GB2319060A - Powered door operating mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

A door operating mechanism intended for "up and over" garage doors of the "canopy" type in which the door moves from a vertical, closed position to an upper, horizontal, open position is provided with a special drive arrangement to make the operation smoother. Vertical guides (11) locate rollers (12) at the sides of the door. An elongate power transmission element (dashed line) extends generally parallel to the guide (11) and the transmission element is connected by a link (25) to the door (10). At the initial stage of opening the door the link is at an acute angle to the plane of the door when the door is vertical and the acute angle decreases as the door moves towards the horizontal position. This imparts a horizontal component of movement to the door as it moves from the vertical followed by a primarily vertical movement of the door.

Description

POWERED DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM This invention relates to powered door operating mechanisms in particular, but not exclusively, garage door operating mechanisms.

Powered garage doors ofthe kind known as "up and over" garage doors have been powered in several ways. A popular mechanism is used on so-called "canopy" doors in which doors are mounted on rollers guided in vertical guides located to each side ofthe door opening, the rollers moving up the guides during a door opening operation and the door tilting from a vertical closed position towards an upper horizontal open position.

The initial movement of canopy garage doors has been found difficult to power because there needs to be a horizontal component of movement at this stage. This has been found to be difficult to achieve with a vertically directed guide. In some arrangements a bow arm is provided and in others a cam arrangement is employed. However it has been found difficult to achieve a smooth movement of the early stages of door opening with these arrangements.

Moreover the later stages of closing the doors have offered similar control problems.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved powered door operating mechanism.

According to the invention a powered door operating mechanism for a vertically movable door comprises a fixed upright guide, a door having means such as rollers for movement along the guide, the door being movable between a vertical position and an upper, generally horizontal position, and drive means including a prime mover, an elongate power transmission element driven by the prime mover and for moving the door, the element being located in operation generally parallel to the direction of the guide, and link means interconnecting the door and the power transmission element, the link means lying at an acute angle to the plane of the door when the door is vertical and the acute angle decreasing as the door moves towards the horizontal position, whereby to impart a horizontal component of movement to the door as its moves from the vertical followed by a primarily vertical movement of the door.

Preferably the link means is pivotally attached towards one end to the elongate power transmission element and is pivotally attached towards the other end to the door.

Conveniently the attachment ofthe link means to the power transmission element is at a level above the attachment to the door and the vertical spacing between the respective attachments increases as the door is moved from the vertical position.

Preferably the attachment of the link means to the power transmission element is readily detachable to permit manual opening of the door.

The elongate power transmission element conveniently extends at a small angle to the vertical so that at its upper end it is spaced further from the upright guide means than at its lower end.

The elongate power transmission element may take the form of a chain or flexible drive wire drivingly engageable with the prime mover, conveniently including an electric motor. The elongate power transmission element is conveniently located in an associated guide along which the element moves under the action of the prime mover.

In practice the connection between the drive means and the door is spaced upwardly from the lower end of the door.

Further features ofthe invention will appear from the following description given by way of example and with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig 1 is a side view of a drive arrangement, Fig 2 is a side view corresponding to Fig 1 showing the drive arrangement associated with a door and its mounting, and Fig 3 is a side view showing in more detail different stages in the operation of the door operating mechanism.

The door operating mechanism shown in the drawings is particularly intended for garage doors of the "up and over" variety and which are also of the "canopy" type. Such garage doors include a generally flat rectangular door element 10 which fits into a door opening (not shown) as a close fit so as to occupy the door opening in a closed position in which the door 10 is located vertically. To the sides of the door opening is a frame (not shown) on which is located at each side of the frame a guide channel 11 which extends vertically from towards the upper end of the opening to a position spaced from the lower end of the opening.

The door 10 is provided at each of its lateral sides with a roller 12 which is carried on the door by a bracket 12A and is located in an associated guide channel 11 whereby the roller 12 is movable up and down the channel during a door opening and closing operation.

There is also provided counter-balancing means (not shown) whereby the weight of the door is taken up during an opening and closing operation and this may be of conventional construction.

In a closed position the door 10 extends generally vertically with the rollers 12 at the lowermost ends of the associated guide channels 11. When moved towards an open position the rollers 12 move up the guide channels 11 and the door tilts through the positions 10', 10 and 10"', the door in the latter position being fully opened and in a generally horizontal position. It will be seen that over the initial part of the movement as the door moves from its vertical, closed position, the lower end of the door initially moves horizontally accompanied by a small vertical movement. As the door continues to move the horizontal component of movement becomes small whilst the vertical movement becomes large until towards the end of its movement the door moves substantially wholly vertically.

As thus far described the door movement is that of a conventional canopy door. The present invention provides a drive arrangement which is able to effect a door opening and closing operation in a smooth manner especially over the initial movement in opening and the corresponding final closing movement during which substantial horizontal movement is involved.

