FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a traction belt used on a lift equipment, in particular, to a traction belt used on a lift equipment which can intuitively obtain the information of operational states in real time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The lift machine of a lift equipment is the power unit of a lift, which provides power output to the components, such as the car of the lift and balance weight, etc. by outputting torque from traction wheels of the lift machine, and the power outputted from the lift machine mainly depends on a suspension assembly (such as, traction steel cable, traction steel belts and so on) served as an intermediate medium to achieve energy transmission. Therefore, the operational states of the traction belt apply an important influence on operation performances of the entire lift equipment.

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a traction belt used on a lift equipment in the prior art, wherein the traction belt consists of a belt body 1 and the loading elements 2. The loading elements are, for example, traction supports such as wire rope arrangements. In the prior art, the operational states of such traction belt are monitored by mainly regular repairs and maintenance. However, the methods for repairs and maintenance of the traction belt are only limited to simple appearance- inspections, which can only determine objectively whether there is abnormality during operation from outside and thus cannot monitor actual performance states of the traction belt thoroughly and substantially. Therefore, it cannot be accurately and timely determined whether or not the traction belt is severely worn, whether or not the loading elements are broken or stress concentration caused by abnormal stress exists in the traction belt, whether or not the tension force difference between respective traction belts is under a specified safety value range, etc.

In nowadays, a professional monitor for performance faults of the traction belt is also used to detect operation performances of the traction belt. However, on one hand, it is very inconvenient to operate such additional fault monitor in a limited or even worse operational environment of the lift; on the other hand, such fault monitor has much expensive cost in repairs and maintenance, and therefore reduces its competitiveness. The above information disclosed in this section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to provide a traction belt used on a lift equipment, which can accurately monitor the operational states of the traction belt in real time without depending on manual inspection of appearance at regular intervals and without professional monitors for performance faults of the traction belt. To achieve this, an element for displaying operational states is provided in the traction belt used on the lift equipment of the invention.

Specifically, the invention provides a traction belt used on a lift equipment, comprising: a belt body extending along a longitudinal direction of the traction belt; multiple arrays of loading elements extending along a longitudinal direction and arranged in parallel in the belt body; and filling layers embedded within the belt body and disposed between the loading elements and external surfaces of the belt body, wherein the filling layer changes its color with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature, and the belt body is a transparent or semi- transparent material; or the filling layers changes their magnetic field intensity with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature.

In the traction belt used on the lift equipment, preferably, the material of the filling layers is selected from any one of polymer opal, spiropyrane, oxazine, fluorescent protein or diarylethene compound.

In the traction belt used on the lift equipment, preferably, the material of the filling layers is made of a magnetic non-metallic material with magnetic materials evenly distributed therein.

In the traction belt used on the lift equipment, preferably, the filling layers include belt-shape bodies or similar to the belt-shape bodies which are spaced distributed.

The invention also provides a further traction belt used on a lift equipment, comprising: a belt body extending along a longitudinal direction of the traction belt; multiple arrays of loading elements extending along a longitudinal direction and arranged in parallel in the belt body; and an outer cover layer covering the belt body from outside, wherein the outer cover layer changes its color with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature; or the outer cover layer changes its magnetic field intensity with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature.

In the further traction belt used on the lift equipment, preferably, the material of the outer cover layer is selected from any one of polymer opal, spiropyrane, oxazine, fluorescent protein or diarylethene compound.

In the further traction belt used on the lift equipment, preferably, the material of the outer cover layer is made of a magnetic non-metallic material with magnetic materials evenly distributed therein.

The invention also provides a further traction belt used on a lift equipment, comprising: a belt body extending along a longitudinal direction of the traction belt; multiple arrays of loading elements extending along a longitudinal direction and arranged in parallel in the belt body; filling layers embedded within the belt body and disposed between the loading elements and external surfaces of the belt body; and an outer cover layer covering the belt body from outside, wherein the filling layers change their color with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature, and the belt body and the outer cover layer are transparent or semi- transparent materials; or the filling layers changes their magnetic field intensity with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature; wherein the outer cover layer changes its color with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature; or the outer cover layer changes its magnetic field intensity with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature.

In the further traction belt used on the lift equipment, preferably, the materials of the filling layers and the outer cover layer are selected from any one of polymer opal, spiropyrane, oxazine, fluorescent protein or diarylethene compound.

In the further traction belt used on the lift, preferably, the material of the outer cover layer is a magnetic non-metallic material with magnetic materials evenly distributed therein.

In the following a list of advantageous embodiments of the invention is disclosed: 1. A traction belt used on a lift equipment, which comprises:

a belt body (1) extending along a longitudinal direction of the traction belt;

multiple arrays of loading elements (2) extending along a longitudinal direction and arranged in the belt body (1); and

at least one layer (3, 4) which is adapted to indicate at least a change of one of the following operating parameters: load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature.

