WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
ELEVATOR AND ARRANGEMENT
The present invention relates to an elevator as de-
fined in the preamble of claim 1 and to an arrangement
as defined in the preamble of claim 4.
5 One of the objectives in elevator development work is
to achieve an efficient and economical utilization of
building apace. In recent years, this development work
has produced various elevator solutions without ma-
chine room, among other things. Elevators applying
10 these solutions are fairly efficient in respect of
space utilization as they have made it possible to
eliminate the space needed for the machine room in the
building without enlarging the elevator shaft. In
these basically good elevator solutions, the space and
15 placement of the hoisting function limits the freedom
of choice in elevator lay-out solutions, A major lim-
iting factor is the placement of the counterweight and
the space it requires in the elevator shaft. Drum
driven elevators, which are nowadays rather seldom in-
20 stalled, have the drawbacks of heavy and complicated
hoisting machines and their large power and/or torque
requirement. Prior-art elevators without counterweight
are exotic and no proper solutions are known. So far
it has not been tochnically or economically reasonable
25 to make elevators without counterweight. One solution
like this is disclosed in specification No98O6655. The
recent international patent application PCT/FI03/00818
discloses a feasible elevator solution without coun-
terweight that differs from prior-art solutions and
30 uses a large suspension ratio for suspending the ele-
vator car on the hoisting ropes. Creating a traction,
sheave elevator without counterweight and with a large
number of rope portions of hoisting ropes going down-
wards from the diverting pulleys of the elevator car
35 and rope portions going upwards from the diverting

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
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pulleys of the elevator car is a challenging task in
resect of roping layout and balancing of the car.
The general aim of the invention is to achieve at
least one the following objectives. An objective of
5 the invention is to develop the elevator without ma-
chine room so as to achieve more efficient space
utilization in the building and in the elevator shaft
than before. This means that the elevator should per-
mit of being installed in a relatively narrow elevator
10 shaft if necessary. One objective is to achieve an
elevator in which the elevator hoisting rope has a
good hold/grip on the traction sheave. A further ob-
jective of the invention is to create an elevator so-
lution without counterweight without compromising on
15 the properties of the elevator. It is also an objec-
tive of the invention to achieve a more efficient
utilisation of the elevator shaft spaces above and be-
low the elevator car than before in the case of eleva-
tors without counterweight and at the saws time to
20 maintain a possibility to work in the elevator shaft.
A specific objective is to create an elevator with
symmetrical suspension of the elevator car on the
hoisting ropes.
The objective or objectives of the invention should be
25 achieved without compromising on the possibility of
varying the basic layout of the elevator.
The elevator of the invention is characterized by what
is disclosed in the characterization part of claim 1.
The arrangement of the invention is characterised by
30 what is disclosed in the characterization part of
claim 4. Other embodiments of the invention are char-
acterised by what is disclosed in the other claims.
Inventive embodiments are also presented in the de-
scription part of the present application. The inven-

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
3
tive content disclosed in the application can also be
defined in other ways than is dons in the claims below.
The inventive content may also consist of several sepa-
rate inventions, especially if the invention is consid-
3 ered in the light of expressed or implicit sub-tasks or
in respect of advantages or sets of advantages
achieved. Features of different embodiments and appli-
cations of the invention may also be combined in other
ways besides those described here. Some of the attrib-
10 utes contained in the claims below may be superfluous
from the point of view of separate inventive concepts.
The elevator without counterweight makes efficient use
of the cross-sectional area of the shaft, and this ef-
ficiency can be improved by reducing the distance be-
15 tween the car wall and the shaft wall. By using an ad-
vantages roping solution, the shaft spaces above and
below the elevator car can be reduced to a fairly
small size. When a high rope transmission ratio is
used, the roping can be advantageously made sytmmetri-
20 cal or nearly symmetrical relative to the car, thus
allowing uncomplicated installation.
Mounted on the car frame of the elevator car of the
elevator of the invention are diverting pulleys from
which the hoisting ropes go downwards and diverting
25 pulleys from which the hoisting ropes go upwards. The
rope tension in the upward rope portions is greater
than the rope tension in the downward rope portions.
By placing the diverting pulleys for the downward rope
portions at a greater average distance frrom the car
30 frame than the diverting pulleys for the upward rope
portions, the tilting moment acting on the car due to
the tighter ropes can be compensated, unless the tilt-
ing moment can be otherwise handled conveniently by
symmetrical disposition of the diverting pulleys. Via
35 suitable placement of just one or two diverting pul-

