CN112469654B - Elevator control system and elevator control method - Google Patents

Abstract

In an elevator control system (100) for controlling a multi-car elevator in a car balance type, when one car (132a) of 2 cars (132) forming a car ring (131A) serves a landing, an operation mode switching determination unit (107) instructs a ring control device (121A) for controlling the operation of the car ring (131A) to switch the operation mode of the car ring (131A) between a single-car operation mode in which the other car (132b) of the car ring (131A) does not serve and a double-car operation mode in which the two cars (132a, 132b) of the car ring (131A) serve.

Description

Elevator control system and elevator control method

technical field

The invention relates to an elevator control system and an elevator control method, and is suitable for elevator control of a multi-car elevator (counter-balanced multi-car elevator) in which two cars are connected on a wire rope in a manner of mutual counterweight. System and elevator control method.

Background technique

Conventionally, various elevator control systems have been proposed in order to improve serviceability, conveyance efficiency, and the like. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an elevator control system that changes the operation mode and notification method of the elevator in accordance with the traffic demand. Specifically, the elevator control system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is an elevator control system having at least three or more operation modes among a skip operation mode, an all-floor service mode, a split express mode, a section express mode, and a direct operation mode. A group management system characterized by the learning result of traffic flow to determine the operation mode and perform operation control.

prior art literature

Patent Literature

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-225257

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem to be solved by the invention

However, the elevator control system disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 is aimed at so-called single-shaft single-car elevators in which one car is installed in each lift passage (shaft), and does not target two elevators on a wire rope. The car is intended for a multi-car elevator (counter-balanced multi-car elevator) connected to each other as counterweights. The detailed structure will be described later in this specification, but the opposing car balance type multi-car elevator has a running state of one car because two cars are connected to each other on one or more wire ropes so as to act as counterweights to each other. A feature that affects the behavior of another car. Therefore, even if the operation control based on the various operation modes disclosed in Patent Document 1 (for example, the skip operation mode, the rapid operation mode, etc.) is to be performed in such a counter-balanced multi-car elevator, there is still a problem. It is not easy to implement each operation voluntarily.

The present invention is obtained by considering the above aspects, and proposes an elevator control system and an elevator control method, which are multi-car elevators in which two cars are connected on a wire rope in a manner of mutual counterweight (counter-balanced cars). In the multi-car elevator), by controlling the switching of the operation mode based on the traffic demand, it is possible to improve the serviceability and the conveying efficiency.

Technical solutions for solving problems

In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides an elevator control system for controlling a multi-car elevator (an opposite-car balance type multi-car elevator) in which two cars forming a car ring are provided. Cars are connected to the wire ropes as counterweights to each other, and the elevator control system is characterized by including an information management unit that manages information indicating a combination of the two cars each forming the car ring. ring information, hall pairing information indicating a combination of halls determined by the two cars forming the car ring, car state information indicating the state of each car, and car-by-car hall state information indicating the state of each of the halls in the direction of the car moving switch. In the elevator control system, when one of the two cars forming the car ring provides service to the landing, the operation mode switching determination unit controls the operation of the car ring. A ring control device that operates to instruct the car to be operated between a single-car operating mode in which the other car of the car ring is not served, and a double-car operating mode in which two cars of the car ring are served Switching of the operating mode of the car ring.

In addition, in order to solve this problem, the present invention provides the following elevator control method executed by an elevator control system for controlling a multi-car elevator (an opposite-car-balanced multi-car elevator) in which the multi-car In an elevator, two cars forming a car ring are connected to a wire rope so as to act as counterweights to each other. Here, the elevator control system includes an information management unit that manages the following information: ring information indicating a combination of the two cars forming the car ring, and information indicating the combination of the two cars forming the car ring. The hall pairing information of the combination of the halls determined by the two cars, the car state information indicating the state of each of the cars, and the car direction indicating the state of each of the halls in which the car moves and an operation mode switching determination unit that determines switching of operation modes in any of the car rings based on the information managed by the information management unit. Furthermore, in this elevator control method, when one of the two cars forming the car ring provides service to the hall, the operation mode switching determination unit controls the car A ring control device for the operation of a ring of cars, instructing between a single-car operating mode in which the other car of the car ring is not served, and a double-car operating mode in which two cars of the car ring are served The operation mode of the car ring is switched.

Invention effect

According to the present invention, in a multi-car elevator (counter-balanced multi-car elevator) in which two cars are connected by wire ropes to each other as a counterweight, serviceability and conveyance efficiency can be improved.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the entire elevator including the elevator control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a counter-balanced multi-car elevator.

Fig. 3 is a diagram (Part 1) for explaining a specific example of information held by the elevator control system.

Fig. 4 is a diagram (Part 2) for explaining a specific example of information held by the elevator control system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of actual movement performance information.

6 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow of the operation mode switching process in the first embodiment.

7 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow of the operation mode switching process in the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of passenger characteristic information.

Detailed ways

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(1) First Embodiment

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the entire elevator including the elevator control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the elevator 1 includes an elevator control system 100, landing call buttons 120 (respectively 120A-120N), a ring control device 121 (respectively 121A-121N) and a car ring 131 (respectively 131A-131N) . Each car ring 131 is constituted by two cars 132 . More specifically, in the case of Fig. 1 , the car ring 131A is composed of the car 132a and the car 132b, and the car ring 131N is composed of the car 132c and the car 132d. In addition, the elevator 1 which is the object of this embodiment is a multi-car elevator (counter-balanced multi-car elevator) in which two cars are connected by wire ropes so as to act as counterweights to each other. FIG. 2 will be described later. In addition, since the structure of the elevator 1 is common in 1st - 4th Embodiment of this invention, FIG. 1 also includes the structure (for example, the passenger characteristic information management part 106) which is unnecessary in 1st Embodiment.

The elevator control system 100 is a system which controls the operation mode of the cage|basket|car 132 (132a-132n, respectively) installed in the elevator 1, and is implemented by a computer, for example. Details will be described later, but the elevator control system 100 determines an operation mode in an arbitrary car ring 131 based on predetermined conditions (eg, conveyance conditions, traffic demand, time period, passenger characteristics, etc.) about the elevator 1 , and controls the operation mode of the car ring 131 . The operating loop control device 121 instructs switching to the determined operation mode by outputting an operation mode switching command.

As shown in FIG. 1, the elevator control system 100 includes a ring information management unit 101, a hall pairing information management unit 102, a car state management unit 103, a hall state management unit 104, a recording unit 105, a passenger characteristic information management unit 106, and a The operation mode switching determination unit 107 serves as a functional configuration.

The ring information management unit 101 manages the ring information 111 indicating the combination of the cars 132 forming the respective car rings 131 . The hall pairing information management unit 102 manages the hall pairing information 112 indicating the combination of the stopped floors (halls) determined by the two cars 132 forming the car ring 131 . The car state management unit 103 manages the car state information 113 indicating the state of each car 132 . The hall state management unit 104 manages the hall state information 114 indicating the state of each hall. The recording unit 105 manages the actual movement performance information 115 in which the actual boarding and landing performance of passengers is recorded. The passenger characteristic information management unit 106 manages the passenger characteristic information 116 indicating the operation mode corresponding to the characteristic of the passenger. In addition, the passenger characteristic information 116 is information used in the fourth embodiment to be described later. Details of each piece of information will be described later with reference to FIG. 3 and the like.

The operation mode switching determination unit 107 refers to information managed by each part of the elevator control system 100 based on the predetermined situation about the elevator 1, and determines the operation mode in an arbitrary car ring 131, and determines the operation mode in the car ring 131 for controlling the operation of the car ring 131. The loop control device 121 outputs an operation mode switching command that instructs switching to the determined operation mode.

