JP7631413B2 - Elevator control device and elevator control method - Google Patents

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relate to elevator control devices and elevator control methods.

In recent years, autonomous mobile objects (hereafter simply referred to as "mobile objects") that perform tasks such as cleaning buildings, transporting luggage, and providing directions to building users have been put into practical use. In buildings with multiple floors, such as large buildings, the use of elevators for the mobile objects is essential to perform the above tasks.

When a moving object uses an elevator, if the moving object and a user ride in the elevator together, the operating efficiency of the moving object may decrease and the quality of service for the elevator user may decline. In light of this, a technology has been disclosed that controls elevator operation to avoid the moving object and the user riding in the elevator together by switching between an operation pattern that prioritizes the use of the moving object and an operation pattern that prioritizes the use of the user.

Patent No. 6819767

However, even if elevator operation is controlled as described above, there is a problem in that when priority is given to the use of moving objects, a passenger may enter the car through the gap between the moving object and the door and the car may enter, hindering the priority operation of the moving object.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to provide an elevator control device and elevator control method that can reliably prevent a user from riding in an autonomously traveling mobile object.

According to an embodiment for achieving the above object, an elevator control device includes a dimension information acquisition unit, a car opening determination unit, and a door opening/closing control unit. The dimension information acquisition unit acquires dimension information of an autonomously traveling mobile object that moves using an elevator. The car opening determination unit determines the opening degree of the car door when the mobile object enters the elevator car based on the dimension information acquired by the dimension information acquisition unit. The door opening/closing control unit opens the car door to the opening degree determined by the car opening determination unit when the mobile object enters the car.

1 is an overall view showing the configuration of an elevator system using an elevator control device according to a first and second embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing executed by the elevator control device according to the first and second embodiments. FIG. 1A is an explanatory diagram regarding the degree of opening of a car controlled by an elevator control device according to the first embodiment when a low-height moving object enters through the car door, and FIG. 1B is an explanatory diagram regarding the degree of opening of a car controlled by an elevator control device according to the first embodiment when a high-height moving object enters. FIG. 13A is an explanatory diagram regarding the degree of opening of a car controlled by an elevator control device according to the second embodiment when a narrow moving body enters through the car door, and FIG. 13B is an explanatory diagram regarding the degree of opening of a car controlled by an elevator control device according to the second embodiment when a wide moving body enters through the car door.

As one embodiment of the present invention, an elevator system using a moving body such as an autonomous robot (hereinafter simply referred to as a "moving body") will be described below.

First Embodiment
Configuration of elevator system according to first embodiment
1 is an overall view showing the configuration of an elevator system 1A according to a first embodiment. The elevator system 1A includes an elevator 10A and a moving body 30 communicatively connected to the elevator 10A.

The elevator 10A has a hoist 11, a car 13A suspended from a rope 12 stretched across the hoist 11, and an elevator control device 20A. The hoist 11 operates based on instructions from the elevator control device 20A to raise and lower the car 13A.

The car 13A is connected to the elevator control device 20A via the tail cord 14. The car 13A has an opening 131 on one side, and a car door 132A is installed in the opening 131. In this embodiment, the car door 132A moves upward to increase the opening of the opening 131 and open the door, and moves downward to decrease the opening of the opening 131 and close the door.

A camera device 133 is installed above the car door 132A to capture an image of the area below when the car door 132A is open. Figure 1 shows the position of the camera device 133 when the car door 132A is fully open.

The elevator control device 20A has a first wireless communication unit 21 and a first CPU 22A. The first wireless communication unit 21 performs wireless communication with the moving object 30.

The first CPU22A is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) provided in a general-purpose microcomputer, and configures one or more information processing units described below by installing and executing a specified elevator control program. The first CPU22A has, as two or more information processing units, a call registration unit 221, an elevator control unit 222, a dimension information acquisition unit 223, a car opening determination unit 224A, and a door opening/closing control unit 225.

