EP4206105A1 - Procédé de fonctionnement d'un ascenseur pour la maintenance - Google Patents

Procédé de fonctionnement d'un ascenseur pour la maintenance Download PDF

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Publication number
EP4206105A1
EP4206105A1 EP21218431.1A EP21218431A EP4206105A1 EP 4206105 A1 EP4206105 A1 EP 4206105A1 EP 21218431 A EP21218431 A EP 21218431A EP 4206105 A1 EP4206105 A1 EP 4206105A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
maintenance
elevator
cabin
control unit
shaft
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
EP21218431.1A
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German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Valerio Villa
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Inventio AG
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Inventio AG
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Inventio AG filed Critical Inventio AG
Priority to EP21218431.1A priority Critical patent/EP4206105A1/fr
Publication of EP4206105A1 publication Critical patent/EP4206105A1/fr
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
    • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
    • B66B5/00—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators
    • B66B5/0043—Devices enhancing safety during maintenance
    • B66B5/005—Safety of maintenance personnel

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method for operating an elevator for maintenance. Furthermore, the present invention relates to an elevator configured for executing such a method, to a computer program product and to a computer-readable medium.
  • An elevator comprises at least one cabin which may be displaced along an elevator shaft between multiple floors in a building using a drive engine.
  • the cabin comprises at least one cabin door which may be opened and closed for providing and blocking access to the cabin, respectively.
  • At each of the floors at least one shaft door is provided which may be opened and closed for selectively providing or blocking access to the elevator shaft.
  • the shaft doors are sometimes referred to as landing doors. As long as the cabin door is not coupled to a shaft door, the shaft door is generally locked in its closed state.
  • a technician requires access to the elevator shaft in order to e.g. be able to inspect an integrity of components of the elevator comprised within the elevator shaft.
  • the technician had to call the cabin to come near to one of the floors and set the elevator in state in which calls from the landing operation panels or a cabin operation panel were ignored. Then, the technician had to unlock the shaft door. For such unlocking, the technician had to use for example specific tools such as a triangular key. Then, the technician had to manually open the shaft door and e.g. get onto a roof of the waiting cabin. On the roof a control unit was typically provided.
  • the technician was able to control the drive engine while in maintenance mode for displacing the cabin to desired location.
  • Security measures had to be taken in order to guarantee that the technician was not hurt during such displacing action. For example, it had to be guaranteed that during the maintenance, the cabin was not driven to a location where the technician either on top of the cabin's roof or in the pit of the shaft was endangered.
  • the technician upon having completed the maintenance, the technician had to exit the elevator shaft and manually relock the associated shaft door.
  • the elevator comprises a cabin and an elevator shaft.
  • the cabin is displaceable along the elevator shaft.
  • the elevator further comprises a drive for displacing the cabin. It comprises a plurality of shaft doors, at least one of the shaft doors being arranged at each of multiple floors, including at least a lowermost floor and an uppermost floor.
  • the elevator comprises an elevator control unit, which elevator control unit preferably is implemented within the elevator, preferably on the cabin,wherein the elevator control unit performs the following steps:
  • the method steps are preferably executed in the indicated order.
  • a start-maintenance-request may be only an information that maintenance is requested.
  • the start-maintenance-request preferably contains information on where the maintenance is intended to take place and on what kind of maintenance is planned, so that the depending on the nature of the start-maintenance-request the elevator control unit knows where to displace the cabin to and where to expect the technician to enter the shaft.
  • Danger zone means above and in the following a zone in which a person might be endangered during the normal operation of the elevator.
  • a danger zone might be the elevator shaft as whole.
  • Danger zones might also be specific parts of the elevator shaft, parts, such as the top of the cabin, the top of the elevator shaft, also referred to as head, or the bottom of the elevator shaft, also referred to as pit.
  • a mobile electronic device may be a smartphone or any similar device. Using such a device to send the start-maintenance-request and/or stop-maintenance-request allows to ensure that only the authorized technician who possesses such a device and who is able to unlock the device with a password, via a fingerprint-reader or any other unlock feature is able to send those requests.
