EP0953706B2 - Stackable sliding wall - Google Patents

Abstract

The stacking wall (10) has several individually sliding wall elements (13) each movable sideways by a drive mechanism (14) in a common track rail (11) with each wall element having its own electrically operated drive motor controlled by a local control unit (43) provided in each of the elements. The local control elements exchange data with a central control (24). The data transfer is preferably through a data bus. A current rail (21) extends longitudinally along the track rail to supply current to the drive motor.

Description

TECHNICAL AREA

The present invention relates to the field of sliding walls. It relates to a sliding stacking wall having a plurality of individually displaceable wall elements, wherein each of the wall elements is limited at its ceiling-side upper edge by a horizontally extending support profile and arranged by means of at least one attached to the support profile landing gear in a above the support profile, common running rail sideways, and wherein each of the wall elements has its own drive with an electrically driven drive motor, which drive is attached to the wall element and is connected via drive means with the track rail.

Such a sliding stack wall is for example from the document DE-C3-24 04 875 or the publication WO 97/42388 known.

STATE OF THE ART

In large rooms with variable use such as shopping malls or the like. For flexible partial or complete separation increasingly sliding stack walls are used, the individual wall elements are easily slidably suspended from the ceiling, and combined along a running rail to a closed wall or on the wall side of the room in a parking position can be pushed together to a little space-taking pile. The displacement of the individual wall elements can be done manually; but there are also automatic solutions conceivable in which the individual wall elements are driven by an integrated electric motor and controlled by a central control.

The wall elements themselves can be designed as glass elements, which is dispensed with lateral frame parts to form a continuous glass wall, and are limited to hang in the track on the top by a support profile and possibly on the bottom to leadership and / or Locking purposes may have a bottom profile. But the wall elements may also be opaque and constructed of wood, metal or other wall materials.

Sliding pile walls of the type described, both in terms of aesthetic appearance as well as practical considerations such as space-saving installation or flexible (modular) expandability or simple conversion from manual to automatic operation increasingly higher demands made of known solutions only imperfectly or not at all become. Thus, from the cited document DE-C3-24 04 875 a room partition of displaceable wall elements known, which are each suspended by means of two carriages in a fixed under the ceiling track rail. Each individual wall element is driven by an electric motor integrated in the wall element, which drives a pinion mounted on the one carriage, which engages in the running rail in a chain, rack or the like fastened to its side wall. The power required for the electric motor is removed at the other carriage by pantograph from a running inside the track busbar. The electric motor is placed vertically below the upper transverse spar in the double-walled region of the wall element. The known solution is therefore not suitable for wall elements which are formed as transparent glass elements. The same is true for the in the DE-C2-26 43 905 revealed partition wall element with motor drive, as well as in the DE-C2-31 47 273 described room partition.

Furthermore, from the DE-C2-2910185 a door or the like. Known with a motor-movable blade, in which the sheet is fixed to a run in a carrier profile by means of rollers carriage. The intended for the drive electric motor, which meshes with a gear in a rack profile in the carrier profile is housed above the carriage inside the carrier profile. As a result, although the sheet in its nature and shape can be chosen freely, but the accommodation of the drive in the rail support profile requires a very wide and large-volume track, which takes up much space and can be integrated with difficulty in a ceiling. The accommodation of the drive in the track also makes it necessary to provide a removable cover for maintenance and maintenance purposes, whereby the structural design of the track is further complicated. Moreover, the disclosed solution for a sliding stacking wall with a plurality of individual elements is not practicable because the power supply of the electric motor via a laid in the running rail, extendable in length spiral cable.

In another known displaceable partition with several plate-shaped wall elements ( EP-B1-0 597 208 ), the motor drive of the wall elements also takes place via a drive unit which is housed together with the carriage in the ceiling rail. Again, a particularly wide and highly trained ceiling rail or track must be used, which takes away a lot of space and makes maintenance and installation difficult.

In the cited document WO 97/42388 Finally, a sliding wall is described, in which the individual wall elements are driven by a horizontal lying electric motor, which is mounted on the carriage and, together with the associated pantographs laterally, ie transversely protrudes to the direction of the carriage. This known solution is characterized by an even greater width in the rail area. In addition, the solution has the following drawback: It is not uncommon for the user of a sliding wall to first install a manually displaceable wall without a motorized drive, but later to automate the built-in wall by adding an electromotive drive with control. Subsequent automation not only requires a great effort in this case, but also leads to longer downtime of the sliding wall. If, however, a suitable for automatic operation guide rail installed from the outset, resulting for the simple manually operable wall unacceptably high and unnecessary initial costs and not necessary increased space requirements.

