Products and Services

Meiden Develops Elevator Rope Maintenance and Inspection Product using Camera Image Recognition Technology

2017-03-21

Meidensha Corporation announced that it has developed a product named Rope Tester (the “Product”), which tests elevator ropes. Meiden markets motors and inverters for elevators and this development will add an elevator rope maintenance and inspection product to the company’s product lineup.

The Product was developed in response to the growing demand for maintenance and inspection in the elevator market both in Japan and abroad, especially in the Middle East and ASEAN region, where there is an increase in the number of high speed elevators mainly for high-rise buildings.

When inspecting a rope elevator, the technician is required to measure the diameter of the ropes, check the rope visually and confirm the number of wire ruptures, and in the case of high-rise buildings, in particular, the reduction of inspection time and improvement of efficiency is called for.

The Product applies Meiden’s proprietary technology of Catenary EYE, an Overhead Catenary System (OCS) inspection system, which takes photos of the overhead railway line with a camera as it runs on it, processes the image and inspects it. The Product was jointly developed by Nippon Otis Elevator Company and the companies applied for acquiring related patents in Japan. Until now, rope testers commonly used the magnetic crack detection method, and a rope tester that takes photos with a camera and processes the image is a first in the industry.*1

※1:Source: Research by Meiden

 

Features

- The Product can be used not only for newly installed elevators but also for existing elevators made by various companies.
- The diameter of the entire main rope can be measured in just one operation of the elevator from the bottom floor to the top floor at rated speed, which improves work efficiency.
- It ensures the safety of workers as it does not require manual measurement by a worker.
- It helps to more swiftly grasp and estimate the rope’s deterioration and also in drawing up parts replacement plans.

Meiden will drive forward the preparation for the commercialization of the rope tester and make further improvements to enable remote monitoring by linking the captured image using IoT. As a company that supports social infrastructure, Meiden also plans to expand the application of the product to ships and construction machinery, which require rope inspections.


System configuration

■ Hardware
- Line sensor camera
(stereo)
- Notebook PC
- Lighting and various power sources
■ Software
- Camera application
- Analysis application

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Contact at Meiden on this press release:
General Affairs & Public Relations Division
Meidensha Corporation
Tel: +81-3-6420-8100