Patent ID: 8167094

Claim:
An elevator apparatus comprising: a car; suspension means for suspending the car; a hoisting machine including a drive sheave around which the suspension means is looped, a hoisting machine motor for rotating the drive sheave, and a first brake device and a second brake device for braking rotation of the drive sheave; an operation control section for controlling raising and lowering of the car by controlling the hoisting machine motor; and a brake control section for controlling operations of the first brake device and the second brake device, wherein: the first brake device includes a first electromagnetic coil for releasing the braking force; the second brake device includes a second electromagnetic coil for releasing the braking force; a first electromagnetic switch and a second electromagnetic switch are provided between the first and second electromagnetic coils and a power source; and the brake control section includes: a first electromagnetic coil control switch provided between the first electromagnetic coil and a ground section; a second electromagnetic coil control switch provided between the second electromagnetic coil and the ground section; a first processing section for opening and closing the first electromagnetic switch and the first electromagnetic coil control switch in response to a braking operation command issued from the operation control section; and a second processing section for opening and closing the second electromagnetic switch and the second electromagnetic coil control switch in response to the braking operation command.