In the DE 197 33 381 a variety of possible designs of a sliding door system or of window or door wings is enumerated. It is mentioned that the support or edge closure element of a wing for receiving a functional component, such as a drive, can be configured.

PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a sliding stacking wall that is flexibly adaptable to a variety of applications and applications, in terms of the guide rail mounted on the ceiling takes up little space, without changes in the rail structure is designed equally for manual and automatic operation, and also meets increased aesthetic requirements.

The object is achieved in a sliding stack wall of the type mentioned by the features of claim 1. Due to the inventive arrangement of the drive motor in the support section, the mounted on the ceiling running rail can be made extremely slim because virtually no additional space in the rail must be provided for the drive. The guide rail only needs, as is the case with manually displaceable wall elements, to be designed for receiving and guiding the trolleys. The power rail required for an electric drive and accommodated in the running rail drive means such as a toothed belt can be integrated to save space in the track, so that both the manual and for automatic operation the same slim track can be used. As a result, a later change from manual to automatic operation is extremely simplified, because in the existing track - if they are not already present - subsequently a busbar and a toothed belt must be inserted and otherwise in the wall elements only the existing chassis by corresponding trolleys with electromotive Drive and pantographs must be replaced. Furthermore, the arrangement of the drive motor in the support profile has the advantage that for the wall element itself without restrictions, a transparent glass or any other attachable to the support profile materials and element structures can be used, because the space required for the drive is limited to the support profile.

It is particularly favorable in terms of space requirement if, according to the inventive sliding stack wall, the drive motor is arranged with its drive axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the support profile. In this way, an elongated, powerful motor from the outside can not be visibly accommodated in the support section, without the cross-sectional area of the support profile must be substantially or even increased.

The invention is characterized in that the drive means comprise a gear driven by the drive motor, which engages with a toothed profile extending longitudinally within the track rail, that the toothed profile is a toothed belt inserted into the track rail, that the toothed wheel is rotatable about a vertical axis and engages in the vertically arranged toothed belt, and that the power transmission from the drive motor to the gear via a bevel gear. The vertical arrangement of the gear axis and the timing belt not only the drive train can be kept compact. Particularly favorable is the vertical toothed belt, when the running rail in the ceiling plane curves, because the timing belt in this configuration easily and without additional measures alone due to its bending properties as a timing belt can follow the curves even at a small radius of curvature.

The invention is characterized in that for supplying the drive motor with power within the track rail extending in the longitudinal direction of the track rail is arranged, and that each wall element has a chassis, which decreases current by means attached to the chassis pantograph current from the busbar and to the drive motor forwards. The integration of the busbar in the running rail results not only in itself a protection of the busbar from contamination and against unintentional contact, but the running rail can also be made very compact.

A particularly good use of the space is achieved when each wall element has two in the direction of successively arranged trolleys, and when the wall element is driven by the first drive and the power is removed via the second drive.

The track can be used in a simple manner and equally without modification for manual and automatic operation, because the Rail is formed as a center plane mirror-symmetrical rail, which has a running plane inside, on which the trolleys are movable with support rollers, below the running level two opposite and extending in the rail longitudinal direction, inwardly open side grooves are formed, and in a side groove the Busbar and in the other side groove of the timing belt is arranged.

The operation of the sliding stacking wall can be made very flexible with the simplest construction of the power supply and control system, if according to another preferred embodiment of the inventive sliding stack wall in each of the wall elements a local control is provided which controls the drive motor of the respective wall element when the local controls over a data bus with a central control exchange information when the busbar is used as a data bus, and if in each wall element means are provided which receive information about the movement of the wall element and forward for further processing to the local control of the wall element.

