Multi-panel door with an auxiliary drive mechanism

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6352097
  • Patent Number
    6,352,097
  • Date Filed
    Friday, September 10, 1999
    25 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, March 5, 2002
    22 years ago
Abstract
A multi-panel sliding door includes a main drive to directly move a leading door panel and includes an auxiliary drive to smoothly accelerate a lagging door panel. In some embodiments, the auxiliary drive includes a hanging weight that urges the lagging panel to its open position. In another embodiment, the auxiliary drive includes a belt and sheave arrangement attached to the lagging panel. The leading panel is coupled to move the belt around two sheaves as the leading panel moves relative to the lagging one. The belt's movement is limited by a bumper that is attached to one point on the belt and is constrained to travel between one of the sheaves and a fixed stop attached to a wall or the track. As the main drive starts moving the leading panel to its open position, the relative movement between the two panels causes the belt to move the bumper up against the fixed stop. From there, continued opening movement of the leading panel continues rotating the belt around the sheaves. Since the bumper now holds a portion of the belt fixed relative to the stop, the sheaves begin to translate. This begins moving the lagging panel to its open position off to one side of a doorway before the lead panel reaches its open position in front of the lagging panel.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The subject invention generally pertains to what is known as a multi-panel sliding door and more specifically to an actuator for such a door.




2. Description of Related Art




So-called multi-panel sliding doors include two or more generally parallel door panels that are suspended by carriages that slide or roll along an overhead track. The carriages allow the door panels to travel in a generally horizontal direction in front of a doorway to open and close the door. When the door is open, the door panels generally overlay each other at one side of the doorway. To close the door, the panels slide out from behind each other to move in front of the doorway. When fully extended, the panels cover a span that approaches the sum of their individual widths. Applying such an arrangement to both sides of the doorway provides a bi-parting door with multiple panels on each side. In which case, leading panels (i.e., those first to pass in front of the doorway) from each side meet at generally the center of the doorway when the door closes.




With multi-panel sliding doors, the horizontal translation of a leading door panel is usually powered by a drive unit, while one or more lagging panels are pulled back and forth into position indirectly by somehow being coupled to the driven movement of the leading panel. To do this, often a vertical edge seal, strap or some other coupling connects a lagging panel to a leading one. As the leading panel is driven to move away from the center of the doorway to open the door, the lagging panel may remain stationary in front of the doorway until the leading panel has moved to where it overlays at least most of the lagging one. At this point the leading panel begins pulling the lagging one along with it to one side of the doorway in response to the coupling engaging or tightening rather suddenly. Due to the inertia of the lagging panel, the sudden action of the coupling creates a reaction comparable to that of an impact between the two panels. A similar mechanism may also be employed to pull the lag panel to the closed position.




The impact-like reaction strains the coupling and the points at which the coupling attaches to the panels. This can damage various components of the door or shorten the door's overall useful life. The impact effect also places a sudden inertial load on the drive unit, which slows the opening of the door.




For doors that are designed to open automatically in the presence of an approaching vehicle, such as a forklift, a slow opening door is susceptible to being struck by a fast moving vehicle. Moreover, a closed door limits a driver's visibility to only what is in front of the door. The nature of the impact can also lead to a jerky, unsmooth door operation, particularly if the lag panel is freely moveable. Moreover, with a free lag panel, it may be difficult to accurately maintain the lag panel in a desired open or closed position, since it may be subject to drift when not directly engaged by or coupled to the lead panel




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




To assist in providing smooth door operation and reliable positioning of a lag panel in a multi-panel sliding door, an auxiliary drive is used to move the lag panel.




In some embodiments of a multi-panel sliding door, a primary drive unit moves one panel while an auxiliary drive mechanism that includes a suspended weight moves another panel.




In some embodiments, a primary drive unit moves one panel directly, while moving another panel indirectly by way of an auxiliary drive mechanism that includes a belt, chain or some other flexible ring encircling two rotatable members such as a sheave, sprocket or some other type of wheel, the auxiliary drive being coupled to the driven panel.




