ELEVATOR SAFETY SYSTEM ADAPTING TO EMERGENCY EVENT IN BUILDING
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0001]
The present invention relates to an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event in a building, which system allows an elevator to continue its operation as long as passenger's safety can be ensured even when an emergency event such as a fire occurs. Particularly, it relates to a unit which can change the operating zone of an elevator car variably in accordance with the situation of an emergency event.
2. Description of the Background Art
[0002]
When a fire occurs in a building, a conventional elevator safety system is generally designed to stop an elevator car in a nearest floor and then make the elevator car stand by as it is without automatic restoration in order to prevent a secondary emergency event from being caused by operation of the elevator. As to an elevator safety system provided in a high-rise building or the like, it is however difficult to evacuate a large number of building users smoothly by using stairs at the time of occurrence of a fire and a technique concerned with fire retarding division or the like has been improved in a recent building. Therefore, there has been
recently proposed an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, which system allows an elevator car to continue its operation while restricting floors at which the elevator car can be stopped (e.g. see JP-A-2009-234778) .
[0003]
In addition, a technique for providing a mechanical limit switch in a predetermined position on a hoistway as a safety device for preventing an elevator car from going beyond a terminal position set in the highest portion or the lowest portion of the hoistway has been heretofore known (e.g. see JP-A-2007-153476).
[0004]
Further, a technique for setting a virtual limit switch and a virtual buffer for diagnosing a terminal floor forced decelerating device so that a braking and decelerating unit is diagnosed safely without operation of an actual buffer has been heretofore known (e.g. see JP-A-2008-127180) .
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006]
In the technique described in JP-A-2009-234778, however configuration is made so that an evacuation-aid device made of a computer is used for forming an evacuation plan and setting floors at which the elevator car can be stopped, and an elevator control device is actuated based on the evacuation plan to stop the elevator car in the thus set car stop floors. Accordingly,
the elevator car which goes beyond the car stop floors and approaches the fire occurrence floor cannot be stopped when some fault occurs in the elevator control device because of heat, smoke, etc. Moreover, the technique described in JP-A-2009-234778 is placed on the assumption that the elevator car is in a normally operable state. Accordingly, when, for example, passengers exceeding the maximum loading weight get into the elevator car to cause overweight so that the main rope slips on the sheave, the elevator car cannot be stopped at a predetermined stop floor by the elevator control device so that the elevator car going beyond the car stop floor and approaching the fire occurrence floor cannot be stopped.
[0007]
As described in JP-A-2007-153476, an overrun of the elevator car can be prevented surely when a mechanical limit switch is provided on the hoistway. It is however, in fact, difficult to change the setting position of the mechanical limit switch appropriately in accordance with the fire occurrence floor. Accordingly, even when the technique described in JP-A-2007-153476 is applied as it is, it is impossible to construct an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, which system can adopt an emergency event occurring in any floor.
[0008] On the other hand, as described in JP-A-2008-127180, when
configuration is made so that a virtual limit switch is set, it is possible to change the setting position of the virtual limit switch appropriately in principle, differently from the case where a mechanical limit switch is used. However, in the technique described in JP-A-2008-127180, configuration is made so that the virtual limit switch is set in a specific position on the hoistway. Accordingly, even when the technique described in JP-A-2008-127180 is applied as it is, it is still impossible to construct an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, which system can adopt an emergency event occurring in any floor. [0009]
The present invention has been accomplished in consideration of such actual circumstances in the background art. An ob j ect of the invention is to provide an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, which system can ensure safety of passengers in an elevator car even if such a fault that an elevator control device does not work properly occurs in evacuation operation at the time of occurrence of an emergency event.
[0010]
To achieve the foregoing object, a first elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the invention includes: an emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit which detects a floor in which an emergency event occurs in
a building; a car position detecting unit which detects the position of an elevator car on a hoistway; an emergency final limit position setting unit which sets at least one emergency final limit position of the elevator car in accordance with the emergency event occurrence floor detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit and the elevator car position detected by the car position detecting unit; an emergency stop determining unit which determines whether the elevator car position detected by the car position detecting unit goes beyond the emergency final limit position set by the emergency final limit position setting unit or not; and an emergency stop unit which brings the elevator car to an emergency stop when the emergency stop determining unit determines that the elevator car position goes beyond the emergency final limit position and approaches the floor in which the emergency event occurs.
[0011]
In addition, according to the invention, there is provided the first elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, wherein: the emergency final limit position setting unit sets the emergency final limit position to be on an upper side of the floor in which the emergency event occurs when the floor in which the emergency event occurs is on a lower side of the elevator car position, but the emergency final limit position setting unit sets the emergency final limit position to be on
a lower side of the floor in which the emergency event occurs when the floor in which the emergency event occurs is on an upper side of the elevator car position.
[0012]
In addition, according to the invention, there is provided the first elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, wherein: the emergency final limit position of the elevator car in the case where the floor in which the emergency event occurs is on the lower side of the elevator car position is a position where the elevator car can be stopped at an evacuation floor set to be on the upper side of the floor in which the emergency event occurs, but the emergency final limit position of the elevator car in the case where the floor in which the emergency event occurs is on the upper side of the elevator car position is a position where the elevator car can be stopped at an evacuation floor set to be on the lower side of the floor in which the emergency event occurs.
[0013]
According to the invention, there is provided the first elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, wherein: when there are a plurality of emergency event occurrence floors detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit, the emergency final limit position is set based on one of the emergency event occurrence floors which is nearest to the elevator car position detected by the car position detecting
unit.
[0014]
In addition, according to the invention, there is provided the first elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, wherein: a vertical difference between the emergency event occurrence floor detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit and the emergency final limit position set by the emergency final limit position setting unit is constant regardless of the number of emergency event occurrence floors.
[0015]
In addition, according to the invention, there is provided the first elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, wherein: a vertical difference between the emergency event occurrence floor detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit and the emergency final limit position set by the emergency final limit position setting unit is set to increase as the number of emergency event occurrence floors increases.
[0016]
In addition, according to the invention, there is provided the first elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, wherein: the emergency final limit position setting unit repeats setting of the emergency final limit position at intervals of a predetermined time to update the previously set emergency
final limit position.
[0017]
In addition, according to the invention, there is provided the first elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, wherein: an electro-mechanical brake and an electrical safety gear for gripping the elevator car to a guide rail are provided as the emergency stop unit; the emergency final limit position setting unit sets, as the emergency final limit position, a first emergency final limit position and a second emergency final limit position nearer to the emergency event occurrence floor than the first emergency final limit position when the emergency event occurrence floor is on a lower side of the current elevator car position; and the emergency stop unit actuates the electro-mechanical brake to bring the elevator car to an emergency stop when the emergency stop determining unit determines that the elevator car position goes beyond the first emergency final limit position and approaches the emergency event occurrence floor, but the emergency stop unit actuates the electrical safety gear to bring the elevator car to an emergency stop when the emergency stop determining unit determines that the elevator car position goes beyond the second emergency final limit position and approaches the emergency event occurrence floor.
