Patent Application
20130264151
The invention relates to joining together the guide rails of an elevator. The object of the invention is equipment for joining elevator guide rails, a joint arrangement for elevator guide rails, and an elevator, in which case the elevator in question is preferably an elevator applicable to passenger transport and/or to freight transport.
The movement of moving elevator units in elevators, such as the elevator car and a possible counterweight, is guided by one or more guide rail lines in the direction of the movement of the elevator units. A moving elevator unit often also comprises a brake, which is arranged to grip a guide rail of the guide rail line in an emergency situation for braking the movement of the moving elevator unit. Each guide rail line comprises a plurality of guide rails placed consecutively, which guide rails thus form a section of the aforementioned guide rail line. According to prior art, the consecutive guide rails are connected to each other with a joint plate, for which the designation “fish plate” is used. The fish plate is fixed to the ends of consecutive guide rails, to the rear side of the guide rail, on which side the guide rails do not comprise a guide surface for a moving elevator unit of the elevator. The fish plate in this way rigidly fixes the ends of the guide rails to each other. Conventionally, a fish plate has been a flat plate of uniform thickness, which is fixed with a bolt fastening to both consecutively placed ends of a guide rail. The aim of the joint is to be able to prevent the guide rails moving away from each other in the longitudinal direction or in the lateral direction, or from bending in relation to each other. Displacement of the guide rail ends in relation to each other is disadvantageous, because displacement will cause a step or a gap between them, which forms a point of discontinuity. The discontinuity points or changes of gradient between guide rails are detrimental from the viewpoint of ride comfort and safety for the guide shoe guided by the guide rail or for the brake of the moving elevator unit being able to grip the guide rail. Thus the goal is for the guide rail line to be unbroken and straight. A moving elevator unit takes lateral guiding force from the guide rails during its guidance and/or longitudinal support force of the guide rail when it brakes by gripping to the guide rail. In these types of situations longitudinal force, lateral force and bending act on the joint between consecutive guide rails. Strong torsion forms between the guide rail ends during operation of the elevator, from inter alia the effect of the torque arm produced by the length of the guide rails, and when the joining equipment is generally the only element resisting torsion. That being the case, from the viewpoint of the joint, its ability to resist bending is highly critical. The ability of a joint to resist bending or other displacements between guide rails is important when an elevator unit is at the point of the joint, but also when the elevator unit is at a distance from the joint in question, namely the guide rail line is an entity in which a number of guide rails support each other. For example, the bottommost guide rails can support the higher guide rails on top of them. The bending rigidity of a joint is conventionally increased by forming the fish plate of the joining equipment from thick plate. This is an effective method, but one problem is that the number of fish plates per elevator is high, in which case the material consumption of individual fish plates is high when aggregated. The space usage of joining equipment/a joint arrangement is one important factor that must be taken into account. The joining equipment is generally very close to the path of movement of the parts of an elevator unit moving along the guide rail line in question. The joining equipment must be away from the aforementioned path of movement to avoid collisions. On the other hand, they form a protrusion from the guide rail line, said protrusion being in connection with the guide rail, and thus they limit the possibility of disposing a guide rail very close to the wall of the elevator hoistway or to other components. For this reason, the aim must be to form compact joining equipment.
Taking the preceding into account, a need has arisen for joining equipment with which a joint that is economic, space-efficient and rigid can be achieved better than before between consecutive guide rails.
The aim of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned problems of prior-art solutions as well as the problems disclosed in the description of the invention below. One aim is, inter alia, to produce a rigid joint between the consecutive guide rails of an elevator, said joint having lower material consumption than before. Embodiments, inter alia, are disclosed in which the joining equipment produces a rigid joint and the space taken in the elevator hoistway by the joining equipment is little.
The joining equipment, according to the invention for elevator guide rails, for joining consecutive elevator guide rails to each other, comprises a fish plate, which fish plate is an elongated angle plate profile piece comprising a plurality of plate sections that are beside each other and in the length direction of the fish plate, and longitudinal bends between the plate sections that are beside each other, and the aforementioned plurality of plate sections comprises a planar support plate section or a plurality of coplanar planar support plate sections, against which support plate section/which support plate sections the rear sides of the ends of consecutive guide rails can be supported to lean, and which plate section plurality also comprises stiffening plate sections bent away from the plane of the support plate section/support plate sections. One advantage is that the fish plate is cheap to fabricate, because an angle plate structure is fast and simple. The shaping of the fish plate increases its rigidity, in which case the material thickness can be kept thin.
Preferably the aforementioned stiffening sections of the fish plate of the joining equipment comprise stiffening plate sections bent away from the plane of the support plate section, which stiffening plate sections are at an angle with respect to the aforementioned support plate section and/or stiffening plate sections, which are not at an angle with respect to the aforementioned support plate section, and the guide rail placed to lean against the aforementioned support plate section does not lean against the stiffening plate section.