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
4
leys, it is possible to eliminate the tilting moment,
A preferable method is to use an arrangement whereby
the tilting moments produced by two diverting pulleye
on the car frame cancel each other.
5 By applying the invention, one or more of the follow-
ing advantages, among others, can be achieved:
the invention provides a simple method of imple-
meriting a centric suspension of the elevator car of
an elevator without counterweight
10 - in the elevator of the invention, no separate steel
Ptructares reducing the shaft space above the ele-
vator car are needed at the upper end of the eleva-
tor shaft
at the lower end of the elevator shaft below the
15 elevator car no space is needsd for diverting pul-
leys or other devices required for suspension, and
consequently a shallow pit at the lower end of the
elevator shaft will be sufficient
in the elevator of the invention, no upward or
20 downward rope portions or diverting pulleys are
needed in the parts directly above and below the
elevator car because the transverse passages of the
hoisting ropes take place in conjunction with the
elevator car, so the shaft spaces required above
25 and below the elevator can be made shallow
by applying the invention, efficient utilization of
the cross-sectional area of the shaft is achieved
although the invention is primarily intended for
use in elevators without machine room, it can also
30 be applied for use in elevators with machine room,
in which case the hoisting ropes have to be passed
separately via the hoisting machine in the machine

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
5
roam or the traction sheave of the hoisting machine
has to be arranged to be mounted in the elevator
shaft
-Preferable suspension ratios above and below the
5 elevator car are 2:1, 6:1, 10:1 and so on. Other
suspension ratios may also be used, e.g. 8:l or
other even ratios. If the end of the hoisting ropes
in the rope suspension is secured to the elevator
car, the suspension ratio may be an odd ratio, e.g.
10 7:1 or 9:1,
Symmetrical suspension of the elevator car relative
to the elevator car is easily achieved at least in
the preferred embodiments of the invention.
installation and maintenance of the diverting pul-
15 leys of the elevator are easy to implement as these
are secured in place by means of fastening ele-
ments.
The primary area of application of the invention is
elevators designed for transporting people and/or
30 freight. A normal area of application of the invention
is in elevators whose speed range is about or below
1.0 m/s but may also be higher. For example, an eleva-
tor traveling at a speed of 0.5 m/s is easy to imple-
ment, according to the invention.
25 In the elevator of the invention, normal elevator
ropes, such as generally used steel wire ropes, are
applicable. The elevator may use ropes of synthetic
material and rope structures with a synthetic-fiber
load-bearing part, such as e.g. so-called "aramid"
30 ropes, which have recently been proposed for use in
elevators. Applicable solutions are also steel-
reinforced flat belts, especially because of the small
deflection, radius they permit. Particularly advanta-

