EP0439386A1 - Jack apparatus for the displacement of a part, and sliding panel doors thus fitted out - Google Patents

Abstract

A pulley (37) is fixed at each end of a mobile gear 31 and moves with it. Furthermore, two return pulleys (44) having fixed axes form with the mobile pulleys (37) a combined double pulley block in which a flexible link (9) connects the wheels of all the pulleys (37, 39, 44), this link being provided with a drive member (7) for the displacement of a part (2). The jack (4) comprises two adjacent chambers (23) containing the driving fluid, each delimited by a median partition (27) and the respective one of two pistons of the gear (31) connected by an axial rod (32) traversing the partition (27) in a fluid-tight manner. Application to the displacement of a sliding panel of a railway carriage coupled to the drive member whose travel is double that of the mobile gear (31), the penetration of the mobile pulleys in the body of jack allowing the latter to be placed very close to the pistons and thus greatly reducing the axial dimension of the device. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a device for moving a member, and in particular for moving a sliding leaf between its open and closed positions.

The present invention also relates to sliding leaf doors (leaves) equipped with such a device.

In many applications and in particular in rail or road transport vehicles, it is necessary to open or close a sliding door by mechanical means of small dimensions, taking into account the space available, by exerting a positive action for obtain each of the configurations, this for operational safety reasons. In such applications, it is desired to avoid rotary motors, in particular electric ones, in favor of cylinders, especially hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders.

We know the device called "rodless cylinder" in which a flexible link, bypassing two deflection pulleys, located at the two ends of the body of a double-acting cylinder, is fixed by its two ends to the two ends of the piston of the cylinder. A cursor moving along the body of the jack is attached to the link between the two pulleys and transmits the movement to the member to be moved. Rodless cylinders have the advantage of having a relatively large useful stroke compared to their overall length.

However, the stroke remains significantly less than the overall length while, in the aforementioned applications relating to vehicles, it is generally desired that the motor device is housed in the width of the opening and communicates to the leaf a stroke substantially equal to said width.

In addition, rodless cylinders are expensive and pose delicate sealing problems that can lead to maintenance operations and breakdowns.

A double-acting cylinder has also been proposed, the piston of which carries a rack meshing with a toothed wheel having its axis integral with the axis of a driving pulley of larger diameter. Lapoulie drives a belt connected to the leaf. A suitable diameter ratio between toothed wheel and pulley makes it possible to use a conventional cylinder of relatively small size compatible with the space available, while producing a displacement of sufficient magnitude of the member to be controlled.

But such a device has a double drawback, because on the one hand, it requires a relatively expensive rack and pinion system and, on the other hand, the drive pulley can slip relative to the belt and therefore not transmit to it. ci the movement created by the cylinder. Special provisions must therefore be made to avoid the aforementioned skating without, however, being certain of preventing it, which can be troublesome from the point of view of safety in public transport.

This device also has the disadvantage that when the cylinder rod is in the projecting position, the rack protrudes beyond the drive pulley, which again obliges it to provide a space in length much greater than the useful travel of the device.

Furthermore, FR-A-2 522 081 proposes, in its figure 5, a double-acting cylinder having a fixed and a movable equipment, the latter actuating a flexible link bypassing two return pulleys at the two ends of the travel of a driver attached to the link in a region extending between the two pulleys, said link passing through two hauling devices each arranged functionally between one of the deflection pulleys and a respective hooking end, these hauling devices each comprising a pulley hauling system whose axis is connected to the mobile assembly of the jack.

When the moving part moves, it carries with it the two hauling pulleys, one of which draws a length of link substantially equal to a multiple of the length of the movement of the moving part (thanks to hauling), while the the other hauling pulley releases the same multiple link length.

It follows between the two return pulleys a displacement of the link, and therefore of the trainer, which is equal to a multiple of the stroke of the movable member of the jack. No slippage is possible since the displacement of the link is a necessary consequence of the relative displacement of the axes of the various pulleys of the device. In addition, and for the same reasons, if the cylinder is double-acting, or single-acting and spring return, the device transmits the action of the cylinder in both directions of movement of its moving assembly.

