Patent Grant
11427442
This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-056581 filed Mar. 25, 2019, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to an anti-falling device for a door of an elevator configured to prevent the door from falling off a door rail.
Conventionally, an elevator is provided with the aforementioned anti-falling device.
For example, an anti-falling device disclosed in JP S59-044478 A is provided with a pair of metal rollers on a lower end side of a door hanger. The pair of rollers are aligned at a distance from each other in a direction in which the door opens and closes, and arranged to be held in contact with a lower end surface of the door rail.
In the elevator provided with the anti-falling device, each door slides while the pair of rollers are held in contact with the lower end surface of the door rail. This configuration prevents an end on a closing direction side of the door (i.e., an end of the door oriented in a direction of the closing operation) from lifting in, for example, opening operation of the door. According to JP S59-044478 A, the elevator provided with the aforementioned anti-falling device can thereby prevent the door from tilting in opening operation of the door.
There are some cases where the aforementioned conventional anti-falling device has the pair of rollers arranged downwardly away from the lower end surface of the door rail to eliminate the contact resistance between the door rail and the pair of rollers. In such cases, a clearance is formed in the vertical direction between the lower end surface of the door rail and each of the pair of rollers. With this configuration, either one of the pair of rollers collides with the lower end surface of the door rail when the door tilts in opening or closing operation. At this time, a problem occurs that abnormal noise is caused by the collision of the metal roller and the metal door rail.
In view of such circumstances, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an anti-falling device for a door of an elevator capable of reducing occurrence of abnormal noise.
An anti-falling device for a door of an elevator of the present invention includes: a door hanger that allows the door for opening and closing a car entrance to be slidably mounted on a door rail; a first roller made of a metal, provided on the door hanger, and arranged to face a lower end surface of the door rail; and a second roller provided on the door hanger, arranged to face the lower end surface of the door rail, and configured to be in elastic contact with the door rail, wherein the first roller is arranged to be away in a vertical direction from the lower end surface of the door rail by a distance, and wherein the second roller is arranged to be held in contact with the lower end surface of the door rail, or arranged to be away in the vertical direction from the lower end surface of the door rail by a distance smaller than the distance by which the first roller is away in the vertical direction from the lower end surface of the door rail.
In the anti-falling device for the door of the elevator of the present invention, the second roller may be arranged between the first roller and a center in an opening and closing direction of the door.
In the anti-falling device for the door of the elevator of the present invention, the configuration may be such that the elevator includes a pair of doors, the pair of doors are configured to slide in a direction toward and away from each other in an opening and closing operations, each of the pair of doors has the door hanger separately, and each of the door hangers provided respectively on the pair of doors have the first roller and the second roller.
The anti-falling device for the door of the elevator of the present invention may include a holding structure configured to press the door to suppress the door from tilting due to lifting up of an end on a closing direction side (i.e., a side oriented in a direction of the closing operation) of the door when the door is closed, wherein the elevator includes a pair of doors, the pair of doors are configured to slide in a direction toward and away from each other in an opening and closing operation, each of the pair of doors has the door hanger separately, the door hanger provided on one door of the pair of doors has the first roller and the second roller, and the door hanger provided on the other door of the pair of doors has the first roller and the holding structure.
In this case, the configuration may be such that the holding structure is constituted by an end retainer configured to prevent the other door from being displaced to an opening direction side (i.e., a side oriented in a direction of the opening operation) opposite to the closing direction side when the door is held closed, and the end retainer is configured to press, diagonally downward in a closing direction (i.e., a direction of the closing operation), a central portion in the opening and closing direction of the door, or a portion on the closing direction side of the door from the central portion.
Hereinafter, an anti-falling device for a door of an elevator according to an embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as anti-falling device) will be described with reference to the attached drawings. In this embodiment, a description will be given on a door apparatus including the anti-falling device configured to open and close a car entrance.
As shown in
The door apparatus according to this embodiment is a so-called center-opening door apparatus. The door apparatus according to this embodiment includes a pair of doors 2, but a door apparatus may include a plurality of pairs of doors 2.
