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Mitsubishi Elevator PDF
Mitsubishi Elevator PDF
Elevator Edition
MITSUBISHI
ELECTRIC
A Quarterly Survey of New Products, Systems, and Technology
●Vol. 88/Dec. 1999 Mitsubishi Electric ADVANCE
Editorial Advisors
TECHNICAL REPORTS Haruki Nakamura
OVERVIEW Toshimasa Uji
Introducing the Special Edition on Elevators ..................................... 1 Masakazu Okuyama
by Sueo Okabe Kazunori Sasaki
Masao Hataya
Current Trends and Future Directions Hiroshi Muramatsu
in Elevator Technology ........................................................................ 2
by Shigeru Abe Yutaka Kamata
Masashi Honjo
New Model GPS-III and GPM-III Series Elevators ............................... 4 Takashi Nagamine
by Hiroshi Ando and Hiroyuki Ikejima Hiroaki Kawachi
Hiroshi Kayashima
Elevators Without a Machine Room:
the Mitsubishi GPQ Series .................................................................. 8 Kouji Ishikawa
by Takenobu Honda and Eiji Ando Tsuneo Tsugane
Toshikazu Saita
High-Speed High-Capacity Elevators Akira Inokuma
for Ultrahigh-Rise Buildings ............................................................. 12
by Hiroshi Araki and Yasushi Chadani
Vol. 88 Feature Articles Editor
A Modernising Control System for Hiroyuki Ikejima
High-Speed DC Elevators ................................................................ 16
by Toru Tanahashi and Masami Kawamura Editorial Inquiries
New Elevators for Residential Use .................................................. 20 Masakazu Okuyama
by Yoshio Kamiya and Hiroshi Hirano Corporate Total Productivity Management
& Environmental Programs
A Remote Inspection System for Elevators .................................... 24 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
by Kiyoji Kawai and Hideki Shiozaki 2-2-3 Marunouchi
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8310, Japan
Fax 03-3218-2465
NEW PRODUCTS
Product Inquiries
The FPR-MKII Finger Print Recognizer ............................................ 28
Yasuhiko Kase
Global Strategic Planning Dept.
Corporate Marketing Group
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC OVERSEAS NETWORK Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
2-2-3 Marunouchi
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8310, Japan
Fax 03-3218-3455
Overview
Introducing the Special Edition on Elevators
by Sueo Okabe*
T he last century has seen vertical transportation extend human living and working
space to high-rise buildings and areas below ground. Few would deny the critical role it
plays in supporting urban life as we know it, with its high population densities and
dependence upon sophisticated functions.
Inverter technology and elevator group control using artificial intelligence are among
the important innovations designed to improve convenience and comfort. Elevators are
also being designed to add a visual accent to the buildings within which they are used.
As we enter the 21st century, we can expect to see elevators that are friendlier to the
user and to the environment, with measures adopted specifically to meet the needs of the
elderly and and the physically challenged. The widespread adoption of universal design
will make using elevators a simple pleasure for everyone, and environmental concerns
will be addressed by further reducing energy requirements and increasing the amount of
materials that can be recycled.
The corporation’s introduction of the latest technical innovations has made Mitsubishi
Electric a world leader in low energy consumption. Our ongoing commitment to higher
efficiency will result in less materials being used in our elevators, and more of those used
will be recyclable. By offering a comprehensive selection of modernization options, we
also expect to satisfy a large and growing demand for modernization.
Finally, the corporation will continue to develop and adopt the most advanced technolo-
gies, creating products that will appeal to our customers while meeting the needs of
society. We thank all our customers for their support and encouragement in this continu-
ing effort.❑
December 1999 ·1
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
to be in use worldwide. The life of an elevator WASTE MANAGEMENT. Processes are designed
depends on its maintenance and operating en- to minimize waste products. Wastes are re-
vironment. Most are renewed after 20 to 30 cycled wherever possible.
