The present disclosure generally pertains to doors with a retractable panel and more specifically to a drive and/or a guide system for such a door.
Many vertically operating doors have a pliable panel or curtain that opens by moving from a vertical set of tracks installed along the lateral edges of a doorway to an overhead storage system. The storage system can vary depending on the available space above the doorway and other considerations. An overhead storage system, for instance, can be in the form of a take-up roller that draws in the curtain to open the door; or the storage system can be a set of horizontal, vertical, or inclined tracks that lead into the set of vertical tracks that line the doorway.
While the take-up roller can be power-driven to raise and lower the curtain, doors having other types of overhead storage may require some other means for operating the door. Thus, door manufactures often need to offer a selection of doors of dramatically different designs to meet the requirements of various door installation sites.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,741, however, discloses a door with a drive system that can force-feed a curtain into various overhead configurations. Moreover, the door includes a breakaway feature that enables the curtain to safely break away from its guide track if a forklift or something else crashes into the door.
Although the force-feed system and breakaway feature provide significant benefits, the patented door includes a complicated collection of numerous parts. In some cases (FIG. 3 of the '741 patent), the curtain is coupled to a track via a drive strip that carries a long series of individual clips that enable the curtain to breakaway from the drive strip. In the event of an impact, the curtain can break away from those clips, while the drive strip remains with the track. It appears that a complicated mechanism (FIG. 19 of the '741 patent) is subsequently used for reattaching the curtain to the clips.
In other cases (FIG. 5 of the '741 patent), the numerous clips are replaced by a drive strip that is blanked and formed to include integral clips. But even then the drive strip remains with the track after a breakaway collision, thus the door has a curtain that can move relative to a drive strip, which in turn can move relative to a track. Moreover, it appears that the drive strip with the integral clips is made of sheet metal. Such a material, particularly if it has sharp edges, might cause significant wear on the gear that moves the drive strip.
Consequently, a need exists for a vertically operating door that is simple and robust, wherein the door includes a drive unit that can push the door's curtain to various overhead storage configurations including vertical, horizontal, inclined and coiled.
In some embodiments, a door with a vertically translating panel includes a drive mechanism that allows the panel to retract onto storage tracks of various shapes or configurations including, but not limited to, storage tracks that are vertical, horizontal, inclined, coiled and various unlimited combinations thereof.
In some embodiments, the door panel is provided with a continuous drive strip that has sufficient flexibility to travel along tracks of various shapes yet is sufficiently rigid to allow the drive strip, under the impetus of a drive gear, to push the door to an elevated stored position.
In some embodiments, the continuous drive strip includes a plurality of spaced projections for engaging the drive gear.
In some embodiments, the door panel breaks away from its track without creating loose pieces in the track or on the panel.
In some embodiments that allow the panel to break away, the door includes an auto-refeed device that has no moving parts.
In some embodiments that allow the panel to break away, the door includes an auto-refeed device that has movable parts, including, for example, at least one roller.
In some embodiments that allow the panel to break away, the panel can progressively break away in a zipper-like manner.
In some embodiments, a drive strip for the door panel includes spherical projections that smoothen a breakaway function and smoothen the engagement with a drive gear.
In some embodiments, at least one roller assists in the engagement of the spherical projections of the drive strip with the drive gear.
In some embodiments, at least one roller assists in the engagement of the spherical projections of the drive strip with the drive rear and concurrently reduces the friction load on the spherical projections.
In some embodiments, a continuous drive strip with projections is flexible due to thinner sections of the strip that extend between the projections.
In some embodiments, the drive strip's flexibility allows it to flex one way as it travels past a drive gear and bend an opposite way as the door panel moves onto a storage track.
In some embodiments, a track defines a chamber for housing a sensor within the track.
In some embodiments, a resilient seal member is installed inside a channel of the track such that the seal member presses against an edge of the drive strip.
In some embodiments, a storage track can hold a flexible door panel in a coiled configuration with a central region that is wide open.
In some embodiments, a storage track includes a guide to assist in the movement of the flexible door panel into and out of a coiled configuration.
In some embodiments, the guide in the storage track reduces the friction load on the edge of the flexible door panel.
In some embodiments, the flexible door panel can be opened to a coiled configuration without the need for a take-up roll tube.
In some embodiments, the flexible door panel can be opened to a loosely coiled configuration to permit ventilation through the coiled panel and/or to help prevent a plastic window on the panel from being scratched by other sections of the panel.