[0018]
In addition, to achieve the foregoing object, a second
elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the invention, includes : an emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit which detects a floor in which an emergency event occurs in a building; a car position detecting unit which detects the current position of an elevator car on a hoistway; an elevator speed detecting unit which detects the speed of the elevator car; a storage unit which stores an over speed limit of the elevator car in accordance with the floor in which the emergency event occurs in the building and the current position of the elevator car; an over speed limit setting unit which reads from the storage unit the over speed limit of the elevator car in accordance with the emergency event occurrence floor detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit and the current elevator car position detected by the car position detecting unit, and stores the over speed limit of the elevator car; an emergency stop determining unit which determines whether the elevator car speed detected by the elevator speed detecting unit exceeds the over speed limit set by the over speed limit setting unit or not; and an emergency stop unit which brings the elevator car to an emergency stop when the emergency stop determining unit determines that the elevator car speed exceeds the over speed limit.
[0019]
In addition, according to the invention, there is provided the secondelevator safety systemadapting to an emergency event,

wherein: the over speed limit setting unit sets the over speed limit so that the elevator car is brought to an emergency stop in a position between the emergency event occurrence floor and the elevator car position.
[0020]
In addition, according to the invention, there is provided the second elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, wherein: the over speed limit setting unit sets the over speed limit corresponding to the elevator car position with respect to a hoistway zone between the emergency event occurrence floor and the current elevator car position.
[0021]
According to the invention, the emergency stop position of the elevator car is set based on the floor in which an emergency event such as a fire occurs and the current position of the elevator car, and the emergency stop unit is actuated to bring the elevator car to an emergency stop in the set emergency stop position. Accordingly, in the case where operation of the elevator is continued as long as passengers in the elevator car can be ensured safe at the time of occurrence of an emergency event, the elevator can be brought to an emergency stop in a safe position before the elevator car will arrive at the emergency event occurrence floor even if the elevator car approaches the emergency event occurrence floor because a fault occurs in the elevator control device, the main rope, etc. for
some reason. Accordingly, passengers in the elevator car can be ensured safe.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022]
Fig. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to an embodiment of the invention;
Fig. 2 is a control block diagram of the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the embodiment;
Figs. 3(a) to 3(c) are views showing the effect of the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the embodiment;
Fig. 4 is a flow chart showing an emergency final limit position setting process in the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the embodiment;
Figs. 5(a) and 5(b) are views showing examples of emergency final limit positions set in accordance with the flow chart of Fig. 4;
Figs. 6(a) to 6(c) are views showing an example of change of the emergency final limit position in the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the embodiment;
Fig. 7 is a control block diagram of an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to another
embodiment of the invention; and
Fig. 8 is a graph showing characteristic of the over speed limit value in the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the other embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0023]
An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to an embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In a conventional elevator safety system, a safety device is made of a mechanical device such as a contact switch or a relay circuit. On the contrary, in an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to an embodiment of the invention, a safety device is made of an electronic device containing as its main component a safety controller, for example, made of a highly reliable duplex micro-computer, etc. The safety controller determines the safety state of an elevator by using input information of a plurality of sensors and encoders in combination. Because a higher-grade determination method using software can be used as a process of determining the safety state in the safety controller, higher-function safety control than the conventional safety control using a switch or a relay circuit can be achieved. In the conventional mechanical safety system, the condition (criterion) for determining abnormality is fixed because abnormality is determined based on the switch or relay.
In the programmable electronic elevator safety system, however, flexible determination processing can be made based on software operating on the safety controller.
[0024]
The point in the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the embodiment is that a floor in which an emergency event occurs in a building and a current elevator car position are detected and these pieces of information are fetched into the safety controller so that an elevator car can be stopped in a safe position in accordance with occurrence of a fault determined by the safety controller even when the fault occurs in an elevator control device, a main rope or the like.
[0025]
As shown in Fig. 1, the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the embodiment has a mechanism in which an elevator car 001 and a balance weight 002 are connected to each other by a main rope 003 so that the elevator car 001 moves up and down in accordance with rotation of a traction machine 004 . Control of the elevator safety system is executed by a control panel 100 disposed in a machine room 005. The control panel 100 includes an operation controller 101 and a safety controller 102. Operation control of an elevator is executed by the operation controller 101. Safety-relevant control is executed by the safety controller 102. Both the
operation controller 101 and the safety controller 102 are mounted as micro-computers. Particularly the safety controller 102 requiring high reliability is made of a duplex micro-computer.
[0026]
The safety controller 102 detects the position, speed, door opening/closing state, etc. of the elevator car 001 to always determine whether the elevator safety system is in a safe state or not. Specifically, a car position sensor 200 (such as a magnetic sensor, a photoelectric sensor, a capacitive sensor, etc.) attached to the elevator car 001 detects detection targets 201a to 201h attached to sills of landings of floors respectively to thereby detect the absolute position of the elevator car 001 on a hoistway 006. A signal of the car position sensor 200 is inputted to the safety controller 102 through a signal line 202 . The moving distance and speed of the elevator car 001 can be detected in such a manner that the rotational quantity of a governor rotor 303 driven to rotate by a governor rope 302 engaged with the elevator car 001 through an engagement mechanism 301 is detected by a governor encoder 304. A signal of the governor encoder 304 is inputted to the safety controller 102 through a signal line 305.
[0027]
The safety controller 102 calculates the absolute position and speed of the elevator car'001 on the hoistway 006
based on the signal of the car position sensor 200 and the signal of the governor encoder 304 to determine whether the car position is normal or not, or whether the speed is normal or not. As soon as abnormality is detected, the safety controller 102 instantaneously shuts down a coil power source of an electro-mechanical brake 401 provided in the traction machine 004 to actuate the electro-mechanical brake 401 and at the same time shuts down a main power source for driving the traction machine 004 to bring the elevator car 001 to an emergency stop. Incidentally, a rope brake 4 02 may be further provided for failure in the electro-mechanical brake 401 so that the two brakes 401 and 402 can be actuated simultaneously. In case of occurrence of such an accident that the main rope 003 has broken so that the electro-mechanical brake 401 cannot be actuated, the safety controller 102 determines occurrence of the accident based on the over speed of the car and actuates an electrical safety gear 403. The electrical safety gear 403 grips a guide rail 404 to thereby stop the car. As a final means prepared for an accident, a buffer 405 is further provided on the bottom of the hoistway. The buffer 405 has such a mechanism that collision energy of the elevator car 001 is absorbed by viscosity of oil or the like. The configuration of the programmable electronic elevator safety system has been described above. [0028]
Constituent elements adapting to an emergency event will be described below. Emergency event detecting devices 501a to 501h (e.g. fire detecting sensors using temperature sensors) are provided in respective floors in a building. Pieces of information from the emergency event detecting devices 501a to 501h are inputted to an emergency event controller 500 in the building. The emergency event controller 500 is a computer like a server in building management equipment. The emergency event controller 500 manages information such as the floor and position where an emergency event occurs, the type of the emergency event, the degree of risk of the emergency event, etc. The emergency event controller 500 transmits emergency event-relevant information such as the floor where an emergency event occurs to the operation controller 101 and the safety controller 102 to perform operation control and safety control of the elevator in accordance with the emergency event.
