BACKGROUND
1. Field
The present invention relates to motorized doors, and, more particularly to an intelligent sensing edge and control system for a motorized door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Motorized doors have many industrial and commercial uses. However, care must be taken when operating a motorized door. When a motorized door encounters a significant obstruction during closing, for instance, it may be necessary to immediately reverse the motor direction or halt the operation of the door.
The prior art is replete with safety devices for motorized door systems, such as various types of safety edges. When a door is equipped with a safety edge, a signal is typically sent to halt or reverse the motor when the edge encounters an obstruction. In other cases, a signal is interrupted, and the absence of the signal then triggers the control system to take appropriate action.
In the prior art, pneumatic air activated systems include an edge having a flexible hose that is sealed. When encountering an obstruction, the hose is compressed causing the air in the hose to push against a switch, sending a signal to a control system. While such systems are useful, they often suffer from reliability and maintenance problems.
In the prior art, electric-activated edges are more widely employed. Typically, these devices include dual conductive strips that are separated by an air gap. When encountering an obstruction, the conductive strips are pushed together completing a circuit, thereby causing a signal to be sent to the control system.
Although such prior art safety edges are very useful, they suffer from the fact that they cannot provide any information other than the fact that the door has encountered an obstruction.
SUMMARY
A sensing edge is made in a plurality of segments that can be used to determine at which point along the edge an obstruction occurred. Data collected can be used to determine a segment of a sensing edge in a process that the fault occurred by addressing each segment individually or as a whole. A programmable controller can be operatively coupled to the sensing edge, and can include logic to control the door and/or other equipment using data collected from the sensing edge.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates an example overhead door having a sensing edge;
FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram showing the operational linkage between the sensing edge and a control system;
FIG. 3 illustrates a cutaway perspective view of an example sensing edge according to a first embodiment;
FIG. 4 illustrates a close-up view of the example sensing edge of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram showing that sensing edge divided into a plurality of segments.
FIG. 6 illustrates a side view of an example sensing edge according to a second embodiment;
FIG. 7 illustrates a cutaway side view of the sensing edge of the example sensing edge of FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 illustrates a close-up view of the grounding retainer of the sensing edge;
FIG. 9 illustrates a close-up view of the segment retainer of the sensing edge;
FIG. 10 illustrates an exploded partial view of a sensing edge; and
FIG. 11 illustrates a side view along the width of the sensing edge.
FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example sensing edge according to a third embodiment;
FIG. 13 illustrates a diagram showing the operational linkage between the sensing edge of FIG. 12 and a control system;
FIG. 14 illustrates the example sensing edge of FIG. 12 employed on an overhead door;
FIG. 15 illustrates the example sensing edge of FIG. 12 employed on a swinging door;
FIG. 16 illustrates an architecture of the safety edge; and
FIG. 17 illustrates an architecture of a control system useable in conjunction with the safety edge of FIG. 15.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to FIG. 1, an example overhead door system 150 having a sensing edge 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is illustrated. As shown, the overhead door system 150 includes a motorized gate 170 capable of upward and downward movement (as depicted by the up/down arrows). It is to be understood that the gate 170 will move in an upward direction when opening, and in a downward direction upon closing. It is further to be understood that various different types of motorized overhead doors exist, and the illustrated gate 170 is not meant to be limiting.
In various embodiments, the gate 170 is controlled by a controller 110 operatively coupled to an electric motor operating under the direction of the controller 110. In the illustrated embodiment, the controller 110 and the electric motor are housed together. However, in other embodiments, the controller is situated elsewhere. In some embodiments, the controller 110 is situated near or along the edge 100. The controller can include a “solid state” design or be a programmed PLC, for example. The controller is capable of storing data in storage 114.
In operation, when the gate 170 starts to close it may encounter an obstruction, such as the illustrated obstruction 52. The obstruction 52 could be any object, including a person, situated between the edge 100 and the ground 70 that would interfere with operation of the door system 150. As will be described in greater detail, upon encountering the obstruction 52, the sensing edge 100 senses the obstruction 52 at an impact point 50 and sends a signal to the controller 110 including data interpretable by the controller 110 as to both the existence of an obstruction 52 and a location along the edge 100 of the impact point 50. Although one impact point 50 is shown, it is to be understood that more than one impact point could exist, and the data transmitted to the controller 110 could include data as to the existence and location of additional impact points. Furthermore, in some embodiments, additional sensors, such as optical or thermal sensors 115 (as depicted in FIG. 5) can be included near or along the edge 100 (or elsewhere), and such additional sensor information could be provided to the controller 110, either along with or separately from the segment sensor data. In the case of a thermal sensor 115, such information could be useful in determining whether a fire exists. A fire door can then be closed, for example. However, if the controller 110 also determines using the segment sensors that the fire door is obstructed or compromised, the controller 110 can cause the fire door to close incrementally. That is, the door may close a few inches at a time and then stop, and repeat until it is fully closed. Alternative circuitry to accomplish this task may be provided. In this manner, a balance is maintained between keeping the fire door closed to limit the spread of the fire and not causing damage or injury, so as to allow a person in the path of or near the door to know that the door is in the process of closing.
