POCKET MOTOR ROOM FOR LIFT MACHINERY
This invention relates to lift machinery and, in particular, to a pocket motor room located adjacent the lift shaft to house the lift machinery.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Typical traction lift systems usually include a car and a counterweight with ropes being used to raise and lower the car, the ropes being driven by a traction sheave which is rotated by a motor through a gear box or gearless machine. The motor or machine is generally mounted in a machine room usually located adjacent the top of the lift shaft, either above the shaft or beside it at the bottom of the shaft with the motor drive shaft extending through an adjoining wall or the like. The machine room also generally houses the other peripheral equipment used by the machinery to control its operation.
Other prior art systems attempt to eliminate the necessity of providing a separate machine room which can reduce construction costs as well as providing more floor space room or removing unsightly machine rooms on the top of buildings. Such prior art systems use motors which are thin in their axial direction such as so-called disc type motors whereby the essential parts of the machinery motors are able to be installed within the space of the lift shaft or within the depth of the walls of the lift shaft thus simplifying construction. Such arrangements are described in Australian Patent Specifications AU-B-65957/94 and AU-B- 17844/95.
Notwithstanding this prior art, it is believed that it is advantageous to use a motor and sheave whereby the drive shaft of the motor rotates the sheave by planetary gears between the shaft and the sheave, the gears being located within an annulus between the drive shaft and sheave. Such an arrangement means that it is preferable that a pocket motor room be constructed adjacent the top of the lift shaft to accommodate such a motor, controller gear, governor and sheave arrangement. It is also believed that other advantages such as access for maintenance and the like are provided by the construction of the pocket motor room. The type of geared motor with its traction sheave is suitable for use with a wide variety of
lift installation requirements ov« r and above the possibilities provided by the prior art arrangements.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a traction lift system having a pocket motor room located adjacent the lift shaft to house the lift machinery which provides advantages over known systems. At the very least, the invention provides an alternative to presently known traction lift systems.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a traction lift system having a car movable on lift guide rails within a lift shaft, a counterweight also movable on counterweight guide rails within the lift shaft, a set of hoisting ropes suspending said car and said counterweight and being used to move both said car and said counterweight, and a traction machine at least partially located within a pocket motor room adjacent said lift shaft, said pocket motor room extending outwardly from one side wall of said lift shaft wherein said traction machine includes a motor section and a traction sheave section, substantially adjacent each other along a central axis, said traction sheave section including a traction sheave surrounding gearing means and drive shaft extending from said motor section, said motor section being located substantially within said pocket motor room and said traction sheave section being wholly within said lift shaft to engage said hoisting ropes.
Preferably, the pocket motor room is located adjacent the top part of the lift shaft and is substantially equal in height to a standard floor of a building.
Preferably the pocket is formed completely in one of the side walls of the lift shaft by moving the wall away from the centre of the lift shaft and in another preferred form, the pocket motor room is formed in an L-shape with one complete side wall section extending partially around the corner of the shaft to include part of the adjoining wall. The control gear is usually located within this portion of the pocket motor room.
In other preferred forms, the pocket motor room is formed partially within one side wall of the lift shaft
In one preferred form, the walls of the lift shaft are formed from concrete and the outside wall of the pocket motor room is formed from concrete In other forms of the invention, the outside wall is formed from materials other than concrete
Preferably, the traction machine is located at the top portion of the pocket motor room, preferably supported on a framework supported from the floor of the pocket motor room and/or to the wall of the pocket motor room
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which
Fig 1 is a schematic partial side elevational view of a lift shaft showing the location of a pocket motor room and the lift machinery associated therewith, and,
Fig 2 is a transverse cross sectional view along the lines X-X of Fig 1 showing the lift shaft and pocket motor room in plan view
BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of the traction lift system 10 of the present invention as illustrated in the drawings is installed in a lift shaft 11 having a pocket motor room 12 located adjacent and beside the lift shaft 11 at the top part of the lift shaft 11 The pocket motor room 12 extends outwardly from one side wall 13 with an exterior wall 14 being displaced from alignment with the side wall 13 of the lift shaft 11 The pocket motor room 12 is effectively the same height as a standard floor and is formed in the entire side wall 13 as seen in Figs 1 and 2, with one of the floors 15 of the building being illustrated in Fig 2 It is seen that the pocket motor room 12 is preferably L-shaped as it extends into an adjoining wall of the lift shaft 11 This portion of the pocket motor room 12 contains the control cabinet of the lift
system 10. The lift shaft 11 and the pocket motor room 12 are preferably constructed from concrete.
A traction machine 16 has a motor section 17 and a traction sheave section 18 mounted on the same central the axis, the motor section 17 including a housing containing a rotor and stator of an electric motor (not illustrated) and the traction sheave section 18 including a traction sheave 19 surrounding differential gears (not illustrated) being driven by the drive shaft of the electric motor.
As seen in the drawings, a car 20 is located within the lift shaft 1 1 with doors 21 located at the front and rear openings 22. A space 23 in the lift shaft on the side adjacent to the machine 19 is provided for the reciprocal movement of the counterweight (not illustrated) which is suspended together with the car 19 on the hoisting ropes (not illustrated) in the conventional manner.
The traction machine 15 is mounted on a machine frame 24, preferably made from steel, which is positioned within the pocket motor room 12 partially within the pocket motor room 12, the machine 15 also being secured to the exterior wall 14 of the pocket motor room 12 by bolting it to same.
The traction sheave 18 of the machine 15 is located wholly within the shaft 11 when installed as it is used to drive the ropes by its rotation, the ropes and therefore the sheave 18 being substantially close to the plane of the side wall 13 wall with the motor section 17 being located substantially within the pocket motor room 12. It is within the scope of the invention that the motor section can also be partially located within the walls of the shaft 11. The traction machine 16 is preferably located at the top portion of the pocket motor room 12 in order that there is access for maintenance and the like.
The arrangement or system 10 of the present invention provides the advantages that less space is required for the lift shaft as well as the machinery room as the geared motor which is installed can be accommodated in the pocket motor room and space within the shaft as described above. The type of geared motor with its traction sheave is suitable for use with
a wide variety of lift installation requirements over and above the possibilities of the prior art arrangements.
The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention, and modifications obvious to those skilled in the art can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.
For example, the dimensions of the pocket room 12 can vary according to particular requirements of the lift installation.