Abstract: A driver state determination apparatus includes: an in-vehicle camera detecting a driver's sightline and head behavior; and a controller configured to determine the driver's state based on the driver's sightline and head behavior. When the driver is in an abnormal state based on the driver's sightline movement, the controller determines whether or not the driver's abnormal state a visual field impairment based on a change in each of a yaw angle and a pitch angle of the driver's head. When the abnormal state is the visual field impairment, the controller determines that the driver is aware of the visual field impairment when there is a direction in which the driver's sightline is not directed in the driver's field of view, and unaware of the visual field impairment when there is no direction in which the driver's sightline is not directed in the driver's field of view.

Abstract: A vibration damping device for reducing vibration of an elevator rope includes a displacement amplifier arranged around a region from a first portion of the elevator rope drawn and a second portion of the elevator rope drawn from an opposite side of one or more sheaves in parallel with the first portion. The displacement amplifier is configured to amplify a displacement of each of the first portion and the second portion of the elevator rope. The device also includes a limiting member that controls displacement amplification performed by the displacement amplifier such that the displacement of the first portion or the second portion amplified by the displacement amplifier does not become greater than a first displacement, which is a displacement of the elevator rope by which the elevator rope is not allowed to return to an equilibrium position of the vibration.

Abstract: A break detection device includes an extraction unit (22), an extraction unit (23), a detection unit (24), and a determination unit (26). The extraction unit (22) extracts, from an output signal from a sensor, a vibration component in a specific frequency band. The extraction unit (23) attenuates, from the vibration component extracted by the extraction unit (22), a steady vibration component and a progressively increasing vibration component to extract a determination signal. The detection unit (24) detects, on the basis of the determination signal, occurrence of an abnormal variation in the output signal from the sensor. The determination unit (26) determines whether or not a rope has a broken portion.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a sway amount estimation system that can suppress a reduction in user convenience that would occur if the operation method is switched more than necessary. A sway amount estimation system (300) includes a sensing unit (78), a judgment unit (80), and an estimation unit (79). The estimation unit (79) calculates an estimated value of the amount of sway of an elevator rope due to vibration caused by building sway based on the sway sensed by the sensing unit (78) and an estimation model incorporating the effect of the displacement amplification of the displacement amplifier (7). The judgment unit (80) judges if the estimated value calculated by the estimation unit (79) is greater than a threshold for switching the operation method for the elevator apparatus (11).

Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a vibration damping system that can avoid the occurrence of resonance of an elevator rope regardless of the vibration frequency of a vibration source. A vibration damping system (200) includes a displacement amplifier (7), a calculation unit (66), and a displacement amplification control unit (67). The displacement amplifier (7) is arranged along a given position in the longitudinal direction of the elevator rope. The displacement amplifier (7) amplifies a displacement due to vibration of the elevator rope based on a variable amplification factor. The calculation unit (66) calculates the natural frequency of the elevator rope. The displacement amplification control unit (67) controls the displacement amplification of the displacement amplifier (7) based on the natural frequency calculated by the calculation unit (66) and a preset vibration frequency.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a vibration damping device including an instability preventing means, for efficiently suppressing amplification of vibration of a long structure, which is mechanically flexible, due to a resonance phenomenon. A vibration damping device (100) for reducing vibration of a long structure (1) includes a displacement amplifier (7) and limiting members (8). The displacement amplifier (7) is arranged along a given position in the longitudinal direction of the structure (1). The displacement amplifier (7) amplifies a displacement of the structure (1). The limiting members (8) control displacement amplification performed by the displacement amplifier (7) such that the displacement of the structure (1) amplified by the displacement amplifier (7) does not become greater than a first displacement, the first displacement being a displacement of the structure (1) by which the structure (1) is not allowed to return to the equilibrium position of the vibration.

Abstract: A break detection device includes a sensor, an abnormal variation detection unit (22), a storage unit (20), an arithmetic unit (23), and a break determination unit (24). The arithmetic unit (23) increases a determination score when the abnormal variation detection unit (22) detects occurrence of an abnormal variation when a car (1) passes a position stored in the storage unit (20). The arithmetic unit (23) decreases the determination score when the abnormal variation detection unit (22) does not detect the occurrence of the abnormal variation when the car (1) passes the position. The break determination unit (24) determines whether or not a broken portion is present in a rope on the basis of the determination score.

Abstract: A control cable guide device for an elevator, which is to be mounted to a control cable suspended between a middle portion of a hoistway and a lower portion of a car, the control cable having a curved portion formed at a lower end position of the control cable, the control cable guide device including an arm to be suspended on the control cable at a position below the car in a pivotable manner. The arm is configured to be pushed upward by the curved portion when the car is caused to travel to a lowermost position within a normal traveling range, to thereby shift to a cable receiving position for receiving the control cable while being partially projected from the car in a horizontal direction.

Abstract: A method for controlling an operation of an elevator system is discloses. The elevator system includes an elevator car moving within an elevator shaft and at least one elevator cable connected to the elevator car and the elevator shaft to carry electrical signals to the elevator car. The method determines a counter force on the elevator cable required to change a nominal shape of the elevator cable to an inverse shape of a current shape of the elevator cable caused by disturbance on the elevator system and applies the counter force to the elevator cable.

Abstract: A method for controlling an operation of an elevator system is discloses. The elevator system includes an elevator car moving within an elevator shaft and at least one elevator cable connected to the elevator car and the elevator shaft to carry electrical signals to the elevator car. The method determines a counter force on the elevator cable required to change a nominal shape of the elevator cable to an inverse shape of a current shape of the elevator cable caused by disturbance on the elevator system and applies the counter force to the elevator cable.