Referring to FIG. 2, a diagram showing the operational linkage between the sensing edge 100 and the controller 110 is provided. It is to be understood that instead of a wired connection between the sensing edge 100 and the controller 110, information can alternatively or additionally be transmitted via a wireless link. For example, in an embodiment, the sensing edge 100 includes a radio transmitter capable of transmitting data to a receiver operatively connected to the controller 110. In other embodiments, the sensing edge 100 includes a transceiver capable of receiving data from the controller 110 as well as transmitting data to the controller 110.
Referring to FIG. 3, a cutaway perspective view of an example sensing edge 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is illustrated. As illustrated, the sensing edge 100 includes a retainer 140, a safety board 120, a foam insert 130 and a weather strip 145. The retainer can be made of aluminum or a hard plastic, for example. As shown, the retainer 140 includes a top surface and opposing lateral sides disposed perpendicularly to the top surface forming a C-shaped strip. In an embodiment, the retainer 140 is about ⅛th inch in thickness. The length of the retainer 140 can be any suitable size for the door.
It is to be understood that the bottom edge of the gate 170 fits between the pair of lateral sides, and the retainer 140 will be appropriately fastened to the edge of the gate using any suitable means, such as an adhesive, rivets, screws, etc. It is also to be understood that the retainer 140 can run the entire length of the edge. As shown, the safety board 120 is disposed on the top surface of the retainer 140. The safety edge 120 is encapsulated by the weather strip 135, which can be made of vinyl or another durable, flexible and weather-resistant material. The interior is filled with the foam insert 130 which can be a relatively hard foam or another suitable compressible material.
Referring to FIG. 4, a close-up view of the exemplary sensing edge 100 is illustrated. As shown, the safety board 120 includes a substrate 55 that can be a printed circuit board (PCB) or the like running substantially entirely across the length of the edge. Disposed on the substrate 55 is a plurality of tactile sensors 10. Such tactile sensors are activated upon a sufficient force being applied thereto. In operation, when the edge 100 encounters an obstruction, the force from the impact will be transferred through the weather strip 135 and the foam insert 130 to one or more tactile sensor 10. In an embodiment, upon sufficient force, the affected sensors 10 will open a circuit (using “normally closed” sensors). In other embodiments, the force will close a circuit (using “normally open” sensors). In either case, the electrical wiring of the PCB board will be such that the location of the particular sensor 10 or group of sensors 10 can be determined. In the spirit of the invention, the substrate 55 can be achieved alternatively using a flexible circuit board, individual resistive elements, an arrangement of mechanical switches, photo sensors, or any segmental conductive element such as copper or aluminum or breadboard design, etc. Additionally, a trace circuit will preferably be included along the edge and connected to the controller 110. The trace circuit can be a normally closed circuit, and if the door is severely impacted (by an automobile, for example), the trace circuit would be open due to the damage. In this event, a door fault is detected by the controller 110, and the controller 110 would take appropriate action such as instruct the door motor to be shut off. The trace additionally can have an alarm so that if an intruder pries the door open (or attempts to do so) using a crow bar or the like, it would compromise the trace and thus initiate a burglar alarm.
Referring to FIG. 5, the sensing edge 100 is shown divided into addressable segments A-D. It is to be understood that while four segments (A-D) are shown, either a greater or fewer number of segments could be provided. Furthermore, in the illustrated embodiment, each segment is addressable. However, in other embodiments, individual tactile sensors 10 could be addressable.
It is to be understood that each of the segments A-D shown includes a group of contiguous tactile sensors 10 such that when any sensor in the segment is activated, the affected segment can be determined by information sent to the controller 110. In an embodiment, each segment A-D includes fourteen tactile sensors 10 arranged as seven pairs of sensors.
