The present invention relates to a rail cleaning device for a passenger conveyor.
In some cases, dust or scrap metal falls onto a drive rail of a passenger conveyor due to construction work for a periphery of the passenger conveyor at the time of installation, and sand and dust brought by walkers are accumulated on the drive rail after operation of the passenger conveyor. The foreign matters on the rail lead to reduction in riding comfort and reduction in lifetime of a resin roller. Accordingly, cleaning is required at regular timings, for example, at the time of installation or maintenance. However, manual cleaning requires much time and effort because the drive rail is installed inside the passenger conveyor and a large number of drive rollers are provided on the rail. In particular, in a case of a passenger conveyor adopting a drive chain of an inner roller type in which drive rollers are arranged on an inner side of link plates, a work space is narrow, and hence manual cleaning is difficult.
For example, in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 below, there are proposed rail cleaning devices designed for a drive chain of an inner roller type. In Patent Literature 1, there is described a configuration in which the rail cleaning device is inserted on an inner side of link plates between a pair of drive rollers adjacent to each other in a circulating direction of the drive chain, and a cleaning body is pressed onto an upper surface of the drive rail through use of a plurality of rollers and an urging member. In Patent Literature 2, there is described a configuration in which a cleaning belt is wound between the drive rollers.
[PTL 1] JP 2007-84204 A
[PTL 2] JP 2011-514299 A1
In the configuration described in Patent Literature 1, the cleaning body is pressed onto the upper surface of the drive rail through use of, for example, the urging member, and hence a sufficient cleaning function can be obtained. However, in the configuration described in Patent Literature 1, the structure is complicated, with the result that device cost is increased. Meanwhile, in the configuration described in Patent Literature 2, the structure is simple, and hence manufacture with low cost is possible. However, depending on positions of the drive rollers, there is a case in which the drive rollers are not held in contact with the drive rail, that is, a case in which the drive rollers travel in a state of being slightly separated away from the drive rail. Accordingly, in the configuration described in Patent Literature 2, the cleaning belt is sometimes pressed onto the drive rail insufficiently, and hence a sufficient cleaning function cannot be obtained.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has an object to provide a rail cleaning device for a passenger conveyor, which is capable of pressing a cleaning body onto a drive rail with an inexpensive configuration and by a sufficient force.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a rail cleaning device for a passenger conveyor, which is mounted to a drive chain of an inner roller type in which drive rollers are arranged on an inner side of link plates, and is configured to clean, along with circulation drive of the drive chain, an upper surface of a drive rail on which the drive rollers roll, the rail cleaning device for a passenger conveyor including: a main body inserted on the inner side of the link plates between a pair of the drive rollers adjacent to each other in a circulating direction of the drive chain; a cleaning body provided below the main body; and a fastening band configured to fasten the main body to the link plates, wherein the main body has a through hole passing through the main body in a thickness direction of the main body, wherein the through hole is arranged so that lower ends of the link plates are located at an intermediate position of the through hole in a height direction of the main body when the cleaning body is held in abutment against the upper surface of the drive rail, and wherein the fastening band has a ring shape passing through an inside of the through hole and over outer sides of the link plates and extending to an upper side of the main body, and the fastening band is tightened so as to press the cleaning body onto the upper surface of the drive rail by bringing an upper end of the main body close to the lower ends of the link plates, thereby fastening the main body to the link plates.
According to the rail cleaning device for a passenger conveyor of the present invention, the fastening band is formed into a ring shape passing through the inside of the through hole and over the outer sides of the link plates and extending to the upper side of the main body. Further, the fastening band is tightened so as to press the cleaning body onto the upper surface of the drive rail by bringing the upper end of the main body close to the lower ends of the link plates, thereby fastening the main body to the link plates. Accordingly, the cleaning body can be pressed onto the drive rail with an inexpensive configuration and by a sufficient force.
Modes for carrying out the present invention are described below based on embodiments with reference to the drawings.
The truss 1 is a frame extending from a first gate 11 to a second gate 12.
The driving device 2 is a device configured to drive the footsteps 3, and is arranged inside the truss 1. The driving device 2 includes a first sprocket 21, a second sprocket 22, a drive source 23, a drive chain 24, and a drive rail 25.
The first sprocket 21 is a toothed wheel arranged below the first gate 11. Similarly, the second sprocket 22 is a toothed wheel arranged below the second gate 12. The drive source 23 is coupled to the second sprocket 22, and is configured to drive the second sprocket 22 to rotate. As the drive source 23, for example, a motor can be used.
The drive chain 24 is an endless member wound around the first sprocket 21 and the second sprocket 22. Further, the drive chain 24 is coupled to each of the footsteps 3. When the second sprocket 22 is driven to rotate by a driving force of the drive source 23, the drive chain 24 and the footsteps 3 are driven to circulate between the first sprocket 21 and the second sprocket 22.
The drive rail 25 is a rail body extending in a circulating direction of the drive chain 24. When drive rollers 241 of the drive chain 24 are caused to roll on an upper surface of the drive rail 25, circulation of the drive chain 24 is guided by the drive rail 25. The upper surface of the drive rail 25 refers to a surface on which the drive rollers 241 are caused to roll.
Next,
As illustrated in
The rail cleaning device 4 is mounted to the drive chain 24. The rail cleaning device 4 is configured to clean the upper surface of the drive rail 25 along with circulation drive of the drive chain 24.
The rail cleaning device 4 includes the main body 40, the cleaning body 41, and a fastening band 42.
