Lighting coupled to elevator system

• US 8,528,701 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2008
• Issued: 09/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, Inventio AG (Schindler Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, Inventio AG (Schindler Holding AG)
• Inventors: Schwarzentruber, Josef
• Primary Examiner(s): SALATA, ANTHONY J
• Application Number:
  US12/990,063
• Publication Number:
  US 20110048862A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,961 Days
• Field of Search: 187/247, 187/248, 187/380, 187/382, 187/384, 187391-393, 187/396, 704/270, 704/273, 704/275, 340 51- 533, 340/5.61, 340/5.8, 340/5.81, 315/307, 362/146, 362/147, 362/276, 362/802
• US Class Current: 187/384
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/14 with devices, e.g. push-buttons, for indirect control of movements
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/3492 Position or motion detectors or driving means for the detector B66B1/40, B66B1/50 take precedence; length measuring G01B; speed measuring G01P
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/468 Call registering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4615 Wherein the destination is registered before boarding
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4638 Wherein the call is registered without making physical contact with the elevator system
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4676 for checking authorization of the passengers

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and an elevator system in a building including a plurality of floor levels (1, 1′, 1″), at least one elevator door (3, 3′, 3″) and at least one building door (4, 4′, 4″, 5, 5′, 5″) and at least one elevator control (10) which controls at least one elevator drive (11) to move at least one elevator car (8), wherein an opening and/or closing of a building door (4, 4′, 4″, 5, 5′, 5″) causes at least one starting door signal (S1) to be generated and at least one elevator car (8) is ascertained for the starting door signal (S1).

Claims

1. A method of conveying passengers in a building comprising a plurality of floor levels, at least one elevator door, at least one building door and an elevator control which controls an elevator drive to move an elevator car, wherein an opening and/or closing of the at least one building door causes a starting door signal to be generated, comprising the steps of:

defining in response to the starting door signal the at least one building door as a starting building door and a floor level of the at least one building door as a starting floor level; and

defining an elevator door of the elevator car on the starting floor level as a starting elevator door;

ascertaining a deactivated electric lighting unit on a route from the starting building door to the starting elevator door;

generating a switch-on signal for the starting door signal;

transmitting the switch-on signal to the deactivated electric lighting unit on the starting level floor; and

activating the deactivated electric lighting unit in response to the transmitted switch-on signal.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the deactivated electric lighting unit is disposed at a shortest distance along the route to the starting building door and is firstly activated by the transmitted switch-on signal, and another deactivated electric lighting unit disposed at a greatest distance along the route from the starting building door is lastly activated by another transmitted switch-on signal.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the deactivated electric lighting unit is activated taking into consideration a lighting-specific activation time.

4. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:

generating a starting request signal for the starting door signal;

transmitting the starting request signal to the elevator control;

moving the elevator car to the starting floor level in response to the starting request signal;

as soon as the elevator car arrives at the starting floor level, opening the starting elevator door taking into account a freely definable route time of a passenger from the starting building door to the starting elevator door;

generating another switch-on signal for the starting door signal;

transmitting the another switch-on signal to a deactivated electric lighting unit in the elevator car; and

at the latest as soon as the elevator car has arrived at the starting floor level, activating the deactivated electric lighting unit of the elevator car by the transmitted another switch-on signal.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein by opening and/or closing the starting elevator door a starting elevator door signal is generated, in response to the starting elevator door signal a switch-off signal is generated, the switch-off signal is transmitted to the activated electric lighting unit on the starting floor level and the activated electric lighting unit is deactivated by the transmitted switch-off signal.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein the activated electric lighting unit is disposed at a shortest distance along the route to the starting building door and is first deactivated by the transmitted switch-off signal, and an activated electric lighting unit disposed at a greatest distance from the starting building door is lastly deactivated by a transmitted another switch-off signal.

7. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:

for the starting door signal generating a destination request signal and in response to the destination request signal defining one of the floor levels as a destination floor level;

defining an elevator door of the elevator car on the destination floor level as a destination elevator door;

defining a building door on the destination floor level by the destination signal as a destination building door, and ascertaining at least one electric lighting unit on a route from the destination elevator door to the destination building door;

transmitting the destination request signal to the elevator control;

moving the elevator car in response to the transmitted destination request signal to the destination floor level; and

opening the destination elevator door and transmitting another switch-on signal to activate the electric lighting unit on the destination floor level.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein by opening and/or closing the destination building door a destination door signal is generated, in response to the destination door signal a switch-off signal is transmitted to the activated electric lighting unit on the destination floor level, and deactivating the activated electric lighting unit on the destination floor level in response to the transmitted switch-off signal.

9. The method according to claim 7 wherein as soon as at least one passenger has left the elevator car the opened destination elevator door is closed, as soon as there is no longer a passenger in the elevator car a switch-off signal is transmitted to an activated electric lighting unit of the elevator car, and the activated electric lighting unit of the elevator car is deactivated by the transmitted switch-off signal.