In an embodiment, the segments A-D are each electrically isolated. In an embodiment, each Segment A-D can include its own segment transmitter, and each segment transmitter can be operatively coupled to the controller 110. The same effect can be achieved by hard wiring each segment to a single transmitter operatively coupled to the controller 110 or hard wiring each segment to the controller 110. In other embodiments, the segments A-D are connected electrically, but each of the affected segments is individually addressable. In still other embodiments, multiple sensing edges 100 affixed to a plurality of doors are operatively coupled to a single controller 110 that is configured to control each of the doors in case of issues with the doors. In such case, each door would be assigned an identifier and each segment assigned another identifier, according to an agreed upon addressing scheme. In various embodiments, the controller 110 is disposed on the sensing edge 100 (e.g., on the PCB). In other embodiments, the controller 110 is located remotely but operatively coupled to the sensing edge 100.
In various embodiments, the controller 110 includes a CPU that can be configured (e.g., programmed) to take action based on inputs received from the sensing edge 100. The controller 110 could be a programmable logic controller (PLC) or the like, and the inputs could be a sequence of data from the sensing edge 100, for example. Additionally, the controller 110 can include a time/date module to time/date stamp received inputs and record associated actions taken. The controller 110 can further include storage 114 to store this information.
Referring to FIG. 6, a side view of an exemplary sensing edge 200, according to another embodiment, is illustrated. The sensing edge 200 is similar in function to the sensing edge 100, the main difference being that the sensing edge 200 employs a structure using conductive ink technology, as discussed below.
As shown in FIG. 6, the sensing edge 200 includes a segment retainer 60, an isolating insert 90, and a grounding retainer 40. The isolating insert 90 is made of an insulative material and is sandwiched between the segment retainer 60 and the grounding retainer 40.
FIG. 7 shows an exploded cutaway view of the sensing edge 200. As depicted, the segment retainer 60 includes a plurality of segment substrates 20 each imprinted with conductive ink. Grounding retainer 40 has a continuous conductive grounding substrate 30 throughout its length, also formed and imprinted with conductive ink. Conductive ink results in a substrate that conducts electricity. Conductive inks are made by infusing graphite or other conductive materials such as nanoparticles of one or more metals (e.g., silver, gold, copper) in ink.
Each segment substrate 20 is electrically isolated, and a connector 80 is used to mate each of the segment substrates 20 with individual wire conductors of a multi-conductor cable 70 or the like. Each wire conductor is thereby electrically connected to an individual segment substrate 20. These wire conductors can be connected to the controller 110 (as shown in FIG. 2). Additionally, the grounding substrate 30 is connected to a connector 85, mating the grounding substrate 30 to a ground wire 15 further connected to controller 110. A continuity circuit is completed when the grounding substrate 30 is touched to any of the segment substrates 20 of the segment retainer 60, sending an individual continuity signal from each affected substrate 20 to the controller 110. The segment retainer 60 can be made of hard foam or a hard plastic, for example. The grounding retainer 40 and isolating insert 90 are made of relatively hard foam or another suitable compressible material. The length of the sensing edge 200 can be any suitable size for the door edge. It is to be understood that the sensing edge 200 will be appropriately fastened to the edge of the gate using any suitable means, such as an adhesive, rivets, screws, etc., with the grounding retainer 40 arranged at the bottom of the structure facing the floor. Further, an appropriate weather strip may be used to cover the sensing edge 200.
The isolating insert 90 has openings 95 corresponding to each segment substrate 20. In operation, when the grounding retainer 40 encounters an obstruction, the force from the impact will be transferred through one or more segment opening 95 of the isolating insert 90 to corresponding one or more segment substrate 20, thereby touching the grounding substrate 30 to one or more of the segment substrates 20 completing one or more continuity circuit to controller 110. The location and extent of the impact can be noted (and time stamped) at controller 110 by one or more segment substrates 20 touched by grounding substrate 30.
Referring to FIG. 8, a close-up view of the grounding retainer 40 is shown with grounding substrate 30 connected by a conductive trace 35 to the connector 85. Conductive trace 35 is further connected to ground wire 15. Ground wire 15 is further connected to controller 110.
Turning now to FIG. 9, a close-up view of a part of segment retainer 60 is illustrated. As shown, segment 20 (corresponding to segment A, FIG. 5) is electrically connected to connector 80 via conductive trace 22. In turn, the connector 80 is electrically connected to multi-conductor cable 70. Accordingly, a conductive path can be formed from segment substrate 20 (corresponding to segment A) through conductive trace 22, connector 80, and one of the wires in the multi-conductor cable 70 leading eventually to controller 110. Additionally, the segment retainer 60 can include a trace circuit 77. The trace circuit 77 can be disposed along the perimeter of the bottom surface of the segment retainer 60. The trace circuit 77 is connected to the connector 80 and mated to an individual wire conductor of the multi-conductor cable 70. The trace circuit can be a normally closed circuit, and if the door were severely impacted (by an automobile, for example), the trace circuit would be open due to the damage. In this event, the controller 110 detects a door fault, and the controller 110 would take appropriate action such as instruct the door motor to be shut off. The trace circuit additionally can have an alarm so that if an intruder pries the door open (or attempts to do so), it would compromise the trace and thus initiate a burglar alarm.
