Elevator system configured for estimating an elevator car speed to adjust car top virtual safety net actions
AssigneeOtis Elevator Company
InventorRandy Roberts
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An elevator system, having: a hoistway, a pit; a car; a sensor assembly, configured to capture and process images, configured to form a VSN around a first area that is exterior to the car, a safety chain configured to: monitor a change in positioning of a stationary object that is external to the car to determine a measured speed of the car, and upon detecting that an object has breached the VSN, the sensor assembly is configured to: select a first response protocol, from a set of response protocols that are correlated to different measured speeds of the car; and execute the first response protocol.
Claims20
An elevator system, comprising:
- a hoistway, an elevator pit and an elevator car;
- a sensor assembly configured to capture and process images, mounted within the elevator system, configured to form a virtual safety net (VSN) around at least a portion of a first area that is exterior to the elevator car;
- an elevator safety chain configured to:
- monitor a change in positioning of a stationary object that is external to the elevator car to determine a measured speed of the elevator car, and
- upon detecting that an object that is potentially human has breached the VSN, the sensor assembly is configured to:
- select a first response protocol, from a set of response protocols, that are correlated to different measured speeds of the elevator car;
- and
- execute the first response protocol.
A method of controlling an elevator system that includes a hoistway, a pit and an elevator car, the method comprising:
- monitoring, by a sensor assembly, including a sensor configured to capture and process images, within the elevator system, for a breach of a virtual safety net (VSN) by an object that is potentially human, the VSN being formed by the sensor;
- monitoring, by the sensor assembly, a change in positioning of a stationary object that is external to the elevator car to determine a measured speed of the elevator car;
- and
- upon detecting, by the sensor assembly, that the object has breached the VSN:
- selecting, by the sensor assembly, a first response protocol, from a set of response protocols, that are correlated to different measured speeds of the elevator car;
- and
- executing the first response protocol.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.