ELEVATOR ARRANGEMENT ADAPTED FOR DETERMINING POSITIONS OF FIXTURES AT VARIOUS FLOORS

Abstract

 An elevator arrangement (1) is described to comprise a cabin (3), an elevator control (7) controlling displacements of the cabin between various floors (5) and having information on a current position of the cabin, at least one cabin door (9) which may be opened and closed, a plurality of shaft doors (11) located at shaft door openings at each of the floors and being configured to be opened and closed together with the cabin door when the cabin is located at a respective floor and a plurality of shaft door lock switches (13) each of which being connected to an associated one of the shaft doors for providing an opening signal indicating an opening state of the associated shaft door. The elevator arrangement further comprises a plurality of fixtures (15), each fixture being located at one of the floors and being connected to the elevator control for an exchange of information. The elevator arrangement is adapted to perform a fixture position learning procedure comprising:
- travelling the cabin to each of the floors;
- at each of the floors, opening the cabin door together with an associated shaft door;
- at each of the floors, determining a position information of the fixture located at the floor by correlating the information on a current position of the cabin provided by the elevator control with the opening signal provided by the shaft door lock switch associated to the shaft door at the floor upon opening the shaft door and storing the determined position information for subsequent identification purposes for each of the fixtures. Thereby, position information for each of the plural fixtures may be easily and preferably automatically obtained.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to an elevator arrangement. Particularly, the present invention relates to determining positions of various fixtures of the elevator arrangement. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for determining such position information, to a computer program product enabling automated performing of such method and to a computer-readable medium comprising such computer program product stored thereon.

[0002] Elevators are typically used for transporting persons or items between various levels, i.e. for vertically transporting people or items in an elevator cabin for example between floors within a building.

[0003] Generally, at each of the floors, fixtures are provided. Such fixtures may serve various purposes. For example, a fixture may be provided in a form of a lobby operating panel (LOP) and may be used by users in order to call a cabin of the elevator to come to a specific floor. Such lobby operating panels typically comprise one or more call buttons or other means for determining a user's request. Other fixtures may serve for providing information to a user. For example, such fixtures may comprise a display, lights, indicators, loudspeakers etc. and may indicate information for example about a current position of the elevator cabin and/or its moving direction. Other fixtures may be provided within the floors of the building for further purposes.

[0004] Typically, in order to be able to properly operate, an elevator arrangement must have information about the positions of each of its fixtures. For example, in order to correctly control a motion of the elevator cabin, an elevator control must know the position of the LOP at which a user has pushed the call button. Only when the position of such fixture is known to the elevator control, the elevator control can control driving the cabin to the floor where the user is waiting.

[0005] Generally, it is beneficial to provide all fixtures serving for a same or similar purpose within a building with an identical hardware. Accordingly, when installing the elevator arrangement, each fixture may be mounted at any of the various floors within the building. This may save costs and simplify logistics.

[0006] However, after installation, as the elevator control can initially not distinguish between the various fixtures located at the various floors, it is generally necessary to identify the position of each of the fixtures of the elevator arrangement such that, during subsequent normal operation of the elevator control, such information may be used by the elevator control for correctly controlling for example a cabin motion.

[0007] Conventionally, identifying the position of a fixture has been carried out for example by means of several switches being included into each of the fixtures wherein the switching state of the switches provided for a unique identification pattern upon which the elevator control could distinguish between the various fixtures. In such conventional approach, installation personnel had to manually set in each instance and at every floor the several switches of each of the fixtures. Configurations manually carried out in such manner required a high outlay in terms of time and personnel. Furthermore, the switches represented costly components.

[0008] An alternative approach is described in US 7,699,143 B2 disclosing a method of setting the floor associations of a plurality of operating units of an elevator installation.

