Abstract:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a control apparatus for a one-shaft multi-car system elevator in which a plurality of cars operate in one shaft, the control device being capable of efficient group control while avoiding collisions and minimizing the occurrence of confinement of passengers. The control apparatus includes approaching direction traveling prohibiting means 1D for prohibiting the cars from traveling in a direction in which the cars approach each other in the same shaft, and door open standing-by means 1E for causing the car to stand by with its doors open if the car is prohibited by the approaching direction traveling prohibiting means from traveling and if any passenger is present in the car.
Abstract:
An elevator group control method for the allocation of calls, in which method a given service time of the elevator group is assigned a target value. The service time may be passenger waiting time, call time, traveling time, riding time or an average value of one of these quantities. The method aims at fulfilling the assigned target value in such a way that the energy consumption of the elevator system is minimized. Optimization is implemented using a model of the elevator system, by means of which the desired service time can be predicted. This prediction is utilized in a controller controlling the optimizer. This makes it possible to improve the construction and operation of the controller and optimizer so that the energy consumption of the elevator system can be reduced while the condition regarding the target service time is fulfilled at the same time.
Abstract:
The present invention relates to a method for controlling the elevators of an elevator group in a building divided into zones comprising different floors in such manner that, at the passenger's departure floor, the elevators are given calls to floors beyond the zone limits of the departure zone. According to the invention, the aforesaid call is divided into two or more calls.
Abstract:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a control apparatus for a one-shaft multi-car system elevator in which a plurality of cars operate in one shaft, the control device being capable of efficient group control while avoiding collisions and minimizing the occurrence of confinement of passengers. The control apparatus includes approaching direction traveling prohibiting means 1D for prohibiting the cars from traveling in a direction in which the cars approach each other in the same shaft, and door open standing-by means 1E for causing the car to stand by with its doors open if the car is prohibited by the approaching direction traveling prohibiting means from traveling and if any passenger is present in the car.
Abstract:
A perceived waiting time for a hall call to be answered by a car is determined as a constant times the square (46) of the summation (45) of remaining response time (39) and the amount of time that has expired since the call was registered (38). The time that may be perceived by a passenger to travel to the passenger's destination is determined as a constant times the square (51) of the distance between an estimated destination floor and the floor of the call and a constant times an estimated number of new hall stops and committed hall stops that each car will make (47). Perceived service time is (52) the sum of perceived wait time and perceived travel time. Constants are adjusted so that a long waiting time will yield a quick travel time. Assignment of calls to cars (60) is in accordance (61) with the smallest summation of square (59) of perceived service times for all waiting up calls and down calls.
Abstract:
Energy saving methods and apparatus for elevator systems having a plurality of elevator cars operating in a plurality of elevator shafts. The present invention provides methods and apparatus for determining which one of the plurality of elevator cars is to be assigned to a new hall call in order to reduce the net energy consumption of the elevator system over time.
Abstract:
The present invention improves the performance of the group control of elevators by shortening the waiting time for connections to the top floor in a system composed of a plurality double deck elevators having upper decks (1aU)˜(1eU) and lower decks (1aL)˜(1eL), respectively.
Abstract:
A method for controlling an elevator group of double-deck elevators. Landing calls are allocated to the elevators and elevator decks in such a way that the passenger journey time is optimized. The method takes into account the current landing call time and the estimated time of arrival to the destination floor. The method minimizes passenger journey time by allocating the landing call to the deck that will cause the fewest additional stops to the elevator and least additional delay on the way to the passenger destination floor. In addition, the elevator estimated time of arrival to a destination floor is calculated separately for each deck, taking into account the stops already existing for the elevator and the additional stops caused by the selected landing call. Further the landing call is allocated to the deck for which the estimated time of arrival to the destination floor is least. In addition, the best deck for each landing call is selected by minimizing a cost function. The cost function may include the estimated time of arrival to the destination floor. Alternatively, the cost function may also include the estimated time of arrival to the furthest call floor.
Abstract:
The number of hall passengers waiting at a stop for service by an elevator car is determined by first calculating instantaneous passenger rates whenever a hall call button is pressed or whenever passengers board an elevator car. The instantaneous passenger rates are scaled to compensate for the inherent differences in service rates of the stops. The scaled rates are averaged into one or more of an up, down, or off peak quantities depending upon the mode of the elevator system. The number of hall passengers waiting at a stop is then calculated by multiplying one or more of the up, down, or off peak quantities, depending upon the mode of the elevator system, by the elapsed time since the stop was last serviced.
Abstract:
An elevator control system employing a micro-processor-based group controller (FIG. 2) which communicates with the cars (3, 4) of the elevator system to determine conditions of the cars and responds to hall calls registered at a plurality of landings in the building serviced by the cars under control of the group controller, to provide assignments of the hall calls to the cars based on the summation for each car, with respect to each call, a weighted summation of a plurality of system response factors, some indicative, and some not, of conditions of the car irrespective of the call to be assigned, assigning "bonuses" and "penalties" to them in the weighted summation. In the invention, rather than a set of unvarying bonuses and penalties being assigned based on the relative system response factors, the assigned bonuses and penalties are varied based on the perceived intensity of traffic, as measured by, for example, a past average waiting time and the elapsed time since registration of the hall call, a selected past five minute average waiting time being exemplary. Exemplary apparatus (FIGS. 1 and 2) and a logic flow diagram (FIG. 3) illustrate a specific manner of assigning calls to cars. Tables set forth exemplary varying bonus and penalty values to be assigned, depending on the ratio of the hall call registration time to the selected average hall call waiting time (Tables 1 and 2) or on their differences (Table 3).