Patent Application
20200095096
The present invention relates to an elevator renewal construction method for replacing an existing elevator with a new elevator and to an elevator control panel to be used for renewal of an elevator.
In order to cope with aging degradation of a device or to improve performance such as energy saving performance, elevator renewal for replacing an existing elevator with a new elevator is performed. During an elevator renewal construction period, an operation of the elevator is required to be continuously suspended for a long period of time.
Thus, for example, especially in a condominium or a hospital with a large number of elderly people, a long elevator out-of-service period has been a major obstacle to the renewal. Accordingly, in the renewal of the elevator, a continuous elevator out-of-service period is required to be shortened as much as possible in view of convenience of a user.
In order to shorten the continuous elevator out-of-service period, there is proposed an elevator controller including a new transmission control unit and a new/old transmission conversion unit. The new transmission control unit uses a new serial transmission system different from an old serial transmission system at least in data transmission speed. The new/old transmission conversion unit includes a new transmission control CPU, an old transmission control CPU, and a dual-port memory. The new transmission control CPU is connected to the new transmission control unit. The old transmission control CPU is connected to an old transmission control unit of the old serial transmission system, which is provided on a hall side. The dual-port memory is connected to both of the new transmission control CPU and the old transmission control CPU. The dual-port memory stores data of the old serial transmission system, which is transmitted from an old transmission conversion unit provided on the hall side, via the old transmission control CPU and retains the thus stored data so that the stored data is accessible from the new transmission control unit via the new transmission control CPU. Meanwhile, the dual-port memory stores data of the new serial transmission system, which is transmitted from the new transmission control unit, via the new transmission control CPU and retains the thus stored data so that the stored data is accessible from the old transmission control unit provided on the hall side via the old transmission control CPU (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
[PTL 1] JP 5851263 B2
In the elevator renewal construction method using the elevator controller, which is described in Patent Literature 1, however, time required for renewal of an elevator control panel is shortened with continuous use of components used in an existing elevator without replacement thereof. Thus, there is a problem in that the above-mentioned elevator renewal construction method does not contribute to the shortening of the continuous elevator out-of-service period in the elevator renewal for replacing the existing elevator with the new elevator.
Further, in the elevator controller described in Patent Literature 1, the elevator control panel is required to include the new transmission control CPU, the old transmission control CPU, and the dual-port memory so that the elevator controller converts transmission signals to be transmitted in the different transmission systems and retains the converted transmission signals. Hence, there are problems in that a configuration becomes complex and that cost increases.
The present invention has been made to solve the problems described above, and has an object to provide an elevator renewal construction method, with which a continuous elevator out-of-service period in an elevator renewal construction period can be shortened, and an elevator control panel having a simple configuration, with which cost can be reduced.
The elevator renewal construction method according to one embodiment of the present invention, for renewing at least one device in an existing elevator, includes the steps of: dividing a process of renewal construction work into a series of divided construction work steps, each being determined as such a unit that the elevator operation becomes normally possible after finishing of each of the divided construction work steps; and executing the renewal construction work in accordance with the series of divided construction work steps, in which one of the series of the divided construction work steps includes the steps of: replacing an old control panel of the existing elevator with a new control panel; connecting an old cable for an old car device, which has connected the old car device and the old control panel of the existing elevator to each other, to a communication conversion unit, which is provided in the new control panel, and is configured to mutually convert a communication method between an old communication system for the old control panel and a new communication system for the new control panel, which has a higher communication speed than a communication speed of the old communication system to enable transmission and reception of a larger capacity of data; and converting a new serial communication system to an old serial communication system by the new control panel via the communication conversion unit and the old cable to control the old car device through the old serial communication system.
The elevator control panel according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an elevator control unit configured to control a car device and a hall device of an elevator through the new communication system having the higher communication speed than the communication speed of the old communication system to enable the transmission and the reception of the larger capacity of data, and the communication conversion unit, which is connected to the elevator control unit, and is configured to mutually convert the communication system between the old communication system and the new communication system, in which the communication conversion unit includes one CPU and one memory and is provided so as to be removable from the elevator control panel.