years. With such a large base of installed eleva-
tors needing renewal, this market is a signifi- Various plans for larger, higher buildings have
cant one. been proposed. Mitsubishi Electric has delivered
Older elevators suffer from higher power con- the world’s fastest elevators—with a top speed
sumption, longer passenger waiting times, lower of 12.5m/sec (750m/min)—to the Yokohama
transportation efficiency and lower riding com- Landmark Tower and will continue to push the
fort than newer models. These factors will nec- envelope. While these elevators may be the fast-
essarily expand the volume of modernization est, new technologies allowing multiple cars to
projects. share a single shaft or to operate entirely with-
out hoist cables will surely draw attention. ❑
Environmental Considerations
Considering environmental issues is imperative
in the design of modern elevator products. Three
areas stand out:
120
Hydraulic elevators
100
80
% 60
High-speed elevators
40
20
Low-speed elevators
0
'70 '75 '80 '85 '90 '95
year
December 1999 ·3
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
The article introduces features and new tech- ness by 20%. New stamping and joining tech-
nologies in Mitsubishi Electric’s new-model GPS- nologies reduce the number of door components
III and GPM-III series elevators designed for while trimming door thickness by 40%.
improved efficiency, reliability and comfort. See
Fig. 1.
Traction Motor
Induction motors are used. A traction motor with
a 10% smaller sheave diameter saves machine-
room space in elevators with load capacity un-
der 600kg and speed and 60m/min, while
redesigned gearing and a smaller traction mo-
tor save space in 120~150m/min elevators with
750~1,050kg capacities.
Shaft Dimensions
Thinner car walls and doors have been devel-
oped that reduce the shaft size of these made-
to-order elevators. Reinforcing members in the
car walls have been repositioned and optimized Fig. 2 The control board showing the AML central
through structural analysis to reduce wall thick- processor unit.
*Hiroshi Ando and Hiroyuki Ikejima are with the Inazawa Works.
AML (VLSI)
MOTOR DRIVE
Resistor
CONTROL
file PROCESSOR
Mainte-
Timer Speed
DC current Watchdog Additional nance
ADC Processor interrupt feedback
transformer Memory timer logic computer Maintenance
core controller circuit
interface computer
Digital PWM
Drive and Control Circuitry Implemented in one side of the enclosure. This single-side ac-
VLSI cess simplifies machine room equipment lay-
Integrating major elevator control circuitry in a out and reduces room size. Group control
single VLSI called Associated Management functions for 45~105m/min elevators are now
Logic (AML) boosts performance while reduc- integrated in the control panel, eliminating the
ing the control electronics to the small board separate enclosure previously required.
shown in Fig. 2. The AML chip implements a More compact dimensions were achieved by
traction motor drive control processor and op- introducing low-impedance insulated copper
eration control logic in 300,000 gates. The de- busbars that can be closely spaced. Two kinds
vice generates control signals for the inverter of insulated busbars are used. One type is insu-
and the transistor converter. Fig. 3 shows a block lated by a sandwich of PET film, the other has a
diagram of the control system and AML archi- PPS coating formed by injection. Thermal analy-
tecture. The AML chip can compute motor cur- sis has made it possible to redesign the inverter
rent control commands in one fifth the time of heat sinks for reduced volume while boosting
previous processors, which permits smoother, main circuit reliability.
more precise and more comfortable car opera- Simpler connections to the main control board
tion. High-speed elevators feature a smaller and also save space. Interface boards are connected
more reliable inverter due to a new short-cir- via high-speed differential-operation serial buses.
cuit protection function that no longer requires All cards receive power from a bus bar in the
a voltage feedback circuit to correct its time front panel. The bus connectors also exit the
characteristics. front of the panels. This eliminates the need for
backplane connections, boosting reliability and
Compact Electronics reducing rack size.
The enclosure for the control system electron-
ics is located in the machine room. Its volume Improved Door Operation
has been reduced by 30 to 50%. The control Several improvements in belt-drive mechanisms
panel for high-speed elevators has been rede- now enable them to replace the mechanically
signed to permit all maintenance access from linked drives previously required to operate spe-
December 1999 ·5
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
80
STRONGER MECHANISM. The belt-drive mecha-
60 nism is 25% faster than previous belt systems
while weighing 30% less than mechanically
40 linked drives. Durable high-traction belts have
Motor speed command
been adopted, especially for the heavily loaded
20
deceleration mechanism.
