Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TRACTION SHEAVE ELEVATOR, HOISTING UNIT AND MACHINE SPACE
This application is a division of Canadian Patent Application Serial Number
2,148,423 filed on May 2, 1995. The claims of this application are directed to
a traction
sheave elevator, a hoisting unit and a machine space to satisfy unit of
invention requirements
of the Canadian Patent Office. However, in order to assist the reader to
readily understand
the overall invention including all features which are inextricably bound up
in one and the
same inventive concept, the teachings of those features and the broad objects
relating
thereto are all retained in the present disclosure as they were in the
disclosure of the parent
application aforesaid but the claims are limited to the features identified
hereinbefore.
The present invention relates to a traction sheave elevator, a hoisting unit
and
a machine space.
One of the objectives in elevator development has been to achieve an efficient
and economic space utilization. In conventional traction sheave driven
elevators, the
elevator machine room or other space for the drive machinery takes up a
considerable part
of the building space required for the elevator. The problem is not only the
volume of the
space required by the elevator, but also its placement in the building. There
are various
solutions for the placement of the machine room, but they generally involve
significant
restrictions as to the design of the building at least with regard to space
utilization or
appearance. For example, in the case of a so-called "side-drive elevator with
the machine
room below", a machine room or space is required below or beside the shaft,
generally on
the bottommost floor of the elevator system. Being a special space, the
machine room
generally increases the building costs.
An object of the present invention is to achieve at an economic cost a
reliable
elevator allowing efficient space utilization and in which, irrespective of
the hoisting height,
the building space required for the elevator is substantially limited to the
space needed by
the elevator car and counterweight on their paths, including the safety
distances, and the
space needed to provide a passage for the hoisting ropes, and in which the
problems or
drawbacks described above can be avoided.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a traction
sheave elevator comprising an elevator car movable along elevator guide rails,
a
counterweight movable along counterweight guide rails, a set of hoisting ropes
on which the
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elevator car and counterweight are suspended in the elevator shaft and a drive
machine unit
driving a traction sheave placed in the elevator shaft and acting on the
hoisting ropes
wherein the drive machine unit is substantially flat in the direction of the
drive shaft of the
traction sheave, and a wall of the elevator shaft contains a machine space in
which the
essential parts of the drive machine unit are placed.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
hoisting unit for a traction sheave elevator, wherein the hoisting unit
comprises a discoidal
drive machine unit and an instrument panel attached to the frame of the
hoisting unit.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
machine space for a traction sheave elevator, wherein the machine space is
delimited in the
thicknesswise direction of a wall by the plane of the wall surface facing
towards the elevator
shaft and the plane of the wall surface facing outwards from the elevator
shaft.
Various advantages can be achieved by applying the invention, including the
following:
- The traction sheave elevator of the invention allows an obvious space
saving to be achieved in the building because no separate machine
room is required.
- The elevator is cheap to install as the elevator machinery can be
assembled and tested beforehand in the factory.
- Applying the invention to practice requires no major changes in the
design or manufacture of the elevator.
- The machinery and the instrument panel are within easy reach, so the
manner of accessing the machinery for maintenance or in an
emergency does not essentially differ from conventional elevators.
In the following, the invention is described in detail by the aid of one of
its
embodiments by referring to the attached drawings, in which
Figure 1 presents a diagrammatic view of a hoisting unit employed in the
invention;
Figure 2 illustrates an elevator with machinery below in which an embodiment
of the invention is applied;
Figure 3 illustrates the layout of the main components of an elevator
employing
the invention, projected on the cross-section of the elevator shaft; and
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Figure 4 illustrates an elevator with machinery above, implemented according
to an embodiment of the invention.
Figure 1 illustrates a hoisting unit 9 for a traction sheave elevator in
accordance
with an embodiment of the invention. The unit in this figure is the hoisting
unit of a traction
sheave elevator with machinery below, in which the hoisting ropes 3 go upwards
from the
traction sheave 7 of the hoisting machinery 6. In the case of an elevator with
machinery
above, the ropes would go downwards. The hoisting machinery 6 is fixed to the
support 20
of the hoisting unit, which support 20 is preferably of a framelike design.
Mounted on the
frame 20 is also an instrument panel 8, which contains the elevator control
equipment and
the equipment needed for the control of and supply of power to the
electromotor comprised
in the hoisting machinery 6. The hoisting machinery 6 is of a discoidal shape
and, in relation
to its diameter, relatively flat in the direction of the traction sheave
shaft. The traction sheave
7 protrudes from the discoidal hoisting machinery 6 into the shaft space.