The above device makes it possible to avoid the sealing problems specific to "rodless cylinders" but brings little improvement in terms of space, neither compared to rodless cylinders nor even compared to rack cylinders. , because it is necessary to provide the deflection of the hauling pulley at each end of the cylinder body.

The object of the present invention is thus to propose a very simple, reliable, compact and economical device for moving an organ.

The present invention relates to a device for moving a member between two predetermined positions by means of a jack having a fixed assembly and a movable assembly, the latter actuating a flexible link bypassing two return pulleys at the two ends of the stroke of a trainer attached to the link in a region extending between the two pulleys, said link passing through two hauling devices, each functionally disposed between one of the return pulleys and a respective hooking end of the link, these hauling devices each comprising a hauling pulley, the axis of which is connected to the mobile assembly of the jack, characterized in that the fixed assembly of the jack comprises a body having two coaxial cylinders separated by a partition, and the movable assembly comprises two pistons each arranged in one of the cylinders, in that at least one of the pistons delimits between it and the partition a variable-volume working chamber, the two pistons being connected to each other by a rod passing through the partition in leaktight manner, each of the hauling pulleys being connected to a face of a respective piston opposite to the partition, and in that, at each end of the travel of the moving assembly, one of the hauling pulleys is engaged in the corresponding cylinder.

• l'équipage mobile, s'appuyant sur deux pistons, est parfaitement guidé de par sa structure même et dans toutes ses positions le long de l'équipage fixe, et l'on peut se contenter de pistons de dimension axiale réduite sans risquer d'effet de basculement et de coincement ;
• la pénétration des poulies de mouflage dans le corps du vérin, en fin de course, permet de placer les poulies très près des pistons et ainsi de réduire fortement l'encombrement axial du dispositif par rapport à celui du FR-A-2 522 081.

Compared with known devices, the device of the invention has significant advantages and in particular a very significant reduction in the longitudinal dimensions, because:

• the moving assembly, supported by two pistons, is perfectly guided by its very structure and in all its positions along the fixed assembly, and one can be satisfied with pistons of reduced axial dimension without risking tilting and jamming effect;
• the penetration of the hauling pulleys into the cylinder body, at the end of the stroke, makes it possible to place the pulleys very close to the pistons and thus greatly reduce the axial size of the device compared to that of FR-A-2,522,081.

According to a particular version of the invention, the device is characterized in that it comprises at least four deflection pulleys, around which the link describes a path corresponding to a closed loop increased by a half-loop so as to have any position of the mobile assembly two strands moving in the same direction, connected by a strand moving in the opposite direction, and in that a trainer is provided on each of the two strands of the loop.

According to a second aspect of the invention, the sliding leaf door is characterized in that the leaf is connected to the trainer of a device according to the first aspect.

According to a third aspect of the invention, the door with two leaves sliding in opposite directions is characterized in that each leaf is connected to one of the coaches of the aforementioned particular version of the device of the invention.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear during the description which will be given, without implied limitation, of various exemplary embodiments.

• la figure 1 est une vue schématique en élévation d'une porte à vantail coulissant d'une voiture de chemin de fer, munie d'un dispositif conforme à l'invention, représenté avec arrachement et coupe partielle, la porte étant en position de fermeture ;
• la figure 2 est une vue schématique en coupe longitudinale, à échelle agrandie, du dispositif de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 3 est une vue analogue à la figure 2, mais représentée dans une position correspondant à la position d'ouverture de la porte ;
• la figure 4 est une coupe partielle d'une variante comprenant pour chaque dispositif de mouflage une seconde poulie de mouflage permettant une amplification de mouvement accrue ;
• la figure 5 est une coupe schématique d'une autre variante du dispositif conforme à l'invention, avec vue partielle d'une porte à deux vantaux coulissant en sens inverse.

