Elevator arrangement including rope position detector and elevator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11465883-B2
Application number	US-201815963214-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2018
Priority date	May 5, 2017
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

An elevator arrangement, comprising at least one rope connected with an elevator car; a rope wheel arrangement comprising at least one rope wheel around which the rope passes turning around an axis, which extends in width direction of the rope; and a rope position detector arranged to detect displacement of the rope over at least one limit position and to trigger one or more predetermined actions in response to detecting displacement of the rope over a limit position. The rope is arranged to pass around a rope wheel turning around an axis, which extends in width direction of the rope, and the rope position detector is arranged to detect displacement of the rope over a limit position in thickness direction of the rope at a detection point, and to trigger one or more predetermined actions in response to detecting displacement of the rope in its thickness direction over the limit position, said limit position being on the opposite side of the rope than said rope wheel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An elevator arrangement, comprising:
a rope connected with an elevator car, the rope being a rod elastically bendable away from a straight form while under a bending tension and urged towards the straight form as the bending tension drops;
a rope wheel around which the rope passes turning around an axis, which extends in width direction of the rope, the rope losing contact with a rim of the rope wheel at a departing point; and
a rope position detector arranged to,
detect displacement of the rope over a limit position in a thickness direction of the rope at a detection point as the rope shifts towards the limit position in response to the bending tension dropping as the rod is urged towards the straight form with the rope position detector being positioned relative to the rope wheel based on a recoil of the rod as the rod is urged towards the straight form as the bending tension of the rod drops such that the detection point is between 0.15 and 0.35 meters below a radial plane of the rope wheel corresponding to the departing point on the rim of the rope wheel, and on an opposite side of the rope from the rope wheel, and
trigger one or more actions in response to detecting the displacement of the rope in the thickness direction of the rope over the limit position.

2. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the rope is arranged to pass tangentially away from the rope wheel further to the detection point where, prior to the drop in the bending tension, the rope does not cross the limit position while unsupported in the thickness direction thereof.

3. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said one or more actions include one or more of stopping the elevator car, preventing further starts of elevator car, sending an alarm signal.

4. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said limit position is at a distance from the rope in thickness-direction of the rope.

5. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein a departing point where the rope departs from a rim of the rope wheel and the detection point are at a distance from each other, the distance being between 0.15 and 0.35 meters.

6. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the rope position detector is arranged to sense ultrasonic sound or electromagnetic radiation from said limit position.

7. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the rope position detector comprises:
a receiver arranged to receive ultrasonic sound or electromagnetic radiation from said limit position, the receiver including one or more photocells, one or more laser beam sensors, one or more ultrasonic sensing devices, one or more optical cameras, one or more scanners, one or more machine vision devices, or one or more pattern recognition devices.

8. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the rope position detector comprises:
a sensing member positioned at the limit position on a thickness direction side of the rope, which sensing member is displaceable by the rope, in response to displacement of the rope displaced in the thickness direction to collide into contact with the sensing member.

9. The elevator arrangement according to claim, 8 wherein a surface portion of the sensing member facing the rope comprises non-metallic material.

10. The elevator arrangement according to claim 8 , wherein the sensing member is displaceable at least in a longitudinal direction of the rope, whereby the rope, when it moves in its longitudinal direction during elevator use and is displaced in the thickness direction to collide into contact with the sensing member, is arranged to engage the sensing member and push and displace it at least in the longitudinal direction of the rope.

11. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said rope comprises:
one or more load bearing members extending parallel with a longitudinal direction of the rope unbroken throughout a length of the rope, which one or more load bearing members are made of a composite material including reinforcing fibers in a polymer matrix, said reinforcing fibers being carbon fibers.

12. The elevator arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein said rope comprises a non-metallic coating.

13. An elevator comprising:
the elevator arrangement in according to claim 1 ; and
the elevator car.

14. A rope position detector comprising:
a sensing member positioned at a limit position on a thickness direction side of a rope, the rope being a rod elastically bendable away from a straight form while under a bending tension and urged towards the straight form as the bending tension drops, the sensing member configured to,
detect displacement of a rope over the limit position in the thickness direction of the rope at a detection point as the rope shifts towards the limit position in response to the bending tension dropping as the rod is urged towards the straight form with the sensing member being positioned relative to a rope wheel based on a recoil of the rod as the rod is urged towards the straight form as the bending tension of the rod drops such that the detection point is between 0.15 and 0.35 below a radial plane of the rope wheel corresponding to a departing point on a rim of the rope wheel, and on an opposite side of the rope from the rope wheel, and
trigger one or more actions in response to detecting the displacement of the rope in the thickness direction of the rope over the limit position.

Assignees

• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Helenius Juha
• Juntunen Mika
• Markkula Samuel

Classifications

• G01B11/16

  for measuring the deformation in a solid, e.g. optical strain gauge · CPC title

• B66B7/1238

  by optical techniques · CPC title

• B66B7/06 Primary

  Arrangements of ropes or cables · CPC title

• B66B5/12 Primary

  in case of rope or cable slack · CPC title

• G01B17/04

  for measuring the deformation in a solid, e.g. by vibrating string · CPC title