1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composite pull-chain disc mechanism with a brake function for a door operator, and particularly, to an electric door operator incorporated with this composite pull-chain disc mechanism for operating in a manual mode through the composite pull-chain disc mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a door operator used in, such as a fireproof door or a safety door, basically has an electric motor mechanism to drive a rotating shaft so as to wind a door curtain. A brake mechanism is incorporated for braking the rotating shaft, a pull-chain disc mechanism is used to manually rotate the rotating shaft by means of a pull chain under power failure condition, and an electric clutch mechanism is used to release the brake mechanism or connect the pull-chain disc mechanism by an electromagnet. Furthermore, a lock device for stopping the rotation of the pull-chain disc in an electric operation mode is included, and a brake releasing device is used to release a brake in a manual operation mode.
It is known that a plenty of documents related to door operators are proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,582 has disclosed the above-described type operation mode, wherein in a manual operation mode, on one hand, a lock device for a pull chain is first released; on the other hand, a brake for the rotating shaft of a door operator is released by a brake releasing device by using a mechanical force, and then, the pull chain is pulled to rotate a pull-chain disc and renders the rotating shaft to rotate. The above-mentioned patent has not only a complicated structure, but also quite inconvenient for operation. In general, once an electric motor mechanism is detached during maintenance for the door operator, a manual mechanism becomes invalid, and hence normal personnel access is affected.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,885 issued to the present applicant, except that a pull-chain disc is used in a manual operation mode under power failure circumstance, the rotation of the pull-chain disc is usually limited by a pull chain, which is locked by a locking device disposed on the housing of a door operator. Therefore, in the case that an electromagnet is not magnetically excited, the pull-chain disc also functions as a brake disc for braking the rotation of the rotating shaft of the door operator. Moreover, in the case that an electric motor mechanism is detached during maintenance, the door operator can still be operated in a manual mode to keep normal personnel access.
Moreover, the present inventor, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,055,283 B2, proposes a control system for switching an electric operation to a manual operation of a door operator, the control system comprising a brake device, used for braking and releasing a rotating shaft of the door operator; a pull-chain disc device, pivoted about a different axle; a clutch device, disposed between the rotating shaft and the pull-chain disc, used for driving the rotating shaft in one direction; a driven disc, linked with the clutch device so as to switch a protective device. As long as the pull chain is pulled, the protective device cuts off an electric circuit for the door operator and releases brake to automatically switch the door operator to a manual mode.
For those skilled in the art there are still spaces for the above-mentioned patents to improve in terms of their usages and structure.
A main objective of the present invention is to provide a composite pull-chain disc mechanism with brake function for a door operator, thereby improving the complicated structures and inconvenient operations of the prior arts.
In order to accomplish the above objective and other objectives, a door operator is mounted on abase plate, wherein the door operator comprises a central shaft, one end of which is provided with an output wheel for driving a winding shaft, and the other end of which is provided with a composite pull-chain disc mechanism for driving or braking the central shaft. The composite pull-chain disc mechanism comprises a pull-chain disc rotated by a pull chain, within which there is an axial space functioning as an accommodating portion; a partition plate fitted on the right side of the accommodating portion; a protrudent pin secured at a predetermined radial point on the partition plate, one end of the protrudent pin axially protruding toward the left side into the accommodating portion, and the other end of the protrudent pin extending toward the right side of the partition plate to form an extending end. There is a pair of inner hub and outer hub, the inner hub being pivoted to the partition plate, and the outer hub being sleeved on the inner hub in the accommodating portion. And the left end portion of the central shaft passes through the inner hub and is fixed to it into one unit. The right end of the inner hub has a flanged end disc located on the right side of the partition plate. On the end face of the end disc, an elongated arc slot having a predetermined length is formed along a circumference direction at a radius and in correspondence to the radial position of the protrudent pin, to receive the extending end. The left end portion of the outer hub functions as a fixing disc mounted on the base plate. A movable disc is pivoted on the outer hub to rotate around it. At least one torsional spring having an inner diameter can be slidably shrunk on the outer hub at the right side of the movable disc. The torsional spring has two free ends, which are staggered at a predetermined distance in a horizontal direction and formed with radially and outwardly protrudent portions respectively. A pair of bolt rods, fixed on the flanged end disc at predetermined positions outside the two ends of the elongated arc slot, pass through the partition plate and by the outsides of the two protruding portions of the torsional spring, and then is fixed on the movable disc. The protrudent pin stretches in between the two protrudent portions of the torsional spring.
