The present invention relates generally to the field of elevator installation and maintenance. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and a system for communicating with an elevator controller.
Various features, operations, or parameters associated with an elevator system may need to be modified or configured by maintenance or installation personnel. This frequently requires taking the elevator system out of service for a period of time. Depending upon the nature of the modification or configurations to be made, access to the top of the elevator car may be required to complete these activities. In addition, these activities may require maintenance personnel to, for example, install safety barricades, flip switches, and/or install configuration jumpers.
The present invention includes a method and a system for communicating a code to an elevator car equipped with a multi-beam door safety system. An input device is used to selectively block one or more energy beams of the door safety system. A controller associated with the door safety system determines which energy beams are blocked and unblocked and inputs a code as a function of the blocked and unblocked beams.
The present invention includes a system and a method for communicating with an elevator car equipped with a door safety system. In elevator installations, elevator car sliding doors are frequently equipped with door safety systems that use energy beams transmitted between the doors to detect potential interference with the closing operation of the doors. The present invention utilizes an input device to selectively block energy beams of a door safety system to communicate a code to a controller associated with the elevator car of the elevator installation.
Elevator car 10 is equipped with door safety system 30 that includes elevator car sliding doors 12 and 14, door controller 31, door drive 32, a plurality of receivers 33, and a plurality of transmitters 34, as shown in
In operation, safety system 30 prevents elevator car doors 12 and 14 from closing if an object or person is detected in doorway 16. Each transmitter 34 emits an energy beam 36A-36Q that, in the absence of an obstruction, is transmitted across doorway 16 and received by a receiver 33, as shown in
Energy beams 36A-36Q can be any type, or combination, of energy beams known in the art for use with elevator door safety systems. Examples of energy beams 36A-36Q include infrared energy beams, visible light energy beams, ultrasonic energy beams, and focused radar energy beams.
As shown in
In some embodiments, input device 40 is formed from a rigid, opaque sheet of material such as, for example, cardboard or metal. As shown in
Pursuant to the method of the present invention, input device 40 may be positioned at any vertical height within doorway 16 and at any horizontal position between elevator car sliding doors 12 and 14. As shown in
Slots 46A-46C of input device 40 are but one example of energy-beam transmitting regions for use with an input device of the present invention. In some embodiments, input device 40 may include energy-beam transmitting regions in the form of gaps or apertures of any shape formed in input device 40. In other embodiments, input device 40 may include energy-beam transmitting regions that comprise transparent portions that are capable of transmitting an energy beam through the input device. Some of these transparent portions may be able to alter their transparency to alter the blocking pattern of input device 40, which may be accomplished, for example, using liquid crystal and/or electro chromic technologies.
If the blocking pattern does not change during the waiting period, the controller executes an operation as a function of the blocking pattern (and hence the code) of input device 40 (step 58). This operation may be, for example, to execute an elevator instruction as a function of the code or to communicate the code or elevator instruction to another controller or subsystem associated with elevator car 10. In some embodiments, the controller does not execute the operation of step 58 until input device 40 has been removed from doorway 16.
In some embodiments, the code is a numerical value that is representative of an elevator instruction, which can be any type of elevator instruction known in the art. Examples of such elevator instructions include instructions to trigger the calibration of a system (e.g., safety system 30), instructions to reset one or more parameters associated with a system, instructions to set a parameter to a particular value or range of values, instructions to enable or disable a criss-cross transmission pattern for energy beams 36, instructions to enable or disable a graceful degradation setting for safety system 30, instructions to indicate which energy beam 36 is blocked or otherwise malfunctioning, instructions to enable or disable an auditory annunciation in response to blockages of energy beams 36, instructions to place elevator car 10 in a special mode, any combination of these, or any other type of elevator instruction known in the art. In one embodiment, the numerical value represents an instruction to execute a calibration operation related to door safety system 30.
In some embodiments, some or all of slots 46 and/or blocking members 48 (or portions thereof capable of blocking or transmitting a single energy beam 36A-36Q) are representative of a binary “0” or “1”. In one embodiment of input device 40 of
The first and second codes may have a contextual relationship to one another. For example, the first code can indicate a parameter to be modified or set and the second code can indicate a value for that parameter. In some embodiments, more than two input devices may be used to perform a task.
In some embodiments of the methods of
Thus, as described above, the methods and communication systems of the present invention provide a means for communicating a code to a controller of an elevator car using energy beams of a door safety system.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/US2005/028152 | 8/8/2005 | WO | 00 | 3/6/2009 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2007/018539 | 2/15/2007 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2932365 | Hornung | Apr 1960 | A |
4491917 | Higgins et al. | Jan 1985 | A |
4866881 | Morrow et al. | Sep 1989 | A |
5149921 | Picado | Sep 1992 | A |
5247139 | Schon et al. | Sep 1993 | A |
5392879 | Boyce et al. | Feb 1995 | A |
5982125 | Ranaudo et al. | Nov 1999 | A |
6167991 | Full et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6247558 | Bailey et al. | Jun 2001 | B1 |
6279687 | Pustelniak et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6392537 | Tazumi et al. | May 2002 | B1 |
6854565 | Peralact et al. | Feb 2005 | B2 |
7123144 | Anderson et al. | Oct 2006 | B2 |
20010042820 | Wilson | Nov 2001 | A1 |
20080304039 | De Coi | Dec 2008 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
4246085 | Sep 1992 | JP |
11349248 | Dec 1999 | JP |
W02004056692 | Jul 2004 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20090314583 A1 | Dec 2009 | US |