EP0471230B1 - Partitioning wall built of movable panel units - Google Patents

Abstract

The partition consists of displaceable elements, which side via bolts along guide rails on supports pivoting round the bolts. The elements abut sealingly along their vertical sides, or ride onto end closures. - One bolts (32) on each element moves horizontally towards the other bolt, and the endless tensile elements (54) runs along the rail (40) and is fitted with two drivers (56) at max. bolt spacing in each element. The driver pins (22) extend vertically into releasable engagement with the drivers.

Description

The invention relates to a room partition made of movable wall elements, each of which hangs on two supporting members which can be displaced in guide rails and rotates about the supporting pins by means of supporting bolts and can be moved along their vertical end faces in sealing contact with one another or on end elements, an endless element which can be driven rotating in the guide rails, that can be brought into releasable engagement with the supporting members.

Such a room partition is known from AU-B-533 406, in which a drivable endless chain comes into frictional engagement with the wall element via a coupling roller mounted on the support member.

A similar room partition is known from DE-A-38 02 113, in which friction wheels are provided along the guide rail at a predetermined distance, which drive the wall elements. In addition, the wall elements can be coupled to one another by means of a connecting element each, and at a corner there are endless elements which come into engagement with the wall elements via a frictional engagement and which enable the different running speeds of the running elements which necessarily occur during corner control by frictional engagement between the wall elements and the endless elements. The disadvantage of this construction is that all wall elements can only be moved together. Individual wall elements cannot be moved in this way.

Another room partition is known from DE-OS 24 04 875, in which two shafts are driven in each wall element, which run through the support bolts and each carry a pinion at the upper end, which is fastened in the guide rail in a on its side wall, that is fixed chain or rack engages. The energy supply for the drive takes place via sliding contacts and busbars. If the guide rails run in a corner to create a wall corner in the room partition, a turntable is provided on the corner, which deflects the carriages from one rail section to the other. To move a wall element in a corner, first the carriage in the direction of travel moves onto the turntable, then the movement stops and the turntable rotates the front carriage in the direction of the new rail section. Then the movement continues until the rear carriage hits the turntable, the movement stops again so that the rear carriage can now also be turned in the new direction. It is necessary to drive the two pinions by means of an electric motor with slip so that the speed difference required in the process of cornering can set itself. This known construction, which provides a fixed chain and busbars in the guide rails and a complex individual drive in the wall elements, is relatively complex.

The object of the invention is to develop a room partition of the type mentioned in such a way that, with a simple structure, reliable transport of individual wall elements is possible, even over corners.

This object is achieved in that in a room partition of the type mentioned, a support bolt is horizontally displaceable on each wall element to the other support bolt, the endless element rotates essentially over the entire length of the guide rail, two drivers on the endless element at a maximum distance of the support bolts a wall element are attached, and that vertically extendable driver pins are arranged on the support members, which come in the extended position in releasable engagement with the drivers.

The advantages of the invention are, in particular, that an endless element runs over the entire length of the guide rail, that is to say also over a possibly desired corner connection, and that the individual wall elements can be brought into engagement with drivers of the endless element via extendable driving pins that the wall element in question can then be transported along the guide rail by the endless element. When cornering, the direction change of the rollers is specified by the endless element. It is essential that one of the two support bolts of each wall element is mounted so that it can move horizontally. This feature makes it possible to move a wall element in a corner, while on both support elements - applied by the endless element - a speed of constant amount acts on the two support elements in different directions, the distance between the two support elements being reduced at the beginning of the corner movement and subsequently again increased to the maximum distance. Under the conditions according to the invention that the speed of the two support members is constant in the direction of the rail section in question (namely corresponds to the pulling speed of the endless element) and that only during the movement the relative positions of the two support members can freely adjust to one another, a rapid cornering movement can be achieved realize individual wall elements, which has the essential advantage that the wall elements are transported continuously without the use of turntables. The usual twice stopping of the wall elements when using turntables in order to be able to rotate the running elements on the turntable in the direction of the next rail section can be omitted.

