PROCEDURE FOR MOVING THE LANDING DOOR OF AN ELEVATOR, AND A DOOR COUPLER

Abstract: The landing door of an elevator is opened by the opening movement of the car door and closed by the closing movement of the car door by using a door coupler (20) attached to the car door. The door coupler has coupling elements (52, 53) designed to engage a counterpart (6) attached to the landing door. The door coupler (20) is moved in the direction of the car door movement to align it with the counter element (6). After the door coupler (20) has been aligned, its motion relative to the car door is prevented by means of a blocking device (28).

Description: PROCEDURE FOR MOVING THE LANDING DOOR OF AN ELEVATOR, AND A DOOR COUPLER The present invention relates to a procedure for moving the landing door of an elevator as defined in the preamble of claim 1 and to a door coupler as defined in the preamble of claim 6. In elevators provided with automatic doors, the landing door is generally moved by the car door. The coupling between the car door and the landing door is implemented using a door coupler which is mounted on the car door and engages counter¬ parts mounted on the landing door by means of its gripping elements. The door coupler and the counterparts are so fitted relative to each other that, when the elevator car is moving past the landing door, the counterparts on the landing door are passed between the gripping elements of the door coupler. When the car is at a landing and the car doors are moving, the door coupler is in engagement with the counterparts. In this way, the landing door also moves when the car door is moved by a power means connected to the car door. Often the gripping elements are metal vanes projecting from the door coupler towards the landing door and forming a kind of a ver¬ tical slot which is open towards the landing door. The coun- terparts used often consist of rollers mounted on the landing door and projecting from the door towards the elevator shaft, the axle of the rollers being mounted in a position perpen¬ dicular to the plane of the door. When an elevator car stops at a landing, usually the elevator car and the landing devices are not exactly aligned with each other, but either the location or position, or both, of the elevator car differs at least somewhat from the ideal loca¬ tion or position with respect to the equipment at the land- ing. For this reason, there are problems with the coupling between the car door and landing door, because inadequate alignment between the door coupler and the counterparts may lead to a host of various problems. If the door coupler is not properly aligned with the rollers on the landing door, this may result in noise, reliability problems, interruption of door operation, obstruction of emergency opening of the door, incomplete opening or closing movement of the door, etc. In order to overcome the aforesaid problems relating to the opening and closing of elevator doors and the coupling be¬ tween the car door and landing door, a procedure for moving the landing door of an elevator is presented as an invention. Furthermore, a new type of door coupler for an elevator door is presented as an invention. The procedure of the invention is characterized by what is presented in the characterization part of claim 1. The door coupler of the invention is characterized by what is pre¬ sented in the characterization part of claim 6. Other embodi¬ ments of the invention are characterized by what is presented in the other claims . The advantages provided by the invention include the follow¬ ing: - The invention ensures a reliable coupling between the car door and landing door and complete closing of the doors even if they are not exactly aligned with each other. - The drawbacks of inadequate or unsuccessful coupling, such as clatter and noise, interruption of door operation, the doors getting stuck, etc. are avoided. - The invention is applicable for use with both side-opening and centre-opening automatic doors. - The door coupler can have a larger clearance, up to 2 or 3 times larger than in conventional door couplers, between the door coupler vanes and the rollers on the landing doors. A large clearance permits larger tolerances in the relative positions of the car and the elevator shaft, which in turn allows e.g. the use of a softer spring suspension of the elevator car. A large clearance could also permit a larger tolerance in the mounting of landing doors. - A flat door coupler structure is achieved. This makes it easy to place the door coupler between the car door and landing door. A space saving may be achieved. - The door coupler has a clear and simple structure, result- ing in low manufacturing and installation costs and simple and easy maintenance. In the following, the invention is described by the aid of a few examples of its embodiments by referring to the attached drawings, in which Fig. 1 presents a car door and landing door applying the invention, together with the supporting beam, seen from the direction of the end of the beam, Fig. 2 presents a car door applying the invention, to¬ gether with its supporting beam, as seen from the direction of the landing, Fig. 3 presents a door coupler according to the invention, engaging the rollers on a landing door, Fig. 4 presents the door coupler of Fig. 3 with the vanes open, Fig. 5 presents another door coupler according to the in¬ vention, with the vanes open and at the left ex¬ tremity of their range of movement, Fig. 6 presents the door coupler of Fig. 5 at the left ex¬ tremity of its range of movement, with the vanes in their closed position Fig. 7 presents the door coupler of Fig. 5 at the middle of its range of movement, with the vanes in their open