Recalibrating an elevator load measuring system

Abstract: Elevator load is computed from sensors. These sensors provide load signals. The load, defined by a stored load equation, is the product of those signals with a gain signal, summed with an offset signal (S20). Load computation using those signals is improved by a recalibration routine. The routine to adjust the offset (S2-S10) is initiated when the car transits floors in an empty car condition (S2). Current equation offset and the latest empty car signal levels are compared (S6). If the difference is less than a reference (STEP) the last levels become the offset (S9); if not, the equation offset is changed (S7). Load computation is further improved by sensing car rollback, to correct the gain signal. Rollback may occur after the brake holding the car in position is released but before a speed dictation signal is given to the motor, causing the car to move if motor torque is not matched to the load as computed from the load equation. Depending on the magnitude of the rollback, the gain is increased or decreased in increments (S23-S41) through successive elevator stops at floors provided there is sufficient passenger (cab) load. Rollback not caused by incorrect motor pretorquing when the brake is released is discarded (S21) by comparing the actual change in position of the car with the change in motor shaft or sheave position.

Description: This invention concerns elevators, in particular, recalibrating an elevator load measuring system. U.S. Patent 4,330,836 (EP-A-0 030 134) to Donofrio, et al, assigned to Otis Elevator Company, explores techniques for measuring passenger load in an elevator. The patent comments that elevator cab load measurement is prone to inaccuracies from a number of factors, for instance, friction in devices that measure cab displacement under load and changes in the flexibility of the connecting pads that are typically positioned between the cab and load sensors (e.g. force transducers). It also focuses on variations in load measuring accuracy produced by passenger location (i.e. load distribution) in the elevator cab. The patent discloses a technique for locating force transducers strategically below the cab floor. The transducers measure cab load in a way that has been found to provide improved load weighing accuracy. A load line equation defines the cab load as a function of the aggregate of the transducer output signals. Passenger load, i.e. cab load, is then computed in a signal processor from the product of the aggregate and a gain coefficient; the product is then summed with an offset. The gain represents the slope of the line equation, the offset the value of the aggregate, theoretically zero, when the cab is empty. A manual adjustment or calibration procedure to set the correct offset and gain is also explained in that patent. Potentiometers are adjusted to scale the aggregate of the transducer output signals to the actual load in the cab, ideally canceling out mechanically produced errors causing incorrect cab load measurement. Another patent, also assigned to Otis Elevator Company, U.S. patent 4,305,495 to Bittar, et al, explores controlling the dispatching interval between cars to satisfy hall calls and car call demands. The patent explains, among other things, a way to use the cab load as determined in U.S. patent 4,330,836 in a computer-based dispatching system - an elevator in which a high-speed signal processor, such as a microprocessor, rapidly performs a wide variety of computations based on the condition of the elevator cars, cab load being one condition. The processor produces signals manifesting those conditions and the signals are then used by the processor to control dispatching of each car from a landing. In this manner, the elevator performance is regulated and controlled in a scheme that provides optimal overall system performance. Among uses made of cab load is motor torquing to hold the elevator car in place after the motor brake is released in preparation for acceleration away from a landing. In another patent assigned to Otis Elevator Company, U.S. patent 4,299,309 to Bittar et al, a system for "an empty elevator car determination" is discussed. Activity of passenger-actuatable switches in the elevator cab, such as a car call buttons, open door button, the emergency stop switch and the like, is monitored as an indication of presence of passengers in the elevator cab. A preliminary determination is made that the car is empty if such activity is absent. If the condition exists for a particular period of time, the car is conclusively determined "actually empty". A main object of the present invention is to improve load weighing accuracy. Among other objects of the present invention is providing a procedure for recalibrating a load weighing system in which the actual load is computed