The elevator renewal construction method according to one embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of: dividing a process of renewal construction work into a series of divided construction work steps, each being determined as such a unit that the elevator operation becomes normally possible after finishing of each of the divided construction work steps; and executing the renewal construction work in accordance with the series of divided construction work steps, in which one of the series of the divided construction work steps includes the steps of: replacing an old control panel of the existing elevator with a new control panel; connecting an old cable for an old car device, which has connected the old car device and the old control panel of the existing elevator to each other, to a communication conversion unit, which is provided in the new control panel, and is configured to mutually convert a communication method between an old communication system for the old control panel and a new communication system for the new control panel, which has a higher communication speed than a communication speed of the old communication system to enable transmission and reception of a larger capacity of data; and converting a new serial communication system to an old serial communication system by the new control panel via the communication conversion unit and the old cable to control the old car device through the old serial communication system.
Moreover, the elevator control panel according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an elevator control unit configured to control a car device and a hall device of an elevator through the new communication system having the higher communication speed than the communication speed of the old communication system to enable the transmission and the reception of the larger capacity of data, and the communication conversion unit, which is connected to the elevator control unit, and is configured to mutually convert the communication system between the old communication system and the new communication system, in which the communication conversion unit includes one CPU and one memory and is provided so as to be removable from the elevator control panel.
Thus, the elevator renewal construction method, with which the elevator can be used even during the elevator renewal construction period so that the continuous elevator out-of-service period in the elevator renewal construction period is shortened, and the elevator control panel having the simple configuration, with which the cost can be reduced, can be obtained.
A description is now given of an elevator renewal construction method and an elevator control panel to be used for renewal of an elevator according to preferred embodiments of the present invention referring to the accompanying drawings, and throughout the drawings, like or corresponding components are denoted by like reference symbols to describe those components. The elevator control panel is hereinafter simply referred to also as “control panel”.
In this case, the “car device” denotes a device provided to and around the car, such as the door driving device 11, the car operating panel 12, and the on-car station 18. The “hall device” denotes a device provided at and around the hall, such as the hall operating panel 14. A “hoistway device” denotes, for example, the terminal slowdown switch 10 and a hoistway cable not shown in
In the first embodiment of the present invention, in order to shorten a continuous elevator out-of-service period in an elevator renewal construction period, renewal construction work is divided into a plurality of divided construction work steps. At the same time, there is developed the elevator control panel capable of controlling, for example, both of a new hoisting machine and an old hoisting machine so that the elevator is available after completion of each of the divided construction work steps.
Specifically, the shortening of the continuous elevator out-of-service period in the elevator renewal construction period presupposes the availability of the elevator at the time of completion of each of the divided construction work steps of the renewal construction work. For example, in a condominium, the elevator is required to be available in morning and night hours in which a large number of users use the elevator for, for example, commuting to and from work and school. In a restaurant tenant building, the elevator is required to be available in evening and night business hours.
Thus, work time that can be ensured for one day is set. Based on a result of analysis of details of work and time required for each part of work, the details of work, which can be completed within the time, are set for each of the divided construction work steps. The details of renewal and main devices to be replaced in the divided construction work steps are shown in
More specifically, after a series of the divided construction work steps of replacing old devices with new devices are organized into groups, between which an elevator available time period is set, the renewal construction work is carried out. Further, the elevator available time period is determined in accordance with a frequency of activation of the elevator before the renewal and a purpose of use of a building. Further, the renewal construction work is carried out after the divided construction work steps are organized into the divided construction work step groups, each of which is completed in the least work time ensured for one day and after which the elevator is available. Specifically, a normal operation mode and an installation work mode are set. Each time the divided construction work step is completed, the installation work mode is switched to the normal operation mode to bring the elevator into a service available state so as to perform a normal operation for providing elevator service to a passenger.
Subsequently, with reference to
In
For the elevator device, in a divided construction work step 1 shown in
The reason why the elevator control panel is first replaced in the divided construction work step 1 is as follows. When the hall device or the car device is first replaced, exchange of information with the replaced device increases. Thus, it becomes difficult to deal with the exchange of the information with the existing elevator control panel to give rise to the need of modification. Thus, when the hall device or the car device is replaced after the elevator control panel is first replaced in the divided construction work step 1, a new elevator control panel, which is provided after the replacement, can deal with the exchange of the information with a new hall device or a new car device.
