US3729066A

US3729066A - Elevator control apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3729066A
Application number: US00159781A
Authority: US
Inventors: A Watanabe; I Inuzuka; H Matsuzawa; T Yuminaka; T Iwasaka
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-07-03
Filing date: 1971-07-06
Publication date: 1973-04-24
Anticipated expiration: 1990-04-24
Also published as: DE2132989B2; GB1351224A; CA934084A; FR2101532A5; IT945917B; HK7878A; JPS5128911B1; DE2132989A1

Abstract

An elevator control apparatus which operates a plurality of elevators so as to serve a plurality of landing floors evenly, wherein the imaginary position of each elevator is determined in accordance with the space between each elevator and the succeeding one, a service zone of each elevator being established between the imaginary positions of each elevator and the preceeding one, and the elevator being stopped when a call is produced within the service zone.

Description

United States Patent 1W1 Iwasaka et al.

Apr. 24, 1973 ELEVATOR CONTROL APPARATUS Inventors: Tatsuo lwasaka. 3174-14, Nakanc; Hid eto Matsuzawa, 404-3, lchige; Takeo Yuminaka, 5-13, lshikawa; Akinori Watanabe; lsao lnuzuka, both of 663 lchige, all of Katsuta, Japan Filed: July 6, 1971 Appl. No.: 159,781

us. c1. .....187/29 R Int. Cl. ..B66b 1/18 Field of Search 187/29 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,51 1,343 5/1970 De Lamater ..187/29 3,379,284 4/1968 Yeasting ..I87/29 Primary Examincr-Bcrnard A. Gilheany As.s-istantExaminer-W. E. Duncanson, Jr. Attorney-Craig, Antonelli & Hill [5 7] ABSTRACT v An elevator control apparatus which operates a plurality of elevators so as to serve a plurality of landing floors evenly, wherein the imaginary position'of each elevator is determined in accordance with the space between each elevator and the succeeding one, a service zone of each elevator being established between the imaginary positions of each elevator and the preceeding one, and the elevator being stopped when a call is produced within the service zone.

9 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures fb fc I l mA' {DISA I PssA T POSITION ADVANCING DEVICE DECIDING 7 NA DEVICE INF ORMING DEVICE 1 I CCB ccc SSA.

POSITION B- SPACE DECIDING DEVICE FC' DETECTOR:

Patented April 24, 1973 3,729,066

I 9 Shee cs-Sheet 1 FIG. I

fb fc {GA & hMA {DISA POSITION ADVANCING DECIDING NA INFORMING FA DEVICE HC- DEVICE DEVICE PSSA' CCB ccc DA EA f gggg SSA DECIDING Fc- DETECTOR K- DEVIICE INVENTORS.

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ATTORNEYS I Patnted April 24, 1973 9 Sheets-Sheet 4 fi m o .5 5 A .2 m A w, :m m 3 Q 3% w 1 A A A M A A A |1|A mm m INVEN'IOKS TAT5UO IWASAKA I H were MATSUZAWA ,musa vvmnAM',

BY AKmomwArANwEa-d ISAOINUZUM ATTORNEYS Patented A ril 24, 1973 FLOORS 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 FIG. 70, FIG. 7c

FIG. 7b

' v 'V V 9 A 9 84 v- I A V A 7A v A v 7A v- 6 V A V 6 V 5 v A v' v 5 A v 4A v v 4A v 3 V A V 3 A V A g A. A A A" A B C A B C A B Cv ELEVATQRS ELEVATORS ELEVATORS A IUPWARD INDICATION v IDOWNWARD INDICATION INVENTORS TA uo IWA AKA HIDETO MATSUZAWAITAKEO YIIMINAKA,

' BY AKINORI WAT AME In-LISA!) INUZUKA awamma; my

ATTORNEYS ELEVATOR CONTROL APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an elevator control apparatus whichoperates a plurality of elevators so as to serve a plurality of landing floors evenly.

described.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a new control apparatus which controls the opera- I tion of a plurality of elevators so as to serve the various floors with adequate spacing from each other.

