the respective guide rails each comprise a base member and a blade extending from the base member.

5. An elevator system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the spacing between the respective car and counterweight guide rails is provided between the respective base members thereof.

6. An elevator system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the governor is located at the top of the hoistway.

7. An elevator system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the governor is mounted to one or both of the spaced apart car and counterweight guide rails.

8. An elevator system as claimed in claim 6 or 7 wherein the governor is mounted in a space above the guide rails.

9. An elevator system as claimed in claim 6 wherein the governor is mounted to an adjacent hoistway wall or to the ceiling of the hoistway.

10. An elevator system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the tensioner is located at the base of the hoistway.

11. An elevator system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the tensioner is mounted to one or both of the spaced apart car and counterweight guide rails.

12. An elevator system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the tensioner is mounted to an adjacent hoistway wall or to the bottom of the hoistway.

13. An elevator system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the governor and tensioner are relatively thin.