In
The new elevator control board 110A has not only a function of controlling operations of, for example, a new hall device, a new car device, and a new hoisting machine, which are described later, but also a function of controlling operations of the old hall device 200, the old car device 300, and the old hoisting machine with change of setting of parameters in accordance with each of the divided construction work steps shown in
However, the new elevator control board 110A communicates with the car device through a new serial communication system, for example, a controller area network (CAN) communication system, which enables transmission and reception of a larger capacity of data than that through an old serial communication system. Thus, the new elevator control board 110A and the old car device 300 cannot directly communicate with each other. As an example of the old serial communication system, a communication speed of 4,800 bps is given. As an example of the CAN communication system, a communication speed of 122,88 kbps is given. Thus, a data transmission speed of the new serial communication system is about 10 times or higher than a data transmission speed of the old serial communication system.
Further, a larger capacity of data can be transmitted and received through communication through the CAN communication system than through the old serial communication system. Thus, a display device mounted in the new car device has the effect of displaying a larger capacity of data than on a display device mounted in the old car device. A new function, which is not provided to the old car device, for example, a touch-type car operating function integral with the display device, can be achieved in the new car device.
The data to be transmitted and received through the communication between the new elevator control board 110A and the old car device 300 includes, for example, state information of the door driving device 11, a display command for the car operating panel 12, operation information of, for example, a button or a switch of the car operating panel 12, and an announce command.
Thus, the new control panel 100A further includes a communication conversion board 120A serving as a communication conversion unit configured to mutually convert the communication system between the old serial communication system and the CAN communication system.
The CPU 121 is configured to convert a format of data transmitted from the new elevator control board 110A to a format of data compatible with the old car device 300 and store the data in the RAM 122. Further, the CPU 121 is configured to convert a format of data transmitted from the old car device 300 to a format of data compatible with the new elevator control board 110A and store the data in the RAM 122. The format refers to a data structure such as the number of bits.
Further, the CPU 121 is configured to extract and output the format-converted data from the RAM 122 in accordance with a request from the new elevator control board 110A. The CPU 121 is also configured to extract and output the format-converted data from the RAM 122 in accordance with a request from the old car device 300. As a result, the new elevator control board 110A and the old car device 300 can communicate with each other via the communication conversion board 120A.
With use of the communication conversion board 120A, even when, for example, a transmission cycle is not changed, the communication speed increases. Therefore, a data amount transmittable per cycle increases. Further, with the increase in data amount, an error check function can be enhanced.
The communication conversion board 120A is provided so as to be removable from the new control panel 100A. Specifically, after the replacement of a hall device and a car device described later, the above-mentioned devices and the new elevator control board 110A can directly communicate with each other without using the communication conversion board 120A. Thus, the communication conversion board 120A is not required after the replacement.
Accordingly, through the removal of the communication conversion board 120A from the new control panel 100A, the communication conversion board 120A can be reused at another place. Thus, cost can be reduced. The communication conversion board may be provided between the new elevator control board 110A and the old hall device 200 as needed.
In the above-mentioned manner, after the step of replacing the old control panel of an existing elevator with the new control panel, the new control panel 100A controls the old car device 300 via the communication conversion unit (communication conversion board 120A). As a result, the normal operation for providing the elevator service to the passenger can be performed. Thus, the passenger can use the elevator between the steps of the renewal construction work. Accordingly, the continuous elevator out-of-service period in the elevator renewal construction period can be shortened.
Next, for the elevator device, the car device is replaced in a divided construction work step 2 shown in
In
In the divided construction work step 1, a cable for old devices to be connected to the new control panel 100A is continuously used in accordance with continuous use of the old hall device 200 and the old car device 300. However, a kind of a connector for a cable for the old hall device 200 and the old car device 300 and a circuit thereof are different from those of a connector for the new control panel 100A. Hence, the connectors cannot be directly connected to each other.
Thus, as illustrated in
In
Hence, with the relay harness 130A, the cable for old devices can be connected to the new control panel 100A. Accordingly, the renewal with the continuous use of the cable for old devices can be achieved. The relay harness 130A may be formed integrally with the communication conversion board 120A.
Subsequently, for the elevator device described above, the hoisting machine is replaced in a divided construction work step 4 shown in
The representative renewal construction method from the divided construction work step 1 to the divided construction work step 5 has been described above. Besides, a power failure emergency automatic hall device, which may be affected by a difference in power supply specifications of the elevator in the divided construction work step 1, is described.