In some embodiments, a drive mechanism that includes a belt, chain or some other flexible ring encircling two rotatable members such as a sheave, sprocket or some other type of wheel, also includes a bumper that is attached to the ring and engageable with a stop, wherein the position of the bumper can be varied to allow door panels of a given width to accommodate doorways of different widths.




In some embodiments, a lead and lag panel have a first state where one panel moves independently of the other, and a second state where movement of one panel is dependent on movement of the other panel, with the panels moving at different speeds.




In still other embodiments, lead and lag panels are coupled for movement with a constant speed differential between panels sometime during movement of the panels to an open position.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a front view of a mult-panel, bi-parting sliding door in a closed position.





FIG. 2

is a front view of the door of

FIG. 1

, but with the door in a partially open position.





FIG. 3

is a front view of the door of

FIG. 1

, but with the door open.





FIG. 4

is a schematic top view of FIG.


1


.





FIG. 5

is a schematic top view of

FIG. 2

with the door opening.





FIG. 6

is a schematic top view of FIG.


3


.





FIG. 7

is a schematic top view similar to

FIG. 5

, but with the door closing.





FIG. 8

is a cross-section view taken along line


8





8


of FIG.


7


.





FIG. 9

is a top view of one embodiment of an auxiliary drive mechanism.





FIG. 10

is a cross-sectional view taken along line


10





10


of FIG.


9


.





FIG. 11

is a cross-sectional view taken along line


11





11


of FIG.


9


.





FIG. 12

is a top view of another embodiment of an auxiliary drive mechanism.











DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




To close off a doorway


10


leading to a room or other area of a building, a laterally-moving door such as sliding door


12


is installed adjacent the doorway, as shown

FIGS. 1

,


2


and


3


with door


12


being shown in a closed position, a partially open position, and a fully open position respectively. The terms, “sliding door” and “laterally-moving door” refer to those doors that open and close by virtue of a door panel that moves primarily horizontally in front of a doorway without a significant amount of pivotal motion about a vertical axis. The horizontal movement can be provided by any of a variety of actions including, but not limited to sliding and rolling. Although door


12


will be described with reference to a four-panel, bi-parting door, those of ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that the number of panels could exceed four. There could also be as few as two, as in the case of a two-panel door that operates from just one side of the doorway.




As for the illustrated embodiment, door


12


opens and closes by way of four panels


14


,


16


,


18


and


20


that are mounted for translation in front of doorway


10


. The specific structure of the panels and their properties such as rigidity and thermal insulating properties can vary widely depending on the application; however, in this example each of the panels include a polyurethane foam core encased within a protective outer skin. Translation of the panels while inhibiting their rotation about a vertical axis is provided, in this example, by suspending each panel from two panel carriers such as sliding carriages or trolleys


22


,


24


and


26


that roll along a track


28


. In some embodiments, track


28


is mounted to a wall


30


and situated overhead and generally above doorway


10


. Track


28


can assume a variety of configurations including, but not limited to, straight and level or slightly angled to create a slope along which the panel carriers move, thereby providing gravity assist to close the door.




To power-operate door


12


, a drive unit


32


moves lead panels


14


and


18


either apart or together to respectively open or close door


12


. Drive unit


32


can be any of a wide variety of known actuators for operating a sliding door. However, in one embodiment, drive unit


32


includes a cogged belt


34


disposed about two cogged sheaves


36


and


38


. Sheave


36


is driven by a motor


40


through a gear reduction


42


and a clutch


44


, while sheave


38


serves as an idler. One clamp


46


couples trolley


24


of panel


14


to move with an upper portion of belt


34


, and another clamp


48


couples trolley


22


of panel


18


to move with a lower portion of belt


34


. Thus, depending on the rotational direction that motor


40


turns sheave


36


, panels


14


and


18


move together to close the door or apart to open it.




To open door


12


from its closed position of

FIGS. 1 and 4

, drive unit


32


turns sheave


36


clockwise (as viewed looking into FIG.


1


). This moves belt


34


to pull lead panels


14


and


18


apart from each other and away from the center of the doorway. The outward movement of lead panels


14


and


18


allows their respective lag panels


16


and


20


to move outward as well. An auxiliary drive mechanism


50


on the left-side of door


12


urges lag panel


20


to open to the left, while another auxiliary drive mechanism


52


on the right-side urges lag panel


16


to open to the right. Although both mechanisms


50


and


52


are shown on a single door, they are actually two alternate embodiments, where preferably only one or the other would normally be used on both sides of one door.