from a load line equation, for instance, as described in U.S. patent 4,330,836 to Donofrio as applied in the system disclosed in U.S. patent 4,305,495 to Bittar, et al. According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of load weighing in an elevator wherein a signal (LWINPUT) produced from a load in an elevator cab is multiplied by a stored coefficient (LWGAIN) and summed with a stored value (LWOFFSET) to provide a cab load signal used to control the torque of a motor connected to the cab, said method comprising an automatic calibration routine comprising the steps of: producing a first signal manifesting a stored first value for the stored value (LWOFFSET) at a first determination of an empty cab condition; producing a load signal (LWINPUT) at a subsequent determination of an empty car condition; characterized by storing a second value manifesting the magnitude of the load signal (LWINPUT) as the stored value (LWOFFSET) if the difference between said first value and load signal is less than a stored third value; and if said difference is greater than said third value, summing a stored fourth value with said first value to produce a fifth value and storing said fifth value as the stored signal (LWOFFSET). According to another aspect of the invention there is provided an elevator comprising a car, a motor, a motor controller for controlling the torque of the motor and making an empty car determination, a brake released by a signal from the controller when the car departs a landing, a position transducer connected to the car for providing a position signal manifesting car location, a transducer connected to the motor, for providing a motor velocity signal, load sensing means for providing a first load signal (LWINPUT) manifesting the magnitude of load in a car connected to the car and signal processing means for receiving the first load signal and computing therefrom a second signal manifesting the cab load according to a formula wherein cab load equals the product of a stored gain signal (LWGAIN) and the first load signal summed with a load offset signal (LWOFFSET), said signal processing means comprising: means for providing a stored first value for LWOFFSET made at a first determination of an empty cab condition; characterized by means for storing the value of LWINPUT as the stored value of LWOFFSET if the difference between the first value LWOFFSET and LWINPUT at subsequent determination of an empty car condition is less than or equal to a stored third value; and means for summing, if said difference is greater than said third value, a fourth signal with said first value of LWOFFSET. According to a preferred feature of the invention, once the brake is released while a car is at a floor (landing), the direction and magnitude of the car "rollback" are detected (up or down, depending on the magnitude of the load). An occurrence of rollback is sensed initially from motor rotation while the motor is "torqued" theoretically to a level sufficient to hold the car in place without the aid of the brake. Rollback direction is determined from this initial rotation and is compared with the change in car position. If the directions are the same, the change in car position is stored as the rollback magnitude. Position change is cyclically measured and compared with rollback direction in that manner until motor velocity is commanded by a "dictation" signal. Until that takes place, the largest rollback magnitude is stored through this process, as long as it corresponds in direction to the rollback direction sensed from the motor rotation. Those position changes that are not the result of incorrect motor torquing are thereby ignored. According to this feature, the "gain", the coefficient for the load signal in the line equation that defines the load, is adjusted incrementally as a function of the magnitude and direction of the rollback. The gain is increased by a small increment if the rollback magnitude is less than a constant; it is increased by a higher increment if rollback magnitude is greater than or equal to that constant. If the magnitude of rollback is below a minimum value, gain is not increased at all. Gain recomputation is only carried out if the cab load reaches a certain load. Among the features of the invention, gain and offset are adjusted incrementally, minimizing large changes caused by temporary system aberrations. The calibration process is an automatic part of the load computation routine used to provide a value for torquing the motor. Being automatic, the load weighing system is self-adjusting, always seeking the correct offset--by sensing the transducer outputs on an empty car determination--and always updating or adjusting gain until the rollback is within an acceptable range. Precise load computation is assured through an automatic procedure that takes place each