Patent Application
20230112950
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202111121110.X, filed Sep. 24, 2021, and all the benefits accruing therefrom under 35 U.S.C. §119, the contents of which in its entirety are herein incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of elevators, in particular to a system and method for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail.
Elevator guide rails are usually required to be provided inside elevator hoistways of various elevator systems. Most elevator guide rails are made of rigid metal materials such as steel and aluminum alloy, and they are installed and fixed to an inner wall of the elevator hoistway through brackets, bolts, etc. They can be used to provide guidance for an elevator car, a counterweight and the like which are moving up and down in the elevator hoistway, and can also provide support for a safety caliper when the safety caliper is braking.
At present, generally, on-site installation of the elevator guide rails is directly completed by manual labor effort. Installers will install and fix various elevator guide rail sections having a corresponding total length to the inner wall of the elevator hoistway in sequence along the elevator hoistway according to an actual height of the elevator hoistway. The above traditional installation method particularly relies on the individual technical levels of the installers, and is defective in terms of guide rail installation accuracy, working efficiency, cost investment, and ensuring comfort and safety of the elevator. In addition, although some technical means have been provided in the prior art to improve the on-site installation operations of the elevator guide rails, they still have shortcomings in terms of device structure, reliability and convenience of use, installation accuracy and efficiency, cost, etc.
In view of the foregoing, the present disclosure provides a system and method for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail, so as to solve or at least alleviate one or more of the above problems and other problems.
First, according to an aspect of the present disclosure, a system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail is provided, which includes:
an adjustment device arranged on a moving platform and having a clamping portion and a powering portion, the clamping portion being arranged to be capable of clamping an elevator guide rail to be installed through a power output from the powering portion and moving in a first direction, a second direction and/or a third direction, and the moving platform being capable of moving up and down in the first direction; a detection device arranged to detect current movement characteristics of the clamping portion when the elevator guide rail is not clamped or has been clamped by the clamping portion; and a control device connected to the detection device and the adjustment device, and arranged to adjust the position of the clamping portion in place by controlling the powering portion according to the movement characteristics so that the clamped elevator guide rail can be positioned and installed at a target position.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail further includes a support device, which is installed on the moving platform and connected to the adjustment device so that the adjustment device is arranged on the moving platform, and which is arranged to abut against at least one side of an elevator hoistway along the second direction at an installation area of the elevator guide rail.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the support device includes at least one bracket, and the support device is installed on the moving platform through the bracket.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the bracket has an assembly portion arranged to be detachably installed on the moving platform.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the support device includes: a body; one or more moving portions connected to the body and arranged on at least one side of the body; and an actuation portion arranged to enable at least a part of the moving portions to move relative to the body in the second direction, so as to adjust a length of the support device in the second direction and make the support device abut against at least one side of the elevator hoistway.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the support device includes two moving portions, which are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the body.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the actuation portion includes a driving member installed on the moving portions to provide power to the moving portions.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the support device and the adjustment device are both arranged substantially along the second direction.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the adjustment device includes a body and one or more moving portions, the moving portions are connected to the body and arranged on at least one side of the body, and the clamping portion is connected to the moving portions.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the adjustment device includes two moving portions, which are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the body.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the powering portion includes a first driving member installed on the moving portions to provide power to the moving portions, and a second driving member installed on the clamping portion to provide power to the clamping portion.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail further includes a connection device arranged between the support device and the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail to enable the adjustment device to move relative to the support device in the first direction and/or the third direction.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the detection device includes at least one position sensor, and the movement characteristics include positions of the clamping portion in the first direction, the second direction and/or the third direction detected by the position sensor.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the position sensor is arranged on the adjustment device and/or the clamped elevator guide rail, data of the positions includes distances between the clamping portion and a reference located in the elevator hoistway in the first direction, the second direction and/or the third direction, and the control device is arranged to control the powering portion to adjust the position of the clamping portion in place by comparing the distances with corresponding distances between the detected target position and the reference in the first direction, the second direction and/or the third direction.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the reference includes a reference line arranged in the elevator hoistway.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the control device is connected to the detection device and/or the adjustment device in a wireless manner, and the control device includes a mobile terminal.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail further includes a display device connected to the control device and arranged to display data related to the movement characteristics and/or provide human-computer interaction operations which include inputting or modifying data related to the target position.
In the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the moving platform is an elevator car, and the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail is detachably installed on a top frame of the elevator car.