The hall call button 120 (120A to 120N) is a call button provided at the hall (stop floor) of each car 132, and when a predetermined operation such as pressing is performed by the user, the car 132 is called to the car 132. The landing (hall call).

The loop control devices 121 (121A to 121N) are provided in a one-to-one correspondence with the car loops 131 (131A to 131N), and control the operation of the corresponding car loops 131 (which may be replaced by the cars 132). Specifically, the car ring 131 (or the car 132 ) to be controlled is controlled by a drive device, a door opening and closing motor, and the like, which are not shown.

In addition, the loop control device 121 includes an operation mode switching unit 122 (122A to 122N, respectively). When the operation mode switching unit 122 receives an operation mode switching command from the elevator control system 100 from the loop control device 121, in addition, in this embodiment, the number of the car loops 131 can be installed as long as they can be installed in the elevator 1. The range may be one or more, and the driving method of the car ring 131 is not limited.

The cars 132 (132a to 132d) are cars for conveying passengers, and car call buttons 133 (133a to 133d) are provided inside each of them. The car call button 133 is a button for a passenger to designate a destination floor, and when a predetermined operation such as pressing is performed, a call (car call) by the own car 132 is performed in accordance with the operation.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a counter-balanced multi-car elevator. In FIG. 2, as one form of the opposing-car-balanced multi-car elevator to which the present invention can be applied, a circulating-type opposing-car-balanced multi-car is shown in a form corresponding to the elevator 1 shown in FIG. 1 . Schematic structure of a car elevator. FIG. 2(A) shows a cross-sectional view of the entire elevator, and FIG. 2(B) shows the structure of each car ring 131A, 131B. In addition, "1F" - "8F" shown in FIG.2(A) represent the halls (service floors) of the 1st to 8th floors, respectively, and this marking method is the same also in the figure mentioned later.

As shown in FIG. 2(A) , the interior space of the elevator 1 includes: an ascending direction shaft 141 , which is a vertical shaft for traveling in the ascending direction (ascending direction); ; Change the running direction of the car 132, change the running shaft from the ascending direction shaft 141 to the direction inversion space 143 above the descending direction shaft 142; and change the running direction of the car 132, change the running shaft from the descending direction shaft 142 is changed to the direction inversion space 144 below the vertical shaft 141 in the ascending direction.

Here, in the opposing car-balanced multi-car elevator, one or more car rings 131 formed by connecting two cars 132 with wire ropes so as to act as counterweights to each other are arranged in the shaft. In the case of Fig. 2(A) and Fig. 2(B) , the car ring 131A in which the cars 132a and 132b act as counterweights and the car ring 131B in which the cars 132c and 132d act as counterweights are arranged.

In addition, in the counter-balanced multi-car elevator shown in FIG. 2 , the vertical shaft 141 in the ascending direction and the vertical shaft 142 in the descending direction only have a width that the car 132 can pass through, so the car traveling in the same direction at any position The number of compartments 132 is limited to one. Specifically, for example, in FIG. 2(A) , at the position of the fifth floor, the car 132a is traveling in the ascending direction, and at this time, the other cars 132b to 132d cannot travel in the ascending direction on the fifth floor.

In addition, since the opposite-car balance type multi-car elevator shown in FIG. 2 is a "circulation type" in which the wire ropes travel only in a predetermined travel direction, the travel direction is reversed only in the up and down direction inversion spaces 143 and 144 conduct. Specifically, for example, in Fig. 2(A) , each of the cars 132a to 132d can move only in the ascending direction when traveling in the ascending shaft 141, and can only move in the descending direction when traveling in the descending shaft 142.

In addition, FIG. 2 shows an example of a circulating-type opposing car balance type multi-car elevator, but the elevator to which the present invention is applied is not limited to this, and a non-circulating (non-circulating) opposing car may be used. Balanced multi-car elevator. In the case of a non-circulating type counter-balanced multi-car elevator, for example, as shown in FIG. 2 , the moving directions in the ascending shaft 141 and the descending shaft 142 may not be limited, and the moving direction of the wire rope may be changed by changing the traveling direction of the wire rope. The car 132 can be raised and lowered, and the vertical direction reversal spaces 143 and 144 are not used. However, the non-circulating type requires more complicated control than the circulating type because of the control of the traveling direction of the wire rope, etc. Therefore, in the following, in order to simplify the description of each embodiment of the present invention, a circulating-type opposing car balancer is used. multi-car elevator.

In addition, in FIG. 2, the service floors (halls) are 8 floors from the 1st floor to the 8th floor, the number of cars is 4, and the number of car rings is set to 2. A circulating type of opposing car balance type is shown. A car elevator, but the counter-balanced multi-car elevator to which the present invention can be applied is not limited to the number of service floors, the number of cars, and the number of car rings. This point can be confirmed by comparing FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , which are described below, showing a specific example of the information used in the present embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a diagram (Part 1) for explaining a specific example of information held by the elevator control system. In FIG. 3 , in the case where the number of car rings 131 provided in the elevator 1 is one (only the car ring 131A formed by the cars 132 a and 132 b ), the car in the elevator 1 is shown in FIG. 3(B) . An example of the operating state of the car 132 is shown in FIG. 3(A) , and the ring information 111 , the hall pairing information 112 , the car state information 113 and the A specific example of the hall state information 114 .

The ring information management unit 101 manages the ring information 111 in which the combination of the cars 132 forming the car ring 131 is recorded. As an example of the ring information 111, the combination of the cage|basket|car 132a and the cage|basket|car 132b is shown to FIG.3(A). The ring information 111 may also have information that can identify the car ring 131A formed by the cars 132a and 132b. In the case of FIG. 3 , since there is only one set of car rings, the number of data of the ring information 111 managed by the ring information management unit 101 is one.

In this specification, in order to distinguish the two cars 132 forming the car ring 131, one car 132 described in the same data of the ring information 111 is referred to as a "first car", and the other car 132 is referred to as a "first car". Called the "second car". Specifically, for example, in the case of the ring information 111 of Fig. 3(A) , the car 132a described on the upper side is referred to as the "first car" of the car ring 131A, and the car 132b described on the lower side is referred to as the "first car" of the car ring 131A. It is referred to as the "second car" of the car ring 131A.

The hall pairing information management unit 102 manages the hall pairing information 112 indicating the combination of the stopped floors (halls) determined by the two cars 132 forming the car ring 131 . Here, in FIG. 3(B), the halls A1 to H1 in the ascending direction and the halls A2 to H2 in the descending direction are shown, and in the counter-balanced multi-car elevator, floors with the same letters are added. It is a pairing of predetermined landings. That is, A1 and A2, B1 and B2, C1 and C2, D1 and D2, E1 and E2, F1 and F2, G1 and G2, and H1 and H2 are landing pairings, respectively. In FIG. 3(A), as an example of the hall pairing information 112, “1F ascending (corresponding to hall H1)” indicating the first floor of the vertical shaft 141 in the ascending direction and “1F ascending (corresponding to the hall H1)” indicating the vertical shaft 142 in the descending direction are shown. Combination of "8F down (corresponding to hall H2)" of the hall. In the case of FIG. 3 , since the service floor is eight floors, the number of data of the hall pairing information 112 managed by the hall pairing information management unit 102 is eight.

In addition, FIG.3(B) shows the case where the floor height (floor pitch) of each floor is the same in the building in which the elevator 1 is installed, but the elevator 1 of this embodiment can also be installed in the building with a different floor height. In this case, in order to allow two cars 132 under the same car ring 131 (that is, the cars 132 whose combinations are managed by the ring information 111 ) to stop at the hall at the same time, the cars 132 may be provided with a A correction device that corrects the altitude position. Since this correction device is a well-known technique, the detailed description is omitted. For example, the car 132 has a double structure, and an existing leveling device that corrects the height position of the car using the inside of the outer structure can be cited.

