Elevator system

• US 20080185234A1
• Filed: 04/04/2008
• Published: 08/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kone Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kone Corporation
• Inventors: HARKONEN, Ari
• Granted Patent: US 7,540,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 187/290
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/302 for energy saving

Abstract

In the invention an elevator system (24) and a method for controlling elevators in the elevator system are presented. The elevator system (24) is connected to the electricity distribution network (4) of the building, which can further be connected either to the public electricity distribution network (7) or to a reserve power appliance (2). The elevator system (24) comprises at least one elevator (8), an elevator control system (34), an elevator motor (28), and a frequency converter (26) fitted to supply the elevator motor (28). The elevator system can be used both when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to the public electricity distribution network (7) and when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to a reserve power appliance (2), and the elevator system (24) comprises means for controlling the elevator (8) such that when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to a reserve power system (2) the power supplied by the elevator system (24) towards the electricity network does not exceed the power limit P_a that can be set for it.

Claims

1. Elevator system (24), which elevator system (24) is connected to the electricity distribution network (4) of the building, which can further be connected either to the public electricity distribution network (7) or to a reserve power appliance (2), and which elevator system (24) comprises at least one elevator (8), an elevator control system (34), an elevator motor (28), a frequency converter (26) fitted to supply the elevator motor (28), and which elevator system (24) can be used both when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to the public electricity distribution network (7) and when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to a reserve power appliance (2), characterized in that the elevator system (24) comprises means for controlling the elevators (8) such that when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to the reserve power appliance (2) the power supplied by the elevator system (24) towards the electricity network does not exceed the power limit P_a that can be set for it

2. Elevator system (24) according to claim 1, characterized in that the elevator system does not supply power to the internal electricity network (4) of the building.

3. Elevator system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the elevator system (24) comprises means for controlling at least one motor (28) such that the electrical power generated by the elevator motor (28) is smaller than the power limit P_r that can be set for the generated electrical power.

4. Elevator system according to claim 1, characterized in that the frequency converter (26) fitted to supply the elevator motor (28) comprises two controllable rectifier units (31, 32) and a direct-voltage intermediate circuit (33) between them, and for which intermediate circuit (33) no means are arranged for consuming the electrical power generated by the motor.

5. Elevator system according to claim 1, characterized in that the power limit P_a and/or P_r is set to correspond to the power consumption of the auxiliary devices (10,12) and of the control system (34).

6. Elevator system according to claim 1, characterized in that the system further comprises means for monitoring the status of the electricity network of the building and for specifying the power limit P_a and/or P_r.

7. Method for controlling elevators (8) in an elevator system (24), which elevator system (24) is connected to the electricity distribution network (4) of the building, which can be further connected to the public electricity distribution network (7) or to a reserve power appliance (2), and which elevator system (24) comprises at least one elevator (8), an elevator motor (28), a frequency converter (26) fitted to supply the elevator motor (28) and an elevator control system (34), and which elevator system (24) can be used both when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to the public electricity distribution network (7) and when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to a reserve power appliance (2), characterized in that the elevators (8) are controlled such that when the electricity network (4) of the building is connected to a reserve power system (2) the power supplied by the elevator system (24) towards the electricity network (4) of the building is smaller than the power limit P_a that can be set for it.

8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the speed of at least one elevator motor (28) is controlled to be such that the electrical power generated by the elevator motor (28) is smaller than the power limit P_r that can be set for the power generated.

9. Method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the method further comprises the phases:

The power required by the auxiliary devices of the elevator is specified

The power required by the control system of the elevator is specified

10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that the method further comprises the phase:

The power limit P_a and/or P_r is set to correspond to the power required by the auxiliary devices and the control system of the elevator.