Further embodiments emerge from the dependent claims.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES

Fig. 1

im Querschnitt ein bevorzugtes Ausführungsbeispiel für eine Schiebestapelwand nach der Erfindung, wobei der obere Teil eines Wandelementes mit dem Tragprofil, das den Antrieb umfassende, eine Fahrwerk und die Laufschiene zu sehen sind;

Fig. 2

die in Fig. 1 gezeigten Elemente in einer teilweise geschnittenen Seitenansicht;

Fig. 3

im Querschnitt das Ausführungsbeispiel aus Fig. 1 im Bereich des zweiten, Stromabnehmer tragenden Fahrwerks;

Fig. 4

die in Fig. 3 gezeigten Elemente in einer teilweise geschnittenen Seitenansicht; und

Fig. 5

in einer schematisierten Darstellung ein bevorzugten Ausführungsbeispiel für eine Steuerung der Schiebestapelwand nach Fig. 1.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to embodiments in conjunction with the drawings. Show it

Fig. 1

in cross-section, a preferred embodiment of a sliding stack wall according to the invention, wherein the upper part of a wall element with the supporting profile, comprising the drive, a chassis and the running rail can be seen;

Fig. 2

the elements shown in Figure 1 in a partially sectioned side view.

Fig. 3

in cross-section, the embodiment of Figure 1 in the region of the second, pantograph supporting suspension.

Fig. 4

the elements shown in Figure 3 in a partially sectioned side view. and

Fig. 5

in a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment of a control of the sliding stack wall according to Fig. 1st

WAYS FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In Fig. 1, a preferred embodiment of a sliding stack wall according to the invention is shown in cross section. The sliding stack wall 10 comprises a movable wall element 13, e.g. in the form of a glass pane or the like. The wall element 13 is bounded on the ceiling-side edge by a supporting profile 12 and supported in the lower part of this supporting profile 12. In the upper part of the support section 12, a first chassis 14 is fixed by means of a sliding block 18 that projects into the interior of a (designed as a hollow profile and mounted on the ceiling) running rail 11 and there merges into a carriage, with laterally mounted support rollers 15 on a Run level 40 within the track rail 11 is movable in the rail direction. For lateral guidance of the chassis 14 in the running rail 11 horizontal side guide rollers 16 are arranged below the vertical support rollers 15. On the chassis 14, a drive module 17 is mounted for the motor drive of the wall element 13, which - as shown in FIG. 2 can be seen - includes a horizontal within the support profile 12 lying electric drive motor 27. The drive motor 27 drives with its drive shaft 28 via a bevel gear 29 a rotatable about a vertical axis drive wheel 25 at. The drive wheel 25 is formed as a gear and arranged in the lower part of the running rail 11 below the running plane 40, where it meshes with a toothed belt 24 which is laterally vertically inserted into a side groove 20 of the running rail 11 and fixed there. The axis of action of the toothed belt 24 and the axes of the side guide rollers 16 are very close to each other. This ensures that even in curved pieces of the running rail and fixed mounting of the drive, the drive wheel 25 does not get out of engagement with the toothed belt 24.

In mirror image to the side groove 20, a second side groove 19 is provided on the other side of the median plane 26, in which a bus bar 21 extending in the rail direction is accommodated with two conductors 22 and 23 arranged vertically one above the other. The busbar conducts the current that is necessary for the operation of the drive motor 27. The current is removed from the busbar 21 by current collectors 33, 34, which are fixed according to FIGS. 3 and 4 on a second chassis 30. The second chassis 30 is constructed in principle like the first chassis 14 and attached like the first chassis 14 by means of a sliding block 18 'in the corresponding groove of the support section 12. It protrudes into the interior of the running rail 11 in the same way and there turns into a carriage, which is movable with laterally mounted support rollers 31 on the runway 40 and lateral guidance of the chassis 30 below the vertical support rollers 31 horizontally disposed side guide rollers 32 , The support rollers 31 of the second chassis 30 are placed in mirror image to the support rollers 15 of the first chassis 14. The same applies to the side guide rollers 16 and 32. Accordingly, the guide rail 11 is mirror-symmetrical to the median plane 26.

The different arrangement of the support rollers 15 and 31 and side guide rollers 16 and 32 in the running rail 11 makes it possible to separate the running rail 11 in the central area in the parking area of the wall elements in two separate sub-rails and divide the sub-rails. The wall elements then run in the parking area with the one landing gear in the one sub-rail and the other chassis in the other sub-rail and can be placed individually obliquely or transversely and united in the majority in succession to a space-saving stack. The chassis 14 with the drive module 17 and the drive wheel 25 remains due to the arrangement of the rollers 15, 16 in that sub-rail, which also contains the toothed belt 24. The chassis 30 with the current collectors 33, 34 remains correspondingly in that sub-rail in which the busbar 21 is continued.