0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 MASS-SENSING DOOR CONTROL. A control sys-
Time (s)
tem that automatically adjusts the motor power
Fig. 4 Motor speed during door operation. and speed to suit doors of various weights has
been developed. A RISC-type high-performance
32-bit monolithic microprocessor provides the
S-De Luxe-2
DS-11M DS-21M
Indirectly lighted arch Roof with side lighting
and acrylic blocks
S-De Luxe-1
GS-11S, M GS-21S GS-31M GS-41M
Indirectly lighted arch Acrylic block roof Large arch of white Gable of acrylic blocks
with down light translucent plastic
De Luxe-B
SE-21S, M SE-21M SP-21M SL-41M
Central louver Half-silvered mirror in Punched holes with acrylic 90% Louvers
rectangular frame
SS-21S, M
White translucent plastic
panel with central arch
Standard
CN-11S, M CN-31M
Central globe of white Two globes of white translucent
translucent plastic plastic, one on each side
computing power needed to process motor of the landing so that a closing door will open to
torque commands for opening or closing the admit a late-arriving passenger.
doors while monitoring a pulse generator to de-
termine actual motor speed. The motor speed Aesthetic Design
reveals the door mass, and the processor uses
this information to adjust torque commands ac- CAR INTERIOR. New car interiors have been de-
cordingly. veloped. Separate ceiling illumination choices
for export and domestic markets have been
MULTIBEAM PHOTOELECTRIC SENSOR. Two pho- folded into a new five-level product scheme that
toelectric sensor systems are available to re- shares incandescent down lights and indirect
verse closing doors if a person or object is illumination. These products, listed in Fig. 5,
blocking the doorway. One is a two-dimensional are designed to harmonize with modern archi-
sensor that detects objects in the plane of the tectural design and building interior decor.
door. The other is a three-dimensional sensor
that extends the detection area in the direction CAR CONTROL PANEL. Fig. 6 shows the two con-
trol panel choices. An auxiliary control panel
with buttons arranged in a horizontal direction
is available for placement at heights of 900~
1,100mm to facilitate travel by children and wheel-
chair users. The new elevator cars retain the
LED dot-matrix display and the wave design of
previous door controls. The buttons now incor-
porate a tactile-feedback mechanism so that they
click when pressed. To improve legibility, the
font size for the button labels has been increased
(a) CBM-B150, "landscape" oriented control panel
by 1mm to 13.5mm and high-contrast colors
have been used.
December 1999 ·7
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
Designed for residential/business complexes, speed and five landings. The GPQ series takes
Mitsubishi Electric GPQ Series elevators accom- up 30% less floor area than hydraulic elevators
modate all traction equipment within the eleva- and 35% less than conventional traction mod-
tor shaft, eliminating the machine room and els, allowing more floor space for income-gen-
easing architectural constraints. The 45m/min erating purposes.
models require an overhead of 3,150mm at the Table 3 compares the energy consumption of
top of the shaft, comparable with hydraulic el- the same three elevator types. Use of a perma-
evators and less than previous traction designs. nent magnet synchronous traction motor and gear-
A 60m/min model with nine-passenger capac- less drive reduces the power consumption of GPQ
ity and five landings consumes 30% less space elevators to 20% less than traction elevators.
than a comparable hydraulic model. The ride comfort of GPQ series elevators is
Table 1 lists the basic elevator types. The el- comparable to high-speed elevators thanks to a
evators target the domestic Japanese market and quiet and responsive traction motor and sophis-
comply with JIS regulations. Traction technol- ticated motor control technology.
ogy permits the elevators to handle travel dis- To simplify building structural design, the
tances up to 60m and as many as 25 landings weight of the elevator equipment is carried
compared to the 20m travel limit of hydraulic through the guide rails to the pit floor, placing
elevators. minimal loads on the top of the building.
Table 2 compares the floor space taken up by The control panel is installed in the shaft,
GPQ, hydraulic and previous traction models supporting flexibility in landing design. Call but-
assuming a 9-passenger capacity, 60m/min tons with tactile feedback, car buttons with
audible feedback and braille indications serve
riders of all abilities.