2. The traction belt according to embodiment 1, wherein the at least one layer indicates the change of the operating parameter by a change of its color.

3. The traction belt according to one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the at least one layer indicates the change of the operating parameter by a change of its magnetic field intensity.

4. The traction belt according to one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the belt body (1) is made of a transparent or semi-transparent material.

5. The traction belt according to one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the material of the at least one layer (3, 4) is selected from any one of polymer opal, spiropyrane, oxazine, fluorescent protein and diarylethene compound.

6. The traction belt according to one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the material of the at least one layer (3, 4) is made of a magnetic non-metallic material with magnetic materials evenly distributed therein.

7. The traction belt according to one of the preceding embodiments, wherein filling layers (3) as the at least one layer, wherein the filling layers (3) are embedded within the belt body (1) and disposed between the loading elements (2) and external surfaces of the belt body (1).

8. The traction belt according to embodiment 7, wherein the filling layers (3) include belt-shape bodies or quasi-belt-shape bodies which are spaced distributed.

9. The traction belt according to one of the preceding embodiments, wherein an outer cover layer (4) is used as the at least one layer, wherein the outer cover layer (4) covering the belt body (1) from outside. Particularly the an outer cover layer (4) and the filling layers (3) are used as the at least one layer. 10. Lift equipment comprising a cabin, at least one counter weight, at least one driving unit and at least one traction belt, wherein the cabin is movable coupled with the at least one counterweight and/or the at least one driving unit by the at least one traction belt, wherein the at least one traction belt is a traction belt according to one of the preceding claims.

11. Lift equipment according to embodiment 10, wherein it comprises at least one monitoring means, which is adapted to monitor a given indication by the at least one layer (3, 4) of the traction belt, particularly to monitor a change of color of the at least one layer (3, 4) of the traction belt and/or to monitor a change of the magnetic field intensity of the at least one layer (3, 4) of the traction belt.

12. Lift equipment according to embodiment 11, wherein the at least one monitoring means is configured to generate an alarm for predetermined indications given by the at least one layer (3, 4) of the traction belt.

The traction belt used on the lift equipment in accordance with the invention has the following beneficial technical effects: the performance states of the traction belt can be accurately and intuitively monitored in real time without depending on manual inspection of appearance at regular intervals and without professional monitors for performance faults of the traction belt, thereby improving reliability of the traction belt and reducing maintenance cost.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a traction belt used on a lift equipment in the prior art.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a traction belt used on a lift equipment in accordance with the first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a traction belt used on a lift equipment in accordance with the second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a traction belt used on a lift equipment in accordance with the third embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 shows a variation example of the third embodiment of the invention, wherein the filling layers are in the form of belt-shape bodies or similar to the belt-shape bodies which are spaced distributed.

Wherein the numeral references in the drawings are explained as follows: belt body: 1; loading elements: 2; filling layer: 3; outer cover layer: 4.

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Embodiment I

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a traction belt used on a lift equipment in accordance with the first embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the traction belt used on the lift equipment comprises: a belt body 1 extending along a longitudinal direction, in which multiple arrays of loading elements 2 are extending along a longitudinal direction and arranged in parallel, and filling layers 3 embedded in the belt body 1 and disposed between the loading elements 2 and external surfaces of the belt body 1.

The belt body 1 is made of high polymer materials, for example, a polyurethane material or rubber material. The material of the loading elements 2 is well-known techniques in the traction belt field, and therefore description of which is omitted.

The numeral reference 3 donates the layers, which is made of a special non-metallic material which enables that the traction belt can be subjected to varied loads during the use of the lift. The varied loads will inevitably produce vibrations which will generate a variety of audio frequency. The traction belt is operated under different illumination conditions and temperature conditions. Under different conditions in terms of loads, illumination intensity, temperatures or audio frequency and the like, the special non-metallic material of the filling layers 3 could appear different colors or different magnetic fields. During specific implementation, as an example, the material of the filling layers 3 may be photochromic compound materials, such as, polymer opal, spiropyrane, oxazine, fluorescent protein or diarylethene compound, and the like.

Such photochromic compound materials will appear certain colors under the illumination, and these colors can change with variations of temperature and can also change with variations of loads or vibrations. Therefore, when the traction belt is subject to a temperature rise due to faults of operation or is subject to vibration due to faults, the color of the filling layers 3 will change. Also, when the traction belt is subjected to an excessive load, or when the load applied to the traction belt changes because of damage, the color of the filling layers 3 will also change.

To make sure that the color of the filling layers 3 can be reflected, the belt body 1 may be made of the transparent or semi-transparent material. Through the belt body 1 of a transparent or semi-transparent material, variations in the color of the filling layers 3 are visible so that it could be determined whether the traction belt is operated in a non-normal state and thus needs to be maintained, or whether the traction belt has been damaged and thus needs to be replaced.

