The present invention relates to a hoisting arrangement in an elevator shaft in a temporary assembly hoist as defined in the preamble of claim 1, a hoist surveillance device as defined in the preamble of claim 7 and a method for monitoring usage and/or condition of a temporary assembly hoisting device . The invention in question relates particularly to temporary hoisting devices often used in elevator installation, repair or some other measures in an elevator shaft, such hoisting devices being for example Tirak hoists, and their surveillance arrangements. Temporary hoisting devices, called later also shortly by "assembly hoist" or just "hoist", are used in elevator shafts to hoist assemblers and elevator parts. It is very common to use these types of temporary hoisting devices during new elevator assembly phases or in existing elevator maintenance phases .

Since the assembly hoist at the time of installation carries not only goods and elevator parts but also persons, special attention should be paid to the safety of the assembly hoist in use. Regularly performed assembly hoist health checks and reviews relate significantly to the safety and safe working environment. Assembly hoist health checks and reviews should be done on a regular basis at three levels: 1) quick daily reviews to ensure safe daily assembly hoist operations, 2) weekly health checks to check certain control points such as emergency landing and exit from the hoist, 3) a commissioning review and inspection with multiple checks such as pickup testing with automatic fuses. In addition, to these reviews, the assembly hoist should be tested annually with the comprehensive covering test plan. The current practices, health checks, reviews and inspections have been based mainly on auxiliary observations of installers and maintenance organizations, which is not a re- liable and required method of inspection. As reviews, health checks and inspections consume effective working time, it is a great temptation to pass these mandatory inspections, and neither the inspection records will be accomplished. Often, the assembly hoist in use is old, heavily used and worn, which increases the risk of malfunctions and faults and therefore the annual covering review and inspection interval may be too long. At the worst case, a malfunction and failure in assembly hoist may cause serious personal injury and installation delays. Also, the utilization of the assembly hoist operation and usage data is insufficient, resulting in sudden wear and tear problems .

The objective of the present invention is to eliminate drawbacks of the prior art technology and to achieve a safe, reliable and predictable arrangement in a temporary assembly hoist .

To achieve the objectives mentioned above, the solution utilizes known and existing elevator surveillance, monitoring and recording solutions that typically measure, monitor and record different parameters of the actual elevator to be installed. These various elevator surveillance solutions are arranged to be utilized with a temporary assembly hoist use. These surveillance solutions typically employ a variety of sensors to enable real-time surveying of the assembly hoist. Typical surveying targets are e.g. operating temperature, moisture content of the environment, noise level and vibration that reveal, for example, becoming bearing faults. Setting the load limiter to the assembly hoist prevents the lifting of excessive loads. Additionally, a specific switch or clutch is added to the daily-inspected targets, like an automatic releaser (ASGT) and emergency landing, so that the daily testing of these devices can be reliably surveyed and proved .

In this context the term "surveillance data" stands for one or more of the following: the measured surveying data from the assembly hoist; the assembly hoist usage data, e.g. assembly hoist run time data or hoist load data; the assembly hoist testing data, e.g. daily tests or weekly tests; or any other relevant data from related to the assembly hoist. It is also possible to include a time stamp to the surveillance data .

The surveillance data will be transferred from the surveillance device via a connection, e.g. via GSM or internet connection, to the destination system to be stored, monitored and analysed. The destination system can be for example a door operator control system, or an elevator control system, or a separate measuring/monitoring system, or a local user or a remote user interface, or a remote server, or a service in a cloud. For example, in one preferable embodiment of the invention, an elevator ID number is created in the elevator control system for the assembly hoist as well, to store all the assembly hoist surveillance data. Thus, this arrangement also enables the monitoring of the assembly hoist usage, like the operating hours and the magnitude of the movable loads .

The elevator arrangement according to the invention is char- acterized by what is disclosed in the characterization part of claim 1. Other embodiments of the invention are characterized by what is disclosed in the other claims.

The inventive content of the application can also be defined differently than in the claims presented below. The inventive content may also consist of several separate inventions, especially if the invention is considered in the light of expressions or implicit sub-tasks or from the point of view of advantages or categories of advantages achieved. In this case, some of the attributes contained in the claims below may be superfluous from the point of view of separate inventive concepts. Likewise, the different details presented in connection with each embodiment can also be applied in other embodiments. In addition, it can be stated that at least some of the subordinate claims can, in at least some situations, be deemed to be inventive in their own right.

