We experienced that the door opening and closing didn’t work in spite of user’s operation. We have developed the best solutions for an appropriate operation of an elevator door. We adopted a camera as a door sensor. It is called a door sensor in the following. A door sensor might be to catch a broader area surrounding an elevator door. It should be to judge whether people at the elevator hall passing away or riding on a car or not. We have made up a best algorithm for this operation and verified the effect. This is introduced in this paper.

Low speed rotating bearing diagnosis for core mechanical parts, such as step chain sprockets and handrail driving wheels, of escalators in train stations is critical to maintain daily steady transportation of huge number of passengers. Since usual vibration diagnosis methods cannot be adapted because of its low sensitivity to low speed rotating machinery, we proposed the new diagnostic technique based on Acoustic Emission (AE) technology in order to detect failures of such low speed rotating bearings of the escalators before severe damages occur and to numerically record the results of diagnosis. A number of AE measurements at actual facilities of various train stations were carried out with the portable AE diagnosis instrument MK-560 (JFE Advantech Co., Ltd.). It was revealed that some damaged bearings indicated the high values of an AE parameter named E_area which was developed by some of the authors. There were, however, two major problems to be solved. First, meshing noise from the sprocket was frequently overlapped to the AE signal, which caused high values of E_area even for good bearings. The newly developed noise removal procedures were added to evaluation of E_area to greatly alleviate the situation. Its effectiveness was verified by AE measurements of actual facilities. Secondly, we found that E_area might not indicate high value for severe unlubricated bearings. This was because proper evaluation of E_area was difficult for the AE waveform showing large and gradual fluctuation caused by the unlubricated bearings. The new parameter E_sd based on width of the amplitude distribution of the AE waveform was introduced to overcome this problem. Finally, it was concluded that the low speed rotating bearings installed in escalators can be diagnosed by means of the newly developed AE technique. The damaged part of the bearings can be identified from the frequency analysis of the AE waveform.

We tested blocking device for environmental resistance. The test to confirm the risk of operation failure when blocking parts were pulled back was performed by blocking parts covered with gravel, chewing gum, or juice. The result is that gravel has the highest risk of preventing blocking parts from being pulled back, so we analyzed the factor of the prevention of pulling back by gravel through the test. It is possible to reduce risks by changing the gap between blocking parts and car sill, but to reduce falling objects into the hoistway, the gap is desirable to be narrow as long as possible. Therefore, the best method reducing prevention of pulling back by gravel is providing a groove between the blocking parts and car sill. This can reduce friction by reducing the amount of gravel caught between blocking parts and car sill, and it is the most valid for this problem.

An escalator handrail is driven along guide frames by a handrail driving device. Frictional force between a handrail and guide frames becomes running resistance that is drive force needed for handrail. The new method to analyze the drive force of an escalator handrail was proposed by the authors at last report. This time, using a handrail test device, the drive force was measured when the height of an escalator changed. Same test was done when a passenger adds the force at a level part of handrail. The drive force was also analyzed by the new method. The measured data and analytical result was compared.

In the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, escalator body fall accidents occurred. When a building is greatly shaken by an earthquake, an escalator may be greatly shaken as well. Therefore, top or bottom of escalators is fixed to beam of a building in order to follow layer deformation. In non-fixed side, the escalator is supported by L-form board and hanging to the beam of building. The length that escalator hanging to the beam of building is called overlap allowance. The length of the overlap allowance is determined by escalator technical standard. However, coming off of escalators from beams of the building is considered to be layer deformation with more than expected. After fall accident, the new earthquake resistant standard of the escalator was defined. By the new standard, escalator is less likely to fall. On the other hand, escalator receives compression force by a collision. It is necessary to clarify the seismic behavior of escalators to prevent such accidents. From the above-mentioned background, this study develops the analytical model of escalators for the seismic response analysis, and clarifies the seismic behavior of escalators to use the developed analytical model of the escalator. In this paper examine the safety of the new standard Overlap Allowance in comparison with sliding displacement of the escalator at the time of the earthquake.

