Brake operation management in elevators

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10538412-B2
Application number	US-201916295327-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2019
Priority date	Feb 6, 2014
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

A method includes determining that an elevator car is arriving at a landing at which re-leveling is anticipated; upon the elevator car arriving at the landing at which re-leveling is anticipated, initiating the at least one of a brake cycling operation and a power cycling operation to reduce elevator car sag at the landing; monitoring transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over a period of time; terminating the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation upon at least one of (i) the transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over the period of time being less than a threshold and (ii) the elevator car sag at the landing meeting a sag threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining that an elevator car is arriving at a landing at which re-leveling is anticipated;
upon the elevator car arriving at the landing at which re-leveling is anticipated, initiating the at least one of a brake cycling operation and a power cycling operation to reduce elevator car sag at the landing;
monitoring transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over a period of time;
terminating the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation upon at least one of (i) the transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over the period of time being less than a threshold and (ii) the elevator car sag at the landing meeting a sag threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the terminating the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation occurs upon both of (i) the transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over the period of time being less than the threshold and (ii) the elevator car sag at the landing meeting a sag threshold.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying a brake to stop motion of the elevator car upon terminating the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying a brake to stop motion of the elevator car upon arriving at the landing.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
releasing the brake to allow motion of the elevator car prior to initiating the at least one of a brake cycling operation and a power cycling operation to reduce elevator car sag at the landing.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation comprises applying the brake to stop motion of the elevator car.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation comprises a de-energizing of a machine configured to impart motion to the elevator car.

8. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus execute operations comprising:
determining that an elevator car is arriving at a landing at which re-leveling is anticipated;
upon the elevator car arriving at the landing at which re-leveling is anticipated, initiating the at least one of a brake cycling operation and a power cycling operation to reduce elevator car sag at the landing;
monitoring transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over a period of time;
terminating the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation upon at least one of (i) the transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over the period of time being less than a threshold and (ii) the elevator car sag at the landing meeting a sag threshold.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein:
the terminating the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation occurs upon both of (i) the transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over the period of time being less than the threshold and (ii) the elevator car sag at the landing meeting a sag threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
applying a brake to stop motion of the elevator car upon terminating the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
applying a brake to stop motion of the elevator car upon arriving at the landing.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
releasing the brake to allow motion of the elevator car prior to initiating the at least one of a brake cycling operation and a power cycling operation to reduce elevator car sag at the landing.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation comprises applying the brake to stop motion of the elevator car.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation comprises a de-energizing of a machine configured to impart motion to the elevator car.

15. An elevator system comprising:
an elevator car configured to traverse a hoistway;
a machine;
a brake;
a controller configured to execute operations comprising:
determining that the elevator car is arriving at a landing at which re-leveling is anticipated;
upon the elevator car arriving at the landing at which re-leveling is anticipated, initiating the at least one of a brake cycling operation and a power cycling operation to reduce elevator car sag at the landing;
monitoring transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over a period of time;
terminating the at least one of the brake cycling operation and the power cycling operation upon at least one of (i) the transfer of weight to or from the elevator car at the landing over the period of time being less than a threshold and (ii) the elevator car sag at the landing meeting a sag threshold.

Assignees

• Otis Elevator Co

Inventors

• Lotfi Amir
• Roberts Randall Keith
• Thebeau Ronnie E
• Garfinkel Michael
• Piedra Edward
• Hanvey Dennis
• Rush Daniel

Classifications

• B66B1/44

  and for taking account of disturbance factors, e.g. variation of load weight · CPC title

• B66B1/36 Primary

  Means for stopping the cars, cages, or skips at predetermined levels · CPC title

• B66B1/30

  effective on driving gear {, e.g. acting on power electronics, on inverter or rectifier controlled motor} · CPC title

• B66B1/32

  effective on braking devices {, e.g. acting on electrically controlled brakes (brake control H02P, lift brakes per se B66B5/02)} · CPC title

• B66B9/00

  Kinds or types of lifts in, or associated with, buildings or other structures (characterised by control systems B66B1/00; apparatus for raising or lowering persons on stages of theatres A63J5/12) · CPC title