Second, according to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for installing and adjusting elevator guide rail is also provided, which includes the steps of: arranging the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail as described in any one of the above items on a moving platform, and making the moving platform run to an installation area of the elevator guide rail; using the detection device to detect current movement characteristics of the clamping portion when the elevator guide rail is not clamped or has been clamped by the clamping portion; and adjusting the position of the clamping portion in place by controlling the powering portion of the adjustment device using the control device according to the detected movement characteristics so that the clamped elevator guide rail can be positioned and installed at a target position.
In the method for installing and adjusting elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, optionally, the method further includes the following step: abutting the support device against at least one side of the elevator hoistway along the second direction at the installation area when the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail is provided with the support device, before using the detection device for detection.
From the following detailed description combined with the accompanying drawings, the principles, characteristics, features, advantages and the like of the technical solutions according to the present disclosure will be clearly understood. The system of the present disclosure has the advantages of simple structure, easy manufacture and disassembly operations, high use effect, etc. It can be arranged in the elevator hoistway very quickly and conveniently to automatically complete operations such as adjustment, positioning and alignment of the elevator guide rail on site, which is advantageous for achieving the efficiency and quality of elevator guide rail installation, and further promotes effective improvements of elevator running quality, safety performance, etc., thus being helpful for guaranteeing the safety of passengers and devices.
The technical solutions of the present disclosure will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. However, it should be understood that these drawings are designed merely for the purpose of explanation and only intended to conceptually illustrate the structural configurations described herein, and are not required to be drawn to scale.
First, it should be noted that the structures, components, characteristics, advantages and the like of the system and method for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure will be described below by way of example. However, it should be understood that neither of the descriptions should be understood as limiting the present disclosure in any way. In this document, technical terms “first” and “second” are only used for distinguishing purposes and are not intended to indicate their order and relative importance. The technical term “connect (or connected, etc.)” covers a situation in which a specific component is directly connected to another component and/or indirectly connected to another component. The above situation is also applicable to technical terms such as “abut” and “support”. The technical term “first direction” corresponds to a vertical/perpendicular direction of the elevator hoistway, and the technical terms “second direction” and “third direction” correspond to one and the other of a horizontal length direction and a horizontal width direction of the elevator hoistway respectively. The above three directions are perpendicular to each other; for ease of description, an exemplary description will be given below in which the “first direction”, “second direction” and “third direction” respectively correspond to the vertical/perpendicular direction, the horizontal length direction and the horizontal width direction of the elevator hoistway.
In addition, for any single technical feature described or implied in the embodiments mentioned herein or any single technical feature shown or implied in individual drawings, the present disclosure still allows for any combination or deletion of these technical features (or equivalents thereof) without any technical obstacle. Therefore, it should be considered that these more embodiments according to the present disclosure are also within the scope recorded in this document. In addition, for the sake of brevity, the same or similar parts and features may only be marked in one or several places in the same drawing, and general items commonly known to those skilled in the art, such as the structural arrangement of existing elevators, the working principles and use of existing detection elements such as various sensors, will not be described in greater detail herein.
Regarding the above-mentioned moving platform, it is arranged to be capable of moving up and down in the vertical/perpendicular direction (i.e., the first direction D1 marked in
As shown in
Referring to
Referring back to
Any feasible structure such as a screw rod, a screw-and-nut, a gear and the like may be adopted for the moving portions 12, and at least one of the moving portions 12 may be equipped with a powering member such as a motor, a hydraulic device and the like for driving the moving portion 12 to move relative to the body 11 in a direction such as the second direction D2. As shown in
In the system 100 for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail shown in
As an example, a general structure of the support device 20 is exemplarily shown in
Any feasible structure such as a screw rod, a screw-and-nut, a gear and the like may be adopted for the moving portions 22, and the above actuation portion can be used to provide power to at least one of the moving portions 22, so as to enable the moving portion 22 to move relative to the body 21 in a direction such as the second direction D2. As such, the length of the support device 20 in the second direction D2 can be adjusted, so that the support device 20 can abut against at least one side of the elevator hoistway. As shown in
As an optional situation, as shown in
In the exemplary system 100 for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail, the detection device 40 is arranged to detect current movement characteristics of the clamping portion that has not clamped the elevator guide rail (such as a plate part 133 or other parts on the clamping portion), or detect the current movement characteristics of the clamping portion that has clamped the elevator guide rail (or can also be understood as movement characteristics of the elevator guide rail 70 (or other associated parts in the adjustment device 10) in contact with the clamping portion at this time; since when the clamping portion has clamped the elevator guide rail, the relative positional relationship between them is determined, their respective movement characteristics have the same or similar meanings herein); such movement characteristics may include but are not limited to, for example, position or distance data, movement speed data, movement speed data, etc. The movement characteristics of the clamping portion detected by the detection device 40 will be provided to the control device 50 so that the control device 50 can make judgment analysis and control operations on a difference between an actual position of the elevator guide rail that has been clamped by the clamping portion or is to be clamped by the clamping portion and a target position, etc.