The car state management unit 103 manages the car state information 113 indicating the state of each car 132 . The car state information 113 may indicate the past or current state of the car 132, may indicate the future state of the car 132 obtained by prediction, or may be any combination thereof. The state of the cage|basket|car 132a is shown as an example of the cage|basket|car state information 113 in FIG.3(A). Specifically, the moving direction of the car 132a, the load on the car 132a, information on a hall call to the car 132a (hall call), and information on a car call made in the car 132a (car 132a) are described. The description content of each item corresponds to the state of the car 132a shown in FIG. 3(B) . In the case of FIG. 3 , since the number of cars 132 is two, the number of data of the car state information 113 managed by the car state management unit 103 is two. In addition, the item described in the cage|basket state information 113, the expression method of each item, etc. are not limited to the example of FIG.3(A). For example, the position of the car 132 may be represented by the height from the bottom surface of the shaft (the bottom surface of the direction reversal space 144).

The hall state management unit 104 manages the hall state information 114 indicating the state of each hall (stop floor). The hall state information 114 may represent the past or current state of the hall, the future state of the hall obtained by prediction, or any combination thereof. FIG. 3(A) shows the state of the hall H1 of “1F rising” as an example of the hall state information 114 . Specifically, regarding the hall H1, the presence or absence of a hall call, the elapsed time after the hall call is made (call elapsed time), the elapsed time after the hall call is released (call release elapsed time), and the call to the hall are described. Information on whether the call has been allocated to a car (call allocated), etc. Among them, in FIG. 3(A), regarding the item that the call has been allocated, when the car is allocated, it is written as "true", and when it is not allocated, it is written as "false", as an example of other expression methods, Information (for example, "car 132a", etc.) that can identify the assigned car 132 may be described. From the hall state information 114, the detailed status of each hall can be determined. For example, when the call elapsed time is long, it can be determined that the user has been made to wait too long. In addition, for example, when the call release elapsed time is long, it can be determined that there are few users at the hall and the traffic demand is relatively low. In addition, in the case of FIG. 3, since the service floor is 8 floors, and each floor is divided into the vertical shaft 141 in the ascending direction and the vertical shaft 142 in the descending direction, the number of data of the hall state information 114 managed by the hall state management unit 104 is 16.

Fig. 4 is a diagram (Part 2) for explaining a specific example of information held by the elevator control system. In FIG. 4 , in the case where the elevator 1 is provided with a plurality of car rings 131, an example of the operating state of the car 132 in the elevator 1 is shown in FIG. 4(B) , and shown in FIG. 4(A) . Specific examples of the ring information 111 , the hall pairing information 112 , the car state information 113 , and the hall state information 114 in the operating state shown as an example in FIG. 4(B) are shown.

When comparing FIG. 4 with FIG. 3 , as shown in FIG. 4(B) , the number of car rings 131 provided in the elevator 1 is three (a car ring 131A formed by the cars 132a and 132b, The car ring 131B formed by 132d and the car ring 131C formed by the cars 132e and 132f) are different, but as shown in FIG. A) Relatively unchanged.

In Fig. 4(A), the difference from Fig. 3(A) is that the number of car rings 131 is increased from one to three, whereby the number of data of the ring information 111 is increased from one to three. In addition, the number of cars 132 is increased from two to six, whereby the number of data of the car state information 113 is also increased from two to six. However, the number of service floors (floors) is 8 floors (16 when classified as ascending and descending), and there is no change, so the data numbers of the hall pairing information 112 and the hall status information 114 are 8 and 16, respectively. ,No change. The passenger characteristic information 116 also has no particular changes.

In this way, it can be seen that in the present embodiment, even if the number of service floors, the number of cars, and the number of car rings are increased as shown in FIG. In the same way, each piece of information is managed. That is, the present invention can be applied to an opposite-car balance type multi-car elevator without being limited by the number of floors served, the number of cars, and the number of car rings. Therefore, hereinafter, in order to simplify the description, the case where the number of car rings is one (the example of FIG. 3 ) will be used for the description.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of actual movement performance information. As described above, the actual moving performance information 115 is information in which the actual riding performance of passengers in the elevator 1 is recorded, and is managed by the recording unit 105 . In the case of the actual movement performance information 115 shown as an example in FIG. 5 , the number of passengers on and off at each hall is recorded in association with time for each movement direction (car direction) of the car 132 . By performing predetermined summation processing and statistical processing based on such actual movement performance information 115, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 can acquire the number of passengers in each car direction in a predetermined floor range, which can be used in the operation mode switching processing to be described later. It is used in the judgment process (step S106 in FIG. 6 ).

In addition, the actual moving performance information 115 usable in the present embodiment (the same is true for the second embodiment described later) is only information that can collect the actual moving performance of passengers for each hall (each floor) and each car direction. However, the data format and the like are not limited to the example shown in FIG. 5 , and the method of counting the number of passengers and the like is not limited to a specific method. Specifically, for example, when a device (sensor) capable of measuring the number of people is provided in the car 132 and the hall, the number of passengers may be counted using the sensor. In addition, even when such a sensor is not provided, the number of passengers and the like can be estimated from the change in the load in the car 132 .

Next, the operation mode switching process in the first embodiment will be described in detail. The operation mode switching process refers to a process for appropriately switching the operation mode of the car 132 (or the car ring 131 ) based on the situation of the elevator 1 , and is executed by the elevator control system 100 or the ring control device 121 .

6 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow of the operation mode switching process in the first embodiment. The processing of steps S101 to S107, S109, S110, and S112 in FIG. 6 is performed by the operation mode switching determination unit 107 of the elevator control system 100, and the processing of steps S108, S111, and S113 in FIG. 6 is performed by the operation mode switching unit of the loop control device 121. 122 execute.

According to FIG. 6 , first, in step S101 , the operation mode switching determination unit 107 determines whether or not there is a hall call that is not allocated. Specifically, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 refers to the hall status information 114 managed by the hall status management unit 104, and when there is a hall for which the hall call is "yes" and the call assignment is "false", It is determined that there is a hall call that is not allocated, and when there is no such hall, it is determined that there is no hall call that is not allocated. When it is determined that there is a hall call that is not allocated (Yes in Step S101 ), the process proceeds to Step S102 , and when it is determined that there is no hall call that is not allocated (No in Step S101 ), the process ends.

In step S102, the operation mode switching judgment unit 107 selects one of the halls as the hall call floor among the halls for which the call from the hall is "yes" and the call assignment is "false" in the hall status information 114. .

Next, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 determines whether or not there is a car group (one or more cars 132) that can be stopped at the hall call floor selected in step S102 (step S103). Whether or not there is a car 132 that can be stopped at a predetermined hall call floor can be determined based on a predetermined determination criterion. Specifically, for example, a determination method such as referring to the car state information 113 managed by the car state management unit 103 and searching for the car 132 existing in the vicinity of the landing call floor can be employed. In addition, when the circulating direction of the wire rope (the traveling direction of the car 132) is constant, it is preferable to perform the determination of the vicinity in consideration of the circulating direction. In addition, when searching for the nearby cage|basket|car 132, you may add the judgment criterion which excludes the cage|basket|car 132 whose load is close to a predetermined upper limit. When there is a car group that can stop at the hall call floor in step S103 (Yes in step S103 ), the process proceeds to step S104 , and when there is no car 132 that can stop at the hall call floor (step S104 ) No in S103) to end the process.

In step S104, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 determines whether or not there is another car (referred to as a "paired car") that forms the car ring 131 for each car 132 of the car group determined in step S103. Car 132 in service. Here, the fact that the car 132 is not in service means that the car 132 is not carrying passengers and is not responding to a call. The operation mode switching determination unit 107 can execute the determination process of step S104 by referring to the loop information 111 and the car state information 113 .