[0029]
Evacuation operation of the elevator at the time of occurrence of an emergency event will be described first. There has been conventionally a general rule that operation of an elevator must be stopped to be prepared for contingencies when an emergency event such as a fire occurred. On the contrary, a large number of high-rise buildings having 30 floors or more have been constructed. In such a high-rise building, an idea using an elevator for evacuation has been discussed domestically
or overseas because evacuation using stairs is not easy. Evacuation operation is to achieve this idea. The emergency event controller 500 transmits information of the emergency event occurrence floor in the building to the operation controller 101, so that the operation controller 101 sets floors at which the elevator can be stopped to avoid the emergency event occurrence floor 600. The operation controller 101 executes evacuation operation in a zone of floors at which the elevator can be stopped. For example, in the example in Fig. 1, the operation controller 101 operates the elevator to avoid the emergency event occurrence floor 600 based on information of the emergency event occurrence floor so that building users on floors higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600 can be evacuated.
[0030]
Contrary to the operation control system executing evacuation operation, the safety controller 102 serving as a core of a safety system ensures elevator users safe by changing the safety determination condition (abnormality determination condition) of the elevator in accordance with the situation of the emergency event in the building. Specifically, emergency final limit positions (an emergency final lower limit position 701 and an emergency final upper limit position 702) of the car for determining a safe running zone (zone 705 in Fig. 1) of the elevator car 001 in the hoistway 006 are set
variably in accordance with the position of the emergency event occurrence floor. This is characteristic of this embodiment and will be described below in detail.
[0031]
First, in Fig. 1, the position of the emergency event occurrence floor 600 is detectedby the emergency event detecting device 501a. This information is inputted to the safety controller 102 provided in a machine room 005 of the elevator, through the emergency event controller 500. Information of the current position of the elevator car 001 is further inputted to the safety controller 102 from the car position sensor 200 and the governor encoder 304. The safety controller 102 sets appropriate emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 based on the emergency event occurrence floor 600 and the current position of the elevator car 001 in accordance with the positional relation between the both. The emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 can be set in such a manner that emergency final limit positions of the elevator car 001 in accordance with the emergency event occurrence floor 600 and the current position of the elevator car 001 are stored in a highly reliable memory etc. in advance so that the emergency final limit position setting unit reads this information as required and stores this information in a storage portion of the safety controller 102 . The emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 are set so that the car can be stopped up to a
predetermined position (a position short of an evacuation floor which will be described later) from each emergency final limit position. Pieces of information such as the speed of the elevator car 001 at evacuation operation, the average deceleration of the elevator car 001 at actuation of the electro-mechanical brake 401, etc. are necessary for determining the distance between the emergency final limit position and the predetermined position (a stop distance based on actuation of the brake). These pieces of information are stored in the form of a database in advance.
[0032]
The emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 of the elevator car 001, that is, the emergency final lower limit position 701 which is set to be higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600 when the position of the elevator car 001 at the time of occurrence of an emergency event is higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600, and the emergency final upper limit position 702 which is set to be higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600 when the position of the elevator car 001 at the time of occurrence of an emergency event is lower than the emergency event occurrence floor 600, are stored in the storage portion of the safety controller 102 so that the elevator car 001 can make evacuation operation in a safe region. Because the emergency event occurrence floor 600 and the position of the elevator car 001 at the time of
occurrence of the emergency event vary according to the case of the emergency event, the emergency final upper or lower limit position of the car is set each time in accordance with the relation between the emergency event occurrence floor and the car position. [0033]
When the emergency event occurrence floor 600 is lower than the position of the elevator car 001 at the time of occurrence of an emergency event, the emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 of the elevator car 001 are set so that the elevator car 001 can be stopped short of an evacuation floor which is set to be higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600. When the emergency event occurrence floor 600 is higher than the current position of the elevator car 001, the emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 of the elevator car 001 are set so that the elevator car 001 can be stopped short of an evacuation floor which is set to be lower than the emergency event occurrence floor 600. Thus, even if the elevator car is brought to an emergency stop beyond an emergency final limit position by the electro-mechanical brake, the brake can be released so that the elevator car can be moved to the evacuation floor. Accordingly, passengers can be evacuated from the evacuation floor safely.
[0034]
Incidentally, it is necessary to consider the case where
there are a plurality of floors 600 in which an emergency event occurs. For setting the emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 of the car in consideration of the plurality of floors 600 in which an emergency event occurs, the emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 of the car may be set based on one of the emergency event occurrence floors which is nearest to the current position of the elevator car 001.
[0035]
The emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 of the car can be set in any manner as long as the evacuation floor can be determined so that passengers can be ensured safe. For example, because setting is easy, an emergency final limit position of the car may be set so that the vertical difference between the emergency event occurrence floor and the emergency final limit position takes a constant value larger than one floor (which is kept as an evacuation floor) or an emergency final limit position may be set so that the vertical difference between the emergency event occurrence floor and the emergency final limit position increases as the number of emergency event occurrence floors increases in order to improve safety of passengers as the emergency event occurs seriously.
[0036]
In the emergency final limit position setting unit, the emergency final limit positions of the car are set again repeatedly at intervals of a predetermined time to update the
previously set emergency final limit positions of the car so that passengers can be ensured safe even when the emergency event is enlarged with the elapse of time. For example, when the region of floors in which the emergency event occurs is enlarged, the emergency final limit positions of the car are set again accordingly.
[0037]
In the example in Fig. 1, the emergency final lower limit position 701 of the car is set as an appropriate position between the emergency event occurrence floor 600 and the current position of the elevator car 001. The safety controller 102 calculates the absolute position of the elevator car 001 sequentially based on information detected by the car position sensor 200 and information detected by the governor encoder 304. When the absolute position of the elevator car 001 goes beyond the set emergency final limit position 701 and approaches the emergency event occurrence floor 600, the safety controller 102 shuts down the main power source and at the same time actuates the electro-mechanical brake 401 and the rope brake 402 to bring the elevator car 001 to an emergency stop. By such a mechanism, the elevator car 001 can be brought to an emergency stop in a safe position before the elevator car 001 will arrive at the emergency event occurrence floor 600 even if a fault occurs in the operation controller 101 or the traction machine 004 so that the elevator car 001 continuously moves toward the

emergency event occurrence floor 600. Incidentally, in a normal situation (where no emergency event occurs), the emergency final lower limit position 701 is set so as to be fixed between the lowest floor and the pit bottom. Although the original object of the final limits (equivalent to the emergency final limit positions) is to limit the movement of the elevator car so that the elevator car cannot be moved to a terminal of the hoistway, this embodiment is characterized in that the concept of the final limits is extended so that the final limit positions are changed in accordance with the car operation zone at an emergency event.
