Rope of a lifting device for an elevator and a condition monitoring method for the rope

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9834409-B2
Application number	US-201414314939-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2014
Priority date	Jan 24, 2012
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

In a rope of a lifting device, particularly of a passenger transport elevator and/or freight transport elevator, the width of which rope is greater than the thickness in the transverse direction of the rope, which rope includes a load-bearing part in the longitudinal direction of the rope, which load-bearing part includes carbon-fiber reinforced, aramid-fiber reinforced and/or glass-fiber reinforced composite material in a polymer matrix, and which rope includes one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles in connection with the load-bearing part and the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle is laminated inside the load-bearing part and/or the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle is glued onto the surface of the load-bearing part and/or and that the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle is embedded or glued into the polymer envelope surrounding the load-bearing part, as well as to a condition monitoring method for the rope of a lifting device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A rope of a lifting device for an elevator, wherein:
a width of the rope is greater than a thickness of the rope in a transverse direction of the rope,
the rope comprises:
a load-bearing part in a longitudinal direction of the rope, the load-bearing part comprises a composite material in a polymer matrix,
a cross-section of the load-bearing part in the transverse direction of the rope has two parallel edges extending in the transverse direction of the rope, said parallel edges having a length greater than a thickness of the load-bearing part that is perpendicular to the parallel edges,
one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles in connection with the load-bearing part, and
at least one of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles is located outside of the load-bearing part,

wherein the composite material comprises carbon-fibers, aramid fibers and/or glass-fibers in the polymer matrix,
wherein the load-bearing part is completely surrounded by an envelope comprising a polymer and is continuous in the longitudinal direction of the rope, and
wherein the at least one of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles located outside of the load-bearing part is embedded in the envelope.

2. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein the structure of the rope continues essentially the same for the whole length of the rope, and the load-bearing part comprises prepeg reinforcement layers laminated together and at least one other optical fiber and/or fiber bundle of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles is laminated between and/or on the surface of the reinforcement layers.

3. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein fibers of the load-bearing part are arranged in a longitudinal direction and are laminated into the polymer matrix, and at least one other optical fiber and/or fiber bundle of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles is arranged to be mixed into the reinforcement.

4. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein the load-bearing part comprises at least one other optical fiber and/or fiber bundle of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles, which extends essentially a length of the load-bearing part, and the at least one other of the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle extends continuously in the direction of the load-bearing part essentially from a first end of the load-bearing part to a second end of the load-bearing part at least once.

5. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein an input and a reception of a light pulse of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles is at a same end of the rope or the input and the reception of the light pulse of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles are at opposite ends of the rope.

6. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein a single-mode or multimode fiber is used as a sensor fiber of the one or more optical fibers or fiber bundles and an input of the light pulse occurs with a laser transmitter or with a LED light source.

7. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles comprises a Fabry-Perot-type sensor fiber.

8. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles comprises a sensor fiber, comprising a Bragg grating structure.

9. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles comprises a sensor fiber, which functions as a Brilloun distributed fiber sensor.

10. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles comprises a sensor fiber, in which fiber the time-of-flight of a light pulse is measured.

11. A rope arrangement of a lifting device of an elevator, which rope arrangement comprises a plurality of ropes, which are arranged to move the elevator car, wherein at least one of the ropes is the rope according to claim 1 .

12. The rope according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles is glued onto the surface of the load-bearing part and is embedded into the polymer envelope surrounding the load-bearing part and at least another of the one or more optical fibers and/or fiber bundles are located inside the load-bearing part.

13. An elevator comprising:
an elevator car,
a traction sheave,
a power source for rotating the traction sheave, and
the rope according to claim 1 ,
wherein the elevator car is arranged to be moved by aid of the rope.

14. The elevator according to claim 13 , wherein the rope is arranged to move the elevator car and a counterweight.

15. The elevator according to claim 13 , wherein the rope is an overspeed governor rope and/or a compensating rope.

16. The elevator according to claim 13 , wherein the elevator comprises a device configured to monitor a condition of the optical fiber and/or a fiber bundle, which comprises a number of optical fibers, the device configured to monitor a condition of the optical fiber by monitoring a strain and/or displacement and/or condition of the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle of the load-bearing part of the rope.

17. A condition monitoring method for a rope of a lifting device for an elevator, the condition monitoring method comprising the steps of:
monitoring a condition of the rope by monitoring a condition of an optical fiber and/or fiber bundle, the rope including:
a load-bearing part, wherein the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle being located outside of the load-bearing part, a cross-section of the load-bearing part in the transverse direction of the rope having two parallel edges extending in the transverse direction of the rope, said parallel edges having a length greater than a thickness of the load-bearing part that is perpendicular to the parallel edges; and

when a detected strain and/or displacement of the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle has increases, and/or the condition of the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle has decreases, beyond a pre-defined limit value, diagnosing a need to replace or overhaul the rope and starting rope replacement work or rope maintenance work,
wherein the rope comprises the load-bearing part in a longitudinal direction of the rope, the load-bearing part comprises a composite material in a polymer matrix,
wherein the rope comprises one or more additional optical fibers and/or fiber bundles in connection with the load-bearing part,
wherein the composite material comprises carbon-fibers, aramid fibers and/or glass-fibers in the polymer matrix,
wherein the load-bearing part is completely surrounded by an envelope comprising a polymer and is continuous in the longitudinal direction of the rope, and
wherein the optical fiber and/or fiber bundle located outside of the load-bearing part is embedded in the envelope.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein a width of the rope is greater than a thickness in the transverse direction of the rope.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein at least one of the one or more additional optical fibers and/or fiber bundles is embedded in the load-bearing part and
wherein at least another one of the one or more additional optical fibers and/or fiber bundles is glued onto the surface of the load-bearing part.

20. The method according to claim 17 , wherein a single-mode or multimode fiber is used as the sensor fiber of the optical fiber or fiber bundle and the input of the light pulse occurs with a laser transmitter.

21. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the optical fiber and/or f

Assignees

• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Kere Petri
• Lampinen Riku
• Pelto-Huikko Raimo
• Valjus Petteri
• Heikkilä Lasse

Classifications

• D07B2201/2096

  Light guides · CPC title

• D07B1/145

  comprising elements for indicating or detecting the rope or cable status · CPC title

• D07B2205/3007

  Carbon · CPC title

• B66B5/0018 Primary

  Devices monitoring the operating condition of the elevator system · CPC title

• D07B1/22

  Flat or flat-sided ropes; Sets of ropes consisting of a series of parallel ropes · CPC title