[0009] There may be a need for an elevator arrangement which enables determining of position information of fixtures located at various floors in a simple manner. Particularly, there may be a need for such elevator arrangement in which position information determination may be provided with minimum human labour, i.e. preferably semi-automatically or fully automatically. Furthermore, there may be a need for an elevator arrangement in which such position information determination may be provided at relatively low cost and/or at short time. Furthermore, there may be a need for a corresponding method for determining position information, a computer program product enabling such method when executed on a programmable elevator control and a computer-readable medium comprising such computer program product.

[0010] At least one of such needs may be met with the subject-matter of the independent claims of the present application. Beneficial embodiments are defined in the dependent claims and described in the following specification.

[0011] According to a first aspect of the present invention, an elevator arrangement is proposed. The elevator arrangement comprises a cabin, an elevator control, at least one cabin door, a plurality of shaft doors, a plurality of shaft door lock switches and a plurality of fixtures. The cabin is displaceable between various floors within the building. The elevator control controls displacements of the cabin between the various floors and has information on a current position of the cabin. The at least one cabin door may be opened and closed. The shaft doors are located at shaft door openings at each of the floors and are configured to be opened and closed together with the cabin door when the cabin is located at a respective floor. The shaft door lock switches each are connected to an associated one of the shaft doors for providing an opening signal indicating an opening state of the associated shaft door. Each of the fixtures is located at one of the floors and is connected to the elevator control for an exchange of information. The elevator arrangement is adapted to perform a fixture position learning procedure comprising the following steps: The cabin is travelled to each of the floors. At each of the floors, the cabin door is opened together with an associated shaft door. Furthermore, at each of the floors, a position information of the fixture located at the floor is determined by correlating the information on the current position of the cabin provided by the elevator control with the opening signal provided by the shaft door lock switch associated to the shaft door at the floor upon opening the shaft door. Finally, the determined position information is stored for subsequent identification purposes for each of the fixtures.

[0012] Ideas underlying embodiments of the present invention may be interpreted as being based, inter alia, on the following observations and recognitions.

[0013] As indicated in the introduction above, it may be beneficial to enable an elevator arrangement to semi- or fully-automatically learn the positions of each of its fixtures, i.e. to enable the elevator arrangement to uniquely identifying each of its fixtures and having information for example about the floor at which the fixture is arranged and/or a side location at which the fixture is arranged adjacent to an elevator shaft.

[0014] In order to enable such fixture position learning procedure, it is suggested to use information provided by shaft door lock switches arranged at each of the shaft doors. Typically, such shaft door lock switches are provided in order to check whether an associated shaft door is correctly closed and locked. Only when all of the shaft doors of the elevator arrangement are detected to be correctly closed and locked, the elevator control is allowed to control moving of the elevator cabin. Accordingly, each shaft door lock switch is adapted for providing an opening signal indicating an opening state of the associated shaft door, i.e. a signal which may be received and interpreted by the elevator control in order to detect whether the associated shaft door is correctly closed and locked or whether it is at least partly opened and/or unlocked. Such opening signal may be an electrical signal such as the presence or lacking of an electrical current or voltage.

[0015] Conventionally, shaft door lock switches are provided at each of the shaft doors and form a portion of a series connection forming a safety chain of the elevator arrangement. As, in such safety chain, all shaft door lock switches are connected in series, the elevator control may easily determine whether all shaft doors are correctly closed and locked. Even when only one shaft door lock switch indicates an opening state of an associated shaft door, the safety chain is interrupted and the elevator control is hindered to move the elevator cabin.

[0016] It is now proposed to, additionally or alternatively to their service within a safety chain, use shaft door lock switches at each of the shaft doors in order to supply additional information which may be used for determining the position information of the fixture located at one of the floors of a building.

