Patent Publication Number: US-2013233653-A1

Title: Elevator system

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to elevators and, particularly, to an elevator system. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Elevators are a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, such as residential building or office building. Each floor is provided with a control panel that includes an up and down button. If any one of the up and down buttons of a certain floor is pressed, a cage of the elevator will be driven to go to and stop at that floor, regardless of whether or not the elevator is full or if the people leave after pressing the buttons. As such, efficiency of the elevator is often less than satisfactory. 
     Therefore, it is desirable to provide an elevator system, which can overcome the limitations described. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a function block of an elevator system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-section view of an elevator of the elevator system of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of the disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. 
       FIGS. 1-2 , illustrate an elevator system  100 , according to an exemplary embodiment. The elevator system  100  is installed in a shaft  210  of a building  200 . The elevator system  100  includes a cage  10 , a first capturing device  20 , a second capturing device  30 , an inner control panel  40 , an outer control panel  50 , a control module  60 , and an alarm device  70 . 
     The building  200  includes a wall  220  and a floor  230  substantially perpendicular to the wall  220 . The wall  220  is substantially parallel to a movement direction of the cage  10 , and the floor  230  is substantially perpendicular to the movement direction of the cage  10 . The wall  220  defines a door  221 . The floor  230  defines a waiting area  231  in front of the door  221 . People wait for the cage  10  at the waiting area  231  and enter or exit the cage  10  through the door  221 . 
     The cage  10  has a cubic configuration and includes a ceiling  11 , a cage floor  12  opposite to the ceiling  11 , and a sidewall  13  connected between the ceiling  11  and the cage floor  12 . The ceiling  11 , the cage floor  12 , and the sidewall  13  cooperatively define an inner room  14 . The cage  10  is driven by a driving device (not shown), such as motor, to move up or down in the shaft  210 . 
     The first capturing device  20  is a camera module and is received in the cage  10 , suspended to the ceiling  11 . The first capturing device  20  is configured for capturing images of the inner room  14 . 
     The second capturing device  30  is a camera module and is set on the wall  220 , outside the cage  10 . The second capturing device  30  is configured for capturing images of the waiting area  231 . 
     The inner control panel  40  is attached on the sidewall  13 . The inner control panel  40  includes a number of number buttons  41 . People (not shown) in the inner room  14  can input command to the elevator system  100  by the number buttons  41  of the inner control panel  40 . 
     The outer control panel  50  is attached on the wall  220  in front of the waiting area  231 . The outer control panel  50  includes an up button  51  and a down button  52 . People waiting in the waiting area  231  control the cage  10  to move up or move down by the up button  51  or down button  52 . 
     The control module  60  is electrically connected to the first capturing device  20 , the second capturing device  30 , the inner control panel  40 , and the outer control panel  50 . When people press the up button  51  or the down button  52  of the outer control panel  50 , the control module  60  controls the first capturing device  20  to capture the image of the inner room  14  and the second capturing device  30  to capture the images of the waiting area  231 . 
     The alarm device  70  is set on the wall  220  and is electrically connected to the control module  60 . The alarm device  70  is configured for warning the people waiting at the waiting area  231  that the cage  10  will not stop at this floor. 
     When the cage  10  is driven to move upward, if the control module  60  detects the up button  51  is pressed by a passenger located at the floor  230 , the control module  60  controls the second capturing device  30  to capture the images of the waiting area  231  before the cage  10  arrives at the floor. The control module  60  analyzes the images and determines if any people at the waiting area  231 . If no people are at the waiting area  231  (if all of the people leave the waiting area  231  after pressing the up button  51 ), the control module  60  controls the cage  10  not to stop at the floor  230 . 
     Otherwise, if the control module  60  detects the up button  51  is pressed and at the least one person is waiting at the waiting area  231 , the control module  60  controls the first capturing device  20  to capture images of the inner room  14 . The control module  60  analyzes the images and determines if there is enough room for the at least one waiting passenger. If there is not enough room for any more passengers, the control module  60  controls the cage  10  not to stop at the floor  230 . At the same time, the control module  60  activates the alarm device  70  to warn the waiting people that the cage  10  will not stop at the floor  230 . In this embodiment, there are two people waiting at the waiting area  231 , the control module  60  determines whether or not there is enough room for at least one waiting person. 
     If the control module  60  determines there is enough room for at least one person, waiting at the waiting area  231 , the control module  60  controls the cage  10  to stop at the floor  230 . 
     When the cage  10  is driven to move downward, controls are essentially similar to the controls when the cage  10  moves upward and therefore details thereof are omitted. 
     Furthermore, the elevator system  100  includes a first weight sensor  80  and a second weight sensor  90 . The first weight sensor  80  and the second weight sensor  90  are electrically connected to the control module  60 . The first weight sensor  80  is positioned at the cage floor  12  for detecting a load of the cage  10 . The second weight sensor  90  is positioned at the waiting area  231  for detecting the weight of the people waiting at the waiting area  231 . 
     After the control module  60  determines there is enough room to receive the at lease one passenger, the control module  60  further determines whether or not the cage  10  can load the people according to detecting results of the first weight sensor  80  and the second weight sensor  90 . If the control module  60  determines the cage  10  cannot load at least one person waiting at the waiting area  231 , the control module  60  controls the cage  10  not to stop at the floor  230 . 
     Particular embodiments are shown and described by way of illustration only. The principles and the features of the present disclosure may be employed in various and numerous embodiments thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure as claimed. The above-described embodiments illustrate the scope of the disclosure but do not restrict the scope of the disclosure.