The call registration unit 221 registers hall call information operated by users on a hall operating panel (not shown) in the elevator 10A, car call information operated by users on a car operating panel (not shown) in the car 13A, and call information acquired from the moving body 30 for the moving body 30 to use the elevator 10A. The elevator control unit 222 controls the operation of the equipment in the elevator 10A, such as the hoist 11, based on the information registered in the call registration unit 221.

The dimension information acquisition unit 223 acquires dimension information of the moving body 30. The car opening degree determination unit 224A determines the opening degree of the car door 132A when the moving body 30 enters the car 13A based on the dimension information of the moving body 30 acquired by the dimension information acquisition unit 223. The door opening/closing control unit 225 opens the car door 132A to the opening degree determined by the car opening degree determination unit 224A when the moving body 30 enters the car 13A.

The moving body 30 has a second wireless communication unit 31, a movement mechanism 32, and a second CPU 33. The second wireless communication unit 31 performs wireless communication with the elevator control device 20A. The movement mechanism 32 is a mechanism that moves the moving body 30.

The second CPU 33 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) provided in a general-purpose microcomputer, and configures one or more information processing units described below by installing and executing a specific mobile object control program. The second CPU 33 has a call information transmission unit 331 and an operation control unit 332 as two or more information processing units.

When the moving body 30 uses the elevator 10A, the call information transmission unit 331 generates a call registration request including information on the boarding and disembarking floors of the moving body 30 and previously stored dimensional information of the moving body 30, and transmits it to the elevator control device 20A via the second wireless communication unit 31. The operation control unit 332 controls the movement mechanism 32.

Operation of the elevator system according to the first embodiment
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation performed by the elevator control device 20A when the elevator system 1A according to this embodiment is in operation.

When the moving body 30 uses the elevator 10A, the call information transmission unit 331 of the moving body 30 generates a call registration request including information on the boarding floor and disembarking floor of the moving body 30 and the dimensional information of the moving body 30 stored in advance, and transmits it to the elevator control device 20A via the second wireless communication unit 31. In this embodiment, the dimensional information of the moving body 30 includes information indicating the height of the moving body 30.

When the elevator control device 20A acquires the call information transmitted from the mobile body 30, the call registration unit 221 registers the boarding floor and disembarking floor information of the mobile body 30 contained in the call information as the call information of the mobile body ("YES" in S1).

When the call information of the moving body 30 is registered, the dimension information acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating the height of the dimension information of the moving body 30 contained in the call information (S2) and sends it to the cage opening determination unit 224A.

The cage opening determination unit 224A holds information on the height of the opening 131 when the cage door 132A of the cage 13A is fully open. The cage opening determination unit 224A compares the held height of the opening 131 with the height of the moving body 30, and determines whether the difference is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value T1. This threshold value T1 is, for example, the difference value between the height of the opening 131 when the cage door 132A is fully open and a height equivalent to a human height.

When the cage opening determination unit 224A determines that the difference between the height of the opening 131 and the height of the moving body 30 is equal to or greater than the threshold value T1 ("YES" in S3), it determines that the cage door 132A is to be opened at an opening degree dedicated to the moving body when the moving body 30 enters the cage 13A (S4). In this embodiment, the opening degree dedicated to the moving body is a value for opening the door to a height obtained by adding a predetermined value α to the height of the moving body 30, and is an opening degree to a position higher than the height of the moving body 30 and lower than the height of the opening 131 when the cage door 132A is fully open. The value α is the height of the gap required for the moving body 30 to pass through the opening 131 safely.

3A is an explanatory diagram regarding the opening degree of the car determined when the moving body 30a with a low height H _R1 gets on through the car door 132A. In this case, since the difference H _D - H _R1 between the height H _D of the opening 131 and the height H _R1 of the moving body 30 is equal to or greater than the threshold value T1, the car opening degree determination unit 224A determines that the car door 132A should be opened at an opening degree dedicated to moving bodies (opening degree that opens the door to H _R1 + α) when the moving body 30a gets on to the car 13A.

