[0001] The present invention relates to elevators, lifts or hoists of the electric or rope
type and with self load hearing aspects, and further a new arrangement for mounting
the main motor in lift systems and the like.
[0002] Several systems of this type are known, which basically could be divided into conventional
electric lifts and pneumatic lifts. At present the pneumatic type systems, because
of their less space requirement, the fact that loads are discharged directly into
the pit, and they do not require an engine room placed upon the lift well, are often
used instead of conventional or rope lift systems. Electric type lifts require a complex
and bulky assembly of ropes, pulleys, lift-car guides and counter-weight guides. Further
the transmission pulleys are necessarily connected, and thus hung up, to the roof
of the tower or well in which the lift moves, thus causing structural problems often
relevant when dealing with old buildings.
[0003] In the art of electric lift systems, as said above, motors are generally placed into
a "motor or engine room" in turn placed upon, or above the runway well. However in
both these cases said motors are connected to the building structure or to a metallic
support frame in turn connected to the building structure.
[0004] A lift system having the features as set forth in the preamble portion of claim 1
is known for example in document DE-C-3922798.
[0005] From the above further considerable disadvantages and difficulties for mounting the
lift system to existing building structures in which a lift plant had not been expected
follow. In fact the positioning of the motor upon the runway well requires to have
space enough for building an engine room in such a position, and said engine room
must have a load bearing slab or truss assembly able to bearing and taking up reaction,
static and dynamic forces when the motor is running for moving the lift-car and the
counter-weight.
[0006] Positioning the motor under the runway well requires the spatial availability for
building an engine room in such a position, sometimes denied by the existence of accessible
rooms such as garages and cellars, and also requires to have cement reaction plinths
of large dimensions, their mass having to be much larger than the sum of the suspended
system loads and its capacity load.
[0007] Finally, positioning along the runway well, while it is a possible solution to the
above problems, however requires that the side walls of the building structure or
the metallic supporting frame in which the supporting beam is buried are load bearing.
[0008] The main object of the present invention thus is to provide a lift system which is
self load bearing, not of the hung up type but of the "abutting" type, namely able
to discharge loads into the pit, and thus not acting on the upper slab.
[0009] A further object of the present invention is to provide a lift system which allows
a maximum and complete use of the available space as pneumatic lift systems.
[0010] A further object of the invention is to notably reduce the engine room dimension
and not having to place it upon the runway well of the lift-car.
[0011] A further object of the present invention is to provide a lift system able to use
a power which is about half the power used by conventional pneumatic lift systems.
[0012] A further object of the present invention is to provide a modular manufacture of
the whole system as to obtain the certification "in factory" without requiring a certification
in the field when the system is mounted.
[0013] A further object of this invention is to provide an arrangement for mounting motors
in electric lift apparatuses which overcomes the above said problems of the prior
art, allowing to place the engine room anywhere along the runway well of the lift-car
even without load bearing walls.
[0014] The inventive arrangement for mounting lift motors has the aspects set forth in the
characterizing part of claim 1. Further advantageous aspects of the invention are
claimed in the dependent claims.
[0015] These and other objects of the invention will be clear to a man skilled in the art
after reading the following disclosure which has to be read with reference to the
annexed drawing in which the various figures show:
- Fig. 1 is a plant diagrammatic view of the lift system according to the present invention
shown and applied to a lift-car having two opposed entrances;
- Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but in this case the car has only one entrance;
- Fig. 3 is a partial section side view of the well in which the lift-car and counter-weight
move or travel which shows the self load bearing structure of the present invention;
- Fig. 4 is a side view of the system according to the invention mounted to a lift with
its car placed upon a shelf structure showing the possibility of placing the engine
room at any position with respect to the runway of the lift-car;
- Fig. 5A, 5B are a plant view and a side partial section view, respectively, of a prior
art electric or rope system in which the need of an upper load loading slab is clear;
and
- Fig. 6 shows an embodiment of the motor support in an arrangement for mounting motors
in electric lift systems according to the present invention.
[0016] It must be clear that a similar, or the same, character in the various figures means
the same part or an equivalent part.
[0017] Figures 5A and 5B show a conventional embodiment of a prior art electric lift system.
In this embodiment, car 100 has a dimension notably lower than the lift well 112.
Guides 114 of counter-weight 116 are placed along the side of the lift-car and at
different planes with respect to the plane whereat guides 118 of the lift-car lie.
It is also shown, upon the end runway position in the well in which the lift moves,
an engine room 120 where a winch and a deflection pulley 122 are placed in a hung
up to the slab relationship.
[0018] In Figure 1 a plant view of a lift system 10 according to the present invention is
shown, said system being mounted to a lift-car 12 of the two opposed entrances type.
Similarly, in Figure 2, such a system has been mounted to a lift-car 12 having just
one entrance, but it will be understood that those lift-cars have been shown as not
limitative embodiments only.
