EP1460231A2

EP1460231A2 - Guiding belt particularly for moving sliding doors

Info

Publication number: EP1460231A2
Application number: EP20040005793
Authority: EP
Inventors: Elio Carrara
Original assignee: Lamiflex SpA
Current assignee: Lamiflex SpA
Priority date: 2003-03-19
Filing date: 2004-03-11
Publication date: 2004-09-22
Also published as: ITMI20030536A1

Abstract

A guiding belt (1) particularly for moving flexible sliding doors comprising, on at least one side of a supporting belt (2), a layered protruding belt (10) that can engage slidingly the guide of a flexible sliding door and the like; the supporting belt (2) is rigidly associable with a longitudinal edge of a flexible sliding door (3); means (25) for engaging means (26) for moving the sliding door are further provided on the guiding belt.

Description

The present invention relates to a guiding belt particularly for moving flexible sliding doors.
As is known, in many civil and industrial fields, flexible sliding doors are used which are substantially provided by means of a sheet-like element made of flexible plastic material, which is made to slide by way of guides provided in the jambs of the openings on which the doors are arranged.
Means for engaging the actuation system are currently provided at the longitudinal edges of flexible sliding doors; such means are generally constituted by a longitudinal strand of steel to which a plurality of spaced blocks are connected, forming in practice a rack element for coupling to a gear or sprocket that moves the door.
This embodiment suffers currently considerable problems, the first of which arises from the fact that it is necessary to fix each block individually to the sheet-like element that constitutes the door, accordingly entailing particularly long installation times.
Another problem is further constituted by the fact that if such blocks are accidentally extracted from the sliding guide, considerable difficulties are encountered in restoring the correct arrangement.
Furthermore, fixing of the individual blocks can cause uneven effects and therefore optimum meshing with the driving gear is not achieved.
The aim of the invention is to eliminate the drawbacks noted above by providing a guiding belt, particularly for moving flexible sliding doors, which can be connected to the door very rapidly and simply, at the same time obtaining an element that is extended continuously without discontinuities, so that its connection to the door is facilitated considerably and also improved mechanically.
Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a guiding belt that allows to always achieve improved sliding characteristics and further allows easy and rapid reinsertion in the guides if the guiding belt accidentally escapes from the guides.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a guiding belt that thanks to its particular constructive characteristics is capable of giving the greatest assurances of reliability and safety in use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a guiding belt particularly for moving flexible sliding doors that can be obtained easily starting from commonly commercially available elements and materials and is also competitive from a merely economical standpoint.
This aim and these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a guiding belt particularly for moving flexible sliding doors, characterized in that it comprises, on at least one side of a supporting belt, a layered protruding belt that can slidingly engage the guide of a flexible and sliding door and the like, said supporting belt being rigidly associable with a longitudinal edge of said flexible sliding door, means for engaging means for moving said sliding door being further provided on said guiding belt.
Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become better apparent from the following description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of a guiding belt particularly for moving flexible sliding doors, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a guiding belt according to the invention connected to the longitudinal edges of a sliding door;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of a detail of the guiding belt according to the invention;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a detail of the guiding belt connected to a door;
Figure 4 is a sectional view, taken along a horizontal plane, of the guiding belt within the guide arranged on the jamb of a door and the like;
Figure 5 is a schematic view of the means for moving the sliding door;
Figure 6 is a schematic view of the apparatus for producing the guiding belt according to the invention.