Abstract: A method reduces a sway of an elevator rope supporting an elevator car by controlling a tension of the elevator rope. The tension is controlled using a movement of the elevator sheave according to a control law of the tension of the elevator rope between two points. The first point is associated with a contact of the elevator rope with the elevator sheave. The second point is associated with a contact of the elevator rope with the elevator car or a counterweight of the elevator car. The control law is a function of one or combination of a relative position, a relative velocity and a relative acceleration between the first and the second points.

Abstract: A control cable guide device for an elevator, which is to be mounted to a control cable suspended between a middle portion of a hoistway and a lower portion of a car, the control cable having a curved portion formed at a lower end position of the control cable, the control cable guide device including an arm to be suspended on the control cable at a position below the car in a pivotable manner. The arm is configured to be pushed upward by the curved portion when the car is caused to travel to a lowermost position within a normal traveling range, to thereby shift to a cable receiving position for receiving the control cable while being partially projected from the car in a horizontal direction.

Abstract: An elevator rope sway detection method and a detection device using the same capable of detecting an elevator rope sway, generated by a building shake caused by an earthquake or strong wind, with high accuracy by preventing incorrect detections in detecting the elevator rope sway. A rope detector including a rope sway detector sends detection information detected by the rope detector to a rope determiner. A rope sway determination mechanism includes a detection signal memorization unit, a detection signal calculation unit, and a rope sway determination unit to determine that a rope sway occurs if the detection information sent from the rope detector fulfills a predetermined condition. A result determined by the rope sway determination unit is sent to an elevator controller, which performs an operation corresponding to the determined result.

Abstract: A method reduces a sway of an elevator rope supporting an elevator car within an elevator system using an elevator sheave. The method controls, using a movement of the elevator sheave, a tension of the elevator rope according to a control law of the tension of the elevator rope between a first point and a second point. The first point is associated with a contact of the elevator rope with the elevator sheave. The second point is associated with a contact of the elevator rope with the elevator car or a counterweight of the elevator car. The control law is a function of one or combination of a relative position, a relative velocity and a relative acceleration between the first and the second points.

Abstract: In an elevator apparatus, an actuating device applies a tension for suppressing a lateral vibration to a rope. A computation controller controls the actuating device by using lateral-vibration information of the rope as an input. Also, the computation controller selectively outputs, to the actuating device, a plurality of actuating commands including a first actuating command for applying the tension to the rope regardless of phase information of the lateral vibration of the rope and a second actuating command for applying a tension fluctuation for damping the lateral vibration to the rope based on the phase information.

Abstract: An elevator rope sway detection method and a detection device using the same capable of detecting an elevator rope sway, generated by a building shake caused by an earthquake or strong wind, with high accuracy by preventing incorrect detections in detecting the elevator rope sway. A rope detector including a rope sway detector sends detection information detected by the rope detector to a rope determiner. A rope sway determination mechanism includes a detection signal memorization unit, a detection signal calculation unit, and a rope sway determination unit to determine that a rope sway occurs if the detection information sent from the rope detector fulfills a predetermined condition. A result determined by the rope sway determination unit is sent to an elevator controller, which performs an operation corresponding to the determined result.

Abstract: Since the elevator type is varied, a set value used for judging car oscillation must be set for each elevator, which requires much time and labor. Also, if the criteria of all elevators are represented by one set value to eliminate the time and labor required for the setting, variations in detection occur. A car oscillation detecting device includes a means in which a set value, which is used as a criterion for judging car oscillation, is stored in advance as a table or a relational expression in which an elevator specification is used as a parameter, and the set value is selected automatically by using the information of the elevator specification, by which the time and the labor for setting are eliminated. Further, since the set value is a value suitable for that elevator, variations in detection can be restrained, and hence the reliability is high.

Abstract: In a control operation performed at time of an earthquake or strong wind, when a running elevator is stopped at a nearest floor, the natural frequency of the transverse vibration of a rope is prevented from resonating with the natural frequency of the building, and thereby an increase in transverse vibration of the rope is restrained. In the control operation, when a shake of the building caused by earthquake or strong wind is detected, a running elevator is stopped at the nearest floor, or an elevator passing through an express zone is stopped emergently and runs at a low speed to the nearest floor, the natural frequency of the transverse vibration of the rope is compared with the natural frequency of the building, and the car stop position is selected at a non-resonance position to prevent the natural frequency of the transverse vibration of the rope from resonating with the natural frequency of the building.

Abstract: Since there are a variety of models of elevators, it is extremely time consuming to set by each elevator a specified value for judging car sway. Also, when one specified value is made to represent criteria for all elevators in order to save time for the setting, detection results may vary. Specified values as judgment criteria for car sway are prestored as a table or a relational expression that employ elevator specifications as parameters and a means for automatically selecting a specified value by using information on the elevator specifications is provided, which saves time for the setting. Since the set specified value is suitable for that particular elevator, variation in detection results is suppressed to realize a highly reliable car sway detector.

Abstract: In a control operation performed at the time of earthquake or strong wind, when a running elevator is stopped at the nearest floor, the natural frequency of the transverse vibration of a rope is prevented from resonating with the natural frequency of the building, and thereby the increase in transverse vibration of the rope is restrained. There is provided a rope resonance checking means in which, in the control operation in which when a shake of the building caused by earthquake or strong wind is detected, a running elevator is stopped at the nearest floor, or an elevator passing through an express zone is stopped emergently and runs at a low speed to the nearest floor, the natural frequency of the transverse vibration of the rope is compared with the natural frequency of the building, and selects the car stop position at a non-resonance position so as to prevent the natural frequency of the transverse vibration of the rope from resonating with the natural frequency of the building.