EP3002406A1

EP3002406A1 - Device for assisted lifting of a rolling shutter, rolling shutter assembly provided with said device and delivery kit for making it

Info

Publication number: EP3002406A1
Application number: EP14425122.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marco Maggi
Original assignee: Ristema SRLS
Current assignee: Ristema SRLS
Priority date: 2014-10-03
Filing date: 2014-10-03
Publication date: 2016-04-06

Abstract

The device for assisted lifting according to the invention comprises a roller shutter (22), a winding roll (11), a pulley (18), a spring (19) arranged for being loaded when the roller shutter (22) is unwound, and for being unloaded while the roller shutter (22) winds up on the winding roll (11), a shaft (12), a support (14) fixed to the shaft (12) so as to prevent the latter from rotating around its longitudinal axis and provided with a quick coupling system (131) through which the support (14) can be fixed to a fixing bracket (26A) which in turn makes it possible to fix the support (14) and the rolling shutter assembly to a box.

Description

Field of the invention

The present invention concerns a rolling shutter group with manual lifting with an assisting belt.

State of the art

The majority of rolling shutters currently known are actuated manually through a lifting belt. One end of the rolling shutter is fixed to a shaft, or roller, generally having octagonal-shaped cross-sections. A pulley is coaxially fixed to one end of the octagonal shaft. When the rolling shutter is lowered, and therefore unwound from the octagonal roller, the lifting belt is wound around the pulley. When, on the other hand, the rolling shutter is lifted, the belt is pulled, downwards by hand, unwinding from the pulley. This manual lifting operation, in the case of rolling shutters having large dimensions - for example rolling shutters of door-windows or of very large windows - is considerably tiring, particularly for women and for the elderly. Therefore devices with assisted lifting have been developed. In some of them the lifting of the rolling shutter is assisted with electric motors; these types of devices can only be installed after substantial work carried out on the building, in particular for laying the cables for supplying power to the electric motors. Since it is very complicated, the installation can only be carried out by professional workers, and afterwards its use leads to a considerable consumption of electric energy. Other types of lifting aids are not supplied with electric power, and exploit a spring mechanism that is loaded when the rolling shutter is lowered. One example of this second type of devices is described in document WO 00/08288 . The author of the present invention believes that, in general, known devices for assisting the lifting of rolling shutters, even when they are not supplied with electric power require an installation that is relatively complicated and laborious.
Therefore, one purpose of the present invention is to provide a device for assisting the lifting of rolling shutters that is easier and simpler to install with respect to known assisting devices.

Summary of the invention

Such a purpose is achieved, in a first aspect of the invention, with a device for the assisted lifting of a rolling shutter having the characteristics according to claim 1.
In one second aspect of the invention, such a purpose is achieved with a rolling shutter assembly having the characteristics according to claim 8.
In a third aspect of the invention, such a purpose is achieved with a delivery kit having the characteristics according to claim 14.
Further characteristics of the device are object of the dependent claims.
The advantages that can be achieved with the present invention shall become clearer, to a person skilled in the art, from the following detailed description of a particular embodiment that is given for non-limiting purposes with reference to the following schematic figures.

List of the figures

Figure 1 shows a first front view of a rolling shutter assembly according to a particular embodiment of the invention;
Figure 2 shows a second front view of the rolling shutter assembly of Figure 1;
Figure 3 shows a front view of one embodiment of the support of a wall fixing bracket of the rolling shutter assembly of Figure 1;
Figure 4 shows a side view of one of the brackets of the rolling shutter assembly of Figure 1;
Figure 5 shows a perspective view of the T-shaped adapter of the bracket of Figure 3;
Figure 6 shows a perspective view of the wall fixing bracket of the bracket of Figure 3.

Detailed description

In the present description the expressions "conical helical spring" and "frustoconical helical spring" should be considered substantially equivalent. Figures 1-6 relate to a rolling shutter assembly according to a particular embodiment of the invention, wholly indicated with reference numeral 10 and comprising:

a winding roll 11, having for example octagonal cross-sections;
a roller shutter 22, also commonly called "rolling shutter" in the present description and comprising a plurality of laths that are fixed together alongside one another;
a pulley 18 that is fixed at or near to one end of the winding roll 11;
a mechanism for assisted lifting comprising at least one rewinding elastic element 19 that is arranged for being loaded when the roller shutter 22 is unwound, and for being unloaded while the roller shutter 22 winds up on the winding roll 11.

