Otis Elevator Company

United Technologies Corporation

Utc Fuel Cells, LLC

Timothy M Remmers

Randall Keith Roberts

Barry G Blackaby

William Aldis Wurts

Rajesh Rajamani

Roy Stephen Colby

Clement A Skalski

Tommy Skiba

Gerald S Golden

Michael W Hawman

Wesley E Sedlacek, Jr

Paul A Grubb

Rishi Grover

Thomas M Ritter

David D Jayne

Francis J Griffiths

Geoffrey W Gillingham

William C Rogers

David R Judd

An auxiliary load () for a fuel cell stack () is alternatively connected and disconnected from the fuel cell external circuit () by a switch () in response to a switch control (), repetitively, during startup and shutdown. The switch may be an insulated gate bipolar transistor () which is turned on and off by hunting between an upper limit voltage () and a lower limit voltage (), which may be performed by compare circuits (), by the controller (), or by commercially available voltage responsive hysteresis switches. Schedules of duty cycle as a function of cell stack voltage for startup () and shutdown () control a pulse width modulator () which operates the switch. Controls () may limit the modulation so that the auxiliary load does not overheat, in response to temperature () of the load or a voltage/power model (). The auxiliary load may comprise a heater in a water accumulator (), an air intake () or an enthalpy recovery device ().

Fuel cell voltage control

A wireless communications system for use with an elevator system in a building includes a first transceiver connected to an elevator controller and a second transceiver located remotely within the building. The first and second transceivers each have antennas which allow wireless transmission of data between the transceivers. A building monitoring center is hard-wired to the second transceiver to allow personnel to monitor and interact with each elevator controller. A third transceiver and antenna are located outside of the building and are connected to a central monitoring station to allow remote monitoring and interaction with each elevator controller. The wireless communications system can be used with a network of elevators where each elevator has a unique electronic address to allow discreet wireless communications with a specific elevator.

System for remotely communicating voice and data to and from an elevator controller

To sense the level of light in the passenger compartment 7 of an elevator cab 8, light at the proximal end of an optical fiber 4 is monitored by an optical detector 25 feeding a variable voltage divider 18, which allows setting a trip point at a desired level of light within the passenger compartment, thereby providing a signal indicating whether the light is adequate or not to a remote elevator monitoring apparatus 23. The trip point may be selected on installation by adjusting a potentiometer while watching an optical indication 17 of reaching the trip point, or it may be determined by software routines.

Remote monitoring of elevator cab lights

A rail survey unit (130) measures the relative profile of an elevator guide rail (132) at a series of equally spaced points (a.sub.o -a.sub.n) along the rail (132).

Rail survey unit

A method which provides for level monitoring of an elevator car within a hoistway at a plurality of floors by providing a plurality of sensed signals which is indicative of an elevator position of the elevator car relative to a plurality of targets having a plurality of light absorptive surfaces and a plurality of light interactive regions, the plurality of targets mounted within the hoistway at the plurality of floors. The plurality of sensed signals is processed to provide a leveling variable, a floor number variable and a direction of travel variable which indicate a direction of travel of the elevator car within the hoistway. The leveling variable, floor number variable and direction of travel variable are stored at a remote elevator monitoring central processor.

Method for monitoring elevator leveling performance with improved

In an elevator active guidance system, in order to avoid the action of one actuator (23) from interfering with the action of another, a controller (21) is provided that uses a force law based on a model of the elevator (40), and uses information from all of the sensors (22) in combination to determine, according to the force law, the force each actuator (23) should provide. The model of the elevator (40) is used to determine how the elevator (40) will respond to the forces exerted by the actuators (23). In the preferred embodiment, the elevator (40) is assumed to respond to the actuator forces as a rigid body. The full model is built up from this basic assumption, finally including all of the geometric and inertial attributes of the elevator necessary to describe its rigid body motion in response to forces from actuators (23).

Elevator active guidance system having a model-based multi-input

The invention provides an elevator system for controlling movement of an elevator car with respect to guide rails in an elevator hoistway, having a force-estimation or position-scheduled current command controller and a magnet driver circuit without the need for a flux sensor. The force-estimation or position-scheduled current command controller responds to a force command signal, and further responds to a sensed gap signal, for providing a force-estimation or position-scheduled current command controller signal as a current command to the magnet driver circuit. The magnet driver circuit responds to the force-estimation or position-scheduled current command controller signal, for providing a magnet driver circuit signal to control said horizontal movement of the elevator car with respect to the guide rail in the elevator hoistway, whereby the horizontal movement of the elevator car is controlled without sensing magnetic flux. Other applications include any system that uses an electromagnet to produce an attractive or repulsive force across a large air gap, such as magnetic levitation trains or shuttles, and magnetic bearings.

Elevator system having a force-estimation or position-scheduled current

The invention features an elevator system including an elevator car (12) having a frame that operates on guide rails of an elevator shaft of a building. The elevator car (12) has a rigid body motion in a global coordination system (X, Y, Z) kinematically defined by five degrees of freedom including side-to-side translation along the X axis, front-to-back translation along the Y axis, a pitch rotation about the X axis, a roll rotation about the Y axis, and a yaw rotation about the Z axis. The elevator system includes local parameter sensing means (14), responsive to local parameter sensed in each of the five degrees of freedom in the global coordination system (X, Y, Z), for providing local parameter signals (G.sub.m, A.sub.m); coordinated control means (16), responsive to the local parameter signals (G.sub.m, A.sub.m), for providing coordinated control signals (CC.sub.x1, CC.sub.x2, CC.sub.y1, CC.sub.y2, CC.sub.y3); and local force generating means (18), responsive to the local force coordinated control signals (CC.sub.x1, CC.sub.x2, CC.sub.y1, CC.sub.y2, CC.sub.y3), for providing coordinated local forces (F.sub.x1, F.sub.x2, F.sub.y1, F.sub.y2, F.sub.y3) to maintain desired gaps between the frame and the guide rails to coordinate the position of the elevator car (12) with respect to the elevator shaft of the building.

Elevator active guidance system having a coordinated controller

A hollow metal article can be made by casting a metal article around a ceramic core and leaching the core from inside the article. These steps form a hollow space in the shape of the ceramic core. An x-ray detectable agent that has a higher x-ray density than the ceramic core is introduced into the core. Any core remaining inside the article after the leaching step is detected by making and analyzing an x-ray radiograph of the article.

X-ray detection of residual ceramic material inside hollow metal articles

A turbine engine debris ingestion monitor has an acoustic emission sensor 18, 18a mounted on a surface 14, 14a disposed in an air flow stream of a turbine engine 12. The sensor converts acoustic emissions 16, generated by particles of debris 10 impacting on the surface, into an electrical signal. A counting circuit 22 (FIG. 2) processes the signal resulting in an output, indicative of the level of debris ingested into the engine, which is recorded in the aircraft's flight data recording system 110.

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New Hartford, CT, United States of America

Timothy M Remmers