Patent Publication Number: US-6216824-B1

Title: Semi-active elevator hitch

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to elevator motion control and more particularly to a semi-active elevator hitch for improved elevator motion control. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Elevators are controlled to follow a flight (travel) profile which minimizes travel time within certain jerk, acceleration, and velocity constraints. The constraints are selected to ensure a comfortable ride. In practice, elevator vertical motion includes oscillations about the nominal trajectory (profile) that reduce ride comfort. These oscillations are primarily due to various spring/mass oscillation modes of the compliant rope between the elevator motor and the car. These oscillation modes are very lightly damped and thus can be set in motion by small disturbances that occur in flight. These small disturbances include passenger motion, rail joints, mechanical wear, torque ripple produced by the drive and motor, air pressure changes due to passing floor sills, other cars, and structural members in the hoistway, etc. 
     Elevator motion control is the mechanism by which the elevator is made to follow the nominal travel trajectory. Elevator motion control is typically accomplished using an elevator motion controller. In the elevator motion controller, the nominal profile to be followed by the elevator is input in terms of a dictated velocity of the elevator car along the profile. The dictated velocity is used to form the nominal commanded speed for the elevator motor. Near the end of flight, the position of the elevator car is measured and used to determine a distance to go estimate which is used to determine a correction to this nominal velocity command to ensure that the elevator lands (arrives and stops) at its desired destination in a smooth and controlled manner within a desired landing accuracy. 
     The motion controller typically includes a machine room motor velocity controller, which provides feedback of motor or sheave velocity in order to implement the motion command. The feedback of motor velocity to motor torque provides co-located damping of the oscillatory modes so that they are more quickly attenuated. In general, there will be some error in following the nominal profile because the oscillations are not attenuated as much as desired. The error is most critical at the end of the flight, where the error is termed “leveling error”. The tracking and leveling errors decrease with the bandwidth of the motion control feedback loop and increase with acceleration and deceleration levels. Currently, the bandwidth is limited by the propagation delay through the rope. 
     In tall buildings, trajectory-following errors are worse because the long hoist rope is more compliant and there is a considerable time delay for the transmission of a motor motion perturbation in the machine room to propagate down the rope to the car. The speed of this tension wave in a typical elevator rope is 2500 to 3500 meters/sec. Thus there is approximately a 0.1 sec delay for a perturbation in the machine room to propagate to the car if the car is 300 meters below the machine room. The presence of this time delay in the motion control feedback loop limits its bandwidth, which limits how quickly the controller reacts to errors in following the nominal flight trajectory and to disturbances. This limitation has two impacts: (1) the elevator vertical oscillations cannot be as well attenuated; and (2) the accuracy to which the car can be made to follow a decelerating trajectory decreases. The taller the elevator rise, the greater the impact of time delay. To maintain accuracy at landing (e.g., to minimize leveling errors), the deceleration rate of the car has to be reduced for tall buildings. This increases floor-to-floor flight time and is therefore undesirable. Therefore, a need exists for an improved elevator motion controller which improves the attenuation of oscillations, without increasing travel times, particularly in buildings with long elevator shafts. 
     To accurately land, the elevator motion control needs to include some degree of position error feedback. A common way to accomplish this is to make the dictated velocity a function of distance-to-go. Although position feedback is needed to land accurately, it reduces the damping of the oscillatory modes. It is known that a high position gain (i.e., the slope or gain of a dictated speed vs. distance-to-go function) can cause instabilities. It is also known that lowering position gain increases flight time. The degree of position error feedback that can be allowed increases with the damping of the oscillatory modes. It is further known in the art that car acceleration feedback to the velocity command (provided to a drive and brake subsystem) increases this damping in modest size buildings. In tall buildings, this is not effective because of the relatively large time delay in propagating motion from the main motor to the car. Therefore, there further exists a need for improved attenuation of oscillations for improved position error feedback control. 
