The present disclosure relates to an arrangement for routing electrical, pneumatic and/or hydraulic lines from a door leaf of a vehicle to the vehicle. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a rail-borne vehicle, an elevator cabin or cable-car cabin, or the like. The door leaf is operated by a drive.
In recent years, vehicle doors, which are to be understood in the present disclosure as rail-borne vehicles, but which also are understood to be the cabins of elevators, cable cars and the like, have become increasingly complicated units. Electrical keys and/or switches for opening the doors are fitted to the door leaves and sensors are fitted in the region of the main closing edge of the door in order to be able to detect whether objects or people are trapped in the door. In addition, illumination devices or illuminated operating instructions are occasionally provided on the door leaf, and the like. In the same way, sensors and switches are increasingly provided on the portal (door frame) in order to monitor whether the door leaf moves correctly into its closed end position. Also, in various cases, door seals are deformed by the application of pressure after the door is closed in such a way that they press in firmly between the portal and the door leaf and seal the door, and the like. In the present disclosure, the term “lines” is to be understood as being cables and/or tubes.
In this context, specific problems are created by the cables being laid between the door controller, which is to be understood quite generally as the overall electronic/pneumatic/hydraulic system or systems which control and monitor operation of the door. The door controller is usually situated in the portal, above the door leaf in contemporary doors, on the one hand, and on the other hand the door controller may be in or part of the door leaf itself, the so-called “routing arrangement”. In this case, it is necessary to remember that the operators of the vehicles require doors which free the entire width of the portal as far as possible when in the open state, and in which no component protrudes beyond the periphery of the portal, its contour with which it is attached to the vehicle. The background or goal is not only the most efficient possible utilization of the space available in the vehicle for the portal, but also the provision of the possibility of inserting the door in one piece, as far as possible with door leaves which are preassembled and adjusted in the portal, into the vehicle and securing it there. In this case, each part of the drive which protrudes beyond the contour of the portal in whatever direction would be extremely obstructive.
The result of all of this is that, in modern vehicle doors, the controller, the drive, the signalling lines and the like are concentrated above the door leaf in the door frame. As a result, the space available in this region is densely populated, and this has a negative effect in terms of maintenance and inspection.
A great deal of the space used in the above-described way is taken up with accommodating the various supply and signalling lines for the door leaf or leaves. The present disclosure relates to a laying of the lines which run between the door leaf and the portal, be they electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic lines, in a simple, reliable, clear and space-saving manner.
The present disclosure provides for a so-called power chain, in which the lines run, starting from a point on the portal close to the secondary closing edge as far as approximately the middle of the door leaf, in the uppermost region of said door leaf.
Such power chains of differing dimensions are known from various fields of application of the art, and they are used in trolleys of cranes and the like, for example.
A feature of such power chains, which are composed of links which are attached to one another, is their ability to bend through 180° in one plane, and in some cases somewhat further, and to be rigid or, in some cases, scarcely bent in the other planes or directions. When the first and the last link of such a chain are correspondingly attached and the two end links are then moved in the intended direction of movement, the point at which the chain curves moves and the chain and the flexible structures, such as cables, tubes or the like, mounted in said chain thus move in an orderly manner.
Other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following descriptions when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Other suspension arrangements and mechanisms are, of course, also feasible.
However, mechanisms of this type may currently share a common feature, in that a whole series of electrical and/or pneumatic and/or hydraulic circuits or lines are, in the widest technical sense, fitted to the door leaf 1. An arrangement of these circuits, or lines, in the door leaf 1 is predefined within limits for ergonomic or technical reasons, and the associated supply and signalling lines in the door leaf 1 itself can also be laid without great problems. What is problematical is routing all of these cables and/or tubes from the moving door leaf 1 to an articulation point 5 which is fixed in position either with respect to the carriage body 4 or with respect to the drive which is denoted as numerical designation 6.
According to the present disclosure, the above-noted problem is addressed by a power chain 7 which is attached to the door leaf 1 close to an upper horizontal edge of said door leaf 1.
Power chains, such as, for example, power chain 7, may be essentially structures similar to thrust chains which comprise individual segments and are able to curve in one direction but remain rigid in all other directions. The movement of the power chain 7 can be seen in
If the door is now opened and the door leaf 1 assumes the position illustrated in
On account of the inherent rigidity of the power chain 7 with respect to all bends and curves which exceed 180° in the direction shown, it is possible to form the power chain 7 to be unsupported by correspondingly clamping the two end points 5, 8. However, a cover 9 (see
In this embodiment, cables/tubes are passed from the carriage body-side end 5 of the power chain 7 to a switching point (electronics system, solenoid valve etc.) via a channel 10 within the drive 6 and subsequently via a short loop or a spiral guide, actually a helical guide, such that a short movement path between the drive 6 and the carriage body 4 is bridged (not shown). This short movement path may be bridged without problems.
In this embodiment, the power chain 7 is divided into two sections in each of which said chain 7 can rotate in an opposite direction to the other section. Such a design of the power chain 7 is shown in
The present disclosure can be applied to sliding doors and pocket doors without problems since there is no opening-out movement of the door leaf 1, with the result that the end point 5 may also already be situated on the carriage body 4. In the case of drives of different design for swinging/sliding doors, a solution according to the present disclosure may also be applied since each drive may comprise at least one component which also performs the opening-out movement of the swinging/sliding door and therefore can also be fitted with the end point 5 of the power chain 7.
The present disclosure can also be applied to curved door leaves with curved movement sequences, as are common, for example, in cable-car cabins, since the power chain can also follow such movement sequences.
Although the present disclosure has been described and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that this is done by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation. The scope of the present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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A 853/2003 | Jun 2003 | AT | national |
A 129/2004 | Jan 2004 | AT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP04/05690 | 5/27/2004 | WO | 11/22/2005 |