Specifically, for example, when the process of step S104 is performed with respect to the car 132a, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 can first determine that the car 132b is the "paired car" by referring to the loop information 111. Next, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 refers to the car state information 113 related to the "paired car (car 132b)", and determines that it is not in service if neither "hall call" nor "car call" is described. . That is, if neither "hall call" nor "car call" is described in the car state information 113 of the car 132b, the car 132a is determined to be the paired car that is not the car in service.

When the result of the determination process of the above step S104 is that there is a paired car that is not the car 132 in service (YES in step S104), one of the corresponding cars 132 is selected (step S105), and the process proceeds to step S106 . However, in step S105, only one car 132 is selected, and a hall call is not registered for this car 132. On the other hand, when the result of the determination process of step S104 is that there is no paired car and is not the car 132 in service (NO in step S104), the process ends.

In step S106, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 compares the total number of passengers in each movement direction (ie, ascending direction movement/descending direction movement) of the car 132 in the elevator 1, and determines whether the difference is less than a predetermined threshold. When the difference of the total number of passengers in each car direction is less than the threshold (Yes in step S106 ), the process proceeds to step S107 , and when it is greater than or equal to the threshold (No in step S106 ), the process proceeds to step S109 . The total number of passengers in each car direction can be acquired from actual movement performance information 115 managed by the recording unit 105 or information not shown in the figure obtained by collecting statistics on the actual movement performance information 115 .

In addition, in this example, as the determination content of step S106, the comparison of the "total number of passengers" in each car direction is performed, but the purpose of the determination in step S106 is to determine the difference in traffic demand between the car directions, as long as the For this purpose, the determination content of step S106 in the present embodiment is not limited to this, and a more complicated determination content may be used to compare the "number of passengers" in each car direction. Specifically, for example, instead of comparing the number of passengers on all floors, the number of passengers in the ascending direction of 1F to 4F and the number of passengers in the descending direction of 6F to 8F may be compared. Compare the number of passengers in each car direction. In addition, the number of passengers to be compared is not limited to the current number of passengers, and the number of passengers in the most recent predetermined period may be the target of comparison, or the number of passengers in the future predicted or estimated from past actual performance may be the target of comparison. Further, the information on the “number of passengers” in each car direction used for the determination in step S106 can be generated from the actual movement performance information 115 managed by the recording unit 105 or by performing predetermined statistical processing or the like based on the actual movement performance information 115 . The information shown in the figure is obtained.

The process of step S107 is performed when the difference in the total number of passengers in each car direction is less than the threshold value, that is, when there is no large difference in traffic demand between the car directions. At this time, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs a double-car operation mode switching command to the loop control device 121 that controls the car ring 131 of the car 132 selected in step S105. Specifically, for example, assuming that the car 132a is selected in step S105, in step S107, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs the double-car operation mode switching to the loop control device 121A that controls the car ring 131A instruction.

Here, the operation mode and the operation mode switching command used in the present embodiment will be described in detail. In the present embodiment, a plurality of operation modes that can be controlled for each car ring 131 are prepared, and this operation mode includes at least making both of the two cars 132 that form the car ring 131 usable (serviceable). "Double-car operation mode", and "single-car operation mode" in which any one of the two cars 132 forming the car ring 131 is disabled (service stopped). Furthermore, with regard to the "single-car operation mode", it is possible to designate which one of the two cars 132 forming the car ring 131 is to be usable (which one is to be disabled). "First single-car operation mode" in which the car is usable (the second car is disabled), and only the second car is usable (the first car is disabled) The "second single-car operating mode" is thus distinguished. The definitions of the "first car" and the "second car" are the same as those described above in the description of the ring information 111 .

Then, in order to switch the operation mode to each of the above-mentioned operation modes (double-car operation mode, first single-car operation mode, second single-car operation mode), the operation output from the elevator control system 100 to the loop control device 121 The mode switching commands are a double-car operating mode switching command, a first single-car operating mode switching command, and a second single-car operating mode switching command.

Return to the description of FIG. 6 . After outputting the double-car operation mode switching command in step S107, the operation mode switching unit 122 of the ring control device 121 switches the operation mode of the control target car ring 131 according to the command (step S108). Specifically, for example, it is assumed that the operation mode switching unit 122A of the loop control device 121A controls the operation mode of the car ring 131A to be controlled to be the operation mode when the double-car operation mode switching command is output to the loop control device 121A in step S107. "Double car operation mode". At this time, when the cage|basket|car 132a or the cage|basket|car 132b which form the cage|basket|car ring 131A is set as unusable, the unusability is cancelled|released, and it is set as usable. As a result, both the first car (car 132a) and the second car (car 132b) forming the car ring 131A are usable (serviceable). Then, when the process of step S108 is completed, the operation mode switching process ends.

On the other hand, if the difference in the total number of passengers in each car direction is greater than or equal to the threshold value in the judgment of step S106 (No in step S106), it means that there is a large difference in traffic demand between the car directions, and in this case, step S109 is performed. processing.

In step S109, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 determines the moving direction (car direction) of the first car from the ring information 111 for the car ring 131 including the car 132 selected in step S105, and determines the passenger in step S106. Whether the direction of the car with the larger total is consistent with the moving direction of the first car. Then, when the direction of the car with a larger total number of passengers is the moving direction of the first car (Yes in step S109), the traffic demand in the moving direction of the first car and the traffic demand in the moving direction of the second car are indicated. The traffic demand is relatively high, and the process proceeds to step S110 at this time. On the other hand, when the direction of the car with a large number of passengers is not the moving direction of the first car (No in step S109), the traffic demand in the moving direction of the second car and the moving direction of the first car are indicated. The traffic demand on the vehicle is very high, and the process proceeds to step S112 at this time.

The process of step S110 is performed when the traffic demand in the moving direction of the first car is very high compared to the traffic demand in the moving direction of the second car, as described above. At this time, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs to the loop control device 121 for controlling the car loop 131 of the car 132 selected in step S105 that only the first car can be used and the second car can be disabled The first single-car operating mode switching command used. Specifically, for example, when the car 132a is selected in step S105, in step S110, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs the first single-car operation to the loop control device 121A that controls the car loop 131A Mode switching command.

Then, in step S111, in accordance with the first single-car operating mode switching command output in step S110, the operating mode switching unit 122 of the loop control device 121 switches the operating mode of the car ring 131 to be controlled. Specifically, for example, it is assumed that when the first single-car operation mode switching command is output to the loop control device 121A in step S110, the operation mode switching unit 122A of the loop control device 121A switches the operation mode of the control target car loop 131A to Control is "first single-car operating mode". At this time, when the car 132a of the car ring 131A is set to be unusable, the unusable is canceled, and it is set to be usable. On the other hand, when the car 132b is set to be usable, it is set to be unusable. As a result, in the car ring 131A, only the first car (car 132a ) can be used (service can be performed), and the second car (car 132b ) is set to be unavailable (service stopped). Then, after the process of step S111, the operation mode switching process ends.

On the other hand, the process of step S112 is performed when the traffic demand in the moving direction of the second car is very high compared to the traffic demand in the moving direction of the first car, as described above. At this time, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs to the loop control device 121 for controlling the car loop 131 of the car 132 selected in step S105 that only the second car can be used and the first car can be disabled The second single-car operating mode switching command used. Specifically, for example, assuming that the car 132a is selected in step S105, in step S112, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs the second single-car operation to the loop control device 121A that controls the car loop 131A Mode switching command.