time the car starts from a landing and each time an empty car condition is present. An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a functional block diagram of a duplex group elevator system; each car is controlled by a controller assumed to contain a signal processor, such as a microprocessor. Fig. 2 is a flow chart showing a signal processing sequence or subroutine for load measurement and computation recalibration according to the present invention. In Fig. 1, each of two elevator car systems 1, 2, defining a "group", contains an elevator car 3, 4, each serving a plurality of landings L1, L2, L3. Strictly in a functional sense, the system shown in Fig. 1 is very similar to the system shown in the Bittar, et al patents referred to earlier and is best viewed as an example of a typical "traction" elevator system with one or more signal processors (computers) to control elevator car motion and the combined service of the cars (the group) in the building. Being a traction elevator, each car has a counterweight 11, 12, which is connected via a cable or rope 5, 6 to the elevator car. The cable passes around a sheave 7, 8, rotated by an electric motor, which is not shown in Fig.1. Each car 3, 4 is assigned a cab controller 34, 35 and a positive position transducer (PPT). A traveling cable 13, 14 provides an electrical signal path for bidirectional communication between a cab controller 34, 35 and a car operation and motion controller 15, 16. Among those signals is LWINPUT, a signal manifesting the cab or passenger load. LWINPUT is produced in response to load signals from load sensors, e.g. force transducers (TR) below the floor of the cab on each car. The car controllers communicate with a "group controller" 17. The group controller coordinates the operation of the cars through each car controller to achieve a level of group elevator service to the landings by the cars. An expansive discussion of group control is presented in the Bittar, et al patents previously identified. Each car is connected to the PPT by a metal tape or cable 29, 30. A tachometer T is rotated by the sheave providing a SP signal that reflects or manifests sheave velocity (speed and direction). The PPT provides a POS signal that manifests the position of the car in the hoistway (elevator shaft). A car controller and the group controller store the instantaneous POS signal for the car, using it as information on the location of the car when establishing priorities in assigning cars to hall calls. Similarly, the SP signal is continuously monitored and stored. The calibration routine of the present invention uses that information, which is continuously obtained from the PPT and the tachometer T. A brake BR engages the sheave when the car is stationary --at a floor. The brake is released (lifted from the sheave) by a brake lift (BL) signal from the car controller. When a car moves from the floor, the brake is lifted, simultaneously the motor is torqued - power is applied to the motor to hold the car in place without the brake. Then more power is provided in response to a speed dictation signal generated by the car controller, causing the car to accelerate. There is a short interval of time between brake lift and acceleration, in which interval part of the recalibration processes presently explained takes place using the car motion that takes place if the torquing is too high or low. For the purposes of this discussion, it should be assumed that motor torquing after the brake is "lifted" is proportional to the computed load determined from this equation (1): (1) LWCORRECTED = LWGAIN x LWINPUT - LWOFFSET LWCORRECTED is the "corrected passenger load", the load using the line equation recalibrated or "corrected" according to the invention. LWINPUT is the sum of the transducer TR signals for the car. LWOFFSET is the value or magnitude of LWINPUT when the cab is empty (no passengers). (For additional discussion of this equation and the use of force transducers, see U.S. patent 4,330,836, cited previously.) The balance of this discussion explores the way in which LWGAIN and LWOFFSET in equation 1 are adjusted (increased and decreased) using the sequences explained below and illustrated in the flow chart comprising Fig 2. The discussion assumes that each car controller carries out the sequences through a resident program accessed by a command to begin recalibration. It also assumes that an empty car determination has been made according to the techniques of the U.S. patent 4,305,495 leading to the production of an "empty car flag". The term "rollback" defines a possible change in car position of a car when the brake is lifted and the motor is torqued - based on LWCORRECTED. If the torque is too low, because the corrected passenger load is low, the rollback will be one direction. If the corrected passenger load is too