     In U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,945 there is described an elevator motion control system which compares a dictated travel path signal, indicative of a desired elevator travel profile, with a measured travel path signal, indicating actual elevator motion, and provides a motion command signal to appropriate circuitry. The frequency of the motion command signal is split into high and low frequency components, and an active force actuator, located at the elevator car, is used to implement the high frequency/low stroke portion of the motion command signal, while the elevator motor is used to implement the low frequency/high stroke portion of the motion command signal. 
     The active force actuator is located together with a passive damping device between a hitch and an elevator car frame or between the frame and the car. The active force actuator, or actuators, may be electromagnetic voice coils, the extension and contraction of which are provided by control signals applied thereto, or they may be hydraulic actuators, rotary motors with lead screws, or other suitable devices. In each instance the actuator is actively controlled in both directions, i.e., extension and retraction, to improve the vertical motion control of the elevator along its travel path. Such active control enables the actual motion of the elevator to closely track the elevator vertical travel command signal, by compensating for delays occasioned by the length of the elevator rope. However, the energy source for the respective active actuator typically includes a motor, a pneumatic or hydraulic pump, or a large electrical coil located on the elevator car to drive the respective actuator in both directions. Such arrangements typically are relatively heavy, noisy, and/or costly and may have limited reliability, thus creating a limitation to their overall usefulness in this particular environment. Therefore, there exists a need for further improvement in the type and control of the actuator associated with the elevator car and hitch for damping elevator car vertical oscillations. 
     DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a system for the damping of oscillations during vertical motion of an elevator car position along an elevator travel path in a manner which is relatively less costly, heavy and/or noisy than the active hitch system previously described. The present invention may also represent increased reliability. 
     Accordingly the present invention relates to a system for the semi-active damping of oscillations during vertical motion of an elevator car position along an elevator travel path. The elevator car is connected by a rope to a sheave mounted to an elevator motor. The rope is connected to the car in a manner permitting limited relative vertical motion therebetween. The semi-active damping system provides a motion command signal corresponding with an elevator travel profile dictated by a desired destination of the elevator along its travel path; spring means effectively connected between the rope and the elevator car to provide a vertical spring force therebetween; controllable damping means effectively connected between the elevator car and the rope in parallel with the spring means and being responsive to a damping command signal for selectively impeding relative vertical displacement between the elevator car and the rope; means for providing a signal indicative of the measured vertical velocity of the elevator car; and control means responsive to the motion command signal and to the car velocity signal for providing a damping command signal to selectively activate the controllable damping means. 
     The spring means has a spring constant that is sufficiently low, or relatively soft, so as to ensure that relative vertical travel of the elevator car and the relative vertical travel between the elevator car and the rope remain in phase with one another at the relatively low frequency of elevator car and rope oscillations. In some instances, that spring constant may be less than one-half the spring constant of the rope. The spring means may comprise a hydraulic accumulator or the like. 
     The controllable damping means may comprise one or more hydraulic piston and cylinder combinations operatively connected between the elevator car and the rope, as via a hitch assembly having a support member interconnected to the elevator car and a hitch plate engaged by the rope and movable relative to the support member. A hydraulic circuit supplies fluid to and from the cylinder on both sides of the piston via a variable orifice valve. The valve orifice is regulated by a small control motor or the like, by the damping command signal to controllably impede relative motion between the elevator car and the rope. 
     The control means of the system may be further responsive to an elevator brake signal to provide a limit damping command signal which ensures that the controllable damping means applies a limit damping force sufficient to prevent relative vertical motion between the elevator car and rope. The control means further may be responsive to the release of the brake signal and to the existence of a signal indicative of a pressure difference across the variable orifice value to provide an initial tension release signal for controlling the rate at which the limit damping force is released. 
     The above-identified damping system is semi-active in that it resists unwanted oscillations without the requirement for active actuators operating between the elevator car and the ropes which would otherwise require pumps, motors or other large powered actuator drives at the elevator car. The replacement of such active drivers with the present system contributes to quieter, less costly and/or more reliable operation. 