According to one aspect of an embodiment of this invention, the control apparatus includes means for determining a service zone foreach elevator, the service zone being shifted according to the condition of operation of the elevators.

Other detailed objects and aspects of this invention will become apparent upon reading the specification and inspection of the drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A FIG. l'is a block diagram of an embodiment according to this invention;

FIG. 2 shows a detailed circuit of a position space deing part of the deciding device MA in FIG. 1;

F 6 shows a detailed circuit of the informing device DISA in FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 7a to 7c show service indications of the elevators according to the different embodiments of this in- Y vention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 isa block diagram of an embodiment according to this invention. Hereinafter, the explanation will relate to three elevators A, B and C which are operated between the first floor and the tenth floor. The block diagram in FIG. 1 shows only an apparatus for controlling the elevator A. The same apparatus is also pro-' vided to control the elevators B and C, respectively. It

is,'of course, within, the ordinary application of applicants invention to be able to change the number of elevators employed and the number of floors serviced.

. Referringto FIG. 1', a position space detector DA detects the space-between the elevator A and the nearest succeeding elevator thereto by comparing a signal FA with signals PB and FC. The signals FA, FB and FC represent the positions of the elevators A, B and C, respectively, and the position signal normallycorresponds to the floor the elevator is stopping at. However, when the elevator is running, the position signal corresponds to the nearest floor that the elevator is able to stop at. If the elevator, during an upward operation, passes the fourth floor, the position signal corresponds to the fifth floor in the low speed of the elevator, to the sixth floor in the middle speed, and to the seventh floor in the high speed because the elevators require a certain deceleration distance according to the speed in order to stop comfortably. An output signal of the detector DA, that is, a space signal SSA, is applied to a position space deciding device EA, wherein the space signal SSA is represented by the number of floors. The signal SSA is compared with a reference signal K in the deciding device EA. The reference signal K, which designates the appropriate space between the two elevators by the number of floors, is determined as follows:

In case of a normal demand condition, it is desired that all elevators be distributed evenly with respect to all of the floors. Therefore, the appropriate space F S is where f is the number of floors served by the elevators and n is the total number of elevators employed. For example, if f=l0 and n=3 as described in the aforementioned example, FS becomes six floors. Namely, if the elevator A capable of responding to the upward call is at the second floor, the elevator B is at the eighth floor in the upward operation and the elevator C is at the sixth floor in the downward operation. Further, the appropriate space FS should be changed by demand conditions of the elevator, such as the number of passengers in the cage of each elevator, distribution of the destinations required by the passengers, the number of the hall calls and so on.

The deciding device EA produces an output signal in accordance with the difference between the reference signal K and the space signal SSA. The output signal of the signal SSA becomes smaller than the reference signal K, the signal PSSA is produced and the imaginary position signal fa is advanced thereby. The imaginary position signal represents the nearest floor that the elevator is capable of serving in response to hall calls. Although the elevator can 'decelerate and stop in response to a hall call produced on a certain floor, if I the flooris behind the floor designated by the imaginary position signal, the elevator does not serve the called floor.

The imaginary signal fa is applied to a device MA for deciding whether the elevator A can serve the called floor, and it is also applied to the corresponding devices MB and MC (not shown) for the elevators B and C. The device MA detects thepresence of various signals ahead of the floor designated by the imaginary position signal fa. The first ones of the various signals are imaginary position signals fl) and fc of the elevators B and C. A service zone of the elevator A, therefore, is limited to the floors between the signal fa and either of the signals fla or fc. The details will be explained later. The second ones are cage call signals CCB'and CCC, which are produced by request of passengers in the elevators B and C. The floors corresponding to these signals CCB and CCC are excepted from the service zone of the elevator A. The third one is a hall call signal HC which is produced by request of waiting passengers in the elevator hall of each floor. If there is the signal HC in the service zone, a stopping instruction is given to the elevator A. The last one is a cage call signal CCA of the elevator A itself, which is given priority to other signals. When the cage call signal CCA is produced, the stopping instruction is given to the elevator A irrespective of the service zone. As mentioned above, the output NA of the device MA becomes the stopping instruction, and simultaneously it is applied to an informing device DISA to turn on indicating lamps.

