LIGHTING HOIST

Abstract: A lighting hoist having a chassis (14) containing a hoist mechanism with a motor unit (24), a fall brake (26) and transmission - and coupling means (27, 25) as well as wire drums (32, 33) driven by the motor. The hoist chassis (14) with its details and lightings (A) carried by the chassis are joined into a unit, which is suspended from at least two wires (12, 13) which are laid around the wire drums (32, 33) and have the uppermost ends thereof affixedto a ceiling or the like in such a manner that the hoist in its entirety may be lowered while taking off wire from the wire drums. In this way maintenance, repair and, beyond all, inspection of the hoist mechanism from ground level has been made possible.

Description: Lighting hoist Factory-, athletics- and exhibition halls and similar premises of a great height to the ceiling are to an ever increasing extent provided with lighting equipments that are disposed rather, close to the ceiling so as to permit an unrestricted utilization of the entire hall volume. That gives rise to the problem that the intensity of illumination as time passes by is gradually decreased due to that the lightings get dirty and also due to that some of the light- ings become inoperative. As the lightings are normally comperatively inaccesible the just described deficiency may remain for rather long periods of time. In order to remedy the just described deficiency to some extent, so that a satisfying illumination is achieved, it is possible to overdimension the illumination, either with regard to the power of the individual lightings or with regard to the number thereof. Another way to attempt to improve an otherwise deficien illumination is to make the induvidual lightings easier accessible for service and maintenance. This may be achieved by suspending the lightings movable, i.e. in such a manner that the lightings from their normally very high operational position may be lowered down to a position in convenient working height for service and maintenance. Thereby, the lightings may be suspended by means of wires or the like in order to be lowered at will. Normally the electrical connect ion of the lightings to the net is permanent and the connect ion goes through suitable cables that may follow the move¬ ments of the lightings upwardly and downwardly. One drawback of prior motor driven hoist constructions is that the drive motor is normally mounted in the ceiling. Thus, although the lighting equipment per se is easily accessible there still remains the problem of servicing and, if necessary, repairing the motor driven hoisting device. In many cases there also exists a requirement for a periodic inspection of the elevator, which the lighting hoist consti¬ tutes, and it will be realized that this inspection may be very troublesome if the elevator remains positioned juxt¬ aposed to the ceiling. The present invention aims at providing a lighting hoist by means of which the just mentioned problems are overcom . To the just mentioned end the lighting hoist according to the invention has been designed so as is defined in principle in the characterizing clause of claim 1. The invention will be disclosed in more details below with reference had to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of a lighting hoist according to the invention, shown in its upper ent position; Fig. 2 is an end view of the lighting hoist in fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows the internal parts of the lighting hoist, with the side plates of the hoist chassis omitted? Fig. 4 shows a section in the plane IV-IV in fig. 3; Fig. 5 illustrates a detail for guiding of the cable? Fig. 6 shows a part of the hoist cable inserted into the detail of fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a simple overall view illustrating one lighting in a rised position and another lighting in a lowered postion for inspection, maintenance or service. The lighting hoist according to the invention, shown as an example, has a carrying ceiling rail 10, which is secured to the ceiling 11 or the like in a suitable manner and which in turn is provided with two attachements, not shown, for hoist wires 12 and 13. The hoist wires 12, 13 support an elongated hoist chassis, generally denoted 14, which houses a hoist mechanism, fig. 3, and which chassis has, on its under side, an elongated attachement rail 15 for lightings. The design of the supporting ceiling rail 10 and the rail 15 may, of course, vary from case to case, and it should be realized that any suitable lighting may be secured to the attachement rail 15. Preferably, the attachement rail 15 should be movable secured to the chassis 14, so that it may swing laterally, at least to some extent. The end walls 16, 17 are held at a fixed distance from each other in that they after the mounting are rigidly connected to the side plates 18 of the chassis and the upper portion 19 of the chassis. Between the end walls there is OMP disposed a fixed shaft 20 on which two guide rolls 21 and 2 are rotatable and axially shiftable journalled by means of ordinary radial and axial bearings. Between the end walls 16, 17 there is further journal- led a so called tube motor 23 which may be of any suitable design but which is preferably of the type which is sold under the registrated trade mark "Somfy". In the example th tube motor 23 comprises a motor unit 24, an end position switch 25, a brake 26, which is held permanently disengaged when the motor current is switched on but which is immediate ly engaged at the same moment as the current is broken, and finally a gear box 27, driven by the motor unit 24, for reduction of the motor speed to a suitable value, e.g. a value between 9 and 64 r.p.m. of the outgoing shaft, i.e. in the present case the tube shaft 26 which encases the motor unit and the gear box. In the example the motor unit 24 is rigidly connected to the wall 16 by means of a motor attache ment 29 and the end wall 17 by means of a brake attachement 30. The just mentioned details which belong to the hoist motor are electrically interconnected in a suitable manner as is indicated by the dashed connecting wire 31 and, naturally, they are also mechanically interconnected in a suitable way so that the tube shaft 28 may be rotated. However, as the just mentioned details form no part of the present invention they will not be described in more details in this context. The tube shaft 28 carries, close to its end, two wire drums 32, 33 which in the present case are provided with screw line shaped slots to receive one of the wires each in such a manner that these are wound up whith the turns lying very close to each other on the wire drums 32, 33. To the ceiling rail 11 there is affixed an electrical connection box 34 to which also an electric hoist cable 35 is connected. The other end of the cable is connected to the tube motor 23 and also connected to the electric lighting in a manner not shown. The hoist cable 35 is diposed in loops between the two hoist wires 12, 13 and with such a great diameter of the individual loops that these hang over the chassis 14, as is ( OMP particularly clear from fig. 1 and 2. For the "guiding" of the hoist cable 35 in the manner shown there are used stirrups 36, e.g. of the shape as shown in fig. 5 and 6. These guide stirrups comprise a loop or ring 37, which runs on the respective hoist wire, as is shown by the wire 13 in fig. 6. To each side of the loop or ring 37 there extends a pin 38, 39, which at the end thereof is finished by an open, screw line shaped end portion through which the hoist cable 35 is passed as is shown in fig. 6. It should be noted that fig. 1 is slightly incorrect with regard to the wire drums 32, 33 in that these should properly have been shown with some turns of the wires 12, 13 wound up theron. However, the hoist wires have not been shown on the drums for the reason that it has been believed more valuable to at least diagra matically illustrate the shape of the slots for the hoist wires on the surfaces of the drums 32, 33. With reference to fig. 4 it should be noted that the centre lined of the drums 32, 33 and of the shaft 20 are mutually slightly displaced so that they are disposed in different vertical planes. Thereby it is achieved that the hoist wires 12, 13 will be placed on the drums 32, 33 under some tension to ensure that the hoist wires 12, 13 will follow their guide slots on the surfaces of the wire drums, and, thus, will be disposed very close to each other. With reference to fig. 7 the lighting hoist according to the present invention functions as follows: Normally, the hoist is disposed in its uppermost position, as is shown in the left hand portion of fig. 7, in which case the lighting A may be lit and extinguished in conventional way by means of a manual switch or by means of remote control, e.g. by means of an IR-transmitter. When the lighting shall be inspected, serviced or repaired the hoist motor 24 is started, either under direct manual control by means of a switch or under remote control, e.g. by means of an IR-trans mitter. Thereby the hoist motor lets out the wires 12,13, so that the entire lighting hoist with the lighting A attached thereto descends towards the floor. During this the hoist cable 35 is lifted off, turn after turn, from the upper s of the hoist and will take a zig-zag position between the wires 12 and 13 on its way from the coupling box 34 down to the lighting hoist. As is shown in fig. 7 it is then easy to inspect the lighting hoist and carry out the necessary maintenance job, including a cleaning of the lighting or lightings, should this be found necessary. The lighting hoist according to the invention has i.a. that advantage as compared to other previously known hoist- able lightings that it is possible to use any cable type instead of being restricted to the use of a so called spiralized cable. A cable of the last mentioned type require curing in an oven, which means a limited manufacturing capacity, and a pre-manufacture of spiralized cable means also that different cable lengths must be kept on store for the manufacture. It should also be mentioned that a spiral¬ ized cable may fail due to fatigue, especially by use for longer periods in extended position. The lighting hoist according to the invention becomes maintenance and inspection friendly in its entirety, and not only with respect to the lighting with which the hoist is intended to be used. The only items that remain in the ceiling are the attaσhements of the wires 12,13 and the connection point of the hoist cable, i.e. normally a well protected electrical coupling box. Therefore, hoists of this design are particularly well suited for premises where high frequent cleaning by means of high pressure equipment takes place. Examples of this are nuclear plants with demands for sanitation annuarly. The hoists with the vulnerable lighting may be lowered down to a maintenance position and may be covered by protective foils as the sanitation job by means of high pressure equipment is carried out. Another advantage of a lighting hoist according to the invention is that the costs which otherwise are inherent with the desire of inspection authorities to often inspect hoisting equipment may be considerably reduced in that the inspection which is directed to the hoist per se, including hoist motor, wire drums and brake, may be carried out at floor level. A number of modifications and alterations as to detail^ & may be carried out within the scope of the inventive idea. OMPI