In addition, in step S3, when the car opening determination unit 224A determines that the difference between the height of the opening 131 and the height of the moving object 30 is less than the threshold value T1 ("NO" in S3), it determines that the car door 132A is to be opened at the normal opening, i.e., fully open, when the moving object 30 enters the car 13A (S5).

3B is an explanatory diagram regarding the opening degree of the car determined when the moving body 30b with a high height H _R2 gets on through the car door 132A. In this case, since the difference H _D - H _R2 between the height H _D of the opening 131 and the height H _R2 of the moving body 30 is less than the threshold value T1, the car opening degree determination unit 224A determines to fully open the car door 132A when the moving body 30b gets on the car 13A.

The elevator control unit 222 moves the elevator car 13A to the boarding floor of the moving body 30 based on the call information of the moving body 30 registered in the call registration unit 221, and when the elevator car 13A lands on this boarding floor, the door opening/closing control unit 225 opens the car door 132A at the opening degree determined by the car opening degree determination unit 224A (S6).

When the door of the car 13A opens, the operation control unit 332 of the moving body 30 controls the movement mechanism 32, so that the moving body 30 gets on to the car 13A.

When the elevator control unit 222 detects that the moving object 30 has entered the car 13A based on sensor information from a camera device (not shown) or a load detection device (not shown) installed on the car 13A ("YES" in S7), the door opening/closing control unit 225 closes the car door 132A and moves the car 13A to the disembarking floor of the moving object 30 (S8).

Here, when a hall call for another moving body at the floor where car 13A has arrived is registered in the call registration unit 221 ("YES" in S9), the dimension information acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating the height, which is the dimension information of the other moving body (S10).

The cage opening determination unit 224A selects the moving body 30 or another moving body, whichever is taller (S11), returns to step S3, and determines whether the difference between the height of the opening 131 and the height of the selected moving body 30 is equal to or greater than the threshold value T1 (S3).

Then, the opening degree of the car door 132A is determined by processing in step S4 or S5 depending on the judgment result, and when the car 13A lands on the disembarking floor of the moving body 30, the door opening/closing control unit 225 opens the car door 132A at the determined opening degree (S6).

When the door of the car 13A opens, the operation control unit 332 of the moving body 30 controls the movement mechanism 32 so that the moving body 30 disembarks from the car 13A, and then another moving body gets on.

In step S9, if no hall call for another moving body is registered in the call registration unit 221 ("NO" in S9), the car opening determination unit 224A determines that the car door 132A is to be opened in the fully open state when the moving body 30 disembarks (S12).

When the car 13A is fully open (S13), the operation control unit 332 of the moving body 30 controls the movement mechanism 32, causing the moving body 30 to dismount from the car 13A. When the moving body 30 dismounts from the car 13A ("YES" in S14), the process returns to step S1.

According to the first embodiment described above, when a moving object boards an elevator having a car whose doors open in the vertical direction, if the height of the moving object is lower than the height of the opening of the car by a predetermined value or more, the car doors are opened with as small an opening angle as possible while still allowing the moving object to board, making it difficult for users at the landing to board the car together with the moving object, and thus making it possible to avoid passengers riding with the moving object.

In the first embodiment described above, when multiple moving bodies simultaneously board the car 13A, the dimension information acquisition unit 223 acquires the dimension information of the multiple moving bodies, and the car opening determination unit 224A may determine the opening degree of the car door 132A by determining whether or not the difference between the height of the moving body with the largest dimension information among the multiple moving bodies, specifically the tallest moving body, and the height of the opening 131 is equal to or greater than the threshold value T1. By performing processing in this manner, multiple moving bodies can reliably board the car 13A with a single door opening operation.

Second Embodiment
Configuration of elevator system according to second embodiment
The elevator system 1B according to the second embodiment has a similar configuration to the elevator system 1A described in the first embodiment, and therefore detailed descriptions of parts having the same functions will be omitted.

In this embodiment, the car 13B of the elevator 10B has an opening 131 on one side, and a car door 132B is installed in the opening 131. In this embodiment, the car door 132B changes the opening degree of the opening 131 by moving appropriately in the left-right direction.