The detailed circuits of each device described above and their operations will be explained hereinafter, referring to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a detailed circuit of the position space detector DA in FIG. 1. In this figure, F lUA to F9UA are position signals during the upward operation of the elevator A, and F2DA to FDA are position signals during the downward operation of the elevator A. Similarly, F lUB to F9UB and F2DB to FIODB, and FIUC to F9UC and F2DC to F10DC are position signals of the elevators B and C, respectively. These signals are generated in accordance with the operation of each elevator by known apparatuses and control means (not shown). Each signal is utilized as followsi For example, the signal FZUA is applied to an IN- HIBIT gate I2UA through an OR gate 02UA1. On the other hand, the signal F2UB or F 2UC is supplied to an IlUA through an OR gate OlUAl. The gate O2UA1 also receives an output of an INHIBIT gate I3UA (not shown). The same circuits are constructed for each floor, and the output of the INHIBIT gate for a certain floor is applied to an input terminal of the INHIBIT gate for the just previous floor in a running direction through the OR gatev Therefore, an output of the IN- HIBIT gate I9DA in the bottom of the drawing is applied to an OR gate O10DA1 in the top of the drawing to construct the circular circuit by means of the IN- HIBIT gates and the OR gates.

If the elevator A is at the eighth floor and the elevator B is at the second floor, signals F8UA and F2UB are present. The signal F8UA is fed to the INHIBIT gate I8UA through an OR gate 08UA1. The output of the gate I8UA is applied to a resistor r8UA. Succeedingly, an INHIBIT gate I7UA (not shown) is turned on by the output of the gate I8 UA and an output of the gate I7UA is applied to a resistor r7UA (not shown). This is repeated through to an INHIBIT gate I3UA and a resistor r3UA (both not shown). Although an output of the gate I3UA is fed to an input terminal of the gate I2UA through the gate O2UA1, the gate I2UA does not produce the output since the signal F2UB is applied to an inhibit terminal of the gate I2UA through the gate O2UA2. As a whole, the outputs of each INHIBIT gate, that is output voltages, are applied to six resistors r8UA to r3UA. The voltage across a resistor rA is proportional to 6r,,/ r, where r is the individual resistance value the resistance value of rA.

Generally speaking, if the number of INHIBIT gates producing the output is k, the voltage across the resistor rA is proportional to kr /r. This becomes the signal SSA. As described above, the circuit shown by FIG. 2 is the circuit for obtaining the space between the elevator A and the nearest succeeding elevator thereto The obtained space signal SSA is applied to the position space deciding device EA to be compared with the reference signals. FIG. 3 shows an example of the detailed circuit of the position space deciding device EA in FIG. 1.

In this figure, an adder ADDA consists of a plurality of input resistors RI to R4A, a capacitor CA and a feedback resistor RFA, and an operational amplifier OPA. The signal SSA is applied to the resistor RIA. The other resistors R2A to R4A receive signals such as the I number of passengers in a cage of the elevator A (C- WA), the time for reciprocating operation of the elevator between the first floor and the tenth floor (RTT), and the number of hall calls (NOHC). The output of the adder ADDA is as follows: I