[0017] Therein, it is proposed to move or travel the elevator cabin to each of the floors, for example controlled by the elevator control. Then, at each of the floors, the cabin door is opened, for example again controlled by the elevator control. Typically, when the cabin is located at a specific floor, its cabin door cooperates with the shaft door in this floor such that the shaft door opens together with the cabin door. The cooperation between the cabin door and the shaft door may be mechanical. For example, portions of the cabin door and portions of the shaft door may engage with each other. Accordingly, indirectly controlled by the elevator control, the shaft doors at each of the floors may be opened by moving the cabin to the respective floor and opening its cabin door. Upon such opening of the shaft door, the shaft door lock switch associated to this shaft door provides its opening signal. Based on this opening signal and taking into account the information on the current position of the cabin which is available from the elevator control, the elevator arrangement may determine the position of the fixture arranged at the floor at which the shaft door currently opens. In other words, using the information of the opening signal of the shaft door lock switch together with the information on the current position of the cabin, the identity and position information of the fixture located at the respective floor may be uniquely determined. Such position information may then be stored in order to use it for example during subsequent normal opening of the elevator arrangement for identification purposes for each of the fixtures.

[0018] However, in conventional elevator systems where shaft door lock switches were provided as forming part of an elevator safety chain, there was not necessarily any information available about the position of each of the shaft door lock switches. Similarly to the explanations above with respect to the fixtures, all of the shaft door lock switches may have had a same hardware configuration as, for their purpose within a safety chain, it was not necessary to know which one of the shaft doors was not correctly closed and locked but it was sufficient to know that at least one of the shaft doors was partly opened in order to hinder the elevator control from moving the elevator cabin.

[0019] In the application described herein, it should however be provided for an option for correlating the opening signal provided by one of the shaft door lock switches with the position of the respective shaft door lock switch within the floors of the building. In other words, when an opening signal is provided by one of the shaft door lock switches, it should be possible to determine which of the shaft door lock switches has output this opening signal.

[0020] According to an embodiment, it is therefore suggested that each of the shaft door lock switches is connected to an associated fixture for transmitting the opening signal to the associated fixture.

[0021] Accordingly, when a shaft door is opened and the shaft door lock switch provides its opening signal, this opening signal may be transmitted to the associated fixture. Furthermore, as the fixture is connected to the elevator control, the information about the opening signal may be exchanged between the fixture and the elevator control. Upon such exchange of information about the opening signal, and further taking into account information about the current position of the cabin, the position information of the fixture may finally be determined.

[0022] For example, according to an embodiment, each of the fixtures may be adapted to, upon receiving the opening signal transmitted by the shaft door lock switch, requesting the information on the current position of the cabin from the elevator control and storing this information for subsequent identification purposes.

[0023] In other words, when the elevator control moves the cabin to a specific floor and opens its cabin door, the opening signal provided by the shaft door lock switch which is actuated by the shaft door opening together with the cabin door may be transmitted to the associated fixture. Upon receiving such opening signal, the fixture then requests the information on the current position of the cabin from the elevator control thereby determining its own position within the building. This position information may then be stored for example in a memory within the fixture. The stored position information may subsequently be used in order to identify the fixture e.g. when communicating with the elevator control during normal operation of the elevator.

[0024] Alternatively or additionally, according to an embodiment, each of the fixtures may be adapted to, upon receiving the opening signal transmitted by the shaft door lock switch, transmitting a unique identification information to the elevator control and the elevator control being adapted to storing the unique identification information for subsequent identification purposes.

[0025] In other words, instead of or additionally to storing the position information within the respective fixture, this position information or a unique identification information derivable therefrom is transmitted to the elevator control. The elevator control may then store such identification information for each of the fixtures of the elevator arrangement. Later, i.e. after the fixture position learning procedure has been finished and normal operation of the elevator arrangement is performed, such stored unique identification information may be used to uniquely identify signals from or to each of the fixtures within the elevator arrangement.

[0026] According to an embodiment, the connections between each of the shaft door lock switches and its associated fixture may be hard-wired. In other words, there may be a wired connection between the shaft door lock switch and the associated fixture enabling for example high security in data/signal transmission between such components.

[0027] Alternatively, wireless connections may be established between shaft door lock switches and their associated fixtures.