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
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geously applicable for use in the elevator of the in-
vention are elevator hoisting ropes twisted from e.g.
round and strong wires. In this way it is possible to
achieve thinner ropes and, due to the smaller rope
5 thicknesses, also smaller diverting pulleys and drive
sheaves. For example, thin-wired and strong 4-mm ropes
can be twisted relatively advantageously from wires
such that the average wire thickness in the finished
ropes is between 0.15 - 0.25 mm, wherein the thinnest
10 wires may have a thickness of only about 0.1 mm.
The elevator of the invention is a traction sheave
elevator without counterweight and with an elevator
car guided by guide rails and suspended by means of
diverting pulleys on a set of hoisting ropes in such
15 manner that that the set of hoisting ropes of the ele-
vator comprises rope portions going upwards amd down-
wards from the elevator car. The elevator comprises a
number of diverting pulleys in the upper and lower
parts of the elevator shaft. The elevator has a drive
20 machine provided with a traction sheave and placed in
the elevator shaft. The elevator comprises a compen-
sating device acting on the hoisting ropes to equalise
and/or compensate the rope tension and/or rope elonga-
tion. The elevator car has diverting pulleys mounted
25 on it near the two side walls. In the elevator of the
invention, the rope portions going from the traction
sheave, from the diverting pulleys in the lower part
of the elevator shaft and from the diverting pulleys
in the upper part of the elevator shaft to the divert-
30 ing pulleys mounted on the elevator car extend sub-
stantially vertically. In the elevator, the rope por-
tions connecting the rope portions extending from one
side of the elevator car to the other side are rope
portions between diverting pulleys mounted near dif-
35 ferent side walls of the elevator car.

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
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In the following, the invention will be described in
detail with reference to a few embodiment examples and
the attached drawings, wherein
Fig, 1 is a diagram representing the elevator car
5 of an elevator applying the invention,
Fig, 2 is a diagram illustrating the rigging of the
elevator of the invention.
Fig, 3 presents the car supporting frame of the in-
vention on the bottom of the shaft,
10 Fig. 4 presents the car supporting frame of the in-
vention, extended to a height at which the
car can be installed in the frame, and
Fig, 5 presents the car supporting frame of the in-
vention in a collapsed form.
15 Fig. 1 presents an elevator car 1 with a car frame. In
the figure, the car is shown in a partial view. Placed
in the upper part of the car frame are diverting pul-
leys 9 mounted on the overhead beam to direct the
ropes downwards and diverting pulleys 8 mounted on the
20 overhead beam to direct the ropes upwards, the said
diverting pulleys belonging to a set of downward-
direct lag diverting pulleys 39 or a set of upward-
directing diverting pulleys 38, respectively. The up-
ward- and downward-directing diverting pulleys on the
25 overhead beam are secured to branches 10 of the over-
head beam, The placement of the diverting pulley on
the branch determines the lever arm from the plane of
the car frame at or near which the elevator guides are
located. On the other hand, a force proportional to
30 the rope tension is transmitted via the diverting pul-
leys to the car frame. By adapting the length of the
lever arm according to the forces caused by the rope

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
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tensions, it is possible to reduce or even eliminate
the tilting moment produced by the rope forces and
tending to tilt the car.
The edges of the ceiling of the car axe beveled in
5 such, manner that the ceiling is lower in the vicinity
of the side walls of the car. In this way, more effi-
cient utilization of shaft space is achieved as it is
possible to place the machine, overspeed governor
and/or other shaft equipment at the sides of the upper
10 part of the car, even if there is not enough space for
these devices or equipment between the car wall and
the shaft wall, or at least to ensure in this way that
they have a sufficient distance from the elevator car
as required by the safety regulations even in a case
15 where the car is located at the highest possible posi-
tion.
Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the roping
in an elevator according to the invention. The eleva-
tor is preferably an elevator without machine room in
20 which the drive machine 40 is placed in the elevator
shaft. The elevator presented in the figures is a
traction sheave elevator with machine above and with-
out counterweight in which the elevator car 1 moves
along guide rails 2.
aS Fig. 2 showe how the ropes in an elevator implemented
according to the invention are passed over different
diverting pulleys and the rope wheels of the hoisting
machine, and Fig, 3, 4 and 5 show the car supporting
frame 30, which in Fig. 4 is presented in a length
30 that allows the car to be installed inside the frame
and in Fig. 5 in collapsed or low form allowing easy
transportation of the frame, as far as the frame is
transported as a complete assembly, with diverting
pulleys mounted on it, allowing the ropes to be easily

