BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to a door safety device furnished at the entrance/exit of a building, in an elevator, or the like.

[0002] Examples of existing door safety devices are described in Japanese Patent

Application No. 2002-265175 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-26382. The elevator device described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-265175 detects by means of a single axis optical sensor installed in a vertical orientation or an oblique orientation near the elevator entrance/exit. This device has detection gaps and thus, pull-in accidents cannot be prevented with certainty, and reliability as a safety device is lacking.

[0003] The safety device described in Japanese Kokai Patent Application No.

2003-26382 detects blocking of a first light beam and a second light beam that cross the elevator entrance/exit in order to restrict opening and closing of the car door and the hall door.

Light blockage is also detected at positions near the center of the entrance/exit where accidents in which something is pulled in by the car door or hall door do not occur. However, this device provides for unnecessary restrictions regarding the opening and closing of the elevator door. In addition, detection gaps can also occur because the first and second lighting means and the first and second light-receiving means use a single axis optical sensor. Thus, pull-in accidents cannot be prevented with certainty, and reliability as a safety device is lacking.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Exemplary embodiments of a door safety device include a door that is installed to be movable and that opens and closes across a prescribed opening, a horizontal multi-axis optical sensor that uses the plane facing the aforementioned opening of the door and an area at a prescribed distance from said plane as the detection area, and a control means that performs control to prohibit opening of the aforementioned door while the aforementioned door is opening if said horizontal multi-axis optical sensor is activated.

[0005] An exemplary embodiment of the invention includes having a plurality of the doors that are furnished side by side perpendicular to the direction of movement, and the aforementioned horizontal multi-axis optical sensor uses the area where said two or more doors face each other, the area where a door and the object are facing, or a region at a

prescribed distance from the doors on the side toward the opening, and their vicinities as the detection area.

[0006] An exemplary embodiment of the invention also includes control means that issues a warning when the aforementioned horizontal multi-axis optical sensor is activated before the aforementioned door(s) open. In addition, the horizontal multi-axis optical sensor is constituted with either a reflective type sensor or an interrupt type sensor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Embodiments of the present invention will be explained below with reference to figures, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiment below.

[0008] Figure 1 is a plan view showing the configuration of the major parts of an embodiment example in which the present invention is applied to doors that open in one direction.

[0009] Figure 2 is a plan view that shows the configuration of the major parts of an embodiment example in which the present invention is applied to doors that open in two directions.

[0010] Figure 3 shows the configuration of the major parts of an embodiment example using interrupt type sensors as the horizontal multi-axis optical sensors in the present invention, (a) is a front schematic diagram of the sensor mounting part and (b) is a diagram illustrating the operation.

[0011] Figure 4 represents the configuration of the maj or parts of an embodiment example using reflective type sensors as the horizontal multi-axis optical sensors in the present invention, (a) is a front schematic diagram of the sensor mounting part, (b) is a diagram illustrating the operation, and (c) is an explanatory diagram showing details of area

X.

[0012] Figure 5 represents the configuration of the major parts of another embodiment example using reflective type sensors as the horizontal multi-axis optical sensors in the present invention, (a) is a plan view illustrating the main parts in an application example of a door opening in one direction; (b) is a plan view illustrating the main parts in an application example of 4 a door opening in two directions.

[0013] Figure 6 is a plan view that shows another example of a door shape to which the present invention can be applied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] Figure 1 represents an embodiment example in which the present invention is applied to a car with one-way opening doors in an elevator, and shows a plan view of the car and entrance/exit (opening in the present invention). The elevator includes a car sill 1 and doors 2a, 2b located at a prescribed spacing from each other. Doors 2a, 2b open in only one direction and are also referred to as one-way opening doors.

[0015] The elevator includes an entrance/exit post 3 and return panel 4 disposed facing the entrance/exit 3 at a prescribed distance from door 2b. The elevator also includes panels

5a, 5b.

[0016] The elevator includes optical sensors 6, optical sensors 7, and optical sensors 8.

Optical sensors 6 are mounted on the walls at both sides of the car frame, and use the space between doors 2a, 2b (illustrated as C in the figure) as the detection area. Optical sensors 7 are mounted on the walls at both sides of the car frame and use the space between door 2b and return panel 4 (illustrated as B in the figure) as the detection area. Optical sensors 8 are mounted at entrance/exit post 3 and return panel 4 and use the area in front of door 2b (car side) (illustrated as A in the figure) as the detection area.

[0017] Figure 2 represents an embodiment example in which the present invention is applied to a car with two-way opening doors in an elevator device. In Figure 2, the same parts as in Figure 1 are indicated with the same symbols. The elevator includes two-way opening doors 12a, 12b. Return panels 4a, 4b (entrance/exit post; the object of this invention) are disposed facing the two sides of the entrance/exit at a prescribed distance from doors 12a,

12b.

[0018] The elevator includes optical sensors 17 and optical sensors 18. Optical sensors

17 are located on the walls at both sides of the car frame. The sensors 17 use the space between doors 12a, 12b and return panels 4a, 4b (B in the figure) as the detection area.

Optical sensors 18 are located at the return panels 4a, 4b. The sensors 18 use the area in front of doors 12a, 12b (car side) (A in the figure) as the detection area.

[0019] Note that for each of the embodiments illustrated, only one of the optical sensors in each of the embodiments could be installed. Thus, at least one of any of the aforementioned sensors 6, 7 and 8 in Figure 1 should be installed, and at least one of any of the aforementioned sensors 17 and 18 in Figure 2 should be installed.