The pair of doors 2 are slidable along the horizontal direction. In this embodiment, one of the pair of doors 2 is provided with a movable cam C.
In this embodiment, a description will be hereinafter given in which a direction corresponding to verticality is referred to as a vertical direction, a direction in which the door 2 slides in its opening and closing operation is referred to as an opening and closing direction, and a direction orthogonal to the vertical direction and the opening and closing direction is referred to as a back and forth direction. Further, a direction in which the door 2 slides in its closing operation is referred to particularly as a closing direction, and a direction in which the door 2 slides in its opening operation is referred to particularly as an opening direction.
The door 2 includes an end on the closing direction side (i.e., an end oriented in a direction of the closing operation), which is hereinafter referred to as closing side end, and an end on the opening direction side (i.e., an end oriented in a direction of the opening operation), which is hereinafter referred to as opening side end.
The door rail 3 is a member for guiding the doors 2 in the opening and closing direction. The door rail 3 is mounted so that its longitudinal direction corresponds to the opening and closing direction.
The door hanger 4 is mounted to each of the pair of doors 2. Each door hanger 4 is arranged above the corresponding door 2 and fixed thereto. The door hanger 4 is configured to be slidable along the door rail 3 while being hung on the door rail 3 (specifically, an upper end surface of the door rail 3). The door 2 can thereby slide along the horizontal direction (i.e., the opening and closing direction).
The door hanger 4 according to this embodiment includes a base 40 arranged above the door 2, a hanger roller 41 mounted to the base 40 and hung on the door rail 3, and a bracket 42 mounted to extend upward from the upper end of the door 2 and having a distal end to which the base 40 is fixed. In this embodiment, each door 2 is provided with two brackets 42 aligned at a distance from each other in the opening and closing direction.
The base 40 has a facing surface arranged to face the door rail 3.
The hanger roller 41 is mounted to the facing surface of the base 40, and rotatable about a hanger roller shaft 43 extending in a direction orthogonal to the facing surface, that is, a direction corresponding to the back and forth direction (see
Each door hanger 4 includes two hanger rollers 41. The two hanger rollers 41 are aligned at a distance from each other in a width direction of the base 40. More specifically, one of the two hanger rollers 41 is mounted to an end portion on the closing direction side of the door hanger 4. The other of the two hanger rollers 41 is mounted to an end portion on the opening direction side of the door hanger 4.
The end retainer 5 is mounted to the other door 2 out of the pair of doors 2. The end retainer 5 is configured to press and hold the other door 2 from above via the door hanger 4.
As shown in
The frame 50 is fixed to the door hanger 4 at three fixing positions (i.e., the positions of P1, P2, and P3 shown in
The pressing structure 51 includes an elongated lever 510 rotatably mounted to the frame 50 at a portion between both ends in the longitudinal direction of the lever 510, a lever biasing part 511 configured to downwardly bias one end portion in the longitudinal direction of the lever 510, and a pressing member 512 that presses down the other end portion in the longitudinal direction of the lever 510.
The lever 510 is rotatable about a lever shaft extending along the back and forth direction. The one end portion of the lever 510 is located on the closing direction side of the rotation center of the lever 510. The other end portion of the lever 510 is located on the opening direction side of the rotation center of the lever 510.
The lever biasing part 511 is configured to connect the frame 50 and the one end portion of the lever 510. Further, the lever biasing part 511 is configured to downwardly bias the one end portion of the lever 510 at a position displaced to the closing direction side from the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2.
The pressing member 512 is mounted to the plate P. The pressing member 512 includes: a closing side pressing part 512a pressing the other end portion of the lever 510 diagonally downward in the closing direction when the door 2 is closed; an intermediate pressing part 512b pressing the other end portion of the lever 510 in opening and closing operation of the door 2; and an opening side pressing part 512c pressing the other end portion of the lever 510 diagonally downward in the opening direction when the door 2 is open (see
The closing side pressing part 512a extends to the closing direction side from the intermediate pressing part 512b. The closing side pressing part 512a is inclined so that its distal end is located at a higher position than its proximal end continuous to the intermediate pressing part 512b. Thus, the other end portion of the lever 510 being held in contact with the closing side pressing part 512a is pressed diagonally downward in the closing direction by the closing side pressing part 512a.