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
9
passed to them when the car supporting frame is on the
bottom of the elevator shaft 31 as illustrated in Fig.
3. The car supporting frame is provided with guides
32, by means of which the car is positioned and con-
5 trolled as it is moving vertically along the elevator
guide rails 33. The upper part 34 and lower part 35 of
the car supporting frame are telescopically joined to-
gether by beam sections 36 and 37 of the side beams of
the car frame, the sections being insertable into each
10 other. The telescopic or otherwise varisble-length
joining together of the upper and lower parts can also
be implemented in other ways. The car supporting frame
is provided with diverting pulleys intended for the
suspension of the elevator car on the ropes, compris-
151 ing a first set of diverting pulleys 36, from which
the ropes of the sat of hoisting ropes go upwards, and
a second set of diverting pulleys 39, from which the
ropes of the set of hoisting ropes go downwards. Fig.
3 shows the diverting pulleys 42 to be installed in
20 the upper part of the shaft but which are temporarily
mounted on the car supporting frame, the hoisting ma-
chine 40 with a traction sheave (not shown) and pref-
erably an auxiliary diverting pulley 41, which allows
the roping on the machine to be implemented as so-
25 called Double Wrap roping or the contact angle between
the traction sheave and the ropes to be changed in
other ways. In Fig. 2, the set of boisting ropes 44 iS
depicted as a single rope with arrowheads indicating
the passage of the rope, starting from the rope end
30 fixing point 45 in the lower part of the shaft and fi-
nally ending up at a rope force differentiating ar-
rangement 46, which consists of a tackle system de-
signed to maintain the relative rope tension differ-
ence between the rope portions above and below the
35 elevator car. The rope force differentiating arrange-
ment can also be implemented in other ways, which may

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
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involve a different solution regarding the fixing of
the rope ends. Starting from the fixing point 45, the
ropes go first to a rope wheel comprised in the dif-
ferentiating arrangement 46, then continuing first to
5. the diverting pulley 43 in the lower part of the
shaft, from where the rope goes further to a down-
direction diverting pulley 39 on the car and further,
passing one fey one over the diverting pulleys in the
lower part of the shaft and the down-direction divert-
10 ing pulleys of the car, until from the list diverting
pulley in the lower part of the shaft the ropes go up
to the machine 40. From the machine 40, the ropes run
further to the first up-direction diverting pulley 38
on the car, passing by turns over the diverting pul-
15 leys 42 in the upper part of the ahaft and each up-
direction diverting pulley 38 on the car until from
the last diverting pulley in the upper part of the
shaft the ropes terminate at the differentiating ar-
rangement 46.
20 It is obvious to the person skilled in the art that
different embodiments of the invention are not limited
to the examples described above, but that they may be
varied within the scope of the claims presented below.
For example, the number of times the hoisting ropes
25 are passed between the diverting pulleys in the upper.
part of the elevator shaft and those on the elevator
car and between the diverting pulleys in the lower
part of the elevator shaft and these on the elevator
car is not a very decisive question as regards the ba-
30 sic advantages of the invention, although it is possi-
ble to achieve some additional advantages by using
multiple and even numbers of rope portions. It is also
obvious to the skilled person that an embodiment ac-
cording to the invention can also be implemented using
35 odd suspension ratios above and below the elevator
car, in which case the compensating device is mounted