Then, in step S113, in accordance with the second single-car operating mode switching command output in step S112, the operating mode switching unit 122 of the loop control device 121 switches the operating mode of the control target car ring 131. Specifically, for example, it is assumed that when the second single-car operation mode switching command is output to the loop control device 121A in step S112, the operation mode switching unit 122A of the loop control device 121A switches the operation mode of the control target car loop 131A to Control is "second single car operation mode". At this time, when the car 132a of the car ring 131A is set to be usable, it is set to be disabled. On the other hand, when the cage|basket|car 132b is set as unusable, the unusable is cancelled|released, and it is set as usable. As a result, in the car ring 131A, only the second car (car 132b ) can be used (service can be performed), and the first car (car 132a ) is set to be unavailable (service stopped). Then, after the process of step S113, the operation mode switching process ends.

As described above, in the operation mode switching process of the present embodiment, when there is no large difference in traffic demand between car directions, the operation mode of the predetermined car ring 131 is controlled to the double-car operation mode (Steps S106 to S108 ) Since the bidirectional service by the car ring 131 can be provided according to the traffic demand, in the elevator 1 as the counter-balanced multi-car elevator, transportation can be expected. Efficiency and service improvement.

In addition, in the operation mode switching process of the present embodiment, when the traffic demand in the moving direction of the first car is very high compared to the traffic demand in the moving direction of the second car, the predetermined car ring The operation mode of 131 is controlled to be the first single-car operation mode (steps S109 to S111 ), whereby the second car of the car ring 131 stops providing service in the moving direction with low traffic demand, and no longer responds to the moving direction Since the upper landing is called, it is possible not to affect the operation state of the first car in the moving direction where the traffic demand is high. On the other hand, the first car of the car ring 131 can provide service in the direction of movement where the traffic demand is high, without being influenced by the paired car, that is, the second car. In this way, in the elevator 1 which is a counter-balanced multi-car elevator, the operation mode can be appropriately switched in accordance with the difference in traffic demand, and improvement in conveyance efficiency and serviceability can be expected.

In addition, in the operation mode switching process of the present embodiment, when the traffic demand in the moving direction of the second car is very high compared to the traffic demand in the moving direction of the first car, the predetermined car ring The operation mode of 131 is controlled to the second single-car operation mode (steps S109, S112, S113), whereby the first car of the car ring 131 stops providing service in the moving direction with low traffic demand, and no longer responds to the Since the landing call in the direction of travel is performed, it is possible not to affect the operating state of the second car in the direction of travel where traffic demand is high. On the other hand, the second car of the car ring 131 can provide service in the moving direction where the traffic demand is high, without being influenced by the paired car, that is, the first car. In this way, in the elevator 1 which is a counter-balanced multi-car elevator, the operation mode can be appropriately switched in accordance with the difference in traffic demand, and improvement in conveyance efficiency and serviceability can be expected.

In addition, the operation mode switching processing in the present embodiment is not limited to the processing flow illustrated in FIG. 6 , and the information to be compared, the content of determination, and the like can be appropriately replaced.

For example, in step S109 in FIG. 6 , it is determined whether the direction of the car with a large number of passengers is consistent with the moving direction of the first car, but as another example of processing in step S109, it is also possible to determine the direction of the car with a large number of passengers. Whether it is consistent with the hall call direction of the hall call floor selected in step S102.

When it is judged in this way, if the direction in which the total number of passengers is larger is consistent with the hall call direction of the hall call floor, the process proceeds to step S110, and only the moving direction of the two cars 132 forming the car ring 131 is output. It is a single-car operation mode switching command to enable one car in the landing call direction to be usable (service available) and to disable the other car (service stop). Then, it progresses to step S111. On the other hand, when the direction of the car with a large number of passengers does not match the direction of the hall call of the hall call floor, the process proceeds to step S112, and the output of the two cars 132 forming the car ring 131 that will move The direction is an operation mode switching command of the single-car operation mode in which one car in the hall calling direction is disabled (service is stopped) and only the other car is available (serviceable). Then, it progresses to step S112.

By performing the processing as described above, in the case of the other processing examples described above, similarly to the case where the processing of step S109 in FIG. 6 is performed, switching control of the operation mode appropriate to the situation of the traffic demand can be realized, and the serviceability can be improved. and delivery performance.

In addition, for example, in step S106 of FIG. 6 , the difference in the number of passengers is compared and judged between different moving directions (ascending/descending), but as a modification, sections may be divided between the same moving directions and The difference in the number of passengers is judged. Further, as a modified example that can be combined, the comparison range of the target number of passengers may be compared not among all the halls, but between all the halls and a part of the halls.

In addition, for example, in the comparison judgment in step S106 of FIG. 6 , the number of passengers is used as the comparison value as the parameter for judging the traffic demand in the elevator 1, but in this embodiment, other parameters capable of judging the traffic demand may be used as the comparison value. comparison value. Specifically, for example, the waiting time or the occurrence time of a hall call (they can take a total value, an average value, a median, etc.), the frequency of occurrence of a hall call, the number of people waiting, and the like can be used as comparison values. Although detailed description is omitted, it can be determined that the traffic demand is high when the waiting time is long, the hall call occurrence time is long, the hall call frequency is high, and the number of people waiting is large.

(2) Second Embodiment

In the second embodiment, the elevator control system 100 switches the operation mode of the car 132 (car ring 131 ) based on the unbalanced prediction of the traffic demand. Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the recording unit 105 records the actual movement performance information 115 about the situation of each hall and the situation of each car 132 every day. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5 , the actual movement performance information 115 records the number of people getting on and off in each hall/car direction in association with time. By counting the number of passengers in and out of each hall/car direction recorded in the actual movement performance information 115 for a predetermined period of time, it is possible to estimate a time period in which the traffic demand is uneven.

In the second embodiment, a predetermined functional unit in the elevator control system 100 (herein referred to as an "operation switching period determination unit", but the operation mode switching determination unit 107 may be used) uses the past statistics based on the actual movement performance information 115 The actual movement performance is calculated as a time period in which the number of times (or frequency, duration, etc.) that the difference in the total number of passengers in each car direction is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value. The time period thus calculated by the operation switching time period judgment unit represents a "period of uneven traffic demand" between the car directions. In addition, for the period, an arbitrary time width can be set.

Then, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs a single-car operation mode switching command to all the loop control devices 121 of the elevator 1 when the "period of uneven traffic demand" calculated by the operation switching period determination unit starts. The single-car operating mode switching command may be any one of the first single-car operating mode switching command and the second single-car operating mode switching command. In accordance with the single-car operation mode switching command, the operation mode switching unit 122 of each loop control device 121 switches the operation mode of the control target car loop 131 to the single-car operation mode, so that the car loop has only A party is able to perform the service (use it).

After that, when the "period of uneven traffic demand" ends, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs a double-car operation mode switching command to all the loop control devices 121 of the elevator 1 . In accordance with this double-car operation mode switching command, the operation mode switching unit 122 of each loop control device 121 switches the operation mode of the control target car loop 131 to the double-car operation mode, thereby making the above-mentioned "traffic demand not equal." One of the cars 132 set to be unavailable in the "balanced time period" is also changed to be serviceable (available).

In the second embodiment, as described above, by performing the control of switching to the single-car operation mode during the "period of uneven traffic demand", the influence of the call response in the direction of travel where the traffic demand is very low can be reduced, and the impact on the traffic demand can be improved. The responsiveness of calls in the direction of travel where traffic demands are very high improves delivery efficiency and serviceability. In this way, the improvement of the conveyance efficiency and serviceability as a whole in the elevator 1 which is an opposite-car balance type multi-car elevator can also be expected.

