Elevator – industrial lift truck – or stationary lift for vehicle – With call registration means – Shared by plural load supports
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-29
2004-03-23
Salata, Jonathan (Department: 2837)
Elevator, industrial lift truck, or stationary lift for vehicle
With call registration means
Shared by plural load supports
C187S247000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06708801
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to a control system for group controlled elevators. More specifically, the invention relates to a group controlled elevator control system for controlling the operation of a plurality of elevators when the elevators are running between a plurality of floors.
2. Description of The Prior Art
As a conventional control system for group controlled elevators, there is known a system in which platform call input/output units provided on the respective floors are connected directly to a group control system via transmission lines. When the group control system detects a registered platform call, the group control system outputs a platform call button lighting signal to the platform call input/output unit and outputs an assignment control signal to an operation control unit, to cause the elevators to respond to the registered platform call.
As another conventional control system for group controlled elevators, there is a system described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1997-151043.
FIG. 16
schematically shows this control system for group controlled elevators.
This conventional control system for group controlled elevators is used for controlling the operation of two elevators from the first floor to the n-th floor. Reference numbers
101
and
102
denote operation control units for controlling the respective elevators. Reference numbers
104
and
105
are platform control units which are provided on the respective floors from the first floor to the n-th floor, respectively. The platform control units
104
1
through
104
n
and
105
1
through
105
n
for the respective floors are connected to each other via a platform transmission relay unit
114
and a platform transmission line
116
. The platform control units
104
1
through
104
n
and
105
1
through
105
n
for the respective floors are provided with platform call buttons
108
a
through
108
na
, respectively. A platform data, such as a platform call signal, is transmitted to the platform transmission relay unit
114
via the platform transmission line
116
, and transmitted from the platform transmission relay unit
114
to a corresponding one of the control units
101
and
102
for the respective elevators via a corresponding one of transmission lines
117
and
118
for the respective elevators. A control data transmitted from the operation control unit
101
is transmitted from the transmission lines
117
and
118
for the respective elevators to the platform control units
104
1
through
104
n
and
105
1
through
105
n
for the respective floors via the platform transmission relay unit
114
and platform transmission line
116
.
A group control unit
110
is connected to the respective operation control units
101
and
102
via group control transmission lines
121
and
122
, respectively, and connected to the platform transmission relay unit
114
via a transmission line
115
. The platform transmission relay unit
114
includes a transmission protocol converter for converting one of protocols into the other protocol in order to adjust a transmission protocol between the respective operation control units
101
and
102
and the platform control units
104
1
through
104
n
and
105
1
through
105
n
for the respective floors. The transmission protocol converter is designed to connect platform call input/output units to the group control unit
110
via the platform transmission relay unit
114
and group control transmission lines
121
and
122
to convert one of transmission protocols into the other transmission protocol to control the registration and assignment of a platform call.
In such a group control system, even if the types of the platform control units
104
1
through
104
n
and
105
1
through
105
n
for the respective floors, which are connected to each other via a serial transmission part, are different or even if the transmission protocol is changed for maintenance, it is possible to surely correspond to the changed transmission protocol, and it is possible to improve the flexibility of platform apparatuses, so that it is possible to unify the platform apparatuses in the same system as well as between different systems.
However, in the above described conventional group controlled elevator control system, the transmission line for a platform call input/output, the transmission line for a lamp for informing of the arrival of an elevator and the assignment of a platform call, and the transmission line for the indication of the position of elevators must be wired in different systems, so that wiring works are large-scale and the term of works is long.
In addition, in order to change a plurality of one-car systems to a group control system during modification works, it is required to greatly change the systems, so that it costs a great deal and it takes a lot of time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to eliminate the aforementioned problems and to provide a control system for group controlled elevators capable of easily forming a reliable group control system by connecting platform call input/output units and operation control units on each floor to each other by means of a transmission line of one system every one-car system and by connecting the operation control units to a group control system by means of another transmission line.
In order to accomplish the aforementioned and other objects, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a group controlled elevator control system for controlling a plurality of elevators by assigning the optimum elevator to a registered platform call, said system comprising: a plurality of platform call input/output units, each of which controls the input/output of a platform call on each floor; a group control unit configured to assigning the optimum elevator to a platform call registered therein; a plurality of operation control units, each of which is provided in each of the elevators, configured to controlling the operation of a corresponding one of the elevators in response to at least an assignment control signal for said platform call; and a transmission line system configured to connecting said platform call input/output units, said operation control units and said group control system to each other, said transmission lime system connecting at least said platform call input/output units and operation control units each other by everyone of said elevators, and all of said operation control units being connected to said group control unit via said transmission line, so that said platform call input/output units are disconnected from said group control unit.
According to the above described group controlled elevator control system, since the platform call is transmitted to the group control unit via the transmission line for connecting the operation control unit to the platform call input/output unit, it is not required to provide a transmission line for connecting the group control system directly to the platform call input/output unit, so that it is possible to easily provide a group control system by combining a plurality of elevators of a one-car construction.
Preferably, said each of operation control units serves for group control means for transmitting signals each other and assigning the optimum elevator to a registered platform call, so that the distributed control system is constructed in place of the group control unit.
The group control system may comprise: means configured to deciding permission to register said platform call on the basis of predetermined information concerning such as non-stopping floor information; and a transmission unit configured to periodically transmitting a decided platform call registration permission signal to all of said operation control units, and each of said operation control units comprises: a transmission unit configured to receiving said platform call signal, which is inputted to said platform input unit provided on each floor, via said transmission
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Salata Jonathan
Toshiba Elevator Kabushiki Kaisha
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