In the accompanying drawings:

• Figure 1 is a schematic elevational view of a sliding leaf door of a railway car, provided with a device according to the invention, shown with cutaway and partial section, the door being in the closed position ;
• Figure 2 is a schematic view in longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, of the device of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, but shown in a position corresponding to the open position of the door;
• Figure 4 is a partial section of a variant comprising for each hauling device a second hauling pulley allowing increased amplification of movement;
• Figure 5 is a schematic section of another variant of the device according to the invention, with partial view of a door with two leaves sliding in opposite direction.

A device 1 according to the invention is shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. The device 1 is mounted above the sliding leaf 2 of a door 3 for access to a railway car, in order to actuate this leaf, by means of a double-acting cylinder 4, between a closed position of a passage surrounded by the frame of the door 3 and an open position of this passage.

Door 3 is a single sliding door of a type known per se and which it is not useful to describe in detail. At the upper part of the door, in the vicinity of the front edge (relative to the direction of closing), is fixed a console 5 provided with a housing for receiving the end of a driver 7, the console 5 and the driver 7 being made integral with respect to the movements parallel to that of the leaf 2. The driver 7 is fixed at an appropriate point of an actuation region 9a of a flexible link 9. In the region 9a, the link 9 moves along itself by the operation of the device 1 and can take two positions 7a, 7b corresponding respectively to the closing and opening of the leaf 2 (see Figures 2 and 3). In the example shown, the door is of the simply sliding leaf type (that is to say that the leaf moves without its own plane), but the invention is also applicable to so-called swing leaf doors, in which the leaf has at the start of the opening movement and at the end of the closing movement an extraction and insertion movement relative to the door frame. In this case, the driver 7, instead of being coupled directly to the leaf, would for example be coupled to a carriage relative to which the leaf undergoes its movements of extraction and insertion respectively.

In the example shown in Figure 1, we omitted the leaf guide means, which may for example include rollers fixed to the leaf and sliding in rails integral with the door frame, the device according to the invention n 'ensuring that the drive, not the leaf guide.

A fixed assembly 11 of the double-acting cylinder 4 comprises a body 13 fixed to the frame of the door 3 by means of assemblies 19, 21 forming collars.

The body 13 defines inside its two cylinders 15 (see FIG. 2) which have the same axis parallel to the sliding direction of the leaf, the same diameter, and are separated in a sealed manner by a fixed central partition 27. In each cylinder 15 a variable volume chamber 23 is defined between the partition 27 and a respective piston 29 movable back and forth in the cylinder 15. The two pistons 29 and an axial rod 32 which connects them constitutes a mobile assembly 31 which moves in one piece in the body 11 of the jack 4. The rod 32 passes through the partition 27 in a sealed manner with respect to the pressure difference which can exist in service between the two chambers 22, as will be understood later. The chambers 23 can be selectively connected by pipes 33, to a compressor 34 or to the open air 35 by means of a distributor 30, so that one of the chambers 23 empties into the open air 35 when the The other fills up under the action of the compressor 34 (which can be a source of vehicle pressure) or vice versa.

The outer faces of the pistons 29 (opposite the partition 27) each carry a yoke 41 supporting a hauling pulley 37. Under these conditions, the axes of the two pulleys 37 are integral with the movable assembly 31 of the jack 4.

Two return pulleys 44 rotate around axes 49 which are fixed relative to the fixed assembly of the jack, the two axes 49 being substantially parallel and located in service in a plane substantially parallel to the direction of sliding of the leaf. The return pulleys 44 are each located at one of the ends of the device, beyond one of the respective ends of the body 13.

The region 9a of the link 9 extends between the two return pulleys 44.

On either side of the region 9a, the link 9 comprises two hauling regions 9b which each extend between the associated return pulley 44 and a respective hooking end 9c. Each hauling region 9b bypasses the nearest hauling pulley 37 thus taking a U-shaped configuration opening towards the outside of the body 13. The two ends 9c are fixed to two legs 45 fixed relative to the fixed crew 11 of cylinder 4 and ssensibly located at the ends of the device.