The pulley 18 is preferably mounted coaxially with respect to the winding roll 11 and is fixedly attached to it.
The rolling shutter assembly 10 preferably comprises a lifting belt 24 that is fixed to the pulley 18 so as to be able to unwind or wind up on it according to the rotation direction of the roller 11 + pulley 18 assembly around the axis AR.
Inside the roller 11 a shaft 12 can be inserted that is preferably coaxial with respect to the roller itself, and preferably longer than the roller 11 so as to extend from both of its ends; the roller 11 can rotate relatively to the shaft 12, for example because it is mounted on the shaft through a pair of roller or plain bearings 20 located, for example, at the ends of the roller 11 itself. The external part of these bearings can be engaged with the inside of the roller 11 through suitable adapter flanges 21 -shown in Figure 2- which, if the roller has octagonal sections, will also have an outer perimeter that is substantially octagonal so as to not rotate with respect to the roller. Of course each adapter flange 21 during normal operation of the rolling shutter assembly can rotate with respect to the shaft 12.
Preferably, one end of the shaft 12 is fixed to a bracket 26A. The opposite end of the roller 11, on the other hand, is fixed, so as to be able to rotate around itself, to another bracket or other fixing element 26B. The bracket 26A and the other bracket or other fixing element 26B are fixed to a common wall box, to a wall, or to another part of the building or fixed structure on which the rolling shutter assembly is mounted. The bracket or other fixing element 26B allows the roller 11 to freely rotate on itself around the longitudinal axis AR.
Preferably the shaft 12 cannot rotate with respect to the wall, or with respect to another part of the building or fixed structure on which the rolling shutter assembly is mounted, so as to be able to load the rewinding spring 19, and allow it to apply a driving torque on the roller 11.
The elastic element 19 is preferably a helical spring which overall preferably has a conical shape or, in any case, a tapered shape -Figures 1, 2.
Advantageously, the helical spring 19 can be made, by winding a tape or a metal wire, for example made of suitable spring steel, into a spiral. If formed by a tape, the helical spring 19 is capable of storing greater elastic energy for a smaller bulk and of releasing it more gradually and homogeneously. One end of the spring 19 is fixed to the shaft 12, the other end is fixed to the roller 11 so that, when the rolling shutter 22 is unwound, i.e. lowered, the latter loads the spring 19 by rotating around their axis AR in the direction opposite to the winding direction of their turns; the spring 19 partially opposes the force of gravity making it less tiring for the user to lower the rolling shutter. Similarly, when the rolling shutter is wound up, the rewinding spring 19 is progressively unloaded so as to assist the lifting movement of the rolling shutter, and therefore tiring the user pulling the belt 24 less. In such a way it has been possible to reduce the lifting force needed by up to 50% with respect to that which is necessary for lifting a normal rolling shutter.
At least one of the brackets 26A, 26B can comprise a plate for fixing to wall 15 and an adapter 13 which makes it possible to fix the support 14 to the wall plate 15 (Figures 4, 6). The plate 15 is advantageously of the known and standardised type.
The support 14 forms a shaft seat 140 that is arranged for receiving and locking both the translations and the rotations on it -i.e. with respect to a longitudinal rotation axis of the shaft 12- of one end of the shaft 12. Advantageously, the support 14 comprises two or more jaws 142, 144 that are arranged for grasping and blocking the ends of the shaft 12 and that can be locked against one another for example through screws 146. If the shaft 12 has substantially flat sides, it can be grasped and blocked by the jaws 142, 144 simply through friction, so as to not be able to rotate around itself. If, on the other hand, the shaft 12 is provided with radial projections, for example because it forms a "stub shaft", the jaws 142, 144 can be provided with corresponding recesses or with radial projections thereof that engage with those of the shaft 12, again preventing it from rotating on itself. Portions of the shaft seat 140 can be obtained on the different jaws 142, 144.
The adapter 13 is advantageously overall substantially T-shaped, made up of:

a base 130 that is arranged for being inserted, locking, into a corresponding seat 150 that is obtained in the wall plate 15; and
a bracket portion 132 that extends perpendicularly, or in any case transversally, at the base 130 (Figures 4, 5). Preferably, the base 130 is inserted by sliding into the seat 150, which is advantageously delimited by two or more tabs that protrude from the rest of the plate 15 and that are for example obtained through shearing and bending of the plate sheet-metal.