The intermediate pressing part 512b extends straight along the opening and closing direction. The other end portion of the lever 510 being held in contact with the intermediate pressing part 512b is pressed downward by the intermediate pressing part 512b.
The opening side pressing part 512c extends to the opening direction side from the intermediate pressing part 512b. The opening side pressing part 512c is inclined so that its distal end is located at a higher position than its proximal end continuous to the intermediate pressing part 512b. Thus, the opening side pressing part 512c is configured to press the other end portion of the lever 510 diagonally downward in the opening direction.
In the pressing member 512 according to this embodiment, the closing side pressing part 512a, the intermediate pressing part 512b, and the opening side pressing part 512c are formed integrally with each other. The closing side pressing part 512a is continuous to an end in the longitudinal direction (i.e., an end on the closing direction side) of the intermediate pressing part 512b, and the opening side pressing part 512c is continuous to the other end in the longitudinal direction (i.e., the other end on the opening direction side) of the intermediate pressing part 512b.
As shown in
The first roller 60 and the second roller 61 are arranged on the facing surface of the door hanger 4. The first roller 60 and the second roller 61 are rotatable respectively about rotating shafts 600 and 610 both extending along a direction orthogonal to the facing surface of the door hanger 4 (that is, a direction corresponding to the back and forth direction).
As shown in
The second mounting part 81 is arranged at a position displaced in the back and forth direction on the door rail 3 side from the facing surface of the base 40, and has a leading end to which the second roller 61 is mounted.
The first mounting part 80 and the second mounting part 81 may each be formed of a metal panel. The first mounting part 80 and the second mounting part 81 can have flexibility by being formed thinly (for example, formed to have a thickness of about 2 mm). This configuration enables the first mounting part 80 and the second mounting part 81 to be deformed to allow the second roller 61 to be in elastic contact with the door rail 3 and thereby absorb (relieve) the force transmitted from the door 2 to the second roller 61. In the case where the first mounting part 80 and the second mounting part 81 are configured to be capable of absorbing the force transmitted to the second roller 61, the second roller 61 may be made of a metal.
As shown in
Thus, the hanger roller 41 is configured to face (be held in contact with) a top surface of the door rail 3 in the vertical direction, and the first roller 60 and the second roller 61 are configured to face (be held in contact with) a bottom surface of the door rail 3 in the vertical direction.
The second roller 61 may be made of, for example, a rubber or a urethane. The second roller 61 is preferably provided with a bearing. This configuration can suppress the increase in the torque required for the opening and closing operation of the door 2, even if the second roller 61 is held in contact with the lower end surface of the door rail 3 when the door 2 opens and closes.
As shown in
The connector 71 is formed to connect an end portion on the closing direction side of the door hanger 4 to the belt 70.
The configurations of the door apparatus provided with the anti-falling device 6 according to this embodiment have been described as above. When the closing door 2 swings in association with its acceleration or tilts (lifts) due to its collision with an obstruction, a push-up force is generated so that the door 2 pushes other members upward (i.e., to the door rail 3 side). The first roller 60 and the second roller 61 are pushed up to the door rail 3 side by the push-up force.
In the anti-falling device 6 of this embodiment, the second roller 61 is held in contact with the door rail 3, and thus reduces the swing of the door 2 that is being accelerated. This configuration prevents the door 2 from moving with the first roller 60 being in sliding contact with the door rail 3, and thereby prevents abnormal noise from being constantly generated in association with the swing of the door 2.
In the case where the second roller 61 is provided with a bearing, the resistance force generated due to the acceleration of the door 2 in the opening and closing operation (i.e., the resistance force generated between the lower end surface of the door rail 3 and the second roller 61) is reduced, and thus an increase in the torque required for opening and closing the door 2 can be suppressed.