Vibration suppressors are used to change the natural frequency of an elevator rope and prevent resonance. The displacement of the parts of the elevator rope at both the ends is small compared to that of the center part of the rope; therefore, it is not necessary to position the vibration suppressors in the parts on either ends. The elevator rope is generally modeled using a string, and linear string vibration is well researched. However, the vibration of the string equipped with vibration suppressors encounters geometric nonlinearity, and hence, its characteristics have been studied under a few conditions. In this paper, an exact solution is presented for the free vibration of a string when the vibration suppressors are located in the center part of the string. In the analysis for determining the exact solution, the problem of free vibration with vibration suppressors is transposed to a problem of forced vibration. Further, to verify the validity of the exact solution, a finite difference analysis of the string vibration with vibration suppressors is performed. The calculated results obtained from the finite difference analysis are in good agreement with the results of the exact solution.

Elevators are essential for means of traffic of vertical. In recent years, elevators to be installed in the building by the high-rise buildings are long stroke, thus elevator ropes are longer. Consequently, the natural period of elevator rope increases and gets closer to the natural period of buildings. As a result, the elevator rope hooked to the equipment of shaft wall when the elevator rope vibrates by an external force, such as an earthquake. Secondary damage such as containment of passenger and elevators service stop may occur. It has become a problem. For example, The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, 2015 cases of problem such as catch and damage of elevator ropes have been reported. We demand elevator that can be run after earthquake. Therefore, this study is aimed at construction of analysis techniques that can be unified evaluation and comparison of the elevator rope. In this report, we examine the effectiveness of the elevator using intermediate transfer floor. In the analysis, it was examined with the maximum displacement of case of the 3 dividing lifting stroke and case of the 2 dividing lifting stroke.

Buildings are known to sway when earthquakes occur or during windy conditions. The frequency of the high-rise building sway is often less than 0.5 Hz. Because the natural frequencies of the traveling cables or ropes are very close to the frequency of the high-rise building sway, resonance often occurs. To identify the characteristics of the cables considering at the several conditions such as different length or type, the shaking tests are conducted and also FE (Finite Element) models with optimally –tuned parameters are confirmed. In addition, through the behaviour analysis and vibrational tests of the travelling cable that is subjected to horizontal vibrations in any direction, it has been confirmed that FE models can be used to design the equipment configuration in the hoistway.

The noise of a traction machine can cause a trouble that uncomfortable feeling is given to persons in an elevator hall or living space, in particular, the traction machine is noisy. As a common knowledge, the noise of a traction machine will be increased in case the various excitation frequencies during driving coincide with the natural frequencies of the traction machine or its parts. However, the problem is almost found for the timing that a prototype machine is made. So, we have to take a lot of time or cost to investigate the cause of the noise. In order to improve this situation, we tried to find the problem in the process of designing. In this report, we introduced two successful examples for reducing the noise with a way of eigenvlue analysis.

In an elevator cab, extreme passengers' behavior, such as jump in a cab or tackle a car panel, makes larger vibration than in normal use. The unexpected large vibration with such passengers' behavior can cause damage to devices in an elevator shaft or confinement in an elevator. Therefore, it is necessary to grasp the relationship between passengers' behavior and vibration of an elevator in order to take measures as required. In this study, we found the method to predict the vibration of an elevator based on the simulation model and the estimated force from actual passengers’ behavior. Furthermore, we compared predicted and actual vibrations to verify the validity of the method.

In firefighting operation, the extinguishing water may flow into the hoistway. In case of the machine-roomless elevator is applied for the fire fighter's service elevator, the extinguishing water would splash to traction machines or control panels. Therefore, we carried out a full-size experiment of the elevator hoistway to obtain technical knowledge how the extinguishing water splashes in the hoistway. From the result of our experiment, we verify the installation position and its waterproof protection grade for traction machines or control panels.

According to the present Building Standards Law, the structure of a restraint device is not defined in detailed standards corresponding to acceleration. Partly because of this, it was found from last fiscal year’s research that only a few amusement facility enterprises either accurately know or have interest in acceleration data. In this research, standards on a restraint device will be reviewed by collecting scientific knowledge by means of actual measurement of data, interview to amusement facilities, etc. concerning the structure and combination of restraint devices corresponding to the acceleration and type of amusement facilities. Also, review will be made on conformity・ response to overseas standards to assess standards, and structure standards specifications corresponding to acceleration, while paying consideration to the background of law, culture and others that are unique to Japan.