Elevator – industrial lift truck – or stationary lift for vehicle – With monitoring – signalling – and indicating means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-13
2001-11-27
Salata, Jonathan (Department: 2837)
Elevator, industrial lift truck, or stationary lift for vehicle
With monitoring, signalling, and indicating means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06321876
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a control operation system for an elevator that detects a flood in a pit of an elevator, performs operation control to cope with the flood, and provides display and information regarding the flood.
BACKGROUND ART
There techniques many conventional arts for detecting a flood and performing control operation of an elevator. Some of them are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 53-36274, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60-213673, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-89269, all of which disclose arts wherein a flood is detected and an evacuation operation or a suspension of elevator is operation. In all these techniques, however, floods are detected in the same manner, so that no operation based on flood speed is performed.
A flood detector is provided, and if the flood detector is actuated, then the elevator travels to a floor free of a danger of a flood, and services of car calls or hall calls are prohibited thereafter. The operation of the elevator is suspended at the evacuation floor. In addition, the occurrence of the flood is displayed and reported in a car, at halls, a manager's room, etc.
The conventional elevator control operation system is configured as described above, and therefore cannot perform an operation based on a flood speed, e.g., sudden flooding or slow flooding. Hence, in case of a sudden flood, which should require a sudden stop of the elevator, the same evacuation operation, posing a problem in that important equipment for safety of the elevator is flooded while the elevator is running, leading to a failure of assuring passengers in a car of safety. There has been another problem in that, in case of slow flooding that should not require a evacuation operation, the same evacuation operation is performed, so that subsequent elevator operation is interrupted and the elevator as a vertical transportation in a building is paralyzed, causing inconvenience to users of the elevator.
Hitherto, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-209180, there has been proposed an elevator control operation system that issues an alarm upon detection of water leakage into a car.
A water leakage detector is provided on the car, and an alarm means that issues an alarm in response to a signal of the detector and a means for controlling the operation of the elevator are provided.
Since the conventional elevator control operation systems are constructed as set forth above, they have been able to detect only presence of a flood. Hence, there has been a problem in that an elevator is already unusable by the time an alarm is issued.
There has been another problem in that users suddenly find that an elevator is unavailable, and progress of recovery from a flooded state is unclear, causing inconvenience to passengers.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The present invention has been made with a view toward solving the problems described above, and it is an object of the invention to provide a control operation system for an elevator that measures flood speed and provides a flood control operation best suited for the flood speed. It is another object of the invention to provide a control operation system for an elevator that performs a backup flood control operation to provide against an emergency.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a control operation system for an elevator that comprehends a flood state, and displays and reports it to inform a manager or the like of an increase or decrease in flood water so as to permit an action appropriate for the flood state to be taken, and also to provide passengers with a prior notice regarding predicted recovery of the elevator following the flood, thus achieving a more friendly elevator.
A control operation system for an elevator in accordance with the present invention includes a flood detector for detecting a flood amount in a hoistway of an elevator; flood speed computing means for determining a flood speed based on a detection value of the flood detector; and flood control operation command means for setting an elevator flood control operation mode based on the flood speed computed by the flood speed computing means and issuing a command to t e elevator. This arrangement makes it possible to detect and compute an increase in a water level in the hoistway in terms of flood speed, enabling a flood control operation to be carried out at an optimum timing. In other words, it is possible to implement a control operation method in which, for example, an elevator is brought to an emergency stop if a water level suddenly rises, while the elevator transports passengers to a target floor without confining the passengers in a car, then travels to a evacuation floor if the water level slowly rises, rather than starting the same control operation.
The elevator control operation system is further provided with flood predicting means for predicting a future development of a flood based on at least one of a flood amount detected by the flood detector and a flood speed computed by the flood speed computing means, wherein the flood control operation command means sets a flood control operation method according to a predicting result of the flood predicting means. With this arrangement, predicting, for example, a timing at which an operation should be stopped makes it easier to determine an operation method of the elevator until that moment, thus making it possible to perform a flood control operation at a better timing by a most suited method.
The elevator control operation system is further provided with: display information generating means for editing at least one of the flood amount detected by the flood detector, the flood speed computed by the flood speed computing means, and the future flood development predicted by the flood predicting means into a display format; and a flood display unit for displaying information edited and formed by the display information generating means. This arrangement allows a flood situation to be reported to a user or a manager of an elevator, thus alleviating insecurity of the user by informing the user of a reason for a flood control operation, which is different from a regular operation, and also enabling the manager to take a quick, appropriate action.
The flood display unit displays an estimated time for the flood amount to reach a predetermined water level from the moment a flood in the hoistway is detected. With this arrangement, a time at which the operation is stopped is displayed and reported by the flood display unit, making it possible to furnish a user or a manager with information that permits a future development to be predicted. Hence, the user can know a reason for a suspended use of the elevator, so that the user can understand the operation of the elevator that is different from the regular operation.
If a flood speed for a flood amount in a hoistway to reach a predetermined water level is a first predetermined speed or more, then the flood control operation command means immediately stops an elevator. With this arrangement, if, for example, a predetermined water level makes it difficult to continue operating the elevator and if the time for reaching that situation is shorter than a time required for the elevator to continue normal running until it reaches a nearest floor and stops there, then the elevator is immediately stopped. The elevator is stopped at least before the predetermined water level is reached, making it possible to prevent an operational abnormal situation from taking place.
If the flood speed for the flood amount in the hoistway to reach the predetermined water level is lower than the first predetermined speed but a second predetermined speed or more, then the flood control operation command means causes the elevator to stop at a nearest floor. With this arrangement, if, for example, a predetermined water level makes it difficult to continue operating the elevator and if the time for reaching that situation is longer than a time required for the elevator
Kawai Kiyoji
Miyajima Akihisa
Leydig , Voit & Mayer, Ltd.
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
Salata Jonathan
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