According to the present invention, when a force is exerted on the pull chain to drive the composite pull-chain disc mechanism, the torsional spring is actuated at de-twisting sides, so that the inner diameter of the torsional spring is enlarged to loosen constriction on the outer hub and the central shaft can be rotated. On the contrary, when the pull chain stops exerting a force, the weight of door slats always acts on twisting sides of the torsional spring, so that the inner diameter of the torsional spring is shrunk to constrict on the outer shaft hub to brake the central shaft. It is unnecessary to have any switching device for the start and stop of the door operator. Hence, the operation of the door operator is convenient, the probability of failure is relatively low, and the structure of the door operator can be made simplified and miniaturized.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, an electric door operator incorporated with the composite pull-chain disc mechanism with brake function is provided. The electric motor mechanism, the clutch mechanism, and the composite pull-chain disc mechanism of the door operator are modularized respectively, in which the electrical motor mechanism is detachably connected with the composite pull-chain disc mechanism by means of the clutch mechanism, so that in the case of detaching the electrical motor mechanism during maintenance, the electrical door operator can still be operated to open/close a door in a manual mode through the composite pull-chain disc mechanism. This is another objective of the present invention.
Hereinafter, the technical features of the present invention are further described in cooperation with drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate the embodiments which are preferred examples only and are not used to limit the scope of implementation of the present invention. The invention is better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
a is an exploded perspective view of the composite pull-chain disc mechanism viewed in the rear direction to that of
b is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the composite pull-chain disc mechanism of
c is a perspective view of a torsional spring mechanism of the present invention.
d is a cross-sectional view of the composite pull-chain disc mechanism of
e is a schematic view shown that the composite pull-chain disc mechanism with the brake function of the present invention is applied to a hand-operated door operator.
f is a cross-sectional view of
a is a cross-sectional view showing the electric door operator of
b is a cross-sectional view along a line 2b-2b in
c is a partly enlarged view of a circled portion in
d is a partly enlarged view of the circled portion in
First,
Referring to
Referring to
In this way, the structure for a door operator can be simplified and miniaturized by using the composite pull-chain disc mechanism with a torsional spring 38 for braking the central shaft 10 in the twisting directions of the torsional spring 38 and for transmitting an exerting force from the pull chain to rotate the central shaft 10 in the de-twisting directions of the torsional spring 30, with a effect that a switching over the start and the stop mode operations of the door operator is automatic.
a to 2d explain an embodiment of an electric door operator in which the composite pull-chain disc mechanism with the brake function of the present invention is applied to the electric door operator, for the effect that in the case of detaching an electric motor mechanism during maintenance, the electric door operator can be still operated to open/close a door in a manual mode through the pull-chain disc composite mechanism, thereby allowing personnel access.
According to embodiment of the present invention, an electric door operator 1′ comprises a housing 1a for mounting an electric motor mechanism 20. A rotating shaft 10′ of the electric motor mechanism 20 is connected to the central shaft 10 via a coupling 11 and detachably connected to a composite pull-chain disc mechanism 30 having a brake function by means of a clutch mechanism 22. The rotation of the rotating shaft 10′ of the electric motor mechanism 20 is transmitted to the output wheel 15 fixed on an output shaft 10″ via the central shaft 10 after the rotating speed of the rotating shaft 10′ is reduced by a train of gears 404 and 401″ to rotate a winding shaft for a door curtain (not shown). As the construction of the composite pull-chain disc mechanism 30 is the same as that of the above-described embodiment (referring to
As shown in
As to the present invention, a conventional control circuit is used. When the electric motor mechanism 20 is electrically powered to be in an electrodynamic operation mode (i.e., in the case of clockwise or anticlockwise rotation), the control circuit excites the electromagnet 221 of the clutch mechanism 22, so that the driven disc 223 resists against the potential energy of the elastic element 222 and is attracted leftward by the electromagnet 221 to separate from the brake shoe piece 224a(as shown in
In this way, even in the case of detaching the electric motor mechanism 20 during maintenance or the electric motor being out of order, the door operator 1′ can still be operated to open/close the door in a manual mode through the composite pull-chain disc mechanism 30 so as to keep normal personnel access.