Drive for a building door arrangement with a clutch

Abstract

 A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) comprising a gear box means (13) and a motor device (12). The motor device (12) is provided for driving the gear box means (13) for operating a door between an open and a closed position, the drive (10) is provided for disengaging and engaging relatively to the door arrangement (11). A detecting device is provided for detecting the state, disengaged or engaged, of the connection between the drive (10) and the door arrangement (11), further the detecting device is of a non-contact type.

Description

Field of the invention

[0001] A door drive arrangement of the kind disclosed in the preamble of claim 1, which drive for a building door arrangement comprising a gear box means and a motor device, wherein said motor device is provided for driving the gear box means for operating a door between an open and a closed position, said drive is provided for disengaging and engaging relatively to the door arrangement, wherein a detecting device is provided for detecting the state, disengaged or engaged, of the connection between the drive and the door arrangement.

Technical background

[0002] Building doors includes a number of different types of designs such as overhead doors, vertical lifting doors, folding door, roller door etc. An example of a drive unit for a building door arrangement of the kind disclosed usually comprises a motor device connected via a transmission to a gear box for operation of the door in order to achieve an opening or a closing movement of the door. This movement can be transferred to the door for example by use of a cable, wheel, teeth or other corresponding transferring means. The motor device and the gear box is usually connected by a disengagable transmission or coupling to provide a possibility to switch the drive to a manually operated state, this is for example of interest in an emergency situation or during service or a power cut-off. It is of importance to the complete door operating system to get an indication whether the drive is engaged or not. This is for example to avoid malfunction when the drive is engaged again after a period of disengagement. In prior art solutions micro-switches are used to be activated by the coupling, and to detect the engagement/disengagement of the drive. These micro-switches or similar solutions could increase the risk for leakage of lubricant from the gear box or coupling, since there is for example apertures in the gear box housing to communicate with the micro-switch via signal wires. Apertures in the protective housing may also increase the risk for particles or other objects to penetrate into undesired areas, with for example a resulting reduced lubricating effect. Temperature differences during operation of the door could occur in the transmission. This give high demand on the sealing of for example transmission housing, to avoid leakage from the drive to the environment.

[0003] Hence, there is a need for an improved drive and an improved way of detecting if the transmission is engaged or disengaged. Finally it would be advantageous to provide a robust, cost effective and safe high-quality drive unit for a building door.

Summary of the invention

[0004] One object of the invention is to provide a drive for a building door arrangement that, in relation to prior art drives, provides a device with reduced risk for leakage.

[0005] Another object of the present invention is to provide a drive with reliable indication of engagement/disengagement of the transmission during different operation conditions.

[0006] The above-mentioned object is achieved by a drive according to the introduction comprising a gear box means and a motor device. The motor device is provided for driving the gear box means for operating a door between an open and a closed position, further the drive is provided for disengaging and engaging relatively to the door arrangement. A detecting device is provided for detecting the state, disengaged or engaged, of the connection between the drive and the door arrangement and the detecting device is further of a non-contact type.

[0007] Advantageously the detecting device is constituted of a sending means associated with a coupling for operating the drive between a disengaged and engaged state of the connection between the drive and the door arrangement, said detecting device is further constituted of a receiving means for receiving a signal from said sending means.

[0008] Advantageously the sending means is movable between two positions which are corresponding to the disengaged and engaged position of said coupling, the sending means is further provided on the inside of a housing covering the coupling.

[0009] Advantageously the detecting device is a tilting lever effected by a coupling provided for engagement and disengagement of the drive and the door. For example the tilting device can be provided with a pivot axis and at least one lever. In an embodiment of the current invention there is a lever provided on each side of the pivot axis, the first lever is affected by the coupling and tilting the second lever, which is provided with a magnet. When the coupling is moved between the disconnected and connected position the second lever is moving the magnet, this movement of the magnet is registrated by a, for example a hall effect device to get an indication whether the door is disconnected or connected from the motor.

[0010] Advantageously the tilting lever has a magnetic device, which is changing position during engagement/disengagement of the coupling. This changing of position could either be a rotation, translation or other movement.