FIG. 10 illustrates an exploded partial view of the sensing edge 200. As depicted, the isolating insert 90 includes a plurality of openings 95 corresponding to segment segments 20 (labeled individually as segments A-D). The grounding retainer 40 with its ground wire 15 and the segment retainer 60, shown with connector 80 and multi-conductor cable 70, is also illustrated.
Referring to FIG. 11, the sensing edge 200 is shown from a side along its width.
As with the sensing edge 100, the sensing edge 200 can be used to determine the location along the edge of an impact. Instead of hard wiring, each segment can include its own segment transmitter, and each segment transmitter can be operatively coupled to the controller 110. The same effect can be achieved by forming conductive traces from each segment to a single transmitter operatively coupled to the controller 110. In some embodiments, multiple sensing edges 200 (and/or sensing edges 100) can be affixed to a plurality of doors, and operatively coupled to a single controller 110 that is configured to control each of the doors in case of issues with the doors. In such case, each door could be assigned an identifier and each segment of each door could further be assigned an identifier, according to an agreed-upon addressing scheme. In various embodiments, the controller 110 is disposed in close proximity or on the sensing edge 200. In other embodiments, the controller 110 is located remotely but operatively coupled to the sensing edge 200.
Referring to FIG. 12, a block diagram of an example sensing edge 300 according to a third embodiment is illustrated. FIG. 13 illustrates a diagram showing the operational linkage between the sensing edge 300 and an example control system (comprising the controller 110 and the storage 114). The sensing edge 300 can include the sensing edge 100 (employing tactile sensors) or 200 (using conductive ink technology) as disclosed above, for example. In addition, the controller 110 and storage 114 can be used, as disclosed above, to record/timestamp sensed obstructions encountered along specific segments of the sensing edge 300. The main difference between the sensing edge 300 and the sensing edges 100 and 200 is the addition of the motion sensor 320, which provides additional information as to the various motions of the edge 300. In an embodiment, the motion sensor 300 includes a multi-axis accelerometer that can determine g-force values across each of the axes. In other embodiments, a gyroscope may be also employed to determine orientation along three-axes. Using such motion sensors, one or more of acceleration, velocity, position, and orientation of the sensing edge 300 can be determined using known techniques. In turn, these values can be time stamped by the controller 100 and stored in the storage 114 to provide a history of motions of the door. Additionally, the controller 110 can be configured (e.g., programmed) to respond in real time to certain motion data received from the motion sensor 320. For example, the controller 110 can be configured to activate one or more relay switch such as to trigger a door brake when a door is falling faster (or accelerating faster) than a predetermined value (as determined using data from the motion sensor 320) or cause an alarm to be signaled in such an event. After the door is shut down, a technician can be sent inspect (and repair) the door. After the door is deemed to be operating properly, the technician can press a reset switch on the safety edge to change the state of the door to “normal” again. Additionally, motion-related information derived from the motion sensor 320 can be used to monitor the door, particularly to observe and monitor changes in operation of the door over time.
FIG. 14 illustrates the example sensing edge 300 employed on an overhead door 170. FIG. 15 illustrates the example sensing edge 300 employed on a swinging door 175. It is to be understood that the sensing edge 300 could be installed on various other types of doors (e.g., hinged doors, horizontally slidable doors) and other devices where safety edges are used (barrier arm, elevator doors, etc.). In the case of the sensing edge 300 disposed on the edge of an overhead door (FIG. 14), movement takes place along a y-axis (upward/downward). However, in the case of the swinging door (FIG. 15) such motion can be measured along three axes (x, y, and z).
FIG. 16 illustrates an example architecture of the safety edge 300. It is to be understood that this example is meant to be non-limiting and is presented herein for illustrative purposes. Furthermore, although the safety edge 300 transmits data to a control system (shown in FIG. 17) wirelessly, it is to be understood that the sensing edge 300 could instead be wired to the control system. Additionally, it is to be noted that although an accelerometer is used for the motion sensor 320, other types of motion sensors (e.g., a gyroscope) could alternatively, or additionally, be employed.
