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(11) | EP 1 338 743 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
| published in accordance with Art. 158(3) EPC |
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| (54) | DEVICE FOR ACTUATING EMBEDDABLE SLIDING DOORS |
| (57) The cylinder (11) that acts on the longitudinal guide (5) for sliding the doors (1)
acts on said guide with the aid of a C-bar (12) connected to it and that is hinged
to a second arm (14), which is in turn also hinged to the guide (5), so that the end
of the aforementioned C-bar (12) is jointed to a crank (16) that makes it swivel about
a shaft (15), to which it transmits a rotational motion when the cylinder (11) is
actuated, which shaft is in turn meant to transmit the swiveling motion generated
by said cylinder to the locking and safety mechanisms that keep the door in an inserted
or locked position. |
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a device specifically designed to perform the initial opening maneuver and the final closing maneuver of sliding-locking doors such as those used in subway and train cars or the like, wherein their opening is initiated by a forward displacement of the door to release it from the body of the car or element in question, and continues with the sideways sliding motion.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] In closures such as those of the aforementioned examples, wherein usually two sliding and locking doors are involved that must move in a synchronized manner, one of the most commonly employed solutions due to its structural and functional simplicity is a pneumatic cylinder that acts directly on one of the doors, while the second door receives the motion of the first door through a transmission belt to achieve a synchronized motion.
[0003] More specifically, the door driven directly by the pneumatic cylinder is provided with a rack that in its longitudinal displacement turns a pinion on whose shaft is mounted a transmission belt that connects said pinion with another one coupled to the rack of the second door, so that by using identical racks and pinions the motion of one door is transmitted to the other with perfect symmetry.
[0004] In addition, due to their operational conditions vehicles of this type require a good aerodynamic penetration, a minimized noise in its displacement and a good closure of the doors as relates to tightness. To achieve these objectives the sliding-locking doors of this type have mechanisms that enable their combined motion, so that when the doors are closest to each other, that is, when they are closed, as well as in their guides for the sliding motion they can be inserted in the car body to establish a more or less tight closure and a surface continuity between the doors and the car body, thereby optimizing the aerodynamics of the latter and preventing noises made by the air upon contact with the edges of the doors.
[0005] Typically, this front or transverse motion of the guides associated to the doors is achieved by double-action pneumatic cylinders, which with the aid of suitable guides generate the required motion. However, the main problem of this solution is that the same cylinders wedge the door in its closed position, so that if there is a pressure loss in them for any reason the door will be released and free to move outwards with any interior force, such as a passenger leaning on it.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The actuation device for sliding-locking doors of the invention enables optimum displacement conditions both in the forward motion of the door and in its subsequent longitudinal motion. For this purpose and more specifically, according to one of the characteristics of the invention the guides for the longitudinal motion of the doors with its corresponding mechanisms, that are in turn aided by transverse guides that enable the forward motion, receive the action of a pneumatic cylinder that is hinged onto the fixed chassis with respect to which move the doors; connected to the shaft of said cylinder is a C-bar to which is in turn hinged a second bar that will act on the aforementioned longitudinal guide of the doors, so that the free end of said arched bar defines during the actuation of the pneumatic cylinder a motion that includes an approximation to the working plane of the doors, forcing the longitudinal guides of said doors to move outwards when the piston emerges from the cylinder and to move inwards when the piston retracts.
[0007] According to another characteristic of the invention the transverse guides that aid in the wedging/release of the door system, that is, in the outwards and inwards motion of the longitudinal guides on which the door sliding mechanisms are established, are mounted on four rollers which ensure a perfect guidance of said system both during the outwards motion of the longitudinal guides and during its inward motion.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] As a complement of the description being made and in order to aid a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred example of embodiment, the present description includes a set of drawings where for purposes of illustration only and in a non-limiting manner, the following is shown:
Figure 1 shows a profile and cross-sectional detailed view of a system of sliding doors for train cars and the like, provided with the actuation device that is the object of the present invention, the cross-section being made along one the plane of the transverse guides of the door system.
Figure 2 shows a cross-sectional detailed view similar to the previous figure, made along the plane of the cylinder that performs the wedging/releasing maneuver of the door system from the car body.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
[0009] In view of these figures, and more specifically of figure 1, it can be appreciated that the device of the invention is applicable for example to doors (1) that can fit in the car body (2), establishing an external surface continuity with said body, or capable of being released and sliding outwards with the aid of transverse guides (3) that, in accordance with one of the characteristics of the invention, travel each on four casters (4), thereby providing an optimum stability to the guides (3), which are connected to the longitudinal guides (5) on which takes place the longitudinal displacement of the doors (1), that will result in their opening when said longitudinal guides (5) have emerged sufficiently from the body (2) of the car; this longitudinal actuation is performed for example by a pneumatic cylinder (6) acting directly by means of a bar (7) on one of the doors (1), and acting indirectly on the other door through a belt (8) that is attached to the same arm (7) with the aid of a clip (9) and is attached on its other end to the other door (1) with the aid of a second clip (10), so that said transmission belt (8) determines a synchronized and opposite motion of one of the doors with respect to the other, specifically with respect to the one actuated on directly by the cylinder (6).
[0010] The wedging/releasing operation of the guides (5) is achieved by the corresponding pneumatic cylinder (11), as shown in figure 2, being connected on the free end of its shaft to a C-bar (12) with an approximately semi-circular shape, that on its free end (13) is hinged to a second bar (14) that will act on the guides (5) to retract them or push them outwards, according to the two positions shown in a solid and broken line in figure 2; the purpose of the C-shape of the bar (12) is that its motion does not affect a shaft (15) that is jointed to said bar (12) through a crank (16) so that the resulting motion of the arm (12) implies a rotation of the shaft (15) that is meant to transmit the motion to the door locking mechanisms, which is foreign to the invention and the description of which is beyond its scope.
1. Actuation device for sliding-locking doors, particularly for sliding doors of the
type used in train cars and the like, in which two combined and consecutive movements
are established, one of longitudinal displacement on the outer face of the car body,
and another of transverse displacement for locking-releasing the door from said body,
wherein the longitudinal guide for the displacement of the doors can move forward,
that is, in a locking-releasing sense, by the action of a pneumatic cylinder, characterized in that said pneumatic cylinder (11) incorporates, rigidly connected to a free end of its
shaft, an arm (12) that is jointed to a second arm (14) which transmits the motion
to the longitudinal guides (5) of the doors, with the first arm (12) having a C-shaped
configuration and jointed on its free end to a crank (16) that during the displacement
of the arm (12) undergoes a swiveling motion about a shaft (15) to which it is suitably
keyed, such that said shaft (15) transmits its motion to the door locking mechanism.
2. Actuation device for sliding-locking doors, as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the transverse guides (3), with which the locking and releasing maneuvers of the
longitudinal guide (5) are effected, are mounted on corresponding groups of four casters
(4) that stabilize its trajectory. stabilize its trajectory.