Patent Application
20060102295
This invention relates to overhead doors and, more particularly, to overhead sectional door panels having sheet like skins and the associated method of manufacturing such systems.
There are numerous designs of overhead or retractable door assemblies which are commonly used for garage doors, truck doors, warehouse doors or the like. Typically, an overhead door of this type is convertible between an open, overhead or generally horizontal configuration and a closed generally vertically oriented configuration in which the door closes an opening in the building or the like. The overhead door is typically movable along a track assembly mounted proximate the opening and the track assembly commonly includes a generally vertical track section, a generally horizontal track section and a curved transition track section joining the horizontal and vertical sections together.
Retractable overhead doors of this type are conventionally constructed of a number of vertically arranged, horizontally oriented panels which can fold along the horizontal divisions between the panels to enable the door to pass along the curved transition section of the track when being opened or closed. The panels can be pivotally coupled together with hinges on the interior surface or back face of the door panels. The hinges articulate during pivotal movement of the panels. Such door panels for many years were predominantly constructed of wood. However, wood door panels are both costly to manufacture and heavy in use, resulting in difficulty when opening and closing the garage door.
Recently, sectional overhead door panels having an outer metal skin have become popular and have replaced wooden door panels in many applications. Commonly, sectional overhead door panels which are rolled or formed by thin sheet metal require internal reinforcing members, typically constructed of wood or metal. Center and end stiles are often provided within the sheet metal door panel for the required reinforcement.
However, in many instances to obtain a lightweight panel with the requisite strength and rigidity, the sheet metal skin thickness must be increased. This increased skin thickness can add significant material and production costs to the door panel. In many applications, the added strength resulting from the increased skin thickness is required. However, it is well recognized that no single overhead door panel design satisfies the needs of all applications and installations. In addition to skin thickness and strength, a wide range of other panel characteristics may be altered for the appropriate panel design for a given application. However, in known overhead door systems, a change in one panel characteristic typically requires an entire different door panel, skin and/or associated components and production scheme. Such changes are inefficient from both a cost and production schedule standpoint.
Another aspect of known overhead sectional doors is the use of an astragal strip mounted along the bottom edge of the lowermost panel to seal the door against the floor. However, since the door panels are typically manufactured as identical components, mounting hardware is required to install the astragal to the lowermost panel of the overhead door. Such added mounting hardware often adds weight to the door, increases both the inventory of components and the cost of installation of the door.
As evidenced by the above background, a need exists for overhead door panel which provides the required performance characteristics including, among others, strength and rigidity to withstand the wind and structural loads associated with many overhead door applications while remaining lightweight. Furthermore, the door panel must be efficiently, easily and economically manufactured with a minimum of component parts while providing the desired physical attributes.
The various embodiments of this invention offer these and other advantages over known overhead door and panel designs. In one embodiment, this invention includes a number of horizontally oriented panels vertically stacked one upon the other in edge-to-edge relationship.
The panels are coupled to a track assembly mounted proximate the garage, warehouse, truck or other opening. The track assembly includes a generally vertical section, a generally horizontal section and a curved transition section joining the horizontal and vertical sections together. Rollers are mounted on the panels and coupled to the track assembly to guide the door between a closed generally vertical configuration with the upper and lower edges of the adjacent panels mated together and an open generally horizontal configuration extending generally parallel to the ceiling of the garage or the like.
One aspect of this invention includes a door panel having a front skin presenting an exterior front face and a back skin presenting an interior back face. The skins in one embodiment are metal and the panels are filled with a foam or other insulating material. The panels each have mating upper and lower edges.
This invention provides for an optimized design of the panel with respect to a variety of performance characteristics, one of such characteristics is increased strength of an overhead door panel by optimizing the thickness of the skin. More specifically, the upper and lower structural rail areas which typically mate with corresponding lower and upper rails of an adjacent panel have thicker skin. The non-structural areas or the front face of the panel have a thinner skin which is typically embossed with a wood grain or other pattern. The structural rail areas which have the thicker skin add rigidity and resistance deflection to wind loads and similar dynamic forces.
The differing thickness portions of the skin on the overhead door panel are achieved by mechanically or otherwise fastening different sheets of the appropriate thickness material together by a lock seam or other technique before, after or during the roll forming of the skin profile of the overhead door. The lock seam for interlocking engagement of the distinct sheets of the skin also improves the structural integrity of the panel.
The overhead door panel with differing thicknesses for specific portions of the skin may be utilized with a variety of rail configurations such as a lap joint, tongue and groove joint, and convex/concave joint between adjacent panels. The joint or lock seam between the differing thickness sheets may be located on the rail section itself or on the front face of the panel adjacent the juncture between the rail section and the front face. The skin thickness of the various panel sections is just one of a number of performance characteristics that can be optimized according to this invention and other characteristics include, without limitation, the tensile or yield strength, grade of the material, color, finish, coating, material, paint, and texture of the panel sections.
Another aspect of the invention is a specific bottom rail section using the optimization concept. The specific bottom rail section avoids the need for separate mounting hardware or an astragal retainer thereby providing a cost savings while offering the benefits discussed above.
As a result, the overhead sectional door, panel and associated methods of manufacture offer reliable and consistently robust and lightweight panels produced through economical and efficient manufacturing techniques not heretofore realized in the industry.