[0028] According to an embodiment, in a normal operation mode, the elevator control is adapted to identify each of the fixtures based on the information stored for subsequent identification purposes during the fixture position learning procedure, i.e. based on the position information and/or based on the identification information.

[0029] In other words, the position information or further information derived therefrom may be used by the elevator control during subsequent normal operation mode in order to uniquely identify each of the fixtures of the elevator arrangement to thereby enable for example proper operation of the elevator arrangement.

[0030] According to an embodiment, the shaft door lock switches comprise a single pole switch which is connected to an associated one of the fixtures.

[0031] Such single pole switch may be a relatively simple electric device which may change for example between an open switching state and closed switching state. An opening signal may or may not, respectively, be provided via for example two external connections. The single pole switch may be adapted such that, upon the shaft door being at least partly open, the opening signal is issued. Therein, the opening signal may be issued upon a switching state in which, for example, no electric current or no electric voltage may be transmitted through the switch. The associated fixture may be connected, for example via hard-wirings, to the external connections of the single pole switch.

[0032] According to an alternative embodiment, the shaft door lock switches comprise a double pole switch comprising two poles, one of the poles being connected to an associated one of the fixtures.

[0033] A double pole switch, sometimes also referred to as dual-pole switch, comprises two poles and may be interpreted as acting like two single pole switches arranged in parallel. Accordingly, when the double pole switch is in its closed state, both poles are closed whereas when the double pole switch is in its opened state, both poles are open. Accordingly, the double pole switch may provide redundant information at its two pairs of external connections and an opening signal may or may not be issued at both pairs of external connections. Accordingly, one of the pairs of external connections, i.e. one of the poles, may be connected, for example via hard-wiring, to the associated one of the fixtures thereby enabling transmission of the opening signal from the shaft door lock switch to the respective fixture.

[0034] According to an embodiment, a second pole of the double pole switch may be included in a safety chain of the elevator arrangement.

[0035] In other words, the double pole switch may serve for two purposes. First, its opening signals may be transmitted to the associated fixture thereby enabling determining of the position information of the fixture. Second, the double pole switch may be part of a conventional safety chain of the elevator arrangement by connecting its second pole to be part of a series connection of the safety chain.

[0036] According to an embodiment, the fixture position learning procedure including the travelling of the cabin to each of the floors and the opening of the cabin door at each of the floors is performed automatically, i.e. semi-automatically or fully automatically, under control of the elevator control.

[0037] In other words, the fixture position learning procedure may be performed by the elevator arrangement without necessarily any human interaction, i.e. fully automatically, or with only limited human interaction, i.e. semi-automatically. Accordingly, when the elevator arrangement is installed within a building, the fixture position learning procedure may be initiated and may then automatically determine position information for all of the fixtures included in the elevator arrangement.

[0038] According to an embodiment, the elevator cabin comprises at least two cabin doors. Therein, the fixture position learning procedure is adapted such that both cabin doors are opened at travelled-to floors together with associated shaft doors and two sets of position information of fixtures located adjacent to each one of the shaft doors at the floor are determined by correlating the information on a current position of the cabin and, optionally, on which of the cabin doors has been opened, this information being provided by the elevator control, with the opening signal provided by each of the shaft door lock switches associated to the shaft doors at the floor upon opening the respective shaft door. Finally, the determined sets of position information are stored for subsequent identification purposes for each of the fixtures.

[0039] In other words, the cabin does not only comprise a single cabin door but comprises two, three or more cabin doors for example at various locations in the cabin. For example, a first cabin door is provided at a front and a second cabin door is provided at an opposite rear side of the cabin such that each of the cabin doors may open towards different floors or sections of the building being at a same level or at different levels. In such arrangement, the fixture position learning procedure may be specifically adapted such that the cabin is driven to each of the floors within the building and cabin doors are opened preferably at every possible location. Accordingly, fixtures provided adjacent to the elevator shaft at each of the floors may be identified by determining their respective position information using the fixture position learning procedure. Therein, information not only about the current position of the cabin but also about which cabin door has be opened may be acquired from the elevator control and may be used to identify a position information of a fixture.