  • the maintenance mode above and in the following refers to a mode which differs from the normal operation mode at least in that calls entered by passengers at landing operation panels and/or a cabin operation panel are ignored. Accordingly, during maintenance mode, the elevator may not provide any transportation services to passengers. Thus, during maintenance mode, there is no risk of the cabin being displaced in reaction to a passenger's call.
  • a shaft door shall exclusively be opened when the elevator cabin is parked adjacent to a shaft door. In such situation, the cabin door and the respective shaft door are aligned.
  • exceptions from this rule have to be implemented within the maintenance mode. Particularly, a technician shall be able to access the shaft through a shaft door while the cabin is not parked directly adjacent to a shaft.
  • the method described above and in the following assures that when the elevator is switched back from maintenance mode to normal operation mode, no person is within a danger zone, to which a person might have had access during maintenance mode.
  • the step of checking that no person is within a predefined danger zone comprises the steps of:
  • Capturing a pre-maintenance-status refers above and in the following to using a or a set of sensors of one or several types to capture a status of the elevator before the maintenance mode is entered.
  • capturing a post-maintenance-status of the elevator refers above and in the following to using a or a set of sensors of one or several types of the elevator to assess a status of the elevator.
  • Capturing in this context means recording the status of the above-mentioned sensors.
  • Capturing the pre-maintenance mode therefore means recording the value of one or several sensors before the control unit switches form normal operation mode to maintenance mode.
  • Capturing the post-maintenance-status means recording values of one or several sensors before the control unit switches form normal operation mode to maintenance mode.
  • the pre-maintenance-status of the elevator and the post-maintenance-status of the elevator are evaluated, meaning are compared, meaning a difference between the two statuses is evaluated.
  • the pre-maintenance-status is compared to a predefined value of the pre-maintenance-status.
  • the post-maintenance-status is compared to a pre-defined post-maintenance-status. In other embodiments any combination of the mentioned embodiments is implemented.
  • the difference might for example be a difference in kilograms if a weight is measured, or a difference in the state of the pixels of a captured snapshot or any representative part of it, or an amount of difference in objects identified within a snapshot.
  • the embodiment in which the pre-maintenance-status and a post-maintenance status are captured and compared is based on the assumption that the elevator is in a safe condition before the elevator switches from a normal operation mode to a maintenance mode.
  • the control unit is enabled to assess whether during maintenance changes occurred, for which a safe normal operation seems unlikely.
  • the comparison of a pre-maintenance-status and a post-maintenance-status of a predefined danger zone is an attempt to only check the space and timewise relevant changes and therefore is an efficient way to ensure that no person is endangered when the elevator operates normal again.
  • the capturing of the pre-maintenance-status and the post-maintenance-status of the elevator comprises:
  • the cabin is driven to a position where its cabin door is not aligned with the shaft door but in which its roof is accessible from the shaft door.
  • the cabin may be displaced and stopped such that its roof is next to a lower end of the shaft door.
  • the technician enters the elevator shaft, he may step onto the roof of the parked cabin.
  • the technician works from cabin roof.
  • a load measurement unit of the elevator will measure on top of the usual system weight also the weight of the technician.
  • Measuring the load of the cabin before the maintenance mode and after the request for switching back to normal operation mode is received can thus be used to see whether additional weight has been added to the car, indicating that a person could still be on the cabin roof. Furthermore, any tools which the technician might have brought with him onto the roof of the cabin and have been left there would result in a change of the cabin's weight and therefore could be detected too.
  • the post-maintenance-load and/or pre-maintenance-load might be compared to a predefined value.
  • a predefined value could be a load measured right after the installation of the cabin or a nominal value of the cabin.
  • the method increases the safety without the need of any additional sensors, as measuring the load of the cabin is a necessary measurement during the operation of the elevator, for example to determine a pre-torque-value. Therefore, a load measurement sensor will be available in the elevator anyway. Making use of that already available sensor for ensuring that a technician is not within a predefined danger zone, is a simple and efficient way to increase the security during a method for operating an elevator for maintenance.
