The present invention relates to a method as defined in the preamble of claim 1. The present invention also relates to a system as defined in the preamble of claim 9. The present invention further relates to the use as defined in the preamble of claim 14. The present invention further relates to the use as defined in the preamble of claim 15.
A prior art method for installing the guide rails, such as the car guide rails and/or the counterweight guide rails, of an elevator on the vertical wall of an elevator shaft of a building. In a prior-art method the guide rail is installed by assembly in phases from the bottom upwards by placing guide rail sections that are shorter than the whole length of the guide rail one on top of the other, and by fixing the guide rail sections to the vertical wall with guide rail fixings. Previously the guide rail sections have been aligned with plumb lines suspended in the elevator shaft or with a laser forming a perpendicular laser light beam, in which case the guide rail sections are installed to be perpendicular. When installing guide rails in high-rise tower buildings problems arise from this kind of installation method because the upper part of the building and, of course, at the same time the vertical wall of the elevator shaft along with it, can move under the effect of the heat of the sun, when one side of the building heats up. Likewise the wind load can move the building. Thus when the building and the elevator shaft bend, the plumb line or the laser light beam remains perpendicular. If the guide rails are installed perpendicularly when the building is bent, they are no longer perpendicular when the building straightens. For this reason it is necessary to wait for suitable weather conditions when installing the guide rails, which lengthens the time needed for installation and incurs great costs.
When using plumb lines in tower buildings, the airflow in the elevator shaft, which moves the plumb lines, is always a problem.
In the so-called jump lift installation of the guide rails of an elevator, the guide rails are installed using the elevator as an aid and the roping of the elevator car is moved upwards in jumps of one or more floors of the building. For example, the installation of the guide rails of a 40-storey tower building with the jump lift techniques requires 16 jump phases. In prior art the straightness and perpendicularity of the guide rails is verified with plumb lines from every other floor downwards to the existing guide rails, which is very awkward and time-consuming.
The purpose of the invention is to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks.
More particularly, a purpose of the invention is to disclose a method and a system, by means of which the installation of the guide rails can take place quickly and independently of the weather conditions.
A further purpose of the invention is to disclose a suitable method and system for installing the guide rails of an elevator of, more particularly, a tower building.
Another purpose of the invention is to disclose an installation method and a system for the guide rails of an elevator that is applicable to the so-called jump lift technique.
The method according to the invention is characterized by what is disclosed in the characterization part of claim 1. The system according to the invention is characterized by what is disclosed in the characterization part of claim 9. The uses according to the invention are characterized by what is disclosed in the characterization parts of claims 14 and 15. Other embodiments of the invention are characterized by what is disclosed in the other claims. Some inventive embodiments are also discussed 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 can be applied within the scope of the basic inventive concept in conjunction with other embodiments.
In the method according to the invention the alignment of each lower guide rail section that is already installed and fixed to the vertical wall is used as a comparison point for the alignment of the next upper guide rail section to be installed above it, such that each upper guide rail section is installed in alignment with each consecutive lower guide rail section.
The system according to the invention comprises means for using the alignment of each lower guide rail section that is already installed and fixed to the vertical wall as a comparison point for the alignment of the next upper guide rail section to be installed above it, such that each upper guide rail section is installed in alignment with each consecutive lower guide rail section that is already installed.
One advantage of the invention is that the guide rails can be installed in a tower building irrespective of the external weather conditions, such as the wind and/or the heat of the sun, although the building could be bent, which increases the efficiency of installation and reduces the time it requires. With the method according to the invention it is possible to have each guide rail section on the same line as the previous guide rail section that is already installed. When the existing lower guide rail section can be used as a reference for the upper guide rail section, the alignment can be performed from the bottom upwards. This saves a substantial amount of installation time also in connection with the jump lift technique, in which it is possible to save 3-5 hours in each jump phase. In the example case of the 40-storey tower building presented above, 16 times 3-5 hours of installation time is saved.
