Monitoring roller guide health
AssigneeOtis Elevator Company
InventorsJohn Ferrisi, Norbert Antony Murray Hootsmans
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A guide for individual movement machinery. The guide includes a base, a frame and a monitoring system. The monitoring system includes arrays of sensors affixed to each of the base and the frame to respectively sense guide conditions and to generate readings accordingly.
Claims19
A guide for individual movement machinery for an elevator car in an elevator system, the elevator system comprising a hoistway rail extending along a hoistway and the elevator car, which is movably disposed in and drivable along the hoistway rail, and the guide engaging with the hoistway rail and comprising:
- a base attached to the elevator car;
- a frame comprising lever arms;
- and
- a monitoring system comprising arrays of base and lever arm sensors comprising at least acceleration sensors and being embedded in each of the base and the lever arms of the frame to respectively sense guide conditions and to generate readings accordingly.
An elevator system for use in a structure formed to define a hoistway, the elevator system comprising:
- a hoistway rail extending along the hoistway;
- a drive system;
- and
- an elevator car, which is movably disposed in the hoistway and drivable to move along the hoistway rail by the drive system, the elevator car comprising:
- one or more elevator roller guides that respectively engage with the hoistway rail;
- and
- sensors affixed to each of the one or more of the elevator roller guides and configured to sense elevator roller guide conditions and to generate readings accordingly,
- wherein the sensors are provided in arrays of sensors comprising:
- a base sensor array embedded in a base of each of the one or more elevator roller guides and comprising at least acceleration, tilt and rotation sensors;
- and
- lever arm sensor arrays respectively embedded in a lever arm of each one of the one or more of the elevator roller guides and comprising at least acceleration, shock and vibration sensors.
A method of operating an elevator system for use in a structure formed to define a hoistway,
- the elevator system comprising a hoistway rail extending along the hoistway, a drive system and an elevator car, which is movably disposed in the hoistway and drivable to move along the hoistway rail by the drive system, the elevator car comprising one or more elevator roller guides that respectively engage with the hoistway rail, and
- the method comprising:
- embedding sensors in a base of each of the one or more elevator roller guides and in a lever arm of each one of the one or more of the elevator roller guides;
- activating the sensors to sense elevator roller guide conditions during operations of the elevator system and to generate readings accordingly;
- and
- controlling at least the drive system during the operations of the elevator system based on the readings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.