The power failure emergency automatic hall device is a device configured to move a car to the nearest floor with a battery power supply to rescue a passenger in case of power failure. When a power failure is detected by the power failure emergency automatic hall device, power is supplied from an old battery device panel to the old control panel and a car control circuit in an old on-car station in an old elevator device and power is supplied from a battery in the new control panel to the new elevator control board and a car control circuit in a new on-car station in a new elevator device.
Accordingly, also in the divided construction work step 1, the car control circuit of the old on-car station is continuously used. Thus, the power is required to be supplied from the battery in the new control panel. However, power supply specifications are different due to a difference between the new control panel and the old control panel. Thus, the power cannot be supplied from the battery in the new control panel to the car control circuit in the old on-car station. Further, when the battery, which has the power supply specifications compatible with the car control circuit in the old on-car station, is used in the new control panel, the power supply cannot be supplied after the car control circuit in the old on-car station is replaced by the car control circuit in the new on-car station in the divided construction work step 2.
Thus, only for the power for the car control circuit in the old on-car station, a system configured to supply the power from the old battery device is constructed.
In
In this manner, an operation of the new control panel 100A and an operation of the old battery device panel are synchronized with each other. When the operation signal is not input from the control circuit in the old battery device panel although the new elevator control board 110A outputs the driving instruction, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred.
After the old on-car station is replaced with the new on-car station in the divided construction work step 2, the old battery device panel is not required and is therefore removed.
As described above, according to the first embodiment, the elevator renewal construction method includes the steps of: dividing the renewal construction work into the plurality of divided construction work steps; executing corresponding part of the renewal construction work in each of the plurality of execution steps; and normally operating the elevator between the plurality of divided construction work steps.
According to the first embodiment, the elevator renewal construction method includes the steps of: replacing the old control panel of the existing elevator with the new control panel; connecting the old cable for the old car device, which has connected the old car device and the old control panel of the existing elevator to each other, to the communication conversion unit of the new control panel; controlling the old car device by the new control panel via the communication conversion unit and the old cable through the serial communication system; replacing the old car device with the new car device; replacing the old cable with the new cable and connecting the new control panel and the new car device to each other through the new cable; and controlling the new car device by the new control panel through the large-capacity communication system having a larger transmission capacity than that through the serial communication system.
Further, according to the first embodiment, the elevator control panel includes the elevator control unit configured to control the car device and the hall device of the elevator through the large-capacity communication system having a larger transmission capacity than that through the serial communication system and the communication conversion unit, which is connected to the elevator control unit, and is configured to mutually convert the communication system between the serial communication system and the large-capacity communication system. The communication conversion unit includes one CPU and one memory, and is provided so as to be removable from the elevator control panel.
Thus, the elevator renewal construction method, with which the elevator can be used even during the elevator renewal construction period so that the continuous elevator out-of-service period in the elevator renewal construction period is shortened, and the elevator control panel having the simple configuration, with which the cost can be reduced, can be obtained.
Further, in order to shorten the continuous elevator out-of-service period in the elevator renewal construction period, the renewal construction work is divided into the plurality of divided construction work steps. As a result, a working area for each of the divided construction work steps can be limited to a specific area. Thus, workability can be improved.
The communication conversion unit is configured so as to be removable from the elevator control panel. As a result, the communication conversion unit can be removed from the elevator control panel so as to be reused at another place. Thus, the cost can be reduced.
In the embodiment described above, the communication conversion unit to be used in the step of replacing the old car device with the new car device has been described. However, the communication conversion unit may be applied, for example, when the old hall device is replaced by the new hall device or when an old optional device is replaced by a new optional device.
In the embodiment described above, the serial communication has been exemplified as each of the old communication system and the new communication system. However, the communication system is not limited to the serial communication. The present invention is applicable to a communication system other than the serial communication.
1 machine room, 2 hoisting machine, 3 control panel, 4 speed governor, 5 hoistway, 6 car, 7 counterweight, 8 main rope, 9 guide rail, 10 terminal slowdown switch, 11 door driving device, 12 car operating panel, 13 hall, 14 hall operating panel, 16 buffer, 17 traveling cable, 18 on-car station, 100 old control panel, 100A new control panel, 110 old elevator control board, 110A new elevator control board (elevator control unit), 120A communication conversion board (communication conversion unit), 130A relay harness, 200 old hall device, 200A new hall device, 300 old car device, 300A new car device, 121 CPU, 122 RAM
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2016/087666 | 12/16/2016 | WO | 00 |