  • the step of capturing of the pre-maintenance-status and/or the post-maintenance-status of the elevator comprises:
  • a snapshot above and in the following means the recording of one or several of the above mentioned cameras/lidar at the certain point in time.
  • a time-of-flight camera is a range imaging camera system that employs time-of-flight techniques to resolve distance between the camera and the subject for each point of the image, by measuring the round trip time of an artificial light signal provided by a laser or an LED.
  • a thermographic camera also known as infrared camera or thermal imaging camera
  • Lidar is a method for measuring distances (ranging) by illuminating the target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor. Differences in laser return times and wavelengths can then be used to make digital 3-D representations of the target. All these means are well known to the person skilled in the art.
  • Comparing the pre-maintenance-snapshot and the post-maintenance-snapshot means above and in the following that the snapshots as a whole are compared or, alternatively, that certain objects, for example of certain sizes or with certain colours or reflection patterns are identified to then be compared to the objects identified in the other snapshot.
  • snapshots before and after the maintenance helps to identify changes within the predefined danger zone occurring during maintenance.
  • the use of such snapshots therefore can be used to assess whether it is safe to switch back to normal operation, either alone or in combination with measurements of other sensors such as load measurement sensor.
  • the camera(s)/lidar might be located in a part of the shaft, for example in a pit and/or in the head of the shaft or might be attached to the cabin, for example to the bottom and/or top of the cabin so that the areas where a person could be endangered can be monitored.
  • thermographic camera and/or a lidar system instead of a classical camera and/or in combination with a classical camera is that these cameras are much less susceptible to pollution.
  • the dust and dirt within the elevator shaft could over time impact the vision of a classical camera. Any of these cameras is much less prone to such pollution.
  • Such cameras therefore increases the security of the system and also reduces the maintenance/cleaning work required for keeping the system in safe operation.
  • the step of verifying that no person is within a predefined danger zone comprises the steps of:
  • Verifying the presence means above and in the following concluding that the technician is in the proximity of the specific part, i.e. within the cabin or on a floor to a degree where it is possible to conclude that the technician is outside of the elevator shaft.
  • a technician detected to be in the cabin for example by a camera (for example as described above) or by any other sensor, such as a near-field communication sensor that allows to conclude that a human is inside the camera, it is safe to assume that it is impossible for him to also be present within the danger zone, i.e. within the elevator shaft.
  • a camera for example as described above
  • any other sensor such as a near-field communication sensor that allows to conclude that a human is inside the camera, it is safe to assume that it is impossible for him to also be present within the danger zone, i.e. within the elevator shaft.
  • Detecting the presence of the technician within the cabin or on a floor is a relatively easy, safe and reliable way of assuring that the technician is not in the shaft anymore.
  • sensors will be implemented within the cabin and/or on the floor anyway, as the presence of people in the cabin or on the floor is an information that is used in other parts of the elevator control.
  • Switching between the normal operation mode and the maintenance mode only after verifying the presence of the technician in the cabin or on the floor might be an additional safety element to assure that the maintenance does not endanger people. Assuring the presence of the technician within the cabin or on the floor before the maintenance mode is entered, is a way of making sure that the elevator is not switched into the maintenance mode without an authorized person being close to the elevator. Assessing the presence of a technician within the cabin or on the floor before the mode of operation is switched back from maintenance mode to normal mode is a safe way of making sure that the technician who initiated the maintenance mode is now back out of the shaft and within one of the two mentioned areas before the normal operation resumed.
  • the technician's presence in the cabin and/or on a floor is performed by identifying the technician by means of:
  • displaying a code which is then scanned by the technician might be implemented as displaying a changing code, wherein the pattern of the changing code is known to the App the technican is supposed to use to scan the code.
  • the App can assess whether the code that it is scanned is within the pattern that it should be.