The drive arrangement for driving the door 10 between closed and open positions is mounted on the door frame at one side ofthe frame by upper and lower fixing brackets 15 and 16 and comprises a rigid guide 17, shown in cross-section A-A of Fig 1 at 18, which extends between the brackets 15 and 16. The guide 17 defines oppositely directed channels 19 in which are accommodated a flexible drive wire ofthe kind shown enlarged at 20, the channels 19 being of generally circular section to accommodate the circular profile of the drive wire 20. The drive wire 20 has an outer helical profile engageable by a gear wheel 23, to be described.

At the lower end of the guide 17 is provided a housing 22 around which the guide wire 20 extends and is guided in a loop. The drive wheel 23, in the form of a gear wheel, engages with the outwardly directed helical portions ofthe drive wire whereby to drive the guide wire along the guide 17. However the guide wire 20 may be replaced by a chain drive or toothed drive element, if required. Other drive elements may also find application in this arrangement.

Towards one end of the drive wire 20 is located a carriage 24 mounted on the guide 17 and releasably connectable to the drive wire 20. The carriage 24 carries a link arm 25 through a pivotable connection 26 at one end of the arm 25. The other end of the link arm 25 is pivotally attached to the door through a connection bracket 27.

The gear wheel 23 is powered by an electric motor (not shown) which may be of any convenient kind but is preferably a DC motor with low voltage requirements which may be powered by a battery.

It will be seen that the guide 17 extends in the upright direction generally alongside the guide 11 but at its upper end the guide 17 is spaced from the guide 11 more than at the lower end so that the guides 11 and 17 diverge upwardly at a small angle to one another. However the guide 17 may extend parallel to the guide 11.

A stop 30 is located on the guide 17 below the position ofthe carriage 24 when the door is closed and a stop 31 is positioned on the top of the guide 17 at the uppermost position of the carriage 24 when the door is open.

The position of the bracket 27 in relation to the position of the roller 12 is important in the geometry ofthe arrangement. The bracket 27 must be above the roller 12 and in practice it has been found that the spacing between roller 12 and bracket 27 should be about 100 mm in a typical installation.

In operation the drive motor drives the gear wheel 23 in a clockwise direction as seen in Fig 1 to move the guide wire 20 along the channels 19 in the guide 17 to move the door 10 towards an open position. The carriage 24 moves upwards in the direction of the guide 17 transmitting a force through the link arm 25 to the door 10 which has not only a vertical component of force but, due to its position being mainly to the side of the door connection bracket 27 to the door 20, the link arm 25 gives a significant horizontal component force initially. The bracket 27 is above the roller 12 around which the door pivots and is restrained partially by a door arm 32 connected between the door 10 and an upper bracket 33. The initial movement of the door is mainly horizontal. As the carriage 24 moves along the guide 17 the force components become mainly vertical due, in part, to the angle of the guide 17 to the guide 11, allowing the door to open smoothly with the direction of forces changing gradually. The door reaches the horizontal position 10" through the positions 10' and 10" upon which the door comes up against the stop 31 and the motor is stopped. The arm 32 moves through the positions shown in Fig 2 supporting the door towards its upper end as it is moved.

Closure of the door 10 is by reversing the procedure operating the gear wheel 23 in the opposite direction, ie anti-clockwise. Smooth operation towards the end ofthe closing action is ensured when the relatively large horizontal movement is controlled due to the position of the link arm 24 being above the roller 12. When the door 10 comes up against the stop 30 supply of drive to the gear wheel 23 is intermpted.

The door operating mechanism described provides for improved operation which is smooth and controllable and with the possibility of the start and finish of a door opening and closing operation respectively being slowed. The invention offers considerable advantages over previous mechanisms and does not impose high torque requirements at these times.

Claims (10)

1. A powered door operating mechanism for a vertically movable door which comprises a fixed upright guide, a door having means such as rollers for movement along the guide, the door being movable from between a vertical closed position and an upper, generally horizontal open position, and drive means including a prime mover, an elongate power transmission element driven by the prime mover and for moving the door, the element being located in operation generally parallel to the direction of the guide, and link means interconnecting the door and the power transmission element, the link means lying at an acute angle to the plane of the door when the door is vertical and the acute angle decreasing as the door moves towards the horizontal position, whereby to impart a horizontal component of movement to the door as it moves from the vertical followed by a primarily vertical movement of the door.

2. A powered door operating mechanism according to Claim 1 wherein the link means is pivotally attached towards one of its ends to the elongate power transmission element and is pivotally attached towards the other of its ends to the door.

3. A powered door operating mechanism according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the attachment of the link means to the power transmission element is at a level above the attachment of the link means to the door and the vertical spacing between the respective attachments increases as the door is moved from the vertical position.

4. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the attachment of the link means to the power transmission element is readily detachable to permit manual opening of the door.

5. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the elongate power transmission element extends at a small angle to the vertical so that at its upper end it is spaced further from the upright guide than at its lower end.

6. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the elongate power transmission element is in the form of a chain or flexible drive wire drivingly engageable with the prime mover.

7. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the elongate power transmission element is located in an associated guide along which the element moves under the action of the prime mover.

8. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the door has a roller movable along the upright guide, the roller being spaced below the connection of the link means to the door at a predetermined spacing.

9. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the connection between the drive means and the door is spaced upwardly from the lower end of the door.

10. A powered door operating mechanism substantially as described with reference to the drawings.