The objectives and features of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring to
The adjacent panels 14 are pivotally connected together by a number of hinge assemblies 24. The hinges 24 proximate the lateral side ends of each panel 14 include a roller assembly 26 for coupling the door 10 to a track assembly 28. The opening and closing of the door 10 may be assisted by a counterbalance system 30 coupled to the door 10 as is well known in the art.
Referring to
Referring particularly to
One feature of this invention is the ability to efficiently and economically optimize specific characteristics or physical attributes of the panel. As one example, the thicknesses of some of the skins 38, 42, 50, 52 are optimized. However, a wide range of other characteristics of the panel skins may be optimized within the scope of this invention, such as, without limitation, the strength (tensile, yield, etc.) of the skin materials, selection of skin materials (metal, thermoplastic, grade, etc.), grade of the material, color, finish, texture, and treatment of the skin materials to name but a few of the characteristics which could be optimized in this invention. Other such characteristics include the corrosion resistance, coatings, cost, galvanization (i.e., hot dipped, electro, etc.) and application of alloys (i.e., zinc, etc.).
In the one embodiment of the overhead sectional door panel 14 according to this invention, the front skin 38 has a different thickness T1 than the top rail skin thickness T2 and/or bottom rail skin thickness T3. This provides for increased strength of the panel 14 by optimizing the thickness T2, T3 of the skins 50, 52 in the top and bottom rails 46, 48 which add rigidity and resistance to deflection of the panel 14 in response to wind loads and similar dynamic forces. Likewise, the front skin 38 having a thickness T1 less than the structural top and bottom rail skins 50, 52 allows for more economical material costs and the associated production expenses. According to this invention, the top and bottom rail skins 50, 52 have the same thickness (T2=T3); however, the rail skins 50, 52 may have differing thicknesses relative to each other as is required in specific applications within the scope of this invention.
The top and bottom rails 46, 48 each include upper and lower edge configurations 16,18 adapted to mate with the corresponding edge configurations 18,16 of an adjacent panel 14 depending upon the configuration 32, 34, 36 of the juncture between the panels 14. Additionally, each rail 46, 48 includes a back face portion 60 and a terminal lip 62 according to various embodiments of this invention. The terminal lip 62 is adapted to mate with the terminal edges 64 of the back skin 42 if provided on the panel 14. The back skin 42 may be any one of a number of materials as is well known in the industry. If the back skin 42 is metal, it will preferably have a relatively thin thickness T4 comparable to the front skin thickness T1 and the associated costs and production benefits. In certain embodiments, the front skin 38 has a thickness T1 of between 0.010 to 0.022 gage or higher and the top and bottom rail skins 50, 52 have a thickness T2, T3 of 0.019 to 0.04 gage or higher. While the thickness ranges overlap, the thickness T1 is most preferably less than thickness T2 and/or thickness T3. The skins 38, 50, 52 may be smooth or embossed with a wood grain or other texture. A bend 66 is provided at the interface between the front face 40 and each of the rails 46, 48.
The top and bottom rail skins 50, 52 are joined to the front skin 38 by appropriate joints 68. One presently preferred embodiment of the joint 68 for joining the respective rail skins 50, 52 to the front skin 38 is a mechanical joint which, in one form, is a lock seam joint as shown in
While a lock seam joint configuration is shown and described herein, it should be readily appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that other joint configurations and techniques are readily available within the scope of this invention for joining the rails skins 50, 52 and front skins 38 together. Moreover, mechanical joints such as the lock seam joint, as well as adhesive joints, can be utilized within this invention. Additionally, while distinct skin members 38, 50, 52 are shown joined together to form the panel 14 according to this invention, a single ply skin material having a portion for the front skin 38 and corresponding portions for the top and bottom rail skins 50, 52 with differing thicknesses T1, T2, T3 could be utilized thereby avoiding the need for joining distinct skins together to form the panel 14. Furthermore, another embodiment of this invention would include top and/or bottom rails 46, 48 which are more than one ply of material thereby increasing the thicknesses T2, T3 of the rails without necessarily requiring thicker skin material and possibly avoiding the need for a joint between the front skin and rail skins. One such embodiment would utilize additional sheets formed in the configuration of the rail 50, 52 and nested with the appropriate rail section thereby increasing the thickness and strength of the rail 50, 52 according to this invention.
Moreover, the joint 68 between the front skin 38 and the rail skins 50, 52 may be located outboard of the bend 66 adjacent the front face 40 of the panel 14 as shown in
Another aspect of this invention is the method for forming the panel 14 having differing thickness T1, T2, T3 front skin 38 and rail skins 50, 52. After the rail skins 50, 52 are joined to the front skin 38 as shown in
A further aspect of this invention is shown in
It should be readily appreciated that although certain embodiments and configurations of the invention are shown and described herein, the invention is not so limited. From the above disclosure of the general principles of the present invention and the preceding detailed description of at least one preferred embodiment, those skilled in the art will readily comprehend the various modifications to which this invention is susceptible. For example, while variable thickness of the skins provides an opportunity to tune performance of the panel, the skin thicknesses could remain uniform depending on the product application and the panel may include different skin material grades, yield strengths, and other properties in a single panel. Therefore, we desire to be limited only by the scope of the following claims and equivalents thereof.