10. An elevator system for implementing the method according to claim 1 comprising:

the starting building door having a door sensor, the door sensor detecting opening and/or closing of the starting building door, the door sensor generating the starting door signal when there is detected that the starting building door is opened and/or closed;

the door sensor transmitting the starting door signal to a control device and in response to the starting door signal the control device defining the at least one building door as the starting building door and the floor level of the at least one building door as the starting floor level;

the control device defining the elevator door of the elevator car on the starting floor level as the starting elevator door;

the control device ascertaining the deactivated electric lighting unit on the route from the starting building door to the starting elevator door;

the control device generating the switch-on signal for the starting door signal;

the control device transmitting the switch-on signal to the deactivated electric lighting unit on the starting floor level; and

the transmitted switch-on signal activating the deactivated electric lighting unit.

11. The elevator system according to claim 10 further comprising:

the control device generates a starting request signal for the starting door signal;

the control device transmits the starting request signal to the elevator control;

the transmitted starting request signal activates the elevator control to control the elevator drive;

the elevator drive is controlled by the elevator control to move the elevator car to the starting floor level;

an elevator sensor detects that the elevator car has moved from the starting floor level;

the elevator sensor transmits an elevator car signal to the elevator control if the elevator sensor detects that the elevator car has moved from the starting floor level;

the transmitted elevator car signal activates the elevator control to control a door mechanism;

the transmitted elevator car signal activates the elevator control to generate another switch-on signal;

the elevator control transmits the another switch-on signal to a deactivated electric lighting unit of the elevator car; and

the transmitted another switch-on signal activates the deactivated electric lighting unit of the elevator car.

12. The elevator system according to claim 11 further comprising:

an elevator car door sensor detects the opening and/or closing of the starting elevator door;

the elevator car door sensor transmits a starting elevator door signal to the elevator control in response to detection of an opening and/or closing of the starting elevator door;

the elevator control transmits the transmitted starting elevator door signal to the control device;

the transmitted starting elevator door signal activates the control device to generate a switch-off signal;

the control device transmits the switch-off signal to the activated electric lighting unit on the starting floor level; and

the transmitted switch-off signal deactivates the activated electric lighting unit on the starting floor level.

13. The elevator system according to claim 11 further comprising:

the control device generates a destination request signal for the transmitted starting door signal or a passenger generates a destination request which is transmitted to the control device and in response to which the control device generates the destination request signal, the destination request signal defining one of the floor levels as a destination floor level;

the control device defining an elevator door of the elevator car on the destination floor level as a destination elevator door;

the control device generating a destination signal which defines a building door of the destination floor level as a destination building door; and

the control device ascertaining and activating an electric lighting unit on a route from the destination elevator door to the destination building door.

14. The elevator system according to claim 13 further comprising:

the control device transmitting the destination request signal to the elevator control;

the transmitted destination request signal activating the elevator control to control the elevator drive;

the elevator drive controlled by the elevator control moving the elevator car to the destination floor level;

an elevator sensor detecting that the elevator car has arrived at the destination floor level;

the elevator sensor transmitting the elevator car signal to the elevator control in response to detecting that the elevator car has arrived at the destination floor level;

the elevator control transmitting the transmitted elevator car signal to the control device;

the control device generating another switch-on signal for the transmitted elevator car signal;

the control device transmitting the another switch-on signal to the deactivated electric lighting unit on the destination floor level; and

the transmitted another switch-on signal activating the deactivated electric lighting unit on the destination floor level.

15. The elevator system according to claim 13 wherein the destination building door has a door sensor that detects the opening and/or closing of the destination building door, and the door sensor transmits a destination door signal to the control device if it is detected that the destination building door has been opened and/or closed.

16. The elevator system according to claim 15 wherein the control device generates for the transmitted destination door signal a switch-off signal, the control device transmits the switch-off signal to the activated electric lighting unit on the destination floor level, and the transmitted switch-off signal deactivates the activated electric lighting unit on the destination floor level.

17. The elevator system according to claim 10 wherein an elevator car sensor detects an absence of passengers in the elevator car, the elevator car sensor transmits an elevator car usage signal to the elevator control if in response to detecting that there are no passengers in the elevator car, the transmitted elevator car usage signal activating the elevator control to generate a switch-off signal, the elevator control transmitting the switch-off signal to an activated electric lighting unit of the elevator car, and the transmitted switch-off signal deactivating the activated electric lighting unit of the elevator car.

18. A computer program product comprising at least one computer program means for performing the steps of the method for conveying passengers according to claim 1, at least one of the method steps being performed if the computer program means is loaded into a processor of a control device of an elevator system.

19. A method for retrofitting an existing elevator system to an elevator system according to claim 10 including the steps of:

the at least one building door is provided with a door sensor;

a control device is installed; and

the door sensor, the control device and the elevator control are connected to each other via a network.

20. A building door for use in the elevator system according to claim 10 as the at least one building door including a door sensor is integrated in the building door and/or attached to the building in proximity to the building door, wherein the door sensor generates at least one of a starting door signal and a destination door signal that is transmitted via at least one of a radio network and a fixed network to at least one of the control device and the elevator control.