In one embodiment the aforementioned fish plate of the joining equipment comprises on opposite sides of the support plate section a first stiffening plate section diverging to the front side of the support plate section, and a second stiffening plate section diverging to the rear side of the support plate section. In this way the dimension of the fish plate in the depth direction (z-direction) is large and achieves a large second moment of area with low material consumption, at the same time however enabling a compact guide rail configuration. Preferably the first stiffening plate section is on the first longitudinal edge of the fish plate, and diverges from the support plate section towards the front side of the support plate section (and also of the fish plate), i.e. towards the guide rail side, and the second stiffening plate section is on the second longitudinal edge of the fish plate, and diverges from the support plate section towards the rear side of the support plate section. Preferably, but not necessarily the first stiffening plate section and the second stiffening plate section are bent to be parallel and at a right angle with respect to the support plate section, in which case the stiffening effect is at its greatest with respect to space consumption. Preferably the fish plate comprises only 2 longitudinal bends, two stiffening plate sections and one support plate section.
In one embodiment the aforementioned fish plate of the joining equipment comprises two parallel coplanar support plate sections at a transverse distance (in the x-direction) from each other, against which support plate sections the rear sides of the ends of consecutive guide rails can be supported to lean, and stiffening plate sections that are bent away from the plane of the support plate sections and that connecting the aforementioned two parallel coplanar support plate sections. In this way the dimension of the fish plate in the depth direction (z-direction) is large and achieves a large second moment of area with low material consumption, at the same time however enabling a compact guide rail configuration, because the lateral (x-direction) size of the fish plate can be formed to be small. Preferably the aforementioned stiffening plate sections are disposed between the aforementioned two parallel coplanar support plate sections. In this way the fish plate can be arranged to form in the area of the edges of the fish plate only a slight protrusion from the projection of the guide rail. Another advantage is also that the stiffening plate sections between the aforementioned coplanar support plate sections can be beside the fixing means, e.g. bolts, as viewed from the z-direction. Another advantage is that the fish plate can be varied for different needs, more particularly for guide rails of different sizes or having a different transverse distance of the holes, with small modifications using essentially the same cross-sectional profile. Namely the aforementioned coplanar support plate sections can be configured to be at a suitable distance from each other by configuring the angle of the bend between them and the stiffening plate sections to be such that the support plate sections are at a suitable distance from each other. This can be necessary e.g. so that the holes of the support plate sections can be fitted face-to-face with the holes of a guide rail. Preferably in this embodiment the stiffening plate sections form a depression disposed between the aforementioned support plate sections that is pressed down towards the rear side of the fish plate. Preferably the aforementioned stiffening plate sections comprise a first stiffening plate section that is at an angle with respect to the aforementioned support plate sections and bent from one support plate section towards the rear side, and a second stiffening plate section that is at an angle with respect to the aforementioned support plate sections and bent from the second support plate section towards the rear side. Between the first stiffening plate section and the second stiffening plate section can be a stiffening plate section parallel in relation to the support plate sections but on a different plane in relation to the support plate sections. Alternatively, the first stiffening plate section and the second stiffening plate section are plate sections that are side-by-side. In this case there is preferably a bend between them. The angle of the bend is preferably at most 120 degrees, preferably at most 100 degrees.
Preferably the joining equipment comprises fixing means for fixing the guide rails to the support plate, more particularly for fixing the guide rails to lean against the support plate section of the fish plate. Preferably the fixing means comprise through-holes in the fish plate, which holes preferably travel through the support plate section. Preferably the fixing means also comprise joint means, such as bolts, that can be tightened for achieving bolt tightening.
The fish plate is preferably of metal, e.g. steel, in its material. The material thickness of it is preferably constant. The fish plate is preferably an angle plate profile piece of uniform metal material, which is bent from plate, in which case the aforementioned shapes are achieved in it by bending. The material thickness of the fish plate is preferably between 3 mm-2 cm, more preferably 5 mm-1.5 cm.
In the joint arrangement according to the invention for the guide rails of an elevator the guide rail line, which comprises consecutive guide rails that are in line and similar in cross-sectional shape, the consecutive guide rails are connected to each other with joining equipment according to any of those described in the preceding, in such a way that the rear sides of the ends of consecutive guide rails are fixed to a fish plate to lean against the same support plate section/support plate sections of the fish plate. Preferably the rear sides of the ends of the guide rails are fixed to a fish plate to lean against the (same) support plate section/support plate sections (as each other) of the fish plate with tightenable joint means, preferably with a bolt fastening.
