GB2418221A

GB2418221A - Platform screen door system

Info

Publication number: GB2418221A
Application number: GB0420776A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Colin Gradwell
Original assignee: Knorr Bremse Rail Systems UK Ltd; Westinghouse Brakes Ltd
Current assignee: Knorr Bremse Rail Systems UK Ltd; Westinghouse Brakes Ltd
Priority date: 2004-09-17
Filing date: 2004-09-17
Publication date: 2006-03-22
Anticipated expiration: 2024-09-17
Also published as: GB0420776D0; GB2418221B

Abstract

A platform screen door system comprises a fixed driving panel 4 and at least one sliding door leaf 5, the fixed panel 4 having a member 10 adapted to receive a support 21 which is mounted on the sliding door 5, member 10 and support 21 cooperating to form a telescopic guide.

Description

1 241 8221 Platform Screen Door System The invention relates to a platform

screen door or gate and a mechanism for opening and closing said door or gate.

The conventional railway station consisting of a raised platform adjacent to the track is essentially the same design as has been used since the beginning of the railway industry in the nineteenth century and is an effective solution to the problem of maximising passenger boarding speed.

However, the basic platform arrangement suffers from several well known problems, such as passengers falling under trains either deliberately or unintentionally and also litter from passengers falling onto the track. Although incidents of people falling under trains are not common, they result in significant disruption to the network and are traumatic incidents for everyone present. The problem of litter on the track has also increased in recent years and can represent a serious health and safety risk on underground or sub-surface systems where the litter will remain in tunnels until it is cleared up.

Platform screen systems or automated platform gates are well known in the railway industry as one approach of dealing with these problems. Due to the problem of lining up doors on the platform and the train, these systems are usually only installed on lines where the rolling stock is standardised, which in practice is on metro or underground systems, although some dedicated high speed systems are also provided with screens.

There are two main types of platform screen door system in use at present. The commonest type is a full height system (e.g. around 2m high or more vertical screens).

The full height system is usually adopted for newly built railway systems and is in practice essential in air-conditioned systems as otherwise the air conditioning system loses air to the rail tunnels, which is highly inefficient.

However, in many systems, particularly older systems, the air in stations is conditioned by the passage of the train through the station, which forces air down the tunnel. In such a system, the use of a full height screen door is precluded as the air throughput to the platform is insufficient to make conditions tolerable. Additionally, many platforms on old systems are quite narrow and a full height screen would be claustrophobic.

One solution to this that has been used is a half height screen or gate. This consists of a rigid vertical screen and gate, usually about 1m30 to lm50 high, which permits the air-conditioning solution provided by the passage of the train to be used and reduces the problems caused by litter and people falling onto the track.

In full height systems, the screen doors are provided with a head structure, which houses an endless belt driven by a pulley at each end over each door. Where the opening comprises two door leaves, one leave is attached to one part of the belt and the other leaf to the other part of the belt. Driving the belt in one direction will then open the doors.

The use of a head structure is obviously precluded in non full height systems and the known systems use the same approach but mounted into the platform surface.

However, it is often difficult to retrofit such a system to a platform as it is expensive to dig channels out of the platform and the channel itself will accumulate dirt. Some solutions box in the mechanism but this approach suffers from the problem that the box stands proud of the platform forming a step which makes the system harder to use for wheelchair users.

A further problem is that on certain metro systems, the door pitch is quite short, which permits rapid embarkation and disembarkation of passengers but when this short pitch is allied with the required clearway when the door or gate is open leads to a requirement that the equipment to support and guide the sliding door in the closed position must not interfere with the sliding door or the area adjacent the door when the door is in the open position.. The problem is particularly acute in that the loads that the sliding doors must resist must be reacted over the length of support and the known head structures are generally not able to provide this due to space constraints.

The present invention therefore seeks to provide a platform screen gate and door which can operate with a shorter pitch.

According to the invention, there is provided a platform screen door system comprising a fixed driving panel and at least one door leaf slidable relative to the fixed driving panel, a first member adapted to receive a support being mounted on the fixed driving panel, which support is mounted on the door leaf, drive means being provided, which drive means are adapted to slidingly move the door leaf from a door closed position to a door open position in which the leaf lies overlapping with the fixed panel, wherein the first member cooperates with the support to comprise a telescopic guide.

Preferably, a second member adapted to receive a second support is mounted on the fixed driving panel, the second support being mounted on the door leaf, wherein the second member comprises a further telescopic guide.

Preferably, the or each telescopic guide tray comprise a first position fixed part and a moveable part adapted to move within the position fixed part.

Preferably, the or each member is movable relative to the fixed screen on rollers, and the support or supports on the door leaf are movable relative to the associated member. In a preferred embodiment, the support or supports carry an abutment intermediate their length which, when the door is opened, contacts the associated member to entrain the member and move the member relative to the fixed panel until the door is in the fully opened position.