[0019] The first new feature consists, as it will be clear to a man skilled in the art,
in placing the lift-car guides 14 and the counter-weight guides 16 at a single plane:
which thus allows to obtain a notable space saving with respect to what hitherto done.
[0020] In Figures 1 and 2, for description completeness, frame uprights 18, counter-weight
20, traction pulley 22, traction winch with flywheel 24, speed limiting device 26,
its transmission pulley 28, the maneuver electric panel 30, board 32 with principal
buttons and well 40 lighting device 34 are also shown.
[0021] System 10 according to the invention further is self loading because guides 14, 16
provide a support frame which is completely autonomous under the structural point
of view, with loads discharged directly into pit 42 (Fig.3) as in pneumatic systems.
Thus, guides behave as tip loaded beams because upon them some transmission pulleys
36 are placed in an "abutting" relationship (Fig. 3). Thus it is clear that, under
the structural point of view, neither change nor stiffening of the upper pre existing
slabs is required. By proper sizing pulleys 36 and ropes, it is also possible not
to provide an engine room upon the lift well 40 (as in pneumatic systems). This of
course gives more versatility to the inventive device and allows its installation
to buildings in which a lift system had not been provided hitherto and thus without
a proper space to use as an engine room. This engine room will be comparable to a
"box" or "cabinet" 50 with doors 44 that can be opened and allowing an easy maintenance;
when the doors are in their opened position they provide an engine room 50' meeting
the dimension requirements imposed by rules. As an example, in this embodiment said
engine room has an only about 350 mm minimum width.
[0022] The engine room 50,50', with the arrangement shown in the various figures of the
drawing, has the new feature of being placed at any height along the runway well of
the lift-car (Fig.4). This feature as well makes absolutely easy and inexpensive its
installation in preexisting buildings. As an example, the believed structurally and
space-saving optimum diameter of transmission pulleys 36 is 360mm and 400mm with four
ropes in turn having a 9mm diameter for capacities up to 630Kg.
[0023] Such a system as the inventive one further provides, in a more advantageous way with
respect to a common pneumatic system, the possibility of being used for any lift-car
runway length and using powers that are halved with respect to said pneumatic system.
The only building work which is necessary for mounting the system according to the
present invention is to fix the guides to the well walls by proper brackets 38 if
a specific metal frame is not used.
[0024] As it will be understood by a man skilled in the art, the possible modular "preengineered"
construction of the whole system allows notable money and store managing savings in
addition to the possibility of obtaining an homologation and a certification "in factory"
and not necessarily when the system is mounted.
[0025] In Figure 6 a pair of guides 60 is shown, said guides representing both counter-weight
guides or lift-car guides, respectively, on which a supporting shelf 62 is transversely
mounted for supporting the motor with its relative traction pulley, not shown for
a better comprehension of the drawings, through shaped sheets 64.
[0026] The particular construction of shelf 62 will not be further described being dependent
from the particular motor used, and being derived by the motor frame usually used
for the particular motor in a very well known way for a man skilled in the art.
[0027] Advantageously, said shaped sheets 64 are mounted at one of the joints 66 between
the section bars forming guides 60, which section bars, as it is known, are necessary
in all the lift systems. This represents an important advantage in that said joints
66 are generally obtained by a plate 68 provided with holes 70 in which screw and
bolt assemblies passing through holes 72, said holes 72 being correspondingly arranged
on the end portions of section bars forming the guides, are inserted. Thus, by arranging
sheets 64 at one of the joints, between section bars forming the guides 60 and plates
68, it is possible to use the same fasteners having only to provide additional holes
74 only on the sheets 64. Further, such an arrangement of sheets 64 at one of joints
66 provides a convenient stiffening of joint 66 itself being possible to add fasteners
of sheets 64 to guides 60 at a distance from joint 66 larger than plate 68 dimensions.
[0028] It will be very advantageous providing sheets 64 with a plurality of holes 74, said
plurality corresponding to a repetition of the holes 70 set of plate 68. In this way
it will be obtained a large tolerance for the mounting position of sheets 64, and
as a consequence the shelf 62 and finally the motor.
[0029] By fixing the motor to the guides as previously described, the drawbacks pointed
out with regard to the prior art embodiments are overcome. In fact the motor can be
placed in any position along the runway well of the lift-car, irrespective of the
strength of the walls and the supporting frame. The reaction forces will be conveyed
on guides 60 through shelf 62 and thus they will be self compensated by opposed forces
due to the load on the upper pulleys, as above said, discharging said loads into the
pit or connecting them to a beam which can laterally discharge its loads at a distance
from the runway well, which is particularly useful when there is an usable sole under
the runway well.
[0030] Finally it will be clear to a man skilled in the art that the present invention is
particularly convenient when is used with the teachings above described in connection
with Fig. 1-5. In fact, in this case guides 60 will be compression stressed, causing
the building structure is free from absorbing vertical loads, the building structure
having only to react to the horizontal loads on the guides, as in pneumatic systems.
