Elevator system including sensor assembly for person detection
AssigneeOtis Elevator Company
InventorsRandy Roberts, Johanna Whitwell, James Tilsley Auxier, Kathleen Nicole Moore, Kyler Vensel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An elevator system includes a hoistway; an elevator car configured to travel in the hoistway; a pit located at a bottom of the hoistway; a safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the elevator car; and a sensor assembly configured to initiate opening the safety chain to disable motion of the elevator car upon detection of a person in the pit.
Claims16
An elevator system comprising:
- a hoistway;
- an elevator car configured to travel in the hoistway;
- a pit located at a bottom of the hoistway;
- a safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the elevator car;
- and
- a sensor assembly configured to initiate opening the safety chain to disable motion of the elevator car upon detection of a person in the pit;
- a second hoistway;
- a second elevator car configured to travel in the second hoistway;
- a second pit located at a bottom of the second hoistway;
- a second safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the second elevator car;
- and
- a second sensor assembly configured to initiate opening the second safety chain to disable motion of the second elevator car upon detection of the person in the second pit;
- wherein the sensor assembly and the second sensor assembly are in communication;
- wherein the sensor assembly, upon detection of the person in the pit, sends a communication to the second sensor assembly;
- wherein in response to the communication, the second sensor assembly increases sensitivity of the second sensor assembly to detect the person in the second pit.
An elevator system comprising:
- a hoistway;
- an elevator car configured to travel in the hoistway;
- a pit located at a bottom of the hoistway;
- a safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the elevator car;
- a sensor assembly configured to initiate opening the safety chain to disable motion of the elevator car upon detection of a person in the pit;
- a second hoistway;
- a second elevator car configured to travel in the second hoistway;
- a second pit located at a bottom of the second hoistway;
- a second safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the second elevator car;
- and
- a second sensor assembly configured to initiate opening the second safety chain to disable motion of the second elevator car upon detection of the person in the second pit;
- wherein in response to actuation of a run-stop interface in the pit, the sensor assembly sends a communication to the second sensor assembly to increase sensitivity of the second sensor assembly to detect the person in the second pit.
An elevator system comprising:
- a hoistway;
- an elevator car configured to travel in the hoistway;
- a pit located at a bottom of the hoistway;
- a safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the elevator car;
- a sensor assembly configured to initiate opening the safety chain to disable motion of the elevator car upon detection of a person in the pit;
- a second hoistway;
- a second elevator car configured to travel in the second hoistway;
- a second pit located at a bottom of the second hoistway;
- a second safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the second elevator car;
- and
- a second sensor assembly configured to initiate opening the second safety chain to disable motion of the second elevator car upon detection of the person in the second pit;
- wherein in response to opening of the safety chain in the pit, the sensor assembly sends a communication to the second sensor assembly to increase sensitivity of the second sensor assembly to detect the person in the second pit.
A method of operating an elevator system including a hoistway, an elevator car configured to travel in the hoistway, a pit located at a bottom of the hoistway, a safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the elevator car and a sensor assembly, the method comprising:
- detecting, by the sensor assembly, a person in the pit;
- and
- upon detection of a person in the pit, the sensor assembly initiating opening the safety chain to disable motion of the elevator car;
- wherein in response to opening of the safety chain, the sensor assembly sends a communication to a second sensor assembly to increase sensitivity of the second sensor assembly to detect the person in a second pit.
A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer program including instructions for causing a processor to implement a process for operating an elevator system including a hoistway, an elevator car configured to travel in the hoistway, a pit located at a bottom of the hoistway, a safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the elevator car and a sensor assembly, the process comprising:
- detecting, by the sensor assembly, a person in the pit;
- and
- upon detection of a person in the pit, the sensor assembly initiating opening the safety chain to disable motion of the elevator car;
- wherein in response to opening of the safety chain, the sensor assembly sends a communication to a second sensor assembly to increase sensitivity of the second sensor assembly to detect the person in a second pit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.