In actual use, the function of the detection device 40 can be realized by providing one or more sensors. For example, one or more position sensors may be equipped in the system 100 for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail, so as to detect the position of the clamping portion that has not or has clamped the elevator guide rail in the first direction D1, the second direction D2 and/or the third direction D3. As an example, the above-mentioned position sensors may be for example arranged on the adjustment device 10 and/or on the elevator guide rail that has been clamped by the clamping portion, and position data detected by the position sensors may include a distance between the clamping portion and a reference in the elevator hoistway (for example, a reference line arranged in the elevator hoistway, such as a plumb line, laser or infrared rays emitted by a laser device or an infrared device, etc.) in the first direction D1, the second direction D2 and/or the third direction D3.
The control device 50 is the system 100 for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail, and it can be connected with the detection device 40 and the adjustment device 10. As to the specific connection method, wired connection (such as cable direct interconnection using any feasible interface such as RS485 and USB), wireless connection (e.g., using any feasible wireless communication protocol such as WIFI and BlueTooth), etc., may be used separately or in combination.
According to the solution of the present disclosure, the control device 50 may be implemented through components such as PLC single-chip microcomputers, industrial computers, electronic modules, etc., and it can be arranged to receive the movement characteristics of the clamping portion that has not or has clamped the elevator guide rail, detected by the detection device 40, and judge whether the clamping portion is already in a desired position at this time according to the received movement characteristics, so that the elevator guide rail that has been clamped or is to be clamped can be positioned and installed in a target position that meets installation requirements; it is then determined whether it is necessary to control the powering portion in the adjustment device 10 to adjust the position of the clamping portion in the first direction D1, the second direction D2 and/or the third direction D3, thereby promoting the elevator guide rail to be finally positioned and installed in the target position. Automated operations are realized for the entire control process without relying on the individual technical levels and working statuses of the installers as in the prior art, thereby significantly improving the installation accuracy and efficiency and greatly saving the cost. It should be noted that the data related to the above target position (for example, according to the relative position relationship among the target position, the clamping portion and the clamped elevator guide rail, conversion processing can be performed to obtain an expected position where the clamping portion needs to be adjusted in place) can be for example prestored in the control device 50 or other places, or input or modification operations may also be performed at the installation site, which will be discussed later.
In some alternative embodiments, the control device 50 may be configured to: compare detected data of the distance (for example, in the second direction D2 and the third direction D3) between the clamping portion that has not or has clamped the elevator guide rail and the reference (such as a reference line suspended in the elevator hoistway) with the corresponding distance between the expected target position and the reference, so as to obtain a corresponding distance difference; then the powering portion is controlled (for example, the driving member 131 for the clamping portion and the driving member 121 for the moving portion 12 are directly controlled) to adjustably position the clamping portion in place; for example, the above distance difference can be controlled to be within an allowable error range preset according to the installation requirements (such as 0.5 mm, 1 mm, etc.).
It should also be noted that the system 100 for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail may also include a display device 60, which may be optionally integrated with the control device 50 and arranged on the moving platform; for example, they may be installed on one side of the upper part 232 of the bracket 23. The display device 60 can be used to intuitively display the data related to the movement characteristics detected by the detection device 40, and/or the display device 60 can provide an interface for human-machine interaction, so that installers and the like can perform various possible human-computer interaction operations such as inputting or modifying data related to the target position, thus allowing for the possibility of timely, flexible and effective implementation at the installation site. It should be understood that since the present disclosure allows the control device 50, the detection device 40 and/or the adjustment device 10 to be communicatively connected in a wireless manner, the control device 50 and/or the display device 60 may be mobile terminals, such as hand-held controllers with a display screen, or smart phones installed with corresponding control APPs, etc., which make it very convenient for on-site personnel to operate.