[0038]
In the example in Fig. 1, a second emergency final limit position 703 is provided so as to be one level lower than the emergency final lower limit position 701. This is for the purpose that, when the elevator car 001 goes beyond the first emergency final limit position 701, arrives at the second emergency final limit position 703 and further moves beyond the second emergency final limit position 703, the safety controller can detect this fact and actuate the safety gear (electrical safety gear) or the rail brake 403. For example, when a large number of people become panic because of occurrence of an emergency event and run into the elevator car, there is a possibility that weight unbalance may exceed a friction limit (traction limit) between the main rope and a traction machine
sheave to cause slipping of the main rope 003. In the conventional elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event described in JP-A-2009-234778, it is impossible to bring the elevator car 001 to an emergency stop against slipping of the main rope 003. According to the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event in this embodiment, it is however possible to bring the elevator car 001 to an emergency stop surely by actuating the electrical safety gear or the rail brake 403. For the same reason, according to the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event in this embodiment, it is possible to bring the elevator car 001 to an emergency stop before arrival of the elevator car 001 at the emergency event occurrence floor 600 even in the worst case where the main rope 003 has broken. As a result, passengers in the elevator car
001 can be ensured safe.
[0039]
The contents of control processing per formed by the safety controller 102 will be described below with reference to Fig.
2 which is a control block diagram.
[0040]
Information of occurrence of an emergency event in respective floors of a building is collected by the emergency event detecting devices 501a to 501h installed in the respective floors, so that the information is collected into the emergency event controller 500 installed in the building. The emergency
event controller 500 specifies information such as the floor in which the emergency event occurs, the type of the emergency event, the degree of risk of the emergency event, etc. and inputs this information to a first emergency final limit position setting unit A12 and a second emergency final limit position setting unit A13 provided in the safety controller 102. The car position sensor 200 detects the absolute position (the position of the sill of a landing etc. in each floor) in the hoistway 006. The governor encoder 304 detects the moving distance of the elevator car 001. These detection signals are inputted to an elevator car position calculating unit A07 provided in the safety controller 102, so that the moving distance data is added to the absolute position data to thereby calculate the position of the elevator car 001 on the hoistway 006.
[0041]
The first emergency final limit position setting unit A12 sets the first emergency final limit position 701 or 702 to be an appropriate position between the floor 600 in which the emergency event occurs in the building and the position of the elevator car 001 at that time. Specifically, 1) an evacuation floor is determined in the vicinity of (a position separated by a value of one floor to several floors from) the emergency event occurrence floor in the building between the emergency event occurrence floor in the building and the position
of the elevator car, 2) an emergency stop position is determined in a position further short of the evacuation floor, and 3) an emergency final limit position is determined so that the elevator car can be stopped short of the emergency stop position at the time of emergency stop. Here, the distance between the evacuation floor and the emergency event occurrence floor is in a range of one floor to several floors, and the distance between the evacuation floor and the emergency stop position is within one floor. The emergency final limit position is set using the rated speed of the elevator car and the average deceleration of the elevator car at the time of actuation of the electro-mechanical brake as stored in the database. Specifically, a car stop distance is calculated based on the car speed (at the time of evacuation operation) and the average deceleration of the car at the time of actuation of the electro-mechanical brake, and the stop distance is added to the emergency stop position to thereby calculate the emergency final limit position satisfying the requirement. Because this processing is executed by software, the numerical value of data of the first emergency final limit position 701 or 702 of the car is set practically. Incidentally, at least one of floor data of the building, floor pitch data, elevator speed data (speed data at the time of evacuation operation) and deceleration data at the time of actuation of the electro-mechanical brake as stored in a building specification/elevator specification
data storage unit A08 is used for setting the first emergency final limit position 701 or 702. Thus, the first emergency final limit position setting unit A12 determines the emergency final limit position 701 based on the aforementioned method in consideration of the deceleration at the time of actuation of the electro-mechanical brake 401. Because an overrun of the elevator car 001 can be determined based on the emergency final limit position 701 determined in this manner, the elevator car 001 can be stopped in the emergency stop position which is set in advance inclusively of the stop distance (moving distance during deceleration) due to braking.
[0042]
The second emergency final limit position setting unit A13 executes the same processing based on the same input information as the first emergency final limit position setting unit A12. The point of difference between the first emergency final limit position setting unit A12 and the second emergency final limit position setting unit A13 is in that the first emergency final limit position setting unit A12 is intended for the emergency stop made by the electro-mechanical brake 401 whereas the second emergency final limit position setting unit A13 is intended for the emergency stop made by the safety gear 403. Accordingly, the second emergency final limit position setting unit A13 sets the second emergency final limit position 703 lower than the first emergency final limit position
701. Specifically, the second emergency final limit position 703 is set based on the aforementioned emergency final limit position 701 and in consideration of deceleration due to the safety gear 403 (which is larger than the deceleration due to the electro-mechanical brake) . It is further preferable that the second emergency final limit position 703 is set to be lower than the first emergency final limit position 701 in order to avoid simultaneous actuation of the electro-mechanical brake 401 and the safety gear 403.
[0043]
The process of setting the first and second emergency final limit positions 701 and 703 is repeatedly executed cyclically or in accordance with the change of the emergency event occurrence situation. An emergency final limit setting determining unit A10 determines this. Specifically, the emergency final limit setting determining unit A10 updates the emergency final limit positions 701 and 703 based on emergency information data from the emergency event controller 500 and time data from a timer unit A06 at intervals of a predetermined time or when the emergency event situation changes. When the emergency final limit positions 701 and 703 are updated at intervals of a predetermined time, it is desirable that the emergency final limit positions 701 and 703 are updated at intervals of about 1 second in consideration of the situation of progress of the emergency event (changes in the order of
several seconds) and the moving speed of the elevator car 001 (changes in the order of several seconds). When update is determined, the signal is inputted to the first emergency final limit position setting unit A12 and the second emergency final limit position setting unit A13 so that the emergency final limit position setting process is executed.
[0044]
The emergency final limit position data set by the first and second final limit position setting units A12 and A13 are inputted to an emergency final limit position storage unit All of the safety controller 102 and stored in the emergency final limit position storage unit All. Because the data are very important data concerned with safety, diagnosis such as memory check is made so that the data are stored and held in a highly reliable state.
[0045]
A first emergency final limit position determining unit A14 compares the first emergency final limit position 701 or 702 set by the first emergency final limit position setting unit A12 with the current position data of the elevator car 001 calculated by the elevator car position calculating unit A07. When the current position of the elevator car 001 goes beyond the first emergency final limit position 701 or 702, a signal for actuating the electro-mechanical brake 401 is outputted. The main power source and the power source of the
electro-mechanical brake 401 are shut down by this signal, so that the traction machine 004 is stopped to bring the elevator car 001 to an emergency stop. When the rope brake 402 and the rail brake (safety gear) 403 are used as second brakes other than the electro-mechanical brake 401, signals for actuating the rope brake 402 and the rail brake (safety gear) 403 are outputted to the rope brake 402 and the rail brake (safety gear) 403 respectively.