In addition, as a modification of the second embodiment, the operation switching time period determination unit may arbitrarily determine the car ring 131 to be switched to the single-car operation mode based on the past movement performance collected on the basis of the movement performance information 115 . quantity. In this case, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 does not output a single-car operation mode switching command to all the loop control devices 121 at the start of the "period of uneven traffic demand", but the operation switching period determination unit determines the number of The loop control device 121 outputs a single-car operating mode switching command.

Even in the case of performing such processing, flexible control such as changing the number of car rings 131 to be switched to the single-car operation mode can be performed according to the degree of unevenness in traffic demand. That is, based on the unbalanced prediction of the traffic demand, the switching control of the operation mode is more appropriately realized, and further improvement of serviceability and transportation performance can be expected.

(3) Third Embodiment

In the third embodiment, the elevator control system 100 is based on a case where the elevator 1 is an opposing-car-balanced multi-car elevator configured with a plurality of car rings 131 as illustrated in FIG. 4(B) . The state of the front and rear cars 132 and the situation of the hall are switched to the operation mode of the predetermined car 132 (car ring 131 ). Hereinafter, the third embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment.

In the third embodiment, in the operation mode switching process, it is determined based on the hall pairing information 112 managed by the hall pairing information management unit 102 and the car state information 113 managed by the car state management unit 103 of the car 132 before and after. The state and the state of the hall are controlled to switch the operation mode of the predetermined car 132 (car ring 131 ) based on the judgment result. The specific processing will be described below.

7 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow of the operation mode switching process in the third embodiment. In addition, in FIG. 7, the same step number is attached|subjected to the process common to the operation mode switching process in 1st Embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and the detailed description is abbreviate|omitted.

As shown in FIG. 7 , in the operation mode switching process in the third embodiment, steps S101 to S105 perform the same processes as those in FIG. 6 . Then, after selecting one paired car in step S105 that is not the car 132 in service, the process of step S201 is performed. Hereinafter, as a specific example, the case where the car 132a is selected in the structure of the elevator 1 shown in FIG.4(B) is demonstrated.

In step S201, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 checks the distance between the car 132a selected in step S105 and the car 132c traveling ahead (refer to FIG. 4(B) ), and determines whether the distance is less than a predetermined threshold. When the distance is less than the threshold (Yes in Step S201 ), the process proceeds to Step S107 , and when the distance is greater than or equal to the threshold (No in Step S201 ), the process proceeds to Step S202 . The distance between the cage|basket|car 132a and the cage|basket|car 132c running ahead can be acquired from the information of "position" recorded in the cage|basket state information 113 corresponding to each cage|basket|car.

The process of step S107 is performed when the space between the selected cage|basket|car 132a and the cage|basket|car 132c traveling ahead is crowded. At this time, even if the serviceability of the car 132a traveling behind is improved, the possibility of catching up with the car 132c traveling ahead is high. When catching up with the car 132c running ahead, the waiting movement is forced to occur due to the specification restriction of the counter-balanced multi-car elevator, resulting in lowering of conveyance efficiency and serviceability. Then, in step S107, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs a double-car operation mode switching command to the loop control device 121A that controls the car ring 131A of the car 132a selected in step S105. Then, in the next step S108, the ring control device 121A controls the operation mode of the control target car ring 131A to the double-car operation mode in accordance with the double-car operation mode switching command, as in step S108 of FIG. 6 . After the process of step S108, the operation mode switching process ends.

On the other hand, the process of step S202 is performed when a sufficient distance is ensured between the selected car 132a and the car 132c traveling ahead. At this time, when the serviceability of the car 132a traveling behind is improved, the possibility of catching up with the car 132c traveling forward is low, and improvement in serviceability and improvement in conveyance efficiency can be expected. Then, after step S202, in order to improve the serviceability of the car 132 traveling behind (ie, the car 132a selected in step S105) in the service section, switching to the paired car for the car 132a, that is, is performed. The car 132b is set to the process of the single-car operation mode which cannot be used.

Specifically, first, in step S202, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 refers to the ring information 111, determines whether or not the car 132a selected in step S105 is the first car, and thereby determines that there is a service section with room for improving serviceability. direction of the car.

If an affirmative result is obtained in the determination of step S202 (YES in step S202), since the car direction of the service section which has room for improving serviceability is the moving direction of the first car, the process proceeds to step S110. For example, when the car 132a is selected in step S105, when referring to the ring information 111 of FIG. 4(A), since it is the first car, the process of step S110 is performed. On the other hand, when a negative result is obtained in the determination of step S202 (No in step S202), it means that the car direction of the service section in which there is room for improving serviceability is the moving direction of the second car, and the process proceeds to Step S112.

Then, when the process proceeds from step S202 to step S110, as in step S110 of Fig. 6 , the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs to the loop control device 121 that controls the car loop 131 of the car 132 selected in step S105 The first single-car running mode switching command. Then, in the next step S111, as in the step S111 of Fig. 6 , the ring control device 121 that has received the first single-car operation mode switching command in the step S110 controls the operation mode of the control target car ring 131 to the first A single car operating mode. As a result, in the predetermined car ring 131, only the first car (that is, the car 132 selected in step S105) is made usable (serviceable), and the second car that is the paired car is set as Cannot be used (service stopped). Then, after the process of step S111, the operation mode switching process ends.

When the process proceeds from step S202 to step S112, as in step S112 of FIG. 6, the operation mode switching determination unit 107 outputs the second output to the loop control device 121 that controls the car loop 131 of the car 132 selected in step S105. Single car running mode switching command. Then, in the next step S113, as in step S113 of FIG. 6, the loop control device 121 that has received the second single-car operation mode switching command in step S112 controls the operation mode of the control target car ring 131 to the first Two single car operation mode. As a result, in the predetermined car ring 131, only the second car (ie, the car 132 selected in step S105) is made usable (serviceable), and the paired car, that is, the first car is set as Cannot be used (service stopped). Then, after the process of step S113, the operation mode switching process ends.

As described above, in the operation mode switching process of the third embodiment, in the opposing car-balanced multi-car elevator provided with the plurality of car rings 131, the selected predetermined car 132 (car traveling behind) When a sufficient distance is ensured between the car 132) and the car 132 running in the front, and it is estimated that there is room for improving the serviceability of the car 132 running in the rear, switching to the paired car setting of the car 132 running in the rear is performed. For the control of the single-car operating mode that cannot be used. As a result, the paired car of the rear-running car 132 stops providing service and does not respond to hall calls, so the serviceability of the rear-running car 132 can be improved without affecting the behavior of the rear-running car 132 . In this way, in the elevator 1, which is an opposite-car-balanced multi-car elevator, the situation in the vicinity of the predetermined car 132 (which may also be referred to as the situation in the vicinity of the hall where the predetermined car 132 responds to a call) corresponds to the situation in the vicinity of the predetermined car 132. By appropriately switching the operation mode, it can be expected to improve the transport efficiency and serviceability.

In addition, the operation mode switching process in the third embodiment is not limited to the process flow illustrated in FIG. 7 , and the information to be compared, the content of determination, and the like can be appropriately replaced and executed by a modified example.

Specifically, for example, the determination in step S201 of FIG. 7 is for determining whether or not there is room for improving serviceability in the vicinity of the car 132 selected in step S105, and when it is estimated that there is a situation where there is room for improving serviceability Next (NO in step S201), the process of switching to the single-car operation mode in which the paired car of the above-mentioned car 132 is disabled (processes after step S202) is performed, but the determination of NO in step S201 is performed. The criterion (ie, the criterion for switching to the single-car operation mode in which the paired car cannot be used) can be replaced with the following criterion examples (or combinations thereof). Furthermore, in the third embodiment, when these judgment reference examples are replaced, in the elevator 1 which is an opposite-car-balanced multi-car elevator, it can be appropriately adjusted according to the situation in the vicinity of the predetermined car 132 . The operation mode can be switched easily, and the improvement of conveyance efficiency and serviceability can be expected.

