Elevator position detection systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11535488-B2
Application number	US-201815975845-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2018
Priority date	Aug 28, 2017
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

Elevator systems having an elevator machine connected to an elevator car within an elevator shaft, the elevator shaft including a plurality of landings, at least one first sensor assembly attached to the elevator car, at least one second sensor assembly arranged within the elevator shaft and configured to interact with the at least one first sensor assembly, and a computing system in communication with at least one of the at least one first sensor assemblies and the at least one second sensor assemblies such that the computing system receives at least one of signals or data from the at least one of the at least one first sensor assemblies and the at least one second sensor assemblies. The at least one first sensor assemblies and the at least one second sensor assemblies form a contactless position sensing system for determining a position of the elevator car within the elevator shaft.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An elevator system comprising:
an elevator machine operably connected to an elevator car located within an elevator shaft, the elevator shaft including a plurality of landings;
at least one first sensor assembly attached to the elevator car comprising a first sensor, a second sensor, and a third sensor;
a plurality of second sensor assemblies arranged within the elevator shaft and configured to interact with the at least one first sensor assembly, wherein each landing of the plurality of landings includes an associated second sensor assembly from the plurality of second sensor assemblies; and
a computing system operably connected to and in communication with at least one of (i) the at least one first sensor assembly and (ii) the plurality of second sensor assemblies such that the computing system receives at least one of signals or data from the operably connected assembly or assemblies when the at least one first sensor assembly interacts with a second sensor assembly of the plurality of second sensor assemblies,
wherein the at least one first sensor assembly and the plurality of second sensor assemblies form a contactless position sensing system for determining a position of the elevator car within the elevator shaft,
wherein each of the plurality of second sensor assemblies comprises a plurality of tags, wherein a first tag is arranged to align with the first sensor, a second tag is arranged to align with the second sensor, and a third tag is arranged to align with the third sensor and the third tag comprises a first tag element and a second tag element separated by a tag spacing distance and a third tag element, the third tag element having a predetermined frequency selected to enable identification of a respective associated landing of the plurality of landings by the contactless position sensing system, wherein the predetermined frequency of the third tag comprises encoded information to uniquely identify each landing, and
wherein the computing system is configured to:
determine a landing error for each landing to compensate for installation errors to determine a set landing position for each landing based on an interaction of the first, second, and third sensors with the respective first, second, and third tags at each landing;
identify, during elevator operation, a specific landing based on a detected third tag of a second sensor assembly, and
control the elevator machine to adjust, during the elevator operation, a landing position of the elevator car to the set landing position at the specific landing based on an interaction of the first, second, and third sensors with the respective first, second, and third tags at each landing.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first sensor assembly comprises a transmit coil and two receive coils.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the two receive coils comprise a sine coil and a cosine coil.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein each tag of each second sensor assembly comprises a passive cooperating tag.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein a unique position offset among the plurality of tags of each second sensor assembly within the elevator shaft is measurable to determine a landing within the elevator shaft.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensors of the at least one first sensor assembly and the tags of the second sensor assemblies define overlapping detection regions at each respective landing.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first sensor assembly is mounted to a toe guard of the elevator car.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an elevator controller, wherein the computing system is in communication with the elevator controller, the elevator controller arranged to control operation of the elevator car within the elevator shaft.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computing system is an integral component of the elevator controller.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the computing system and the elevator controller are arranged to detect a location of the elevator car within the elevator shaft based on a detection of a third tag of at least one of the plurality of second sensor assemblies in at least one of a unique position and unique frequency configuration.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the computing system and the elevator controller control a position of the elevator car based on the determined position of the elevator car.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the computing system and the elevator controller control a leveling operation of the elevator car relative to a landing based on the determined position of the elevator car.

13. A method for installing an elevator car within an elevator shaft having a plurality of landings, the method comprising:
installing at least one first sensor assembly on the elevator car comprising a first sensor, a second sensor, and a third sensor;
installing a plurality of second sensor assemblies within the elevator shaft, wherein at least one second sensor assembly is installed at each landing of the plurality of landings, wherein each second sensor assembly comprises a plurality of tags, wherein a first tag is arranged to align with the first sensor, a second tag is arranged to align with the second sensor, and a third tag is arranged to align with the third sensor and the third tag comprises a first tag element and a second tag element separated by a tag spacing distance and a third tag element, the third tag element having a predetermined frequency selected to enable identification of a respective associated landing, and wherein the at least one first sensor assembly and the plurality of second sensor assemblies form a contactless position sensing system for determining a position of the elevator car within the elevator shaft, wherein the predetermined frequency of the third tag comprises encoded information to uniquely identify each landing;
moving the elevator car to each landing of the plurality of landings and identifying which second sensor assembly of the plurality of second sensor assemblies is associated with each landing;
measuring a landing error at each landing based on an interaction of the first, second, and third sensors with the respective first, second, and third tags at each landing;
providing the landing error for each landing to a computing system;
using the landing error for each landing to compensate for installation errors to determine a set landing position for each landing;
identifying, during elevator operation, a specific landing based on a detected third tag of a second sensor assembly, and
adjusting, during elevator operation, with an elevator machine, a landing position of the elevator car to the set landing position at the specific landing.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one first sensor assembly comprises transmit and receive coils and each second sensor assembly comprises passive cooperating tags.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising identifying the specific landing based on a unique position offset among multiple tags in a given second sensor assembly.

Assignees

• Otis Elevator Co

Inventors

• Ginsberg David
• Thebeau Ronnie E
• James David Alun

Classifications

• B66B1/3492 Primary

  Position or motion detectors or driving means for the detector (B66B1/40, B66B1/50 take precedence; length measuring G01B; speed measuring G01P) · CPC title

• B66B3/02 Primary

  Position or depth indicators · CPC title

• B66B1/40 Primary

  and for correct levelling at landings · CPC title