CN112955394A

CN112955394A - Elevator group management device

Info

Publication number: CN112955394A
Application number: CN201880098578.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 野村雅司
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Priority date: 2018-11-14
Filing date: 2018-11-14
Publication date: 2021-06-11
Also published as: WO2020100229A1; JP7095749B2; JPWO2020100229A1

Abstract

Provided is an elevator group management device capable of improving operation efficiency in an elevator system having a plurality of cars provided with batteries. A group management device (1) is provided with: a determination unit (14) which determines, when a new hall call has occurred, a car (5) of the plurality of cars (5) in which the battery (7) is installed, the remaining battery level of which is less than the amount of battery consumption until the operation plan after the temporary update is completed, as an unserviceable car, on the basis of the current operation plan and the remaining battery level of the plurality of cars (5); a difference calculation unit (15) that calculates, for each car (5) that is not an out-of-service car, a difference between the amount of battery consumption until the completion of the temporarily updated operation plan and the amount of battery consumption until the completion of the current operation plan; and a call assignment unit (16) that assigns a new landing call to any one of the cars (5) that are not non-serviceable cars, based on the difference in battery consumption calculated by the difference calculation unit (15).

Description

Elevator group management device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an elevator group control device.

Background

Patent document 1 discloses an elevator system including a plurality of cars provided with a battery. The battery of the car is charged by a power supply device provided at a power supply floor. In the above system, when a new hall call is assigned to a car, if the remaining battery level of the car is small, additional call assignment to the car is prohibited. The car for which additional call assignment is prohibited performs power supply travel after the completion of service for the assigned call.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent No. 5892757

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In the system described in patent document 1, a car having a relatively large amount of battery consumption among a plurality of cars may be assigned a new call according to a call assignment method. In this case, the frequency of power supply traveling increases, and therefore the operation efficiency of the elevator decreases.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an elevator group control device capable of improving the operation efficiency in an elevator system having a plurality of cars provided with a battery.

Means for solving the problems

An elevator group management device according to the present invention includes: a determination unit that determines, when a new hall call has occurred, a car, among the plurality of cars, having a remaining battery level that is less than a battery consumption level of an operation plan after temporary update including service to the new hall call, as an unserviceable car, based on a current operation plan and a remaining battery level of the plurality of cars in which batteries chargeable at a power supply floor are installed; a difference value calculation unit that calculates, for each car that is not an unserviceable car, a difference value between the amount of battery consumption until the operation plan after the temporary update including the service to the new hall call is completed and the amount of battery consumption until the current operation plan is completed; and a call assignment unit that assigns a new hall call to any one of the cars that is not an unserviceable car, based on the difference in battery consumption calculated by the difference calculation unit.

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, a new hall call is assigned to any one of the cars other than the non-serviceable car, based on the difference in the amount of battery consumption calculated by the difference calculation unit. Therefore, in the elevator system provided with a plurality of cars provided with batteries, the running efficiency can be improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of an elevator system according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram of the group control device according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 3 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall processing of the group control device according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the determination unit in embodiment 1.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the difference value calculation unit according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the call assignment section according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 7 is a configuration diagram of a group management device according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall processing of the group control device according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the judgment unit in embodiment 2.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the waiting time calculation unit according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the call assigning part according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 12 is a hardware configuration diagram of the group management device.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding portions are denoted by the same reference numerals. Duplicate descriptions are appropriately simplified or omitted.

Embodiment 1.

The elevator system includes a group control device 1, a plurality of car control devices 2, and a plurality of call registration devices 3. The call registration device 3 is installed in, for example, an elevator hall or an entrance gate (gate) of each floor. The group control device 1 is electrically connected to the car control device 2 and the call registration device 3.

In fig. 1, only one car control device 2 is shown. Each car control device 2 controls the operation of each elevator.

