Electrical power transmission to elevator system cars
AssigneesOtis Elevator Company, Nippon Otis Elevator Company
InventorsEnrico Manes, Atsushi Yamada, Suman Dwari, Craig Drew Bogli, Stephen Savulak, Ronnie E. Thebeau, Michael Garfinkel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An elevator system includes a hoistway, an elevator car movable along the hoistway, and a power management and transfer system. The power management and transfer system includes an electrical power source, a hoistway contactor secured in the hoistway and operably connected to the electrical power source, and a car contactor disposed at the elevator car, such that when the car contactor is brought into operable contact with the hoistway contactor, electrical power is transferrable between the power source and the elevator car.
Claims18
An elevator system, comprising:
- a hoistway;
- an elevator car movable along the hoistway;
- and
- a power management and transfer system including:
- an electrical power source;
- a hoistway contactor secured in the hoistway and operably connected to the electrical power source;
- and
- a car contactor disposed at the elevator car, such that when the car contactor is brought into operable contact with the hoistway contactor, electrical power is transferrable between the power source and the elevator car;
- a car position sensor disposed in the hoistway;
- and
- a contactor drive operable connected to the car position sensor and to the hoistway contactor;
- wherein the hoistway contactor is movable from a retracted position into an extended position in operable contact with the car contactor by the contactor drive upon sensing of the presence of the elevator car by the car position sensor.
A method of operating an elevator system, comprising:
- moving an elevator car along a hoistway of an elevator system;
- operably connecting a hoistway contactor disposed at the hoistway to a car contactor disposed at the elevator car;
- transferring electrical power between a power source and the elevator car via the operable connection of the hoistway contactor and the car contactor;
- detecting the presence of the elevator car via a position sensor disposed in the hoistway;
- and
- moving the hoistway contactor from a retracted position into operable connection with the car contactor when the presence of the elevator car is detected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.