Guide rail straightness measuring system for elevator installations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9957136-B2
Application number	US-201514622160-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2015
Priority date	Oct 4, 2012
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

The invention relates to an elevator guide rail straightness measuring system, for measuring the straightness of elevator guide rails, which measuring system comprises at least one plumb line mounted vertically in the runway adjacent to the guide rail and at least one sensor arrangement to be mounted on a carrier to travel vertically along the guide rail, which sensor arrangement comprises a frame, at least one guide shoe connected to the frame for sliding/rolling along a guide surface of the guide rail, a bias means for placing and biasing the frame against the guide surface, and at least one sensor means for sensing the position of the plumb line with respect to the frame, such elevator system allows easy and exact measurement of the guide rail straightness. The invention also relates to an elevator having such a system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A measuring system configured to measure a straightness of an elevator guide rail, the measuring system comprising:
at least one plumb line mounted vertically in an elevator runway adjacent to a guide rail;
at least one sensor arrangement on a carrier to travel vertically along the guide rail, the sensor arrangement including,
a frame,
at least one guide shoe connected to the frame, the guide shoe configured to move along a guide surface of the guide rail,
a biasing device configured to bias the frame against the guide surface, and
at least one sensor configured to sense a position of the plumb line with respect to the frame; and

at least one temporary installation platform configured to transport the sensor arrangement along the guide rail.

2. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement further comprises:
a data interface and an internal memory.

3. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the bias device comprises:
at least one magnet configured to bias the frame against the guide surface.

4. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes a first rotary encoder and a second rotary encoder, and the frame comprises:
a roller having the second rotary encoder attached thereto, the second rotary encoder configured to provide car position data.

5. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises:
two sensors, each of the two sensors being one of a rotary encoder and an optical sensor, the two sensors configured to determine the position of the plumb line with respect to the frame.

6. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor arrangement includes two sensor arrangements acting on different guide surfaces of the guide rail.

7. The measuring system according to claim 6 , wherein one plumb line is provided for each of the two sensor arrangements.

8. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the frame has an L-profile carrying a first adjustment bar, and the sensor arrangement further comprises:
a first adjustment block which is fixable in a desired position on said first adjustment bar, and
a second adjustment bar mounted to the first adjustment block, the second adjustment bar configured to fix a second adjustment block in a desired position along the second adjustment bar, the second adjustment block having the sensor attached thereto.

9. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein
the sensor includes two sensors, and
the sensor arrangement includes a support frame surrounding the plumb line, the support frame configured to carry the two sensors.

10. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the biasing device includes magnets configured to bias the frame against the guide surface, and the frame comprises:
an angle profile extending with its profile axis along the guide rail, the angle profile configured to,
cover two perpendicular guide surfaces of the guide rail, and
carry mountings for supporting rollers running along the guide surfaces and the magnets.

11. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises:
an interface configured to connect with an elevator control or a data logger.

12. The measuring system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises:
a processor and a memory, the memory configured to store reference data, the processor configured to,
compare position data of the sensor with reference data, and
issue a signal if the position data exceeds the reference data by a threshold value.

13. An elevator arrangement comprising:
at least one temporary installation platform configured to move vertically in an elevator runway along a guide rail to transport at least one sensor arrangement along the guide rail, the guide rail configured to extend vertically along at least a part of the elevator runway; and
a measuring system configured to measure a straightness of the guide rail, the measuring system including at least one plumb line mounted vertically in the elevator runway adjacent to the guide rail, and the at least one sensor arrangement, the at least one plumb line being fixed vertically in the elevator runway between an upper end and a lower end of the elevator runway, and the at least one sensor arrangement including,
a frame,
at least one guide shoe connected to the frame, the guide shoe configured to move along a guide surface of the guide rail,
a biasing device configured to bias the frame against the guide surface, and
at least one sensor configured to sense a position of the plumb line with respect to the frame.

14. The elevator arrangement according to claim 13 , wherein the sensors include a parallel light source.

15. A method for building up elevator guide rails whose straightness is measured via a measuring system, the method comprising:
mounting the elevator guide rails in an elevator shaft by visually aligning the elevator guide rails along plumb lines located vertically in the elevator shaft, and fixing, via brackets, the elevator guide rails to an elevator runway at a mounting location, the brackets configured to allow an adjustment of the mounting location of the elevator guide rails in a horizontal plane;
moving a sensor arrangement including at least one sensor along the elevator guide rails via a temporary installation platform such that the at least one sensor is transportable along the elevator guide rails via the temporary installation platform; and
adjusting mounting positions of the elevator guide rails based on data provided by the measurement system, the adjusting including opening, readjusting and fixing the brackets such that the elevator guide rails are fixed at a final one of the mounting positions indicated as an exact alignment by the measuring system.

Assignees

• Hawkins Giovanni
• Kilpelaeinen Pekka
• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Hawkins Giovanni
• Kilpeläinen Pekka

Classifications

• B66B19/002

  installing or exchanging guide rails (details of rails B66B7/02) · CPC title

• G01C15/10

  Plumb lines · CPC title

• B66B19/007

  method for modernisation of elevators · CPC title

• B66B7/1246 Primary

  specially adapted for guides · CPC title