[0040] According to a second aspect of the invention, a method for determining position information for each of a plurality of fixtures of an elevator arrangement is proposed. Therein, the fixtures are located at various floors within the building. The method comprises: first, travelling a cabin to each of the floors; second, at each of the floors, opening the cabin door together with an associated shaft door; and, third, at each of the floors, determining a position information of the fixture located at the floor by correlating an information on a current position of the cabin provided by an elevator control with an opening signal provided by a shaft door lock switch associated to the fixture, the opening signal being provided by the shaft door lock switch upon opening the respective shaft door; and, finally, storing the determined position for subsequent identification purposes for each of the fixtures.

[0041] Such position information determination method may be specifically applied for use with an elevator arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention. Particularly, the method may be performed semi-automatically or fully automatically. Therein, each of the method steps may be controlled for example by the elevator control of an elevator arrangement.

[0042] According to a third aspect, a computer program product is described. Such computer program product comprises computer-readable instructions which are adapted to, when executed by a processor of e.g. a programmable elevator control, controlling the method according to the above described second aspect of the invention.

[0043] Such computer program product may comprise computer-readable instructions in any programming language. The instructions may instruct the programmable elevator control to control travelling of the cabin, opening of cabin doors and determining of position information by correlating information derived from opening signals provided by shaft door lock switches with information on a current position of the cabin.

[0044] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable medium comprising a computer program product according to the above-mentioned third aspect of the invention stored thereon is suggested. Such computer-readable medium may be any physical memory which allows storing computer-readable instructions and/or which enables downloading of such computer-readable instructions. For example, the computer-readable medium may be a CD, a DVD, flash memory, EPROM, parts of the internet providing download options or similar.

[0045] It shall be noted that possible features and advantages of embodiments of the invention are described herein partly with respect to an elevator arrangement and partly with respect to a method for determining position information for each of a plurality of fixtures of an elevator arrangement. One skilled person will recognize that features described for one embodiment may be suitably transferred, adapted, or modified for application with other embodiments and/or may be combined and/or replaced with other features described for other embodiments in order to come to further embodiments of the invention.

[0046] In the following, advantageous embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the enclosed drawings. However, neither the drawings nor the description shall be interpreted as limiting the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a cross-sectional view through an elevator arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a front view onto a shaft door and a fixture of an elevator arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0047] The figures are only schematic and not to scale. Same reference signs refer to same or similar features.

[0048] Fig. 1 shows an elevator arrangement 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The elevator arrangement 1 comprises a cabin 3 which is held by a suspension member 23 such as a rope or belt and which may be vertically displaced within an elevator shaft 25 to different levels corresponding to various floors 5 within a building using a driving machine 21 driving the suspension member 23. An elevator control 7 may control the displacements of the cabin 3 between the various floors 5. In order to be able to precisely control such displacements, the elevator control 7 has precise information on a current position of the cabin 3 available. For example, the elevator control 7 precisely knows where the cabin 3 is actually positioned within the elevator shaft 25, i.e. at which of the floors 5 the cabin is currently stopped or between which of the floors 5 the cabin 3 is currently displaced.

[0049] The cabin 3 has at least one cabin door 9. This cabin door 9 may be opened and closed. The opening and closing of the cabin door 9 may be controlled e.g. by the elevator control 7.

[0050] In the example given in Fig. 1, the cabin 3 has two cabin doors 9 disposed at opposite sides of the cabin 3. While a front side cabin door may be opened to enable access to floors 5 at a front side of the building, another cabin door 9 at the rear side of the cabin 3 may enable access to floors 5 at a rear portion of the building. The floors 5 at the front portion and at the rear portion of the building may or may not be displaced in a vertical direction with respect to each other.

