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Door systemRelated Patent Categories: Flexible Or Portable Closure, Partition, Or Panel, Roll Type, With Fabric Free Edge Connected OperatorDoor system description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070181270, Door system. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to doors systems and, in particular, to an elevator door system comprising a door that is wound upon a vertical axis during an opening operation. [0002] Such elevator door systems are well known from the prior art and are described, for example, in WO-A2-2005/070807 and WO-A2-2005/070808. Each elevator door is generally formed from a stainless steel sheet or interconnected vertical rigid panels, typically manufactured from a metal. In operation, as the elevator door is opened and closed it is guided across the entrance in guide channels, typically located above and below the entrance to which access is to be controlled by the door system. The plurality of panels or the sheet is wound onto and unwound from a vertical axis in the form of a motorized reel whereby the driving force from the motor is transmitted through the reel and onto the door to provide lateral movement thereof. [0003] As the door is wound and unwound, the diameter at which the outer layer of the door circumscribes the vertical axis continually changes. Accordingly, the angle at which the tangent of the outer layer intersects the plane of the guide channels continually changes. Therefore, during operation the door enters the guide channels at different angles. [0004] If the door enters the guide channels at an angle, the sudden change in its direction causes localized stress on both the door itself and the guide channels. This results in the production of unwanted noise, especially if the door is composed of interconnected vertical panels, and will damage the aesthetic appearance, and eventually the structure, of the door. These problems are amplified in the prior art since said angle continually changes during operation. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0005] An objective of the present invention is to improve the operation of the door system and thereby to reduce the stress on the door and the guide channels at the point here the door enters the guide channels. In so doing, the present invention drastically reduces the noise generated during operation thereby improving passenger comfort and reduces the structural and aesthetic damage to the door and guide channels which inherently reduces the maintenance costs. [0006] This objective is achieved by a door system comprising a reel, a door interconnect at a first end to the reel for winding and unwinding thereupon and one or more guide channels. The reel is rotatably mounted on a lever which is pivotally mounted to a pivot axis. [0007] Thus, the reel can pivot about the pivot axis to ensure that, during operation, the point at which the outer layer of the door engages/disengages with the penultimate door layer remains in the same general location with respect to the guide channels and accordingly, the angle (if any) at which the door enters the guide channels remains constant throughout operation. [0008] Preferably, the pivot axis is inline with a plane defined by the guide channels. Hence, if a force acts on a leading edge of the door, the lever is self-aligning to ensure that the point at which the outer layer of door engages/disengages with the penultimate door layer is always in the plane of the guide channels. Hence, the door smoothly enters the guide channels along the plane thereof without changing direction. [0009] The door system can further comprise a roller for engaging an outer layer of the door wound upon the reel. Hence, even if the pivot axis is not aligned in the plane defined by the guide channels, the resultant moment of any force acting to the door about the pivot axis can be used to bias the lever towards the roller to ensure that the engagement/disengagement point is always in the plane of the guide channels. [0010] If the resultant moment about the pivot axis is not sufficient to continually urge the outer layer of the wound door into contact with the roller, resilient means such as a spring can be used to produce the required biasing force on the lever. [0011] Preferably, the reel is rotatable about a rotation axis and a radius of an outer surface of the reel from the rotation axis gradually increases from a minimum value to a maximum value with a radial step transition therebetween. The height of the radial step is substantially equal to the depth of the door. Accordingly, upon being wound onto the reel, the diameter of the outer layer of the door gradually and smoothly increases without any step transitions which would otherwise cause noise and possibly damage. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0012] The above, as well as other, advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when considered in the light of the accompanying drawings in which: [0013] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view an elevator door system according to the present invention; [0014] FIG. 2 is a cross-section plan view through the reel of the elevator door system of FIG. 1; [0015] FIG. 3A is a plan view from above showing the door system of FIG. 1 in an almost fully open position; [0016] FIG. 3B corresponds to FIG. 3A but shows the door system in an almost fully closed position; and [0017] FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3A but illustrates a second embodiment of the door system according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT [0018] FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of an elevator door system 1 according to the present invention incorporating a car door 2 which, in use, is used to control access to an elevator car (not shown) through a doorway from a landing within a building. The door 2 is composed of a plurality of vertically aligned panels 4 each of which is preferably extruded from aluminium for its superior strength to weight ratio. The panels 4 are bound at their upper and lower extremities by flexible belts 6 and guided in upper and lower guide channels 8. The belts 6 are attached at one end to a reel 10 mounted at one side of the doorway, rotation of which is controlled by a motor 12 to open and close the door 2. The opposing ends of the belts 6 are attached by cables 14 to a counter-reel 16 which is biased in a door closing direction by a closing weight 18. The reel 10 and the counter-reel 16 are contained and retained within opposing door jambs (not shown). [0019] In operation, the door 2 is unwound from the reel 10 and guided along the guide channels 8 under the influence of the biasing force of the closing weight 18, and optionally by a closing force developed thereon by the motor 12, to close the doorway. To open the door 2, the motor 12 provides an opening force to overcome the biasing force of the closing weight 18 and the door 2 is guided along the guide channels 8 and drawn onto the reel 10. [0020] If power to the motor 12 is interrupted during operation, the gravitational force acting on the closing weight 18 transmits a force through the counter-reel 16 and the cables 14 which is sufficient to overcome the inertia of both the motor 12 and the door 2 to automatically close the door 2, thereby ensuring the safety of any passengers. Continue reading about Door system... Full patent description for Door system Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Door system patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Door system or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Sectional door panel Next Patent Application: Elevator door system Industry Class: Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Door system patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.13796 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Canon USA , Celera Genomics , Cephalon, Inc. , Cingular Wireless , Clorox , Colgate-Palmolive , Corning , Cymer , 174 |
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