[0046]
A second emergency final limit position determining unit A15 compares the second emergency final limit position 703 set by the second emergency final limit position setting unit A13 with the current position data of the elevator car 001 calculated by the elevator car position calculating unit A07. When the current position of the elevator car 001 goes beyond the second emergency final limit position 703, a signal for actuating the safety gear 403 is outputted. The safety gear 403 is actuated by this signal to grip the rail 404 to bring the elevator car 001 to an emergency stop.
[0047]
An emergency final limit position setting value initialization unit A09 checks reasonableness of execution of evacuation operation based on information from the operation controller 101, emergency event occurrence data, time data, etc. When determination is made that evacuation operation is
not proper, the emergency final limit position setting value initialization unit A09 executes a process of initializing the emergency final limit position data set by the first and second emergency final limit position setting units A12 and A13 (as the emergency final limit positions at terminal portions of the hoistway). When occurrence of the emergency event is recognizedby mistake so that the emergency final limit positions are set by mistake, the emergency final limit position setting value initialization unit A09 determines the mistake based on information of the operation controller or the like so as to initialize the emergency final limit position data rapidly. Otherwise, users will be forced to have inconvenient operation.
[0048]
The effect of the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the aforementioned embodiment will be described below with reference to Figs. 3(a) to 3(c). Fig. 3 (a) shows a conventional safety system using mechanical limit switches. Fig. 3(b) shows a problem in the conventional safety system. Fig. 3(c) shows a safety system according to the aforementionedembodiment. Incidentally, in Figs. 3(a) to 3(c), reference signs used for description of the safety system according to the aforementioned embodiment are uniformly given to corresponding parts in order to make comparison easy.
[0049] As shown in Fig. 3(a), mechanical final limit switches
F01 and F06 are conventionally installed in upper and lower terminal portions of the hoistway 600. A cam F03 is attached to the elevator car 001. When the elevator car 001 goes beyond the lowest floor or the highest floor, the cam F03 actuates the mechanical final limit switch F01 or F06 to detect arrival at the emergency final limit position. Accordingly, the elevator is brought to an emergency stop immediately through a relay. When this safety system is used for executing evacuation operation at an emergency event, the elevator car 001 is operated while avoiding the emergency event occurrence floor 600 as shown in Fig. 3 (a) as long as the system is normal. This contributes to evacuation of people in the building.
[0050]
However, when a fault occurs in the system such as the operation controller 101, the traction machine 004, the main rope 003, etc. so that the elevator car 001 moves abnormally as shown in Fig. 3(b) , it is impossible to prevent the elevator car 001 from moving to the emergency event occurrence floor 600 because the final limit switches F01 and F06 are fixed to constant positions respectively.
[0051]
On the contrary, the safety system according the aforementioned embodiment has no mechanical final limit switch as shown in Fig. 3(c) and the emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 are set variably based on the emergency event
occurrence floor 600 and the current position of the elevator car 001. Accordingly, even if a fault occurs in the system such as the operation controller 101, the traction machine 004, the main rope 003, etc., the elevator car 001 can be brought to an emergency stop in a safe position before the elevator car 001 will arrive at the emergency event occurrence floor 600. As a result, passenger's safety can be ensured sufficiently even in evacuation operation of the elevator at an emergency event.
[0052]
A procedure of the emergency final limit position setting process performed by the safety controller 102 will be described below with reference to Fig. 4 which is a flow chart.
[0053]
First, the safety controller 102 acquires data of an emergency event occurrence floor 600 from information of the emergency event controller 500 (ST01). Then, the safety controller 102 calculates the current position of the elevator car 001 from data detected by the car position sensor 200 and the governor encoder 304 (ST02) . Then, the current position of the elevator car 001 is compared with the position of the emergency event occurrence floor 600 (ST03) . When the current position of the elevator car 001 is on a floor higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600, a final evacuation floor is set to be a floor (near the emergency event occurrence floor)

higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600 (ST04) . The final evacuation floor mentioned herein means a floor in which the elevator car 001 is brought to an emergency stop by the safety system so that passengers in the car can be rescued (evacuated). Then, a second emergency final limit position 703 is set based on the deceleration due to the safety gear and the speed of the car (moving speed at evaluation) so that the elevator car can be stopped in a position higher than the evacuation floor and short of the evacuation floor by safety gear braking (ST05) . A first emergency final limit position 701 is further set in a position higher than the second emergency final limit position 703 (ST06) . Finally, car operation floors 705 are set as floors higher than the first emergency final limit position 701 (ST07) . As a result, the evacuation floor, the second emergency final limit position 703, the first emergency final limit position 701 and the car operation floors 705 for evacuation can be set so as to be arranged in the named order in an upward direction the bottom from the emergency event occurrence floor 600. Accordingly, even if a fault occurs in the system such as the operation controller 101, the traction machine 004, the main rope 003, etc. because of the influence of the emergency event etc. , the car can be brought to an emergency stop in any emergency final limit position short of the emergency event occurrence floor 600 and the elevator car 001 can be moved to the evacuation floor after the emergency stop so that
passengers in the car can be evacuated from the evacuation floor safely. Although floors at which the elevator car 001 can be stopped are set by the safety controller 102 in the aforementioned embodiment, the floors at which the elevator car 001 can be stopped may be set by the operation controller 101.
[0054]
When the current position of the elevator car 001 is not on a floor higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600, determination is made as to whether the current position of the elevator car 001 is on a floor lower than the emergency event occurrence floor 600 or not (ST08). When the current position of the elevator car 001 is not on a floor lower than the emergency event occurrence floor 600, the elevator is stopped because determination is made that the elevator car 001 is in a region of the emergency event occurrence floor 600 (ST09). This means that the elevator is not used during evacuation operation. When the current position of the elevator car 001 is on a floor lower than the emergency event occurrence floor 600, a floor which is lower than the emergency event occurrence floor 600 so that a safe distance can be kept is set as a final evacuation floor (ST10). Then, a first emergency final limit position 701 is set so that the elevator car 001 can be brought to an emergency stop short of the evacuation floor by the deceleration due to braking downward of the evacuation floor

(ST11) . Finally, car operation floors at evacuation operation are set as floors lower than the first emergency final limit position 701 (ST12) .
[0055]
An example of the emergency final limit position set in accordance with the flow chart of Fig. 4 will be described below with reference to Figs. 5(a) and 5(b). Fig. 5(a) shows the case where the elevator car 001 is on a side higher than an emergency event occurrence floor 600. Fig. 5(b) shows the case where the elevator car 001 is on a side lower than an emergency event occurrence floor 600.
[0056]
When the elevator car 001 is on a side higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600, a final evacuation floor B07 is first set in a position lower than the elevator car 001 but higher than the emergency event occurrence floor 600 as shown in Fig. 5(a). Then, a second emergency final limit position 703 is set as a position higher than the final evacuation floor B07, and a first emergency final limit position 701 is further set in a position higher than the second emergency final limit position 703.