According to the present invention, there is a robust, simple construction which enables the wall elements to be assembled and disassembled quickly, only a comparatively small number of motors being required, and the cost-intensive and costly control turntables can be completely eliminated.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, only that strand of the endless element that carries the wall elements runs in the guide rail. The opposite run of the endless element is led out of the guide rail at the end positions of the guide rail in order to run back from one reversal point to the other reversal point parallel to the guide rail.

The run of the endless belt running in the guide rail particularly preferably runs in a downwardly open sliding profile which enables precise guidance of the endless element and in particular prevents the undesired sagging of the endless element. The endless element or the drivers attached to the endless element protrude downward from the sliding profile and take the extended driving pins with them in the pulling direction.

The endless element is preferably designed as an endless chain which has the necessary tensile strength and is not stretchable. The endless chain is particularly preferably designed as a roller chain which can be easily deflected via deflection pinions at the beginning and end of the guide rail and in the case of a corner deflection. Alternatively, a rope or a band can also be used as an endless element.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, sealing strips in contact with the floor or the guide rails or the ceiling of the room can be extended on the horizontal end faces of the wall elements. In a further development of this embodiment, the driver pins are actuated by the sealing drive, which is provided in each wall element and extends and retracts the horizontal sealing strips. The movement of the driver pins is preferably coupled to the movement of the sealing strips, specifically the driver pins are extended at the same time as the sealing strips are retracted. The wall element is then decoupled from the floor and the ceiling, it can run freely in the guide rails. If a control command is then given to move the wall element, the endless element is set in motion, and the drivers engage behind the extended driver pins and transport the wall element in the direction of movement of the endless element.

At the start position and the end position of the room partition wall-mounted switch contacts are preferably arranged, which stop the drive of the endless element when actuated by a wall element. In addition, the sealing drive is actuated when a wall element runs onto a closing element or an already fixed wall element. This extends the sealing strips against the floor and ceiling or the guide rail. At the same time, the driver pins are retracted so that the drivers are then disengaged from the driver pins. The endless element can then be reactivated until the driver pair or another driver pair fastened at another point on the endless belt takes over the next wall element from a magazine known per se.

Such a magazine contains two guide rail sections which run parallel to one another at the maximum distance between the two support bolts of a wall element and branch off at right angles from the guide rail at the end of the latter. Endless elements circulate in both rail sections of the magazine, on which carriers are fastened opposite one another. When activating the endless elements in the magazine rails When the driver pins are extended, the drivers move a wall element from the guide rail into the magazine or from the magazine into the guide rail of the room partition. In order to enable trouble-free transfer from the magazine to the guide rail or from the guide rail to the magazine, the drivers of the endless elements of the magazine must be mounted slightly higher or lower than those drivers which are attached to the endless element of the guide rail.

Advantageous developments of the invention are characterized by the features of the subclaims.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing.

Fig. 1

eine Seitenansicht eines Wandelements mit weggelassener Deckplatte und teilweise aufgebrochener Führungsschiene;

Fig. 2

einen Querschnitt durch eine Führungsschiene bei teilweise eingefahrenen Mitnehmerstiften;

Fig. 3

einen Querschnitt gemäß Fig. 2 mit ausgefahrenen Mitnehmerstiften;

Fig. 4

eine Aufsicht auf einen Mitnehmer, der um ein Umlenkritzel umläuft;

Fig. 5

eine schematische Aufsicht auf die Führungsschiene der Raumtrennwand und das Magazin beim Beginn des Aufbaus der Raumtrennwand;

Fig. 6

eine der Fig. 5 entsprechende Darstellung, welche die Übereck-Umsteuerung des ersten Wandelements beim Aufbau der Raumtrennwand zeigt; und

Fig. 7

eine den Fig. 5 und 6 entsprechende Darstellung, bei der das erste Wandelement nach dem Verfahren die Endposition erreicht hat.

Show it:

Fig. 1

a side view of a wall element with the cover plate omitted and partially broken guide rail;

Fig. 2

a cross section through a guide rail with partially retracted driver pins;

Fig. 3

a cross section of Figure 2 with extended driver pins.

