Traction sheave elevator, hoisting unit and machine space

A traction sheave drive system which minimizes the space occupied in an elevator shaft, said drive system comprising:

• an elevator shaft structure having at least one wall;
• a plurality of guide rails in the elevator shaft;
• an elevator car movable along the plurality of elevator guide rails;
• a discoidal electric motor having a stator, a rotor, and an axis of rotation, the axis of rotation being oriented in said elevator shaft such that the axis will intersect an adjacent elevator car;
• a traction sheave mounted on and directly driven by said rotor on said axis of rotation;
• said elevator shaft including a shaft wall adjacent said elevator car;
• said shaft wall having a pair of opposed inner and outer surfaces defining a solid finite thickness;
• a machine space in said wall, the machine space being a hole extending between the pair of opposed surfaces and being delimited in a thicknesswise direction of the wall by the plane of each of the pair of opposed surfaces;
• said discoidal motor being mounted and contained within the machine space such that the motor does not extend beyond the outer surfaces of the machine space.

A traction sheave elevator system comprising:

• an elevator shaft structure having at least one wall;
• a plurality of guide rails;
• an elevator car movable along the plurality of elevator guide rails adjacent the at least one wall of the elevator shaft;
• a motor having an axis of rotation oriented in the elevator shaft such that the axis will intersect an adjacent elevator car;
• a traction sheave driven by the motor on the axis of rotation;
• the elevator shaft including a shaft wall having a pair of opposed inner and outer surfaces defining a solid finite thickness;
• and
• a machine space being defined in the shaft wall, the machine space being a hole extending between the pair of opposed surfaces and being delimited in the thicknesswise direction of the wall by the plane of each of the pair of opposed surfaces;
• the motor being mounted and contained within the machine space such that the motor does not extend beyond the outer surfaces of the shaft wall.

A method for configuring the space occupied by an elevator car and the drive assembly associated therewith, the drive assembly including at least a motor and a traction sheave, the traction sheave being driven by the motor the method comprising the steps of:

• providing an elevator shaft structure having at least one wall;
• placing the elevator car in the elevator shaft, the elevator car being movable along a plurality of guide rails provided in the shaft;
• arranging an axis of rotation of the motor to be oriented in the elevator shaft such that the axis will intersect an adjacent elevator car;
• providing a shaft wall in the elevator shaft, the shaft wall having a pair of opposed inner and outer surfaces defining a solid finite thickness;
• defining a machine space in the shaft wall, the machine space being a hole extending between the pair of opposed surfaces and being delimited in the thicknesswise direction of the wall by the plane of each of the pair of opposed surfaces;
• and
• mounting the motor to be contained within the machine space such that the motor does not extend beyond the outer surfaces of the shaft wall.