Automatic adjustment of parameters for safety device
AssigneeOtis Elevator Company
InventorsBurkhard Braasch, Peter Herkel, Ruediger Loeb, Ingo Engelhard, Michael Wilke
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device and method for automatically adjusting safety control parameters of a conveyor are disclosed. The safety device may include various sensors and a safety control module. The safety control module may be preprogrammed with a learn-run method configured to learn operational and mechanical characteristics of a conveyor, validate the operational characteristics of the conveyor based on predefined nominal specifications, and determine a safety function with calibrated safety control parameters by which to monitor conveyor operation.
Claims20
An apparatus for automatically adjusting safety control parameters of a conveyor having a plurality of steps extending between a first platform and a second platform, the steps being interconnected by a step chain and driven by a main drive component, the apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of sensors configured to output at least a step speed signal and a step detection signal;
- and
- a safety control module in communication with the sensors and in communication with a conveyor control unit, the safety control module configured to automatically determine operational and mechanical characteristics of the conveyor based on outputs of the sensors, validate the operational characteristics of the conveyor based on predefined nominal specifications, determine safety control parameters corresponding to the validated operational characteristics of the conveyor by which to monitor conveyor operation, and able to modify an existing safety function based on the safety control parameters corresponding to the validated operational characteristics of the conveyor, and store the modified safety function for reference.
A method for automatically adjusting safety control parameters of a conveyor having a plurality of steps extending between a first platform and a second platform, the steps being interconnected by a step chain and driven by a main drive component, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining operational and mechanical characteristics of the conveyor based on outputs of a step speed sensor and a step detection sensor;
- validating the operational characteristics of the conveyor based on predefined nominal specifications;
- determining safety control parameters corresponding to the validated operational characteristics of the conveyor by which to monitor conveyor operation;
- modifying existing safety functions based on the safety control parameters corresponding to the validated operational characteristics of the conveyor;
- and
- storing the modified safety control functions for reference.
A method for automatically adjusting safety control parameters of a conveyor having a plurality of steps extending between a first platform and a second platform, the steps being interconnected by a step chain and driven by a main drive component, the method comprising the steps of:
- sampling output signals of a step speed sensor and a step detection sensor for a predefined period of time;
- determining a measured step speed based on the step speed output signal;
- determining step speed sensor type based on a frequency of the step speed output signal;
- determining conveyor step size based on a correlation between the step speed and step detection output signals;
- comparing the measured step speed with a predefined step speed;
- comparing a cross-correlation between sensor output signals with a predefined tolerance;
- determining safety control parameters only if both of the measured step speed and the cross-correlation between sensor output signals are within predefined tolerances;
- modifying existing safety functions based on the safety control parameters;
- and
- storing the modified safety control functions for reference.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.