[0011] Preferably the tilting lever is positioned on the inside of a housing covering the gear box, further a hall effect device is provided on the outside of the housing for detecting the position of the tilting lever on the inside. Alternatively the receiving means provided on the outside of the housing can be a reed relay switch or other means for detecting the sent out signal. The above mentioned housing is made of a material transparent to the signal detected by the receiving means such as, hall effect device or reed relay switch. Alternatively there is provided a window, made of another material than the housing in the wall between the indicating device and the registrating device. This window should be made of a material with characteristics for enabling the sending and registrating devices to communicate. The registrating device, for example a hall effect device, can preferably be positioned in the same housing as the transmission. But to protect the hall effect device, and other electronics, this device could be positioned in a separate chamber from the chamber of the housing containing the transmission. The chamber containing the transmission is usually, at least partly, filled with a lubricant, for example oil.

[0012] Advantageously the tilting lever is spring loaded towards the position in which the coupling is engaged. This is to have a reference position when the tilting lever is unaffected, consequently the spring push the indicating device away from the position in which the coupling is disengaged.

[0013] Preferably the tilting device is pressed by the coupling device towards the position in which the coupling is disengaged, to activate the tilting device when the coupling device is disengaged from the motor.

[0014] Advantageously the disengagable connection between the motor device and the door is a coupling of a claw clutch type. Also other kinds of couplings can be used to connect the electric motor and the door, such as for example a disk clutch.

[0015] Advantageously the housing is constituted by a gear box housing, which is made of a material permitting passage of a signal from the magnetic device on a first side of the housing to the hall effect device on a second side of said housing. For example the second side of the housing could be an adjacent chamber of the same housing as the gear box housing.

[0016] The above described tilting lever can be designed for operation without power supply, and it can be designed for maintenance-free and self lubricated operation. The lubrication is easily achieved when the tilting lever is positioned in the housing for the coupling and/or gearbox in an already lubricated environment. This improved door drive can be used in different applications and for different types of doors for example over head doors, vertical lifting doors, roll up doors, horizontal sliding doors etc.

Brief description of drawings

[0017] By way of example, embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures of drawings in which:

Fig 1A is a perspective view of a vertical lifting building door arrangement.

Fig 1B is a perspective view of an over head building door arrangement.

Fig 1C is a perspective view of a roll up building door arrangement.

Fig 2 is an exploded view of a door drive.

Fig 3 is a perspective view of a housing for a door drive containing a disengaging switch.

Fig 4A is a section through the housing showing the tilting lever in the engaged position for the coupling.

Fig 4B is a section through the housing showing the tilting lever in the disengaged position for the coupling.

Description of Preferred Embodiments

[0018] One embodiment of the drive for the building door arrangement 11, according to the invention, will now be described in relation to Figs 1 to 4.

[0019] Fig 1 A-C depicts three embodiments of the door drive 10 implemented in different kind of building door arrangements 11. There are different ways of disconnecting the door drive 10 from the door for example manually by a chord, chain, or other mechanical means. The coupling can be provided in any suitable part of the drive line, between the motor 12 and the door. The opening and closing movement is transferred from the door drive 10 via wire, belt, gear driving or other means to the door. There are requirements for a building door arrangement 11 regarding opening- and closing speed, force, pinch protection, emergency safety, manual operation and other characteristics.

[0020] Fig 2 shows an embodiment of the current invention where a housing is containing an electric motor 12 which is driving a worm gear. This worm gear is also contained in the same housing, but in a gear chamber sealed to the rest of the housing 7 and the surrounding. The sealed gear chamber also contains a claw coupling 8, which is pressed to engagement by a coil spring 9 provided around the outgoing drive axis.

[0021] To operate the coupling 8 a cord or chain is arranged from the drive for example hanging down to an position accessible from the floor. The coupling is disengaged by pulling the cord or chain, this will via a sealed transmission compress the coil spring 9 and deactivate the claws from each other. Consequently the drive 10 will be disengaged from the door and it can for example be possible to operate the door manually.

[0022] For operation of the coupling it is also possible to use other sealed operation means, for example hydraulic, electric or electro-magnetic for operating the coupling between the engaged and disengaged position.

[0023] Another chamber is provided in the same housing 7 as described above, for protecting and containing electronic device. In this chamber a hall effect device 3 is for instance provided next to the housing wall neighboring to the transmission chamber of the housing 7. This hall effect device 3 will registrate movements of the magnet 2 provided in the gear chamber. The magnet 2 is arranged on a tilting lever 1 which is affected during disengagement of the claw coupling 8.