Each elevator includes, for example, a hoisting machine 4, a car 5, and a counterweight 6. The car 5 and the counterweight 6 are disposed inside the hoistway. The car 5 and the counterweight 6 are suspended in the hoistway by ropes wound around the hoisting machine 4. The car 5 and the counterweight 6 are raised and lowered by driving the hoisting machine 4. The hoisting machine 4 is controlled by the corresponding car control device 2.

The call registration device 3 receives an input of call registration information by a passenger. The call registration information includes, for example, a destination floor or a destination direction. The call registration device 3 includes, for example, an operation portion such as a button or a sensor for identifying information by wireless communication. The passenger can also input call registration information by operating an operating part of the call registration device 3. The passenger may input the call registration information by causing a sensor of the call registration device 3 to read the call registration information transmitted from an ID tag, an ID card, a portable terminal, or the like.

The call registration device 3 generates a hall call based on the inputted call registration information. The landing calls include, for example, a departure floor and a destination floor. The landing calls may also contain, for example, destination directions instead of destination floors. The call registration device 3 transmits the generated hall call to the group control device 1.

The group control device 1 selects one assigned car for a hall call received from the call registration device 3. The group control device 1 transmits the hall call to the car control device 2 corresponding to the assigned car.

The car control device 2 outputs a drive command to the hoisting machine 4 in accordance with the hall call received from the group control device 1. The elevator car 5 moves in the vertical direction by driving the hoisting machine 4, and responds to the hall call.

The car 5 is provided with a battery 7 and a power receiving device 8. At least one power transmission device 9 is provided in the hoistway. The power transmission device 9 is connected to a power source 10. The floor on which the power transmission device 9 is provided is also referred to as "power supply floor".

The battery 7 supplies electric power necessary for operating the devices provided in the car 5. The battery 7 supplies electric power to, for example, a door opening/closing device of a car door, a lighting device, and the like. The battery 7 is consumed along with the operation of the car 5, and therefore, is charged as necessary. The battery 7 can be charged at the power supply floor.

The power receiving device 8 faces the power transmission device 9 in a state where the car 5 stops at the power supply floor. The power transmission device 9 transmits power to the opposing power reception device 8 in a non-contact manner, for example. The power receiving device 8 charges the battery 7 with the power received from the power transmitting device 9.

The group control device 1 determines whether or not power needs to be supplied to the battery 7, for example, based on a hall call, the remaining battery level of each car 5, and the like. The group control device 1 instructs the car control device 2 to perform power supply travel as necessary. The power supply travel is to move the car 5 to a power supply floor.

The group control device 1 includes a call acquisition unit 11, an operation plan acquisition unit 12, a remaining battery level acquisition unit 13, a determination unit 14, a difference calculation unit 15, and a call assignment unit 16.

The call acquisition unit 11 acquires a hall call from the call registration device 3. The call acquisition unit 11 sends a hall call to the determination unit 14.

The operation plan obtaining unit 12 obtains the current operation plan of each car 5 from the plurality of car control devices 2. The operating plan of the car 5 contains information representing the current position of the car 5 and the predetermined stopping floor, for example. The operation plan obtaining unit 12 transmits the current operation plan of each car 5 to the determining unit 14.

The current position of the car 5 is indicated for example as a floor of the building. The current position of the car 5 can also be expressed as a position from floor to floor as "between floor 1 and floor 2", for example.

For example, when the hoisting machine 4 or the like includes a motor encoder, the car relative position detected by the motor encoder may be set as the current position of the car 5.

For example, when the car 5 or the car control device 2 includes a distance sensor using a laser, the absolute distance from the car 5 to the top or the lower part of the hoistway may be used as the current position of the car 5.

For example, when a magnetic tape or a barcode belt is installed in the hoistway and the car 5 or the car control device 2 includes a sensor for reading the belt, the absolute position of the car 5 measured by the sensor may be used as the current position of the car 5.

The remaining battery level acquiring unit 13 acquires the current remaining battery level of each car 5 from the plurality of car control devices 2. The remaining battery level acquiring unit 13 transmits the current remaining battery level of each car 5 to the determining unit 14.

