JP7106717B1 - Elevator cleaning method using group control device and cleaning robot - Google Patents

Abstract

A group supervisory control device and an elevator cleaning method using a cleaning robot are provided, which can efficiently clean the inside of a car while suppressing the deterioration of service to users. An in-car contamination degree calculation unit obtains an in-car contamination degree of each elevator car. The cleaning timing determination unit determines the cleaning timing for each elevator based on the obtained degree of contamination. The cleaning control unit determines whether a hall call is assigned to the elevator car determined to be cleaning time by the cleaning time determination unit, whether another elevator car is in the cleaning time, and whether the cleaning robot is waiting for a floor. A cleaning command is generated using whether or not there is a car assignment as a cleaning determination condition. The cleaning command output unit instructs the elevator control device of the corresponding elevator to allocate cleaning based on the cleaning command from the cleaning control unit, and also allocates cleaning to the cleaning robot waiting on the standby floor. Instruct the robot to move to the front of the elevator. [Selection drawing] Fig. 1

Description

An embodiment of the present invention relates to an elevator cleaning method using a group supervisory control device and a cleaning robot.

Elevators installed in buildings are usually used by unspecified users. When the number of users is large or when the car is operated for a long time, dust and dirt accumulate in the car, and dirt adheres to the walls and the like. In addition, if there is a person with an infectious disease among the users, if the sick person comes into contact with the car control panel, handrails, or wall surface, or if droplets adhere to the car control panel, handrail, or wall surface, other users may There is a risk of being infected by touching the control panel, handrails, and walls inside the car.

On the other hand, recently, there is an example in which a cleaning robot cleans a building in which an elevator is installed.

JP-A-2000-339030 JP 2010-189162 A

However, conventional cleaning robots mainly clean floors and the like in buildings, and elevators are merely used as means for vertical movement of the cleaning robots. In addition, building cleaning is often carried out during times when there are no users or when there are few users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a group management control device and an elevator cleaning method using a cleaning robot that can efficiently clean the inside of a car while suppressing deterioration in service to users. .

An embodiment for achieving the above object is a group management control device that is connected to each elevator control device that controls each elevator car and a cleaning robot that cleans the elevators, and that performs group control of each elevator. , a car contamination level calculation unit, a cleaning timing determination unit, a cleaning control unit, and a cleaning command output unit.

The in-car contamination degree calculation unit obtains the in-car contamination degree of each elevator. The cleaning timing determination unit determines the cleaning timing for each elevator based on the obtained degree of contamination. The cleaning control unit generates a cleaning command using, as cleaning determination conditions, the determination result of the cleaning timing determination unit for each elevator and the state of call registration for the floor where the cleaning robot waits. The cleaning command output unit instructs the elevator control device of the corresponding elevator to allocate cleaning based on the cleaning command from the cleaning control unit, and also allocates cleaning to the cleaning robot waiting on the standby floor. Instruct the robot to move to the front of the elevator.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an elevator system including a group supervisory control device according to an embodiment; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a cleaning robot according to an embodiment; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of cleaning setting processing; 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of cleaning setting processing; 4 is a flowchart showing cleaning flag setting processing; 4 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of contamination degree calculation; 6 is a flow chart showing the procedure of cleaning-possible determination processing during cleaning.

<<Configuration of Embodiment>>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an elevator system 1 according to an embodiment. The elevator system 1 shown in the figure includes an A car control device 20A that controls the A car 10A, . . . , and an X car control device 20X that controls the X car 10X. The elevator system 1 also includes a group control device 30 for group control of the A-car control device 20A to X-car control device 20X, a hall call registration device 40 and a cleaning robot 50 . Since the A-type machine and the X-type machine have the same configuration, the A-type machine will be explained in the following description, and the X-type machine will be omitted.

A car 10A has an in-car operation panel 11A, an in-car camera 12A, and a load sensor 13A. The in-car operation panel 11A includes operation buttons for users to register car calls indicating destination floors and for opening and closing doors. In addition, the in-car camera 12A is used to image the inside of the car to grasp the situation inside the car and to count the number of users in the car. 13 A of load sensors are utilized in order to calculate the number of users by counting a user's load.