Claims: AMENDED CLAIMS [received by the International Bureau on 28 May 1984 (28.05.84); original claims 1 to 6 have been replaced by amended claims 1 to 3 ] 1. A lighting hoist having a chassis (14) housing a hoist mechanism which comprises a motor unit (24) and preferably a fall brake (26) as well as necessary transmis- sion- and coupling means (27,25), and wire drums (32,33) driven by the motor, wherein said details and one or more lightings (A) carried by the chassis (14) are joined into a integral unit, which is adapted to be suspended by at least two wires (12,13) which are laid round the wire drums (32,33) and have their uppermost ends affixed to a ceiling or the like in such a manner that the hoist may be lowered in its entirety while taking off wire from the wire drums, and wherein an electric power supply cable (35) between an upper connection point (34) and the hoist motor and the lighting (A) is adapted, with the hoist in its uppermost position, to form loops between the two wires (12,13) with such a great diameter of the individual loop turns that these hang down laterally over the chassis (14) , character¬ ized in that the power supply cable (35) is guided on the two hoist wires (12,13), by means of guiding stirrups (36) which are adapted to move along the two hoist wires (12,13) and which stirrups are connected to the power supply cable (35) in such a manner that the individual loop turns of the cable are laid out laterally of the chassis (14) as the hoist unit moves upwardly while the hoist wires are taken u by the wire drums (32,33). 2. A lighting hoist as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the chassis has axially freely movable, rotatable jou nalled guide rollers (21,22) to guid the hoist wires (12,13) towards the wire drums (32,33) to b taken up thereby. 3. A lighting hoist as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the wire drums (32,33) have screw lin shaped slots in the surfaces thereof wherein the hoist wire (12,13) are received partly so that they are taken up with the turns laying close together as the hoist moves upwardly. OMPI_

Inventors: CEDERSTROEM ROLF, CEDERSTROEM, ROLF
Applicants: CEDERSTROM ROLF, CEDERSTROEM, ROLF
Application year: 1983
Main classification: F21V21
IPC codes: F21V21