Elevator with car having two batteries that can charge each other

1 . An elevator comprising:

a car moving in a hoistway;

a load provided to the car;

a first power storage provided to the car and including one battery configured to be charged and discharged, connected to the load, and configured to supply power to the load;

a second power storage provided to the car and including one or more batteries configured to be charged and discharged, and connected to the load to which the first power storage is connected;

a power transmission circuit provided to the car and configured to transmit power between the first power storage and the second power storage; and

a controller to control the power transmission circuit to cause the power transmission circuit to supply power from the second power storage to the first power storage, when a remaining stored power amount of the battery included in the first power storage is determined to be less than an amount of power required for driving the load for a predetermined period of time, the predetermined period of time being a time needed to move passengers to a nearest stop floor in case of an outage.

2 . The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein

the second power storage includes a plurality of batteries configured to be charged and discharged, and

when the remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the first power storage is determined to be less than the amount of power and the average value of the remaining stored power amounts of the battery corresponding to first power storage and all the batteries corresponding to the second power storage does not exceed the amount of power, regardless of a remaining stored power amount of one battery included in the second power storage after power is supplied, the controller causes the power transmission circuit to supply power from the one battery of the second power storage to the first power storage such that the remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the first power storage exceeds the amount of power.

3 . The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein the power transmission circuit is a bidirectional converter connected to the second power storage and a conductive wire connecting the load and the first power storage.

4 . The elevator according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a power transmission device provided to the hoistway; and

a power reception device provided to the car, wherein

when charging both the first power storage and the second power storage, the controller stores power transmitted from the power transmission device to the power reception device, in the first power storage, and controls the power transmission circuit to store power discharged from the first power storage, in the second power storage.

5 . The elevator according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a power transmission device provided to the hoistway; and

a power reception device provided to the car, wherein

when charging the first power storage and not charging the second power storage, the controller stores power transmitted from the power transmission device to the power reception device, in the first power storage, and does not drive the power transmission circuit.

6 . The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein

the power transmission circuit includes a bidirectional converter,

any one battery out of a plurality of batteries provided as a whole to the car selectively and switchably corresponds to the first power storage, and

a battery that does not correspond to the first power storage, out of the plurality of batteries provided as a whole to the car, constitutes the second power storage.

7 . The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein

the power transmission circuit includes a bidirectional converter, and

the first power storage is configured to supply power to the second power storage via the bidirectional converter while supplying power to the load.

8 . The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein

any one battery out of a plurality of batteries provided as a whole to the car selectively and switchably corresponds to the first power storage,

a battery that does not correspond to the first power storage, out of the plurality of batteries provided as a whole to the car, corresponds to the second power storage, and

when the remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the first power storage is determined to be less than the amount of power and an average value of remaining stored power amounts of the battery corresponding to the first power storage and all the batteries corresponding to the second power storage exceeds the amount of power, the controller causes the power transmission circuit to supply power from the second power storage to the first power storage such that the remaining stored power amount of the battery constituting the second power storage does not become less than the amount of power and the remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the first power storage exceeds the amount of power.

9 . The elevator according to claim 8 , wherein

the second power storage includes one battery configured to be charged and discharged, and

when the remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the first power storage is determined to be less than the amount of power and the average value of the remaining stored power amounts of the battery corresponding to the first power storage and the battery corresponding to the second power storage does not exceed the amount of power, the controller causes the power transmission circuit to supply power from the second power storage to the first power storage such that the remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the first power storage exceeds the amount of power, regardless of the remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the second power storage after power is supplied to the first power storage.

10 . The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein

based on a present stop floor of the car and a destination floor, the controller calculates predicted power consumption required by the load for moving the car from the present stop floor to the destination floor until opening a door, and when a value obtained by subtracting the predicted power consumption from a present remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the first power storage is less than the amount of power, the controller determines that the remaining stored power amount of the battery corresponding to the first power storage is less than the amount of power required for driving the load for the predetermined period of time.

11 . The elevator according to claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to determine whether a passenger is present inside the car based on receipt of information of a destination floor into a memory, and to calculate the predicted power consumption only when it is determined that a passenger is present.

12 . The elevator according to claim 10 , wherein the controller calculates the predicted power consumption by multiplying a past power consumption per unit time of the load by a movement time required to move the car from the present stop floor to the destination floor and open the door.