Fig. 4

a supervision of a driver that revolves around a deflection pinion;

Fig. 5

a schematic plan view of the guide rail of the room partition and the magazine at the start of the construction of the room partition;

Fig. 6

a representation corresponding to FIG. 5, which shows the corner reversal of the first wall element during the construction of the room partition; and

Fig. 7

a representation corresponding to FIGS. 5 and 6, in which the first wall element has reached the end position after the method.

1 shows a side view of a wall element 1 of the room partition. The wall element consists of a metal frame and two cover plates 2 fastened to it on both sides, the cover plate facing the viewer being omitted. The frame is formed from an upper cross member 3, a lower cross member 4 and a central cross member 5 as well as two end profile strips 6 connecting them. Support bolts 32 are fastened to the upper cross member 3, at the upper ends of which support members, in the present case designed as roller carriages, are rotatably mounted. Each roller carriage is equipped in a known manner with a plurality of pairs of rollers 31, which likewise run in the usual way on the running surfaces 46 of a guide rail 40 which has a center slot 44 which is open at the bottom, the supporting bolts 32 being guided through the center slot 44.

A sealing strip 16 is arranged above the upper cross member 3 and below the lower cross member 4, which can be extended via a linkage 12 against the ceiling or the floor and retracted into the wall element. The linkage 12 ends at an expanding shear 8, which is moved into an expanded position by an electric motor 9 can be brought in which the sealing strips 16 are extended via the linkage 12. Spreading scissors 8, electric motor 9 and the linkage 12 together form the sealing drive. Switch contacts 7 are arranged on the vertical end faces of the wall element 1 and activate the sealing drive when a further wall element is touched. The support bolts 32 are designed as a sleeve, through which a vertical driver pin 22 passes. The two driver pins 22 are each articulated at the free end of a pivot lever 20, the other end of which is articulated on the linkage 12. The levers 20 are both articulated in the central region on a support rod 18 which is fixedly attached to the central cross member 5. Therefore, if the spreading scissors 8 is spread by the motor 9 and the rod 12 thereby extends the sealing strips 16, the pivot levers 20 are simultaneously pivoted about the articulation points of the support rods 18 in such a way that the driving pins 22 are moved downward from their original, vertically extended position into a retracted position be moved. Conversely, when the sealing strips 16 are retracted, the driver pins 22 are extended vertically upward.

One of the support bolts 32, namely the left support bolt 32 in FIG. 1, is mounted horizontally displaceably in the upper cross member 3 to the other support bolt 32. So that the driving pin 22 protruding through the displaceable support pin 32 can take part in the displacement movement, a pin is provided at the lower end of this driving pin 22, which protrudes into an elongated hole 21 of the pivoting lever 20 and permits a horizontal displacement of this driving pin 22.

As in particular the cross sections through the guide rail, FIGS. 2 and 3 and the schematic top views can be removed from the guide rail (FIGS. 5 to 7), a drivable endless element 54 is provided in the guide rail 40, which rotates in one direction or the other when a drive motor drives the endless element 54. In the embodiment shown, one strand of the endless element 54 runs approximately centrally in the guide rail above the support members 30. The other strand of the endless element 54 runs back outside the guide rail 40. In order to ensure a precise, sag-free running of the endless element 54, a sliding profile 50 is fastened in the guide rail, which has a gap pointing downwards. The endless element 54 is guided in the sliding profile and projects with a part of its cross section down through the gap of the sliding profile 50. The run of the endless element 54 running in the opposite direction also runs - outside the guide rail 40 - in a sliding profile 50 which is fastened to the guide rail 40 via an angle 49. At the beginning of the guide rail and at the end of the guide rail, deflection rollers 59, for example deflection pinions, are arranged, around which the endless element 54 rotates. One of the deflecting rollers 59 is driven by a drive motor 55 when the endless element is to be set in a circular movement.

5 to 7 can be seen, the guide rail 40 can be composed of a first rail section 40a and a second rail section 40b, which meet at a predetermined angle and realize a corner in the course of the room partition. Both rail sections 40a and 40b are traversed by a common endless element 54 which at a corner point 41 by means of a deflection pinion 59 from the one rail section 40a in the other rail section 40b is deflected.

