JP7788941B2 - Elevator car lifting mechanism - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to an elevator cab lifting mechanism that, in an elevator with a hoist installed in the pit, lifts the cab to allow drainage of the pit from the landing on the lowest floor when the pit becomes flooded while the cab is stopped on the lowest floor.

In recent years, machine-room-less elevators have become the norm for home elevators. Among these, drum-winding elevators are becoming the norm. A home elevator is an elevator whose car only moves up and down within the apartment. A machine-room-less elevator is an elevator that does not have a machine room on the roof, and the hoist is installed in a pit. A pit is a space below the floor level of the lowest floor where the elevator stops. A drum-winding elevator is an elevator in which the hoist winds a wire rope around a drum to raise and lower the car.

However, elevator pits can become flooded due to disasters such as heavy rain, flooding, or river overflows. When the pit becomes flooded, the water that has accumulated in the pit must be drained to the outside. In order to drain the water that has accumulated in the pit to the outside, a drainage hose connected to a drainage pump must be inserted from the landing into the pit. In this case, if the car is stopped on the lowest floor, the drainage hose cannot be inserted into the pit, so the car must be raised.

However, due to the power outage caused by the flooding, the motor cannot drive the hoist. Furthermore, because workers cannot enter the pit, they cannot manually rotate the hoist. In this situation, drainage work in the pit cannot proceed, and there is a risk of damage to the hoist and car.

In the past, in situations like this, workers would assemble scaffolding above the car and attach a separate lifting device near the return car that was suspending the car, thereby pulling the car upward. This work required time to prepare the equipment, transport the equipment, and lift the car, and because it involved lifting a heavy object, workers had to be careful about safety, making it inefficient.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, Patent Document 1, for example, discloses an elevator equipped with a flood sensor and a hoist mounted on a base that can be raised and lowered, and which raises the hoist using the base when the flood sensor detects flooding.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-096981

However, the elevator disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires installation space for the base that can be raised and lowered, and installing a flood sensor and a base that can be raised and lowered increases costs. If the pit becomes flooded, a simple configuration would be sufficient to lift the car and make the pit drainable from the landing on the lowest floor.

The object of the present invention is to provide an elevator cab lifting mechanism that, in an elevator with a hoist mounted in the pit, can lift the cab with a simple configuration to allow water to be drained from the pit from the lowest floor landing when the pit is flooded while the cab is stopped at the lowest floor, thereby quickly preventing damage to the hoist and cab.

The elevator cab lifting mechanism of the present invention is an elevator cab lifting mechanism that lifts the cab in an elevator with a hoist installed in the pit, allowing water to be drained from the lowest floor landing when the pit becomes flooded while the cab is stopped at the lowest floor.The lifting mechanism is characterized by having a lifting section that is installed below the cab in the pit and extends upward when compressed air is supplied to lift the cab.

The elevator car lifting mechanism of the present invention is characterized in that the lifting section is cylindrical and is arranged to surround the car buffer installed in the pit, and extends upward when compressed air is fed into it to lift the car; the lifting mechanism further comprises a compressed air supply section that feeds compressed air from the landing on the lowest floor to the lifting section, and a high-pressure hose that connects the lifting section to the compressed air supply section.

The elevator cab lifting mechanism of the present invention allows for a simple configuration to lift the cab in an elevator with a hoist mounted in the pit, in the event that the pit becomes flooded while the cab is stopped on the lowest floor, allowing the pit to be drained from the landing on the lowest floor, quickly preventing damage to the hoist and cab.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an elevator according to an embodiment. This is a schematic diagram showing an elevator with the car stopped at the lowest floor and the pit flooded. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a lifting mechanism according to an embodiment; FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a lifting mechanism according to another embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which the elevator car is lifted by the lifting mechanism.

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below. In the following description, specific shapes, materials, directions, numerical values, etc. are examples intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention and can be modified as appropriate to suit the application, purpose, specifications, etc.

"Elevator"
An elevator 10 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in Figure 1, the elevator 10 is, for example, a home elevator, a machine room-less elevator. The elevator 10 is also a drum winding elevator. A home elevator is an elevator in which the car room 11 moves up and down only within the dwelling unit. A machine room-less elevator is an elevator that does not have a machine room on the roof, and the hoist 21 is installed in the pit 13. A drum winding elevator is an elevator in which the hoist 21 winds the wire rope 15 around a drum to raise and lower the car room 11.

The elevator 10 loads passengers into the cab 11, raises and lowers the cab 11 in response to passenger requests, and stops at the landings 14 on each floor. The elevator 10 has a hoistway 12 that extends vertically within the building, and a pit 13 located below the hoistway 12.

