The present invention relates to a panel for a sectional door, a sectional door, and the use of a profile.
More specifically the invention concerns sectional doors, i.e. doors with a number of horizontal panels that can be pulled upwards to open the door, and which can be let or pushed downwards again to close the door.
Such sectional doors are generally designed and/or installed such that if the panels are opened from the closed position, they are pulled upwards, but also move slightly in the direction of the inside of the door, i.e. in the direction of the space that is closed off by the door. This can be achieved for example by sloping the plane in which the panels are located slightly towards the inside when the sectional door is closed.
Such a door is closed in the reverse way, whereby during the majority of the closing movement the panels move with relatively little friction, and during the last stage of closing they are pushed somewhat towards the outside, against a seal provided to this end.
This can be caused by gravity in combination with the design of the door, and acts to prevent or reduce friction of the components of the door against one another, for example the panels against seals or guide wheels against guide rails, so that these components are subject to less wear, and less force is needed to open and close the door.
However, this does not work with doors provided with a seal that acts against the side and/or top of the panels, for example a rubber strip that is fastened to the frame of the door and which uses the side of the panels as an end stop in order to be able to properly seal a closed door.
Such a sectional door is described for example in
In this case the side edges and/or top edges of the panels slides along the seal, resulting in wear and/or a risk of detachment of the seals, which leads to higher costs and a poorer seal.
As a result the panels of the door also move less flexibly, such that a greater force is needed to operate them.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a solution to at least one of the aforementioned and other disadvantages, by providing a panel for a sectional door, whereby one or both side edges have a surface that forms an angle with the outside and inside of the panel, whereby the included angle of this surface with the outside is an obtuse angle and the included angle of this surface with the inside is an acute angle.
This has the advantage that such a panel can be used in a sectional door with a seal on the sides of the panels and on the top of the top panel, whereby the panels easily come away from this seal during opening and thus can continue further movement with relatively little friction.
This has further advantages that a limited force is required for opening, and that wear on the seal and panels is reduced.
Because such a panel is pushed against the seal during the last phase of a closing movement of a sectional door, on account of the said surface that makes an acute angle with the inside of the panel, a better fitting seal is obtained in any case.
The outside and inside of the panels are hereby the sides of the panel that are respectively oriented towards the outside and inside of the building in which a sectional door is used with such panels. The side edges are the transverse ends of the panels.
Preferably the acute angle is between 45° and 85° and even more preferably between 60° and 85°.
In a preferred embodiment the panel comprises a panel body and profiles at each of the side edges and the top edge of the panel body, whereby the said surface is formed by the profile.
This is a practical way to manufacture such a profile.
In a further preferred embodiment the panel body is hollow with one or more openings on the side edges, whereby the profile is of such a size and is affixed such that the profile closes the openings.
A hollow panel body, whereby the cavity of this panel body can be filled with an insulating product, must be closed off, so that no air transport can take place via the cavity of the panel between the inside and outside of the building in which the panel is intended to be used. Traditionally this is done with a cap.
In the preferred embodiment described the profile takes over the function of this cap, so that a separate cap is no longer necessary.
The invention also concerns a sectional door that comprises at least one panel as described above.
In a preferred embodiment this sectional door also has at least one seal that seals off the sectional door in a closed position, whereby the dimensions of the components of the door are such that in a closed position of the sectional door the said surface or the said surfaces acts or act as an end stop for the seal.
Such a sectional has the advantage of reduced wear of a side seal and a light operation, as explained above.
Furthermore the invention also concerns the use of an open profile on the side edge of a panel of a sectional door, according to claim 13, whereby the profile is a profile with a base and two parallel flanks, whereby the base and the flanks of the profile are straight and the angle included by the outer surfaces of the base and a flank is acute, and preferably lies between 45° and 85° at the side edges and if applicable the top edge of a panel of a sectional door, whereby the base of the profile forms an end stop for a seal of the sectional door in the closed position.
With the intention of better showing the characteristics of the invention, a preferred embodiment of a sectional door according to the invention is described hereinafter by way of an example, without any limiting nature, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The sectional door 1 in
The bottom three panels 3, as shown in
This done for example by bonding the profiles 8 over the entire surface with which they are in contact with the panel bodies 7, and by filling up the remaining openings, for example on the top and bottom of a panel. The cavity 9 is provided with insulating material, for example insulating foam.
It can also be useful here to saw off the panel bodies 7 at their sides obliquely to obtain a better fit with the profiles 9.
The thickness of the panel bodies 7 is D.
The profiles 8 are open profiles, i.e. their cross section is approximately U-shaped or hook shaped, and are made from polyester. They have a straight base 10 and two straight parallel flanks, i.e. a first straight flank 11, that is on the inside 4 of the panel, and a second straight flank 12 that is on the outside 5 of the panel. The distance A between the two flanks A is equal to the thickness D of a panel body 7.
The outer surface 13 of the base 10 and the outer surface 14 of the first flank 11 make an included angle α with one another of approx. 80°. As the first flank 11 runs parallel to the inside 4 of the panels 3, the outer surface 13 of the base 10 makes the same angle α with the inside 4 of the panels 3.
The top panel 3, as shown in
In this case this is a profile 8 whose outer surface 13 of the base 10 and the outer surface 14 of the first flank 11 make an included angle β with one another of approx. 75°.
Four seals are fastened to the frame 2 of the sectional door 1, constructed as rubber strips, i.e. a first seal 17 and second seal 18, that are on the side of the sectional door 1, and a third seal 19 and a fourth seal 20 that are on the top of the sectional door 1. The second seal 18 is hereby constructed as a seal with three ribs, and the fourth seal 20 is a double construction.
The first seal 17 preferably connects to the third seal 19 and the second seal 18 preferably connects to the fourth seal 20, to form two sealing arches for a good airtight fit of the sectional door 1 in the closed position.
With the sectional door 1 in the closed position, as shown in
The second flank 12, respectively on the side edges 6 of the panels 3 and on the top edge 15 of the top panel 3, thus forms end stops for the first and third seals 17 and 19 respectively.
The outer surface 13 of the base 10, respectively on the side edges 6 of the panels 3 and on the top edge 15 of the top panel 3, forms end stops for the second and fourth seals 18 and 20 respectively.
The opening of the sectional door 1 has the following consequences, that are described with the aid of
The normally closed position of the sectional door is as described above, and as shown in
The panels 3 can now be opened further upwards in the conventional way, without further excessive friction or risk of damage or wear to the seals 17 to 20, so that the sectional door 1 is opened.
The present invention is by no means limited to the embodiment described as an example and shown in the drawings, but a panel and sectional door according to the invention can be realised in all kinds of variants and in different ways within the scope of the claims, without departing from the scope of the invention.
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