position. Fig. 1 and 2 present the overhead supporting beam of a car door applying the invention and the suspension of the door panels 12 and 13 on the overhead supporting beam. Fig. 1 shows the structure as seen from the direction of the end of the beam and Fig. 2 shows it from the direction of the land¬ ing, i.e. from the side of the fast door panel 12. Fig. 1 shows the cross-sectional form of the overhead supporting beam as well as the locations of the rollers 2 supporting the door panels and those of their counter rollers 3,3a relative to the supporting beam 1. Fig. 1 also shows the landing door 112,113 together with its supporting structure 101. Formed in the supporting beam 1 are roller races 4,5 for rollers 2,3,3a. Suspended on the upper roller race 4 is the fast door panel 12 of a telescoping door while the slow door panel 13 is suspended on the lower roller race 5. The counter rollers 3a attached to the supporting plate 9 of the slow door panel 13 are provided with rope grooves 31, through which the syn¬ chronizing rope 32 is passed. The synchronizing rope 32 forms a loop which at one point 33 is immovably fixed to the roller race 5 or otherwise immovably fixed relative to the beam 1 and at another point 34 to a fixture 35 on the fast door panel 12. These points 33,34 move in opposite directions in relation to the slow plate 9 when the door is opened or closed, because they are attached to parts of the loop that move in opposite directions. Therefore, the fast door panel 12 with its supporting plate 8 and the slow door panel 13 with its supporting plate 9 move in synchronism aside from the door opening and back to close the door opening. A driv¬ ing gear 11 drives a belt 17, which, via a connecting lever 21 comprised in the door coupler, further moves the support¬ ing plate 8 of door panel 12. One end of the connecting lever is pivoted on an attachment point 18 on the belt 17. The other end of the connecting lever 21 is pivoted on the door coupler 20, more particularly on the base plate 24 of the door coupler. The landing door is provided with rollers 6 acting as counterparts of the door coupler 20. If the door coupler 20 is not aligned with the rollers 6, the door cou¬ pler has to be moved in relation to the car door in the di¬ rection of movement of the car door to eliminate the effect that a lateral deviation in relative positions of the car door and landing door would have on the operation of the door. When the door coupler 20 has been properly aligned with the rollers 6 acting as counterparts, the door coupler 20 is prevented from moving in relation to the car door. Complete closing and opening of the doors is achieved by keeping the car door, landing door and door coupler immovable with re¬ spect to each other throughout the duration of the opening and closing movement of the door. Referring to Fig. 3 and 4, the door coupler 20 is described in more detail. In Fig. 3, the door coupler has engaged the rollers on the landing door and in Fig. 4 the door is closed and the door coupler vanes are open, permitting the landing door rollers to pass between the vanes. Pivoted by one end on the door coupler base plate 24 is a connecting lever 24. When the connecting lever 24 turns about its pivot 51, it acts upon a linkage 27 used to open and close the gap between the door coupler vanes 52,53. The base plate 24 is supported by guide pieces 26 which are immovable in relation to the sup- porting plate 8 of the door. Preferably the guide pieces 26 are pins or the like fixed to the supporting plate and pro¬ vided with a guide groove or other guiding element to keep the door supporting plate and the door coupler at a preset distance from each other. The guide pieces 26 extend into elongated holes 25 in the base plate. In relation to the sup¬ porting plate 8, the base plate 24 and therefore the whole door coupler is movable in the direction of the door movement within the limits prescribed by the length of the holes 25. When the doors are in their closed position, the gap between the vanes 52,53 of the door coupler 20 is open so that, as the elevator is moving, the rollers 6 acting as counterparts attached to the landing door are allowed to pass unobstructed between the vanes 52,53. When the elevator has stopped at a landing, the rollers 6 remain between the vanes 52,53. When the door is being opened, the motion of the belt 17 is trans¬ mitted to the door coupler 20 via a point of attachment 50, preferably a pivot, at one end of the connecting lever 21, causing the connecting lever 21 to turn about the pivot 51 at its other end. As it turns, the connecting lever 21 causes a first lever 55 acting on the first ends of the vanes 52,53 to turn about the pivot 51, said first lever 55 being attached to the connecting lever 21 or integrated with it. In synchro¬ nism with the first lever 55, a second lever 56 acting on the second ends of the vanes 52,53 turns about pivot 54. The first and second levers are connected by a synchronizing rod 75 designed to ensure that the levers 55,56 turn simultane¬ ously. The use of a synchronizing rod allows a relatively light attachment of the vanes 52,53 to the levers 55,56. If a sufficiently strong attachment of the vanes to the levers is provided, a synchronizing rod is not necessarily needed. In Fig. 3, the direction of the belt movement opening the door is indicated by an arrow designated open. By means of the linkage 27, the gap between the vanes 52,53 is closed during the first stage of the belt movement opening the door. When one of the vanes 52,53 comes into contact with a counterpart roller 6 on the landing door, a supporting force is applied from the roller to the vane supported by the linkage 27, and further from the