As an example of the judgment criterion of NO in step S201 of Fig. 7 , the first to ninth cases are listed when the car 132a is selected in step S105 using the structure of the elevator 1 shown as an example in Fig. 4(B) . Judgment standard example.

As a first judgment reference example, the distance between the selected car 132a and the car 132f traveling behind is not more than a predetermined threshold value. When this determination criterion is satisfied, it means that a sufficient distance is not secured with the car 132f traveling behind, and there is a possibility that the car 132f traveling behind catches up with the car 132a. When catching up with the car 132a, the car 132f is forced to wait and move, so the conveyance efficiency and serviceability decrease. In order to avoid such a situation, it is effective to improve the serviceability of the car 132a traveling ahead, and to increase the distance between the car 132a and the car 132f. That is, when the first judgment reference example is satisfied, it is expected that there will be an effect obtained by switching to the single-car operation mode in which the paired car 132b cannot be used.

As a second judgment criterion example, the number of hall calls in the moving direction of the paired car 132b of the selected car 132a is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. When this judgment criterion is satisfied, it is estimated that the traffic demand in the moving direction of the paired car 132b is low (the traffic demand is unbalanced), so it is expected that the paired car 132b is switched to a single car that cannot be used due to the The effect obtained in the box operation mode.

As a third judgment criterion example, regarding the hall call of the paired car 132b of the selected car 132a, the total value, average value, maximum value, Any one of the minimum value and the like is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. When this criterion is satisfied, long-term waiting time is not chronically generated in the moving direction of the paired car 132b, and it is presumed that the traffic demand in the moving direction of the paired car 132b is low (the traffic demand is unbalanced). , it is expected that there will be an effect obtained by switching to the single-car operation mode in which the paired car 132b cannot be used.

As a fourth judgment criterion example, the interval between the hall call floors of the paired car 132b of the selected car 132a can be mentioned to be equal to or more than a threshold value. When this judgment criterion is satisfied, the necessity of providing a plurality of cars 132 in response to the hall call in the moving direction of the paired car 132b is low, and it is estimated that the traffic demand in the moving direction of the paired car 132b is low. (The traffic demand is unbalanced.) Therefore, it is expected that there will be an effect obtained by switching to the single-car operation mode in which the paired car 132b cannot be used.

As a fifth judgment reference example, the number of car calls of the selected car 132a is a predetermined threshold value or more. When this determination criterion is satisfied, since the car 132a stops at the hall in response to each car call, there is a possibility that the car 132 that follows will overtake the car 132 and the distance between the cars will decrease. Therefore, in such a case, by improving the serviceability of the car 132a, it is possible to expect an improvement in the overall conveyance efficiency and serviceability, so it is effective to switch to the single-car operation mode in which the paired car 132b cannot be used.

As a sixth judgment reference example, the number of hall calls in the moving direction of the selected car 132a is a predetermined threshold value or more. When this judgment criterion is satisfied, it is estimated that the traffic demand in the moving direction of the car 132a is high (the traffic demand is unbalanced), so it is expected that there may be a reason for switching to a single car that cannot use the paired car 132b The effect obtained by running the mode.

As a seventh judgment reference example, the interval between the hall call floors in the moving direction of the selected car 132a is not less than a threshold value. When this determination criterion is satisfied, it is presumed that in the moving direction of the car 132a, the interval between the plurality of cars 132 responding to each hall call is also large. Therefore, by improving the serviceability of the cage|basket|car 132a, since the improvement of the whole conveyance efficiency and serviceability can be expected, it is effective to switch to the single cage|basket|car operation mode which cannot use the paired cage|basket|car 132b.

As an example of the eighth judgment criterion, for the hall call of the selected car 132a, the total value, the average value, the maximum value, the minimum value, etc. of the elapsed time (call elapsed time) since the hall call is generated can be cited Any one of them is above the specified threshold. When this judgment criterion is satisfied, a long waiting time occurs in the moving direction of the car 132a, and the traffic demand in the moving direction of the car 132a is presumed to be high (unbalanced traffic demand occurs), so it is expected that there will be An effect obtained by switching to the single-car operation mode in which the paired car 132b cannot be used.

As a ninth judgment reference example, the occupancy rate of the selected car 132a is not less than a predetermined threshold value. The calculation method of the occupancy rate is not particularly limited, and can be calculated from, for example, "load/load capacity", "number of passengers/capacity", "passenger volume/car volume", or "total passenger area/car floor area", etc. . When this determination criterion is satisfied, the cage|basket|car 132a is crowded, and when the cage|basket|car 132a stops a hall, it may be overtaken by the following cage|basket|car 132, and the distance between cage|basket|cars may decrease. Therefore, in such a case, by improving the serviceability of the car 132a, it is possible to expect an improvement in the overall conveyance efficiency and serviceability, so it is effective to switch to the single-car operation mode in which the paired car 132b cannot be used.

In addition, each of the above-mentioned judgment reference examples may be arbitrarily combined, and in this case, the judgment may be performed on a result calculated by multiplying the combined elements by a coefficient weight.

(4) Fourth Embodiment

In the fourth embodiment, the elevator control system 100 switches the operation mode of the car 132 (car ring 131 ) according to the characteristics (passenger characteristics) of the passengers using the elevator 1 . Hereinafter, the fourth embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment.

According to the elevator control system 100 of the fourth embodiment, switching to the operation mode according to the passenger characteristics of the passengers is triggered by the key card or the operation of the administrator. The paired car of the car 132 that transports the passenger is set to the unusable single-car operation mode. The determination of the passenger characteristics is performed by referring to the passenger characteristic information 116 managed by the passenger characteristic information management unit 106 by the operation mode switching determination unit 107 .

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of passenger characteristic information. As described above, the passenger characteristic information 116 is information indicating the operation mode corresponding to the characteristic of the passenger, and is managed by the passenger characteristic information management unit 106 . As an example, in the case of FIG. 8 , the passenger characteristic information 116 includes a passenger characteristic list 1161 that summarizes a list of passenger characteristics and an operation mode list 1162 that summarizes a list of operation modes, and associates each passenger characteristic with a corresponding operation mode.

Several types of associations shown in FIG. 8 will be specifically described. For example, in FIG. 8, the passenger characteristic of "VIP" is associated with the operation mode of "Express 1" in which the lobby floor is the departure floor and the reception floor is the arrival floor in the single-car operation mode. Here, the express operation refers to a direct operation mode in which the operation is limited to the halls (departure floor, arrival floor). In addition, the passenger characteristic "emergency patient" is associated with the single-car operation mode of "quick run 2" in which an arbitrary floor is the departure floor and the hall floor is the arrival floor. Although the description of all the correlations is omitted, it can be seen that various operation modes are prepared in advance according to various passenger characteristics according to the passenger characteristic information 116 shown in FIG. 8 . In addition, in the passenger characteristic information 116, the operation mode (operation mode list 1162) related to the passenger characteristic is not limited to the example of FIG. 8, but in order to obtain the special effect achieved by the fourth embodiment, it is preferable to include at least a double car A car operation mode, a normal single-car operation mode (for example, normal operation 1) that does not limit the hall, and a special one-car operation mode (for example, rapid travel 1 to 4) that restricts the hall.

As described above, in the fourth embodiment, when a specific passenger characteristic is utilized, the operation mode of the elevator 1 can be switched to the single-car operation mode. In the case of switching to the single-car operation mode, the influence caused by the call response of the paired car can be eliminated in the specific car 132, so it is possible to balance the multi-car elevator in the opposite car based on the traffic situation. The serviceability of a specific car 132 is improved. In particular, when switching to the single-car operation mode of rapid running, the specific car 132 does not stop at the intermediate floor, so that passengers can be transported to the destination floor as soon as possible, or other passengers can be prevented from getting on. It is possible to improve the transportation efficiency and provide more detailed service.