Operation of the elevator system according to the second embodiment
The operation performed by the elevator control device 20B when the elevator system 1B according to this embodiment is in operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the moving body 30 uses the elevator 10B, the call information transmission unit 331 of the moving body 30 generates a call registration request including information on the boarding floor and disembarking floor of the moving body 30 and the dimensional information of the moving body 30 stored in advance, and transmits it to the elevator control device 20B via the second wireless communication unit 31. In this embodiment, the dimensional information of the moving body 30 includes information indicating the width of the moving body 30.

When the elevator control device 20B acquires the call information transmitted from the mobile object 30, the call registration unit 221 registers the boarding floor and disembarking floor information of the mobile object 30 contained in the call information ("YES" in S1).

When the call information of the moving object 30 is registered, the dimension information acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating the width of the moving object 30 contained in the call information (S2) and sends it to the cage opening determination unit 224B.

The car opening determination unit 224B holds in advance information on the width of the opening when the car door 132B of the passenger car 13B is fully open. The car opening determination unit 224B compares the held width of the opening 131 with the width of the moving body 30, and determines whether the difference is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value T2. This threshold value T2 is, for example, a value obtained by subtracting twice the width that a person can pass through from the width of the opening 131 when the car door 132B is fully open.

When the cage opening determination unit 224B determines that the difference between the width of the opening 131 and the width of the moving body 30 is equal to or greater than the threshold value T2 ("YES" in S3), it determines that the cage door 132B is to be opened at an opening degree dedicated to the moving body when the moving body 30 enters the cage 13B (S4). In this embodiment, the opening degree dedicated to the moving body is a value for opening the door to a width obtained by adding a predetermined value α to the width of the moving body 30, and is an opening degree to a position that is wider than the width of the moving body 30 and narrower than the width of the opening 131 when the cage door 132B is fully open. The value α is the width of the gap required for the moving body 30 to pass through the opening 131 safely.

4A is an explanatory diagram regarding the opening degree of the car determined when a moving object 30c with a narrow width W _R1 gets on through the car door 132B. In this case, since the car door 132B opens by two plates moving left and right from the center, the car opening degree determination unit 224B determines whether or not the difference W _D /2 - W _R1 /2 between the width W D /2 of the left half of the opening 131 and the width W _R1 /2 of the left half of the moving _object 30 is equal to or greater than 1/2 of the threshold value T2.

Here, the cage opening determination unit 224B determines that the difference W _D /2 - W _R1 /2 between the width W _D /2 of the left half of the opening 131 and the width W _R1 /2 of the left half of the moving body 30 is greater than or equal to 1/2 of the threshold value T2, and determines that when the moving body 30c enters the elevator car 13B, the cage door 132B will be opened at an opening W _R1 + α that is dedicated to the moving body.

Also, in step S3, when the cage opening determination unit 224B determines that the difference between the width of the opening 131 and the width of the moving body 30 is less than the threshold value T2, that is, when it determines that the difference W _D /2 - W _R1 /2 between the width W _D /2 of the left half of the opening 131 and the width W _R1 /2 of the left half of the moving body 30 is less than 1/2 the threshold value T2 ("NO" in S3), it determines that the difference between the width of the opening 131 and the width of the moving body 30 is greater than or equal to the threshold value T2, and determines that the cage door 132B will be opened at the normal opening position, that is, fully open, when the moving body 30 enters the cage 13B (S5).

4B is an explanatory diagram regarding the opening degree of the car determined when a moving body 30d with a wide width W _R2 gets on through the car door 132B. In this case, the car opening degree determination unit 224B determines that the difference W _D /2 - W _R1 /2 between the width W _D /2 of the left half of the opening 131 and the width W _R1 /2 of the left half of the moving body 30 is less than 1/2 of the threshold value T2 and the difference between the width of the opening 131 and the width of the moving body 30 is less than the threshold value T2, and determines to fully open the car door 132B when the moving body 30c gets on to the car 13B.