Further, in the case where the second roller 61 constantly is held in contact with the lower end surface of the door rail 3 while causing no pressing force to act thereon or causing substantially no pressing force to act thereon, the increase in the torque for opening and closing the door 2 is further suppressed depending on the contacting state between the second roller 61 and the lower end surface of the door rail 3.
In the case where the door 2 collides with an obstruction and thereby tilts, the push-up force is absorbed (relieved) by elastic deformation of the second roller 61 (i.e., elastic deformation of the second roller 61 caused by being pressed against the door rail 3) to thereby prevent the first roller 60 from contacting the door rail 3 or to reduce the impact caused when the first roller 60 contacts the door rail 3. Thus, in the case where the door 2 collides with an obstruction, abnormal noise instantaneously generated by collision of the first roller 60 with the door rail 3 can be prevented or reduced.
If the first roller 60 is configured to be brought into contact with the door rail 3 after the second roller 61 contacts the door rail 3 but before the second roller 61 reaches its elastic limit, the first roller 60 can also receive the push-up force while the second roller 61 absorbs (relieves) the push-up force within a range where the second roller 61 can be elastically deformed. This configuration can prevent the second roller 61 from being damaged.
Such a configuration if employed suppresses the push-up force received by the first mounting part 80 and the second mounting part 82, and thus prevents the first mounting part 80 and the second mounting part 81 even if formed thinly from being subjected to damages such as permanent deformation or fatigue failure.
As described above, the anti-falling device 6 according to this embodiment can produce an excellent effect of reducing occurrence of abnormal noise by suppressing the collision of the metal first roller 60 with the door rail 3.
The second roller 61 is arranged at a position displaced to the closing direction side from the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2, and thereby suppresses the collision of the first roller 60 with the door rail 3 particularly at the time of opening the door 2. This configuration can reduce occurrence of abnormal noise.
In the case where the door 2 that is being accelerated for closing collides with an obstruction, the door 2 tilts so that the opening side end lifts upward relative to the closing side end. However, the second roller 61 is arranged between the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2 and the first roller 60 mounted at a position on the closing direction side, and is thus unlikely to be subjected to a force of the door 2 pushing other members to the door rail 3 side (push-up force). This configuration allows the second roller 61 to be less likely to be damaged.
In the case where the closing side end of the door 2 lifts due to the reaction when the opening side end lowers after it once lifts, the push-up force decreases and thus the second roller 61 is not subjected to a large push-up force.
The other door 2 when the car entrance is held closed has the closing side end pressed and held by the pressing structure 51 (holding structure 62) from above, and is thus suppressed from tilting (lifting) when the other door 2 begins opening. Thus, the other door 2 is also configured to allow the first roller 60 to hardly come close to the lower end surface of the door rail 3, and configured to be thereby capable of suppressing the first roller 60 from colliding with the lower end surface of the door rail 3.
In this embodiment, the pressing structure 51 is constituted by the end retainer 5; thus, the end retainer 5 configured to keep the door 2 closed can be used as the holding structure 61 for suppressing the other door 2 from tilting.
Further, the end retainer 5 is configured to press the door 2 only downward when the door 2 is in opening and closing operation, and thus does not disturb opening and closing operations of the door 2 through the pressing force.
It is a matter of course that the anti-falling device of the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment, but various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.
The aforementioned embodiment has been described by taking, for example, the case where the second roller 61 is arranged to be held in contact with the lower end surface of the door rail 3, without limitation thereto. For example, the second roller 61 may be arranged to be away in the vertical direction from the lower end surface of the door rail 3 by a distance and arranged to have such a distance smaller than the distance by which the first roller 60 is away in the vertical direction from the lower end surface of the door rail 3.
The aforementioned embodiment has been described by taking, for example, the case where the end retainer 5 applies the pressing force to the door hanger 4 at a position displaced to the closing direction side from the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2, without limitation thereto. For example, the end retainer 5 may be configured to apply the pressing force to the door hanger 4 at a position corresponding to the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2 and at a position displaced to the closing direction side from the center, or to apply the pressing force to the door hanger 4 only at the position corresponding to the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2.
