Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Automatic control – With releasing means for operator and/or counterbalance
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-17
2001-09-04
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Automatic control
With releasing means for operator and/or counterbalance
C160S002000, C160S118000, C160S188000, C049S379000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283189
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a swinging folding door or gate with an emergency opening device or an emergency opening device for a swinging folding door or a swinging folding gate which has at least one outer and one inner panel. At least two panels can be connected to one another by means of a pivoting drag link. An outer panel can be guided in a restricted manner in a hinge which is located on the door frame or in a similar location, and the free end of an inner door panel, which inner door panel has a main closing edge, is guided in a restricted manner in or on the door frame or case, on the transom or crossbar or in a similar location by means of a folding linkage.
2. Background Information
German Patent Specification 18 14 224 discloses a multi-panel swinging folding door on which the outer door panel is driven by means of a four-hinge transmission, the propeller shaft of which does not coincide with the axis of rotation, i.e. with the supporting bearing or journal bearing of the outer door panel. In the vicinity of the connection of the individual door panels there is a folding linkage, which folding linkage is responsible for the parallel orientation of the individual door panels in relation to one another when the swinging folding gate is open. There is no emergency opening device.
German Unexamined Patent Application 40 14 727, filed by the applicant, describes an automatic sliding door that consists of two door panels that can move in opposite directions and are guided on rails located on the transom. The door panels are driven by an electric motor with an electromagnetic coupling or clutch. When the door panels are closed, an elastic tension device or auxiliary drive, which elastic tension device can be realized in the form of a rubber element, is stretched so that in the event of a power failure or disconnection, at which time the coupling or clutch is opened, the sliding door is automatically opened, to keep the escape and evacuation route in which such a door is installed unobstructed, even under hazardous conditions.
German Unexamined Patent Application 28 29 912 describes a folding door in which the drive of the folding door panel is in the form of a motor that acts on the band journal or pin of a joint hinge, whereby an elastic coupling is located between the motor and the joint hinge to achieve a more favorable closing and opening action. In the gear train of the drive mechanism, there is also a rapid release capability which makes it possible to operate the door by hand.
German Patent Specification 32 02 930 relates to an electromagnetic drive system for swinging panels of doors or similar systems in which a direct current motor located in a housing acts through an intermediate, heavily geared planetary gear train on the articulated lever-like linkage that actuates the swinging panel. The output shaft of the gear train is mounted in the base and carrier plate of the housing so that the linkage can be connected on both sides to the output shaft, if necessary. On the side of the output shaft opposite the linkage, there is a return spring assembly which, when the motor is de-energized, rotates the output shaft to close the door panel. This is not a emergency opening device of the type described above, but an automatic door closer. Nor does the linkage disclosed by the above-referenced patent itself form the drive shaft and thus the hinge of the door panel.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention, on a folding door or a folding gate of the type described above, is to create an emergency opening device, by means of which it is possible, using the simplest possible construction, to reliably initiate the folding process of the individual door panels in the opening direction. Because the opening and closing of such doors generally uses appropriate drive structure, i.e. the doors are not opened and closed manually, and the drive must conventionally be supplied with electrical energy, in this context the term “emergency” is used to mean in particular a situation in which the electrical energy required for the opening process fails or in which an alarm device or the actuation of a manual switch gives a command to open the doors to clear the escape and evacuation route, for example in case of fire or other eventually. A component of the present invention is therefore a drive system that is realized in the form of an electric motor drive, whereby the electric motor has an electromagnetic coupling which is automatically released in the event of a power failure. In this case, it must be taken into consideration, in particular, that the emergency opening device can be designed so that it has sufficient capacity to apply the relatively large moment required at the beginning of the folding process to initiate the folding of the door.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention teaches that this object can be accomplished by using the hinge to form the drive shaft of the outer door panel. The drive system for the opening and closing of the door panels comprises an electric-motor drive with a switchable electromagnetic coupling. An emergency opening device of an elastic tension or compression structure, for example a leg spring mechanism
12
, flat coil spring
15
, torsion spring
19
, or linear spring element
22
, that can be stretched during the closing of the swinging folding door and is engaged in the drive shaft of the outer door panel or in the vicinity of the main closing edge o the inner door panel. For ease of understanding, the following description relates exclusively to a swinging folding door, although the invention can be used just as well on a swinging folding gate. When the tension or pressure means are located immediately in the drive shaft or in the vicinity of the main closing edge of the inner door panel, it is possible, using a simple construction, to exert a sufficient return force on the door panels without thereby incurring large losses. It is also possible to omit the components for the emergency opening process that project outward or inward beyond the door panels into the passage area.
In one preferred embodiment, a leg spring mechanism is provided which—when it is realized in the form of a torsion spring, for example—is located inside the drive shaft of the outer door panel, which drive shaft can be located on the door frame or in a similar location. When a torsion spring, a flat coil spring etc. is used, for example, the leg spring mechanism can alternatively be oriented concentric to the drive shaft of the outer door panel, which drives shaft is located on the door frame or in a similar location.
In an additional configuration of the invention, the drive shaft has a winding roller that is non-rotationally connected to it, and by which it guides a linear tension device that is connected on the other and to a transom or a similar location. By use of the linear tension device, the strength of which can be selected to meet the specific requirements, and which can consist of a cable to which tension is applied by a flat coil spring, a sufficiently large moment can be exerted on the drive shaft of the outer door panel in the opening direction.
In at least one embodiment of the present invention, the coupling point of the outer door panel to the drive shaft lies outside the drive shaft, so that when the swinging folding door is being opened or closed, the coupling point of the outer door panel runs in an orbit, i.e. a circular orbit, around the drive shaft, which facilitates the opening and closing process.
In an additional configuration of the invention, the tension device can comprise a cable that is wound around, or looped or connected, in the vicinity of the main closing edge of the inner door panel, whereby this cable, which may also be guided around a deflector roller or pulley, is guided to an elastic energy storage device located on the transom or in a similar location. The elastic energy storage device can preferably be a torsion spring. Here again, the return for
Cohen Curtis A.
DORMA GmbH +Co. KG
Nils H. Ljungman & Associates
Stodola Daniel P.
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