high, rollback will be in the opposite direction. Rollback direction is sensed from the SP signal from the tachometer T. Rollback magnitude (on the other hand) is determined by the change in position in the POS signal. Oscillations at the car (but not the sheave) from cable elasticity can cause small bidirectional position changes until the car "settles down" before speed dictation (acceleration) commences. The calibration routine compares sheave motion with position change. This ignores position changes that are in the wrong direction--not representative of true rollback. Rollback sensing, which is done to find the maximum rollback, takes place cyclically (repetitively) until speed dictation occurs. From the stored maximum rollback, LWGAIN is adjusted higher or lower--so that on the next calibration sequence (when the car again starts) the rollback will be less. The routine, it will be shown, takes place each time the car starts with a passenger load exceeding a preset level and continues until speed dictation begins. For the purpose of this discussion, the assumption is that a low passenger load computation will occasion low torquing, causing the car to move down when the brake is lifted. LWOFFSET also impacts torquing; for that reason, actual LWGAIN modification or adjustment takes place only if LWOFFSET is within an acceptable range. Otherwise, rollback is sensed and stored but not used to adjust LWGAIN. Referring to Fig 2, the LWGAIN and LWOFFSET recalibration routine begins by moving to a first test S1 which determines whether the car speed dictation signal has been applied to the motor; that is, is the car "running" (moving or about to move). The speed dictation signal is produced following a short interval after the brake is lifted by the BL signal, at which point in time the motor is given a pretorquing signal, ideally sufficient to cause the car to remain in place after the brake is lifted. It should be noticed that the recalibration routine will also sense as a running condition a releveling signal to the motor. A releveling signal is produced by the car controller to cause the car to level if it drops outside the "level zone", usually a band of .25 inches above and below floor level. For present purposes, it is assumed that the car is not running, producing a negative answer at test S1. The recalibration technique then moves to step S2, which queries whether the "empty car flag" has been set from an empty car determination routine (preferably by following the routines set out in U.S. patent 4,299,309). Assuming that an empty car flag is set, that leads to an adjustment of LWOFFSET. This discussion also assumes that when the empty car condition was sensed the signals LWINPUT from the transducers were also stored. At step S3, the empty car flag is reset. In step S4 the transducer outputs are read as the "LWINPUT". From storage (computer memory), the current offset "LWOFFSET" is read at step S5. This is a latest value for LWOFFSET, as determined by the same routine - but following an earlier empty car determination. The object of the sequence is to determine whether that latest (current) LWOFFSET is correct. Thus, in step S6, a test is made to determine whether the difference between LWINPUT and LWOFFSET is less than or equal to a constant "STEP" (an error). Assuming that the difference is greater than or equal to STEP, step S7 adds STEP to the LWOFFSET, which now becomes LWOFFSET in equation 1. It should be observed that the result of this particular routine is that only STEP has been added to LWOFFSET. Consequently, when that takes place, LWOFFSET does not exactly indicate the empty load value for zero load, although the difference is now reduced. In step S8, an "invalid" flag is set. The "invalid" flag is used later to show that the line equation has not been recalibrated to the point that the difference between the zero load condition and the load associated with the stored LWOFFSET is sufficiently small that LWGAIN can be adjusted accurately. (An LWOFFSET adjustment should not compensate for inaccurate LWGAIN and vice versa). The routine compares the absolute value of LWINPUT-LWOFFSET with STEP so that when LWOFFSET exceeds LWINPUT by more than STEP, STEP is substracted from LWOFFSET in step S7. It should be noted that, if desired, the value which is added to LWOFFSET in set S7 need not be the same value STEP as used in the test step S6. Going back to step S6, if the difference between the LWINPUT and LWOFFSET is less than STEP, at step S9 LWOFFSET is made the same as LWINPUT, meaning that now there is no difference between the no-load condition and the zero load value for LWOFFSET. A "valid" flag is set at step S10. The "valid" flag, when present, allows the LWGAIN adjustment to take place in a later part of the routine because the line equation is devoid of any errors in LWOFFSET