linkage to the base plate 24 via the pivots 51,54. As a result of the supporting force and the opening movement of the door, the door coupler 20, floating in rela¬ tion to the supporting plate 8 and supported by the guide pieces 26, moves in the longitudinal direction of the holes 25 until both door coupler vanes 52,53 meet the rollers 6, the door coupler being thus exactly positioned as required by the rollers. The position of the door coupler relative to the rollers cannot change during the opening and closing move¬ ments of the door. When pressed between the vanes 52,53, the rollers may operate a landing door locking device, in which case the rollers may move horizontally towards each other. It is appropriate to take this movement of the rollers into ac¬ count in the positioning of the door coupler. At the end of the closing motion of the vanes 52,53, a brake 28 locks the door coupler in position with respect to the supporting plate 8. The brake 28 is only closed after the door coupler has been positioned with respect to the landing door by the vanes 52,53 being closed against the rollers 6. The vanes 52,53 are held pressed against the rollers 6 during the whole opening and closing movement. In a preferred case, to ensure that the vanes will remain pressed against the rollers, the door cou¬ pler is provided with a blocking device or the like which only permits the vanes to move apart from the rollers when the doors are in their closed position. The brake 28 is pre¬ sented in Fig. 3 and 4 in the form of a skeleton diagram. When the brake is released, the brake part 28b attached to the supporting plate 8 of the car door and the brake part 28a attached to the door coupler move apart from each other, per¬ mitting the door coupler 20 and the supporting plate 8 to move in relation to each other. Instead of a brake, some other type of blocking device may be used, e.g. a latch. At the same time, the opening motion of the belt begins to move the supporting plate 8, thus opening the door. The opening movement of both the car door and the landing door has started simultaneously from a completely closed position. Since the brake 28 locks the door coupler, which holds the landing door rollers 6 pressed between the vanes 52,53, in position relative to the supporting plate, the relative posi¬ tions of the landing door and car door are maintained; in other words, the function of the brake is to keep the door coupler in the correct position relative to the car door dur¬ ing the opening and closing movement. To close the door, the belt 17 is driven in the direction op¬ posite to the opening movement. Once the door has been closed completely, the brake 28 is released and the vanes 52,53 move away from the rollers 6. As the brake has maintained the relative positions of the landing door and car door un¬ changed, both the car door and the landing door return to their completely closed position. The door coupler is pref¬ erably provided with return springs 59, which return the door coupler to its starting position with respect to the support- ing plate 8 and therefore also with respect to the car door after the brake 28 has been released. Referring to Fig. 5-7, another door coupler 120 as provided by the invention is described. Fig. 5 shows the door coupler with its vanes 152,153 open and placed at the left extremity of their range of movement. In Fig. 6, the door coupler is at the left extremity of its range of movement, with the vanes 152,153 in their closed position. Fig. 7 shows the door cou- pier in the middle area of its range of movement, with the vanes 152,153 open. The range of movement of the door coupler is limited by means of slots 125 provided at the left and right edges of the door coupler base plate 124 and pins 126 supporting the door coupler on the car door, said pins 126 being immovable in relation to the car door. Pivoted on the door coupler base plate 124 is a connecting lever 121. As the connecting lever 121 turns about its pivot in the base plate, it causes the vanes 152,153 eccentrically pivoted on the connecting lever to move, thus increasing and decreasing the gap between the vanes. In synchronism with the connecting lever, a second lever 156 acting on the second ends of the vanes 152,153 turns about its pivot in the base plate, the second ends of the vanes 152,153 being eccentri¬ cally pivoted on this second lever. In Fig. 5 and 7, the blocking device 128 is open, permitting the door coupler to move supported by the pins 126. In Fig. 6, the blocking de¬ vice is closed, preventing relative motion of the door and the door coupler. The blocking device is operated by an arm 181, which is pivoted by its first end on the connecting lever 21 so that the turning motion of the connecting lever between its extreme positions produces a nearly linear, pref¬ erably vertical, back-and-forth movement of the arm 181. The back-and-forth movement of the arm 1 is loaded with a draw- spring 182 in such a way that the load tends to draw the con¬ necting lever in the direction closing the vanes 152,153. The base plate 124 is provided with brake lumps 183 and 184, which are movably attached to the base plate. The brake lumps move on slides or the like, guided by guide grooves 185,186 provided in the base plate, said guide grooves being substan¬ tially vertical and placed at a distance from each other. On the side facing towards the gap between them, the brake lumps have downward sloping braking surfaces 183a and 184a, pref- erably at an angle of 45 degrees. The brake lumps 183 and 184 partly cover an aperture 111 made in the base plate 124, through which aperture a fixed brake lump 112 extends into the space between the movable brake lumps 183,184. The fixed brake lump 