    
    
     The foregoing features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an elevator; 
     FIG. 2 is a diagram of an elevator car having a semi-active hitch in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged, more detailed diagram of the semi-active elevator hitch used with the elevator car of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a control system for controlling an elevator motor and semi-active elevator hitch in accordance with the invention; and 
     FIG. 5 is a more detailed schematic block diagram of an initial tension release function of the control system of FIG.  4 . 
    
    
     BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a significant improvement in the motion control of an elevator by using a semi-active elevator hitch for interconnecting either an elevator car to a main rope or the elevator cab to the elevator frame. The semi-active elevator hitch includes semi-active damping devices acting in parallel and/or in series with passive spring devices and provides improved ride quality and flight time of an elevator, particularly in tall buildings. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, as is known in the art, an elevator  10  includes an elevator car  12  connected at one end  13  to a main rope  14  and, although not necessarily, at the other end  15  to a compensation rope  16  within an elevator shaft (not shown). The compensation rope  16  is received around a compensation pulley  20  and the main rope  14  is received around a sheave  24 , e.g., torsion sheave. The sheave  24  is interconnected to a motor  28 , e.g., an electric motor or a hydraulic motor, for rotational movement of the sheave  24 . Rotational movement  29  of the sheave  24  is translated into longitudinal movement  30  of the elevator car  12  via the main rope  14 . As is known in the art, a counterweight  32  may be provided for countering the weight of the elevator car  12 . It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the elevator configuration of FIG. 1 is provided to illustrate the general environment of the invention, and various other elevator configurations may be used with the present invention including configurations that do not use a compensation rope and pulley or a counterweight per se, such as a configuration utilizing a linear motor, a two-to-one roping or other scheme, and a double wrapped traction scheme on the drive sheave, just to name a few alternate configurations. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2, the elevator car  12  is interconnected to the main rope  14  by a semi-active hitch assembly  36  which is shown in greater detail in FIG.  3 . Referring also to FIG. 3, the semi-active hitch assembly  36  provides for the interconnection of the elevator car  12  to the main rope  14 . As illustrated in FIG. 3, the main rope may include a plurality of steel cables, e.g., three (3) steel cables, which are interconnected to the elevator car  12  via the semi-active hitch assembly  36 . In the illustrated example, the main rope  14  passes through a support plate  40  and a hitch  46  and is attached to rope terminators  49 . The support plate  40  may be a separate plate, or, as depicted here, it may form part of the elevator frame  41 . Positioned between the terminators  49  and the hitch plate  46  are a plurality of passive hitch spring elements  52 . In the illustrated example, the passive hitch spring elements  52  positioned between the hitch plate  46  and terminators  49  each have one of the steel ropes which make up the main rope  14  passing therethrough. The passive hitch spring elements  52  provide even tension among the steel ropes which make up the main rope. 
     Positioned between the hitch plate  46  and the support plate  40  is the semi-active hitch assembly  36 , which includes a pair of cylinders  42 A and pistons  42 B and a variable orifice valve  44  connected in a hydraulic circuit  47 . The hydraulic circuit  47  connects the opposite ends of the cylinders  42 A. The hydraulic circuit  47  additionally is connected to a gas-pressurized accumulator  50 , such that the accumulator  50  and the cylinders  42 A and pistons  42 B serve as a passive gas hitch spring connected in parallel with the semi-active hitch assembly. 
     The cylinders  42 A are fixedly mounted to the support plate  40  and may typically extend therethrough because of their length, which may be greater than 20 inches. Similarly, the pistons  42 B and their associated piston rods  42 C are in continuous engagement with and are preferably affixed to, the hitch plate  46 . The hitch plate  46  is positioned below the support plate  40  and thus is urged relatively toward (upward) plate  40  by the weight of the elevator car  12  and frame  41  relative to the rope  14  and also by springs  52 . The hitch plate  46  includes linear bearings  46 A at opposite ends which slide on a respective pair of guide rails  48  which depend, in cantilever fashion, from the support plate  40 . 