Table 1 Product Types
Type R P
Passengers 6 9 6 or 9 11, 13 or 15
Shaft
Width x depth 1.55 x 2.1m 1.65 x 2.3m 1.55 x 2.1m
Floor area used 2 2
16.3m 19.0m 16.3m2
(5 landings)
Machine room
Width x depth 0 2.4 x 1.9m 2.4 x 3.8m
Floor area used 0 4.56m2 9.12m2
*Takenobu Honda and Eiji Ando are with the Inazawa Works.
Overhead 3,150
with a sheave at the top of the guide rails. The
hoist cable also passes over pulleys at the bot- Sheave
tom of the elevator car and the top of the coun- (at side of car)
terweight. The ends of the hoist cable are fixed
Counterweight
at the top of the guide rails, one on the side of Car
the elevator car, the other at the side of the
counterweight. With this arrangement the en-
Pit depth 1,250 min. Elevator travel 30,000 max.
950
1,150 for 6 passenger model
1,520 for 9 passenger model
1,700 for 6 passenger model
2,100 for 9 passenger model
480
Control
board
Door opening
800~900
Car interior width 1,400~1,600
Shaft width 1,800~2,150
December 1999 ·9
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
system that precisely controls traction motor mature current waveforms for upward operation
speed and torque. Encoder pulses provide feed- with a full load at a top speed of 60m/min.
back to the speed-control loop while armature
current and magnetic polarity serve as feedback Control Board
for the current control circuit. The control panel functions are divided between
Fig. 5 shows the speed, acceleration and ar-
Armature current
Speed
Acceleration
Counterweight
Diode converter IGBT inverter
Car
Regenerative
3-Phase AC braking Drive
resistor Current wheel
transformer
PM
TRACTION MACHINE
ENC
Current
feedback
INTELLIGENT
POWER Gate drive circuit
MODULE
Magnetic
pole
Car travel Speed control Current control position Key
control circuit circuit circuit PM: Permanent magnet
Speed feedback synchronous motor
ENC: Encoder
December 1999 · 11
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest harmonics mean that operation is quieter. Here
in extremely high-rise buildings. These buildings we will introduce the features of permanent
place extraordinary demands on elevator sys- magnet traction motors for speeds exceeding
tems—their primary mode of transportation. 300m/min.
Mitsubishi Electric has developed new technolo- Rare-earth magnets are manufactured in sa-
gies extending the speed of its elevators to an marium-cobalt, neodymium and praseodymium
industry-leading 540m/min with a load capacity formulations, each with different properties.
of 4,000kg. Permanent-magnet traction motors, Neodymium was chosen for this application for
inverters, an improved safety gear device, oil its high flux density and high coercive force that
buffer and other new technologies were devel- yield a high energy value, the BH product. In ad-
oped. dition, neodymium has excellent temperature
characteristics. Table 1 compares characteristics
Traction Motor of the three types of rare-earth permanent mag-
Squirrel-cage AC induction motors have been nets.
used to provide variable-speed capabilities for Smaller traction motors are desirable since
gearless, direct-coupled traction applications for they reduce the size and cost of the machine
more than a decade, replacing the DC motors room where the motors are housed. Smaller
previously used. Applications of rare-earth per- motor size is generally achieved by use of a
manent magnets to electric motors have ex- multi-pole design that reduces the core diam-
panded dramatically as new formulations with eter and coil end length. Size reductions in in-
increased flux density and coercive force have duction motors are limited by the drop in power
been developed and become available in produc- factor associated with multi-pole designs. Per-
tion quantities. Mitsubishi Electric has devel- manent magnet motors operate efficiently re-
oped the industry’s first permanent-magnet based
high-capacity traction motors for over 120m/min
and over 300m/min elevator applications, replac- Table 1 Comparison of Rare-Earth Magnets
ing the squirrel-cage induction motors previously Rare-earth SmCo Nd Pr
used. Fig. 1 shows the motor and its control sys-
Maximum accumulated energy High Very high High
tem. The motor is more efficient since no exci-
Temperature characteristics Excellent Excellent Fair
tation current is required, while lower levels of
gardless of the number of poles, and hence are to accelerate or decelerate the car, and the mo-
appropriate for compact multi-pole designs, es- tor must sustain large currents to do so. The
pecially now that solid-state inverters can oper- converter and inverter driving the motor em-
ate at the higher frequencies required by ploy six 600A-rated insulated-gate bipolar tran-
multi-pole designs. sistor (IGBT) modules connected in parallel.