at the time the measurements of rollback are made. LWOFFSET is thus adjusted in the previous sequences either to the current level of the transducer outputs (LWINPUT) or to some new level which was the previous LWOFFSET plus (or minus) STEP but less than LWINPUT. In step S11, a test is made to determine whether the brake is OFF, meaning that the brake has been lifted and the car is about to accelerate from the floor or landing. If the the brake is still ON, (BL signal is not present) steps S12 - S15 initialize parameters used in the subsequent LWGAIN adjustment sequences. In step S12, the current position of the car, the POS signal, is stored. The speed dictation flag is set to OFF in step S13. In step S14, the rollback direction is set to zero. And, in step S15, the rollback magnitude is set to zero. Following step S15, the routine returns (repeats from "begin"). It continues the cycle until the test ac S11 is positive--because the brake is lifted. Step S16 asks whether there is a dictation flag. A dictation flag is raised in a previous cycle when a speed dictation signal (to accelerate or relevel the car) is produced by the controller. At the time the brake is lifted, the motor is given a signal to torque it to hold the car in place. The signal is proportional to LWCORRECTED, a load computed using adjustments made to LWGAIN and LWOFFSET using this calibration routine, but at a prior floor stop. (A speed dictation command, "DICTATION", on the other hand, causes the car to accelerate.) Once the brake is lifted, the routine cyclically tests the rollback while the motor is torqued but not commanded to accelerate (no dictation) at step S17. An affirmative answer at step S16 causes the routine to return beginning at step S1, where, once again, the test shows that the car is still not running. (A positive answer, it will be shown, causes the routine to move to a gain adjustment sequence, where the rollback direction and magnitude are used to increase or decrease the LWGAIN in incremental steps depending on rollback magnitude). For the moment, however, this discussion assumes that a dictation flag signal has not been raised and thus the sequence moves from step S16 to step S18. At this point a test is made to determine whether the rollback direction is equal to zero. If it is equal to zero, the routine is then recycled, through RETURN. If the rollback direction is equal to zero, rollback direction is set to be the same as the machine velocity. This is done by retrieving the output SP from the tachometer. The tachometer T, of course, will provide an indication of the small motion of the rotation of the motor sheave 7, 8. At step S19, the rollback direction is made non-zero. If machine velocity is non-zero, indicating that the car has moved, then step S18 moves the routine to step S21, where the greatest rollback magnitude is stored. In this way rollback is cyclically sensed following brake lifting until speed dictation happens. This routine of sampling position change occurs very rapidly throughout the interval before speed dictation and following the lifting of the brake. Following brake lift, the car will start to move either up or down slightly, perhaps even with an oscillatory motion. It is an object of the sequence to sense the greatest rollback magnitude yet at the same time ignore the changes in rollback that are associated with oscillatory movement. These are changes in car position that are not associated with inadequate motor torquing to hold the car in place without the brake. Long time constants in an elevator cause unphased movements of the car and sheave. At some point in time, not necessarily before speed dictation, the car and sheave stop moving. Consequently, in step S21, a coincidence test in effect, a test is made to determine whether rollback, the change in position sensed by the tachometer, is in the same direction as the actual change in position shown by any change in the POS signal provided by the PPT. If the directions are not the same, step S21 causes the routine to recycle; as a result rollback, initialized at zero in step S15, is left unchanged. If, however, step S21 yields a positive answer (the directions are the same), at step S22 rollback is made to equal the change in position (measured from the change in the POS signal). Thus, the rollback signal is no longer equal to zero and the routine again cycles through the beginning to examine rollback at a second point in time, when it will store the next sensed change in position as the rollback - if it is greater than the previously stored value and in the same direction as the change in sheave position. Eventually, the routine finds a positive answer to the running test at S1. The routine would then move to step S23, leaving the portion in which rollback is cyclically sensed and the maximum change in rollback