In some embodiments, a stiffener is attached to an upper edge of the door's panel to help prevent the upper edge from whipping centrifugally outward as the panel is wrapped into a coiled configuration.
In some embodiments, the door includes a horizontal drum that creates a bend in the panel of the door to help prevent the panel from sagging.
In some embodiments, an abrasion-resistant reinforcing edge may be added to a yieldable retention strip.
In some embodiments, the reinforcing edge may stiffen the yieldable retention strip allowing for an increased track width, while retaining door wind resistance.
In some embodiments, sound attenuation and/or improved durability is achieved by mounting a plurality of projections on a fabric drive strip, wherein the drive strip is more flexible than an adjacent reinforcing strip.
In some embodiments, a fabric drive strip and its plurality of driven projections are disposed within the door's guide track, while a flexible but yet more rigid reinforcing strip is primarily or entirely outside the track.
In some embodiments, a reinforcing strip has greater resistance to lengthwise compression than a drive strip disposed in proximity therewith.
a is similar to
a is similar to
A door system 10, shown in
The panel shown in
Whatever overall configuration of panel is used, to raise or lower panel 12, a motor 18 rotates at least one drive gear 20 (
The material forming the drive strip 24 itself, in some embodiments, requires a balance of various characteristics. Since the application of a drive force to the edge of the panel only directly occurs when a projection or projections 22 are in contact with drive gear 20, drive strip 24 needs adequate rigidity to be capable of transmitting that drive force along at least a portion of its length. At the same time, depending on the storage configuration of the door, the panel 12 including drive strips 24 may need to turn corners and/or assume a coiled or other configuration, as in
In one example, drive strip 24 is co-extensive in length with the remainder of the door panel of which it forms a part. In some applications, however, it may be desirable for the strip 24 to extend somewhat less than this full length. Even so, a given drive strip 24 may be continuous or unbroken along its length. In some embodiments, their may be multiple continuous drive strips forming an edge of the panel. As depicted herein, drive strip 24 is formed as a separate member, and is then permanently affixed to the remainder of panel 12 by any of a variety of attachment processes (sewing, gluing, heat-sealing, etc.) When the remainder of panel 12 is formed of a flexible material, the overall panel is thus flexible. In other embodiments (such as the flexible drive strip mounted to a rigid panel) this may not be the case.
The drive gear 20 is seen in cross-section in several of the figures. In general, it has a cylindrical shape with depressions for receiving projections 22 to thus drive the panel 12. Toward this end, some form of motor (appropriately geared) is provided to drive the gear 20 in rotation. In this case, the depressions in the gear 20 are in the form of laterally-extending grooves 21, seen in cross-section in
Door system 10 includes many unique features that make it superior to other doors. System 10, for instance, can be made impact resistant by allowing its panel 12 to safely breakaway from its guide track 26 in the event of an impact. In such breakaway embodiments, door system 10 can be selectively configured to achieve different levels of breakaway force. In a current example, panel 12 remains completely intact even after breaking away from an entirely stationary guide track, such as track 26.
Other unique features of door system 10 include: track 26 including a chamber 28 (
To help guide the movement of panel 12, two drive strips 24 forming the lateral edges of panel 12 extend into track 26 on either side of doorway 14. Referring to
Still referring to
After a portion of panel 12 is dislodged, projections 22 of drive strip 24 are readily fed back into channel 46 by simply driving the door to its open position. As a partially dislodged panel 12 rises to the open position, an auto-refeed device 52 (
For example,
Referring back to
Although various means could be used for attaching retention strip 40 to track 26, in one example, a proximal edge 66 of each strip 40 is held within a retaining structure illustratively in the form of groove 68 defined by track 26. Retention strip 40 can be made of various materials including, but not limited to, an extruded piece of LEXAN, which is a registered trademark of General Electric of Pittsfield, Mass. Strip 40 can be extruded to form proximal edge 66 as an enlarged bead that helps hold strip 40 within groove 68. A small flange 70 on track 26 helps hold retention strip 40 across the opening of channel 44. Other arrangements, such as using mechanical or other fasteners to attach retention strip 40 to track 26 could also be used. In addition, an alternative embodiment of the retention strip 40 is shown in
Another alternative embodiment of the retention strip 40 is shown in
Referring to
Referring again to
In an alternate embodiment, shown in
With projections 82, 86 or 94 on just one side of the drive strip, broad sealing contact could exist between a non-projection side of the drive strip and a facing surface 98 of track 84, thereby perhaps eliminating the need for seal 38 of
When a more compact storage configuration is desired, panel 12 can be stored in the coiled arrangement of
A modification to further address the issue of friction in operation of a door as depicted in the drawings is shown in
The employment of such free-wheeling rollers to reduce friction may also be desirable in other areas of the door. The embodiments shown herein, for example, depict a bearing guide 135 adjacent drive gear 20 (
In particular, referring to
As further illustrated in
Other modifications to the panel guide 210 are illustrated in
In some instances, it may not be possible or practical to reduce the frictional load on the system. In such instances, other techniques can be employed to address the issue. For example, a panel 12 stored in the spiral configuration of FIGS. 4/5 may generate significant friction as it coils up. Portions of the panel (particularly near the bottom thereof) are not as coiled, or remain generally flat even when the panel is coiled (such as the section of the panel just past drive gear 20 in
Panel 12 being stored in a loosely coiled arrangement, as shown in
To prevent centrifugal force from creating a whipping action at an upper edge 134 of panel 12 as panel 12 rapidly wraps into scroll track 32, a stiffener 136 can be attached to edge 134. Stiffener 136 is any member that is more rigid than panel 12. Examples of stiffener 136 include, but are not limited to, a metal or plastic channel member, angle member, bar, etc.
