Ropeless elevator intelligent normal force release supervisory control

A method of controlling an elevator system, the method comprising:

• receiving a signal from a dispatching controller that an elevator car and a propulsion system are going to park for a selected period of time;
• requesting a confirmation from a brake controller to confirm that a brake system of the elevator car and the propulsion system are deployed;
• receiving the confirmation from the brake controller to confirm that the brake system of the elevator car and the propulsion system are deployed;
• and
• transmitting a command to a normal force controller to reduce normal force on wheels of the propulsion system,
• wherein the normal force controller is configured to actuate a normal force generator to reduce the normal force on the wheels of the propulsion system in response to the command.

A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a signal from a dispatching controller that an elevator car and a propulsion system are going to park for a selected period of time;
• requesting a confirmation from a brake controller to confirm that a brake system of the elevator car and the propulsion system are deployed;
• receiving the confirmation from the brake controller to confirm that the brake system of the elevator car and the propulsion system are deployed;
• and
• transmitting a command to a normal force controller to reduce normal force on wheels of the propulsion system,
• wherein the normal force controller is configured to actuate a normal force generator to reduce the normal force on the wheels of the propulsion system in response to the command.