The hoistway 12 accommodates a wire rope 15, one end of which is fixed to the top of the car chamber 11 and the other end of which is fixed to the ceiling of the hoistway 12, as well as a return sheave 17 and a return sheave 18, which are rotatably suspended and fixed at a distance from each other on the ceiling of the hoistway 12. The wire rope 15 is wound from the car chamber 11 around the return sheave 17, the return sheave 18, and the drum of the hoisting machine 21, in that order. A landing door 23 is provided between the hoistway 12 and the landing 14.

The pit 13 is a space below the floor level of the lowest floor where the elevator 10 stops. The pit 13 is equipped with a hoist 21 that winds up or pays out the wire rope 15 to raise or lower the car 11, a shock absorber 22 that absorbs shock when the car 11 descends into the pit 13, and a lifting section 31 of the lifting mechanism 30, details of which will be described later. The hoist 21 is driven by a motor, the rotation of which is controlled by a control panel. The hoist 21 can also be rotated manually.

"Flooding in the elevator pit"
Using Figure 2, we will explain what happens when the pit 13 of the elevator 10 is flooded.

As shown in Figure 2, the elevator pit 13 of the elevator 10 may become flooded due to disasters such as heavy rain, flooding, or river overflow. If the pit 13 becomes flooded, the water accumulated in the pit 13 must be drained to the outside. In order to drain the water accumulated in the pit 13 to the outside, a drainage hose connected to a drainage pump from the landing 14 must be inserted into the pit 13. In this case, if the car 11 is stopped at the lowest floor, the drainage hose cannot be inserted into the pit 13, so the car 11 must be raised.

However, due to the power outage caused by the flooding, the hoist 21 cannot be driven by a motor. Furthermore, because workers cannot enter the pit 13, the hoist 21 cannot be rotated manually. In this situation, drainage work in the pit 13 cannot proceed, and there is a risk of damage to the hoist 21 and car chamber 11. In such a case, the car chamber 11 is lifted by a lifting mechanism 30, details of which will be described later.

"Lifting mechanism"
The lifting mechanism 30 according to an example embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG.

As described above, in an elevator 10 in which the hoist 21 is installed in the pit 13, the lifting mechanism 30 is a mechanism that lifts the car 11 to enable drainage of the pit 13 from the landing 14 on the lowest floor when the car 11 is stopped at the lowest floor and the pit 13 becomes flooded. The lifting mechanism 30 has a simple configuration that lifts the car 11 to enable drainage of the pit 13 from the landing 14 on the lowest floor, quickly preventing damage to the hoist 21 and the car 11.

As shown in Figure 3, the lifting mechanism 30 includes a lifting unit 31, which will be described in detail below, a high-pressure cylinder 32 as a compressed air supply unit, and a high-pressure hose 33.

When compressed air is fed into the lifting section 31, it expands upward, lifting the car chamber 11. The lifting section 31 is cylindrically configured to surround the shock absorber 22 below the car chamber 11. The lifting section 31 is preferably positioned so that the shock absorber 22 is located at the center of the cylindrical lifting section 31. With this configuration, when the lifting section 31 expands, the shock absorber 22 acts as a core to prevent the lifting section 31 from buckling.

The lifting section 31 is normally folded at a position lower than the height of the shock absorber 22. This configuration does not interfere with the shock absorber 22's original role of absorbing impact when the car chamber 11 descends.

Each lifting section 31 has a base section 31A and an extendable section 31B, which will be described in detail below.

The base portion 31A is formed in an annular shape and is fixed to the pit 13 so as to surround the shock absorber 22. The base portion 31A is preferably positioned so that the shock absorber 22 is located at the center of the annular base portion 31A. The base portion 31A is preferably formed from a metal such as aluminum or SUS. With the base portion 31A, if the pit 13 is flooded, the lifting portion 31 will float in the water accumulated in the pit 13, preventing it from moving from its correct installation position.

The expandable portion 31B is cylindrical and fixed to the upper surface of the base portion 31A. The expandable portion 31B is hollow, and the outer and inner surfaces of the expandable portion 31B are bellows-shaped and expandable. The expandable portion 31B is preferably made of a waterproof material such as rubber or resin. It is also preferable that the expandable portion 31B has pressure resistance that allows it to withstand the pressure of the compressed air being fed into it. A connection portion 31C to which the high-pressure hose 33 is connected is provided on the outer surface of the expandable portion 31B.

As shown in Figure 4, the expandable section 31B may be configured with a cylindrical upper expandable section 31F and a cylindrical lower expandable section 31G with a larger diameter than the upper expandable section 31F. With this configuration, when compressed air is pumped into the expandable section 31B, the larger diameter of the lower expandable section 31G allows more water accumulated in the pit 13 to be drained.

The high-pressure cylinder 32 sends compressed air from the landing 14 on the lowest floor to the lifting section 31. The high-pressure cylinder 32 may be stored in a separate location and transported by workers and connected to the high-pressure hose 33 if the pit 13 becomes flooded. Note that a compressor may be used instead of the high-pressure cylinder 32.