[0051] While the cabin doors 9 are attached to the cabin 3 and may be moved together with the cabin 3 within elevator shaft 25, shaft doors 11 are provided at shaft door openings at each of the floors 5 and are therefore fixedly connected to the building structure. These shaft doors 11 may also open and close. Particularly, the shaft doors 11 are configured to be opened and closed together with one of the cabin doors 9 when the cabin 3 is located at a respective floor 5. For this purpose, the cabin door 9 may be actively driven and its opening or closing action may be controlled for example via the elevator control 7 and the associated shaft door 11 may mechanically cooperate with the cabin door 9 such that it is opened and closed together with the cabin door 9. Typically, the shaft door 11 has no own driving mechanism, i.e. may not be automatically opened and closed independently without interaction with a cabin door. Furthermore, typically, as long as no cabin is located at a floor, the shaft door at this floor is closed and locked.

[0052] At each of the floors 5, fixtures 15 are located. These fixtures 15 are connected to the elevator control 7 for an exchange of information. For example, each fixture 15 may be connected to the elevator control 7 via a hard-wiring 19. In the example given, the fixtures 15 are lobby operating panels comprising a call button 27 for ordering the cabin 3 to be moved towards a respective floor 5. However, other fixtures 15 may be provided within the floors 5 and may serve for different purposes.

[0053] As shown in the front view of Fig. 2, a shaft door lock switch 13 is provided at each of the shaft doors 11. Each shaft door 11 comprises displaceable portions 33 which may be displaced in motion directions 31 in order to open and close the shaft door 11. The shaft door lock switch 13 is connected to an associated one of the shaft doors 11 in such a way that it may provide an opening signal indicating an opening state of the associated shaft door 11. In other words, the shaft door lock switch 13 may be provided at a shaft door 11 e.g. at or adjacent to the displaceable portions 33 of the shaft door 11 such that it may detect whether or not the shaft door 11 is correctly closed and locked or whether the shaft door 11 is at least partially open and unlocked. In the latter case, the shaft door lock switch 13 outputs the opening signal.

[0054] In the example shown in Fig. 2, the shaft door lock switch 13 is connected to the fixture 15 via a hard-wiring 17. However, other types of connections between the shaft door lock switch 13 and the fixture 15 may be established. The connection may provide for data exchange or signal exchange between the shaft door lock switch 13 and the fixture 15.

[0055] In order to determine the position or unique identification of each of the fixtures 15 provided within the elevator arrangement 1, a fixture position learning procedure may be performed.

[0056] During such procedure, the cabin may travel to each of the floors 5 at which the fixtures 15 are located. Such travelling may be automatically controlled for example via the elevator control 7. Alternatively, in a semi-automatic mode, the travelling to various floors 5 may be controlled by a person travelling for example together with the cabin 3 and requesting displacement of the cabin 3 for example via a cabin operating panel (COP).

[0057] At each of the floors 5 travelled-to by the cabin 3, the at least one cabin door 9 enabling access to the respective floor 5 is opened. Such opening of the cabin door 9 automatically induces an opening of the associated shaft door 11. Such opening of the shaft door 11 then results in the shaft door lock switch 13 providing its opening signal to the associated fixture 15 arranged adjacent to the respective shaft door 11.

[0058] Upon receiving such opening signal from the shaft door lock switch 13, the fixture 15 may request information on a current position of the cabin 3 from the elevator control 7 in order to correlate such information on the current position of the cabin 3 with the opening signal provided by the shaft door lock switch 13. Upon such correlation, the fixture 15 may then "know" at which position, i.e. at which of the floors 5, it is located. Such information may be stored for example within the fixture 15. In subsequent normal operation of the elevator arrangement 1, the fixture 15 may then provide this position information to the elevator control 7 for example when any information is exchanged between the fixture 15 and the elevator control 7. Accordingly, the position information may serve for subsequent identification purposes providing for example an identification of the respective fixture 15 to the elevator control 7. Based on such identification or position information, the elevator control 7 may then for example control the displacement of the cabin 3 such that the cabin 3 is driven to the floor 5 in which the call button 27 of the fixture 15 has been pushed for requesting the cabin 3.