The elevator control unit 222 moves the car 13B to the boarding floor of the moving body 30 based on the call information of the moving body 30 registered in the call registration unit 221, and when the car 13B lands on the boarding floor of the moving body 30, the door opening/closing control unit 225 opens the car door 132B at the opening degree determined by the car opening degree determination unit 224B (S6).

When the door of the car 13B opens, the operation control unit 332 of the moving body 30 controls the movement mechanism 32, so that the moving body 30 gets on to the car 13B.

When the elevator control unit 222 detects that the moving object 30 has entered the car 13B based on sensor information from a camera device (not shown) or a load detection device (not shown) installed on the car 13B ("YES" in S7), the door opening/closing control unit 225 closes the car door 132B and moves the car 13B to the disembarking floor of the moving object 30 (S8).

Here, when a hall call for another moving body at the floor where car 13B has arrived is registered in the call registration unit 221 ("YES" in S9), the dimension information acquisition unit 223 acquires information indicating the width of the other moving body (S10).

The cage opening determination unit 224B selects the moving body 30 or another moving body, whichever is wider (S11), and returns to step S3 to determine whether the difference between the width of the opening 131 and the width of the selected moving body 30 is equal to or greater than the threshold value T2 (S3).

Then, the opening degree of the car door 132B is determined by processing in step S4 or S5 depending on the judgment result, and when the car 13B lands on the disembarking floor of the moving body 30, the door opening/closing control unit 225 opens the car door 132B at the determined opening degree (S6).

When the door of the car 13B opens, the operation control unit 332 of the moving body 30 controls the movement mechanism 32, so that the moving body 30 disembarks from the car 13B, and then another moving body gets on.

In step S9, if no hall call for another moving body is registered in the call registration unit 221 ("NO" in S9), the car opening determination unit 224B determines that the car door 132B is to be opened in the fully open state when the moving body 30 disembarks (S12).

When the car 13B is fully open (S13), the operation control unit 332 of the moving body 30 controls the movement mechanism 32, causing the moving body 30 to disembark from the car 13B. When the moving body 30 disembarks from the car 13B ("YES" in S14), the process returns to step S1.

According to the second embodiment described above, when a moving object boards an elevator having a car whose doors open left and right, if the width of the moving object is smaller than the width of the opening of the car by a predetermined value or more, the car doors are opened with as small an opening as possible while allowing the moving object to board, thereby preventing users at the landing from boarding the car together with the moving object.

In the second embodiment described above, when multiple moving bodies simultaneously board the car 13B, the dimension information acquisition unit 223 acquires the dimension information of the multiple moving bodies, and the car opening determination unit 224B may determine the opening degree of the car door 132B by determining whether or not the difference between the width of the moving body with the largest dimension information among the multiple moving bodies, specifically the widest moving body, and the width of the opening 131 is equal to or greater than the threshold value T2. By performing processing in this manner, multiple moving bodies can reliably board the car 13B with a single door opening operation.

In the first or second embodiment described above, when the moving body 30 enters the car 13A, 13B, the door opening/closing control unit 225 may analyze the image information captured by the camera device 133 to monitor whether the car doors 132A, 132B have been opened to the opening degree determined by the car opening degree determination units 224A, 224B, and may stop the door opening operation when it is determined that the doors have been opened to the determined opening degree. By configuring in this way, the opening degree of the car doors 132A, 132B can be adjusted with high accuracy using the camera device, which is an existing facility.

In the first or second embodiment described above, when the moving body 30 gets on the cars 13A and 13B, the elevator control unit 222 may turn off the arrival lights (not shown), floor indicator lights (not shown), and lights (not shown) in the cars 13A and 13B installed at the elevator hall, and output notification information from an output device (not shown) installed at the hall to notify that the cars 13A and 13B are not available. By performing processing in this manner, users at the hall can recognize that the elevators 10A and 10B are not available when the moving body 30 gets on the cars 13A and 13B and avoid getting on the elevators, thereby preventing the user and the moving body 30 from riding in the cars 13A and 13B together.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims.