The remaining battery level can be obtained from, for example, the voltage value of the battery 7. The remaining battery level may be estimated from, for example, an elapsed time from the time when the battery 7 was last charged, the number of times the car door was opened and closed, and the like.

The determination unit 14 obtains a new hall call from the call obtaining unit 11. The determination unit 14 receives the current operation plan of each car 5 from the operation plan acquisition unit 12. The determination unit 14 receives the current remaining battery level of each car 5 from the remaining battery level acquisition unit 13.

The determination unit 14 temporarily updates the operation plan of each car 5, including the service to the new hall call. The provisional update means that the operation plan is updated assuming that the car 5 is assigned a new hall call. The temporarily updated operation plan is, for example, an operation plan obtained by adding a start floor and a destination floor included in a new hall call to a current operation plan as a new predetermined stop floor.

For example, when both the start floor and the destination floor included in the new hall call are present within the movement range of the car 5 in the current operation plan, the service to the new hall call can be completed before the service to the existing other call in the operation plan after the temporary update. For example, when at least one of the start floor and the destination floor included in the new hall call is present outside the moving range of the car 5 in the current operation plan, the operation plan after the temporary update can complete the service for the new hall call after the service for the existing other call.

Further, when the new hall call does not include the destination floor but includes the destination direction, the determination unit 14 performs temporary update of the operation plan based on the destination floor estimated from the past results. For example, the destination floor of a passenger who has registered a new hall call can be estimated probabilistically from the past cumulative number of alighting persons stored for each time zone and each floor. For example, when the car 5 includes a load weight measuring device, the number of people getting off can be estimated from the amount of decrease in the measurement result of the device. The number of persons going off the elevator may be directly measured from an image captured by an imaging device provided in the car 5 or an elevator hall, for example.

The determination unit 14 calculates the amount of battery consumption until the temporarily updated operation plan is completed for each car 5. This battery consumption amount is also referred to as "temporarily updated battery consumption amount". The battery consumption is calculated, for example, based on the time required until the operation schedule after the temporary update is completed and the number of times of opening and closing of the car door. The number of door openings and closings can be estimated from the number of stops of the car 5 in the operation plan, for example.

The determination unit 14 determines whether or not the service is possible for each car 5. The determination unit 14 determines the car 5 whose current remaining battery level is less than the battery consumption amount up to the operation plan after the temporary update as the "non-serviceable car". The non-serviceable car is the car 5 whose remaining battery level is zero before the completion of the operation plan when a new hall call is assigned.

The determination unit 14 determines whether or not power supply is necessary for each car 5. The determination unit 14 determines the car 5 whose remaining battery level is less than the threshold value at the time of completion of the temporarily updated operation plan as the "car requiring power supply". The electricity-requiring car is the car 5 that needs to charge the battery 7 at the electricity-requiring floor after completion of the operation plan when a new hall call is assigned.

The threshold value for determining whether or not power supply is necessary is set for each car 5 based on, for example, the amount of battery consumption during power supply travel for moving from the floor where the temporarily updated operation plan is located to the nearest power supply floor. For example, the battery consumption amount is calculated for each car 5 based on the time required for the power feeding travel and the number of door openings and closings of the car door during the power feeding travel. The determination unit 14 holds power supply floor position information for specifying the position of the power supply floor in advance.

The determination unit 14 transmits at least information indicating an unserviceable car and information indicating a car requiring power supply to the call assignment unit 16. The judgment unit 14 transmits at least information indicating that the car is not serviceable to the difference calculation unit 15.

The difference value calculating section 15 receives, for example, a new hall call, information indicating an unserviceable car, the current operation plan of all the cars 5 except the unserviceable car, and the amount of battery consumption until the temporary updated operation plan of all the cars 5 except the unserviceable car is completed from the determining section 14.

The difference value calculating unit 15 may receive a new hall call directly from the call acquiring unit 11. Instead of receiving the current operation plans of all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car from the determination unit 14, the difference calculation unit 15 may receive the current operation plan of all the cars 5 including the non-serviceable car from the operation plan acquisition unit 12.