[0057]
Because the first and second emergency final limit positions 701 and 703 are provided between the current position of the elevator car 001 and the emergency event occurrence floor
600 in this manner, the elevator can be brought to an emergency stop before the elevator car 001 will arrive at the emergency event occurrence floor 600 even if there is abnormality such as a fault in the operation controller 101, slipping of the main rope 003, breaking of the main rope 003, etc. As a result, evacuation operation at an emergency event can be executed more safely. Further, because the emergency final limit positions 701 and 703 are set so that the evacuation floor B07 is provided between the emergency final limit positions 701 and 703 and the emergency event occurrence floor 600, passengers can be evacuated from the elevator car 001 safely even if the elevator car 001 is brought to an emergency stop. For example, movement of the car from the emergency final limit position to the evacuation floor B07 can be performed here by short-time releasing of the electro-mechanical brake (in the case where the emergency stop is brought by the electro-mechanical brake) . The car may be moved up and down based on balance between the load in the car and the balance weight due to releasing of the electro-mechanical brake. When the car is moved up, the car can be moved to a safer floor higher than the evacuation floor B07. When the car is moved down, the car can be moved to the evacuation floor B07 . Accordingly, passengers canbe evacuated safely from the floor at which the car is stopped.
[0058]
Incidentally, the first emergency final limit position
701 before occurrence of the emergency event is set as a position B10 lower than a lowest floor B09. An upper emergency final limit position 702 is set as a constant position regardless of before and after occurrence of the emergency event.
[0059]
When the elevator car 001 is lower than the emergency event occurrence floor 600, a final evacuation floor C04 is set in a position higher than the elevator car 001 but lower than the emergency event occurrence floor 600 as shown in Fig. 5(b) . A second emergency final limit position 703 is set in a position lower than the final evacuation floor. In this manner, the safety system according to this embodiment is characterized in that emergency final limit positions 701 and 703 adapting to evacuation operation are provided between the current position of the elevator car 001 and the position of the emergency event occurrence floor 600 in accordance with the two positions. As a result, protection from abnormality at evacuation operation is intensified so that safer evacuation operation can be performed.
[0060]
Incidentally, the first emergency final limit position 701 before occurrence of the emergency event is set in a position C1 higher than a highest floor C02. A lower emergency final limit position 702 is set in a constant position regardless of before and after occurrence of the emergency event.
[0061]
A method of variably adjusting emergency final limit positions in accordance with the temperature state of each portion in the hoistway will be described below with reference to Figs. 6(a) to 6(c).
[0062]
Fig. 6(a) shows a normal state in which no emergency event occurs. In this state, emergency final limit positions 701 and 702 are set in terminal portions of the hoistway 006 by the safety controller 102 regardless of the current position of the elevator car 001. Temperature sensors D03, D06, D07 and D04 connected to the safety controller 102 by a communication line are provided in the upper, intermediate and lower portions of the hoistway 006 and on the elevator car 001 respectively.
[0063]
Fig. 6(b) shows a state in which a fire occurs. When a fire occurs, the temperature of the floor 600 in which the fire occurs increases. The temperature of the fire occurrence floor 600 is detected by the temperature sensor D07, so that a detection signal of the temperature sensor D07 is fetched into the safety controller 102. The safety controller 102 changes setting of the emergency final limit position 701 from a position represented by a broken line D08 to a position represented by a solid line D09 so that passenger's safety in the elevator car 001 can be ensured.
[0064]
Fig. 6 (c) shows a state in which a temperature increasing range in the hoistway 006 is widened as the fire continues. When the fire continues, the temperature of a floor higher than the fire occurrence floor 600 increases. The temperatures of the fire occurrence floor 600 and the higher floor are detected by the temperature sensors D07 and D06, so that detection signals of the temperature sensors D07 and D06 are fetched into the safety controller 102. The safety controller 102 changes the emergency final limit position 7 01 from the position represented by a broken line D09 to a position represented by a solid line D11 so that the risk of occurrence of abnormality in the elevator devices due to heat can be avoided while passenger's safety in the elevator car 001 can be ensured.
[0065]
In this manner, in the safety system according to this embodiment, the temperature change or temperature distribution in the hoistway 006 or in the building is detected based on data detected by the temperature sensors D03, D06 and D07 disposed in the hoistway 006, etc., so that the emergency final limit positions used for bringing the elevator car 001 to an emergency stop are set variably in accordance with the temperature change or temperature distribution in the hoistway 006 in the building. Accordingly, the risk of occurrence of abnormality caused by overheating of the respective devices
constituting the elevator can be suppressed so that evacuation operation of the elevator can be performed more safely. Although the case where temperature sensors are used has been shown in the examples in Figs. 6(a) to 6(c), the same effect as described above can be obtained even when smoke detection sensors for detecting smokes of a fire or overhead flooding detection sensors for detecting overhead flooding are provided in place of the temperature sensors. When the emergency final limit positions for limiting an overrun of the elevator car are set variably based on temporal changes of signals detected by the temperature sensors, the smoke detection sensors or the overhead flooding detection sensors and combination of the signals detected by the sensors in accordance with the changes and combination of the signals, a wide-range dangerous situation in the building can be coped with so that evacuation operation with higher safety can be performed.
[0066]
A second embodiment of the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the invention will be described below with reference to Figs. 7 and 8. The elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the second embodiment is characterized in that an emergency stop of the elevator car 001 is not executed based on the set emergency final limit positions but executed in accordance with the speed of the elevator car 001.
[0067]
That is, in the elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to the second embodiment, as shown in Fig. 7, an over speed limit value for bringing the elevator to an emergency stop when the speed of the elevator car exceeds the over speed limit value is set in each position on the hoistway 006 so that the elevator is brought to an emergency stop when the speed detected in each position of the electro car 001 exceeds the over speed limit value. In Fig. 7, an elevator car position and speed calculating unit A50 calculates the position and speed of the elevator car 001 based on signals detected by the car position sensor 200 and the governor encoder 304. Here, the car speed can be calculated by differentiating the car moving distance with respect to time. A first over speed limit and emergency final limit position setting unit A53 sets an over speed limit value of the car in accordance with the car position as shown in Fig. 8. The over speed limit value of the car in accordance with the car position is set variably in accordance with the position of the emergency event occurrence floor. Specifically, a pattern of the over speed limit value of the car determined in accordance with each car position is set so that the elevator car 001 can be prevented from reaching the emergency event occurrence floor 600 and can be stopped short of the emergency event occurrence floor by deceleration due to the electro-mechanical brake 401. The over speed limit value
of the car is set so that the elevator car 001 can be brought to an emergency stop in a position between the position of the car at the time of setting and the position of the emergency event occurrence floor 600 by deceleration due to the electro-mechanical brake 401. A first emergency stop determining unit A55 determines the abnormal speed of the elevator based on the detected position and speed of the elevator car 001 and the over speed limit value in the car position. When the speed is abnormal, the main power source is shut down and at the same time, the electro-mechanical brake 401 is actuated.
[0068]
A second over speed limit and emergency final limit position setting unit A54 sets an over speed limit value of the car in accordance with the car position in the same manner as the first over speed limit and emergency final limit position setting unit A53. The second over speed limit and emergency final limit position setting unit A54 is different from the first over speed limit and emergency final limit position setting unit A53 in that the safety gear 403 is used as a braking unit. Similarly, a second emergency stop determining unit A56 determines the abnormal speed of the elevator based on the detected position and speed of the elevator car and the over speed limit value in the car position. When the speed is abnormal, the safety gear 403 is actuated.