     The accumulator  50  is connected to the hydraulic circuit  47  at a location between the variable orifice valve  44  and the lower ends of the cylinders  42 A. Although it could be connected between the orifice valve  44  and the upper ends of the cylinders  42 A, the former arrangement is preferred because more fluid passes through the valve. The accumulator  50  is prepressurized with nitrogen gas or the like, to a pressure sufficient to apply a pressure to the hydraulic circuit  47  such that the pistons  42 B are normally biased to a mid-range position in the cylinders and thereby serve as a soft spring for providing an initial “lifting” force to the elevator car  12  relative to the cable  14 . 
     The variable orifice valve  44  may be any of a variety of types which respond directly or indirectly to a signal to control the size of the orifice and thus the hydraulic impedance of the circuit  47 . In the illustrated embodiment, the variable orifice valve  44  may include a linear or rotary element which responds to a linear or rotary stepper motor (not shown) to relatively close or open the orifice. Other mechanisms may also be used, such as an electrically deformable element to control the orifice. 
     By selectively controlling the size of the orifice in the orifice valve  44 , it is possible to regulate the impedance of the hydraulic circuit  47  and thereby regulate or controllably damp the stroke of pistons  42 B in their cylinders  42 A against the vertical forces acting relatively between the elevator car  12  and the rope  14 . In this way, transitory forces acting relatively either upwardly or downwardly on the elevator cab  12  relative to the rope  14  via the semi-active hitch assembly  36  may be resisted. 
     As mentioned, the gas spring provided by the accumulator  50  is designed to be relatively “soft”, and may have a spring constant less than half that of rope  14 . This is done to ensure that the hitch stroke remains in phase with the oscillatory motion of the elevator car  12 . In this way the semi-active hitch assembly  36  may be controlled to resist or damp relatively low frequency (i.e., less than about 5 Hz) oscillatory motion of the elevator car  12  and rope  14 . Thus, the cylinders  42 A/pistons  42 B and valve  44  are required only to dissipate energy, and there is no requirement to actively drive or power them. This, then, avoids the need for a separate significant energy source at the elevator car  12  or frame  41 , except for a relatively small and simple driver to control the orifice of orifice valve  44 . 
     Referring further to FIG. 3, a pressure sensor  54  is operatively connected to the hydraulic circuit  47  at opposite ends of the variable orifice valve  44  to develop and provide an electrical signal, ΔP, representative of the pressure difference across the valve&#39;s orifice. This signal is reflective of the force gradient or tension, across the orifice valve  44  and is used in the control algorithms as will be hereinafter explained. 
     To further appreciate the operation of the damping system formed by the variable orifice valve  44 , the pistons  42 B and the cylinders  42 A and the gas spring formed by the accumulator  50 , it is useful to understand the force relationships in the system. The “downward” force on a piston  42 B is the product of the “upper” hydraulic pressure, P U , and the area, A C , of the cylinder. Similarly, the “upward” force on that piston is the product of the “lower” hydraulic pressure P L  and the net area, which is the area, A C , of the cylinder minus the area, A R , of the piston rod  42 C. Thus, P U A C −P L (A C −A R ) represents the opposing forces on the opposite faces of piston  42 B. That expression may be resolved into a damping component, (P U −P L )A C , and a spring component, P L A R . 