[0031] Further, in this embodiment, being provided the coplanarity of counter-weight guide
plain and lift-car guide plain, the shelf 12 could be connected as above pointed out
to both the guide pairs, resulting in a very advantageous distribution of loads.
[0032] It is expressly intended that the foregoing description and accompanying drawings
are illustrative of preferred embodiments only, not limiting, and that the true spirit
and scope of the present invention be determinated by reference to the appended claims.
1. Arrangement for mounting main motors in electric lift systems comprising a pair of
lift-car guides and a pair of counter-weight guides, the motor being connected to
a shelf (62), characterized in that said shelf is in turn transversely connected to
at least one (60) of the two pairs of counter-weight and lift-car guides by interplaced
shaped sheets (64).
2. Arrangement for mounting main motors according to claim 1, wherein said guides (60)
are each formed by a plurality of section bars fixed from time to time through a connecting
plate (68), characterized in that said shaped sheets are connected at said joint (66),
said shaped sheets being interplaced between said connecting plate (68) and the ends
of said section bars of said guides (60).
3. Arrangement for mounting main motors in electric lift systems according to claim 2,
wherein joint (66) of said section bars of said guides (60) by said connecting plate
(68) is carried out by fasteners as screw and bolt assemblies inserted into arrays
of corresponding holes (70,72) of said plate (68) and said section bars of said guides
(60), characterized in that a wing part of said shaped sheets (64) has a plurality
of holes (74) corresponding to repetitions of said arrays of corresponding holes (70,72)
of said plate (68) and of said section bars of said guides (60), said fasteners being
inserted into corresponding holes of said plate, of said shaped sheet and section
bars.
1. Anordnung zum Montieren von Hauptmotoren in elektrischen Liftsystemen, enthaltend
ein Paar von Liftkabinenführungen und ein Paar von Gegengewichtsführungen, welcher
Motor mit einem Gestell (62) verbunden ist, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß das Gestell
wiederum quer mit wenigstens einem (60) der zwei Paare von Gegengewichts- und Liftkabinenführungen
durch zwischenangeordnete geformte Bleche (64) verbunden ist.
2. Anordnung zum Montieren von Hauptmotoren gemäß Anspruch 1, wobei die Führungen (60)
jeweils durch eine Mehrzahl von Sektionsstäbe gebildet sind, die in Abständen durch
eine Verbindungsplatte (68) fixiert sind, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die geformten
Bleche an der Verbindung (66) verbunden sind, welche geformten Bleche zwischen der
Verbindungsplatte (68) und den Enden der Sektionsstäbe der Führungen (60) zwischenangeordnet
sind.
3. Anordnung zum Montieren von Hauptmotoren in elektrischen Liftsystemen gemäß Anspruch
2, wobei die Verbindung (66) der Sektionsstäbe der Führungen (60) durch die Verbindungsplatte
(68) ausgeführt ist durch Befestiger, wie Schrauben- und Bolzenanordnungen, die in
Anordnungen von entsprechenden Löchern (70, 72) der Platte (68) und den Sektionsstäbe
der Führungen (60) eingesetzt sind, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß ein Flügelteil der
geformten Bleche (64) eine Mehrzahl von Löchern (74) hat, die den Wiederholungen der
Anordnungen der entsprechenden Löcher (70, 72) der Platte (68) und der Sektionsstäbe
der Führungen (60) entspricht, welche Befestiger in entsprechende Löcher der Platte,
der geformten Bleche und der Sektionsstäbe eingesetzt sind.
1. Dispositif de montage des moteurs principaux dans des systèmes d'ascenseurs électriques
auto-portant comprenant une paire de guides de cabine et une paire de guides de contrepoids,
le moteur étant connecté à un tableau (62) caractérisé en ce que ledit tableau est
à son tour connecté transversalement à au moins l'une des deux paires de guides (60)
de contrepoids et de cabine par des feuilles profilées opposées (64).
2. Dispositif de montage des moteurs principaux selon la revendication 1 dans lequel
lesdits guides (60) sont chacun formés de tronçons de barres fixées à intervalles
à une plaque de connexion (68) caractérisé en ce que lesdites feuilles profilées (64)
sont fixées sur un joint (66), lesdites feuilles étant disposées entre la plaque de
connexion (68) et les extrémités des tronçons des barres desdits guides (60)
3. Dispositif de montage des moteurs principaux selon la revendication 2 dans lequel
le joint (66) desdits tronçons de barre des guides (60) pour ladite plaque de connexion
(68) est obtenu par des attaches telles que vis et écrou insérées dans les zones des
trous correspondants (70,72) de ladite plaque (68) et desdits tronçons de barre des
guides (60) caractérisé en ce qu'une aile desdites feuilles profilées présente un
ensemble de trous (74) correspondant à la répartition des trous (70, 72) correspondants
de ladite plaque (68) et des tronçons de barres des guides (60), lesdites attaches
étant insérées dans des trous correspondants de ladite plaque, de la feuille profilée
et des tronçons de barres.