US 12,434,944 B2
Determination of the state of a suspension means
Florian Dold, Cham (CH); and Volker Zapf, Kriens-Obernau (CH)
Assigned to INVENTIO AG, Hergiswil (CH)
Appl. No. 17/593,040
Filed by Inventio AG, Hergiswil (CH)
PCT Filed Mar. 16, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/057075
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 7, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/200727, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 8, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 19166107 (EP), filed on Mar. 29, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0185628 A1, Jun. 16, 2022
Int. Cl. B66B 7/12 (2006.01); B66B 3/00 (2006.01)
CPC B66B 7/1215 (2013.01) [B66B 3/002 (2013.01); B66B 7/1238 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for monitoring a physical state of a suspension means for moving an elevator car, the suspension means being connected to and suspending the elevator car, the suspension means being divided into segments by markings along a length of the suspension means, the method comprising the steps of:
detecting the markings with a detection device;
monitoring a strain difference of the suspension means segment by segment by determining using a signal processing unit a first strain at a first load acting on the suspension means and a second strain at a second load acting on the suspension means from a distance between two selected ones of the detected markings, wherein the first load and the second load acting on the suspension means between the two selected markings are measured by a load measuring device;
calculating the strain difference representing an elastic behavior of a one of the segments that is between the two selected markings from the first strain and the second strain;
performing the monitoring and the calculating for additional ones of the segments; and
generating an alarm signal when any one of the calculated strain differences indicates that the suspension means is at a point of discard.