Claims
- 1. A rope monitoring assembly for an elevator system having a car and a plurality of ropes, each of the plurality of ropes engaged with the car, the rope monitoring assembly including a plurality of tension sensors, each tension sensor engaged with one of the ropes and providing an output that corresponds to the tension within that rope, and a device that compares the relative levels of tension within the plurality of ropes.
- 2. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 1, wherein the device is a controller, wherein the plurality of tension sensors communicate with the controller, and wherein the controller monitors the sensed level of tension in each rope.
- 3. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 2, wherein the controller generates a warning signal if one of the plurality of tension sensors indicates that the tension within the rope engaged with that tension sensor deviates from a predetermined value.
- 4. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 2, wherein the controller compares the sensed level of tension within the plurality of ropes and generates a warning signal if the tension within one of the plurality of ropes deviates from the level of tension in the other of the plurality of ropes by more than a predetermined value.
- 5. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 2, wherein the controller compares the sensed level of tension within the plurality of ropes with the mean tension in the plurality of ropes and generates a warning signal if the tension within one of the plurality of ropes deviates from the mean level of tension in the plurality of ropes by more than a predetermined value.
- 6. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 2, wherein the controller compares the sensed level of tension within the plurality of ropes, determines the maximum sensed level of tension and the minimum sensed level of tension, and generates a warning signal if the range between the maximum sensed level of tension and the minimum sensed level of tension is greater than a predetermined value.
- 7. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 1, wherein the outputs of the plurality of tension sensors are communicated to a remote monitoring device.
- 8. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 3, wherein the warning signal is communicated to a remote monitoring device.
- 9. A rope monitoring assembly for an elevator system having a car, a counterweight, a sheave and a plurality of ropes, each of the plurality of ropes engaged with the car, the counterweight and the sheave to define a car side and a counterweight side of the ropes, the rope monitoring assembly including a plurality of tension sensors, each tension sensor engaged with one of the ropes and providing an output that corresponds to the tension within that rope, and wherein the plurality of tension sensors includes a first group of tension sensors engaged with the ropes and positioned on the car side of the ropes, and a second group of tension sensors engaged with the ropes and positioned on the counterweight side of the ropes, such that there is a pair of tension sensors engaged with each rope.
- 10. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 9, further including a controller, wherein the plurality of tension sensors communicate with the controller, and wherein the controller monitors the sensed level of tension from each tension sensor.
- 11. The rope monitoring assembly according to claim 10, wherein the controller generates a warning signal if one of the pairs of tension sensors indicates that the tension within the rope deviates from one side of the sheave to the opposite side of the sheave by more than a predetermined value.
- 12. A method to monitor ropes for an elevator system, the elevator system including a car and a plurality of ropes, each of the plurality of ropes engaged with the car, the method including the steps of:
- operating the elevator system;
- sensing the tension in each of the plurality of ropes during the operation of the elevator system; and
- comparing the relative levels of tension within the plurality of ropes.
- 13. The method according to claim 12, further including the step of generating a warning signal if the sensed tension in one of the plurality of ropes deviates from a predetermined value.
- 14. The method according to claim 12, further including the step of generating a warning signal if the tension within one of the plurality of ropes deviates from the level of tension in the other of the plurality of ropes by more than a predetermined value.
- 15. The method according to claim 12, further including the steps of determining the mean tension in the plurality of ropes, comparing the sensed level of tension within each of the plurality of ropes with the mean tension, and generating a warning signal if the tension within one of the plurality of ropes deviates from the mean level of tension by more than a predetermined value.
- 16. The method according to claim 12, further including the steps of comparing the sensed level of tension within the plurality of ropes, determining the maximum sensed level of tension, determining the minimum sensed level of tension, and generating a warning signal if the range between the maximum sensed level of tension and the minimum sensed level of tension is greater than a predetermined value.
- 17. The method according to claim 12, further including the step of communicating the sensed tension levels to a remote monitoring device.
- 18. The method according to claim 13, further including the step of communicating the warning signal to a remote monitoring device.
- 19. A method to monitor ropes for an elevator system the elevator system including a car, a counterweight, a sheave, and a plurality of ropes each of the plurality of ropes engaged with the car, the counterweight and the sheave to define a car side and a counterweight side of the ropes, the method including the steps of:
- operating the elevator system; and
- sensing the tension in each of the plurality of ropes during the operation of the elevator system wherein the step of sensing the tension in the plurality of ropes includes sensing the tension of the ropes on the car side, and sensing the tension on the counterweight side.
- 20. The method according to claim 19, further including the step of generating a warning signal if the tension within the rope deviates from one side of the sheave to the opposite side of the sheave by more than a predetermined value.
- 21. The method according to claim 12, further including the step of shutting down the operation of the elevator system if the sensed tension levels indicate a slack-rope condition for the elevator system.
- 22. The rope monitoring system according to claim 1, further including a position reference system, and wherein the device monitors the tensions in the ropes continuously during operation of the elevator system to detect changes in the sensed levels of rope tensions and coordinates the sensed change in tension with the position reference system such that the location of the change may be determined.
- 23. The rope monitoring system according to claim 9, further including a position reference system and a device that monitors the tensions in the ropes continuously during operation of the elevator system to detect changes in the sensed levels of rope tensions and that coordinates the sensed change in tension with the position reference system such that the location of the change may be determined.
- 24. The method according to claim 12, wherein the elevator system further includes a position reference system, and wherein the step of sensing the tensions in the ropes is performed continuously during operation of the elevator system to detect changes in the sensed levels of rope tensions, and including a step of determining the location of the sensed change in tension by coordinating sensing of the change in tension with the position reference system.
- 25. The method according to claim 19, wherein the elevator system further includes a position reference system, and wherein the step of sensing the tensions in the ropes is performed continuously during operation of the elevator system to detect changes in the sensed levels of rope tensions, and including a step of determining the location of the sensed change in tension by coordinating sensing of the change in tension with the position reference system.
- 26. The rope monitoring system according to claim 9, wherein one end of the ropes is secured to the car, such that the car side of the ropes extends from the sheave to the car, and wherein the tension sensors are disposed to sense the tension in the ropes between the sheave and car.
- 27. The rope monitoring system according to claim 9, wherein one end of the ropes is secured to the counterweight, such that counterweight side of the ropes extends from the sheave to the counterweight, and wherein the tension sensors are disposed to sense the tension in the ropes between the sheave and counterweight.
- 28. The method according to claim 19, wherein one end of the ropes is secured to the car, such that the car side of the ropes extends from the sheave to the car, and wherein the step of sensing the tension of the ropes on the car side includes sensing the tension in the ropes between the sheave and car.
- 29. The method according to claim 19, wherein one end of the ropes is secured to the counterweight, such that counterweight side of the ropes extends from the sheave to the counterweight, and wherein the step of sensing the tension of the ropes on the counterweight side includes sensing the tension in the ropes between the sheave and the counterweight.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of prior patent application Ser. No. 08/655,043 entitled "System For Sensing Unequal Tension in Elevator Ropes" filed May 28, 1996 (now abandoned) and assigned to Applicants' Assignee. This pending application is incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0154288 |
Mar 1982 |
DEX |
1-152316 |
Jun 1989 |
JPX |
3-98975 |
Apr 1991 |
JPX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
655043 |
May 1996 |
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