In addition, this invention is not limited to each said embodiment, Various modification examples are included. For example, the above-described embodiments are described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to all the configurations described above. In addition, each embodiment can be combined arbitrarily. In addition, with respect to a part of the structure of each embodiment, other structures can be added, deleted, or replaced.

In addition, a part or all of the above-mentioned structures, functions, processing units, processing units, etc. can be realized by hardware, for example, by designing in an integrated circuit or the like. In addition, each of the above-described structures, functions, and the like can also be realized by software when a processor interprets and executes a program for realizing each function. Information such as programs, tables, and files that realize each function can be stored in a storage device, a hard disk, a recording device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, and DVD. In addition, the control lines and information lines shown in the figures are considered to be necessary for the description, and all control lines and information lines on the product are not necessarily shown. In fact, it can also be considered that almost all structures are interconnected.

Description of reference numerals

1 elevator

100 Elevator Control System

101 Environmental Information Management Department

102nd Floor Pairing Information Management Department

103 Car Status Management Department

104 Landing Status Management Department

105 Records Department

106 Passenger Characteristics Information Management Department

107 Operation mode switching judgment section

111 Ring Information

112 Floor Pairing Information

113 Car status information

114 Landing status information

115 Mobile performance information

116 Passenger Characteristic Information

120(120A～120N) Hall call button

121(121A～121N) Ring control device

122(122A～122N) Operation mode switching part

131(131A～131N) Car ring

132(132a～132d) Car

133(133a～133d) Car call button

141 Ascent direction shaft

142 Descending direction shaft

143 Orientation Reversal Space

144 Direction reverses space.

Claims (13)

1. An elevator control system for controlling a multi-car elevator in which 2 cars forming a car ring are connected to a wire rope so as to serve as counterweights, the elevator control system comprising:

an information management unit that manages the following information: loop information indicating a combination of the 2 cars forming the car loop, landing pair information indicating a combination of landings determined by the 2 cars forming the car loop, car state information indicating states of the cars, and landing state information indicating states of the landings in a car direction in which the cars move; and

an operation mode switching determination unit that determines switching of an operation mode in any of the car rings based on the information managed by the information management unit,

when one of the 2 cars forming the car loop serves the landing, the operation mode switching determination unit instructs a loop control device that controls the operation of the car loop to switch the operation mode of the car loop between a single-car operation mode in which the other car of the car loop does not serve and a double-car operation mode in which the two cars of the car loop serve,

the operation mode switching determination unit determines a difference in traffic demand between the car directions based on the information managed by the information management unit, and instructs switching to the single-car operation mode in which one of the 2 cars forming the car loop that moves in the car direction having a high traffic demand can be used and the other car cannot be used when there is a difference in the traffic demand of a predetermined degree or more.

2. The elevator control system of claim 1 wherein:

the information management unit also manages movement performance information in which the passenger's performance of riding in and out is recorded in association with time,

the operation mode switching determination unit determines the difference in traffic demand based on the number of passengers in each car direction acquired from the movement performance information.

3. The elevator control system of claim 1 wherein:

the hall state information records the waiting time of passengers, the occurrence time of hall calls, the occurrence frequency of hall calls and the number of passengers waiting,

the operating mode switching determination section determines the difference in the traffic demand based on information recorded in the landing state information.

4. The elevator control system of claim 1 wherein:

the information management unit also manages movement performance information in which the passenger's performance of riding in and out is recorded in association with time,

the elevator control system further includes an operation switching period judgment section that calculates a period in which an imbalance in traffic demand is predicted to occur between the car directions based on the movement performance information,

the operation mode switching determination section instructs switching of the operation mode of at least 1 of the car rings to the single-car operation mode between periods in which the imbalance of the traffic demand is predicted to occur, which are calculated by the operation switching period determination section.

5. The elevator control system of claim 1 wherein:

the operation mode switching determination section determines a condition of any of the car and a condition of the landing to which the car responds based on information managed by the information management section, and instructs switching of the operation mode of the car loop including the car to the single-car operation mode or the double-car operation mode based on a result of the determination.

6. The elevator control system of claim 5 wherein:

in the multi-car elevator having the plurality of car rings,

the operation mode switching determination unit instructs, when a distance between the arbitrary car and a car traveling in front of the car is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, to switch the operation mode of the car ring including the car to the single-car operation mode in which the car can be used and the other car cannot be used.

7. The elevator control system of claim 1 wherein:

the information management section also manages passenger characteristic information indicating an association of a passenger characteristic with the operation mode,

when a passenger having the passenger characteristic is transported, the operation mode switching determination unit instructs switching of the operation mode to the car loop including the car transporting the passenger in accordance with the correlation indicated by the passenger characteristic information.

8. The elevator control system of claim 7 wherein:

the operation modes related to the correlation in the passenger characteristic information include at least the double-car operation mode, a normal single-car operation mode in which the landing is not limited, and a special single-car operation mode in which the landing is limited.

9. An elevator control method executed by an elevator control system for controlling a multi-car elevator in which 2 cars forming a car ring are connected to a wire rope so as to serve as counterweights, the elevator control method characterized by:

the elevator control system includes:

an information management unit that manages the following information: loop information indicating a combination of the 2 cars forming the car loop, landing pair information indicating a combination of landings determined by the 2 cars forming the car loop, car state information indicating states of the cars, and landing state information indicating states of the landings in a car direction in which the cars move; and

an operation mode switching determination unit that determines switching of an operation mode in any of the car rings based on the information managed by the information management unit,

when one of the 2 cars forming the car loop serves the landing, the operation mode switching determination unit instructs a loop control device that controls the operation of the car loop to switch the operation mode of the car loop between a single-car operation mode in which the other car of the car loop does not serve and a double-car operation mode in which the two cars of the car loop serve,

the operation mode switching determination unit determines a difference in traffic demand between the car directions based on the information managed by the information management unit, and instructs switching to the single-car operation mode in which one of the 2 cars forming the car loop that moves in the car direction having a high traffic demand can be used and the other car cannot be used when there is a difference in the traffic demand of a predetermined degree or more.

10. The elevator control method according to claim 9, characterized in that:

the information management unit also manages movement performance information in which the passenger's performance on the boarding/alighting is recorded in association with time,

the operation mode switching determination unit determines the difference in the traffic demand based on the number of passengers per car direction acquired from the movement performance information.

11. The elevator control method according to claim 9, characterized in that:

the information management unit also manages movement performance information in which the passenger's performance on the boarding/alighting is recorded in association with time,

the elevator control system further includes an operation switching period judgment section that calculates a period in which an imbalance in traffic demand is predicted to occur between the car directions based on the movement performance information,

the operation mode switching determination section instructs switching of the operation mode of at least 1 of the car loops to the single-car operation mode between periods in which the imbalance in traffic demand is predicted to occur, which are calculated by the operation switching period determination section.

12. The elevator control method according to claim 9, characterized in that:

the operation mode switching determination section determines a condition of any of the car and a condition of the landing to which the car responds based on information managed by the information management section, and instructs switching of the operation mode of the car loop including the car to the single-car operation mode or the double-car operation mode based on a result of the determination.

13. The elevator control method according to claim 9, characterized in that:

the information management section also manages passenger characteristic information indicating an association of a passenger characteristic with the operation mode,

when a passenger having the passenger characteristic is transported, the operation mode switching determination unit instructs switching of the operation mode to the car loop including the car transporting the passenger in accordance with the correlation indicated by the passenger characteristic information.

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