Automatic door assembly and door operator therefor

Details Automatic door assembly and door operator therefor Automatic door assembly and door operator therefor

2000-02-04

2002-01-08

Cohen, Curtis A. (Department: 3634)

Movable or removable closures

With operator for movably mounted closure

Operating lever or link and closure swing about parallel axes

C049S340000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06336294

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE INVENTION
Swing door operators are well-known in the automatic door assembly art for controlling the pivoting movements of pivoting or swing door panels between open and closed positions thereof. In most automatic door assemblies, the door panel is moved under power by the door operator in a normal motor driven door opening direction in response to an input device thereof detecting the presence of a person or object adjacent to the door assembly. During this opening movement, energy is stored within a spring structure or the like and, after the door panel has stopped moving, the spring structure releases its energy to move the door panel back towards and into its closed position.
Most building codes require these automatic door assemblies to enable the door panel to be opened in a “breakout” manner under manual force or pushing to enable persons to exit the building in emergency situations. Depending on the installation of the operator, this breakout movement may be in the direction opposite the motor driven direction. In this situation, the door panel may not be spring returned from breakout back to its closed position because the spring arrangements inside many prior art operators are not capable of providing this spring returned movement. In most situations, the motor normally cannot be used to return the door because many building codes require that power to the motor be cutoff after breakout has occurred. As a result, the door panel remains open in its breakout condition until a manual force is applied to move the panel back into its closed position.
Another problem with most known swing door operators is their inability to function in a “non-handed” manner. In the door operator art, swing door operators are typically classified as right-handed or left-handed depending on the direction in which the output member thereof rotates. The term “non-handed” reflects the ability of the operator to be used to pivot a door in either direction. The reason most known door operators are only able to rotate their output members in one direction is a result of using rack and pinion arrangements. The rack and pinion arrangement only allows the motor to drive the rack in one direction to rotate the output member for door opening with a spring driving the rack in an opposite direction to counter-rotate the output member for door closing. Other types of door operators use a clock or torsion spring to provide spring driven movement. The problem with these operators is that the spring only functions to provide door movement in one direction. It is known to extend the output member in opposing axial directions from opposing sides of the operator housing so that either end of the output member can be connected to the door. The appropriate end of the output member is connected to the door based on the desired pivoting direction of the door. This arrangement, however, is problematic because of the potential for confusion during installation. Also, once this type of operator has been installed, there is no way to change the direction in which the door is opened by the motor without removing the entire operator and re-installing it in an inverted manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,239 to Catlett, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated into the present application by reference, discloses a swing door operator that is both non-handed and capable of providing spring return from breakout. In the embodiment of
FIG. 12
thereof, the '239 patent discloses a rectilinearly movable rack gear
66
intermeshed with the output member or shaft
17
and a spring return module
77
B with a spring
75
for driving the rack gear. Rotation of the shaft
17
in a clockwise direction as viewed in
FIG. 12
drives the rack gear
66
to the right from its initial position corresponding to a door closed position, which in turn moves spring seat
83
to the right to compress the spring
75
. After ceasing the clockwise rotation of the shaft
17
, the spring
75
resiliently extends to drive the spring seat
83
and hence the rack gear
66
back to the left towards and into its initial position. Rotation of the shaft
17
in a counterclockwise direction drives the rack gear
66
from its initial position to the left, which moves the spring seat
95
to the left via operation rod
103
to compress the spring
75
. After ceasing the counterclockwise rotation of the shaft
17
, the spring
75
resiliently extends to drive the rack gear
66
back to the right towards and into it initial position. Thus, the door operator of
FIG. 12
can be used to effect spring return from either direction of door opening movement. This enables the door operator to be non-handed simply by reversing the current polarity delivered to its DC motor and also enables the operator to provide spring return from breakout in either direction.
Although the door operator of the '239 patent provides the capability for non-handedness and spring return from breakout, the design thereof is complex and hence costly to manufacture and commercialize. In particular, the spring module requires a number of small components, such as the movable spring seats and the operating rods, that add to the total part number of the operator. These small parts are also difficult to assemble together in a precise manner and the number of parts also contributes to an increased time for assembly. Overall, the complexity of the construction of door operator in the '239 patent makes it undesirable because of the increased manufacturing costs.
Consequently, there exists a need in the art for a door operator with spring return from breakout that has a construction that is simpler and more cost-effective than the complex construction disclosed in the aforementioned '239 patent. Further, there also exists a need in the art for a non-handed door operator that also has a construction that is simpler and more cost-effective that the complex construction disclosed in the aforementioned '239 patent.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to meet the above-described needs. To achieve this object, one aspect of the invention provides a swing door operator for controlling pivoting movements of a door panel that pivots about a generally vertical door panel axis from a closed position in a power driven door opening direction and a manually driven breakout door opening direction opposite the motor driven direction. The operator comprises an operator output member rotatable about an output member axis and constructed and arranged to be operatively connected with the door panel such that rotation of the output member about the output member axis pivots the door panel about the door panel axis thereof. This operative connection may either be direct or be via an indirect linkage, gearing, or the like. The operator also comprises a motor constructed and arranged to rotate the output member about the output member axis in a first rotational direction such that, when the output member is operatively connected to the door panel, the output member pivots the door panel in the power driven door opening direction from the closed position thereof. The motor may be reversible and thus capable of rotating the output member in a second rotational direction opposite the first rotational direction, which enables the door operator to be non-handed. However, this aspect of the invention is not limited to such an arrangement.
The operator also comprises a driving member connected to the output member such that applying force to the driving member rotates the output member about the output member axis. The driver member comprises an offset member spaced radially from the output member axis such that (a) the offset member moves generally circumferentially with respect to the output member axis in a first circumferential direction as the output member rotates about the output member axis in the first rotational direction and (b) the offset member moves generally circumferentially with respect to the output member axis in a second c

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