[0024] Fig 3 depicts more in detail the area where the tilting lever 1 and the coupling 8 is positioned. The tilting lever 1 is activated by a ring, which is transferred in the direction of the outgoing axis during disengagement of the drive 10 from the door. During disengagement of the coupling 8 the ring or surface of the coupling 8 will activate the tilting lever 1 and switch the tilting lever, which is inducing a signal, for indication of the state engaged/disengaged of the door drive 10. The tilting lever 1 is snap locked fixed inside the cover 7, which is made of aluminium.

[0025] Fig 4A depicts the tilting lever 1 in an unaffected position, the deflecting spring 6 force the stop means of the tilting lever in contact with the housing 7 for limiting the rotation of the tilting lever 1. The tilting lever 1 is designed similar to a seesaw, with a first arm 4 and a second arm 5, the first arm 4 is provided for transferring the movement from the disengaging coupling 8 to the tilting lever 1 for moving the second arm 5 with the magnet 2 away from the hall effect device 3. In the unaffected position for the tilting lever 1 the stop means is limiting the position of the tilting lever 1 this is when the coupling 8 is in the engaged position. A spring means 6 is provided for rotating the tilting lever 1 towards the position corresponding the engaged position for the coupling 8. Other variants are also possible, in this case it is considered that the coupling 8 normally, most of the time, is in the engaged position. In the current embodiment of the invention a deflecting spring 6 is used for holding the tilting lever 1 in position, it is also possible with different design for example a helical spring, torsion spring or other kind of spring can be used.

[0026] During operation of the door the motor 12 is driving the worm wheel 14, which is engaged with a gear wheel 15. The gear wheel 15 is connected to a first coupling wheel with claws, both these wheels are rotable relatively to the outgoing axis. A second claw wheel 8 is provided fixed to the outgoing axis, this second claw wheel 8 is engagable with the first claw wheel for transmitting a torque from the motor to the outgoing axis. To engage the first and second claw coupling wheels the second claw wheel 8 is moved in the in the direction of the outgoing axis towards the first claw wheel.

[0027] The tilting lever 1 is provided in a protected position inside the housing 7. The signal from the movable magnet 2 of the tilting lever 1 is received through the wall of the housing 7, which is made of aluminum.

Claims

1. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) comprising a gear box means (13) and a motor device (12), wherein said motor device (12) is provided for driving the gear box means (13) for operating a door between an open and a closed position, said drive (10) is provided for disengaging and engaging relatively to the door arrangement, wherein a detecting device is provided for detecting the state, disengaged or engaged, of the connection between the drive and the door arrangement (11) characterised in that
said detecting device is of a non-contact type.

2. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to claim 1 wherein, said detecting device is constituted of a sending means (1) associated with a coupling (8) for operating the drive between a disengaged and engaged state of the connection between the drive (10) and the door arrangement (11), said detecting device is further constituted of a receiving means for receiving a signal from said sending means (1).

3. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to claim 2 wherein, the sending means (1) is movable between two positions which are corresponding to the disengaged and engaged position of said coupling (8), the sending means (1) is further provided on the inside of a housing (7) covering the coupling (8).

4. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to any of the claims 2-3 wherein, the sending means is a tilting lever (1) effected by said coupling (8) provided for engagement and disengagement of the drive (10) and the door.

5. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to claim 4 wherein, said tilting lever (1) has a magnetic device (2), which is changing position during engagement and disengagement of the coupling (8).

6. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to any of the claims 4-5 wherein, said tilting lever (1) is positioned on the inside of a housing (7) covering the coupling (8), further a hall effect device (3) is provided on the outside of the housing for detecting the position of the tilting lever (1) on the inside.

7. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to any of the claims 4-6 wherein, said tilting lever (1) is spring loaded towards the engaged position of the coupling (8).

8. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to any of the claims 4-7 wherein, said tilting device (1) is pressed towards the disengaged position by the coupling device, when the coupling device is disengaged from the motor (12).

9. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to any of the preceding claims wherein, the disengagable connection between the motor device (12) and the gear box means (13) is a coupling of a claw clutch type (8) .

10. A drive (10) for a building door arrangement (11) according to any of the claims 3-9 wherein, said housing (7) is made of a material permitting passage of a signal from the magnetic device (2) on a first side of said housing (7) to the hall effect device (3) on a second side of said housing (7).

Drawing