The difference value calculating section 15 calculates the amount of battery consumption until the current operation plan is completed for each car 5 that is not an unserviceable car. This battery consumption amount is also referred to as "battery consumption amount before temporary update". The battery consumption is calculated, for example, based on the time required until the current operation schedule is completed and the number of times the car door is opened and closed. Alternatively, the battery consumption of the car 5 to which a call is not currently assigned may be replaced with a value of the battery consumption calculated for the latest call that has completed service.

The difference calculation section 15 calculates, for each car 5 that is not an unserviceable car, a difference between the amount of battery consumption until the completion of the temporarily updated operation plan and the amount of battery consumption until the completion of the current operation plan. That is, the difference calculation unit 15 calculates the difference in the battery consumption amount in the operation plan before and after the temporary update.

The difference value calculating part 15 sends information indicating the difference value of the battery consumption amounts of all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car to the call assigning part 16.

The call assignment section 16 receives, for example, a new hall call, information indicating an unserviceable car, and information indicating a car requiring power supply from the determination section 14. The call assignment section 16 receives information indicating the difference in the battery consumption amounts for all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car from the difference calculation section 15.

The call assigning unit 16 may receive a new hall call directly from the call acquisition unit 11.

The call assignment section 16 assigns a new hall call to any one of the cars 5 that is not an unserviceable car, based on the difference in the amount of battery consumption calculated by the difference calculation section 15.

The call assignment unit 16 determines, as an assigned car, a car 5 whose difference in battery consumption is the smallest, for example.

The call assignment section 16 transmits a new hall call to the car control device 2 corresponding to the car 5 determined as the assigned car.

When the car 5 determined as the assigned car is a car requiring power supply, the call assignment section 16 instructs the car control device 2 corresponding to the car 5 to perform power supply travel after the car 5 completes the operation plan that is actually updated including the service for the new hall call.

Fig. 3 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall processing of the group control device according to embodiment 1. Fig. 3 shows the above information transmitted and received by each unit of the group control device 1.

In step S101, a new hall call, an operation plan of each car 5, and a reception of the remaining battery level of each car 5 are performed.

The processing from step S102 to step S107 is repeated for all the cars 5 managed by the group control device 1.

In step S102, the operation plan is temporarily updated.

In step S103, the temporarily updated battery consumption amount is calculated according to the temporarily updated operation plan.

In step S104, it is determined whether the current remaining battery level is less than the temporarily updated battery consumption amount. That is, it is determined whether a new hall call can be assigned to the car 5 as the target.

If it is determined in step S104 that the current remaining battery level is less than the temporarily updated battery consumption amount, step S105 is performed.

In step S105, the target car 5 is classified as an unserviceable car.

If it is determined in step S104 that the current remaining battery level is not less than the temporarily updated battery consumption amount, step S106 is performed.

In step S106, it is determined whether or not the remaining battery level at the time of completion of the operation plan after the temporary update is less than a threshold value. That is, it is determined whether or not the battery 7 of the target car 5 needs to be charged after the operation plan after the temporary update is completed.

If it is determined in step S106 that the remaining battery level at the time of completion of the operation schedule after the temporary update is less than the threshold value, step S107 is performed.

In step S107, the target car 5 is classified as a car requiring power supply.

In step S106, when it is determined that the remaining battery level at the time of completion of the temporarily updated operation plan is not less than the threshold value, the target car 5 is classified as neither an unserviceable car nor a car requiring power supply.

When the processing from step S102 to step S107 is completed for all the cars 5, step S108 is performed.

In step S108, information on the non-serviceable car and the car requiring power supply is transmitted to the call assignment section.

In step S109, the non-serviceable car information is transmitted to the difference value calculation unit.

In step S201, a new hall call, non-serviceable car information, a plan of operation of all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car, and a temporary updated amount of battery consumption of all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car are received.

