Elevator comprising an electric linear motor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11084690-B2
Application number	US-201815901987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2018
Priority date	Mar 2, 2017
Publication date	Aug 10, 2021
Grant date	Aug 10, 2021

Abstract

The invention relates to an elevator comprising an electric linear motor comprising at least one linear stator designed to be located in a fixed correlation to an environment, particularly building, and at least one mover designed for connection with an elevator car to be moved and co-acting with the stator to move the car, which motor comprises a stator beam supporting said at least one stator, which stator beam has at least one side face carrying ferromagnetic poles of said stator spaced apart by a pitch, and which mover comprises at least one counter-face facing said side face(s) of the stator beam, in which counter-face electro-magnetic components of the mover are arranged to co-act with the ferromagnetic poles mounted on the stator beam, which elevator comprises an elevator brake. According to the invention the side face of the stator beam facing the mover and/or the counter face of the mover facing the side face of the stator beam comprise(s) a brake surface which form(s) the brake interface of the elevator brake.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An elevator comprising:
an electric linear motor comprising at least one linear stator designed to be located in a fixed correlation to an environment and at least one mover designed for connection with an elevator car to be moved and co-acting with the stator to move the car,
which motor comprises a stator beam supporting said at least one stator, which stator beam has at least one side face carrying ferromagnetic poles of said stator spaced apart by a pitch, and which mover comprises at least one counter-face facing said side face(s) of the stator beam, in which counter-face electro-magnetic components of the mover are arranged to co-act with the ferromagnetic poles mounted on the stator beam,
which elevator comprises an elevator brake, wherein the side face of the stator beam facing the mover and/or the counter face of the mover facing the side face of the stator beam comprise(s) a brake surface which form(s) the brake interface of the elevator brake.

2. The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein the side face of stator beam facing the mover and/or the counter face of the mover facing the side face of the stator beam comprises a brake pad, which is releasably mounted to the mover/stator beam.

3. The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic components of the mover are configured to establish a magnetic counter-field keeping the counterface of the mover with a defined air gap to the stator beam's side face when energized whereas the mover's counterface is configured to be pulled against the stator beam's side face by the force of the permanent magnets, when the electromagnetic components of the mover are de-energized.

4. The elevator according to claim 2 , wherein the elevator comprises a backup-power supply and an emergency stop circuit, which emergency stop circuit is connected to a position and/or velocity and/or acceleration sensor of the elevator, and which emergency stop circuit is configured to adjust the energization of the electromagnetic components of the mover depending on the signal of the above sensor(s).

5. The elevator according to claim 4 , wherein the backup-power supply is a battery.

6. The elevator according to claim 5 , comprising a battery monitoring circuit for monitoring the functional status of the battery.

7. The elevator according to claim 4 , wherein the emergency stop circuit is configured to adjust the energization of the electromagnetic components of the mover such that the car stops within a defined stopping distance.

8. The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein the car comprises at least two movers and wherein the elevator control comprises a brake test circuit configured to operate in a brake test mode wherein one mover is energized whereas the other mover is de-energized when the car is not moving and/or stopping at a floor.

9. The elevator according to claim 8 , wherein the brake test circuit of the elevator control is configured to increase the energization of the energized mover until the car starts moving, and that the elevator control is configured to issue a report to a maintenance center comprising the critical energization at the point when the car starts moving.

10. The elevator according to claim 8 , wherein the brake test circuit of the elevator control is configured to issue failure signal and/or to put the car out of service when the critical energization exceeds at least one defined threshold value.

11. The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein each mover has a load sensor arranged between the car and the mover to measure total weight of car.

12. A method for operating an elevator with a linear motor, which linear motor comprises at least one linear stator designed to be located in a fixed correlation to an environment and at least one mover designed for connection with an elevator car to be moved and co-acting with the stator to move the car,
which motor comprises a stator beam supporting said at least one stator, which stator beam has at least one side face carrying ferromagnetic poles of said stator spaced apart by a pitch, and which mover comprises at least one counter-face facing said side face(s) of the stator beam, in which counter-face electro-magnetic components of the mover are arranged to co-act with the ferromagnetic poles of the stator beam, wherein the side face of the stator beam facing the counterface of the mover and/or the counter face of the mover facing the side face of the stator beam comprise a brake surface which is used as the brake interface of the elevator brake when the electromagnetic components of the mover are at least partially de-energized.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the electromagnetic components of the mover are de-energized dependent on the signal of a position- and/or velocity- and/or acceleration sensor of the elevator.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the mover is de-energized when the car stops at an elevator floor.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein a car with at least two movers is used, whereby in a brake test mode at least one of the movers is energized whereas at least one other mover is de-energized.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein car has N movers, the method comprises the succession of following steps:
an empty car is kept standstill by providing a driving force upwards with all the N movers, and total current Lot of all N movers is determined
current of one of the movers is interrupted to apply the mover as an elevator brake, and driving current of each of the other movers is at the same time raised to a value: I tot /(N−1)
the driving current of each of the other movers is gradually decreased, and movement of elevator car is observed
when movement of elevator car is detected, the driving current at the moment movement started is recorded, and the recorded current is compared to a reference value
if the recorded current is higher than the reference value, safety measures with the elevator are performed.

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein car has N movers, and each mover has a load sensor, such as a strain gauge, arranged between the car and the mover to measure total weight of the car, the method comprising:
current of one of the movers is interrupted to apply the mover as an elevator brake,
an empty car is kept standstill by providing a driving force upwards with the other N−1 movers, such that the load sensor of the mover applied as an elevator brake indicates zero weight,
the driving current of the other N−1 movers is gradually decreased, and movement of elevator car is observed,
when movement of elevator car is detected, the reading of the load sensor of the mover applied as an elevator brake at the moment movement started is recorded, and the recorded reading is compared to a reference value
if the recorded reading of the load sensor is lower than the reference value, safety measures with the elevator are performed.

18. The method according to claim 15 , which brake test mode is performed when the car is stopping at a floor.

19. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the energization of the energized mover is increased until the car starts moving.

20. The method according to claim 18 , wherein a critical energization when the car starts moving is compared to at least one threshold value and that safety measures with the elevator are performed when the threshold value is exceeded.

21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the safety measures comprises at least

Assignees

• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Hakala Tero
• Kattainen Ari
• Lähteenmäki Jussi
• Suur-Askola Seppo
• Perälä Jussi
• Purosto Tero

Classifications

• B66B5/0037

  Performance analysers · CPC title

• B66B5/18

  and applying frictional retarding forces · CPC title

• H02P25/064

  of the synchronous type · CPC title

• H02K41/02

  Linear motors; Sectional motors · CPC title

• B66B11/0407 Primary

  actuated by an electrical linear motor (in the counterweight B66B17/12) · CPC title