Digital interface for a manual counterweight hoist
AssigneeElectronic Theatre Controls, Inc.
InventorsTimothy P. Nolan, Kenric Gibbs, Steven Ricks
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rigging system including an arbor operable to support one or more counterweights. The rigging system includes a hand line coupled to the arbor and a brake. The rigging system further includes a brake actuator operable to activate the brake and a sensor configured to sense a movement of the hand line. A controller for the rigging system includes an electronic processor and is operatively coupled to the sensor and the brake actuator. The controller is configured to receive a measurement signal associated with the movement from the sensor, determine a speed of the hand line based on the measurement signal, and activate the brake actuator when the speed of the hand line exceeds a threshold.
Claims20
A manually operated counterweight hoist comprising:
- an arbor operable to support a counterweight;
- a hand line coupled to the arbor and the hand line manually operable to raise the arbor, the hand line manually operatable and configured to move a load to a raised position;
- a brake operable to prevent movement of the hand line to prevent movement of the arbor toward a lowered position and the brake configured to prevent movement of the load toward a lowered position;
- a brake actuator operable to activate the brake;
- a sensor configured to sense a movement of the hand line;
- and
- a controller including an electronic processor, the controller operatively coupled to the sensor and the brake actuator, the controller configured to:
- receive a measurement signal associated with the movement of the hand line from the sensor,
- determine a speed of the hand line based on the measurement signal, and
- activate the brake actuator to actuate the brake to prevent movement of the arbor toward the lowered position when the speed exceeds a threshold.
A manually operated counterweight hoist comprising:
- an arbor configured to support multiple counterweights;
- a batten configured to support a load;
- a loft block;
- a head block;
- a tension block;
- a plurality of lines including:
- a lift line that runs from the batten, through the loft block, and to the arbor;
- a hand line that runs from the arbor, through the head block, and through the tension block, the handle line manually operable to move the arbor from a lowered position to a raised position and the handle line manually operable to move the batten from a lowered position to a raised position;
- a brake configured to prevent movement of the batten toward the lowered position;
- and
- a digital control system including:
- a brake actuator configured to activate the brake such that the batten is prevented from moving toward the lowered position when the brake is activated,
- a sensor configured to sense a movement of the hand line, and
- a controller electrically and communicatively coupled to the brake actuator and the sensor, the controller configured to:
- receive a first measurement signal associated with the movement of the hand line,
- determine a speed of the hand line based on the measurement signal, and
- instruct the controller to activate the brake actuator when the speed exceeds a threshold.
A rigging control system comprising:
- a manually operated counterweight hoist including:
- an arbor operable to support one or more counterweights;
- a hand line coupled to the arbor and manually operable to move the arbor;
- a brake configured to prevent movement of the hand line;
- a brake actuator configured to activate the brake;
- and
- a sensor configured to sense a movement of the hand line;
- a controller operatively coupled to the brake actuator and configured to receive a measurement signal associated with the movement of the hand line from the sensor;
- and
- a system control device operatively coupled to the controller and configured to:
- receive the measurement signal from the controller;
- determine whether a speed of the hand line exceeds a threshold based on the measurement signal;
- and
- instruct the controller to activate the brake actuator when the speed of the hand line exceeds the threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.