[0059] Alternatively, upon receiving the opening signal transmitted by the shaft door lock switch 13, the fixture 15 may transmit a unique identification information to the elevator control 7. Each of the fixtures 15 within the building has its own unique identification information such as a unique number or code. Accordingly, upon receiving such identification information from a fixture 15, the elevator control 7 may correlate this information with its information on the current position of the cabin 3 and may thereby derive the position information indicating the position of the respective fixture 15. The position information and/or the identification information of the fixture 15 may then be stored for example within the elevator control such that the elevator control 7, in subsequent normal operation, may access this information. Accordingly, for example upon being activated by pushing the call button 27, the fixture 15 may submit its unique identification information to the elevator control 7 such that the elevator control 7, taking into account the previously stored position information for this fixture 15, may unambiguously derive which of the fixtures 15 in the building has been activated.

[0060] The shaft door lock switch 13 may be a simple single pole switch. However, in the example shown, the shaft door lock switch 13 is a double pole switch which, on the one hand, is connected via the hard-wiring 17 to the fixture 15 and which, on the other hand, is included via the hard-wiring 29 into a safety chain of the elevator arrangement 1.

[0061] Briefly summarized and using a different wording, an elevator system is described which may automatically learn fixture's floor and side locations. Shaft door lock switches may be used as an input for the elevator system. The shaft door lock switch may be connected for example to a printed circuit board (PCB) of an associated fixture at the floor, as a system input. In a learning mode, the elevator system may travel from floor to floor and open each door side one at a time. When the shaft door lock switch input is detected open by the fixture, the fixture may inform a controller of its ID. The controller may then provide the fixture with the elevator's current location and door side information. This information may then be stored within the fixture and may be used in future when sending input updates to the controller. There may also be an implementation where the information of the fixture location may be stored in the controller. When a fixture sends an input update, it will then send with its unique ID, the controller may look up a stored position for this ID and update the input status on the control for this floor and side. Such system may save field labour cost and mistakes associated for example to manual processes. At the same time, valuable information may be added to the system.

[0062] Finally, it should be noted that terms such as "comprising" do not exclude other elements or steps and the "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. Also elements described in association with different embodiments may be combined. It should also be noted that reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

List of reference signs

[0063] 

1

elevator system

3

cabin

5

floor

7

elevator control

9

cabin door

11

shaft door

13

shaft door lock switch

15

fixture

17

hard-wiring to fixture

19

connection to elevator control

21

machine

23

suspension member

25

elevator shaft

27

call button

29

hard-wiring to safety chain

31

motion directions

33

displaceable portions of shaft door

Claims

1. Elevator arrangement (1), comprising:

- a cabin (3) which is displaceable between various floors (5) within a building;

- an elevator control (7) controlling displacements of the cabin (3) between the various floors (5) and having information on a current position of the cabin (3);

- at least one cabin door (9) which may be opened and closed;

- a plurality of shaft doors (11) located at shaft door openings at each of the floors (5) and which are configured to be opened and closed together with the cabin door (9) when the cabin (3) is located at a respective floor (5);

- a plurality of shaft door lock switches (13) each of which being connected to an associated one of the shaft doors (11) for providing an opening signal indicating an opening state of the associated shaft door (11);

- a plurality of fixtures (15), each fixture (15) being located at one of the floors (5) and being connected to the elevator control (7) for an exchange of information;
wherein the elevator arrangement (1) is adapted to perform a fixture position learning procedure comprising:

- travelling the cabin (3) to each of the floors (5);

- at each of the floors (5), opening the cabin door (9) together with an associated shaft door (11);

- at each of the floors (5), determining a position information of the fixture (15) located at the floor (5) by correlating the information on a current position of the cabin (3) provided by the elevator control (7) with the opening signal provided by the shaft door lock switch (13) associated to the shaft door (11) at the floor (5) upon opening the shaft door (11) and storing the determined position information for subsequent identification purposes for each of the fixtures (15).