The A car control device 20A includes an elevator information output section 21A and a command input section 22A. The elevator information output unit 21A outputs destination floor information registered from the in-car operating panel 11A, image information captured by the in-car camera 12A, load information measured by the load sensor 13A (that is, the number of users in the car), and the like. is output to the group supervisory control device 30 as elevator information. Also, the command input unit 22A inputs a cleaning command from the cleaning command output unit 37 of the group supervisory control device 30 .

The group supervisory control device 30 includes an elevator information input section 31 , an allocation control section 32 and an allocation command output section 33 . The group supervisory control device 30 also includes a cleaning control unit 34 , a car contamination level calculation unit 35 , a cleaning time determination unit 36 , a cleaning command output unit 37 and a communication unit 38 .

The elevator information input unit 31 inputs elevator information from the elevator information output unit 21A of the A car control device 20A to the elevator information output unit 21X of the X car control device 20X.

The allocation control unit 32 calculates car allocation for each elevator car based on the hall call registration information from the hall call registration device 40 .

The allocation command output unit 33 outputs allocation commands allocated by the allocation control unit 32 to the respective elevator control devices 20A to 20X.

The cleaning control unit 34 comprehensively controls the cleaning work by the cleaning robot 50 while adjusting the cage allocation and the cleaning work. Specifically, when the final car call of the elevator determined to be cleaning time is on a floor before the waiting floor of the cleaning robot 50, the cleaning assignment is made to the elevator determined to be cleaning time. is issued to the cleaning command output unit 37. In addition, the elevator determined to be cleaning time by the cleaning time determining unit 36 is set to stop at each floor or is stopped at a designated floor, and the passing floor is treated as an emergency stop floor that stops only in an emergency. Determine whether an express zone is set.

An in-car contamination degree calculation unit 35 obtains an in-car contamination degree of each elevator car. Specifically, it is calculated based on the number of users of each elevator within a predetermined period of time and the operating time. At that time, the ventilation state inside the car 10A and the antibacterial material of the car 10A are taken into consideration for calculation.

The cleaning timing determination unit 36 determines the cleaning timing of each elevator car based on the contamination degree obtained by the car contamination degree calculation unit 35 .

The cleaning command output unit 37 outputs a cleaning command to any one of the machine controllers 20A to 20X and also outputs a cleaning command to the communication unit 38 . Specifically, no hall call is assigned to the elevator car determined to be cleaning time, another elevator car is not cleaning time, and there is no car assignment to the waiting floor for the cleaning robot. On this condition, the cleaning allocation is instructed to the elevator control device of the car concerned.

The communication unit 38 wirelessly transmits the cleaning command from the cleaning command output unit 37 to the cleaning robot 50 and receives response information from the cleaning robot 50 . Specifically, the cleaning robot 50 on standby is instructed to move to the front of the elevator to which cleaning is assigned.

The hall call registration device 40 is installed in the hall of each floor, registers the hall call indicating the destination direction of the user, and outputs the hall call to the allocation control unit 32 of the group supervisory control device 30 .

The cleaning robot 50 gets into the car 10A to 10X of each car and cleans the inside of the car. As shown in FIG. , an image recognition unit 55 , a UV irradiation unit 56 , and a disinfecting liquid spray unit 57 .

The communication unit 51 performs communication with the communication unit 38 of the group supervisory control device 30, such as receiving a cleaning command and transmitting a cleaning end notification.

The driving unit 52 includes an electric motor, a storage battery, and the like, and travels according to the cleaning command.

The cleaning instruction unit 53 instructs the UV irradiation unit 56 and the disinfecting liquid spray unit 57 to clean the supplies in the car 10A. For example, the in-car control panel 11A and the handrail are instructed to be irradiated with ultraviolet rays. In addition, it instructs to spray the sterilizing liquid on the in-car control panel 11A and the handrail.

The camera 54 is used for route guidance for carrying out autonomous travel by imaging the travel route of the cleaning robot. Also, the inside of the car 10A is imaged and the imaged data is output to the image recognition section 55 .

The image recognition unit 55 performs image recognition of obstacles on the basis of the imaging data for autonomous travel. In addition, image recognition is performed for items such as an in-car control panel and a handrail in the car 10A.

