Electricity: motive power systems – Battery-fed motor systems
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-27
2001-02-27
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electricity: motive power systems
Battery-fed motor systems
C318S808000, C318S466000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06194851
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to barrier systems, and more particularly, to barrier operators. The present invention is related to commonly assigned, concurrently filed and co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/238,696, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,338 for “Barrier Operator System.”
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Barriers of all types are used throughout the world to prevent intrusion into restricted areas or retain personnel or goods within restricted areas. Intruders include unwanted personnel, animals, vehicles, and the weather. At times personnel and goods must enter or leave restricted areas, resulting in the requirement for at least part of the barrier to be movable. Movable barriers, such as gates, doors, and movable portions of walls, allow passage out of and into restricted areas. Humans have been used to move movable barriers. In many areas of the world they still do. However, barrier operators have been developed to replace the need for humans to supply the motive force needed to move movable barriers.
Barrier operators are abundant and diverse in design, and available from many manufacturers. These barrier operators typically utilize common elements. One common element is a chain or rail that mechanically interfaces with a motive source that supplies the motive force to move the movable barriers. Due to the inherent nature of these chain and rail systems, requirements for the motive source are demanding. The chain and rail systems are heavy and maintenance intensive, generate great frictional drag, are vulnerable to weather conditions, require special installation skills, and demand extra reinforcement of barriers to handle stresses inherent with the systems.
The motive sources typically used with barrier operators generally are electrical motors. These motors typically are either DC, or high voltage single phase or three phase AC. Unfortunately, these motors have associated issues that adversely affect barrier operators. For instance, the DC motors tend to be short lived and have high maintenance requirements. The single phased and three phase high voltage AC motors require local connections to high voltage, electrical power sources having voltage ratings such as 115, 230, or 460 volts with associated danger introduced to the region of the barrier operators. Also, control by prior art barrier operators of barriers is limited resulting in poor performance in positioning the barrier, and accelerating or decelerating the barrier.
Prior art barrier operators have also performed poorly under emergency conditions. For instance, deaths have resulted due to emergency medical personnel being unable to move barriers because the medical personnel did not have access codes or the primary source of power for a barrier operator failed.
Providing power to barrier operators has created logistical problems as well. The expense of running a power line to the barrier operator or using elaborate remote based power systems are common problems. Another common problem arises from the harsh environments inflicted on some barrier operators. These environments include extreme cold requiring added equipment to maintain an environment suitable for operation.
Attempts have been made to remedy some problems with barrier operators. However, these attempts have been impractical or have been limited to specialized applications. A solution to the multifaceted problems involved with barrier operators which can be applied to broad classes of barriers has been absent from prior art barrier operators. The present invention fulfills these needs and further provides other related advantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention resides in a barrier operator to move a movable barrier along a path. The barrier operator includes a three phase alternating current electric motor having a motor shaft. Additional aspects of the invention include an electrical inverter with an inverter input and an inverter output. The inverter input is electrically coupled to a direct current electrical power source and the inverter output is electrically coupled to the three phase alternating current electric motor. The inverter is configured to supply three phase electrical power to the electric motor with a voltage difference less than or equal to 65 volts root mean square between any two of the three phases.
Further aspects include a station including a drive system with at least one drive system member operably coupled to the movable barrier. A controller is electrically coupled to the inverter. The controller is configured to adjust frequency through a continuous range of the electrical power supplied by the inverter to the three phase alternating current electric motor based upon positions of the movable barrier along the path. The controller is further coupled to a position sensor to record sensor readings associated with a fully-open position and a fully-closed position of the movable barrier to be used in determining a position of the movable barrier.
Further aspects include the controller determining when the movable barrier has moved along the path without assistance from the three phase alternating current electric motor. This determination is based upon a change in position of the movable barrier along the path as indicated by the position sensor and by a frequency of the electrical power supplied to the three phase alternating current electric motor by the inverter during the change in position of the movable barrier along the path. Additional aspects include the controller controlling the inverter to supply a repositioning electrical power to the three phase alternating current motor to maintain the movable barrier at a selected position along the path to which the movable barrier was moved by the three phase alternating current electric motor. The repositioning electrical power being selected by the controller sufficient to reposition the movable barrier back to the selected position when the movable barrier is moved therefrom other than by the three phase alternating current electric motor.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4318169 (1982-03-01), Kucharczyk
patent: 4364003 (1982-12-01), Phipps
patent: 4401929 (1983-08-01), Odaka et al.
patent: 4403449 (1983-09-01), Richmond
patent: 4429264 (1984-01-01), Richmond
patent: 4501343 (1985-02-01), Salihi
patent: 4563625 (1986-01-01), Kornbrekke et al.
patent: 4851746 (1989-07-01), Milke
patent: 4994724 (1991-02-01), Hsu
patent: 5057760 (1991-10-01), Dadpey et al.
patent: 5063337 (1991-11-01), Evin
patent: 5276391 (1994-01-01), Jonsson
patent: 5640806 (1997-06-01), Hall
patent: 5729101 (1998-03-01), Richmond et al.
patent: 5780987 (1998-07-01), Fitzgibbon et al.
patent: 5896021 (1999-04-01), Kumar
patent: 5950752 (1999-09-01), Lyons
patent: 5956249 (1999-09-01), Beran et al.
patent: 5963000 (1999-10-01), Tsutsumi et al.
patent: 5982126 (1999-11-01), Hellinga et al.
patent: 6092338 (2000-07-01), Crowner et al.
Crowner Scott A.
Denault Brian G.
O'Berto Gerald N.
Hy-Security Gate, Inc.
Seed IP Law Group PLLC
Sircus Brian
LandOfFree
Barrier operator system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Barrier operator system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Barrier operator system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2564760