One advantage of the solution according to the invention is, among other things, the ability to monitor the condition of the assembly hoist better, more reliably and inexpensively, as well as providing to the maintenance organization preventive information about potential assembly hoist failures. In addition, the advantage is that the arrangement can be used to monitor and control the operation of the assembly hoist maintenance organization: the repairs of the hoists and records that the inspections and testing of the hoist are adequate and accomplished in time. Since the arrangement provides real-time hoist condition information and preventive fault information, it is then, for example, possible to extend the periodic annual health check and inspection period to save costs and shorten installation time.

Yet a further advantage of the invention is that the surveillance data of the assembly hoist allows reliable report- ing of hoist operation hours on the installation site. This information can be used to find out, for example, the length of working days when the assembly hoist has been in use. In addition, it is easier to track and prove that occupational safety at work regulations are fulfilled.

In the following, the invention will be described in detail by the aid of example embodiments by referring to the attached simplified and diagrammatic drawings, wherein

Fig. 1 presents in a simplified and diagrammatic oblique side view of one example of the tempo- rary assembly hoist and its rope arrangement, Fig. 2 presents in a simplified and diagrammatic oblique side view the temporary assembly hoist and its rope arrangement assembled in an elevator shaft, and Fig. 3 presents in a simplified and diagrammatic oblique side view the temporary assembly hoist and its surveillance data transfer arrangement.

An aspect of the invention is to achieve reliable and safe fault preventive operations in the temporary assembly hoist arrangement during an elevator assembly period. In addition, another aspect of the invention is to achieve a simple and cost-effective arrangement utilizing existing elevator surveillance, monitoring and recording solutions that typically measure, monitor and record different parameters of the actual elevator to be installed.

Figures 1 and 2 presents in simplified and diagrammatic oblique side views a temporary assembly hoist 2, like Tirak- hoist, and its rope arrangement 1. The temporary assembly hoist 2 is mounted to a vertically moving assembly platform 12. The platform 12 may be a partly or fully assembled elevator car, in this context simply the elevator car, or the platform 12 may be a particularly build moving working platform in the elevator shaft 11, which will later be replaced with the elevator car. From the assembly hoist 2 the rope 8 passes over the first upper deflection sheave 3, under the first and the second lower deflection sheaves 5 and 6, over the second upper deflection sheave 4 to the rope 8 end point 7, which is attached to the platform 12. The platform 12 moves vertically inside the elevator shaft 11 along guide rails 13. Preferably upper deflection sheaves 3, 4 are mounted to the elevator shaft sidewalls with support elements 10.

A surveillance device 9, similar or corresponding to what is used with real elevator environments, is preferably attached on the platform next to the assembly hoist 2. The surveillance device 9 comprises various sensors to track and measure the assembly hoist 2 operations and operational environment. Typical surveying targets are e.g. operating temperature, moisture content of the environment, noise level and vibrations that reveal, for example, becoming bearing faults .

Figure 3 presents in a simplified and diagrammatic oblique side view the temporary assembly hoist 2 and its surveillance data transfer arrangement via connection 14. The surveillance device 9 transfers the surveillance data forward via connection 14, e.g. via GSM or WiFi/internet channels, to a processing system. The processing system can be for example a door operator control system 15, or an elevator con- trol system 16, or a separate measuring/monitoring system 17, or a local user or a remote user interface 18, or a remote server 19, or a service in a cloud 20.

Once the surveillance data from of the temporary assembly hoist 2 has been transferred via connection 14 to the processing system 15-20, the surveillance data will be stored, monitored real-time and/or analysed in further processes.

The inventive solution utilizes known and existing elevator surveillance, monitoring and recording solutions that typically measure, monitor and record different parameters of the actual elevator to be installed. It is advantageous to utilize the same surveillance methods and means with the temporary assembly hoist 2, that will be used with actual elevators after the installation is completed. In addition, this arrangement also enables the monitoring of the assembly hoist 2 usage, like the operating hours and the magnitude of the movable loads .

The inventive arrangement also enables setting of some safety parameters to the assembly hoist 2, like the load limit- er, which prevents the lifting of excessive loads. Additionally, a specific switch or clutch is added to the daily- inspected targets, like an automatic releaser (ASGT) and emergency landing, so that the daily testing of these devices can be reliably monitored and proved.

It is obvious to the person skilled in the art that the invention is not restricted to the examples described above but that it may be varied within the scope of the claims presented below. Thus, for instance the surveillance device may measure other parameters as well than mentioned in the example .

It is also obvious to the person skilled in the art that in the temporary hoist surveillance data transfer arrangement, the data can be transferred in different methods or to other targets than mentioned in the example.