With reference to the embodiments shown in
For example, although the adjustment device 10, the support device 20 and the connection device 30 are simultaneously provided in the above system 100 for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail, in some alternative embodiments according to the present disclosure, at least one of the support device 20 and the connection device 30 may be omitted. For example, none of them is provided, and instead, the body 11 of the adjustment device 10 can be directly installed on the moving platform.
For another example, although corresponding powering members can be euqipped to prompt the clamping portion itself to move in the first direction D1, the second direction D2 and/or the third direction D3 or prompt the clamping portion to drive the clamped elevator guide rail to move in the first direction D1, the second direction D2 and/or the third direction D3, the movement of the clamping portion in one or some directions is also allowed to be realized for example through the movement of the adjustment device 10 and the like in the corresponding direction. For example, the movement of the moving portion 22 in the second direction D2 can be realized through the above-mentioned driving member 221 in the adjustment device 10, and thus the movement of the clamping portion connected to the moving portion 22 and the elevator guide rail clamped by the clamping portion (in a case where the elevator guide rail has been clamped) in the second direction D2 can also be realized. Therefore, at this time, the clamping portion can be arranged to move only in the third direction D3 through the powering member connected to it. It should be understood that in the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure, it is allowed to flexibly realize the control of the movement of the elevator guide rail in the first direction D1, the second direction D2 and/or the third direction D3 through a combination of the respective movements of various components in one or some directions, which can finally locate the elevator guide rail in the target position that meets the installation requirements accurately and efficiently.
The system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure has obvious technical advantages such as those described above, so it is very suitable for being promoted and applied to the on-site installation project of elevator guide rails to promote the solution of the drawbacks and problems existing in the prior art including those described above.
The present disclosure also provides a method for installing and adjusting elevator guide rail. As an example, as shown in
In step S10, the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure can be arranged on the moving platform, and the moving platform can be made run to the installation area of the elevator guide rail. As mentioned above, the moving platform may optionally be the elevator car; for example, the installers may carry the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail and arrange it on the top frame of the elevator car for operation.
During the installation of the elevator guide rail, the adjustment device in the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail can be used to clamp the elevator guide rail to be installed at the target position. This can be done after the clamping portion in the adjustment device is adjusted in place. It is also possible to use the clamping portion to clamp the elevator guide rail and then adjust them in place together. During actual installation, the elevator guide rails are usually divided into sections and installed on the side of the elevator hoistway one by one. In some installation situations, mechanical equipment such as a hoist can be used to transport the elevator guide rails to be installed to the corresponding installation areas.
In step S20, the detection device in the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail can be used to detect the current movement characteristics of the clamping portion of the adjustment device. It should be understood that the detected clamping portion may have not clamped the elevator guide rail or may have clamped the elevator guide rail at this time. The technical contents such as the movement characteristics, the structure and operation of the clamping portion and related parts have been described in detail above, so reference may be directly made to the specific description of the corresponding parts, and a repeated description will be omitted herein.
In step S30, the position of the clamping portion is adjusted in place by controlling the powering portion of the adjustment device using the control device according to the movement characteristics detected by the detection device so that the elevator guide rail that has been clamped by the clamping portion or will be clamped by the clamping portion can be positioned and installed at the target position. In this way, the installers can use connectors such as bolts or other feasible connection means to install the positioned elevator guide rail in place, and then the moving platform is made run to the installation area of the next section of elevator guide rail. Then, the above corresponding operation steps are repeated. In this way, the installation work of the elevator guide rail can be completed.
As a further example, as mentioned above, since in some embodiments of the system according to the present disclosure, a support device may be provided in the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail. In this case, before the detection device in the system for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail is used for detection, the support device is abutted against at least one side of the elevator hoistway along the second direction D2 at the installation area of the elevator guide rail, so that the support device can provide a relatively more favorable support stability for the adjustment device, etc., which is helpful for promoting a further improvement of the accuracy and efficiency of the adjustment, positioning and installation operations, etc.
The system and method for adjustably positioning elevator guide rail according to the present disclosure have been elaborated above in detail by way of example only. These examples are merely used to illustrate the principles and embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than limiting the present disclosure. Various modifications and improvements can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, all equivalent technical solutions should fall within the scope of the present disclosure and be defined by the claims of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202111121110.X | Sep 2021 | CN | national |