As for the right side of the door, to move lag panel


16


to its open position in front of wall


30


, drive mechanism


52


includes a hanging weight


54


that urges panel


16


to the right. Weight


54


applies tension to a cable


56


that is attached to panel


16


and strung over a sheave


58


on wall


30


. The tension in cable


56


pulls a protrusion


60


(

FIG. 4

) extending from lag panel


16


up against, or at least towards, a similar protrusion


62


extending from lead panel


14


. Thus the position of lead panel


14


limits the extent to which lag panel


16


can move to the right. As drive unit


32


moves lead panel


14


to the right, the tension in cable


56


exerts an acceleration force


164


that urges lag panel


16


to move with lead panel


14


. Panels


14


and


16


move through their positions shown in FIG.


5


and come to rest as shown in

FIG. 6

, where door


12


is fully open. Since lag panel


16


is moved toward the open position by auxiliary drive


52


, movement of panel


16


is not dependent on a jarring impact between lead panel


14


and lag panel


16


. Also, the bias toward the open position of lag panel


16


provided by drive mechanism


52


ensures that protrusion


60


is firmly in contact with protrusion


62


on lead panel


14


with the door in the closed position. This accurately maintains the position of lag panel


16


. If the protrusions are seals, this tighter engagement gives better sealing.




Still referring to the right side of the door, to close panels


14


and


16


, drive unit


32


rotates sheave


36


counter-clockwise. This moves belt


34


to pull the right lead panel


14


toward the center of doorway


10


, as shown in FIG.


7


. When lead protrusion


62


engages lag protrusion


60


, lead panel


14


pulls lag panel


16


with it, which in turn lifts weight


54


. Drive unit


32


stops when both panels


14


and


16


reach their closed position, as shown in FIG.


4


.




As for the left-side of door


12


, to smoothly accelerate lag panel


20


to quickly move to its open position in front of wall


30


while the corresponding lead panel


18


opens, drive mechanism


50


selectively couples lag panel


20


to lead panel


18


, such that the panels move independently during part of their travel, and dependently for other parts of travel. In

FIG. 8

, for example, drive mechanism


50


includes a flexible ring


64


such as a belt or roller chain encircling two rotatable members


66


such as a sheave, sprocket or some other type of wheel rotatably mounted to lag panel


20


. A link


68


connects lead panel


18


to ring


64


. A bumper


70


is attached to travel with ring


64


such that as the ring moves around wheels


66


, bumper


70


engages a stop


72


that is mounted to wall


30


, or to the track, which is itself mounted to the wall.




As drive unit


32


begins moving the left lead panel


18


from its closed position of

FIG. 4

to a partially open position of

FIG. 5

, link


68


may flex (depending on its flexibility) as shown. At present, however, a rigid link, such as a section of bar stock is preferred. Through link


68


, lead panel


18


moving relative to lag panel


20


also moves ring


64


around rotating members


66


. The movement of ring


64


moves bumper


70


up against stop


72


, as shown in FIG.


5


. Continued leftward movement of lead panel


18


relative to lag panel


20


causes bumper


70


to push against stop


72


. This creates a reaction or acceleration force


64


′ that smoothly moves lag panel


20


to the left at about half the velocity of lead panel


18


. Drive unit


32


stops when both panels


18


and


20


are in their open position, as shown in FIG.


6


.




To close the left side of door


12


, drive unit


32


rotates sheave


36


counter-clockwise. This moves belt


34


to pull the left lead panel


18


toward the center of doorway


10


, as shown in FIG.


7


. The rightward movement of lead panel


18


relative to lag panel


20


causes link


68


to move ring


64


about rotatable members


66


. This, in turn, moves bumper


70


away from stop


72


, as shown in

FIG. 7. A

lead panel


18


continues toward the closed position, a protrusion on panel


18


engages a similar protrusion on lag panel


20


(similar to protrusion


62


of panel


14


engaging protrusion


60


of panel


16


), thus pulling lag panel


20


closed. One of skill in the art will appreciate that drive mechanism


50


could also be used to close lag panel


20


by, for example, providing an appropriately-positioned stop such as stop


72


. Other means for moving lag panel


20


to the closed position are also conceivable.