[0069]
In addition, an over speed limit and emergency final limit position storage unit A52 stores data of the over speed limit value of the car determined in accordance with each car position and set by the first and second over speed limit and emergency final limit position setting units A53 and A54 . When the over speed limit value is changed by mistake though no emergency event occurs, an over speed limit and emergency final limit position setting value initialization unit A51 determines the wrong change and executes a process of initializing the over speed limit value.
[0070]
Because the over speed limit value of the car corresponding to the car position is determined in accordance with the emergency event occurrence floor in this manner, the safety controller can detect the over speed state of the car in an early stage to bring the elevator to an emergency stop before the elevator' s arrival at the emergency event occurrence floor even if a fault occurs in the system to cause the over speed state of the car. Accordingly, passengers in the car can be ensured safe.
[0071]
Fig. 8 shows characteristic of the over speed limit value of the car relative to the car position set in accordance with the control block diagram of Fig. 7. In Fig. 8, a horizontal
axis G02 expresses the car speed, and a vertical axis G01 expresses the floor position of the building (or the vertical position of the hoistway). In a normal case in which no emergency-event occurs, an over speed limit value curve G06 of the car is set so that the car can collide with a buffer G04 disposed in a pit at a speed not higher than a predetermined speed.
[0072]
On the other hand, when an emergency event occurs in the building, a limit position G10 of the elevator car is set in a position between an emergency event occurrence floor G07 and a car position G03 based on the positional relation between the emergency event occurrence floor G07 and the car position G03, and an over speed limit value G12 of the car corresponding to the car position G03 is set so that the elevator can be brought to an emergency stop surely up to the limit position G10 by the electro-mechanical brake 401 or the safety gear 403. The over speed limit value G12 of the car is set as a limit value up to zero speed because it is necessary to bring the elevator car to an emergency stop in the limit position surely.
[0073]
A method of setting the over speed limit value G12 of the car corresponding to the car position G03 will be described below in detail. An evacuation floor G08 is set to be between the car position G03 and the emergency event occurrence floor G07 based on the positional relation between the car position
G03 and the emergency event occurrence floor G07, and a limit position G10 is set short of the evacuation floor so that the elevator car can be always stopped up to the limit position G10. In order to stop the car in the limit position surely, the over speed limit value G12 of the car is set in accordance with each car position in consideration of deceleration due to the electro-mechanical brake 401 or the safety gear 403. A lowest car operation floor G09 in which evacuation operation can be performed is set in a position which is nearer to the car side than the position of the limit value G12 . As an example, a running pattern at evacuation operation is drawn as a curve G1l.
[0074]
When the safety controller 102 variably sets a limit speed for the abnormal speed of the elevator car in accordance with the position of the emergency event occurrence floor G07 and the car position G03 in this manner, safety of evacuation operation of the elevator is improved more greatly.
[0075]
The present invention can be applied to an elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event.
FIG. 1
FLOOR IN WHICH EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURS
FIG. 2
501a-501h UNIT FOR DETECTING EMERGENCY EVENT IN BUILDING
500 UNIT FOR DETECTING POSITION OF OCCURRENCE OF EMERGENCY
EVENT IN BUILDING AND TYPE OF THE EMERGENCY EVENT (EMERGENCY
EVENT CONTROLLER)
200 ELEVATOR CAR POSITION SENSOR UNIT (FOR ABSOLUTE POSITION
DETECTION)
304 ELEVATOR CAR MOVING DISTANCE SENSOR UNIT (FOR MOVING
DISTANCE DETECTION)
A06 TIMER UNIT
A07 ELEVATOR CAR POSITION CALCULATING UNIT
A08 BUILDING SPECIFICATION/ELEVATOR SPECIFICATION DATA
STORAGE UNIT
A09 FINAL LIMIT POSITION SETTING VALUE INITIALIZATION UNIT
A10 EMERGENCY FINAL LIMIT SETTING DETERMINING UNIT
All FINAL LIMIT POSITION (EMERGENCY STOP POSITION) STORAGE
UNIT
A12 FIRST FINAL LIMIT POSITION (EMERGENCY STOP POSITION)
SETTING UNIT (FOR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKE)
A13 SECOND FINAL LIMIT POSITION (EMERGENCY STOP POSITION)
SETTING UNIT (FOR SAFETY GEAR)
A14 FIRST FINAL LIMIT POSITION DETERMINING UNIT (FOR
ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKE)
A15 SECOND FINAL LIMIT POSITION DETERMINING UNIT (FOR SAFETY
GEAR)
FIRST ELEVATOR CAR EMERGENCY STOP SIGNAL
TO ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKE, ROPE BRAKE AND RAIL BRAKE
SECOND ELEVATOR CAR EMERGENCY STOP SIGNAL
TO SAFETY GEAR
FIG. 3
CASE OF CONVENTIONAL MECHANICAL LIMIT SWITCH
(a) SAFETY SYSTEM USING CONVENTIONAL MECHANICAL LIMIT SWITCHES
FINAL LIMIT SWITCH (TERMINAL OF HOISTWAY)
CAR OPERATION FLOORS
EVACUATION FLOOR
FLOOR IN WHICH EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURS
FINAL LIMIT SWITCH (TERMINAL OF HOISTWAY)
SAFETY ZONE (MECHANICAL SAFETY)
(b) PROBLEM IN CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM
FINAL LIMIT SWITCH (TERMINAL OF HOISTWAY)
OCCURRENCE OF ABNORMAL CONTROL OR ROPE SLIPPING
EVACUATION FLOOR
ABNORMAL RUNNING OF CAR CANNOT BE PREVENTED BY SAFETY DEVICE
PROBLEM
FINAL LIMIT SWITCH (TERMINAL OF HOISTWAY)
CASE OF PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SAFETY APPLICATION (FIRST EMBODIMENT)
(c) FIRST EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION (PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SAFETY SYSTEM)
PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SAFETY CONTROLLER CAR OPERATION FLOORS
SET SAFETY ZONE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SITUATION OF EMERGENCY EVENT BASED ON PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SAFETY
FINAL LIMIT POSITION (EMERGENCY STOP POSITION) BASED ON PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SAFETY SAFETY ZONE (PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SAFETY) EVACUATION FLOOR
FINAL LIMIT POSITION (EMERGENCY STOP POSITION) BASED ON PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SAFETY CAR POSITION SENSOR
LIMIT SWITCH FUNCTION REPLACED BY PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SAFETY CONTROLLER
FIG. 4
ST01 ACQUIRE DATA OF EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURRENCE
FLOOR/POSITION
ST02 CALCULATE ELEVATOR CAR POSITION
ST03 IS THERE THE ELEVATOR CAR POSITION ON FLOOR HIGHER THAN
THE EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURRENCE FLOOR?