The operation of the device is as follows:

It is assumed that the door 2 is in the closed position, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and that the driver 7 is in its housing located in the console 5, occupying the position 7a (Figure 2). The pulley 37 on the right is engaged in the corresponding cylinder 15. To open the leaf, the chamber 23 on the left is connected to the compressor 34 and, simultaneously, the other chamber 23 in the open air 35.

Under these conditions, the volume of the first chamber 23 increases, that is to say that the mobile assembly 31 of the jack moves to the left in FIG. 2. The pulley 37 on the right moves away inwards of the body 13 relative to the pulley 44 and to the corresponding lug 45, this pulley 37 penetrating into the neighboring cylinder 15. This causes for each of the strands 52 and 53 of the associated region 9b an increase in length substantially equal to the stroke made by the mobile assembly, and this absorption of link by the right hauling device must therefore be compensated by a displacement of the region 9a carrying the coach 7, this displacement being equal to the sum of the increases in length of the strands 52 and 53, therefore equal to twice the stroke carried out by the moving assembly 11. This displacement of the region 9a along 'itself towards the right hauling device is allowed by the left hauling device because the region 9b sees its two strands each losing a length substantially equal to the stroke made by the moving assembly 31.

Finally, the coach 7 passes from position 7a to the dotted position 7b corresponding to the opening of door 2, with a distance L between the initial and final positions of coach 7 equal to twice the total displacement of l mobile assembly of the jack, and substantially equal to the length of the body 13 of the jack 4.

In other words, a factor 2 amplification effect is obtained.

To move from the open position of the leaf 2, which is shown in Figure 3, to the closed position, we proceed in a similar but symmetrical manner, that is to say that we connect the chamber 23 of right to the compressor 34 and that of the left to the open air 35. This produces the displacement of the trainer from position 7b to position 7a and consequently the closing of leaf 2. Thanks to its two pistons 29 rigidly linked one to the other, the moving element 31 is very well guided in the body even if the pistons are axially very thin. This further reduces the axial length of the cylinder.

In the variant embodiment of the invention to which FIG. 4 relates, each hauling device comprises a second hauling pulley 39 having a fixed axis 43 and which is bypassed by the strand 9b between the movable hauling pulley 37 and the 'hooking end 9c, which is directed towards the movable assembly and fixed to a hook 57 carried by the respective piston 29 next to the yoke 41.

It is understood that thus, any movement of the moving assembly for example to the left (FIG. 4) increases the length of each of the three strands 61, 63, 65 of the right region 9b all the more, and reduces as much each of the three strands of the region 9b on the left, so that the travel of the trainer 7 is three times that of the mobile assembly 31.

The above variant makes it possible to easily obtain a displacement of the sliding leaf 2 which is clearly greater than the length of the associated jack 4. Such a variant will advantageously be used whenever the available space is strictly limited to the width of the door .

The variant shown diagrammatically in FIG. 5 relates to a door with two leaves sliding in opposite directions, the position shown corresponding to the opening of the two leaves.

We will limit ourselves to indicating the differences compared to the embodiment of FIG. 1.

The two single return pulleys 44 of FIGS. 1 to 3 are replaced by two double pulleys 54 mounted on the fixed axes 49. The flexible link 9 is guided on the pulleys 54 so that its region with fixed geometry includes an additional loop 9e, 9f in addition to the half-loop 9a of Figures 1 to 3, the length of the link 9 being increased accordingly. The strand 9a moves as previously in the opposite direction to the moving element, the strand 9f moves in the same direction as the strand 9a, while the return strand 9e moves in the same direction as the moving element 31.