As described above, in the case where the end retainer 5 is used as the holding structure 62, the end retainer 5 may be configured to apply the pressing force to the door hanger 4 at least one of the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2 and a position displaced to the closing direction side from the center. In this case, the end retainer 5 does not have to be configured to apply the pressing force to the door hanger 4 at a position displaced to the opening direction side from the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2.
The aforementioned embodiment has been described by taking, for example, the case where two fixing positions at which the end retainer 5 is fixed to the door hanger 4 are set in an area on the closing direction side with reference to and including the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2, without limitation thereto. For example, at least one fixing position at which the end retainer 5 is fixed to the door hanger 4 may be set in the area. Since the pressing force of the end retainer 5 is transmitted to the door hanger 4 at a fixing position, the end retainer 5 is capable of holding a portion on the closing direction side of the door hanger 4 from above as long as at least one fixing position is set in the area.
In the doors of this embodiment, the door hanger 4 mounted to the one door 2 out of the pair of doors 2 has the first roller 60 and the second roller 61 while the door hanger 4 mounted to the other door 2 out of the pair of doors 2 has only the first roller 60 out of the first roller 60 and the second roller 61.
The aforementioned embodiment has been described by taking, for example, the case where the door hanger 4 mounted to the other door 2 out of the pair of doors 2 has only the first roller 60 out of the first roller 60 and the second roller 61, without limitation thereto. For example, each door hanger 4 may have the first roller 60 and the second roller 61. In the case where the second roller 61 is mounted to the door hanger 4 fixed to the other door 2, the anti-falling device 6 does not have to include the holding structure 62.
In this case, as shown in, for example,
In the case where the other door 2 is provided with the movable cam C, for example the pressing structure 51 and the end retainer 5 may be configured independently of each other. Even in the case where the other door 2 is not provided with the movable cam C, it is still possible to configure the holding structure 62 and the end retainer 5 independently of each other.
As described above, even the so-called center-opening door 2 can be configured to suppress the first roller 60 from colliding with the door rail 3 when the door 2 is opening.
The aforementioned embodiment has been described by taking, for example, the case where the base 40 is fixed to the upper end of the door 2 via the brackets 42, without limitation thereto. For example, the base 40 may be directly fixed to the upper end of the door 2. That is, the base 40 may be directly or indirectly fixed to the upper end of the door 2.
Although not particularly mentioned, the door 2 in the aforementioned embodiment is more likely to be subjected to the force of pressing and holding a portion on the closing direction side of the door 2 in the case where the closing side pressing part 512a is arranged at a position displaced to the closing direction side from the center in the opening and closing direction of the door 2. This configuration allows the first roller 60 to hardly come close to the door rail 3.
1: Elevator
2: Door
3: Door rail
4: Door hanger
5: End retainer
6: Anti-falling device
7: Drive mechanism
40: Base
41: Hanger roller
42: Bracket
43: Hanger roller shaft
50: Frame
51: Pressing structure
60: First roller
61: Second roller
62: Holding structure
70: Belt
71: Connector
510: Lever
511: Lever biasing part
512: Pressing member
512
a: Closing side pressing part
512
b: Intermediate pressing part
512
c: Opening side pressing part
600, 610: Rotating shaft
C: Movable cam
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP2019-056581 | Mar 2019 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5494137 | Kowalczyk | Feb 1996 | A |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 110027973 | Jul 2019 | CN |
| 110054067 | Jul 2019 | CN |
| 1241309 | Sep 2002 | EP |
| 5944478 | Oct 1984 | JP |
| 08245144 | Sep 1996 | JP |
| WO-2008023435 | Feb 2008 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| English Machine Translation of WO 2008/023435. |
| English Machine Translation of EP 1241309. |
| Machine Translation of JPH 08-245144. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200307957 A1 | Oct 2020 | US |