At the beginning of the guide rail 40 there is a magazine 70 for "packaging" the wall elements, which contains two parallel rail sections 72, 73 which branch off perpendicularly from the guide rail 40 and are at a distance from one another which corresponds to the maximum distance between the support bolts 32 of the wall elements 1 . In each of the two rail sections of the magazine 70, an endless element 74, 76 is arranged, which rotates via deflection rollers 78.
The rail sections 72, 73 and the arrangement of the endless elements 74, 76 in the rail sections 72, 73 otherwise correspond to the arrangement according to FIGS. 2 and 3.

As can be seen in particular from FIGS. 2 and 3 and schematically also from FIGS. 5 to 7, two drivers 56 are fastened to the endless element 54 running in the guide rail 40 and extend a small amount downward from the endless element 54 and then into one pass over a horizontally extending flat element, the engagement edges 57 (FIG. 4) of which are convexly curved. The two drivers 56 have a distance which corresponds to the maximum distance between the two support bolts 32 of a wall element 1. At a predetermined distance from the drivers 56, two further drivers 58 are attached to the endless element 54, the distance of which also corresponds to the maximum distance between two support bolts 32. By attaching two driver pairs 56, 58 it is achieved that one driver pair is located in the region of the magazine and is ready for the transport of the next wall element 1 after the other driver pair 58 in a previous one Transport process had moved a wall element and is freed from this wall element.

On the two parallel endless elements 74, 76 of the magazine 70, drivers 75 are also fastened opposite one another.

The driving pins 22 passing through the support bolts 32 can be extended vertically upwards by the sealing drive - while at the same time the sealing strips are inserted into the wall element 1 - until the driving pins 22 enter the orbit of the drivers 56, 58 and 75. If the endless element 54 of the guide rails 40 or if the two endless elements 74, 76 of the magazine 70 are then started synchronously, the drivers 56 and 75 engage behind the driver pins 22, whereby the wall elements 1 of the endless elements 54 and 74, 76 can be transported. The transport of a wall element comes to a standstill when the relevant endless element or elements 54 or 74, 76 stop and the driver pins 22 are then retracted again. Thereafter, the endless element or elements 54, 74, 76 can be reactivated to transport a further wall element, the drivers 56, 58 and 75 then run past the retracted driver pins 22 unhindered, cf. Fig. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a top view of a driver 56, which is fastened to the endless element 54, which is deflected by the deflection roller 59. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the convex shape of the engaging edge 57 of the driver 56 facilitates the deflection of the driver pins 22. Thus, the transfer of the wall elements 1 runs smoothly from the magazine into the guide rail 40, the drivers 75 of the endless elements 74, 76 must be offset relative to one another in height relative to the drivers 56, 58 of the endless element 54.

The method of a wall element 1 from the magazine 70 into the end position of the room partition is described below with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

First, the endless elements 74, 76 of the magazine 70 are brought into synchronous circulation, thereby conveying the wall element 1 shown in dashed lines from the magazine 70 into the guide rail 40 with their drivers 75. When the wall element 1 reaches its position shown in dashed lines in the guide rail 40, a switching contact 62 is actuated by the wall element 1, which switches off the endless elements 74, 76 and sets the endless element 54 in circulation. The drivers 56 then engage behind the two support pins of the wall element 1, whereupon the wall element 1 is transported in the direction of the rail section 40a until the front driver 56 on the deflection roller 59 is deflected into the rail section 40b and thereby initiates the transport of the wall element 1 in a corner. The characteristic of this cornering movement is that the rear driver is transported at a constant speed in the rail section 40a, the front driver at the same constant speed in the rail section 40b. So that this forced movement can run smoothly, one of the two driver pins, in the example shown the front driver pin 22, must be mounted such that it can be moved horizontally and relative to the other driver pin 22 can move. When the cornering movement is initiated, the front driving pin 22 approaches the rear driving pin 56, at the end of the cornering movement the front driving pin 22 then returns to its starting position, in which the driving pin 22 assumes its maximum distance from the other driving pin. To achieve this compensating movement, one of the support bolts 32 is mounted so as to be horizontally displaceable, and the driving pin 22 assigned to these support bolts 32 is guided through the support bolt in the exemplary embodiment shown and therefore follows the movement of the support bolt.