Two coaches 7 and 8 are provided, each attached to one of the leaves. The driver 7 is also fixed to the strand 9a, as previously, while the driver 8 is fixed to the strand 9e. The references 7a and 8a designate the positions of the coaches 7 and 8 when the leaves are open and the references 7b and 8b designate the positions of the coaches 7 and 8 when the leaves are closed. From their respective leaf, the coaches 7 and 8 are bent towards one another so that the respective races of their points of attachment to the strands 9a and 9e respectively are superimposed. In other words, the positions 7a and 7b of the driver 7 are substantially opposite the positions 8b and respectively 8a of the driver 8, which minimizes the size of the device in the direction of the width of the opening.

The operation is identical to that of the embodiment of Figure 2 with the difference that for a movement d of the movable assembly in a determined direction corresponding for example to the closing of the door, the two panels move in opposite directions , each of 2d . In total, for the displacement d above, the free passage closes by the distance 4d .

The present invention makes it possible to produce a cylinder-based device for moving a member between two determined positions, by a positive action in both ways, this device having the advantages of being of reduced dimensions, simple construction and safe operation.

In particular, it is possible to install in a very limited space, such as that which is available in a means of public transport, a device for operating a sliding door with a coefficient of amplification of the movement of the piston of the jack. at least equal to about two, this device also being of very high reliability.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiments which have just been described, and many modifications can be made to them without departing from the scope of this invention.

Thus, the number of hauling pulleys for each hauling device, could be greater than two, depending on the diameter of the pistons and the amplification of movement targeted.

In addition, the number of pulleys could be increased to take account of the relative arrangement of the jack and the door, possibly imposed by the configuration of the available space.

The actuator could comprise a movable body and a fixed piston, the body bearing on an outer side wall two yokes for the two movable hauling pulleys.

It could also be envisaged that the jack is of the conventional type with fixed body and movable piston of the rod type, the rod carrying outside the body the two movable hauling pulleys of the two hauling devices.

Claims (6)

Device for moving a member between two predetermined positions by means of a jack (4) having a fixed assembly (11) and a movable assembly (31), the latter actuating a flexible link (9) bypassing two return pulleys (44, 54) at the two ends of the travel of a trainer (7, 8) fixed to the link in a region (9a, 9e), extending between the two return pulleys (44, 54), said link ( 9) passing through two reeving devices (37, 45; 37, 39; 57), each arranged functionally between one of the deflection pulleys (44, 54) and a respective hooking end (9c) of the link (9 ), these hauling devices each comprising a hauling pulley (37), the axis of which is connected to the movable assembly (31) of the jack (4), characterized in that the fixed crew (11) of the jack comprises a body (13) having two coaxial cylinders (15) separated by a partition (27), and the movable assembly (31) comprises two pistons (29) each arranged in one of the cylin dres (15), in that at least one of the pistons (29) delimits between it and the partition a variable-volume working chamber (23), the two pistons being interconnected by a rod (32) passing through the bulkhead (27) in a sealed manner, each of the hauling pulleys (37) being connected to a face of a respective piston (29) opposite to the bulkhead (27), and in that, at each end of the stroke of the mobile equipment (31), one of the hauling pulleys (37) is engaged in the corresponding cylinder (15). Device according to claim 1, characterized in that each hauling device comprises means (45) for fixing the corresponding hooking end (9c) of the link (9) in a fixed position relative to the fixed equipment (11 ) of the jack (4). Device according to claim 1, characterized in that in each hauling device, the link bypasses, between the hauling pulley (37) and its hooking end (9c), a second hauling pulley (39) with axis ( 43) fixed relative to the fixed crew (11) of the cylinder (4), and in that each hooking end (9c) is fixed to the mobile assembly (31) of the cylinder (4). Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises at least four deflection pulleys (54), around which the link (9) describes a path corresponding to an increased closed loop (9e, 9f) a half-loop (9a) so as to have in any position of the movable assembly (31) two strands (9a, 9f) moving in the same direction connected by a strand (9e) moving in the opposite direction, and in that a trainer (7, 8) is provided on each of the two strands of the loop. Sliding leaf door, associated with a device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the leaf (2) is connected to the driver (7). Door with two leaves sliding in opposite directions, characterized in that each leaf is connected to one of the coaches (7, 8) of a device according to claim 4.

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