Elevator installation and a method for controlling elevators

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9533858-B2
Application number	US-201615011143-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2016
Priority date	Sep 5, 2013
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to an elevator installation and also to a method for controlling elevators. In the method a run plan is formed for driving elevator cars on the basis of service requests, the elevator cars are driven according to the run plan, by supplying electric power via the electricity distribution network of the building to a hoisting machine driving an elevator car, and also by supplying electric power from a hoisting machine braking an elevator car back to the electricity distribution network of the building, alternatives for a run plan are formed for driving elevator cars on the basis of service requests, the electric power which the hoisting machines need for implementing the aforementioned alternatives is determined, and also a run plan is selected for use from the plurality of different alternatives, when implementing which run plan the electric powers of the hoisting machines, when summed together, smooth the power variation occurring in the electricity supply of the building.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An elevator installation in a building, the building including an electricity distribution network, the electricity distribution network electrically coupled to an electricity supply of the building, the elevator installation comprising:
a plurality of elevator cars;
a plurality of hoisting machines, each hoisting machine configured to drive a separate elevator car of the plurality of elevator cars;
a plurality of power supply devices, each power supply device configured to control a supply of electrical power between the electricity distribution network and a separate hoisting machine of the plurality of hoisting machines based on elevator drive commands received at the power supply device, respectively;
a controller device electrically coupled to the plurality of power supply devices, the controller device configured to, based on receiving at least one elevator service request,
generate a plurality of alternative run plans to drive at least one elevator car to complete the at least one elevator service request, each alternative run plan including a separate set of elevator drive commands to drive at least one of the elevator cars to complete the at least one elevator service request;
associate each given alternative run plan with a separate, respective estimated time variation of electrical power consumption of the electricity supply, the estimated time variation of electrical power consumption associated with driving the at least one of the elevator cars to complete the given alternative run plan;
select a run plan from the alternative run plans, based on the selected run plan being associated with a minimum time variation of electrical power consumption of the electricity supply; and
generate one or more elevator drive commands to command at least one of the power supply devices to drive at least one of the elevator cars according to the selected run plan.

2. The elevator installation according to claim 1 , wherein,
the controller device is configured to record a power limit associated with the electricity supply of the building; and
the selected run plan is associated with a maximum electrical power consumption of the electricity supply that is less than or equal to the power limit.

3. The elevator installation according to claim 1 , wherein,
the controller device is electrically coupled to a building automation apparatus through a data transfer bus, the building automation apparatus configured to control electrical power consumption of the electricity supply by one or more devices of the building, the one or more devices being external to the elevator installation;
the controller device is configured to generate one or more control signals to the building automation apparatus to change the electrical power consumption of the electricity supply by the one or more devices; and
the building automation apparatus is further configured to change the electrical power consumption of the electricity supply by the one or more devices external to the elevator installation based on the one or more control signals received from the controller device.

4. The elevator installation according to claim 3 , wherein the controller device is configured to,
generate one or more control signals to change the electrical power consumption of the electricity supply by the one or more devices;
associate at least one given alternative run plan with a separate, respective estimated time variation of electrical power consumption of the electricity supply of the building, the estimated time variation of electrical power consumption associated with both driving the plurality of elevator cars to complete the at least one given alternative run plan and changing the electrical power consumption of the electricity supply by the one or more devices, according to at least one control signal, to reduce the time variation of electrical power consumption of the at least one given alternative run plan;
select a run plan from the alternative run plans, based on the selected run plan being associated with a minimum time variation of electrical power consumption of the electricity supply.

5. The elevator installation according to claim 4 , wherein the controller device is configured to,
select a run plan from the alternative run plans, based on the selected run plan being associated with
a minimum time variation of electrical power consumption variation of the electricity supply, and
a maximum electrical power consumption of the electricity supply that is less than or equal to a power limit of the electricity supply.

6. The elevator installation according to claim 1 , wherein,
the elevator installation further includes,
a power management device, and
a plurality of elevator groups, wherein each elevator group includes
a plurality of elevator cars configured to complete one or more elevator service requests, and
a group controller electrically coupled to the power management device;

each group controller is configured to,
generate a group-specific run plan for driving the elevator cars of the elevator group to complete one or more elevator service requests, and
determine the electric power consumption by the hoisting machines need to complete the generated group-specific run plan,
the power management device is configured to
receive, from each group controller in each given elevator group, information indicating separate electrical power consumption values associated with each separate hoisting machine in the given elevator group to complete a group-specific run plan associated with the given elevator group,
compare the electric power consumption values indicated in the received information, and
determine a group-specific power limit associated with one or more group controllers such that each of the alternative run plans includes group-specific run plans associated with separate, respective elevator groups; and
communicate each group-specific power limit to a corresponding one or more group controllers;

each given group controller of each given elevator group of the elevator installation is configured to
to determine a plurality of alternative group-specific run plans associated with the given elevator group, each alternative group-specific run plan being a run plan to drive one or more of the elevator cars of the given elevator group to complete the at least one elevator service request,
associate each given alternative group-specific run plans with a separate, respective estimated time variation of electrical power consumption of the electricity supply, the estimated time variation of electrical power consumption of the electricity supply being associated with driving at least one of the elevator cars of the given elevator group to complete the given alternative group-specific run plan; and
select a group-specific run plan from the alternative group-specific run plans, based on the selected group-specific run plan associated with a maximum estimated electrical power consumption that is less than or equal to the group-specific power limit communicated to the group controller.

7. The elevator installation according to claim 6 , wherein,
the power management device is configured to
record a power limit associated with the electricity supply of the building,
compare electrical power consumption information received from the group controllers to the power limit,
determine, for each given group controller, a group-specific power limit associated with the given group controller, and
select a run plan from the alternative run plans, each of the alternative run plans including a separate group-specific run plan associated with each separate elevator group, based on the selected run plan being associated with
a minimum estimated ti

Assignees

• Hanninen Ari
• Tyni Tapio
• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Hanninen Ari
• Tyni Tapio

Classifications

• B66B1/34

  Details {, e.g. call counting devices, data transmission from car to control system, devices giving information to the control system} · CPC title

• B66B1/302 Primary

  for energy saving · CPC title