  • Using a dynamic code has the advantage that the code cannot be copied and then scanned from any other location, for example inside of the shaft from another phone, on which a picture of the static code is stored. With a dynamic code, the App can conclude that the person, who scanned the code is present close to the displayed code in the moment of scanning.
  • a camera in combination with facial recognition or any other kind of identification, such as iris detection and/or a near field communication device which only couples to a specific predetermined other device alternatively or further helps to conclude that the authorized person is within close proximity of that camera and/or near field communication device.
  • the method for operating an elevator for maintenance is a request to enter the elevator shaft at a specific shaft door.
  • the method of this embodiment comprises the step of displacing the cabin to a predefined position in proximity of the specific shaft door.
  • the cabin can be displaced to a predefined position in proximity of that floor.
  • This allows for a method for operating an elevator for maintenance, in which during the maintenance only a predefined number of locations will be used.
  • Such a method will for example include a predefined position for the cabin for maintenance at each of the floors.
  • This has the advantage that a cabin does not have to be displaced during maintenance at all. If the technician after finishing the maintenance at a specific floor needs to do more maintenance at another floor, he would leave the shaft, check out of the current maintenance mode by sending a stop-maintenance request and then enter a new start-maintenance request for the next maintenance work, e.g. at a different floor.
  • the maintenance mode would be left and therefore the danger zone would be checked for people. This allows to then displace the cabin to the other floor, for which the technician requested maintenance.
  • a method for operating an elevator for maintenance is implemented, in which a manual displacement of the cabin within the shaft during the maintenance mode is not needed. Therefore, the security of the method for operating an elevator for maintenance is increased, as endangering people within the shaft due to displacement of the cabin during the maintenance mode is evited.
  • the predefined position in proximity of the specific shaft door can be any position, in which the cabin facilitates the maintenance on that specific floor. This could for example be a position in which the roof of the cabin is on the same height as the floor, so that the technician can conveniently walk on top of the roof of the cabin. For the lowermost floor, such a predefined position in proximity of the specific shaft door could be a position in which the cabin does not block the entrance to the pit. In another similar maintenance-request, for example to do maintenance work on a bottom of the cabin, the cabin could be displaced to a position in which it only partially blocks the entrance on the lowermost floor and therefore allows the technician to enter the pit but still being able to reach the lowermost part of the cabin comfortably.
  • the technician can request for maintenance to be done at the head of the elevator shaft.
  • the cabin could be displaced to a position in which the roof of the cabin is at a certain height of the entrance of the uppermost floor, so that the technician can step onto the cabin roof and reach the components in the head of the elevator shaft.
  • the method further comprises the step of restricting the displacement of the cabin in solely a
  • the security of the method for operating an elevator for maintenance is further increased. If the maintenance was requested at the lowermost floor, the technician will be doing maintenance work in the pit. The resulting danger to crash the technician by moving the elevator cabin is avoided by initial only allowing an upward movment. As a next step it could be required for the technician to identify himself at the next higher floor, i.e. at the first floor within the cabin. In such a case, the method for operating the elevator for maintenance could look like the following:
  • a similar way of exiting the maintenance mode can be performed if maintenance is requested at the uppermost floor.
  • the cabin is restricted to only be able to move downward from the maintenance position.
  • the cabin can then be stopped at the floor below the uppermost floor.
  • the technician who requested the maintenance mode and had left the head before sending a stop-maintenance-request can identify himself within the cabin.
  • the control unit After the elevator control unit identified the technician's presence within the elevator cabin, the control unit can conclude that the technician is not in the head of the elevator shaft anymore and therefore a safe normal operation mode can be resumed.
  • the displacement of the cabin is restricted to a downward displacement for any start-maintenance-request except for the request to do maintenance in the pit.
  • At least one, preferably all of the shaft doors have an associated active door drive for opening and closing the shaft door and/or an active door lock for locking and unlocking the shaft door.
  • the method further comprises the steps of:
  • active door drives/active door locks allows to use the elevator shaft door as an additional security element.