Since an increase in pole number means more Heat pipes are used to cool the parallel-con-
components and more complicated and time-con- nected modules, preventing temperature differ-
suming manufacturing procedures, Mitsubishi ences that would result in unbalanced current
Electric selected the minimum pole number sat- flows. This better cooling permits denser com-
isfying miniaturization requirements. ponent mounting—the controller can deliver
double the output of previous equipment while
Hydraulic Brake Unit occupying less floor space.
A hydraulic disk brake release unit was devel-
oped to handle the high torques involved, and Control Circuitry
two of these brake units were used. The equip- A high-performance DSP controls the inverter
ment layout is more flexible due to the com- and converter. Control of permanent magnet
pact dimensions and fewer design constraints motors is simpler than that of squirrel cage in-
of the new equipment. duction motors and efficiency is higher because
there is neither the power consumption of the
Controller excitation coils nor the delays in energizing
Fig. 2 illustrates the components of the power them. A more exacting requirement is that the
control system. The system consists of a power rotor position must be detected precisely. This
supply panel fitted with circuit breakers, an aux- is accomplished by a cost-effective encoder that
iliary panel with built-in reactors for the power combines two types of encoding systems: an
supply and output circuits, a control panel hous- absolute encoder with markings at 45 degree
ing the power converter and control circuitry intervals, and an incremental encoder that pro-
and an inverter panel. vides two phase signals and delivers a zero-sig-
nal output once per revolution.
Heat-Pipe-Cooled Power Electronics
The weight of the hoisting ropes and electrical Rotor Position Compensation
cables is larger in higher buildings, adding tre- Errors in the rotor position detector output re-
mendous inertia to the passenger or cargo load. duce motor performance and efficiency and give
The traction motor must overcome this inertia passengers a rougher ride. Errors in the abso-
POWER INPUT
AUXILIARY PANEL
PANEL Encoder
Contactor ACR ACR
PM
Circuit
breaker Pulley
CONTROL PANEL INVERTER PANEL
Converter Inverter
Car
CT CT
Counterweight
CPU
December 1999 · 13
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
lute encoder arise from variations in equipment zations of Europe, the US and Japan (ENI, ANSI
mechanical alignment during assembly. Also and JIS, respectively) set performance standards
the electrical angle signal used in the control for elevator safety equipment.
system can differ from actual rotor angle, and
this error increases with the number of poles in A DUPLEX S AFETY GEAR DEVICE FOR HEAVY
the motor. Elevator operation data was moni- LOADS. An elevator car twice the height of a
tored, major error components identified and conventional car can increase the transport ca-
compensation implemented to overcome these pacity of an elevator shaft. The added weight of
effects. a double-decker car, its passengers, counter-
weight, and the long hoisting ropes in high-rise
Elevator Test Apparatus buildings has the effect of increasing the mov-
The performance of motors and control programs ing mass of the system so that the safety gear
for this high-speed, high-load application was device must provide more powerful braking ac-
tested by an apparatus consisting of a load mo- tion.
tor and flywheel connected through a torque Mitsubishi Electric has developed a duplex
meter to the motor under test. The test simu- safety gear device that meets the needs of an
lates normal elevator operation, with the con- ultrahigh-rise 540m/min elevator with a double-
troller supplying voltage and current in decker car with braking power 50% higher than
accordance with actual elevator speed instruc- the company’s previous safety gear device. Stop-
tions. The load motor creates torques corre- ping power was increased 50% over a previous
sponding to the load of the elevator car and
inertia of hoisting ropes and other components.
This arrangement permits tests to be conducted
under conditions nearly identical to actual el-
Overspeed governor Traction sheave Main rope
evator operation. Fig. 3 shows operation wave-
forms of a traction motor for a 540m/min elevator
measured by this apparatus.