Based on the instruction from the cleaning instruction unit 53, the UV irradiation unit 56 irradiates ultraviolet rays (UV) to articles such as the in-car operation panel 11A and handrails to clean the articles.

Based on the instruction from the cleaning instruction unit 53, the sterilizing liquid spraying unit 57 sprays a dry-mist sterilizing liquid onto articles such as the car operating panel and handrails to sterilize the articles.

<<Processing procedure of the embodiment>>
Next, the processing procedure of the elevator cleaning method executed by the elevator system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be explained based on the flow charts shown in FIGS. 3 to 6. FIG.

3A and 3B are flow charts showing the processing procedure when setting cleaning, FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the procedure of cleaning flag setting processing, FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure of contamination level calculation, and processing for determining whether cleaning is possible during movement. It is a flow chart showing.

As shown in FIG. 3A, first, it is determined whether the cleaning flag is on or off (step S1). This cleaning flag setting process will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

If the cleaning flag is ON, then it is determined whether or not other machines are cleaning (step S2). If the other machine is cleaning (step S2 NO), the process ends. If the other elevator car is not being cleaned (step S2 YES), it is determined whether or not the final car call for the elevator car concerned is before the robot standby floor.

If the final car call is before the robot standby floor (step S3 YES), then it is determined whether or not there is an allocation to the cleaning robot 50 standby floor (step S4). If there is no assignment, the cleaning robot 50 is instructed via the communication section 38 to move the cleaning robot 50 to the front of the corresponding machine (step S5).

Next, it is determined whether cleaning can be performed while the car 10A is moving (step S6). Processing for determining whether or not cleaning is possible during movement will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

If cleaning during movement is possible, allocation between the car position and the floor where the robot is scheduled to get off is prohibited (step S7). Then, the allocation is registered in the robot standby floor. In this case, the lantern of the car concerned remains turned off, the chime does not sound, and the robot boarding stop time is registered (step S8). On the other hand, if cleaning during movement is not possible (step S6 NO), allocation between the car position and the robot standby floor is prohibited (step S9). Then, the allocation is registered in the robot standby floor. In this case, the lantern of the concerned machine will remain turned off and the chime will not sound. Moreover, cleaning stop time is registered (step S10).

Next, it is determined whether or not the next response is the robot waiting floor (step S11). It is determined whether or not (step S12). If there is a user, the robot standby floor allocation is cleared (steps S12 YES, S13).

If the next response is not the robot waiting floor (step S11 NO), and if there is no user in the car 10A even if the next response is the robot waiting floor (step S12 NO), when the car arrives at the robot waiting floor (step S14 YES), according to the instruction from the cleaning command output unit 37, the cleaning robot 50 is caused to board the designated machine and start cleaning (step S15). In this case, if cleaning during movement is possible (step S16 YES), a car call is registered at the robot standby floor. Also, the time to get off the robot is registered without ringing the lantern or chime (step S17). If cleaning during movement is not possible (step S16 NO), the car door of the car concerned is closed and allocation prohibition is continued (step S18).

When the cleaning is completed (step S19 YES), the car door is opened to let the cleaning robot 50 get off (step S20). Then, the robot standby floor is updated and the cleaning flag is cleared (steps S21 and S22).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to efficiently clean the inside of the car while suppressing deterioration in service to users.

FIG. 4 shows the cleaning flag set flow determined in step S1 of FIG. 3A. This cleaning flag flow is also performed for each car.

First, it is determined whether or not the cleaning flag for the elevator is on (step S31). If the cleaning flag is ON (step S31 YES), the cleaning start has already been set for the elevator, and the process ends.

If the cleaning flag is not set and is in the OFF state (step S31 NO), then it is determined whether or not the contamination level of the elevator has exceeded a threshold that is a cleaning start condition (step S32). If the threshold is exceeded, a cleaning flag is set (step S34). After that, the count of the threshold, which is the cleaning start condition, is cleared (step S35).

If the degree of contamination does not exceed the threshold (step S32 NO), then it is determined whether or not congestion is expected within a certain period of time (step S33). Congestion is expected, for example, when the lunchtime is approaching within several minutes to several tens of minutes, or when the end time of the event at the event venue is approaching.