     Reference is now made to FIG. 4 which depicts the control system which may be used for controlling the elevator motor and also, importantly, the semi-active elevator hitch of the invention. A signal representative of a desired or dictated position of the elevator car  12  is provided by the signal source  56 , and serves as an input to an elevator travel path controller  58 . The elevator travel path controller  58  generates control signals in accordance with a dictated travel profile for controlling the elevator motor  28  (therefore sheave  24 ) and the variable orifice valve  44  (FIG. 3) of the damping system associated with the semi-active hitch assembly  36 . A further input to the elevator travel path controller  58  is a feedback signal on the line  59  from the position sensor  60  which indicates the position, and thus the controlled response, of the elevator car  12 . Position sensor  60  is mounted on frame  41 , though it might also be mounted on the car  12  or other elements that move with the car and frame. 
     The elevator travel path controller  58  provides a motion command signal on line  61  which is extended to an elevator motor controller  62 , via a summer  65 . The motion command signal on line  61  typically commands a velocity, though it might alternatively involve other parameters. The elevator motor controller  62  provides control signals on the line  63  to the elevator motor  28  for controlling the speed of the elevator motion (FIG.  1 ), and therefore sheave  24 , to implement the motion command signal. The control response of the elevator motor  28  (FIG. 1) and/or sheave  24  to the signals provided on line  63  is provided as feedback on the line  64  to another input to summer  65  in the way known in the art for controlling the speed of the elevator motor  28  (FIG.  1 ). 
     The motion command signal on line  61  is additionally extended to the control circuitry for the semi-automatic hitch assembly  36 . Specifically, the motion command signal on line  61  is extended through a lag prefilter  67  to summer  66  where it is arithmetically summed or compared with a velocity feedback signal on line  68 . The lag prefilter  67  introduces a delay to simulate the delay in rope  14 . The velocity feedback signal on line  68  is representative of the velocity (rate and direction) of motion of the elevator car  12 /frame  41 , and is provided by a sensor  70  mounted thereon. The sensor  70  typically is an accelerometer or the like, the output of which may be integrated, as at integrator  72 , to provide the rate or velocity signal on line  68 . 
     The motion command signal on line  61  is indicative of a commanded direction of travel and, to some extent, the velocity commanded. That signal, after modification by comparison at summer  66  with the actual velocity/direction signal being fed back on line  68 , results in an error signal on line  74  which is extended to a hitch control algorithm circuit  76 , where it is appropriately scaled by a gain. The resulting signal from the hitch control algorithm circuit  76  represents the damping component of the force to be applied by the semi-active hitch assembly  36  scaled down by cylinder area to be in terms of pressure across the variable orifice valve  44  and is extended on line  78  to summer  82 , and from the output of summer  82  on line  83  to force control algorithm circuitry  80 . Further, the pressure difference ΔP across variable orifice valve  44  (FIG.  3 ), as measured by the pressure differential sensor  54  (FIG.  3 ), is fed back via line  84  to the force control algorithm circuitry  80 . 
     The force control algorithm circuitry  80  treats the input command signal on line  83  as a measure of the desired or commanded pressure differential value ΔPc, and translates that to a commanded opening area of the orifice in the variable orifice valve  44  in accordance with: 
     
       
         Area command=Area*sq. root(Δ P/ΔPc )+ Kv *(|Δ P| 31  |ΔPc |)  
       
     
     when 
     
       
         Δ P/ΔPc &gt;0  
       
     
     and maximum area when 
     
       
         Δ P/ΔPc ≦0,  
       
     
     each where ΔP is the actual measured pressure difference across the variable orifice valve  44  and ΔPc is the commanded pressure difference as a function of the motion command signal on line  61  as modified by summer  66  and the hitch control algorithm circuit  76 . The resulting area command signal is further translated, by a lookup table associated with the force control algorithm circuitry  80 , into a valve drive motor command signal appearing on line  86 . 
     The valve drive motor command signal on line  86  is extended to a small stepper motor or the like (not shown) which adjusts the orifice area of the variable orifice valve  44 . 