Drive mechanism


50


may thus provide panels


18


and


20


with two states of movement—a first state in which their movement is independent (from

FIG. 6

to

FIG. 7

, for example); and a second state in which movement of one panel (e.g., panel


20


) is dependent upon movement of another panel (e.g., panel


18


). In this embodiment, panels


18


and


20


move at different speeds when in the second state, by virtue of the mechanics of drive


50


. The current embodiment maintains a constant speed differential (2:1) in the second state.




Although the function of drive mechanism


50


can be provided by a variety of structures, some exemplary embodiments are shown in

FIGS. 9-12

. In

FIG. 9

, for example, ring


64


is a cogged belt


74


(sometimes referred to as a timing belt), rotatable members


66


are cogged sheaves


76


and


78


that mesh with belt


74


, and link


68


is a fabric strap


80


, although a rigid link may be preferable. A bumper


82


comprises two pieces of bar stock


84


with two bolts


86


that clamp the bars between two cogs


88


of belt


74


, as shown in FIG.


10


.




To provide stop


72


with vertical and horizontal adjustment as well as vertical clearance to accommodate some vertical movement of belt


74


, a stop


90


is configured as shown in FIG.


11


. Stop


90


comprises two angled members


92


and


94


with elongated bolt-hole slots


96


and


98


respectively. Slots


96


and


98


provide vertical and horizontal adjustment as bolts


100


extend through them to clamp members


92


and


94


together. A bar


102


is bolted across member


94


with two spacers


104


in between to provide sufficient clearance for belt


74


, but being close enough to each other to serve as an effective stop for bumper


82


. Spacers


104


are separated from each other to accommodate some vertical movement of belt


74


, which may be caused by a lag panel traveling along an inclined track.




Drive mechanism


50


allows adjustability, in that door panels of a given width can be used to serve doorways of different widths. For example, the position of stop


90


can be adjusted. That is, if doorway


10


were narrower, stop


90


could be attached to the wall or track at a location that is further to the right than what is shown in FIG.


9


. Then, as the door closes, bumper


82


would abut stop


90


later than it would otherwise. This would thus create more overlap between panels


18


and


20


when the door is closed and provide more travel of the lead panel (relative to the lag panel) toward the open position before drive


50


starts moving the lag panel. Consideration of

FIGS. 4-7

is useful in visualizing this effect. The overlap would compensate for the door panels' extra width.





FIG. 12

shows another embodiment that is similar to that of

FIGS. 9-11

; however, belt


74


is replaced by a roller chain


106


, sheaves


76


and


78


are replaced by sprockets


108


, and strap


80


is replaced by a rigid link


110


. Bumper


82


′ is nearly the same as bumper


82


used on belt


74


, and link


110


is clamped to chain


106


in a manner similar to that of bumpers


82


and


82


′. If desired, one or more travel limit stops


112


can be attached to panel


20


to help protect sprockets


108


from being struck by link


110


or bumper


82


′.




Although the invention is described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications are well within the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is to be determined by reference to the claims that follow.



