John F Weber

US Patent:

48982636, Feb 6, 1990

Filed:

Sep 12, 1988

Appl. No.:

7/243416

Inventors:

Bradley W. Manske - Moline IL
John M. Weber - Milan IL

Assignee:

Montgomery Elevator Company - Moline IL

International Classification:

B66B 300

US Classification:

187133

Abstract:

An elevator self-diagnostic system monitors the operative status of various elevator components and upon sensing an error initiates action to bring the elevator car to a safe operating state. The system then logs the error. The diagnostic system then analyzes the error and the conditions prevailing at the time the error occurred and, if necessary, a corrective action is then taken to resolve the error. This allows the elevator system to be brought back into service more quickly than would otherwise be possible. Specifically, a number of tests are serially performed on various elevator components, such as the motor drive, the position sensors, etc. When an error, or fault, arises in a system component, a selt-diagnostic system logs a preselected error level which has been assigned to the particular fault. A preselected action is then taken according to the particular error. For example, if the output of the position encoder is lost while the elevator car is running, then the elevator car's velocity is decreased at a constant rate until the car is brought to a stop.