where r to r and r are resistance values of the resistors RIA to R4A and RFA, respectively. For simplification, the resistors R2A to R4A are regarded as having values close to infinity in the following explanation. The output of the adder ADDA, therefore, is proportional to only the signal SSA. R1 1A to R14A are resistors for providing reference voltages V, to V fThe I value of the reference voltages V to V correspond to five to two floor differences respectively. These references V to V, are compared with the output of the adder ADDA in respective comparators CMlA to CM4A. Each comparator produces an output when the output of the adder ADDA becomes smaller than the respective reference thereof. If the signal SSA corresponds to a two floor difference, all comparators CMlA to CM4A produce outputs. The output of the comparator CM4A is applied to an inhibit terminal of an INHIBIT gate ICM3A. The output of a comparator CM3A is inhibited thereby. Also, the output of the comparator CM4A or CM3A is applied to an inhibit terminal of an INHIBIT gate ICM2A through an OR gate OCM3A. An output of a comparator CM2A is inhibited thereby. An output of a comparator CMIA and an input of an INHIBIT gate ICMOA are inhibited similarly. In consequence, only the output of the comparator CM4A is present as a position advancing signal PSSA, which is a four floors advancing signal E4A. Further, if the signal SSA corresponds to a four floor difference, the comparators CMlA and CM2A produce outputs, whereas the comparators CM3A and CM4A do not produce outputs-The output of the comparator CMlA is inhibited by the gate ICMIA, and the signal EIA is not produced. The signal EOA is inhibited since an output of the comparator CM2A is applied to an inhibit terminal of the gate ICMOA through an OR gate OCMlA. Therefore, only the signal E2A is present, and it becomes a two floors advancing signal.

The remaining signals EOA, EIA and BSA are also produced in the same way, which designate zero floor, Ofne floor and three floors advancing signals, respectively. Further, the signal EOA means that the imaginary position signal fa coincides with the position signal FA. The position advancing device GA which receives the position advancing signals to produce the imaginary position signals, is shown in FIG. 4. This figure shows only a device which produces the imaginary position signals between the first floor and the tenth floor in the upward direction. A group of circuits for each floor consists of five AND gates and an OR gate. For the ninth floor, for example, the position signals F9UA to FSUA are applied to the AND gates A9UAI to A9UA5, respectively. The position advancing signals EOA to E4A are also applied to the gates A9UA1 to A9UA5, respectively, as one more input of each AND gate. An output through an OR gate Of9Ua becomes the imaginary position signal j9Ua. For the eighth floor, the position signals F8UA to F4UA and the position advancing signals EOA to E4A are applied to a group of AND gates A8UA1 to A8UA5 in the same manner as the ninth floor. An output through an OR gate OjBUa becomes the imaginary position signal f8Ua.

In this manner, the position signals which are given to the AND gates are shifted by one signal every floor. For that reason, a position signal F2DA in the downward operation is first used in a group of circuits for an imaginary position signal f4Ua (notshown), and position signals F2DA to FSDA in the downward operation are applied to four AND gates AIUAZ to AlUAS of the last group, respectively. If the position signal is FSUA and the position advancing signal is E4A, the AND gate A9UA5 produces the output. The output through the OR gate Oj9Ua becomes the imaginary position signal f9Ua. If the position signal is F8UA and the position advancing signal is EOA, the AND gate A8UA1 produces the output which becomes the imaginary position signal fBUa. In the latter example, the position signal coincides with the imaginary position signal.

The following explanation will relate to the service zone of the elevator A which is determined by applying these imaginary position signals and others.

FIGS. 5a and 5d show examples of the detailed circuit of the device MA in FIG. 1. The former two of these figures show the different examples of the circuit for deciding the service zone of the elevator A. In FIG. 5a, for example, a circuit for the second floor consists of two OR gates OjZUaI and OfZUaZ and an INHIBIT gate I2Ual. One of two inputs of the gate OjZUal is the imaginary position signal fiUa of the elevator A, and its output is applied to the gate I2Ual. The two inputs of the gate OfiUaZ are the imaginary position signals jZUb of the elevator B and f2Uc of the elevator C.'An output of the gate OfZUaZ is fed to an inhibit terminal of the gate I2Ual. An output of the gate I2Ua1 becomes a signal representing the floor capable of being served by the elevator A, and simultaneously it is fed to an OR gate OfBUal (not shown )'for the third floor. One more input of the gate OfZUal is an output of the INHIBIT gate IlUal for the first floor. In this manner, an output of each INHIBIT gate is applied to the OR gate of the advanced floor by one in a direction of operation, therefore, an output of the INHIBIT gate I10Da1 in the top of the drawing is fed to an OR gate Oj9Da1 at the bottom of the drawing. The circular circuit is constructed by an alternate arrangement of the INHIBIT gates and the OR gates. FIG. 5b shows another circuit for deciding the service zone of the elevator A. The only difference between FIGS. 5a and 5b is in the inputs of the gates OflUa2 to Of9Ua2 and Of2Da2 to OfIODa2. A functional difference caused by the above difference will be explained later.