1A, 1B... elevator system, 10A, 10B... elevator, 11... hoist, 12... rope, 13A, 13B... car, 14... tail cord, 20A, 20B... elevator control device, 21... first wireless communication unit, 22A, 22B... first CPU, 30, 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d... moving body, 31... second wireless communication unit, 32... moving mechanism, 33... second CPU, 131... opening, 132A, 132B... car door, 133... camera device, 221... call registration unit, 222... elevator control unit, 223... dimension information acquisition unit, 224A, 224B... car opening degree determination unit, 225... door opening/closing control unit, 331... call information transmission unit, 332... operation control unit

Claims (6)

a dimension information acquisition unit that acquires dimension information of a moving body capable of autonomous travel that moves by using an elevator;
a car opening degree determination unit that determines an opening degree of a car door of the elevator when the moving object enters the elevator car based on the dimension information acquired by the dimension information acquisition unit;
a door opening/closing control unit that opens the car door to the opening degree determined by the car opening degree determination unit when the moving object gets into the car ,
An elevator control device in which, when the dimension information acquisition unit acquires dimension information of a plurality of moving bodies, the car opening determination unit determines the opening degree of the car door of the elevator when the plurality of moving bodies enter the elevator car based on the dimension information of the largest moving body among the plurality of moving bodies . a dimension information acquisition unit that acquires dimension information of a moving body capable of autonomous travel that moves by using an elevator;
a car opening degree determination unit that determines an opening degree of a car door of the elevator when the moving object enters the elevator car based on the dimension information acquired by the dimension information acquisition unit;
a door opening/closing control unit that opens the car door to the opening degree determined by the car opening degree determination unit when the moving object gets into the car ,
a camera device that is installed on an upper portion of the car door of the elevator car and is communicatively connected to a camera device that photographs an area below the car door when the car door is opened;
The door opening/closing control unit monitors whether the car doors have been opened to the opening degree determined by the car opening determination unit by analyzing image information captured by the camera device when the moving body enters the car, and stops the door opening operation when it determines that the car doors have been opened to the opening degree determined by the car opening determination unit . a dimension information acquisition unit that acquires dimension information of a moving body capable of autonomous travel that moves by using an elevator;
a car opening degree determination unit that determines an opening degree of a car door of the elevator when the moving object enters the elevator car based on the dimension information acquired by the dimension information acquisition unit;
a door opening/closing control unit that opens the car door to the opening degree determined by the car opening degree determination unit when the moving object gets into the car;
an elevator control device that, when the moving body enters the car, turns off the arrival lights, floor indicator lights, and lights inside the car installed at the elevator hall, and outputs notification information to the hall to notify that it is not possible to enter the car . The car door of the car opens upward,
the car opening degree determination unit, when a difference between a height of the opening when the car door is fully opened and a height of the moving body is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, determines the opening degree so as to open the car door to a position higher than the height of the moving body and lower than the height of the opening when the car door is fully opened,
4. The elevator control device according to claim 1, wherein when a difference between a height of an opening when the car door is fully open and a height of the moving body is less than a predetermined value, the car door is fully opened. The car door of the car opens to the left and right,
the car opening degree determination unit, when a difference between a width of the opening when the car door is fully opened and a width of the moving body is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, determines the opening degree so as to open the car door to a position wider than the width of the moving body and narrower than the width of the opening when the car door is fully opened,
4. The elevator control device according to claim 1, wherein the car door is fully opened when a difference between a width of an opening when the car door is fully opened and a width of the moving body is less than a predetermined value. The elevator control device
Acquire dimension information of a plurality of moving objects that move using the elevator;
determining an opening degree of a car door of the elevator when the plurality of moving bodies enter the car of the elevator based on dimensional information of a largest moving body among the plurality of moving bodies ;
The elevator control method includes opening the car doors to a determined opening degree when the plurality of moving bodies enter the car.

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