Device for managing and controlling operation of elevator

• US 6,553,269 B1
• Filed: 08/11/1999
• Issued: 04/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Hikita, Shiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): RODRIGUEZ, PAUL L
• Application Number:
  US09/297,747
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 340/933, 340/938, 187/247, 187/383, 187/382, 187/391, 187/392, 701/117, 701/118, 700/9, 700/28, 700/47, 700/48, 700/228, 700/229, 700/99, 700/100, 700/90
• US Class Current: 700/48
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/2408 where the allocation of a call to an elevator car is of importance, i.e. by means of a supervisory or group controller
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/2458 For elevator systems with multiple shafts and a single car per shaft
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/222 Taking into account the number of passengers present in the elevator car to be allocated
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/403 by real-time traffic data

Abstract

An elevator operation management and control system includes a traffic data collecting section for collecting traffic data for finding a traffic amount, a traffic amount calculating section for calculating the traffic amount based on the traffic data collected by the traffic data collecting section, a traffic flow calculating section for calculating an estimated traffic flow of the elevator users moving between floors based on the traffic amount calculated by the traffic amount calculating section, a control parameter setting section for setting control parameters for controlling operations of the elevators based on the estimated traffic flow calculated by the traffic flow calculating section and an operation control section for controlling the operations of the elevators based on the control parameters set by the control parameter setting section, eliminating the need for preparing and storing combinations of a large number of traffic flow patterns and traffic amounts obtained from the traffic flow patterns in advance.

Claims

1. An elevator operation management and control system controlling elevators and comprising:

a traffic data collecting section for collecting traffic data concerning elevator users of at least one elevator;

a traffic amount data calculating section, responsive to said traffic data collecting section, for calculating traffic amount data from the traffic data collected by said traffic data collecting section, the traffic amount data designating number of the elevator users in the at least one elevator at each floor and traveling in each direction at each floor;

a traffic flow estimating section, responsive to said traffic amount data calculating section, for calculating an estimated traffic flow of elevator users who move between respective floors via the at least one elevator, based on the traffic amount data calculated by said traffic amount data calculating section, said traffic flow estimating section including a neural network having an input side to which the traffic amount data is supplied and an output side at which the estimated traffic flow is obtained;

a control parameter setting section, responsive to said traffic amount data calculating section and said traffic flow estimating section, for setting control parameters for controlling operation of the at least one elevator, based on the estimated traffic flow and the traffic amount data;

an operation control section, responsive to said control parameter setting section, for controlling operation of the at least one elevator, based on the control parameter setting section;

a teacher data creating section for creating teacher data for learning by said neural network, based on the traffic amount data and traffic flow data, wherein the traffic flow data is determined for each movement of the at least one elevator for each direction of movement, without reversing the direction of movement of the at least one elevator, by counting, for each floor at which the at least one elevator stops, each movement of elevator users between pairs of floors that can be determined, and by equally distributing elevator user movements to pairs of floors at which the at least one elevator stops for movements of elevator users between particular pairs of floors cannot be determined; and

an estimating function constructing section, responsive to said teacher data creating section, for constructing a function for calculation of the estimated traffic flow by said traffic flow estimating section, the function being supplied to said traffic flow estimating section, for the learning by said neural network, based on the teacher data created by said teacher data creating section.

2. The elevator operation management and control system as recited in claim 1, wherein said estimating function constructing section constructs a function based on a sum of squares of errors of respective elements of the traffic flow data of the teacher data and the estimated traffic flow calculated by said traffic flow estimating section, based on the traffic amount data, as an index of precision of the estimated traffic flow.

3. The elevator operation management and control system as recited in claim 2, wherein said teacher data creating section creates the teacher data based on the traffic data collected by said traffic data collecting section in a time period.

4. The elevator operation management and control system as recited in claim 2, wherein said traffic flow estimating section calculates the estimated traffic flow as a rate of traffic of elevator users who move between target floors.

5. The elevator operation management and control system as recited in claim 3, wherein said traffic flow calculating section calculates the estimated traffic flow as a rate of traffic of elevator users who move between target floors.

6. The elevator operation management and control system as recited in claim 1, wherein said teacher data creating section creates the teacher data based on the traffic data collected by said traffic data collecting section in a time period.

7. The elevator operation management and control system as recited in claim 6, wherein said traffic flow calculating section calculates the estimated traffic flow as a rate of traffic of elevator users who move between target floors.

8. The elevator operation management and control system as recited in claim 1, wherein said traffic flow estimating section calculates the estimated traffic flow as a rate of traffic of elevator users who move between target floors.

9. The elevator operation and control system as recited in claim 1 wherein said operation control section implements operation control as group management control.