Placed on the
circumference of the hoisting machinery 6 is a brake 14. An elevator machinery
usable as
a hoisting machinery 6 is described. Such a machinery does not require a large
machine
space, so it can easily be placed in an opening in the wall or in a recess
made in the wall on
the side facing towards the shaft. A preferable thickness of the hoisting unit
9 is about or
somewhat over ten centimetres. The traction sheave 7 is not included in this
thickness. A
10 cm thick hoisting unit 9 can readily be accommodated in an ordinary
elevator shaft wall
because a typical wall thickness is at least about 15 cm, both in the case of
a cast concrete
wall and a brick wall.
Figure 2 illustrates an elevator with machinery below in which the invention
is
employed, the hoisting unit 9 being placed beside the shaft in its lower part.
The main parts
of the elevator machinery 6 are mounted in a space limited in its maximum by
the thickness
of the wall of the elevator shaft 17, in an opening 15 in the wall which is
open towards the
shaft space and closed with a door 16 from the outside to prevent illicit
access to the
machinery or entry into the shaft through the opening 15. On the shaft side,
the opening may
be provided with a safety net or glass or the like to make sure that one
cannot, for example
stretch a hand into the shaft space past the equipment in the opening. In
general, it is not
preferable to close the machine space 15 completely from the shaft side
because, regarding
ventilation of the machine space 15, an advantageous solution is one in which
the machine
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space is ventilated through the shaft. In some cases, however, closing the
machine space
on the shaft side may be necessary, for example to stop the propagation of
noise. In such
cases the machine space 15 is closed on the shaft side except for the inlets
required for
power transmission to the traction sheave 7 and other purposes. In any case,
the machine
space 15 has a depth not exceeding the thickness of the wall of the elevator
shaft 17. From
the hoisting machinery 6 comprised in the hoisting unit, the traction sheave 7
moving the
hoisting ropes 3 (depicted in broken lines) protrudes into the shaft 17.
Figure 2 shows both
the portion of the hoisting ropes passing below the car 1 over diverting
pulleys 4,5 and the
portions of the hoisting ropes coming down from the upper part of the shaft 17
to the traction
sheave.
Figure 3 illustrates the layout of the main components of an elevator with
machinery below, projected on a cross-section of the elevator shaft 17. The
elevator car 1
moves along elevator guide rails 10 and the counterweight 2 along
counterweight guide rails
11. The hoisting machinery 6 and the instrument panel 8 are placed in an
opening in the wall
of the elevator shaft 17. The traction sheave 7 protrudes from the hoisting
machinery 6 and
also from the opening 15 into the shaft 17. Diverting pulleys 12 placed in the
top part of the
shaft guide the passage of the hoisting ropes. One of the diverting pulleys 12
guides the
hoisting ropes from the traction sheave 7 to the diverting pulley 13 on which
the
counterweight 2 is suspended and from which the hoisting ropes go further to a
fixed rope
anchorage at the top of the shaft. Another diverting pulley 12 guides the
hoisting ropes from
the traction sheave 7 to the diverting pulleys 4 and 5 attached to the car 1,
by means of
which the elevator car 1 is suspended on the hoisting ropes and from which the
ropes go
further to a fixed rope anchorage at the top of the shaft. In the figure, the
hoisting ropes are
represented by their cross-sections on the traction sheave and diverting
pulleys, but
otherwise the ropes are not shown. At each landing, the wall of the elevator
shaft 17 is
provided with a door opening 18 for the landing door. The elevator car 1 is
provided with a
corresponding door opening 19. If the elevator car is provided with a door,
its door opening
19 is closed by the car door.
Figure 4 is a diagram representing an elevator with machinery above,
implemented according to an embodiment of the invention. The hoisting unit 9
is placed
beside the elevator shaft 117 in its upper part. The elevator machinery 6 is
mounted in an
opening 115 in the wall of the elevator shaft 117. The opening is open towards
the shaft and
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closed with a door 116 from the outside of the shaft. From the hoisting
machinery 6
comprised in the hoisting unit, the traction sheave 7 moving the hoisting
ropes 103 (depicted
in broken lines) protrudes into the shaft 117. The figure shows the portion of
the hoisting
ropes 103 passing below the car 101 over diverting pulleys 104,105 and the
portion of the
5 hoisting ropes going from the traction sheave towards the counterweight.
It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that different embodiments
of the
invention are not restricted to the examples described above, but that they
may instead be
varied within the scope of the claims presented below. For instance, the lay-
out of the car
and counterweight in the shaft is not a decisive question. It is also obvious
to the skilled
person that the drive shaft of the traction sheave can be provided with a
support on the side
facing the shaft as well, e.g. by using a support beam attached to the frame
of the hoisting
machinery. The skilled person also knows that the traction sheave comprised in
an elevator
machinery is frequently not a fixed part of the machinery but a component
which need not
be mounted on its drive shaft until during installation of the elevator.