  • the shaft door can be opened by the elevator control unit once the elevator control unit knows that the cabin has arrived at the predefined position and the elevator shaft therefore is safe to be entered at a specific floor, on which then the elevator control unit unlocks/opens the shaft door via the active door lock / active door drive.
  • an active door drive /active door lock also allows to close a specific elevator shaft door once a request to stop maintenance is received by the elevator control unit. This allows the elevator system to make sure that whatever state within the elevator shaft is present at this point in time cannot be changed from the outside of the elevator shaft anymore.
  • the elevator control unit can then perform the safety check and verify that no person is within the predefined danger zone. If no person is within the predefined danger zone, the elevator control unit switches back to the normal operation mode.
  • the cabin door is equipped with an active door drive and/or lock.
  • the method as described above and in the following may further comprise the step of assuring that the cabin is empty after the elevator control unit receives a start-maintenance-request sent by the technician and before the elevator control unit switches for a normal operation mode to a maintenance mode.
  • the elevator control unit prevents the cabin from being displaced, and/or an elevator brake, preferably a cabin brake, is engaged before the technician is granted access to the shaft.
  • the method is made more secure by either disabling the drive to be activated via the control unit and/or by blocking any movement of the cabin during the maintenance mode by engaging the brake before the technician enters the shaft.
  • the method further comprises the step of:
  • the proper functioning of the elevator brake is required.
  • the brake In the normal operation mode, the brake is required to stop the car at any of the floors.
  • the brake might be required to ensure that the cabin stays safely at a predefined position. The brake's functioning should therefore be checked whenever it is switched between the two modes.
  • the shaft and/or the cabin door additionally comprise an active door lock, which unlocks the respective door before it is opened by the respective active door drive and locks the respective door after the door was closed by the respective door drive.
  • the shaft and/or the cabin door additionally comprise an active door lock, which unlocks the respective door before it is opened by the respective active door drive and locks the respective door after the door was closed by the respective door drive.
  • an elevator is proposed, the elevator being configured to one of executing and controlling the method according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention.
  • the elevator comprises a cabin being displaceable along an elevator shaft, a drive for displacing the cabin, an elevator control unit, a plurality of shaft doors, at least one shaft door being arranged at each of multiple floors, preferably each of the shaft doors having an associated active door drive for opening and closing the shaft door and/or active door lock, which can be enabled/disabled by the elevator control unit.
  • the elevator is configured to executing the method as described above and in the following.
  • An active door lock preferably is a door lock, with a rod and an actuator, preferably an electromagnetic actuator, to move the rod from a locking position into an unlocked position.
  • the active door lock in a preferred embodiment includes a sensor to detect the locked and unlocked position.
  • the elevator control unit, or at least as a part of it, of the elevator as described above and in the following is configured to fulfil SIL3 requirements.
  • the elevator control unit or any part of it may be programmable. They may have for example a processor for executing computer-readable instructions and/or processing data and a memory for storing the instructions and/or data.
  • the door controller may be implemented within the elevator control unit or separate from it. In the latter case, two control units are connected with a data communication link.
  • the computer program product comprises computer-readable instructions which, when performed by a processor in an elevator according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, instructs the elevator to one of executing and controlling the method according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention.
  • the computer program product comprises computer-readable instructions which, when performed by a processor in a mobile data communication device, instructs the mobile data communication device to transmit one of the requesting signal and the finalizing signal for triggering an elevator according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention to one of executing and controlling the method according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention.
  • the computer program product comprises computer readable instructions which, when performed by a processor in an elevator as described above and in the following instructs the elevator to one of executing and controlling the method as described above and in the following.
  • the computer program product comprises computer readable instructions which, when performed by a processor in a data communication device, instructs the data communication device to transmit a maintenance-request for triggering an elevator as described above and in the following to executing the method as described above and in the following.
  • a computer program product may be a form of an application (“App") and may be used to instruct a mobile data communication device such as a smartphone to transmit one of the requesting signal and the finalizing signal for triggering an elevator such that the elevator executes or controls the method proposed herein.