With reference to the figures, the guiding belt particularly for moving flexible sliding doors according to the invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, comprises a supporting belt 2, which is advantageously made of a material that is chemically compatible with the material of a sliding door 3 and can therefore be constituted by polyester fiber fabric or other material impregnated with PVC thermoplastic resin or the like.
Protruding belts 10 are provided on at least one side and preferably both sides of the supporting belt 2 and are advantageously made of various layers of polyester fiber fabric or the like.
In greater detail, the protruding belts 10 are provided by means of a base belt 11 that is chemically compatible with the supporting belt, so as to facilitate bonding.
Preferably, the base belt 11 is made of a copolyamide that is compatible with the PVC of the supporting belt.
A reinforcement layer 12 of glass fabric is provided on the base belt 11, and layers of fabric 13, advantageously made of polyester and impregnated with thermosetting epoxy resin, like the reinforcement layer 12, are superimposed on said reinforcement layer 12.
The polyester fabric is constituted, both in the weft and in the warp, by a highly twisted multifilament yam with 500 to 3000 twists per meter, so as to obtain a flexible fabric.
Both the polyester fabric and the glass fabric are then impregnated with a thermosetting resin that has a quantity of resin equal to 30-60% of the total weight of the preimpregnated material.
The impregnation resin is formed by means of a basic thermosetting resin, such as epoxy resin or the like, to which a flexibilizing additive, such as rubber, is added in a proportion comprised between 10 and 30% of the total.
Advantageously, the layering of each protruding belt is provided so as to obtain a longitudinal recess that affects both sides of the guiding belt.
Once the three belts, i.e., the supporting belt and the two protruding belts correspondingly provided on both sides of the supporting belt, have been coupled, a blanking step is performed which provides holes, designated by the reference numeral 25, which in practice form a rack that constitutes the means for engaging the means for moving the flexible door, which are constituted for example by a pinion 26, which is motorized in any manner so as to produce sliding.
The assembly is completed by providing an outer covering layer made of polytetrafluoroethylene, designated by the reference numeral 30, which allows to make the outer surfaces slippery, thus allowing optimum sliding in the guides 35 and facilitating the reinsertion of the belt if it escapes from the guides.
To provide the guiding belt, it is possible to use an apparatus of the type shown in Figure 6, which substantially has a unit 40 for feeding the base belt 2, on the opposite sides of which units 41 for feeding the two protruding belts 10 are provided.
The belts 2 and 10 are inserted within a hot die 42 with a temperature level that allows to melt both the base belt 11 of the protruding belt 10 and the thermoplastic matrix of the supporting belt 2.
Downstream of the hot region 42 of the die there is a cold region 43 in which bonding is produced in practice.
The polytetrafluoroethylene belt is then applied in the region 44; this is followed by a blanking region 45, where the openings are provided.
Advantageously, the polyester fabric that is used to form the various layers has a surface weight comprised between 50 and 120 g/m² and the layer of glass fabric has a weight comprised between 150 and 250 g/m².
From what has been described above it is thus evident that the invention achieves the proposed aim and objects, and in particular it is stressed that a guiding belt is provided which is flexible and continuous and can be rigidly coupled at the longitudinal edges of a flexible door, so as to provide an element that allows to move the door very easily and safely, together with the fact that it can be applied particularly rapidly, by utilizing the characteristic that the supporting belt is chemically compatible with the material that constitutes the door and accordingly allows to obtain optimum bonding.
Furthermore, the provision of a continuous belt allows to adapt without any problem to the various dimensions that are used, always obtaining an assembly that is stable and monolithic.
Furthermore, the particular shape of the protruding belts, in addition to being guided in engagement with the movement means, also allows the possibility to easily reenter the guide 35 arranged on the jambs if accidental uncoupling occurs.
The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims.
All the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.
In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to requirements. The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MI2003A000536 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.
Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

A guiding belt particularly for moving flexible sliding doors, characterized in that it comprises, on at least one side of a supporting belt, a layered protruding belt that can slidingly engage the guide of a flexible sliding door and the like, said supporting belt being rigidly associable with a longitudinal edge of said flexible sliding door, means for engaging means for moving said sliding door being further provided on said guiding belt.
The guiding belt according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises one of said protruding belts on each side of said supporting belts.
The guiding belt according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said supporting belt is formed by a plurality of layers of polyester fabric.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said protruding belt comprises a base belt that is chemically compatible with said supporting belt, a reinforcement layer made of glass fabric being provided on said base belt, a plurality of layers of polyester fiber fabric being arranged on said reinforcement layer.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said reinforcement layer and said fabric layers are impregnated with a thermosetting resin with the addition of a flexibilizing additive.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said thermosetting resin is provided in an amount comprised between 30 and 60% of the total weight of the preimpregnated material.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said flexibilizing additive is comprised in an amount between 10 and 30% of the total.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said flexibilizing additive is constituted by rubber.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a longitudinal recess on said at least one protruding belt.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said base belt is chemically compatible with said supporting belt in order to facilitate its bonding.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said supporting belt is chemically compatible with the material that provides the sheet-like element that constitutes said flexible sliding door.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said engagement means are constituted by perforations provided in said base belts and said supporting belt at said recess.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises an outer coating layer made of polytetrafluoroethylene that affects said protruding belt.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the layer of polyester fabric is obtained, both in the weft and in the warp, by means of a multifilament yam with 500-3000 twists per meter.
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said layer of polyester fabric has a weight between 50 and 120 g/m².
The guiding belt according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said glass fiber layer has a weight comprised between 150 and 250 g/m².