position is stored and allowing the routine to move into the steps to actually change LWGAIN based on the magnitude and direction of the stored rollback. For the moment, however, the discussion assumes that S1 still yields a negative answer. Since the empty car flag has been set to zero during the previous adjustment of LWOFFSET, the routine at step S2 provides a negative answer, causing the routine to move to step S20. Here, the load LWCORRECTED is computed from the line equation 1. The computation uses the new or updated LWOFFSET, but the currently stored LWGAIN. LWGAIN is adjusted after the car begins to move from the floor, which has not happened at this point in the discussion. Following a positive answer at step S1, at step S23, the test determines if there is a valid flag. The valid flag is set at step S10 if the condition of LWINPUT equaling LWOFFSET is satisfied. An adjustment of the gain based upon the rollback should not be made unless it is first determined that the offset of the system is within some acceptable limits. For instance, if it is determined in step S6 that the difference between LWINPUT and LWOFFSET is greater than or equal to STEP the offset is only partially eliminated. Consequently, a LWGAIN adjustment should not be made (steps S23 - S41) because LWGAIN will be adjusted because of an error in offset, not the line slope (LWGAIN) in equation 1. For the moment, this discussion assumes that the "valid" flag has been set; thus step S23 yields an affirmative answer, moving the routine to step S24. This test finds, using the load computed at step S20, if the current corrected load weight (using the LWOFFSET and unadjusted current LWGAIN values) exceeds a minimum level. If the passenger load is not high enough the routine ignores the rollback data collected, assuming, in effect, that the results are not reliable at low load levels. Passenger load greater than or equal to 60% of full load is the preferred minimum, a condition occurring typically during the up-peak period, e.g. the morning in an office building. Step S25 is entered following an affirmative answer to step S24. Step S25 determines whether the rollback is greater than or equal to a value (MIN.). If it is, a high incremental change in the gain is commanded in step S44. Then, in step S26, a test is made to determine whether the rollback exceeds a minimum level (MIN.A). If not, the routine is exited. The assumption is that no adjustment is needed if the rollback is small. If rollback is greater than MIN.A but less than MIN., it is in a range commanding a "low" incremental change. Both steps S27 and S44 lead to testing, at step S28, to find if the rollback increment, be it high or low, must be added to or subtracted from the current LWGAIN. If pretorquing is inadequate, as indicated by the rollback in one direction, LWGAIN will have to be increased through step S29. If pretorquing is excessive, causing rollback in the opposite direction, LWGAIN will have to be decreased at step S30. As a practical matter, if LWGAIN is low the rollback will be towards a lower floor (down) if the adjustment is done with at least 60% of full load. In step S40, LWGAIN is set to equal current LWGAIN plus the gain step (it may be plus or minus from steps S29 and S30 and either the high level or low level). Then in step S41, the rollback value set at step S22, is set back to zero and the routine is then exited, LWGAIN having been adjusted for the next load computation, when the rollback test will again be conducted. It can be seen from the foregoing that in this manner passenger load (cab load) is computed using the most recently determined LWOFFSET and LWGAIN (the most current load line equation). Absent a rollback value, the routine cannot be entered until a rollback value is again set when the brake is lifted, which takes place at the next stop at a landing. Although, the best mode for carrying out the invention has been discussed, other modes are possible. One skilled in the art will find it possible to make modifications in whole or in part to this embodiment without departing from the true scope of the invention, for instance modifying the exemplary routines and components to which the explanation of the invention has referred. Likewise, empty car determination does not have to be discerned using the same techniques. Nor must load weighing employ force transducers to compute the load from a line equation. Likewise, computations of cab load and the other parameters in the cab load equation can be evolved, updated and used with the invention with hard wired signal processors (although microprocessor controls and related peripherals are preferred) and different sensors for rollback and car position. The invention can be used in systems with only one controller. Other modifications to, and derivations of, the invention are possible.