  • App an application
  • a mobile data communication device such as a smartphone
  • the computer program product comprising the computer-readable instructions may be in any computer-readable language.
  • the elevator control unit Upon executing the computer-readable instructions, the elevator control unit performs or controls steps of the method proposed herein.
  • a computer-readable medium is proposed.
  • the computer-readable medium has stored thereon a computer program product according to an embodiment of the third aspect of the invention.
  • a computer-readable medium comprising the computer program product described above stored thereon may be any portable computer-readable medium such as a CD, a CVD, a flash memory, etc. for transient or non-transient data storage.
  • the computer-readable medium may be a computer or part of a computer network such as a cloud or the Internet, such that the computer program product may be downloaded therefrom.
  • Fig. 1 shows an elevator configured for executing a method for operating the elevator for maintenance according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • Fig. 1 shows an elevator 1.
  • the elevator 1 is shown in a side view. Furthermore, a portion of the elevator 1 is shown in a front view, as visualized in a partial view inside a dashed frame line.
  • the elevator 1 comprises a cabin 2 which is displaceable along an elevator shaft 4.
  • the elevator cabin 2 is held and displaced by a suspension traction means such as a rope or a belt.
  • a suspension traction means such as a rope or a belt.
  • the suspension traction means is coupled to a counterweight.
  • the suspension traction means is driven by a drive 6.
  • the drive 6 is controlled by the elevator control unit 12.
  • the elevator cabin 2 comprises a cabin door 9 for opening and closing an access to the elevator cabin 2.
  • the cabin door 9 may be opened and closed actively by a cabin door drive 29.
  • the cabin door drive 29 is controlled by the elevator control unit 12.
  • the shaft door 8 may be opened and closed for granting or blocking access to the elevator shaft 4.
  • the elevator 1 presented herein comprises an active door drive 28 at each of the shaft doors 8 for actively opening and closing the respective shaft door 8 by laterally displacing shaft door blades.
  • Each of the door drives 28 is controlled by the elevator control unit 12. It is to be noted, that for reasons of a simpler formation, the terms door drive 28 shall refer herein only to the shaft doors 8, not to the cabin door 9 (which is equipped with a cabin door drive 29).
  • a landing operation panel is provided in proximity to the shaft door 8.
  • such landing operation panel may comprise one or more push buttons which may be actuated by passengers for calling the cabin 2 to come to their floor 10.
  • the elevator control unit 12 controls the drive 6 for displacing the cabin 2 to one of the floors 10 in response to passengers' call provided by actuating one of the landing operation panels.
  • the drive is controlled such that the cabin 2 is stopped at the landing position such that its cabin bottom is substantially on the same height as a bottom at the floor 10 at which the cabin 2 shall collect or deliver passengers.
  • the normal operation of the elevator 1 has to be temporarily interrupted.
  • the technician may approach the elevator 1 at one of the floors 10, such as for example the uppermost floor.
  • the technician may send a request for maintenance. Such a request is then received by the elevator control unit 12.
  • the drive 6 will control the displacement of the cabin 2 to a position such that a roof of the cabin 2 is adjacent to the shaft door 8 at the floor 10 at which the maintenance work requested in the maintenance-request has to be performed (for example the uppermost floor, as show in Fig. 1 ).
  • the head 19 equals the predefined danger zone 18.
  • the elevator control unit 12 controls the door drive 28 at the respective floor 10'" to actively open the associated shaft door 8.
  • the technician 14 may enter the elevator shaft 4 by stepping on top of the roof of the waiting cabin 2.
  • the technician 14 may inspect, modify, repair or replace various components of the elevator 1, such as for example cabin guide shoes, parts of the elevator control unit, a front bracket fixation, the suspension traction means, a load measuring system and connectors at the counterweight side as well at the cabin side, counterweight guide shoes, shaft information, a deflection pulley, and/or other components.