If congestion is expected within a certain period of time (step S33 YES), the cleaning flag is set and the threshold count is cleared (steps S34 and S35).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the timing of cleaning can be set based on the degree of contamination, so that cleaning can be performed in a timely manner.

FIG. 5 shows the contamination degree calculation processing executed by the in-car contamination degree calculation unit 35 . When the car starts running (step S41 YES), if it is an elevator installed with an in-car camera 12A (step S42 YES), the number of passengers is calculated from the in-car occupancy rate based on the image data of the in-car camera 12A. (step S43). If the elevator is not equipped with an in-car camera (step S42 NO), the number of passengers is calculated from the load data from the load sensor 13A (step S44). Note that the calculation of the number of passengers may be performed by the in-car pollution degree calculation unit 35 or the A car control device 20A side.

Next, the degree of contamination is calculated based on the arithmetic expression "number of passengers x traveling floor x coefficient A" (step S45). The higher the number of passengers, the higher the degree of pollution, and the higher the number of floors traveled (travel distance), the higher the degree of pollution. The coefficient A is determined for each elevator according to the environment inside the car 10A, such as the ventilation performance of the car 10A and the use of antibacterial materials.

If a new car call is registered after the contamination degree is calculated (step S46 YES), the calculated contamination degree is added with "the number of additional car calls×coefficient B" to obtain a new contamination degree (step S47). In this case, when the number of car calls is large, it is considered that the frequency of contact with the car call button is high and the degree of contamination (for example, virus attachment) on the surface of the button is also high. Coefficient B is a coefficient considering whether or not an antibacterial material is used for the car call button.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to accurately calculate the degree of contamination in the car based on the utilization rate of the car 10A.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for determining whether cleaning is possible while the car 10A is moving.

First, it is determined whether or not an express zone is set for the floor on which the car runs (step S51). An express zone is a zone that stops at designated floors and treats passing floors as emergency stop floors that stop only in an emergency.

If an express zone is set, it is determined whether or not the emergency stop floor can be used as a planned exit floor (step S52). Then, the planned exit floor is set as the emergency stop floor, and cleaning during movement is set (steps S53 and S54).

On the other hand, if no express zone is set and each floor is stopped (step S51NO), or if the emergency stop floor cannot be used as the floor to get off (step S52NO), the estimated arrival time and cleaning time of the elevator A scheduled time to get off is calculated (step S55). Next, it is determined whether or not there is a hall call registration between the waiting floor for the cleaning robot 50 and the planned alighting floor (step S56).

If there is a hall call registration between the waiting floor and the planned alighting floor and there is a hall call for the planned alighting floor (step S57 YES), the cleaning robot 50 cannot get off at the planned alighting floor. The next floor is changed to the planned alighting floor (step S58).

When there is no hall call for the scheduled alighting floor (step S57 NO), when the scheduled alighting floor is the floor assigned to the own car, and when cleaning during movement is more efficient (steps S59 YES, S60 YES) is set to allow cleaning during movement (step S61).

If there is a hall call registration between the waiting floor of the cleaning robot 50 and the scheduled alighting floor (step S56 NO), and if the scheduled alighting floor is not the floor assigned to the own car (step S59 NO), it is more efficient to perform cleaning while moving. If it cannot be said that it is (step S60NO), it is set to prohibit cleaning during movement (step S62).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not cleaning is possible during movement, so the inside of the car 10A can be cleaned efficiently.

In the process described above, when the cleaning robot 50 cleans the car 10A on the stop floor, it is assumed that the user gets into the car 10A. For example, there is a possibility that an emergency stop floor cannot be set as a robot standby floor, or that a general user tries to get into the elevator to be cleaned during cleaning or when getting into the car 10A.

Therefore, it is effective to take the following measures.

The first countermeasure is to stop the cleaning robot 50 so as to block the entrance of the car 10A and close the door in that state to prevent general users from boarding.

As a second countermeasure, the car on which the cleaning robot 50 is scheduled to board responds by turning off the lighting inside the car at the stop floor.

A third measure is to prevent people from boarding by making announcements or displaying messages in the cleaning robot 50 and the car 10A of the elevator to inform them that the elevator cannot be used.

A fourth measure is that when the cleaning robot 50 gets into the car 10A from a floor where general users are present, the door of the elevator to be cleaned is not opened until another elevator responds to this floor. prevent boarding.