In one preferred embodiment of the joint arrangement the fish plate comprises on opposite sides of the support plate section a first stiffening plate section diverging to the front side of the support plate section, and a second stiffening plate section diverging to the rear side of the support plate section, and the rear sides of the ends of the guide rails are fixed to a fish plate to lean against the support plate section/support plate sections of the fish plate with tightenable joint means, which form a bolt fastening, in which the head of the bolt and the guide rail are at least partly beside the first stiffening plate section when viewed in the depth direction (z) of the guide rail, and the nut of the bolt is at least partly beside the second stiffening plate section when viewed in the depth direction (z) of the guide rail. In this way a rigid joint is achieved, the material consumption of which fish plate is small while at the same time the overall structure of the joint is very compact.
The elevator according to the invention comprises one or more elevator units to be moved, including at least an elevator car, and possibly a counterweight, and a guide rail line of an elevator unit, which guide rail line comprises consecutive guide rails that are in line and similar in cross-sectional shape, and the consecutive guide rails are connected to each other with a joint arrangement according to any of those described in the preceding.
The elevator is most preferably an elevator applicable to the transporting of people and/or of freight, which elevator is installed in a building, to travel in a vertical direction, or at least in an essentially vertical direction, preferably on the basis of landing calls and/or car calls. The elevator car preferably has an interior space, which is most preferably suited to receive a passenger or a number of passengers. The elevator preferably comprises at least two, preferably more, floor landings to be served. Some inventive embodiments are also presented in the descriptive section and in the drawings of the present application. The inventive content of the application can also be defined differently than in the claims presented below. The inventive content may also consist of several separate inventions, especially if the invention is considered in the light of expressions or implicit sub-tasks or from the point of view of advantages or categories of advantages achieved. In this case, some of the attributes contained in the claims below may be superfluous from the point of view of separate inventive concepts. The features of the various embodiments of the invention can be applied within the framework of the basic inventive concept in conjunction with other embodiments.
The invention will now be described in more detail in connection with its preferred embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:
a-1c present a cross-section of a fish plate of equipment for joining the guide rails of an elevator, a three-dimensional view of a fish plate and a joint arrangement with joint means that are according to a first embodiment of the invention.
a-2c present a cross-section of a fish plate of equipment for joining the guide rails of an elevator, a three-dimensional view of a fish plate and a joint arrangement with joint means that are according to a second embodiment of the invention.
a-3c present a cross-section of a fish plate of equipment for joining the guide rails of an elevator, a three-dimensional view of a fish plate and a joint arrangement with joint means that are according to a third embodiment of the invention.
Each of
The plate section plurality in the embodiment of
In the embodiment presented in
In the embodiment presented in
In the embodiments presented the joining equipment 1, 1′, 1″ further comprises fixing means 5 for fixing the ends of the guide rails G to the fish plate 2, 2′, 2″, more particularly for fixing the ends of the guide rails G to lean against the support plate section/support plate sections A, A′, A″ of the fish plate 2, 2′, 2″. The joining equipment 1, 1′, 1″ preferably comprises through-holes h in the fish plate. The through-holes h travel through the support plate section A, A′, A″ in its thickness direction z. There are a number of through-holes, distributed in the longitudinal direction (i.e. in the y-direction) of the fish plate 2, 2′, 2″ above and below the midpoint of the height of the fish plate 2, 2′, 2″, in which case two consecutive guide rails G can be fixed to the fish plate, and each has its own through-holes provided. There are preferably 4 units of through-holes for both guide rails G, as presented in the figures. The guide rails G comprise through-holes with a corresponding distribution for placing face-to-face with the holes of the fish plate. In this way a tightenable bolt can be placed through the guide rails and the fish plate 2, 2′, 2″. The bolt fastening is preferably of the type presented, i.e. a bolt placed through the fish plate 2, 2′, 2″ (the support plate section of it) and a guide rail G, which bolt tightens the fish plate 2, 2′, 2″ and guide rail G together, e.g. with a nut that can be screwed to tighten, which nut is on the opposite side of the tightening bundle than the head of the bolt.
The fish plate 2, 2′, 2″ is preferably of metal, e.g. steel, in its material. The material thickness of it is preferably constant. The material thickness of it is preferably between 3 mm-2 cm, more preferably 5 mm-1.5 cm. The fish plate is preferably bent into its shape from a flat plate. The holes of the fish plate/guide rails could be disposed in an alternative manner to what is presented. The number of them can, alternatively, also be other than what is presented. The rear sides of the ends of consecutive guide rails G can be fixed to lean on a fish plate 2, 2′, 2″, against its support plate section/support plate sections A, A′, A″, with a direct contact, as is presented, but alternatively the rear sides of the ends of the guide rails G can be fixed to lean on a fish plate 2, 2′, 2″, against its support plate section/support plate sections A, A′, A″, via a thin spacing plate (not presented). Preferably the aforementioned joining equipment is for connecting guide rails having a planar rear side to each other.
The guide rail G can be T-shaped in its cross-section, as is presented in the figures, but the joint presented is also applicable in connection with other types of guide rails.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20125392 | Apr 2012 | FI | national |