  • various components of the elevator such as for example cabin guide shoes, parts of the elevator control unit, a front bracket fixation, the suspension traction means, a load measuring system and connectors at the counterweight side as well at the cabin side, counterweight guide shoes, shaft information, a deflection pulley, and/or other components.
  • the technician 14 may leave the elevator shaft 4 through the opened shaft door 8.
  • the technician 14 may then send a stop-maintenance-request with his mobile electronic device 16 which may be received by the elevator control unit 12.
  • the elevator control unit 12 may control the door drive 28 of the opened shaft door 8 to close this shaft door 8.
  • the elevator control unit 12 displaces the elevator cabin in an downward direction after the elevator control unit 12 has closed the shaft door 8.
  • the technician 14, who at this time is supposed to be outside of the shaft 4, has to identify himself within the cabin being positioned one floor 10" below the uppermost floor 10"'.
  • the elevator control unit 12 therefore opens the respective shaft doors and the cabin doors so that the technician 14 can enter the cabin 2 and identify himself for example at the car operating panel 22, which may include a camera 24. After this identification, the elevator control unit 12 knows that the technician 14, who requested maintenance is not inside the shaft anymore and therefore not within the predefined danger zone, i.e. within the head 19 and safely switches back to normal operation mode.
  • a load-measurement-cell implemented at the cabin-brake 26 may be used to capture a pre-maintenance-status, i.e. pre-maintenance-load-measurement before the maintenance mode is entered and post-maintenance-status, i.e. a post-maintenance-load-measurement before the maintenance mode is left.
  • the elevator control unit 12 Before displacing the cabin to the next lower floor 10'" (see paragraph above) the elevator control unit 12 compares the two load measurements to concluded that they are within a predefined range, e.g. 5% of each other. Only if this is concluded, the cabin 2 is then moved to the lower floor 10" 10", where the method continues as described above, i.e. by identification of the technician 14 inside the cabin 2.
  • the drive 6 will displace the cabin 2 based on a control of the elevator control unit 12 to a position above the lowermost floor 10, i.e. such that the cabin bottom is sufficiently above a pit 17 of the elevator shaft 4, for allowing the technician 14 to enter such a pit 17.
  • the pit 17 equals the predefined danger zone 18.
  • the elevator control unit 12 controls the door drive 28 of the lowermost floor 10 to actively open the associated shaft door 8.
  • the technician 14 may then enter the pit 17. In the pit 17, the technician may inspect, modify, repair or replace various components of the elevator 1.
  • the elevator control unit 12 Upon having received the request for maintenance (start-maintenance-request), the elevator control unit 12 switches to maintenance mode. In such maintenance mode, calls entered by passengers for example one of them landing operation panels at any of the other floors or at a cabin operation panel are ignored. Furthermore, any displacement of the cabin 2 is prevented as long as the elevator control unit 12 is in the maintenance mode.
  • the technician 14 may use a mobile electronic device 16 such as a smartphone to generate and transmit data forming the maintenance-request.
  • a mobile electronic device 16 such as a smartphone
  • a specific application may be programmed and uploaded to the mobile electronic device 16.
  • the electronic mobile device 16 may send electromagnetic waves encrypting the maintenance-request.
  • the electromagnetic waves may be received by a suitable sensor being part or being connected to the elevator control unit 12.
  • the communication link between the mobile electronic device 16 and the elevator control unit 12 could also be established via a server, e.g. a cloud.
  • the technician 14 may leave the elevator shaft 4 through the opened shaft door 8.
  • the technician 14 may then send a stop-maintenance-request with his mobile electronic device 16 which may be received by the elevator control unit 12.
  • the elevator control unit 12 may control the door drive 28 of the opened shaft door 8 to close this shaft door 8.
  • the elevator control unit 12 displaces the elevator cabin in an upward direction after the elevator control unit 12 has closed the shaft door 8.
  • the technician 14, who at this time is supposed to be outside of the shaft 4, has to identify himself within the cabin being positioned at the first floor 10".
