METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE MOVEMENT AND/OR THE POSITION OF AN ELEVATOR CAR
First Claim
1. A method for determining a movement and/or a position of an elevator car of an elevator system with a first monitoring unit for analyzing first signals of a first sensor device to obtain information about the movement and/or the position of the elevator car, and to detect any occurrence of faulty behavior of the elevator system, and to initiate corresponding safety measures, and with a second sensor device, which does not operate on the principle of the first sensor device, for registering a change of the movement state of the elevator car and emitting corresponding second signals to a second monitoring unit, which second monitoring unit analyzes the second signals and detects an occurrence of a change of the movement state of the elevator car, comprising the steps of:
- a. determining an instant of a change in the movement state of the elevator car with the second monitoring unit;
b. monitoring the occurrence of at least one of a first movement signal or a function signal generated by the first monitoring unit within at least one time-window that follows the instant of change; and
c. generating a first fault signal should the first movement signal or the function signal, which indicates coherent functioning of the first monitoring unit, not occur within the time-window.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining the movement and/or the position of an elevator car include a first monitoring unit for analyzing first signals of a first sensor device for obtaining information about the movement and/or the position of the elevator car, for detecting a possible faulty behavior of the elevator system, and for initiating corresponding safety measures. A second sensor device, which does not operate on the principle of the first sensor device, registers changes of the movement state of the elevator car and emits corresponding second signals to a second monitoring unit that analyzes the second signals and detects changes of the movement state of the elevator car. A fault signal is generated if the movement signals that are obtained from the first monitoring unit are incoherent with the changes of the movement state of the elevator car that are detected by the second monitoring unit.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for determining a movement and/or a position of an elevator car of an elevator system with a first monitoring unit for analyzing first signals of a first sensor device to obtain information about the movement and/or the position of the elevator car, and to detect any occurrence of faulty behavior of the elevator system, and to initiate corresponding safety measures, and with a second sensor device, which does not operate on the principle of the first sensor device, for registering a change of the movement state of the elevator car and emitting corresponding second signals to a second monitoring unit, which second monitoring unit analyzes the second signals and detects an occurrence of a change of the movement state of the elevator car, comprising the steps of:
-
a. determining an instant of a change in the movement state of the elevator car with the second monitoring unit; b. monitoring the occurrence of at least one of a first movement signal or a function signal generated by the first monitoring unit within at least one time-window that follows the instant of change; and c. generating a first fault signal should the first movement signal or the function signal, which indicates coherent functioning of the first monitoring unit, not occur within the time-window. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. An apparatus for determining a movement and/or a position of an elevator car of an elevator system comprising:
-
a first monitoring unit connected to a first sensor device for analyzing first signals from the first sensor device for obtaining information about the movement and/or position of the elevator car and for detecting a faulty behavior of the elevator system and initiating corresponding safety measures; a second monitoring unit connected to a second sensor device, which second sensor device does not operate on the principle of the first sensor device, the second sensor device registering changes of a movement state of the elevator car and generating corresponding second signals to the second monitoring unit for analyzing the second signals; a checking module connected to the first and second monitoring units for checking whether the movement signals that are determined by the first monitoring unit and the changes of the movement state of the elevator car that are detected by the second monitoring unit are mutually coherent, and in response to incoherence, generating a first fault signal; and a time basis connected to the first and second monitoring units for establishing a time-window during which the mutual coherence is checked by the checking module. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. An elevator system comprising:
-
an elevator car; a first monitoring unit connected to a first sensor device for analyzing first signals from the first sensor device for obtaining information about movement and/or position of the elevator car and for detecting a faulty behavior of the elevator system and initiating corresponding safety measures; a second monitoring unit connected to a second sensor device, which second sensor device does not operate on the principle of the first sensor device, the second sensor device registering changes of a movement state of the elevator car and generating corresponding second signals to the second monitoring unit for analyzing the second signals; a checking module connected to the first and second monitoring units for checking whether the movement signals that are determined by the first monitoring unit and the changes of the movement state of the elevator car that are detected by the second monitoring unit are mutually coherent, and in response to incoherence, generating a first fault signal; a time basis connected to the first and second monitoring units for establishing a time-window during which the mutual coherence is checked by the checking module; and at least one of a central control unit and a hoistway information system being connected to at least one of the first and second monitoring units for receiving at least one of position data and movement information of the elevator car.
-
Specification