[0020] In an exemplary embodiment, the optical sensors 6, 7, 8, 17, and 18 are horizontal multi-axis optical sensors. The interrupt type sensors shown in Figure 3 or the reflective type

sensors shown in Figure 4 are used. Figures 3 and 4 show a front view of the part of the elevator car entrance/exit where the aforementioned optical sensors are mounted. [0021] The interrupt type sensor in Figure 3 includes a light emission side unit 20a in which multiple light-emitting elements are installed at a prescribed spacing in the vertical orientation to a height approximately equal to the door height, and light reception side unit 20b in which multiple horizontally facing light-receiving elements are installed to a height approximately equal to the door height. It is activated by signal interruption caused by an obstruction.

[0022] The reflective type sensor in Figure 4 includes detection units 30a and 30b in which multiple dual light receiving and emitting sensors are installed at a prescribed spacing in the vertical orientation to a height approximately equal to the door height. As in Figure 4 (c), which shows the details of part X in Figure 4 (b), they are activated when light within the light-reception range of the light-emitting elements strikes an obstruction and the reflected light is received by the light-receiving elements. The reflective type sensor has elements 32 that both emit and receive light. There is also a light emission range 34 and a light reception range 36. An obstruction 38 is also illustrated to show how the light bounces back to element 32.

[0023] Note that the detection range (detection distance) of the reflective type sensor in Figure 4 is determined by the light emission range and the light reception range. Objects near the center of the entrance/exit, passengers, etc., will not be mistakenly detected. [0024] hi an exemplary embodiment, when a reflective type sensor is used, it could be constituted with detection units 30a and 30b installed as in Figure 5 so that only the area where there is the possibility of a pull-in accident occurring will be detected. That is, in the case of the aforementioned one-way opening doors in Figure 1, as in Figure 5 (a), detection unit 30a that uses the area where door 2a and door 2b are facing and its vicinity as the detection area is furnished at the end of door 2b nearest entrance/exit post 3, and detection unit 30b that uses the area where door 2b and return panel 4 are facing and its vicinity as the detection area is furnished at the end of return panel 4 nearest entrance/exit post 3. [0025] hi the case of the aforementioned two-way opening doors in Figure 2, as in Figure 5 (b), detection units 30a and 30b that use the areas where return panels 4a and 4b and doors 12a and 12b face and their vicinities as the detection area are furnished at the front end of return panels 4a and 4b.

[0026] In the device in Figures 1 and 2 as described above, when an obstruction, for example, a passenger's hand, is detected in the detection area of any of optical sensors 6, 7, 8, 17 or 18 when doors 2a, 2b, 12a and 12b are closing, a control means, omitted in the figures, receives a signal that the aforementioned optical sensor is activated and controls a warning device, furnished near the entrance/exit, for example, to issue a warning or alarm. [0027] The passenger can be made aware by this warning or alarm of the danger of a hand being pulled in between doors 2a and 2b, between door 2b and return panel 4, between door 12a and return panel 4a, or between door 12b and return panel 4b when the door moves in the direction of opening. Pull-in accidents can in this way be prevented from occurring. [0028] When any of the optical sensors 6, 7, 8, 17 or 18 detects a passenger's hand, for example, while the doors 2a, 2b, 12a and 12b are opening, the aforementioned control means receives a signal that the aforementioned optical sensor is activated and opening of aforementioned doors 2a, 2b, 12a and 12b is temporarily stopped (prohibited) (for example, the inverter for opening and closing the doors is shut off).

[0029] As exemplified above, the sensors 6, 7, 8, 17, and/or 18 prevent a hand being pulled between doors 2a and 2b, between door 2b and return panel 4, between door 12a and return panel 4a, or between door 12b and return panel 4b, and passenger safety is assured. Then, when the obstruction is no longer detected by the aforementioned optical sensors, the aforementioned control means restarts opening of the aforementioned doors 2a, 2b, 12a and 12b.

[0030] Note that the object provided in the opening in the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned return panels 4a, 4b and 4, but includes all objects where there is the possibility of a pull-in accident occurring between it and a door, such as the post, door pocket plate, etc.

[0031] The present invention can also be applied to elevator hall doors. Additionally, it is not limited to elevator doors, and can be applied to all automatic entrance/exit doors, such as in buildings, stores, apartment buildings, and the like.

[0032] For example, as shown in Figure 6, with a door shape wherein the door surface has recessed parts (a stepped shape), a hand or finger may be caught in the recessed part, and a pull-in accident could occur. With the present invention, however, pull-in accidents can also be reliably prevented even for doors with such a shape.

[0033] Horizontal multi-axis optical sensors have been used in the embodiment examples above, so that detection is possible over a wide area and there will be no detection gaps. The

effective space available when installing the sensors will also increase. That is, they can be mounted in an extremely small space. Furthermore, the present invention is also compatible with either interrupt type sensors or reflective type sensors (self completing sensors). When reflective type sensors are used, installation on previously supplied equipment is possible, so they are also compatible with modification work.

[0034] The advantages of the exemplary embodiments of the invention is that a part of the body can be prevented from being pulled in between the door and an object, such as the return panel, posts or the like, or between the doors, with certainty and can ensure safety. In addition, the danger of being pulled in between a door and an object, such as the return panel, post, etc., or between the doors can be recognized before it happens, and pull-in accidents can be prevented from occurring. Another advantage is that only areas where there is the possibility of a pull-in accident occurring are used as detection areas, areas remote from the areas where there is the possibility of a pull-in accident occurring are not detected, and unnecessary operations can be prevented. Moreover, detection is performed with a horizontal multi-axis optical sensor, so that detection over a wide area is possible, there are no detection gaps, and the reliability is high.

[0035] This application claims priority to Japanese application 2004-338594, which was filed on November 24, 2004, and is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. [0036] While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.