  • the elevator control unit 12 therefore opens the respective shaft doors and the cabin doors so that the technician 14 can enter the cabin 2 and identify himself for example at the car operating panel 22, 24. After this identification, the elevator control unit 12 knows that the technician 14, who requested maintenance is not inside the shaft anymore and therefore not within the predefined danger zone, i.e. within the pit 17 and safely switches back to normal operation mode.
  • a camera 20 may be implemented at the bottom of the cabin and may be used to capture a pre-maintenance-status, i.e. pre-maintenance-snapshot before the maintenance mode is entered and post-maintenance-status, i.e. a post-maintenance-snapshot before the maintenance mode is left.
  • the elevator control unit 12 Before displacing the cabin to the next lower floor 10'" (see paragraph above) the elevator control unit 12 compares the two snapshots to concluded that they resemble each other to a degree that the presence of a person in the pit can be negated. Only if this is concluded, the cabin 2 is then moved to the upper floor 10", where the method continues as described above, i.e. by identification of the technician 14 inside the cabin 2.
  • maintenance of the elevator 1 may be substantially simplified and may be made more secure.
  • the shaft door 8 at the floor where the technician 14 has requested maintenance may be opened actively and automatically.
  • the cabin 2 has already previously been driven to a suitable location.
  • no further displacement of the cabin 2 is allowed risk of injury for the technician is minimized.

Landscapes

  • Maintenance And Inspection Apparatuses For Elevators (AREA)
EP21218431.1A 2021-12-31 2021-12-31 Procédé de fonctionnement d'un ascenseur pour la maintenance Pending EP4206105A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP21218431.1A EP4206105A1 (fr) 2021-12-31 2021-12-31 Procédé de fonctionnement d'un ascenseur pour la maintenance

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP21218431.1A EP4206105A1 (fr) 2021-12-31 2021-12-31 Procédé de fonctionnement d'un ascenseur pour la maintenance

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP4206105A1 true EP4206105A1 (fr) 2023-07-05

Family

ID=79185671

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP21218431.1A Pending EP4206105A1 (fr) 2021-12-31 2021-12-31 Procédé de fonctionnement d'un ascenseur pour la maintenance

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP4206105A1 (fr)

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20120018256A1 (en) * 2007-12-03 2012-01-26 Otis Elevator Company Passive detection of persons in elevator hoistway
WO2017212106A1 (fr) 2016-06-07 2017-12-14 Kone Corporation Procédé et système d'ouverture du verrou d'une porte palière d'un ascenseur
WO2017212105A1 (fr) 2016-06-07 2017-12-14 Kone Corporation Agencement et procédé pour l'ouverture du verrou d'une porte palière d'un ascenseur
US20190092601A1 (en) * 2016-03-18 2019-03-28 Dirk H. Tegtmeier Elevator safety system
US20210101783A1 (en) * 2018-05-17 2021-04-08 Inventio Ag Inspection control system for an elevator system and method for switching an elevator system between a normal mode and an inspection mode
WO2022101212A1 (fr) * 2020-11-10 2022-05-19 Inventio Ag Procédé de fonctionnement d'un ascenseur lors de la maintenance

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20120018256A1 (en) * 2007-12-03 2012-01-26 Otis Elevator Company Passive detection of persons in elevator hoistway
US20190092601A1 (en) * 2016-03-18 2019-03-28 Dirk H. Tegtmeier Elevator safety system
WO2017212106A1 (fr) 2016-06-07 2017-12-14 Kone Corporation Procédé et système d'ouverture du verrou d'une porte palière d'un ascenseur
WO2017212105A1 (fr) 2016-06-07 2017-12-14 Kone Corporation Agencement et procédé pour l'ouverture du verrou d'une porte palière d'un ascenseur
US20210101783A1 (en) * 2018-05-17 2021-04-08 Inventio Ag Inspection control system for an elevator system and method for switching an elevator system between a normal mode and an inspection mode
WO2022101212A1 (fr) * 2020-11-10 2022-05-19 Inventio Ag Procédé de fonctionnement d'un ascenseur lors de la maintenance

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