The arrangement of the busbar 21 and the toothed belt 24 in the opposite side grooves 19, 20 of the rail profile is not only space-saving and therefore allows a very compact construction of the rail assembly. It also ensures that the same track 11 can be used in the same way and without restriction for both manually displaceable and automatically displaceable wall elements 13. In the lowest level with manual operation, the side grooves 19, 20 of the track can be left empty. Accordingly, wall elements are used which, although the same chassis 14, 30, but no drive module 17 and no current collectors 33, 34 have. If you want to switch to automatic operation later, simply slide bar 21 and a toothed belt 24 are inserted into the side grooves 19, 20 of the slide rail 11 and replaced in the wall elements existing chassis by those with electric motor drive and pantographs. Further changes are not necessary. Of course, but also the running rail 11 from the outset be equipped with busbar and / or timing belt. The transition from manual to automatic operation then only requires an exchange of the landing gear.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the current collectors 33, 34 are equipped with individual contact elements 35 which are displaceably mounted in the current collectors 33, 34 perpendicularly to the busbar 21 and by means of a spring 36 against the conductors 22, 23 mounted insulated in the busbar 21 be pressed and form sliding contacts. According to FIGS. 3 and 4, the current removed by the current collectors 33, 34 is forwarded through power lines 38 to connection posts 39 fastened to a connection plate 37 and from there, for example, to the drive motor 27 via a plug-in contact 44 which can be detached for assembly or maintenance purposes.

For the specific method of the individual wall elements 13 in the running rail 11 from an assigned place in the closed wall to a parking position and vice versa, a (programmable) central controller 42 with appropriate computer and software capacity is provided according to FIG. 5, which via a data bus with local, microprocessor-equipped controls 43 exchanges data, which are housed in the individual wall elements 13 and control the movement and the actual state (position, travel speed, acceleration, braking, torque of the drive, etc.) of the respective wall element and monitor. The data transfer between the central controller 42 and the local controllers can be done in different ways, e.g. wireless, done. It is particularly simple and expedient to use the bus bar 21 itself as the data bus, which then also transports the power originating from a power supply 41 for the drive modules 17 of the wall elements 13 and also the data exchanged between the controllers 42 and 43. The response of a special wall element then takes place via an address code which uniquely characterizes the respective wall element.

The local controls 43 are disposed between the pantographs in the landing gear 30 and the drive motors 27. The drive motor 27 may for example be equipped with a rotary encoder that allows to determine the distance traveled by the wall element by integrating the angle of rotation. At the same time, current and voltage at the drive motor 27 can be measured and conclusions about the load, e.g. be pulled by a sudden obstacle in the travel of the wall element, which can be used to initiate an emergency shutdown. Furthermore, it is conceivable to detect the approach of one wall element to another by means of a proximity sensor, and to perform an optimized approaching operation via the local control 43 with, for example, reduced speed at the last centimeter. It is advantageous that the running rail 11 does not need to be modified for this type of distributed control, but can maintain the very simple structure with a continuous busbar and continuous toothed belt.

• Stromschiene und Zahnriemen sind in die Laufschiene platzsparend und geschützt integriert,
• für die Aufnahme von Stromschiene und Zahnriemen sind identische Aufnahmekammern (Seitennuten) vorhanden (spiegelsymmetrisches Laufschienenprofil);
• der Zahnriemen ist vertikal eingebaut und das Antriebsrad entsprechend horizontal angeordnet; hierdurch wird die Montage in einem Bogenstück stark vereinfacht;
• im angetriebenen Fahrwerk liegen die Laufachse der Seitenführungsrolle und die Wirkungsachse des Zahnriemens möglichst nahe beieinander; dadurch kann auch im Bogenbereich der Antrieb fest montiert bleiben - es findet keine Axialbewegung statt;
• sehr einfache Umstellung von manuell betriebener auf automatisch angetriebene Anlage - die Fahrwerke können leicht mit Antriebseinheit und Stromabnehmereinheit nachgerüstet werden;
• kein sichtbarer Unterschied zwischen Hand- und Automatikanlagen;
• die Beschlags- und Antriebskomponenten sind modular aufgebaut;
• jedes Wandelement ist mit einer lokalen Steuerung eine autonome Einheit.