112 is immovably mounted relative to the car door. The fixed brake lump 112 has upwards sloping braking surfaces 183b and 184b, preferably at an angle of 45 degrees, which are pressed against the braking surfaces 183a, 184a of the movable brake lumps 183,184 when the latter move downwards along the guide grooves 185,186 in the base plate. The brake lumps are connected by a connecting rod 187, which is pivoted by its first end on the first movable brake lump 183 and by its second end on the second movable brake lump 184. At its middle, the connecting rod is pivoted on the movable arm 181. The downward movement of the arm causes the movable brake lumps 183,184 of the door coupler, which is aligned with the rollers on the landing door, to move down against the fixed brake lump 112. Due to the rocking suspension of the brake lumps on the arm 181 and the guiding action of their guide grooves, the blocking device being locked does not change the alignment of the door coupler. As the blocking device has sloping braking surfaces 183a, 183b, 184a, 184b, its locking ac¬ tion is just as effective regardless of the current position of the door coupler within its horizontal range of movement. It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that different embodiments of the invention are not restricted to the exam¬ ples described above, but that they may instead be varied in the scope of the claims presented below. For instance, the door coupler can be mounted in a different place on the car door than on the supporting plate, although it is customary for the door coupler to be mounted either on the door panel or on the door panel supporting plate. It is further obvious that the door may equally well be a side-opening or a centre- opening automatic door.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Procedure for moving the landing door of an elevator by the agency of the car door movement, in which procedure the landing door is opened by the opening movement of the car door and closed by the closing movement of the car door by means of a door coupler (20,120) attached to the car door and coupling the car door with the landing door, said door cou¬ pler being provided with gripping elements (52,53,152,153) designed to engage a counterpart (6) mounted on the landing door to effect the coupling, characterized in that, in order to align the doer coupler (20,120) according to the posit-ion of the counterpart (6), the door coupler is moved in relation to the car door in the direction of the car door movement, and that, after the door coupler (20,120) has been aligned, movement of the door coupler (20,120) relative to the car door is prevented. 2. Procedure as defined in claim 1, characterized in that si- multaneously with aligning the door coupler (20,120) with the counterpart, a coupling between the car door and landing door is effected. 3. Procedure as defined in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the driving power for aligning the door coupler (20,120) is obtained from the operating mechanism of the car door. 4. Procedure as defined in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the aligning action is controlled by the supporting force applied by the counterpart to the grip¬ ping element (52,53,152,153) . 5. Procedure as defined in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, after the door coupler (20,120) has been aligned with the counterpart on the landing door, the landing door, the door coupler and the car door are intercon¬ nected by means of the door coupler (20,120) so as to render them immovable relative to each other and that they are kept immovable relative to each other during the opening and clos¬ ing movements of the car door and landing door. 6. Door coupler (20,120) connected to the car door of an ele- vator, comprising gripping elements (52,53,152,153) for en¬ gaging a counterpart (6) attached to a landing door in a situation where the elevator has stopped at a landing, char¬ acterized in that the door coupler (20,120) is so mounted as to be movable in the direction of the car door movement and that the door coupler (20,120) has a blocking device (28,128) to prevent relative motion between the door coupler and the car door. 7. Door coupler as defined in claim 6, characterized in that the door coupler (20,120) is attached to the supporting plate (8) of the car door, and preferably supported by guide pieces (26,126) immovable in relation to the supporting plate (8), said guide pieces preferably consisting of pins attached to the supporting plate. 8. Door coupler as defined in claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the base plate (24,124) of the door coupler is provided with elongated holes or slots (25,125) into which the guide pieces (26,126) extend, and that the guide pieces (26,126) are provided with a guide groove or other guiding element that fits the holes or slots (25,125) so as to keep the sup¬ porting plate (8) and the door coupler (20,120) at a preset distance from each other. 9. Door coupler as defined in any one of claims 6-8, charac¬ terized in that the play of the door coupler is determined by the holes or slots (24,125) and the pins (26,126) . 10. Door coupler as defined in any one of claims 6-9, charac- terized in that the blocking device (28) is a brake acting on the relative motion between the door coupler (20) and the supporting plate (8) of the door, and that the door coupler is provided with return springs (59) to position the door coupler when the brake is in a released condition.

Inventors: KARNER FRANZ JOSEF, KARNER, FRANZ, JOSEF
Applicants: KARNER FRANZ JOSEF, KONE OY, KARNER, FRANZ, JOSEF
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B66B13
IPC codes: B66B13