As described above, according to the embodiment, the sterilization period is provided according to the degree of contamination inside the car 10A during normal call operation while avoiding congestion. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the service to the user and to effectively disinfect the inside of the car 10A.

In addition, in the embodiment, the sterilization in the car 10A has been described as an example. However, it goes without saying that the cleaning robot 50 can perform tasks such as cleaning the floor and wall surfaces.

Although several embodiments of the invention have been described above, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

1 Elevator system 10A A car 10X X car 11A, 11X car operation panel 12A, 12X car camera 13A, 13X load sensor 20A A car control device 20X...X car controller, 21A, 21X...Elevator information output unit, 22A, 22X...Command input unit, 30...Group supervisory control unit, 31...Elevator information input unit, 32...Allocation control unit, 33...Allocation command output unit , 34... cleaning control unit, 35... car contamination level calculation unit, 36... cleaning timing determination unit, 37... cleaning command output unit, 38... communication unit, 40... hall call registration device, 50... cleaning robot, 51... communication Part, 52... Driving part, 53... Cleaning command part, 54... Camera, 55... Image recognition part, 56... UV irradiation part, 57... Disinfecting liquid spraying part

Claims (6)

A group management control device that is connected to each elevator control device that controls each elevator machine and a cleaning robot that cleans the elevator, and performs group management of each elevator,
a car pollution degree calculation unit for obtaining the car pollution degree of each elevator;
a cleaning timing determination unit that determines a cleaning timing for each elevator based on the contamination degree obtained by the car contamination degree calculation unit;
a cleaning control unit that generates a cleaning command using the determination result of the cleaning time determination unit for each unit and the state of call registration for the floor where the cleaning robot waits as a cleaning determination condition;
Based on the cleaning command from the cleaning control unit, the cleaning assignment is instructed to the elevator control device of the relevant elevator, and the cleaning robot waiting on the standby floor goes to the front of the elevator assigned to clean. and a cleaning command output unit that instructs to move. 2. The group supervisory control device according to claim 1, wherein said in-car contamination degree calculation unit calculates said in-car contamination degree based on the usage status of each elevator within a predetermined time period. 3. The group supervisory control device according to claim 2, wherein said car interior contamination degree calculation unit calculates said car interior contamination degree in consideration of a car interior environment including a ventilation state in the car and a material of the car. When the last car call of the elevator determined to be the cleaning time is a floor before the waiting floor of the cleaning robot, the cleaning control unit controls the elevator determined to be the cleaning time. 4. The group supervisory control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which instructs the cleaning command output unit to instruct the cleaning allocation. The cleaning control unit determines whether an elevator that is determined to be in the cleaning time by the cleaning time determination unit is set to stop at each floor, or stops at a designated floor, and stops at a passing floor only in an emergency. Determine whether or not an express zone to be treated as a stop floor is set,
When the stop at each floor is set, the expected alighting floor is calculated from the estimated arrival time of the elevator and the cleaning time of the cleaning robot, and the hall call is not registered for the scheduled alighting floor. set the cleanable while moving to
If the express zone is set, it is determined whether or not the emergency stop floor can be set as the planned exit floor for the cleaning robot, and if it can be set, the emergency stop floor is set as the planned exit floor. 5. The group supervisory control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the cleaning possible during movement is set by An elevator using a cleaning robot executed by a group control device connected to each elevator control device that individually controls each elevator and a cleaning robot that cleans the car driven and controlled by each elevator control device. A cleaning method comprising:
Calculate the degree of contamination inside the car of each elevator,
Based on the obtained degree of contamination, determine the cleaning time of each elevator,
The cleaning judgment conditions are whether a hall call is assigned to the elevator that is determined to be cleaning time, whether another elevator is not due for cleaning, or whether there is a car assignment for the waiting floor of the cleaning robot. generate cleaning directives as
Based on the cleaning command, the elevator control device of the elevator concerned is instructed to assign cleaning, and the cleaning robot waiting on the waiting floor is instructed to move to the front of the elevator assigned to clean. direct,
An elevator cleaning method using a cleaning robot, wherein the cleaning robot is caused to get into the corresponding elevator that has arrived at the waiting floor and clean the inside of the car.

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