Claims
  • 1. A door adapted to at least partially cover a doorway in a wall, the door having an opened position and a closed position, comprising:a first door panel adapted to be mounted for translation in front of the doorway; a second door panel adapted to be mounted for translation in front of the doorway, wherein the first door panel has a first open position in front of the second door panel, the second door panel has a second open position adjacent the doorway between the first panel and the wall, and the door is in the opened position when the first door panel and the second door panel are in the first open position and the second open position respectively, the first and second door panels each having a closed position relative to the doorway and being arranged to telescope to position the door in the opened or closed position; and an auxiliary drive mechanism coupling the first door panel and the second door panel such that the first and second door panels have a first state of movement wherein movement of a first one of the first and second door panels is independent of movement of a second one of the first and second door panels, and the first and second door panels have a second state of movement wherein movement of a first one of the first and second door panels is dependent upon movement of a second one of the first and second door panels, wherein upon movement of the first door panel away from its closed position, the auxiliary drive mechanism urges the second door panel to move toward the second open position before the first door panel reaches the first open position; wherein the auxiliary drive mechanism includes a flexible ring encircling two rotatable members coupled to the second door panel.
  • 2. The door of claim 1, further comprising a link that couples the flexible ring to the first door panel.
  • 3. The door of claim 2, wherein the link is pliable.
  • 4. The door of claim 1, further comprising a stop adapted to be coupled at a fixed position relative to the wall to limit an extent to which the flexible ring may move relative to the wall.
  • 5. The door of claim 4, further comprising a bumper attached to the flexible ring and positioned to alternately engage and disengage the stop.
  • 6. The door of claim 1, wherein the flexible ring is a cogged belt and at least one of the two rotatable members is a cogged sheave.
  • 7. The door of claim 1, wherein the flexible ring is a chain and at least one of the two rotatable members is a sprocket.
  • 8. A door adapted to at least partially cover a doorway in a wall, the door having an opened position and a closed position, comprising:a first door panel adapted to be mounted for translation in front of the doorway; a second door panel adapted to be mounted for translation in front of the doorway, wherein the first door panel has a first open position in front of the second door panel, the second door panel has a second open position adjacent the doorway between the first panel and the wall, and the door is in the opened position when the first door panel and the second door panel are in the first open position and the second open position respectively, the first and second door panels each having a closed position relative to the doorway and being arranged to telescope to position the door in the opened or closed position; two rotatable members coupled to the second door panel; a flexible ring encircling the two rotatable members; a stop adapted to be coupled to the wall at a fixed position relative to the wall; a bumper attached to the flexible ring and positioned to alternately disengage and engage the stop to limit an extent to which the flexible ring may move about the two rotatable members; and a link coupling the flexible ring to the first door panel wherein upon movement of the first door panel away from its closed position, the link, the flexible ring, the two rotatable members, the stop and the bumper cooperate to urge the second door panel to move toward the second open position before the first door panel reaches the first open position.
  • 9. The door of claim 8, wherein the link is pliable.
  • 10. The door of claim 8, wherein the flexible ring is a cogged belt and at least one of the two rotatable members is a cogged sheave.
  • 11. The door of claim 8, wherein the flexible ring is a chain and at least one of the two rotatable members is a sprocket.
  • 12. The door of claim 8, further comprising an opposite door panel substantially coplanar with the first door panel such that the first door panel and the opposite door panel move apart to open the door and move towards each other to close the door, wherein the first door panel abuts the opposite door panel upon closing the door.
  • 13. The door of claim 8, wherein the door has a first opening phase, a second opening phase occurring after the first opening phase when moving the door from the closed to the opened position, a first closing phase and a second closing phase occurring after the first closing phase when moving the door from the opened to the closed position, wherein the first door panel moves independent of the second door panel during both the first opening phase and the first closing phase, and the second door panel is moved by movement of the first door panel during both the second opening phase and the second closing phase.
  • 14. A door adapted to at least partially cover a doorway in a wall, the door having an opened position and a closed position, comprising:a first door panel adapted to be mounted for translation in front of the doorway; a second door panel adapted to be mounted for translation in front of the doorway; and an auxiliary drive mechanism coupling the first door panel and the second door panel, the auxiliary drive mechanism including at least two rotatable members, a flexible ring mounted to the rotatable members for movement thereabout, a stop adapted to be fixed to the wall, and a bumper secured to the ring and positioned to selectively engage the stop to prevent further rotation of the ring in a predefined direction, wherein the first door panel is operatively coupled to the ring such that translation of the first door panel from a closed position toward an open position initially rotates the ring substantially without translating the second door panel and, after engagement of the bumper and stop substantially prevents further rotation of the ring, further translation of the first door panel toward the opened position transfers a translating force through the ring to the second door panel to thereby cause the second door panel to translate toward a closed state.
  • 15. The door of claim 8, wherein the first and second door panels have a first state of movement wherein movement of a first one of the first and second door panels is independent of movement of a second one of the first and second door panels, and wherein the first and second door panels have a second state of movement wherein movement of a first one of the first and second door panels is dependent upon movement of a second one of the first and second door panels.
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