Circular cableway

Abstract

A circular cableway with cableway stations and cableway vehicles movable between the cableway stations by a conveyor cable, each of the cableway stations having a boarding/alighting area with an entry zone and by an exit zone, includes at least one pair of opposing safety barriers in at last one of the entry zone or the exit zone of at least one boarding/alighting area, each of the pair of opposing safety barriers arranged opposite one another transversely to the conveying direction and which can be displaced from a closed position to an open position; and at least one detection device for detecting people in a passage area located between the pair of opposing safety barriers and through which the cableway vehicles may pass or when one of the pair of opposing safety barriers is displaced from the closed position to the open position.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A circular cableway having at least two cableway stations and a plurality of cableway vehicles movable between the cableway stations by a conveyor cable, each of the cableway stations having at least one boarding/alighting area that is delimited in a conveying direction by an entry zone and by an exit zone, the circular cableway further comprising:
 at least one pair of opposing safety barriers in at last one of the entry zone or the exit zone of at least one boarding/alighting area, each of the pair of opposing safety barriers arranged opposite one another transversely to the conveying direction and which can be displaced from a closed position to an open position; and   at least one detection device for detecting people in a passage area located between the pair of opposing safety barriers and through which the cableway vehicles may pass or when one of the pair of opposing safety barriers is displaced from the closed position to the open position.   
     
     
         2 . The circular cableway according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one part of the detection device is integrated in at least one of the pair of opposing safety barriers or on a stationary building part of the cableway station. 
     
     
         3 . The circular cableway according to  claim 2 , wherein the at least one part of the detection device arranged on a stationary building part of the cableway station is configured laterally below or above a cableway vehicle located in the passage area. 
     
     
         4 . The circular cableway according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one detection device further comprises at least one of:
 at least one first sensor unit configured to generate or interrupt a first sensor signal when a person is detected in the passage area; or   at least one second sensor unit provided on at least one of the pair of opposing safety barriers and configured to generate or interrupt a second sensor signal when the safety barrier is displaced from the closed position to the open position.   
     
     
         5 . The circular cableway according to  claim 4 , wherein the at least one first sensor unit comprises at least one of an optical sensor or a motion detector. 
     
     
         6 . The circular cableway according to  claim 5 , wherein the optical sensor comprises at least one of a light barrier, a light curtain, or a light grid, and wherein the motion detector comprises at least one of an infrared sensor, an electromagnetic sensor, or a sound sensor. 
     
     
         7 . The circular cableway according to  claim 4 , wherein the at least one second sensor unit comprises an electric switch. 
     
     
         8 . The circular cableway according to  claim 4 , further comprising a drive device for driving the cableway vehicles and a control unit for controlling the drive device and wherein the control unit is configured to receive at least one of the first sensor signal or the second sensor signal and to adjust control of the drive device at least in part as a function of at least one of the first sensor signal or second sensor signal. 
     
     
         9 . The circular cableway according to  claim 8 , wherein the control unit is configured to stop the drive device or to reduce a conveying speed of the cableway vehicles when at least one of the first or the second sensor signals is received or interrupted. 
     
     
         10 . The circular cableway according to  claim 8 , wherein the cableway station comprises an auxiliary drive operable to move cableway vehicles uncoupled from the conveyor cable from the entry zone to the exit zone and wherein the drive device comprises a first drive unit configured to drive the conveyor cable and a second drive unit for the auxiliary drive. 
     
     
         11 . The circular cableway according  claim 8 , wherein the control unit is configured to deactivate the first sensor unit or to ignore the first sensor signal when a cableway vehicle is located in the passage area. 
     
     
         12 . The circular cableway according to  claim 4 , further comprising an alarm unit connected with at least one of the first sensor unit or the second sensor unit, and wherein the alarm unit is configured to generate an alarm signal when at least one of the first sensor signal or the second sensor signal is received or interrupted. 
     
     
         13 . The circular cableway according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one cableway vehicle comprises at least one of a chair or a cabin for accommodating a plurality of people. 
     
     
         14 . The circular cableway according to  claim 1 , wherein each pair of opposing safety barriers comprises an interior safety barrier and further comprising a first structural separation between an interior safety barrier of the entry zone and an interior safety barrier of the exit zone that is configured to block access from the boarding/alighting area to a prohibited area of the cableway station. 
     
     
         15 . The circular cableway according to  claim 1 , wherein each pair of opposing safety barriers comprises an exterior safety barrier and further comprising a second structural separation between an exterior safety barrier of the entry zone and an exterior safety barrier of the exit zone that is configured to at least partially block access from the boarding/alighting area to a surrounding area of the cableway station, and a transit area in the second structural separation that is configured to connect the boarding/alighting area to the surrounding area. 
     
     
         16 . The circular cableway according to  claim 15 , further comprising at least one of:
 a barrier configured in the transit area and operable for selectively blocking and unblocking the transit area; and   a second detection device configured to detect people in the transit area.   
     
     
         17 . The circular cableway according to  claim 16 , further comprising a reader configured to read a ticket and to control the barrier as a function of a validity of the ticket. 
     
     
         18 . The circular cableway according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the pair of opposing safety barriers is movable and wherein the movable part of the safety barrier in the closed position is separated from a cableway vehicle in the passage area by a distance of less than 50 cm. 
     
     
         19 . A method for operating the circular cableway according to  claim 1 , comprising the steps of:
 providing a drive device for driving the cableway vehicles and a control unit for controlling the drive device and wherein the control unit is operable to receive at least one signal from the at least on detection device;   determining with the at least one detection device if at least one of the safety barriers has been displaced from the closed position to the open position or detecting a person in the passage area and transmitting a detection signal from the at least one detection device to the control unit as a result of such determination;   receiving the detection signal in the control unit and transmitting a control signal from the control unit to the drive device to stop operation of the drive device or reduce conveying speed of the cableway vehicles.   
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 19 , further comprising the step of generating an alarm signal in response to the detection signal indicating that at least of the safety barriers has been displaced from the closed position to the open position or a person has been detected in the passage area.