An exemplary embodiment of the platform screen door system of the invention will now be described in greater detail in which: Fig. 1 shows a schematic of a platform screen door system Fig. 2 shows a schematic of the guidance system for the doors Fig. 3 shows a cross section of the guidance system Figure 1 shows a schematic of a platform screen door system with the sliding doors in the closed position on a railway platform comprising a first sliding door 1, adjacent to a fixed driving panel 2, which fixed driving panel 2 is narrower than the sliding door 1. The fixed driving panel 2 is adjacent to a fixed panel 3 or the pivoting door, which in turn is adjacent to a further fixed driving panel 4, which is adjacent to a further sliding door 5. A guide 6 is provided at the lower edges of the fixed driving panels 2 and 4 and the fixed panel 3. A head structure 7 is provided on the upper edge of the fixed driving panels 2 and 3 and the fixed panel 3.

Figure 2 shows the fixed driving panel 4 and the sliding door 5 in the closed position together with the guide 6. The guide 6 comprises a guide tray comprising a U shaped channel 10 is located, in the installed position, on the backside side of the fixed driving panel 4 and is movable relative to spaced V channelled rollers 11, 12 rotatably mounted on the fixed panel 4. A support 13 is mounted, in the installed position, on the backside side of the sliding door 5 and is movable relative to the channel 10 on respective spaced V channelled rollers 14,15 located on the channel 10 or on support 13 and positioned such that when the door is closed the roller 14 is located at the edge of the door adjacent the fixed panel and the roller 15 is located adjacent the mid-point of the door..

At the upper edge of the fixed driving panel 4 and the sliding door 5 a further U shaped channel 21 is mounted on the backside side of the panel 4 and is provided with further V channelled rollers 16,17 and a support 18 is located on the backside face of the sliding door 5, which support 18 is provided with further respective rollers 19,20. The support 18 is adapted to co-operate with the channel 21. Both the support 13 and 18 comprise V shaped supports adapted to co-operate with the rollers 11,12,13,14,16,17,19,20, as described above.

The U shaped channels 10 and 21 are both adapted to support the supports 13 and 18 and thereby the sliding door 5. To facilitate the support and guidance of the doors over a short distance both of the U-shaped channels 10 and 21 are telescopic comprising two sections, the first defined by the rollers 11 and 12 and 16 and 17, respectively, which sections are fixedly mounted on the fixed position driving panel 4.

The second section, which is adapted to slide telescopically within the first section as the door 5 opens is defined by the rollers 14,15 and 19, 20, respectively. The telescopic nature of the guides and channels enables the loads applied to the sliding doors to be reacted over a greater length of support structure than would otherwise be the case with the knock-on effect that bearing loads are considerably reduced.

In the position shown in Figure 2, the door 5 is in the closed position. As the door is opened by the drive mechanism, the support 13 and support 18 move relative to the channels 10 and 21 respectively on their respective rollers until an abutment 13a on the support 13 engages the end of the channel 10. Continued movement of the door 5 in the opening direction entrains the channel 10, which then moves further within the fixed panel 4 on the rollers 11, 1 2.

Figure 3 shows a cross-section view of the fixed driving panel 4 and sliding door 5 and shows the telescopic U channels 10 and 21 together with the respective rollers and supports 13,18 and the header arrangement 7. Located adjacent the lower channel is the drive mechanism 30. The drive mechanism comprises a control unit adapted to actuate an electric motor, which motor drives a belt and pulley arrangement which pulls the door leaf in the appropriate direction to open and close the door.

The telescopic mechanism of the invention is suitable for use in both full height platform screen doors and also half height automatic gates and the term screen door applies also to half height systems and gates. The present invention allows the installation and operation of a platform sliding door in situations where a short door pitch is provided on the trains which makes it extremely difficult using the existing technology to provide platform doors aligned with all the doors on a train.

Claims

Claims 1. A platform screen door system comprising a fixed driving panel

and at least one door leaf slidable relative to the fixed driving panel, a first member adapted to receive a support being mounted on the fixed driving panel, which support is mounted on the door leaf, drive means being provided, which drive means are adapted to slidingly move the door leaf from a door closed position to a door open position in which the leaf lies overlapping with the fixed panel, wherein the first member cooperates with the support to comprise a telescopic guide.
2. A platform screen door system according to Claim 1, wherein a second member adapted to receive a second support is mounted on the fixed driving panel at a vertically spaced distance from the first member and first support, the second support being mounted on the door leaf, wherein the second member comprises a further telescopic guide.
3. A platform screen door system according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the or each member is movable relative to the fixed screen on rollers, and the support or supports on the door leaf are movable relative to the associated member.
4. A platform screen door system according to Claim 3, wherein the support or supports carry an abutment intermediate their length which, when the door is opened, contacts the associated member to entrain the member and move the member relative to the fixed panel until the door is in the fully opened position.
5. A platform screen door system substantially as described herein with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.