RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to European Patent Application No. EP19186410.7 filed on Jul. 16, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference

FIELD

The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for installing elevator guide rails into an elevator shaft.

BACKGROUND

An elevator may comprise a car, a shaft, hoisting machinery, ropes, and a counterweight. A separate or an integrated car frame may surround the car.

The hoisting machinery may be positioned in the shaft. The hoisting machinery may comprise a drive, an electric motor, a traction sheave, and a machinery brake. The hoisting machinery may move the car upwards and downwards in the shaft. The machinery brake may stop the rotation of the traction sheave and thereby the movement of the elevator car.

The car frame may be connected by the ropes via the traction sheave to the counterweight. The car frame may further be supported with gliding means at guide rails extending in the vertical direction in the shaft. The guide rails may be attached with fastening brackets to the side wall structures in the shaft. The gliding means keep the car in position in the horizontal plane, when the car moves upwards and downwards in the shaft. The counterweight may be supported in a corresponding way on guide rails that are attached to the wall structure of the shaft.

The car may transport people and/or goods between the landings in the building. The wall structure of the shaft may be formed of solid walls or of an open beam structure or of any combination of these.

The guide rails may be formed of guide rail elements of a certain length. The guide rail elements may be connected in the installation phase end-on-end one after the other in the elevator shaft. The guide rail elements may be attached to each other with connection plates extending between the end portions of two consecutive guide rail elements. The connection plates may be attached to the consecutive guide rail elements. The ends of the guide rails may comprise some kind of form locking means in order to position the guide rails correctly in relation to each other. The guide rails may be attached to the walls of the elevator shaft with support means at support points along the height of the guide rails.

The installation of guide rails according to prior art methods involves considerable complexity including transporting, lifting and positioning guide rails in an elevator installation. The time required for a guide rail installation according to prior art methods is also considerable. These problems become even more profound in modern high rise buildings.

SUMMARY

An object of the invention is an improved method and arrangement for installing elevator guide rails into an elevator shaft.

The method for installing elevator guide rails into an elevator shaft according to the invention is defined in claim1.

The arrangement for installing elevator guide rails into an elevator shaft according to the invention is defined in claim8.

The invention proposes a simple and cost efficient solution for a complex problem involving transporting, lifting and positioning guide rails in an elevator installation.

The invention makes it possible to shorten the time required for the guide rail installation. The reduction of the time required for the guide rail installation may in some cases be remarkable.

A first lowermost section of guide rails may first be installed manually after which the following sections of guide rails may be installed with a high degree of automation.

The guide rail elements are lifted upwards in the shaft with a first hoist connected to a transport device comprising a hook device and a lever device. The hook device may be attached to an upper end of the guide rail element and the lower end of the guide rail element may be glidingly supported with the lever device on the row of already installed guide rail elements.

The guide rail element may thus be lifted in a controlled manner i.e. the guide rail cannot swing during the lifting.

The lowering of the transport apparatus in order to fetch a new guide rail element is also done in a controlled manner. The lever device may also when moving downwards be glidingly supported on the row of already installed guide rail elements. The hook device may also be glidingly supported on the row of already installed guide rail elements when moving downwards.

The hook device may be fixedly attached to the upper end of the guide rail element during the lifting of the guide rail element.

The transport platform may be used to attach the guide rail element to a wall in the shaft. This may be done manually by a technician or automatically by a robot from the transport platform.