The filling layers 3 can also be made of a magnetic material, such as magnetic powder etc., which is evenly distributed in the filling layers 3 in order to provide specific magnetic field intensity. When the traction belt is pulled up and thus deformed after being applied with loads, the original magnetic field intensity of the magnetic powder changes, and thus the loading level of the traction belt can be intuitively fed back through changes of the magnetic field intensity. Such changes in the magnetic field can be identified with known manners, for example, by transforming magnetic field signals into electrical signals through a circuit, thereby triggering various visual displaying means or audio alarming means so as to determine whether the traction belt is operated in a non- normal state and needs to be maintained or whether the traction belt has been damaged and needs to be replaced. The visual displaying means can be, for example, an illumination emitting diode, or an electroluminescent element, etc. The audio alarming means can be a speaker.

For such filling layers 3 with a magnetic material such as magnetic powder, the material of the belt body can be either a transparent or semi-transparent material, and can also be an opaque material.

It is advantageous with the structure that the above-mentioned filling layers 3 are embedded in the belt body 1 , which could protect the filling layer 3 made of a special material, thereby extending the life span of the whole traction belt.

Embodiment II

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a traction belt used on a lift equipment in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the traction belt used on the lift equipment comprises: a belt body 1 extending along a longitudinal direction, in which multiple arrays of loading elements 2 are extending along a longitudinal direction and arranged in parallel, and an outer cover layer 4 covering the belt body 1 from outside.

Similar with that in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the belt body 1 is made of a macromolecule material, for example, a polyurethane material or rubber material. The material of the loading elements 2 is well-known techniques in the traction belt field, and description of which is omitted.

The outer cover layer 4 can be made of the same photochromic compound material or magnetic material with the filling layer 3 of the first embodiment. When the outer cover layer 4 is made of a magnetic material, various visual displaying means or audio alarming means with the first embodiment can be used, thereby achieving the same function of monitoring performance states of the traction belt as the first embodiment.

Compared with the first embodiment, the technical solution of such outer cover layer 4 covering the belt body 1 from outside facilitates to maintain the entire strength of the traction belt, since no filling layers 3 of a non-metallic material with a special alarm function is embedded. Just because there is no need of such step of embedding filling layers 3 into the belt body 1, the manufacturing process is simplified, thereby facilitating the reduction in production cost. In addition, for the technical solution of the second embodiment, there is no special requirement in term of the illumination transmission for the material of the belt body 1 , which could also be beneficial to reduce material cost.

Embodiment III

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a traction belt used on a lift equipment in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment, the traction belt used on the lift equipment comprises: a belt body 1 extending along a longitudinal direction, in which multiple arrays of loading elements 2 are extending along a longitudinal direction and arranged in parallel, filling layers 3 embedded in the belt body 1 and disposed between the loading elements 2 and external surfaces of the belt body 1, and an outer cover layer 4 covering the belt body 1 from outside.

Obviously, this embodiment includes all features of the first embodiment and the second embodiment, and the materials adopted by respective components and the functions thereof are also substantially the same. Of course, for the filling layers 3 using photochromic compound materials, in order to make sure that the color of the filling layers 3 can be reflected, the material of the belt body 1 should be a transparent or semi-transparent material.

The advantages of the third embodiment lie in that: the materials of the filling layers 3 and the outer cover layer 4 can be freely selected and combined in accordance with performance requirements and production conditions of the product, as well as performance achieved by the materials. In other words, the materials of the filling layers 3 and the outer cover layer 4 can be selected among photochromic compound materials and magnetic materials and then freely combined, so as to better present the respective advantages of these two elements and eliminate their performance limitations.

FIG. 5 shows a variation example of the third embodiment of the invention, wherein the filling layers 3 are in the form of belt-shape bodies or similar to the belt-shape bodies which are spaced distributed. It is obvious that such structure requires no filling layer with a large area in a whole, which significantly reduces level of criteria for material suppliers of the filling layer, thereby facilitating the reduction in material cost. More importantly, this can make the size of the filling layer 1 smaller, which will minimum the disadvantageous impact on the entire strength of the traction belt.

Although FIG. 5 shows a variation example of the third embodiment, it should be noted that such structure which the filling layers 3 are in the form of belt-shape bodies or similar to the belt-shape bodies, which are spaced distributed, obviously can be also applied to the first embodiment and the second embodiment.

In the above embodiments, by means of utilizing the filling layers and/or the outer cover layer which changes their colors with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature, or by means of utilizing the filling layers and/or the outer cover layer which changes their magnetic field intensities with variations of load, vibration, illumination intensity or temperature, the performance states of the traction belt can be accurately and intuitively monitored in real time without depending on manual inspection of appearance at regular intervals and without professional monitors for performance faults of the traction belt, thereby improving reliability of the traction belt and reducing maintenance cost.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustrative and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in illumination of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.