ST04 SET FINAL EVACUATION FLOOR TO BE SAFE FLOOR HIGHER THAN
THE EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURRENCE FLOOR
ST05 SET FINAL LIMIT POSITION (SECOND FINAL LIMIT POSITION)
FOR SAFETY GEAR BRAKING TO BE POSITION HIGHER THAN THE EVACUATION
FLOOR
ST06 SET FINAL LIMIT POSITION (FIRST FINAL LIMIT POSITION)
FOR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKING TO BE POSITION HIGHER THAN THE
FINAL LIMIT POSITION FOR SAFETY GEAR BRAKING
ST07 SET CAR OPERATION FLOORS TO BE FLOORS HIGHER THAN THE
FINAL LIMIT POSITION FOR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKING
ST08 IS THERE THE ELEVATOR CAR POSITION ON FLOOR LOWER THAN
THE EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURRENCE FLOOR?
ST09 STOP THE ELEVATOR
ST10 SET FINAL EVACUATION FLOOR TO BE SAFE FLOOR LOWER THAN
THE EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURRENCE FLOOR
ST11 SET FINAL LIMIT POSITION (FIRST FINAL LIMIT POSITION)
FOR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKING TO BE POSITION LOWER THAN THE
EVACUATION FLOOR
ST12 SET CAR OPERATION FLOORS TO BE FLOORS LOWER THAN THE FINAL
LIMIT POSITION FOR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKING
FIG. 5
(a) CASE WHERE ELEVATOR CAR IS HIGHER THAN EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURRENCE FLOOR MACHINE ROOM
FINAL LIMIT POSITION HIGHEST FLOOR CAR OPERATION FLOORS (SERVICE FLOORS)
701 FINAL LIMIT POSITION (FIRST FINAL LIMIT POSITION) FOR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKING
703 FINAL LIMIT POSITION (SECOND FINAL LIMIT POSITION) FOR SAFETY GEAR BRAKING B07 FINAL EVACUATION FLOOR
600 FLOOR IN WHICH EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURS B09 LOWEST FLOOR NORMAL FINAL LIMIT POSITION
(b) CASE WHERE ELEVATOR CAR IS LOWER THAN EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURRENCE FLOOR MACHINE ROOM
NORMAL FINAL LIMIT POSITION C02 HIGHEST FLOOR
600 FLOOR IN WHICH EMERGENCY EVENT OCCURS C04 FINAL EVACUATION FLOOR
701 FINAL LIMIT POSITION (FIRST FINAL LIMIT POSITION) FOR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL BRAKING CAR OPERATION FLOORS (SERVICE FLOORS) LOWEST FLOOR

What is claimed is:
1. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event,
comprising:
an emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit which detects a floor in which an emergency event occurs in a building;
a car position detecting unit which detects a position of an elevator car on a hoistway;
an emergency final limit position setting unit which sets at least one emergency final limit position of the elevator car in accordance with the emergency event occurrence floor detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit and the elevator car position detected by the car position detecting unit;
an emergency stop determining unit which determines whether the elevator car position detected by the car position detecting unit goes beyond the emergency final limit position set by the emergency final limit position setting unit or not; and
an emergency stop unit which brings the elevator car to an emergency stop when the emergency stop determining unit determines that the elevator car position goes beyond the emergency final limit position and approaches the floor in which the emergency event occurs.
2. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event according to Claim 1, wherein:
the emergency final limit position setting unit sets the emergency final limit position to be on an upper side of the floor in which the emergency event occurs when the floor in which the emergency event occurs is on a lower side of the elevator car position, but the emergency final limit position setting unit sets the emergency final limit position to be on a lower side of the floor in which the emergency event occurs when the floor in which the emergency event occurs is on an upper side of the elevator car position.
3. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event
according to Claim 2, wherein:
the emergency final limit position of the elevator car in the case where the floor in which the emergency event occurs is on the lower side of the elevator car position is a position where the elevator car can be stopped at an evacuation floor set to be on the upper side of the floor in which the emergency event occurs, but the emergency final limit position of the elevator car in the case where the floor in which the emergency event occurs is on the upper side of the elevator car position is a position where the elevator car can be stopped at an evacuation floor set to be on the lower side of the floor in which the emergency event occurs.
4. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event
according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein:
when there are a plurality of emergency event occurrence

floors detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit, the emergency final limit position is set based on one of the emergency event occurrence floors which is nearest to the elevator car position detected by the car position detecting unit.
5. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event
according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein:
a vertical difference between the emergency event occurrence floor detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit and the emergency final limit position set by the emergency final limit position setting unit is constant regardless of the number of emergency event occurrence floors.
6. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event
according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein:
a vertical difference between the emergency event occurrence floor detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit and the emergency final limit position set by the emergency final limit position setting unit is set to increase as the number of emergency event occurrence floors increases.
7. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event
according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein:
the emergency final limit position setting unit repeats setting of the emergency final limit position at intervals of
a predetermined time to update the emergency final limit position.
8. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event
according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein:
an electro-mechanical brake and an electrical safety gear for gripping the elevator car to a guide rail are provided as the emergency stop unit;
the emergency final limit position setting unit sets, as the emergency final limit position, a first emergency final limit position and a second emergency final limit position nearer to the emergency event occurrence floor than the first emergency final limit position when the emergency event occurrence floor is on a lower side of the current elevator car position; and
the emergency stop unit actuates the electro-mechanical brake to bring the elevator car to an emergency stop when the emergency stop determining unit determines that the elevator car position goes beyond the first emergency final limit position and approaches the emergency event occurrence floor, but the emergency stop unit actuates the electrical safety gear to bring the elevator car to an emergency stop when the emergency stop determining unit determines that the elevator car position goes beyond the second emergency final limit position and approaches the emergency event occurrence floor.
9. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, comprising:
an emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit which detects a floor in which an emergency event occurs in a building;
a car position detecting unit which detects a current position of an elevator car on a hoistway;
an elevator speed detecting unit which detects a speed of the elevator car;
a storage unit which stores an over speed limit of the elevator car in accordance with the floor in which the emergency event occurs in the building and the current position of the elevator car;
an over speed limit setting unit which reads from the storage unit the over speed limit of the elevator car in accordance with the emergency event occurrence floor detected by the emergency event occurrence floor detecting unit and the current elevator car position detected by the car position detecting unit, and stores the over speed limit of the elevator car;
an emergency stop determining unit which determines whether the elevator car speed detected by the elevator speed detecting unit exceeds the over speed limit set by the over speed limit setting unit or not; and
an emergency stop unit which brings the elevator car to an emergency stop when the emergency stop determining unit determines that the elevator car speed exceeds the over speed limit.
10. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event
according to Claim 9, wherein:
the over speed limit setting unit sets the over speed limit so that the elevator car is brought to an emergency stop in a position between the emergency event occurrence floor and the elevator car position.
11. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event
according to Claim 9, wherein:
the over speed limit setting unit sets the over speed limit corresponding to the elevator car position with respect to a hoistway zone between the emergency event occurrence floor and the current elevator car position.
12. An elevator safety system adapting to an emergency event, substantially as herein described with reference to accompanying drawings and example.