The processing of step S202 and step S203 is repeated for all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car.

In step S202, the battery consumption amount before the temporary update is calculated.

In step S203, the difference in the battery consumption amounts before and after the temporary update is calculated.

When the processing of step S202 and step S203 is completed for all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car, step S204 is performed.

In step S204, the difference in the amount of battery consumption of each car 5 other than the non-serviceable car is sent to the call assigning section 16.

In step S301, a new hall call, non-serviceable car information, power-supply-required car information, and a difference in battery consumption amount between the cars 5 other than the non-serviceable car are received.

In step S302, the car 5 with the smallest difference in battery consumption among the cars 5 that are not non-serviceable cars is determined as the assigned car.

In step S303, a new hall call is transmitted to the car control device 2 corresponding to the assigned car. Thus, the operation plan of the assigned car is actually updated as the contents including the service to the new hall call.

In step S304, it is determined whether the assigned car is a car requiring power supply.

In step S304, if it is determined that the assigned car is the car requiring power supply, step S305 is performed.

In step S305, the car control device 2 corresponding to the assigned car is instructed to perform the power supply travel after the assigned car completes the operation plan.

If it is determined in step S304 that the assigned car is not the car requiring power supply, step S305 is not executed.

According to embodiment 1 described above, when a new hall call is generated, the determination unit 14 determines, as an unserviceable car, a car 5 of the plurality of cars 5 whose remaining battery level is less than the amount of battery consumption until the operation plan temporarily updated to include the service to the new hall call is completed, based on the current operation plan and the remaining battery level of each of the plurality of cars 5 provided with the battery 7 chargeable at the power supply floor. The difference calculation unit 15 calculates, for each car 5 that is not an unserviceable car, a difference between the amount of battery consumption until the operation plan after the temporary update including the service to the new hall call is completed and the amount of battery consumption until the current operation plan including no service to the new hall call is completed. The call assignment section 16 assigns a new hall call to any one of the cars 5 that are not non-serviceable cars, based on the difference in the amount of battery consumption for each car 5 that is not a non-serviceable car calculated by the difference calculation section 15. That is, according to embodiment 1, the assigned car is determined based on the simulation results of the amount of battery consumption in the case where a new hall call is assigned to the car 5 and in the case where a new hall call is not assigned to the car 5. Therefore, in the elevator system including the plurality of cars 5 provided with the battery 7, the operation efficiency can be improved.

The call assignment unit 16 assigns a new hall call to a car 5 whose difference in battery consumption amounts is smallest among cars 5 that are not non-serviceable cars, for example. In this case, when a new hall call is generated, the new hall call is preferentially assigned to the car 5 whose increment in battery consumption is the smallest, and therefore the number of times of performing power supply travel can be minimized. As a result, the operation efficiency can be improved.

The determination unit 14 determines that the car 5, of the plurality of cars 5, whose remaining battery level at the time of completion of the temporarily updated operation plan is smaller than a threshold value based on the amount of battery consumption in the power supply travel for moving from the floor at the time of completion of the temporarily updated operation plan including the service to the new hall call to the power supply floor, needs to be powered. When a new hall call is assigned to the car requiring power supply, the call assignment section 16 instructs the car control device 2 corresponding to the car to perform power supply travel after the car completes the operation plan that is actually updated including the service to the new hall call. Therefore, power can be reliably supplied to the battery 7 with a low remaining capacity without performing unnecessary power supply travel.

The determination unit 14 calculates the amount of battery consumption during the power feeding travel for each car 5, for example, based on the time required for the power feeding travel and the number of times the car door is opened and closed during the power feeding travel. In this case, the battery consumption amount due to the operation of the door opening/closing device of the car 5, the lighting equipment, and the like can be calculated.

The difference value calculating unit 15 calculates the amount of battery consumption until the current operation plan is completed, for example, for each car 5 that is not an unserviceable car, based on the time required until the current operation plan is completed and the number of times the car door is opened and closed in the current operation plan. In this case, the battery consumption amount due to the operation of the door opening/closing device of the car 5, the lighting equipment, and the like can be calculated.