Claims: A method of load weighing in an elevator wherein a signal (LWINPUT) produced from a load in an elevator cab (3,4) is multiplied by a stored coefficient (LWGAIN) and summed with a stored value (LWOFFSET) to provide a cab load signal used to control the torque of a motor connected to the cab (3,4), said method comprising an automatic calibration routine comprising the steps of: producing a first signal manifesting a stored first value for the stored value (LWOFFSET) at a first determination of an empty cab condition; producing a load signal (LWINPUT) at a subsequent determination of an empty car condition; characterized by storing a second value manifesting the magnitude of the load signal (LWINPUT) as the stored value (LWOFFSET) if the difference between said first value and load signal is less than a stored third value; and if said difference is greater than said third value, summing a stored fourth value with said first value to produce a fifth value and storing said fifth value as the stored signal (LWOFFSET). The method of claim 1 wherein the elevator has means for providing a position signal (PPT) manifesting a change in car position and means (T) for producing a machine velocity signal manifesting a change in motor position, said method being characterized by an automatic calibration routine comprising the steps of: a) providing a rollback signal in response to a change in motor position as manifested by the machine velocity signal (SP) after a brake (BR) is lifted, said rollback signal manifesting the direction of motor motion; b) storing a rollback position signal that manifests the change in car position after the brake (BR) is lifted, said rollback position signal being stored if said change in position and the machine velocity manifest the same car velocity direction, said rollback position signal being produced from a detected change in the position of the car; c) repeating steps a) and b) until a motor drive signal is provided: d) increasing or decreasing the coefficient (LWGAIN) in relation to the magnitude of said rollback position signal to change motor torque whereby said change in position following the next lifting of said brake for said load is reduced. A method according to claim 2, characterized by the additional steps: e) storing a first signal manifesting a first value for LWOFFSET at a first determination of an empty cab condition; f) producing LWINPUT at a second subsequent determination of an empty car condition; g) storing said second value as LWOFFSET if the difference between the first value and LWINPUT is less than or equal to a stored third value; and h) if said difference is greater than said third value, summing a stored value with said first value to produce a fifth value and storing said fifth value as LWOFFSET. A method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that LWGAIN is increased or decreased by a first increment if said change in car position is less than or equal to a first stored value and greater than a second stored gain level and is increased or decreased by a second increment larger than said first increment if said change in car position is greater than said first stored gain level. An elevator comprising a car (3,4), a motor (7,8), a motor controller (15,16) for controlling the torque of the motor and making an empty car determination, a brake (BR) released by a signal from the controller when the car departs a landing (L1,L2,L3), a position transducer (PPT) connected to the car for providing a position signal (POS) manifesting car location, a transducer (T) connected to the motor (7,8) for providing a motor velocity signal (SP), load sensing means for providing a first load signal (LWINPUT) manifesting the magnitude of load in a car connected to the car and signal processing means for receiving the first load signal and computing therefrom a second signal manifesting the cab load according to a formula wherein cab load equals the product of a stored gain signal (LWGAIN) and the first load signal summed with a load offset signal (LWOFFSET), said signal processing means comprising: means for providing a stored first value for LWOFFSET made at a first determination of an empty cab condition; characterized by means for storing the value of LWINPUT as the stored value of LWOFFSET if the difference between the first value LWOFFSET and LWINPUT at subsequent determination of an empty car condition is less than or equal to a stored third value; and means for summing, if said difference is greater than said third value, a fourth signal with said first value of LWOFFSET. An elevator as claimed in claim 5, further comprising means for providing a first signal that manifests a change in motor position after the brake is lifted; means for successively providing a second signal that manifests the magnitude of said change in car position after the brake is lifted at a first floor stop until the motor dictation signal is provided; means for storing said second signal if the direction of motor position change and the direction of the change in car position is the same and said second signal is greater than a stored value representing the magnitude of said second signal as previously provided since the brake was lifted; means for increasing and decreasing a stored magnitude LWGAIN in relation to the magnitude of said stored second signal at the time said motor dictation signal is provided to adjust the magnitude of LWINPUT so that subsequent motor torque when the brake at a subsequent floor stop lifted will cause the magnitude of said stored second signal, for the same load signal, to be smaller. An elevator according to claim 6, characterized by: said means for providing LWGAIN comprising means for adjusting said magnitude of LWGAIN by a first incremental value if said stored second signal is less than or equal to a first stored value and greater than a second stored minimum value and for adjusting said LWGAIN magnitude by a second increment, greater than said first increment, when said stored second signal is greater than said first stored value.

Inventors: DAVID GEORGE A, SORENSON DAVID H, DAVID, GEORGE A., SORENSON, DAVID H.
Applicants: OTIS ELEVATOR CO, OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY
Application year: 1989
Main classification: B66B1
IPC codes: B66B5, B66B1, G01G19, B66B3