To help prevent panel 12 from sagging near the top of the doorway, a rotatable drum 138 (
Although in the aforementioned examples, drive strip 24 provides the dual purpose of carrying projections 22 (which are driven by the drive gear) and transmitting, the drive force directly to panel 12, there are advantages to separating these two functions so that they can be performed by two different elements. The two elements, such as a drive strip 302 and a reinforcing strip 306 of
Drive strip 302, for instance, needs be able to fully recover from localized bending and withstand tearing forces that can occur during driven panel movement and/or when a panel 12′ is subject to impact or high wind loads that tend to forcibly and sometimes violently pull projections 22 out from within its track. Thus drive strip 302 needs a great deal of flexibility and strength. To provide such material qualities, drive strip 302 can be made of a urethane fabric or some other comparably strong, flexible material. The flexibility of the fabric has also been shown to make the operation of the door quieter, as compared to the previous examples wherein. For additional strength, drive strip 302 can be made thicker than the material thickness of panel 12′. A mesh embedded within the fabric can provide drive strip 302 with even greater strength and tear resistance. Such tear resistance may be particularly advantageous in a situation, as here, where projections 22 are inserted through holes in strip 302 and are subject to significant forces upon door breakaway.
Drive strip 302 can be coupled in any suitable manner to a lateral edge 304 of panel 12′. Projections 22 can be attached to drive strip 302 in a manner similar to that shown in
The actual construction of the drive strip may vary. In
If a drive strip is made relatively thick or stiff in order for it alone to transmit the force that pushes the door panel open or closed, such properties can make the drive strip too rigid to handle localized bending and might even make the drive strip more brittle and less tear resistant. Thus, the transmission of force to push panel 12′ open and closed may be better handled by the addition of reinforcing strip 306, which can be specifically designed for that purpose.
Reinforcing strip 306 is disposed in the general proximity of drive strip 302 (relative to drive strip 302, the reinforcing strip 306 in this example is shown is inboard and more toward the door centerline, but other orientations are possible). Reinforcing strip 306 may illustratively be spaced a short distance (e.g., approximately one inch or less) from protrusions 22 so that drive strip 302 can provide a flexible connection between reinforcing strip 306 and protrusions 22. To effectively transmit the driving force to panel 12′ without reinforcing strip 306 buckling, reinforcing strip 306 has greater resistance to lengthwise compression than does drive strip 302. Although reinforcing strip 306 is stiffer than drive strip 302 and panel 12′, reinforcing strip 306 still has sufficient flexibility to bend and follow various track geometries. Reinforcing strip 306 can be made of various materials including, but not limited to, a copolymer polypropylene. Panel 12′, drive strip 302, and reinforcing strip 306 can be assembled using various methods including, but not limited to, sewing, gluing, thermal bonding, riveting, etc.
Although the invention is described with respect to various embodiments, modifications thereto will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The scope of the invention, therefore, is to be determined by reference to the following claims:
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/531,687 entitled “Track and Guide System For a Door,” filed Sep. 13, 2006, which is in turn a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/446,679 entitled “Track and Guide System for a Door,” filed Jun. 5, 2006, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11531687 | Sep 2006 | US |
Child | 11627281 | US | |
Parent | 11446679 | Jun 2006 | US |
Child | 11531687 | US |