Further, for example, when a new hall call indicates a departure floor and a destination direction and does not indicate a destination floor, the determination unit 14 estimates the destination floor of a passenger who has registered the new hall call based on the past cumulative number of passengers who are stored for each time slot and each floor, and temporarily updates the operation plans of the plurality of cars 5 to contents including service for the new hall call based on the departure floor and the estimated destination floor. In this case, the call registration device 3 can calculate the difference in the amount of battery consumption even if it does not have a function of accepting an input to the destination floor.

Embodiment 2.

Embodiment 2 will be described below. The description overlapping with embodiment 1 is appropriately omitted.

The group control device 1 according to embodiment 2 includes a waiting time calculation unit 17 in addition to the configuration of embodiment 1.

In embodiment 2, the determination unit 14 transmits at least information indicating an unserviceable car to the difference calculation unit 15 and the waiting time calculation unit 17.

The waiting time calculation unit 17 receives, for example, a new hall call, information indicating an unserviceable car, and the current operation plan of all the cars 5 except the unserviceable car from the determination unit 14.

The waiting time calculation unit 17 may receive a new hall call directly from the call acquisition unit 11. Instead of receiving the current operation plans of all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car from the determination unit 14, the waiting time calculation unit 17 may receive the current operation plan of all the cars 5 including the non-serviceable car from the operation plan acquisition unit 12.

The waiting time calculation unit 17 temporarily updates the operation plans of all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car, for example, in the same manner as the determination unit 14. The waiting time calculation unit 17 may receive information indicating the operation plan after the temporary update from the determination unit 14 instead of performing the temporary update of the operation plan.

The waiting time calculation unit 17 calculates the waiting time of a passenger who has registered a new hall call in the temporarily updated operation plan for each car 5 that is not an unserviceable car. This waiting time corresponds to the elapsed time from the time when a new hall call is registered to the time when the car 5 reaches the floor on which the new hall call is registered in the temporarily updated operation plan.

The waiting time calculation section 17 sends information indicating the waiting time for all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car to the call assignment section 16.

In embodiment 2, the call assignment section 16 receives information indicating the waiting time for all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car from the waiting time calculation section 17.

In embodiment 2, the call assigning section 16 assigns a new hall call to any one of the cars 5 that are not non-serviceable cars, based on the difference in the amount of battery consumption calculated by the difference calculating section 15 and the waiting time calculated by the waiting time calculating section 17.

In embodiment 2, the call assignment section 16 calculates an evaluation value VAL for each car 5 that is not an unserviceable car, for example, and determines the car 5 with the smallest evaluation value VAL as the assigned car. The evaluation value VAL is calculated by the following equation using the battery consumption difference BC, the waiting time WT, the 1 st coefficient α, and the 2 nd coefficient β. The 1 st coefficient α and the 2 nd coefficient β may be set in advance such that α is 0.7 and β is 0.3, for example.

VAL＝α×BC+β×WT

In embodiment 2, for example, the call assignment part 16 may dynamically determine the 1 st coefficient and the 2 nd coefficient so that the ratio between the 1 st coefficient α and the 2 nd coefficient β becomes smaller as the remaining battery level becomes larger, in order to lower the priority of the amount of battery consumption. For example, the call assignment section 16 may dynamically determine the 1 st coefficient and the 2 nd coefficient so that the ratio between the 1 st coefficient α and the 2 nd coefficient β becomes larger as the remaining battery level becomes smaller, in order to increase the priority of the amount of battery consumption.

Fig. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall processing of the group control device according to embodiment 2. Fig. 8 shows the above information transmitted and received by each unit of the group control device 1.

Steps S401 to S408 are the same as steps S101 to S108 in fig. 4.

In step S409, the non-serviceable car information is transmitted to the difference value calculation unit 15 and the waiting time calculation unit 17.

In step S501, a new hall call, non-serviceable car information, and an operation plan of all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car are received.