The operation of the device above-described is as' follows. It is assumed thatthe imaginary position of the elevators A, B and C are the second floor in the upward, the fifth floor in the downward, and the ninth floor in the upward, respectively. Thus, the signals j2Ua, fSDb and f9Uc are generated in the above case. The signal f2Ua is applied to the gate I2Ual through the gate Oj2Ual. The gate I2Ua 1 produces its output since there is no inhibit signal from the gate OjZUa Z. The output of the gate I2Ua1 is applied to the INHIBIT gate I3Ual through an OR gate Of3Ual. The gate I3Ual produces its output thereby. This is repeated up to the INHIBIT gate I8Ua1. An output of the gate I8Ual is applied to the INHIBIT gate I9Ual through an OR gate Oj9Ual; however, since the signal j9Uc is applied to the inhibit terminal of the gate I9Ual through an OR gate Of9Ua2, the gate I9Ua1 does not produce its output. Accordingly, the outputs of the gates I2Ua1 to I8Ual appear on terminals 2u to Bu, respectively. These outputs represent the service zone in which the v elevator A is able to serve in response to hall calls produced therewithin. If the other elevator B or C is able to serve a certain floor in the service zone, the floor may be excepted from the service zone of the elevator A. Details of this control will be explained later by referring to FIG. 5c or 5d.

If the elevators B and C do not serve any floors in the service zone of the elevator A, namely, there are no cage calls of the elevators B and C therewithin, the informing device DISA indicates that the elevator A is able to respond to upward hall calls between the second floor and the eighth floor. The same devices are shown in FIG. 5a decide service zones of the elevators B and C. The whole indication of the informing device DISA is as shown in FIG. 7a. It is clear from FIG. 7a that the device shown by FIG. 5a does not make the service zone of each elevator overlap. In the device shown by FIG. 5b, the inhibit inputs of each INHIBIT gate are different from that in FIG; 5a. For example, the inputs of the gate OfiUaZ in FIG. 5a are f2Ub and f2Uc, whereas that of the gate OjZUaZ in FIG. 5b are fl Ub and f1 Uc. In the operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 5b, it is not different from the case of FIG. 5a in that the gate I2Ua1 produces its output. But, since the signal flUc is so arranged as to be fed to an inhibit terminal of the gate I10Dal through an OR gate Ofl0Da2, the gate I10Da1 does not produce its output. The gate I9Ual produces its output. The device in FIG. 5b is different from the device in FIG. 5a in this point. Accordingly, the device in FIG. 5b can made the service zone of each elevator overlap by one floor, as shown in FIG. 7b.

floor is within the service zone of the elevator A, the signal appears on the terminal 10d. At this time, if a cage call of the elevator B or C is not registered, the signal on the terminal 10d is fed to a relay R10DA through the INHIBIT gate I10Da2 and an OR gate 'Ofl0Da4. The relay RIODA is excited to close its contact. The relay R10DA is an indicating relay in the informing device DlSA and its contact is connected in series with an indicating lamp. A circuit of the informing device DlSA is shown in FIG. 6. The contact RlODal of the relay R10DA is closed and the lamp L10DA is turned on by the electric source e Similarly, in FIG. 6, RlUa-l to R9Ua-l and R2Da-l to R9Da-l are contacts of the relay RlUA to R9UA and RZDA to R9DA in FIG. 50, respectively. Lamps LIUA to L9UA and L2DA to L10DA connected to these contacts in series are provided for the respective floors. For instance, the lamps LZUA and L2DA are provided for the second floor. When the lamp L2UA is turned on, this indicates that the elevator A is able to respond to the upward hall call produced in the second floor, and when the lamp L2D is turned on, this indicates that the elevator A is able to respond to the downward hall call produced on the second floor. The same is true of the indication by the other lamps. The turn-on of the lamp L10DA indicates that the elevator A is able to respond to the downward operation. In such a condition, if the hall call HC10D in the tenth floor is produced, the AND gate A10D7A in FIG. 50 produces an output in response to both the output of the gate I10Da2 and the hall call HC 10D. A memory circuit MlODa memorizes the output of the gate A10D7A. An output of the circuit M10Da is applied to another control means (not shown) as the stopping instruction N10DA. Receiving the instruction NlDA, the other control means operates to stop the elevator A at the th floor. The above-described other control means is a known speed control means. When the elevator A stops, a signal SDlOUa is produced to reset the circuit M10Da. Further, in this circuit, a cage call C10Da produced in the elevator A has a priority. When the cage call C10Da is present, the instruction NIODA is produced. Although the lOth floor is without the service zone of the elevator A and the hall call HClOD is not present.