In one embodiment of the method the guide rail sections are aligned by means of the laser light beam produced by a laser. Since plumb lines are not used in the method, the airflow in the elevator shaft does not affect the alignment accuracy and the installation accuracy of the guide rail.
In one embodiment of the method the lowermost guide rail section, which must be installed first, of the guide rail is aligned and installed to be perpendicular by means of a plumb line and/or a perpendicularly aimed laser light beam.
In one embodiment of the method two alignment appliances, a lower alignment appliance and an upper alignment appliance, are fixed in a detachable manner to the lower guide rail section that is already installed and aligned at a distance from each other in the height direction. In both the alignment appliances is an alignment aperture, which when fixing the alignment appliance to the guide rail section settles in the lateral direction a pre-defined fixed distance from the guide rail section. A laser is fixed in a detachable manner in the proximity of the lower guide rail section at a distance below the lower alignment appliance. The laser light beam of the laser is directed through the alignment apertures of the lower alignment appliance and the upper alignment appliance, in which case the laser light beam settles in alignment with the lower guide rail. A targeting appliance, which contains a targeting element, which when fixing the targeting appliance to the guide rail section settles in the transverse direction of the guide rail the aforementioned pre-defined fixed distance from the guide rail section, is fixed in a detachable manner in the proximity of at least one guide rail fixing of the upper guide rail section to be next installed. The upper guide rail section to be installed is moved in the lateral direction such that the laser light beam hits the targeting element of the targeting appliance, in which position the upper guide rail is held in place, and the upper guide rail is fixed to the guide rail fixing.
In one embodiment of the method at least one alignment appliance is fixed in a detachable manner to the lower guide rail section that is already installed and aligned, which alignment appliance contains an alignment aperture, which when fixing the alignment appliance to the guide rail section settles in the lateral direction a pre-defined fixed distance from the guide rail section. A laser, which settles in the lateral direction a pre-defined fixed distance from the guide rail section, is fixed in a detachable manner to the lower guide rail section at a distance below the alignment appliance. The laser light beam of the laser is directed through the alignment aperture of the alignment appliance, in which case the laser light beam settles in alignment with the lower guide rail. A targeting appliance, which contains a targeting element, which when fixing the targeting appliance to the guide rail section settles in the transverse direction of the guide rail the aforementioned pre-defined fixed distance from the guide rail section, is fixed in a detachable manner in the proximity of at least one guide rail fixing of the upper guide rail section to be next installed. The upper guide rail section to be installed is moved in the lateral direction such that the laser light beam hits the targeting element of the targeting appliance, in which position the upper guide rail is held in place and is fixed to the guide rail fixing of the upper guide rail section.
In one embodiment of the method during the alignment the targeting appliance is moved upwards in phases and the targeting appliance is fixed in two or more points one above the other along the length of the upper guide rail section, preferably in the proximity of two or more guide rail fixings that fix the guide rail section to the vertical wall.
In one embodiment of the method a laser light beam, the diameter of which is greater than the diameter of the alignment aperture, is directed at the alignment appliance, in which case the alignment aperture narrows the laser light beam.
In one embodiment of the method the diameter of the laser light beam is narrowed with the alignment aperture to approx. 1 mm.
In one embodiment of the system the means comprise a laser, which produces a laser light beam for aligning the guide rail section. The means further comprise a support element for supporting the laser on the vertical wall and/or on the guide rail section and/or on the guide rail fixing. The means further comprise at least one, preferably two, of the kind of alignment appliances that incorporate a first fixing element, such as a permanent magnet, for fixing the guide rail section, a first detent for positioning the alignment appliance into a precise position with respect to the guide rail section, and an alignment aperture, the diameter of which is at least as great and preferably smaller than the diameter of the laser light beam and which is at a distance from the first detent. In addition the means comprise a targeting appliance, which incorporates a second fixing element, such as a permanent magnet, for fixing the guide rail section, a second detent for positioning the targeting appliance into a precise position with respect to the guide rail section, and a targeting element, which is at a distance from the second detent and at which the laser light beam can be targeted.