The process of step S502 is repeated for all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car.

In step S502, the waiting time is calculated from the temporarily updated operation plan.

After the process of step S502 is completed for all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car, step S503 is performed.

In step S503, the waiting time of each car 5 other than the non-serviceable car is transmitted to the call assigning section 16.

In step S601, new hall calls, non-serviceable car information, electricity-supply-required car information, difference in battery consumption of each car 5 other than the non-serviceable car, and waiting time of each car 5 other than the non-serviceable car are received.

In step S602, the car 5 with the smallest evaluation value based on the difference in the amount of battery consumption and the waiting time among the cars 5 that are not non-serviceable cars is determined as the assigned car.

Steps S603 to S605 are the same as steps S303 to S305 in fig. 6.

According to embodiment 2 described above, the waiting time calculation unit 17 calculates, for example, a waiting time, which is an elapsed time from the time when a new hall call is registered to the time when the car 5 reaches a floor at which a new hall call is registered in the operation plan temporarily updated including the service to the new hall call, for each car 5 which is not an unserviceable car. The call assignment section 16 calculates, as an evaluation value, the sum of a value obtained by multiplying the difference in the amount of battery consumption by a 1 st coefficient and a value obtained by multiplying the waiting time by a 2 nd coefficient for each car 5 that is not an unserviceable car, and assigns a new hall call to the car 5 having the smallest evaluation value among the cars 5 that are not unserviceable cars. In this case, when a new hall call occurs, the assigned car is determined in consideration of the increase in the amount of battery consumption and the waiting time. As a result, the operation efficiency can be improved while suppressing a reduction in convenience for passengers.

The call assignment section 16 sets the 1 st coefficient and the 2 nd coefficient so that the ratio of the 1 st coefficient to the 2 nd coefficient becomes larger as the remaining battery power is smaller, for example. In this case, the priority of the battery consumption amount can be dynamically determined according to the remaining battery level.

The waiting time calculation unit 17 may calculate a difference before and after the temporary update with respect to a total value of the waiting times of all the passengers corresponding to the new hall call and the existing hall call, for example. The waiting time calculation unit 17 may send information indicating the difference value for all the cars 5 except the non-serviceable car to the call assignment unit 16 instead of the waiting time WT, for example. The call assignment unit 16 may calculate an evaluation value VAL using the difference for each car 5 that is not an unserviceable car, and determine the car 5 with the smallest evaluation value VAL as the assigned car. In this case, the overall waiting time of the plurality of elevators can be optimized.

Fig. 12 is a hardware configuration diagram of the group management device.

Each function of the call acquisition unit 11, the operation plan acquisition unit 12, the remaining battery level acquisition unit 13, the determination unit 14, the difference value calculation unit 15, the call assignment unit 16, and the waiting time calculation unit 17 in the group control device 1 is realized by a processing circuit. The processing circuitry may also be dedicated hardware 50. The processing circuit may also have a processor 51 and a memory 52. The processing circuit may be partly formed as dedicated hardware 50, and further include a processor 51 and a memory 52. Fig. 12 shows an example of a case where a part of the processing circuit is formed as dedicated hardware 50 and includes a processor 51 and a memory 52.

In case at least a part of the processing circuitry is at least one dedicated hardware 50, the processing circuitry is for example a single Circuit, a composite Circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or a combination thereof.

In the case where the processing circuit includes at least one processor 51 and at least one memory 52, the functions of the group control device 1 are implemented by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software and firmware are described as programs and are stored in the memory 52. The processor 51 realizes the functions of the respective sections by reading out and executing the program stored in the memory 52. The processor 51 is also called a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a Central Processing Unit, a Processing device, an arithmetic device, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, or a DSP. The memory 52 is, for example, a nonvolatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, an EPROM, or an EEPROM, a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a compact disk, a mini disk, or a DVD.

In this way, the processing circuit can implement each function of the group control device 1 by hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. The functions of the car control device 2 and the call registration device 3 are also realized by a processing circuit similar to the processing circuit shown in fig. 12.