If the other elevator B or C is due to stop at the 10th floor in response to the respective registered cage call, the cage call C10Db or C10Dc is fed to an OR gate Ofl0Da3 to inhibit the output of the gate I10Da2. In this case, although the hall call I-IC10D is present, the stopping instruction N10Da is not given to the elevator A. The elevator A need not stop at the 10th floor, since the elevator B or C serves these floors, and the floors served by the other elevator are excepted from the service zone of the elevator A. An example of the indication in this case isshown in FIG. 7c. The service zone of the elevatorA in FIG. 70 is between the second floor and the tenth one, and the ninth one served by the elevator C is excepted from the service zone of the elevator A.

- ture and the operation of one typical device. If the 10th If the relation to the other elevator B or C need not be considered, the devices 8 can be simplified as shown in FIG. 5d. The operation of these devices is similar to that of FIG. 5:: in greater part. When the signal HC10D is produced, the gate A10D7A produces its output on condition that the signal on 1011 is present. The circuit M10Da memorizes the output of the gate A10D7A to produce the stopping instruction N 10DA. The relay R10DA is excited to produce the indication. When the elevator A is stopped in response to the instruction N10DA, the signal SDl0Ua is produced to reset the circuit M10Da.

Having thus described this inventiorr, it is obvious that various modifications within the knowledge of workers in the art may be utilized without departing therefrom.

It is to be understood also that although the invention has been described with specific reference to a particular embodiment thereof, it is not to be so limited, since changes and alterations therein may be made which are within the full intended scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In an elevator control apparatus for operating a plurality of elevators so as to serve a plurality of landing floors evenly, the improvement comprising first means for generating an imaginary position signal of an elevator which is advanced of the actual position of the elevator, second means for establishing a service zone of an elevator by utilizing the imaginary position signals of the elevator and another elevator in which zone the elevator isable to serve in response to hall calls, and third means for altering the imaginary position signal so as to shift the service zone according to conditions of the operation of the elevators.

2. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said third meansincludes means for changing said imaginary position signal of the elevator according to the space between each elevator and the just succeeding elevator.

3. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said third means includes means for changing said imaginary position signal of the elevator according to the number of passengers in a cage of the elevator.

4. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said third means includes means for changing said imaginary position signal of the elevator according to the number of hall calls.

5. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second means includes means for causing said service zones of said elevators to partially overlap each other.

6. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second means includes means for excepting floors served by other elevators from said service zone of the given elevator.

7. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for actuating the elevator having a service zone including a produced hall call to respond to the hall call.

8. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for producing a stopping instruction only when a hall call is produced within the service zone.

9. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for indicating an elevator capable of responding to a hall call in a landing floor when the hall call is produced at the landing floor.

* 4: :u it 5

Claims

1. In an elevator control apparatus for operating a plurality of elevators so as to serve a plurality of landing floors evenly, the improvement comprising first means for generating an imaginary position signal of an elevator which is advAnced of the actual position of the elevator, second means for establishing a service zone of an elevator by utilizing the imaginary position signals of the elevator and another elevator in which zone the elevator is able to serve in response to hall calls, and third means for altering the imaginary position signal so as to shift the service zone according to conditions of the operation of the elevators.

2. An elevator control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said third means includes means for changing said imaginary position signal of the elevator according to the space between each elevator and the just succeeding elevator.