The high-pressure hose 33 connects the lifting section 31 provided in the pit 13 to the high-pressure cylinder 32 installed at the landing 14 on the lowest floor. The high-pressure hose 33 preferably has pressure resistance that can withstand the pressure of the compressed air being pumped in. The high-pressure hose 33 has a connection valve 33A to which the high-pressure cylinder 32 is connected, a horizontal section 33B, a corner section 33C, a vertical section 33D, a corner section 33E, and a horizontal section 33F that is connected to the connection section 31C of the lifting section 31.

The connection valve 33A is preferably provided at the lower end of the frame (three-sided jamb) of the landing door 23 of the landing 14 on the lowest floor. Furthermore, the connection valve 33A is preferably provided in a space covered by a lid or the like, and is normally not visible. The corner portions 33C and 33E are preferably formed from a hard material such as metal or plastic. The horizontal portion 33B, vertical portion 33D, and horizontal portion 33F are preferably formed from a soft material such as rubber or vinyl.

Here, for example, if the high-pressure hose 33 were made only of a soft material, it would be difficult to form a curved path, making it impossible to connect the landing 14 and the pit 13 in the shortest possible way, resulting in a long path. Therefore, by forming only the corner portions 33C and 33E of a hard material, as with the high-pressure hose 33, a curved path can be formed, making it possible to connect the landing 14 and the pit 13 in the shortest possible way.

Lifting procedure
The procedure for lifting the car 11 using the lifting mechanism 30 will be described with reference to FIG.

As described above, if the pit 13 becomes flooded while the car 11 is stopped on the lowest floor, the lifting mechanism 30 will lift the car 11. First, an operator connects the high-pressure cylinder 32 to the connection valve 33A of the high-pressure hose 33 and sends compressed air to the expansion section 31B. At this time, multiple small high-pressure cylinders 32 may be connected in sequence to send compressed air. The expansion section 31B, to which compressed air is sent, then extends upward, lifting the car 11.

As the car 11 is lifted, a gap is created between the lowest floor landing 14 and the car 11. A worker inserts a drainage hose connected to a drainage pump through this gap and drains the pit 13. After the pit 13 has been drained, the worker further pumps compressed air into the expansion section 31B to lift the car 11, widening the gap between the lowest floor landing 14 and the car 11. The worker then enters the pit 13 through this gap and inspects the hoist 21 and car 11.

"effect"
According to the lifting mechanism 30, in an elevator 10 in which a hoist 21 is provided in a pit 13, if the pit 13 becomes flooded while the car room 11 is stopped at the lowest floor, the lifting mechanism 30 can lift the car room 11 with a simple configuration, making it possible to drain water from the pit 13 from the landing 14 on the lowest floor, and preventing damage to the hoist 21 and the car room 11 at an early stage.

In addition, the lifting mechanism 30 allows the water accumulated in the pit 13 to be drained by the volume of compressed air pumped in.

Furthermore, the lifting mechanism 30 has a simple configuration and can be retrofitted to existing elevators 10.

Furthermore, with the lifting mechanism 30, even someone without specialized knowledge of elevator 10 maintenance and inspection can lift the car 11 simply by connecting the high-pressure cylinder 32 to the connection valve 33A and opening the connection valve 33A. This reduces deterioration of the car 11 due to flooding.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and its variations, and various modifications and improvements are possible within the scope of the claims of this application.

10 Elevator, 11 Cab, 12 Hoistway, 13 Pit, 14 Landing, 15 Wire rope, 16 Counterweight, 17 Returning wheel, 18 Returning wheel, 19 Returning wheel, 20 Hoisting wheel, 21 Hoisting machine, 22 Buffer, 23 Landing door, 30 Lifting mechanism (cab lifting mechanism), 31 Lifting section, 31A Base section, 31B Telescopic section, 31C Connection section, 31F Upper telescopic section, 31G Lower telescopic section, 32 High-pressure cylinder (compressed air supply section), 33 High-pressure hose, 33A Connection valve, 33B Horizontal section, 33C Corner section, 33D Vertical section, 33E Corner section, 33F Horizontal section

Claims (2)

In an elevator having a hoist installed in a pit, when the pit is flooded while the car is stopped at the lowest floor, a lifting mechanism for the elevator car lifts the car to enable drainage of the pit from a landing on the lowest floor,
the lifting mechanism is provided below the car chamber in the pit and has a lifting section that extends upward when compressed air is fed therein to lift the car chamber.
Elevator car lifting mechanism. 2. The elevator car lifting mechanism according to claim 1,
the lifting section is cylindrical, is provided so as to surround the buffer of the car room provided in the pit, and extends upward when compressed air is fed therein to lift the car room;
The lifting mechanism further includes a compressed air supply unit that supplies compressed air from the landing on the lowest floor to the lifting unit, and a high-pressure hose that connects the lifting unit and the compressed air supply unit.
Elevator car lifting mechanism.