Industrial applicability

As described above, the present invention can be applied to an elevator system including a plurality of cars provided with batteries.

Description of the reference symbols

1: a group management device; 2: a car control device; 3: a call registration device; 4: a traction machine; 5: a car; 6: a counterweight; 7: a battery; 8: a power receiving device; 9: a power transmission device; 10: a power source; 11: a call acquisition unit; 12: an operation plan acquisition unit; 13: a remaining battery capacity acquisition unit; 14: a determination unit; 15: a difference value calculation section; 16: a call assignment section; 17: a waiting time calculation section; 50: dedicated hardware; 51: a processor; 52: a memory.

Claims

1. An elevator group control device, comprising:

a determination unit that determines, when a new hall call has occurred, a car, among the plurality of cars, having a remaining battery level that is less than a battery consumption level of an operation plan after temporary update including service to the new hall call, as an unserviceable car, based on a current operation plan and a remaining battery level of the plurality of cars in which batteries chargeable at a power supply floor are installed;

a difference calculation unit that calculates, for each car that is not an unserviceable car, a difference between the amount of battery consumption until completion of an operation plan that is temporarily updated to include the service to the new hall call and the amount of battery consumption until completion of a current operation plan; and

and a call assignment unit that assigns the new hall call to any one of the cars other than the non-serviceable car, based on the difference in the amount of battery consumption calculated by the difference calculation unit.

2. The group control device for elevators according to claim 1, wherein,

the call assignment unit assigns the new hall call to a car whose difference in battery consumption amounts among cars other than the non-serviceable car is the smallest.

3. The group control device for elevators according to claim 1, wherein,

the group control device for an elevator further comprises a waiting time calculation unit that calculates, for each car that is not an unserviceable car, a waiting time that is an elapsed time from a time when the new hall call is registered to a time when the car reaches a floor on which the new hall call is registered in an operation plan that is temporarily updated while including service to the new hall call,

the call assignment unit calculates, for each car that is not a non-serviceable car, a sum of a value obtained by multiplying a difference in battery consumption by a 1 st coefficient and a value obtained by multiplying a waiting time by a 2 nd coefficient as an evaluation value, and assigns the new hall call to a car having the smallest evaluation value among the cars that are not non-serviceable cars.

4. The group control device for elevators according to claim 3, wherein,

the call assignment unit sets the 1 st coefficient and the 2 nd coefficient so that the ratio of the 1 st coefficient to the 2 nd coefficient becomes larger as the remaining battery power is smaller.

5. Group management device for elevators according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

the determination unit determines that a car requiring power supply is a car whose remaining battery level at the time of completion of the temporarily updated operation plan is smaller than a threshold value based on the amount of battery consumption in power supply travel for moving from a floor at the time of completion of the temporarily updated operation plan including the service to the new hall call to a power supply floor, among the plurality of cars,

when the new hall call is assigned to the car requiring power supply, the call assignment section instructs the car control device corresponding to the car to perform power supply travel after the car completes the updated operation plan including the service for the new hall call.

6. The group control device for elevators according to claim 5, wherein,

the determination unit calculates the amount of battery consumption during power supply travel for each car based on the time required for power supply travel and the number of times the car door is opened and closed during power supply travel.

7. Group management device for elevators according to any one of claims 1 to 6,

the difference value calculating section calculates, for each car that is not an unserviceable car, the amount of battery consumption until the current operation plan is completed, based on the time required until the current operation plan is completed and the number of door openings and closings of the car door in the current operation plan.

8. Group management device for elevators according to any one of claims 1 to 7,

the determination unit estimates a destination floor of a passenger who has registered the new hall call based on a past cumulative number of passengers who have been stored for each time slot and each floor, and temporarily updates the operation plans of the plurality of cars to a content including a service to the new hall call based on the start floor and the estimated destination floor, when the new hall call indicates a start floor and a destination direction and does not indicate a destination floor.