2. Elevator arrangement of claim 1, wherein each of the shaft door lock switches (13) is connected to an associated fixture (15) for transmitting the opening signal to the associated fixture (15).

3. Elevator arrangement of claim 2, wherein each of the fixtures (15) is adapted to, upon receiving the opening signal transmitted by the shaft door lock switch (13), requesting the information on a current position of the cabin (3) from the elevator control (7) and storing it for subsequent identification purposes.

4. Elevator arrangement of claim 2 or 3, wherein each of the fixtures (15) is adapted to, upon receiving the opening signal transmitted by the shaft door lock switch (13), transmitting a unique identification information to the elevator control (7) and the elevator control (7) being adapted to storing the unique identification information for subsequent identification purposes.

5. Elevator arrangement of one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the connections (17) between each of the shaft door lock switches (13) and its associated fixture (17) are hard-wired.

6. Elevator arrangement of one of the preceding claims, wherein, in a normal operation mode, the elevator control (7) is adapted to identify each of the fixtures (15) based on the information stored for subsequent identification purposes during the fixture position learning procedure.

7. Elevator arrangement of one of the preceding claims, wherein the shaft door lock switches (13) comprise a single pole switch being connected to an associated one of the fixtures (15).

8. Elevator arrangement of one of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the shaft door lock switches (13) comprise a double pole switch comprising two poles, one of the poles being connected to an associated one of the fixtures (15).

9. Elevator arrangement of claim 8, wherein a second pole of the double pole switch is included in a safety chain (29) of the elevator arrangement (1).

10. Elevator arrangement of one of the preceding claims, wherein the fixture position learning procedure including the travelling of the cabin (3) to each of the floors (5) and the opening the cabin door (9) at each of the floors (5) is performed automatically under control of the elevator control (7).

11. Elevator arrangement of one of the preceding claims, wherein the cabin (3) comprises at least two cabin doors (9) and wherein, in the fixture position learning procedure, both cabin doors (9) are opened at travelled-to floors (5) together with associated shaft doors (11) and two sets of position information of fixtures (15) located adjacent to each one of the shaft doors (11) at the floor (5) are determined by correlating the information on a current position of the cabin (3) provided by the elevator control (7) with the opening signal provided by each of the shaft door lock switches (13) associated to the shaft doors (11) at the floor (5) upon opening the respective shaft door (11) and storing the determined sets of position information for subsequent identification purposes for each of the fixtures (15).

12. Elevator arrangement of claim 11, wherein the position information is determined by additionally correlating an information on which cabin door (9) is currently opened, this information being provided by the elevator control (7), with the opening signal provided by each of the shaft door lock switches (13) associated to the shaft doors (11) at the floor (5) upon opening the respective shaft door (11).

13. Method for determining position information for each of a plurality of fixtures (15) of an elevator arrangement (1), the fixtures (15) being located at various floors (5) within a building, the method comprising:

- travelling a cabin (3) to each of the floors (5);

- at each of the floors (5), opening the cabin door (9) together with an associated shaft door (11);

- at each of the floors (5), determining a position information of the fixture (15) located at the floor (5) by correlating an information on a current position of the cabin (3) provided by an elevator control (7) with an opening signal provided by a shaft door lock switch (13) associated to the fixture (15), the opening signal being provided by the shaft door lock switch (13) upon opening the respective shaft door (11), and storing the determined position for subsequent identification purposes for each of the fixtures (15).

14. Computer program product comprising computer readable instructions which are adapted to, when executed by a programmable elevator control (7), controlling the method of claim 13.

15. Computer readable medium comprising a computer program product of claim 14 stored thereon.

Drawing