Patent Application
20180363358
This invention relates to door control systems, especially for overhead doors that open and close based on detection of a vehicle or person in the vicinity of the door. The invention is more particularly directed to a sensor used in connection with a so-called high speed door of a type used in factories, warehouses, and in some parking facilities, which can open when a vehicle approaches and closes after the vehicle has passed through. Example of these can be seen at the web site https://www.rytecdoors.com.
Loading vehicles, such as fork lifts and pallet lifters, are used in bringing goods and materials in or out of a warehouse or other structure, or between rooms in a commercial facility. It is important that these vehicles are detected when they approach or are close to the automatic high speed door so it will open for the vehicle and remain open until the vehicle has passed through. After that the door quickly closes to keep wind, dust, or heat from traveling through the doorway from one space into another. In order to detect the presence of a vehicle approaching the doorway, or a person walking or standing near the doorway, some means of detection needs to be provided with its detection range extending through a space near the floor that would be occupied by the vehicle or person. The high-speed industrial door trade is aware of this need, but has been unable to address it.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bollard-based vehicle detection system to control opening and staying open of a high speed door or other motorized door, and which also avoids the drawbacks of the prior art.
It is a further object to provide a safety alert system within a facility to serve as actuator of a safety beacon or siren to warn pedestrians of oncoming motorized traffic within the facility, or entering or leaving the facility.
It is another object to provide a bollard that projects one or more detection beams horizontally across the width of the doorway to detect vehicles or person approaching the door.
It is still another object to provide a sturdy platform for the detector, in the form of a sturdy steel bollard, that can withstand collisions with forklift trucks and other industrial vehicles without interrupting their sensing and control operations.
It is a more specific object to provide the door detecting and control arrangement in a bollard which is of simple construction, with clean lines and will not interfere with the operations of the industrial vehicles and personnel in the warehouse or other structure.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a bollard-based sensor is adapted to be installed adjacent a high-speed door, e.g., a door separating two spaces in a warehouse, or in some cases a loading dock door and to cause the door to open or to be held open when a vehicle or some person is in the vicinity of the high-speed door. The bollard has a vertical tubular metal bollard body (typically cylindrical, but possibly of other shapes); and may have a base plate that serves as a means for affixing the tubular metal body of the bollard to a horizontal floor surface. One or more window cutouts at an upper end of the bollard tubular metal body may be present, located to permit the electric eye, i.e. divergent photo eye or eyes to look out across the width of the doorway to detect a vehicle or person approaching the door or present in a space near the door. A fixed plate is welded or otherwise affixed onto the inside surface of the tubular metal body below the window cutout. A pylon or pedestal is fastened onto the plate at the axis of the bollard body and one or more support plates for the photo eyes are pivotally mounted on the top of the pylon or pedestal, at the level of the window cutout. These support plates allow the divergent photo eyes to be aimed at various angles, as appropriate to the installation. Favorably there may be an open core to accommodate for electrical connections to conductors within the bollard body, and there may be a threaded hole provided onto which a conduit may be threadably fitted for wiring leading to the door control arrangement for the high-speed industrial door.
Favorably, the bollard body may be comprised of a steel pipe, preferably a schedule 40 pipe, and this may be embedded in the floor of the space, or may have a footpiece plate or flange bolted to the floor, or alternatively the bollard may be strapped, clamped or welded to an existing structure, i.e., the protective “goalpost” of the door. The window cutout may be approximately 36 inches above the floor, so that the beams extend out at that height from the floor. In a favorable embodiment, the window cutouts are each about ⅝ inch in height and occupy about 80 degrees of arc. Favorably, the bollard body is positioned about 30 inches from the door, but this distance is not critical, and depends on the specifics of the installation. On an indoor setting, there would be one or more sensing bollards on each side of the door to control opening and holding open from either direction.
The bollard can also have a plastic protective sleeve fitted over its tubular metal body, and the plastic sleeve would have a window cutout therein aligned with the window cutout of the tubular metal body. A cap for the bollard may have a small steady or flashing light on its top to indicate that the bollard sensor is on. The bollard sensor may be connected to the door control system for both door opening and holding open, or for opening only or holding open only, as is needed for the given installation.
Preferably, the sensor e.g., divergent photo eye unit is operative to detect light (e.g., infrared) reflected from the approaching vehicle. The beam for the photo eye extends the width of the doorway. The photo eyes can be adjusted to detect between one foot and thirteen feet away from the photo eye. As described, the photo eyes beams see through a ⅝ inch viewing slot that is about 36 inches above the floor, so they would react to a vehicle or person, but not to a small animal or an object rolling on the floor.
An acoustic sensor, such as an ultrasonic or sonic detector, may possibly be used in some applications, rather than the photo eye here, which is typically sensitive to the infrared wavelengths.
In some applications there may be one sensing bollard at the left side of the doorway and another at the right side.
The above and many other objects, features, and advantages of this invention will be more fully appreciated from the ensuing description of a preferred embodiment, which is to be read in conjunction with the accompanying Drawing.
With reference now to the Drawing,
On a floor surface 22, usually a poured concrete flooring, is mounted a sentry post bollard 24, also shown in
The bollard 24 has a window slot 26 formed near the top end through which the diffuse photo eye sends its beam and sees any reflection of it. There may be multiple slots. Favorably each slot 26 extends horizontally for about 80 degrees of arc and has a height of ⅝ inch to one inch, favorably about ¾ inch. The sentry post bollard 24 can be steel pipe or tube, e.g., schedule 40 pipe of four inch to six inch diameter. See also
A controller 32 for raising, lowering, or holding the door curtain 16 open is mounted within a box on the wall W, adjacent the door.
Shown in
As shown in
The sentry post bollard 24 in this embodiment is in the form of a tubular cylindrical body, but in other embodiments the bollard 24 may take the form of a square pipe, a pipe of oval profile, or another suitable shape.
A twin-beam arrangement of the invention is illustrated in
While the invention has been described with reference to specific preferred embodiments, the invention is certainly not limited to those precise embodiments. Rather, many modifications and variations will become apparent to persons of skill in the art without departure from the scope and spirit of this invention, as defined in the appended claims.