As shown in FIG. 16, a block diagram depicting circuitry (e.g., a printed circuit board) for a transmitting portion 350 of the sensing edge 300 includes various modules such an accelerometer 350a, a microcontroller 350b, Bluetooth TX 350c, a segment selector switch 350d, an ICSP 350e, and a battery 350f. The circuitry 350 is disposed on or adjacent the sensing edge 300, and data is transmitted to the receiving portion 360 (FIG. 17). Each segment of the sensing edge 300 is connected to the circuitry 350 through a respective connector 352. The individual segments of the sensor edge 300 are monitored by a voltage labeled VDD connected to a 10 K ohm resistor and the other end of the connection to ground through a 10 K ohm resistor. This is essentially a voltage divider with a normal voltage of 1.65 volts. If a segment of the sensor edge 300 is disturbed by an obstruction, then a voltage rise will occur and a reading of 3.3 volts results, thereby generating a fault in the logic of the circuitry 350 triggering a signal transmitted viz the Bluetooth TX 350c module. The various circuit modules are described further:
A. Accelerometer 350a
The Accelerometer 350a can be a multi-axis device used to determine door travel direction and acceleration. The Microcontroller 350b will learn the direction of the door travel after the user has opened and closed the door once.
B. Microcontroller 350b
The Microcontroller 350b is an 8-bit microcontroller that will be used to monitor the sensor edge 300 and send data wirelessly by Bluetooth TX 350c. The Microcontroller 350n has a low power mode to be used in battery-operated circuits. To save power the system goes to sleep for 9 milliseconds and wakes up for 1 millisecond. If an event such as an obstruction has occurred the system will stay awaked to take care of the event.
C. Bluetooth TX 350c
The Bluetooth TX 350c is a low-energy wireless module made by Microchip (RN4871). The rotary switch position 9 of the Segment Selector Switch 350d will act as the synchronization button for the transmitter and the receiver.
D. Segment Selector Switch 350d
A 9-position segment selector switch will allow the user to select the number of segments for a particular sensor edge as the number of segments can vary according to the length of a particular door. Once the user selects the number of segments the Microcontroller 350b checks the total connected segments. If the segment number doesn't match, a fault will be signaled (and transmitted via Bluetooth TX 350c. This can indicate an obstruction of the edge, thereby triggering a fault and resulting in logic action.
E. ICSP 350e
In-circuit serial programming (ICSP) allows the Microcontroller 350b to be programmed and upgraded from time to time.
F. Battery 350f
The transmitter will be powered from batteries. The user will get a low battery notification when the system detects low voltage.
Turning to FIG. 17 which is a drawing showing circuitry of the receiving portion 360 comprising an edge type SW 360a, a microcontroller 360b, an input power supply 360c, an LED display 360d, a Bluetooth RX 360e, a safety edge type output 360c, and an ICSP module 360g.
A. Edge Type SW 360a
To account for various types of safety edge the user will select the type through the Edge Type SW 330 rotary switch. The types of sensing edges that can be selected are types 10K ohm, 4.7K ohm, and 1K ohm design, and types normally open and normally closed design. Additional sensing edge types can be added.
B. Microcontroller 360b:
The Microcontroller 360b is an 8-bit PIC microcontroller used to handle all the calculations for safety edge monitoring and events history. It will also calculate the door travel direction and speed from data provided by the Accelerometer 350a. A real time clock will be used to log all events with a timestamp. A circular buffer will be used to log the most recent events. This data is also transmitted to Storage 114 (FIG. 13). Microcontroller 360b can comprise the controller 110 (FIG. 13).
C. Input Power 360c
The receiving portion 360 will be powered from operating voltage 24 VAC or 24 VDC from the Input Power 305 module. An internal regulator in the Input Power 305 module will create the needed VDD voltage of 3.3 VDC.
D. LED Display 360d
The LED Display 310 module comprises six LED's that will be used to display faults and segment detections under control of Microcontroller 360b.
E. Bluetooth RX 360e
The Bluetooth RX 360e is a wireless low energy module made by Microchip (RN4871). The transmitting portion 350 and receiving portion 360 will use the same type of module, one designated TX for transmitter and the other RX for receiver modules. Use of short-range wireless technology, such Bluetooth, allows data to be extracted entirely without use of an external device such as an SD card or a USB device.
E. ICSP 360f
In-circuit serial programming (ICSP) allows the Microcontroller TX 360b to be programmed and upgraded from time to time.
While this invention has been described in conjunction with the various exemplary embodiments outlined above, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention, as set forth above, are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Patent Application
20190071912