At the end of the corner movement, the rear driver 56 on the deflection roller 59 is likewise deflected in the direction of the rail section 40b, cf. 6. The wall element 1 is then moved along the rail section 40b to the end position and there switches the drive motor 55 for the endless element 54 via a switch contact 60. The sealing drive is then activated, which extends the sealing strips 16 against the floor and ceiling and at the same time pulls the driving pins 22 into the wall element. Then a new transport process can start, in which a further wall element is conveyed out of the magazine into the guide rail and then along the guide rail against the first wall element.

1 and 2 can be seen in particular, the sealing strip 16 can be retracted by means of a manually operable spindle 9a to such an extent that the wall element in question can be released from the ceiling rail while the driver pins 22 are still out of engagement with the drivers 56. In this state, the wall element can be moved by hand in order to maintain emergency operation even when the electrical controls and / or drives are faulty.

Claims (15)

1. A room partition consisting of travelling wall elements (1)
      which respectively hang by means of carrier bolts (32) from a pair of carrier members (30) able to be shifted along guiderails (40) and turned about the carrier bolts (32), the elements being able to be moved into sealing contact along their vertical endfaces (6) with one another or with end elements, whilst a drivable endless element (54) circulates in the guiderails (40) and may be brought into releasable engagement with the carrier members (30), characterized in that
   on each wall element (1) one carrier bolt (32) is supported to be able to shift horizontally towards the other carrier bolt (32), the endless element (54) circulates essentially over the whole length of the guiderail (40),
   two strikers (56) are fastened to the endless element (54) at the maximum spacing of the carrier bolts (32) of one wall element (1), and that
   on the carrier members (30) striker-pins (22) are arranged, which may be run out vertically and in the run-out position come into releasable engagement with the strikers (56).
2. A room partition as in Claim 1, characterized in that
      one strand of the endless element (54) runs in the guiderail (40) above the carrier members (30) and that the opposite strand of the endless element (54) is led outside the guiderail (40).
3. A room partition as in Claim 1, characterized in that
      the carrier bolts (32) are made as sleeves through which the striker-pins (22) run so that they may be shifted vertically.
4. A room partition as in Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that
      the strand of the endless element (54) running in the guiderail (40) is guided in a slide profile (50) open on the underside.
5. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
      in that the endless element (54) is an endless chain or an endless rope or belt respectively.
6. A room partition as in Claim 5, characterized in that
      the endless chain is made as a roller chain.
7. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
      in that at the horizontal endfaces of the wall elements (1) sealng strips (16) may be run out into contact with the floor or respectively the guiderails or the ceiling of the room.
8. A room partition as in Claim 7, characterized in that
      the sealing strips (16) and striker pins (22) may be run in and out by a common drive (8, 9).
9. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
      in that upon running the sealing strips (16) in and out the striker pins (22) are run out and in the opposite way respectively.
10. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
       in that the strikers (56) are made as flat elements extending horizontally, which at the two engagement edges (57) lying opposite one another are shaped convexly.
11. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
       in that switch contacts (60, 62) are arranged at the starting and end positions of the room partition and fixed to the wall, and upon actuation by a wall element stop the drive (64) of the endless element (54).
12. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
       in that switch contacts (7) are arranged on the vertical endfaces of the wall elements (1) and upon touching a stationary wall element (1) activate the sealing drive (8, 9) and if necessary stop the drive (64) of the endless element (54).
13. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
       in that per endless element (54) a further pair of strikers (58) is arranged at a predetermined distance from the first pair of strikers (56)
14. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
       in that the guiderails (40) include portions (40a, 40b) of rail mounted across a corner, and that one common endless element (54) runs in all of the portions (40a, 40b) of rail and at the position (41) of the corner is deflected by means of guide pulleys (59) from the one portion (40a) of rail into the adjoining portion (40b) of rail.
15. A room partition as in one of the preceding Claims, characterized
       in that a separate endless element circulates in every portion of rail and that the strikers of the one endless element are arranged at a different height from the strikers of the endless element of the adjacent portion of rail.

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