The main body 40 is a member having a rectangular parallelepiped contour as a whole. As illustrated in
A width 40w (see
The cleaning body 41 is provided below the main body 40. The cleaning body 41 is formed of, for example, felt, and is configured to clean the upper surface of the drive rail 25 by being pressed onto the upper surface of the drive rail 25.
The fastening band 42 is formed of a band-shaped member such as a rubber band or a cable tie, and is configured to fasten the main body 40 to the link plates 240.
Now, fastening of the main body 40 by the fastening band 42 is described in detail. First, the main body 40 has a through hole 400 passing through the main body 40 in a thickness direction thereof. The through hole 400 is arranged so that lower ends 240d of the link plates 240 are located at an intermediate position of the through hole 400 in a height direction 40h of the main body 40 when the cleaning body 41 is held in abutment against the upper surface of the drive rail 25. In other words, the through hole 400 is arranged across the lower ends 240d of the link plates 240 in the height direction 40h of the main body 40. A state in which the cleaning body 41 is held in abutment against the upper surface of the drive rail 25 refers to a state in which the cleaning body 41 is merely placed on the upper surface of the drive rail 25, and also refers to a state before the cleaning body 41 is pressed onto the upper surface of the drive rail 25 through tightening of the fastening band 42 as described later.
After the main body 40 is inserted on the inner side of the link plates 240 as illustrated in
Next,
Further, it is preferred that a material forming the main body 40 be an elastic body. When the main body 40 is made of the elastic body softer than the material for the teeth 21a, damage of a device other than the rail cleaning device 4 can be prevented, and also the following advantage is obtained. That is, the main body 40 is compressed through tightening of the fastening band 42, thereby being capable of more reliably pressing the cleaning body 41 onto the drive rail 25. Further, even when the thickness 40t of the main body 40 is set larger than the clearance between the link plates 240 arranged on the both sides of the drive roller 241, the main body 40 can be inserted in a compressed manner between the link plates 240. When the thickness of the main body 40 is increased, a width of the cleaning body 41 can be increased, thereby being capable of increasing cleaning efficiency. In particular, it is further preferred that the main body 40 be made of a porous elastic body (rubber sponge).
In such rail cleaning device 4, the fastening band 42 is formed into a ring shape passing through the inside of the through hole 400 and over the outer sides of the link plates 240 and extending to the upper side of the main body 40. Further, the fastening band 42 is tightened so as to press the cleaning body 41 onto the upper surface of the drive rail 25 by bringing the upper end 40u of the main body 40 close to the lower ends 240d of the link plates 240, thereby fastening the main body 40 to the link plates 240. Accordingly, the cleaning body 41 can be pressed onto the drive rail 25 with an inexpensive configuration and by a sufficient force.
Further, the upper portion of the main body 40 has a shape suitable for arrangement within the shape corresponding to the contour of the drive roller 241. Thus, at the time of circulation drive of the drive chain 24 under a state in which the rail cleaning device 4 is mounted to the drive chain 24, a risk of contact of the rail cleaning device 4 with another member can be reduced.
Moreover, the main body 40 is made of the material softer than the material for the teeth 21a of the sprocket 21 or the sprocket 22 around which the drive chain is wound. Accordingly, even when the main body 40 comes into contact with the teeth 21a of the first sprocket 21 or the second sprocket 22, a risk of damage of a device other than the rail cleaning device 4, such as the teeth 21a, can be reduced.
Moreover, the material for the main body 40 is the elastic body. Accordingly, the main body 40 is compressed through tightening of the fastening band 42, thereby being capable of more reliably pressing the cleaning body 41 onto the drive rail 25. Further, even when the thickness 40t of the main body 40 is set larger than the clearance between the link plates 240 arranged on the both sides of the drive roller 241, the main body 40 can be inserted in a compressed manner between the link plates 240. When the thickness of the main body 40 is increased, the width of the cleaning body 41 can be increased, thereby being capable of increasing cleaning efficiency.
The main body 40 in the second embodiment includes an upper main body 401 and a lower main body 402 (cleaning-body base). The upper main body 401 has the same shape as that of the upper portion of the main body 40 in the first embodiment. The lower main body 402 has a semi-cylindrical contour. A lower surface 402a of the lower main body 402 is formed into an arc surface. The cleaning body 41 is provided along the arc surface (lower surface 402a of the lower main body 402). When the drive chain 24 is driven to circulate while the cleaning body 41 is pressed onto the drive rail 25, a posture of the rail cleaning device 4 may be changed by, for example, a frictional force between the drive rail 25 and the cleaning body 41. In a case in which the cleaning body 41 is provided along the arc surface as described above, even when the posture of the rail cleaning device 4 is changed, the cleaning body 41 can be kept being pressed onto the drive rail 25, thereby being capable of avoiding reduction in cleaning efficiency due to the change of the posture of the rail cleaning device 4.
The upper main body 401 and the lower main body 402 are each made of the elastic body. A thickness 40tu of the upper main body 401 is set smaller than the clearance between the link plates 240 arranged on the both sides of the drive roller 241. Meanwhile, a thickness 40td of the lower main body 402 is set larger than the clearance between the link plates 240 arranged on the both sides of the drive roller 241. Even when the thickness 40td of the lower main body 402 is set larger than the clearance between the link plates 240, as illustrated in
In such rail cleaning device 4, the cleaning body 41 is provided along the arc surface. Accordingly, even when the posture of the rail cleaning device 4 is changed, the cleaning body 41 can be kept being pressed onto the drive rail 25, thereby being capable of avoiding reduction in cleaning efficiency due to the change of the posture of the rail cleaning device 4.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2017/020289 | 5/31/2017 | WO | 00 |