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
11
in conjunction with the elevator car or its struc-
tures. In accordance with the examples described
above, a skilled person can vary the embodiment of the
invention as the traction sheaves and rope pulleys,
5 instead of being coated metal pulleys, may also be un-
coated metal pulleys or uncoated pulleys made of some
other material suited to the purpose.
It is also obvious to the person skilled in the art
that the elevator car and the machine unit may be laid
10 out in the cross-section of the elevator shaft in a
manner differing from the lay-out described in the ex-
amples. The skilled person also understands that ele-
vator car may refer to a self-supporting car struc-
ture, an assembly consisting of an elevator car and a
15 car supporting frame, or also a car structure mounted
inside a car supporting frame.
It is obvious to the skilled person that an elevator
applying the invention may be equipped differently
from the examples described above. It is further obvi-
20 ous to the skilled person that the elevator of the in-
vention can be implemented using as hoisting ropes al-
most any flexible hoisting means, e.g. a flexible rope
of one or more strande, a flat belt, a cogged belt, a
trapezoidal belt or some other type of belt suited to
25 the purpose.
It is further obvious to the skilled person that the
elevator of the invention may also be provided with a
counterweight, in which case the counterweight of the
elevator preferably has a weight below that of the car
30 and is suspended by a separate set of ropes. The
skilled person understands that an elevator shaft is
not strictly necessary for the elevator, provided that
sufficient safety and protection of the technical
parts are achieved.

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12
CLAIMS
1, An elevator which has an elevator car with a car
frame on which are mounted a first set of diverting
5 pullays from which, the hoisting ropes go downwards
and a second set of diverting pulleys from which
the hoisting ropes go upwards, and in which eleva-
tor the rope tension in the rope portions going
from the diverting pulleys of the first set is
10 smallex than the rope tension in the rope portions
going from the diverting pulleys of the second set
by a specified ratio, characterised in that
the diverting pulleys of the first set are at a
larger average distance from the car frame than
15 the diverting pulleys of the second set.
2. An elevator according to claim 1, characterized in
that at least one of the diverting pulleys of the
first set is at a larger distance from the car
10 frame than any one of the diverting pulleya of the
second set.
3. An elevator according to claim 1 or 2, character-
ized in that the diverting pulleys are disposed
25 symmetrically on the same sides of the elevator car
as the guide rails.
4. An arrangement in an elevator car with a car frame
on which are mounted a first set of diverting pul-
30 leys from which the elevator hoisting ropes go
downwards and a second set of diverting pulleys
from which the elevator hoisting ropes go upwards,
said second set comprising at least one second di-
verting pulley, in which elevator the rope tension
35 in the rope portions going from the diverting pul-
leys of the first set is smaller than the rope ten-
sion in the rope portions going front the diverting

WO 2005/047159 PCT/FI2004/000660
13
pulleys of the second set by a specified ratio,
characterised in that the distance of the second
diverting pulley from the plane of the car frame is
smaller than the distance of the first diverting
5 pulley from the plane of the car frame substan-
tially by the same specified ratio as the rope ten-
sion in the rope portions going from the diverting
pulleys of the first set is smaller than the rope
tension in the rope portions going from the divert-
10 ing pulleys of the second set.
5. An arrangement according to claim 4, characterized
in that the arrangement preferably comprises at
least one bracket for supporting at least one di-
15 verting pulley.
6. An arrangement according to claim 4 or 5, charac-
terised in that the tension of the ropes going up-
wards is preferably at least twice as great as the
20 force of the ropes going downwards.
7. An arrangement according to claim 10, characterised
in that the tilting moment acting an the frame
structure is preferably about zero.
25

An elevator having an elevator car
with a car frame on which are mounted a first set
of diverting pulleys from which the hoisting ropes
go downwards and a second set of diverting pul-
leys from which the hoisting ropes go upwards.
The rope tension in the rope pordons going from
the diverting pulleys of the first set is smaller than
the rope tension in the rope portion going from
the diverting pulleys of the second set by a speci-
fied ratio. According to the invention the divert-
ing polleys of the first set are at a larger avarage
distance from the car frame than the diverting pul-
leys of the second set. In a possible inventive ar-
rangement the distance of an up-direction divert-
ing pulley from the car frame is smaller by a speci-
fied ratio than the distance a corresponding down-
direction diverting pulley.