Guide shoe
Safety Equipment
Fig. 4 illustrates the elevator safety equipment. Governor rope
Motor current
Guide rail
DC bus voltage
Car velocity 540m/min
Pit
Input current Buffer footing
Tension sheave
2s
Car acceleration (from torque meter output)
600 8
Acceleration (G)
Speed
Speed (m/min)
400 6
200 4
0 2
Acceleration
-200 0
Jaw -400 -2
Link 0 1 2 3 4
Acceleration (G)
Speed (m/min)
Capacity 4,000kg 400 6
Travel 350m 200 4
Maximum operating speed 675m/min 0 2
Acceleration
Maximum mass 176.5kN -200 0
Stopping distance 6.4~18.4m -2
-400
0 1 2 3 4
Time (s)
December 1999 · 15
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
The new control system’s chopper circuit uses a) At Thyristor b) At PWM converter
inverter technology borrowed from inverter-con- Leonard circuit
trolled high-speed elevators to achieve higher
efficiency than thyristor Leonard systems with Fig. 2 Comparison of power source current
increased rider comfort and reduced noise. Ap- waveforms.
plicable elevators will be those with speeds of
120 ~240m/min and capacities below 1,600kg.
The needs of a broader range of elevators will
be addressed later. This article introduces the record in the company’s inverter-controlled high-
new control system and its chopper circuit. speed elevators. The converter maintains a
sinewave input current waveform that dramati-
Main Circuit Configuration cally reduces the harmonic current. Fig. 2 con-
Fig. 1 shows the basic configuration of the con- trasts the square current waveform supplied by
trol system. The main circuit consists of a PWM a thyristor Leonard circuit with the sinusoidal
converter and chopper circuit. AC power sup- current waveform supplied by the PWM con-
plied to the system is stepped down by a trans- verter. The harmonic current distortion of the
former and then converted to a constant-voltage PWM converter is low enough that the building’s
DC supply by the PWM converter. The chopper power feed requires no special harmonic cur-
circuit converts this constant-voltage supply to rent protection.
variable-voltage power for the DC motor. The power factor for the PWM converter’s in-
Based on 1,200V 600A IGBTs connected in put current is 1 during powering and −1 during
parallel, the PWM converter circuit has a proven regenerative braking. This high power factor can
Car cage
*Toru Tanahashi and Masami Kawamura are with the Inazawa Works.
8µs
320V
reduce the substation capacity requirement by Steep voltage gradients that occur during IGBT
20~30% compared to a thyristor Leonard circuit. switching can cause voltage ringing that propa-
The transformer at the PWM converter input gates through the output cable causing voltage
provides electrical isolation that protects other surges in the motor’s armature winding. IGBTs
equipment in the building from damage by leak- can turn on or turn off in less than 0.1 micro-
age currents originating in the elevator. second. Surge voltages from this fast switching
The chopper circuit employs an H-shaped can build up potential differences between the
network permitting full four-quadrant control. armature windings high enough to cause dielec-
Powering and regenerative braking are available tric breakdown, arcing and damaging the insu-
during both ascent and descent. The chopper lation. Older motors with declining insulation
circuit also uses parallel-connected 1,200V 600A resistance are especially subject to this type of
IGBTs to perform the power switching. The large damage.
amount of heat in the IGBTs, generated by the An LCR filter on the chopper circuit output
flow and switching of high DC currents, is car- limits this danger by lengthening the rise time
ried away by compact heat sinks using heat- of surge voltage and lowering peak voltage. Fig.
pipe technology. 3 shows current transients at the armature
December 1999 · 17
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
winding terminals when the IGBT turns on. The controlling the chopper circuit performs calcu-
surge has a long, eight-microsecond rise time lations to suppress elevator vibration, thus im-
that limits inductive effects. As a result the peak proving riding comfort by reducing noise and
voltage drops dramatically, rising scarcely 5% vibration.
above the DC bus voltage. In DC elevators, the current in the field wind-
With thyristor Leonard circuits, the armature ing is often controlled to vary with elevator ve-
current includes a ripple at a frequency six times locity. This method results in torque variations
that of the power source, or 300~360Hz —rep- that can cause the car to vibrate. The new
resenting electromagnetic energy that causes system’s control program minimizes these
audible noise. In the chopper system, a modula- torque pulsations by coordinated control of the
tion frequency of 5kHz results in a high ripple field current and armature current.
frequency that is attenuated by the impedance Fig. 4 shows the speed and acceleration curves
of the armature winding, reducing audible noise. for the elevator operating at rated load capac-
ity. The acceleration is as smooth as in the lat-
Control Circuit est inverter-controlled elevators, with greater
A high-performance VLSI microprocessor devel- ride comfort than previous control systems us-
oped to control inverter-controlled high-speed ing a motor-generator (MG) set. A pulse encoder
elevators has been adapted to this DC applica- on the governor detects car position to within
tion. A pulse generator on the motor shaft pro- 0.5mm and dramatically improves landing ac-
vides speed detection for the main feedback loop. curacy.