     The variable orifice valve  44  is at a limit position, in this instance closed, during passenger loading and unloading when the initial motion command signal indicates that no motion should occur. This is to ensure that the semi-active hitch assembly  36 , and particularly the cylinders  42 A and cylinders  42 B, remain in fixed relative positions to maintain positional accuracy. However, this implies that at the next start-up of the elevator car  12  by the control system, there will probably be some initial tension or pressure difference across the variable orifice valve  44  because passengers have entered or left the elevator. Thus, in accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the control circuitry further includes provision for gradually releasing any such tension across the variable orifice valve  44  to minimize an abrupt, or jerky, start up of the elevator car  12 . 
     Specifically, the control system includes initial tension release control circuitry  88 , shown in greater detail in FIG. 5, having an input signal on line  90  from the elevator motor controller  62  and an input signal on line  84  representative of the actual pressure difference, ΔP, across the variable orifice valve  44 . The signal on line  90  is representative of the elevator motor brake being released. The brake is normally actuated during the interval that the elevator car  12  is programmed to be stopped, and is released at start up and during travel. The ΔP signal on line  84  is input to a latch  91 . The brake release signal on line  90  is also applied to latch  91  to trigger the latching of the ΔP valve. Similarly, the brake release signal on line  90  extends to and initializes an integrator  92  and a low pass filter  93 . The latched value of ΔP is extended to an arithmetic summer  94 , the output of which is scaled by time constant element  95  and thence is applied as the input to low pass filter  93 . The output of low pass filter  93  is fed back through integrator  92  to provide the other input to summer  94 . In this way, the low pass filter  93  and integrator  92  serve, in effect, as a high pass filter with respect to the output from summer  94 . The output from low pass filter  93  is extended to an inverse gas spring model function  96 , which in turn provides a resulting signal on line  97  to provide an input to summer  65  to indicate the elevator car velocity as a result of brake release. This indication is used to bias the motor velocity command so that the motor  28  and sheave  24  move counter to the hitch gap motion so that no net car movement results from tension release. Similarly, the output of summer  94  is extended on line  98  to provide the other input to summer  82 , and is a function of the measured ΔP at the variable orifice valve  44  to aid in providing the appropriate control signal on line  86  to the orifice valve for the initial period following brake release. In this way, the initial tension release function  88  ensures a gradual release of the tension across valve  44  and an appropriate adjustment to the motion command applied to the elevator motor  28 . 
     Viewing over all operation of the elevator car  12  through use of its control system and the semi-active hitch assembly  36 , performance is significantly improved, particularly in long hoistways, relative to a system with no active hitch. Differences between the commanded car  12  velocity and the velocity of car  12  resulting from the controlled motor  28  acting through the rope  14  are attenuated via the car feedback control loop. By feeding back car velocity, with respect to the hoistway, to effect a force on the car  12 , albeit a damping force, the damping of the oscillatory modes is greatly increased, essentially eliminating the oscillations. This is a very robust form of damping (i.e., it will perform well in spite of unknown changes in car mass and rope compliance) because the force is applied at the same point in the system (semi-active hitch assembly  36 ) where the rate is measured (frame  41 , car  12 ). 
     In accordance with the present invention, the control of the variable orifice valve  44  is of such timing and quantity as to resist and damp otherwise undesirable oscillatory excursions, whether relatively upward or downward, from the programmed travel profile. Because this is a damping function and thus is only semi-active, the control of the damping mechanism, e.g., the variable orifice valve  44 , requires only a relatively small amount of energy and may be accomplished relatively quietly. 
     Simulation analysis shows that two 4 inch diameter cylinders  42 A with the pistons  42 B having 24 inch strokes and 2 inch diameter piston rods  42 C combined with a 6 inch diameter by 10 inch long accumulator  50  can decrease travel time for a 267 meter run from 44 to 36 seconds and smooth the ride, relative to a system having no form of active or semi-active hitch control. A 6900 Kg gross weight (elevator car  12 , passengers, and frame  41 ) elevator was simulated. 
     Although the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to the exemplary embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and additions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.