In one embodiment of the system the diameter of the laser light beam produced by the laser is in the order of magnitude of approx. 3 mm.
In one embodiment of the system the alignment aperture is conical in shape such that the wall of the alignment aperture widens from the input side of the laser light beam towards the exit side at an angle, which is approx. 45°.
In one embodiment of the system the alignment aperture has a diameter on the input side in the order of magnitude of approx. 1 mm.
The system is very practicable in the installation of the guide rails of an elevator in the elevator shaft of a tower building. Likewise it is advantageous in the so-called jump lift installation of the guide rails of an elevator, in which the guide rail sections are installed using the elevator as an aid and the roping of the elevator car is moved upwards in jumps of one or more floors of the building.
In the following, the invention will be described in detail by the aid of a few examples of its embodiments with reference to the attached drawings, wherein
In
Then when installing the other guide rail sections 42, 43, 44 . . . the alignment of each lower guide rail section that is already installed and fixed to the vertical wall is used as a comparison point for the alignment of the next upper guide rail section to be installed above it, such that each upper guide rail section is installed in alignment with each consecutive lower guide rail section.
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According to one embodiment of the invention the alignment of the laser light can also be performed such that no more than one alignment appliance is necessarily needed. In this case an alignment appliance (10 or 11) corresponding to what is described earlier in this application, and which contains an alignment aperture 12, is fixed in a detachable manner to the lower guide rail section that is already installed and aligned. The alignment aperture settles in the lateral direction a pre-defined fixed distance s from the guide rail section in question. A laser 6, which by means of a support element settles in the lateral direction a pre-defined fixed distance s from the guide rail section, is fixed to the same lower guide rail section that is already installed and aligned at a distance below the alignment appliance 10 such that the light source of the laser light beam 7 produced by the laser 6 is at the lateral distance s from the guide rail section, to which guide rail section the laser is fixed. In this case the laser light can be guided to pass through the alignment aperture of the alignment appliance, in which case the laser light beam passing through the alignment aperture is automatically in alignment with the guide rail section, because the light source and the alignment aperture are at the same distance in the lateral direction from the guide rail section. The guide rail section to be installed next as an extension of the aforementioned lower guide rail section that is already aligned is positioned and fixed with one of the methods presented earlier in this application. Thus a targeting appliance 13, which contains a targeting element 14, which when fixing the targeting appliance 13 to the guide rail section settles in the lateral direction the same pre-defined fixed distance s from the guide rail section to be installed as the alignment apertures 12, is detachably fixed to the next guide rail section to be installed. The position of the guide rail section to be installed is adjusted in the lateral direction such that the laser light beam 7 hits the targeting element 14 of the targeting appliance 13, is held in place in this position and fixed to the guide rail fixing 5. In this embodiment the laser is fixed to the lower guide rail section that is already installed via the support element fixed to the laser. The support element can be formed e.g. to possess a similar structure to the detent of the alignment appliance 10 or 11, in which case the support element is preferably formed to possess at least two detents, which rest on the guide rail from different directions and preferably at least one of which magnetically attracts the support element against the guide rail. Alternatively the support element of the laser can be fixed to the guide rail with tightening screws.
Preferably the method and the system are used in the installation of the guide rails 1 of an elevator in high-rise tower buildings, but are just as usable in ordinary apartment blocks. It is also advantageous to use the method and the system in the so-called jump lift installation of the guide rails 1 of an elevator, in which case the guide rail sections are installed from the bottom upwards using the elevator itself, the elevator machine and the elevator car as an aid and the roping of the elevator car is moved upwards in jumps of one or more floors of the building.
It is obvious to the person skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, in which the invention is described using examples, but that many adaptations and different embodiments of the invention are possible within the scope of the inventive concept defined by the claims presented below.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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20060963 | Nov 2006 | FI | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/FI2007/000254 | Oct 2007 | US |
Child | 12434301 | US |