Speed control accuracy is further enhanced by
a second feedback loop that senses the arma- Other Features
ture current. The microprocesssor program for The new control system has cut energy use by
Speed pattern
Car speed
1 2
Car acceleration
December 1999 · 19
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
*Yoshio Kamiya is with Inazawa Works and Hiroshi Hirano is with Mitsubishi Electric Elevator Products Co., Ltd.
a) Three passengers, one exit, left-opening doors b) Three passengers, two exits
(1,400mm in wood-frame installations)
c) Two passengers, one exit, left-opening doors d) Two passengers, two exits
(1,200mm in wood-frame installations)
**Inside dimension
is almost identical to that for other construc- aesthetic appearance by eliminating the need
tion methods. for a removable door-retraction-bay wall.
The size of the control panel for the new el- Fig. 3 shows the basic electrical configuration.
evators has been reduced, allowing it to be The elevators now use a 200VAC single-phase
placed inside the open side door jamb at the power supply—available in most homes—instead
landing of the lowest floor. The control panel of the three-phase supply previously required. The
can be removed via the door jamb inspection inverter is implemented using an intelligent power
port with wiring connected, allowing mainte- module, as in previous residential elevators, but
nance to be conducted in the hallway. This ap- with a redesigned mounting that is more com-
proach saves space and improves the landing’s pact and reliable than before.
December 1999 · 21
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
INVERTER UNIT
Intelligent Power Module
Diode converter Power supply detection
Power supply
Traction motor
Line filter
Drive
circuitry Power supply
feedback
Battery
CONTROL CIRCUITRY
24VDC
Door motor
Microcontroller
(processes control Microcontroller
panel inputs) (door control)
A high-performance monolithic microproces- to the elevator controller board and operates the
sor generates control signals for the inverter lights and exhaust fan. The second generates PWM
using digital control programs designed to opti- signals for the DC-motor-operated doors. The de-
mize comfort and safety. celeration and landing switches located on the
Included in all models is a battery-powered guide rails at each floor are combined into single
emergency-stop function that lowers the car to units that simplify installation and adjustment.
the next landing if a blackout or other failure The initial cars have been made of glass-fiber
disrupts the main power supply while the car is reinforced plastic (GFRP) but this is to be re-
between floors. Circuitry for the function has placed by a recyclable specialty plastic that is
been moved onto the main controller board from 20% lighter than GFRP. The specialty plastic
a separate board in the controller box. The power has a coefficient of thermal expansion that is
connection board for the elevator has been four times that of GFRP, making the car poten-
moved into the door retraction bay in the eleva- tially liable to warping due to temperature
tor hallway at the bottom floor. The board also changes. Various structural designs were tested
includes low-maintenance components that pre- under controlled temperature and humidity con-
viously resided on the controller board. A line ditions in a large test chamber and a configura-
filter is provided to prevent electromagnetic tion with minimal warping was selected.
noise generated in the inverter from affecting A telephone handset provided as standard
other home appliances. equipment serves day-to-day and emergency
Control functions are implemented using a communication needs.
distributed processing model. Two microproces-
sors managing the elevator car are located on a Aesthetic and Ergonomic Design
circuit board mounted in the car ceiling. One Elevators for home use should use tranquil, re-
sends commands from the car’s control panel laxing color schemes that blend well with home
December 1999 · 23
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
24-hour/365-day
Automated
continuous inspection reporting
Dispatch instructions
Report delivery
Field engineer
*Kiyoji Kawai is with Inazawa Works and Hideki Shiozaki with Mitsubishi Electric Building Techno-Service Co., Ltd.
December 1999 · 25
T ECHNICAL R EPORTS
December 1999 · 27
NEW PRODUCTS
The FPR-MKII Finger
Print Recognizer