Overall, the invention results in a sliding stack wall, which is characterized by the following properties and advantages:

• Busbar and timing belt are integrated into the track to save space and protected,
• for receiving busbar and timing belt identical receiving chambers (side grooves) are present (mirror-symmetrical rail profile);
• the timing belt is installed vertically and the drive wheel arranged horizontally accordingly; This makes the assembly in a bend greatly simplified;
• in the driven chassis, the running axis of the side guide roller and the axis of action of the belt are as close to each other as possible; As a result, the drive can remain firmly mounted even in the curved area - there is no axial movement;
• very simple changeover from manually operated to automatically driven system - the trolleys can easily be retrofitted with drive unit and pantograph unit;
• no visible difference between manual and automatic systems;
• the hardware and drive components are modular;
• Each wall element is an autonomous unit with a local control.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

Sliding wall

11

runner

12

support section

13

wall element

14,30

landing gear

15.31

supporting role

16:32

Side guide roller

17

drive module

18.18 '

sliding block

19.20

side groove

21

conductor rail

22.23

ladder

24

toothed belt

25

Drive wheel (gear)

26

midplane

27

drive motor

28

drive axle

29

angle gear

33.34

pantograph

35

contact element

36

feather

37

connecting plate

38

power line

39

connector post

40

running plane

41

power supply

42

central control

43

local control

44

plug contact

Claims (5)

1. A sliding wall (10) comprising a plural number of individually slidable wall elements (13), with each of the wall elements (13) at its upper edge near the ceiling being delimited by a horizontally aligned support profile (12), and being laterally slidable along a common track (11) arranged above the support profile (12) by means of at least one running mechanism (14, 30) attached to the support profile; with each wall element (13) comprising its own drive (17) with an electrically operated drive motor (27), said drive (17) being attached to the wall element (13) and interacting with the track (11) by way of drive means (24, 25),
   characterised in that the drive motor (27) is arranged within the support profile (12), in that the drive axis (28) of the drive motor (27) is aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis of the support profile (12), in that the drive means comprise a pinion (25) driven by the drive motor (27) which interacts with a toothed profile (24) extending longitudinally within the track (11), in that the toothed profile is a toothed belt (24) inserted into the track (11), that the pinion (25) is rotatable around a vertical axis and interacts with the vertically arranged toothed belt (24), and that the power transmission from the drive motor (27) to the pinion (25) is by way of an angular gear arrangement (29), in that to provide the drive motor (27) with electricity, a conductor rail (21) extending in longitudinal direction to the track (11) is arranged within said track (11), and that each wall element (13) comprises a running mechanism (30) which by means of current collectors (33, 34) attached to the running mechanism (30) collects current from the conductor rail (21) and conducts it to the drive motor (27), and in that the track (11) is configured as a profile rail axially symmetrical to a centre axis (26), which in the interior comprises a running surface (40) on which the running mechanisms (14, 30) run on carrying rollers (15, 31); in that below the running surface (40) there are two lateral grooves (19, 20) which are facing each other and which are aligned in longitudinal direction of the rail, said lateral grooves (19, 20) being open toward the inside; and in that the conductor rail (21) is arranged in the one lateral groove (19) and the toothed belt (24) is arranged in the other lateral groove (20).
2. A sliding wall according to claim 1, characterised in that each wall element (13) comprises two running mechanisms (14, 30) arranged one behind the other in the direction of travel; in that the wall element (13) is driven via the first running mechanism (14); and in that current collection takes place via the second running mechanism (30).
3. A sliding wall according to claim 1 or 2,
   characterised in that a local control unit (43) is provided in each of the wall elements (13) which controls the drive motor (27) of the associated wall element; and in that the local control units (43) exchange information via a data bus with a central control unit (42).
4. A sliding wall according to claim 3, characterised in that the conductor rail (21) is used as the data bus.
5. A sliding wall according to one of claims 3 or 4, characterised in that in each wall element (13), means are provided which gather information concerning the movement of the wall element (13) and transmit such information to the local control unit (43) of the wall element (13) for further processing.

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