1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method in the installation of an elevator.
2. Description of Background Art
According to background art, an elevator is installed into the elevator hoistway working from scaffolding installed into the elevator hoistway. As an addition to this, an installation platform temporarily arranged in the elevator hoistway can be used, which can be moved to and fro in the elevator hoistway with a manriding hoist. Additionally, according to the background art, the elevator components that are to be installed are moved into their position using a material hoist. The problems of background art are, among other things, the need to work from installation scaffolding, repetitive driving to and fro with the installation platform, the time consumed in disassembling the installation platform used in the installation, the large number of installation tools, and the total duration of the elevator installation.
The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate, among other things, the aforementioned drawbacks of background-art solutions. More particularly, the purpose of the present invention is to produce a more efficient method than before in the installation of an elevator. The purpose of the present invention is further to produce one or more of the following advantages, among other things.
The method according to the present invention includes arranging a movable platform structure in a bottom end of an elevator hoistway with a temporary hoisting appliance in the elevator hoistway; lifting the movable platform structure in the elevator hoistway with the temporary hoisting appliance; installing final components of the elevator from the movable platform structure; and installing the final hoisting ropes of the elevator. Other embodiments of the present 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.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference numerals have been used to identify the same or similar elements throughout the several views.
a-1f illustrate the elevator to be constructed with the method according to the present invention in the different phases of the method. In the method according to the present invention, an elevator, preferably a passenger elevator, is installed in a residential building or other corresponding building in the elevator hoistway 1 or corresponding space.
a illustrates the method phase in which a temporary hoisting appliance 2 is suspended in the elevator hoistway 1, which hoisting appliance is preferably a so-called material hoist, preferably a Minifor hoist or alternatively a Tirak hoist. The hoisting appliance is supported from the top end of the elevator hoistway, preferably on a horizontal beam in the near vicinity of the top end of the elevator hoistway. Objects can be supported, lifted and lowered in the elevator hoistway with the hoisting appliance 2 via the rope 3 of the hoisting appliance. In this phase, the lowermost car guide rail sections, the buffer 7, the electrifications near the bottom end of the elevator hoistway, as well as possibly the lowermost counterweight guide rail sections and the counterweight, if the elevator being constructed is one with a counterweight, are also installed. The presence of all these listed structures is not necessary in all elevator types, so not all the structures are shown in the figure. The hoisting appliance 2 can be used as an aid in the installation of all of these structures. The roping of the hoisting appliance is 1:1 in
In the phase presented in
In the method phase illustrated in
In the method phase illustrated in
In the method phase illustrated in
In the method phase illustrated in
In the method, the platform structure 6 is lifted according to need in steps upwards as the construction work progresses and the structures of the elevator hoistway are constructed from the bottom upwards. The purpose is to get the most essential structures of the elevator hoistway to a sufficient degree of completion that enables use with only one lift. The lifts are continued until the platform structure 6 is in the top end of the elevator hoistway and the desired structures of the elevator, preferably at least the guide rails, doors and electrifications, are installed in the elevator hoistway essentially to the top and essentially to completion. The method described above is suited in principle to an elevator of any height whatsoever. The number of stops of the platform structure 6 depends on the number of floor levels of the elevator to be constructed and the travel height. The method is very well suited to low-rise elevators, particularly to an elevator of 2-4 floor landings. When the elevator is 2 or 3 floor landings, the elevator can manage with, for instance, 1-3 stops. In the case of higher-rise elevators the platform structure is stopped a number of times. Most preferably, the elevator to be constructed is an elevator of two or three floor landings, in which case the travel height does not become disadvantageously large nor does the amount of components to be installed and moved upwards with the platform structure become disadvantageously large.
When the elevator being constructed is an elevator of two floor levels, the elevator can be constructed with a method corresponding in principle to that described above. The difference is that fewer lifts are needed. In this case, the intermediate phases can be omitted because there are fewer structures between the topmost and the bottommost floor landings. The structures of the elevator are assembled in the manner corresponding to
In all the embodiments of the method according to the present invention, the guide rails 4 of the elevator car are installed into position from the platform structure 6 and the platform structure 6 is moved upwards in steps along the guide rails 4 already installed. Of course, the lowermost guide rails 4 can be installed from the bottom of the elevator hoistway already before the assembly of the platform structure 6 in the elevator hoistway 1. After the platform structure 6 has been moved higher in the elevator hoistway, the guide rail fixings 9 are added from the platform structure 6 for as high as can be reached from the platform structure 6, after which it is safe to move the platform structure 6 that much higher guided by the guide rails 4. This procedure is followed with the platform structure stopped and stationary at each stopping height. Correspondingly the other elevator components, e.g. the electrifications of the elevator and the door structures, are installed with the same principle. Thus the construction of the elevator proceeds to a certain degree of completion in sequence from the bottom upwards with one lift. In this way the platform structure 6 is not driven to and fro repeatedly upwards-downwards in the elevator hoistway. When lifting the platform structure 6 from the bottom end of the elevator hoistway 1 to the top end of the elevator hoistway 1, the platform structure 6 is lifted in steps from the bottom end of the elevator hoistway 1 to the top end without lowering the platform structure 6 back to the bottom of the hoistway in between, and preferably without lowering the platform structure downwards essentially at all. The aforementioned degree of completion is preferably the degree of completion in which the components of the final elevator have been installed in the elevator hoistway essentially to completion, which components are at least the car guide rails, preferably also the landing doors and/or the electrifications of the elevator hoistway.
The final elevator car refers to the elevator car that operates as the elevator car of the completed elevator manufactured with the method, e.g. for the transfer of people. The final hoisting machine refers to the hoisting machine with which, together with the final hoisting roping, the final elevator car of the completed elevator is moved.
It is obvious to the one having ordinary skill in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, in which the present invention is described using examples, but that many adaptations and different embodiments of the present invention are possible within the scope of the inventive concept defined by the claims presented below. Thus it is obvious that the method according to the present invention can also be used such that the platform structure 6 is of one level. It is also obvious that the platform structure 6 does not necessarily need to form part of the final elevator car but instead the platform structure 6 can be some other temporary working platform according to background art. It is also obvious that the hoisting rope 3 of the hoist 2 can be a metal rope, a belt, a chain, etc.
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/118,560, filed on Nov. 28, 2008, the entirety of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
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