The base 130 and the seat 150 have a width LB, LS that is preferably of between 32-52 mm, more preferably between 38-46 mm and even more preferably between 41-43 mm.
According to one aspect of the invention the support 14 is suitable for being reversibly fixed to the bracket portion 132, for example through a threaded stem 131 + nut 134, another threaded connection element, a fit- or interlock-coupling system, a snap-coupling system, a bayonet coupling system or another quick coupling system that can be mounted and demounted quickly and adjust the height HA of the axis of the shaft 12 with respect to the bracket portion 132, to a clamp or to other variants of the bracket 26A. Indeed the stem 131 clearly makes it possible to fix the support 14 even to clamps, which have possibly already been installed in the wall and perforated, of a pre-existing rolling shutter that is intended to be provided with the mechanism for assisted lifting that has previously been described. For such a purpose the clamp or the bracket portion 132 can be provided with a through hole 133, which is preferably not threaded, within which the threaded stem 131 can be introduced. Preferably, in addition to the nut 134, the stem 131 is locked to the bracket portion 132 or to other clamps or wall fixing elements through a second nut 136, which is screwed on at the opposite side of the nut 134 with respect to the bracket portion 132 or to other clamp or wall fixing element (Figures 3, 4).
Such a quick coupling system makes it possible to adjust the height HA in a range preferably of between 10-40 mm, more preferably between -20 mm and even more preferably between 10-20 mm.
Advantageously, a single rewinding spring 19 is housed inside the roller: this makes it possible to considerably simplify both its mechanical construction and the mounting of the rewinding mechanism of the rolling shutter.
Preferably, the rewinding spring 19 has a length LM that is equal to or greater than 0.3-0.4 metres. The wire of the spring 19 has a diameter that is preferably of between 2-4 mm, and more preferably between 2.8-3.1 mm so as to lift the rolling shutter with enough strength. Preferably, the rewinding spring 19 has a maximum diameter DMax of between 4-5.5 cm, and more preferably equal to around 4.5-5 cm.
The assembly formed by the internal shaft 12, by the spring 19 and by the roller or plain bearings 20 can be provided as a kit that is already assembled ready to be quickly inserted inside the roller 11 of a rolling shutter that has already been installed. The quick coupling systems previously described make it possible to facilitate and speed up the mounting and the adjustment of such a kit, both when modifying pre-existing rolling shutters and when installing new ones. Moreover, it makes it possible to assemble the kit on a wide variety of already installed and currently widespread wall plates and clamps, also thanks to the adapter 13. The jaws 142, 144 make it possible to align, lock and level the shaft 12 and the roller 11 rapidly and precisely. They make it possible moreover to lock shafts having different shapes, in particular smooth shafts with circular cross-sections, which are particularly cost-effective to make. The spring compensation system previously described is much simpler and cost-effective to install and in terms of management costs with respect to known motorised lifting systems. In particular, the assembly is so easy that it does not necessarily have to be installed by professional workers, but it can also be installed as DIY by the end users.
The embodiments previously described can undergo different modifications and variations without for this reason departing from the scope of protection of the present invention. Moreover, all the details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements. For example, the materials used, as well as the dimensions, can be any according to the technical requirements. The threaded stem 131 can be replaced with a non-threaded one, possibly which is locked axially by adjustment nipples, jaws or other pressure systems. The rewinding spring 19 may not only be helical, but even of other kinds, for example a flat spiral. It should be understood that an expression of the type "A comprises B, C, D" or "A is formed by B, C, D" comprises and describes also the particular case in which "A is made up of B, C, D". The examples and lists of possible variants of the present application should be taken as non-exhaustive lists.
The term "lath" in the present description is the translation of the Italian "listello" since it means not only wooden strips but also strips of other materials.

Claims

A device for assisted lifting of a rolling shutter suitable for actuating a rolling shutter assembly (10) comprising:
A) a roller shutter (22) formed by a plurality of laths that are fixed together and arranged alongside one another;

B) a winding roll (11) on which the roller shutter (22) can reversibly wind and unwind;

C) a pulley (18) fixed at or near to one end of the winding roll (11);
and the mechanism for assisted lifting comprises:
D.1) one or more elastic elements (19), each of which is arranged for being loaded when the roller shutter (22) is unwound, and for being unloaded while the roller shutter (22) winds up on the winding roll (11);
and

D.2) a shaft (12) inserted at least partially inside the winding roll (11) and arranged longitudinally with respect to it;

E) a support (14) fixed to the shaft (12) so as to prevent the latter from rotating around its longitudinal axis and provided with a quick coupling system (131), such as for example a threaded portion, a portion forming an undercut or part of a fit-coupling, an interlocking-coupling or a snap-coupling system or a bayonet coupling system, making it possible to fix the support (14) to a fixing bracket (26A) which in turn makes it possible to fix the support (14) and the rolling shutter assembly to a box, a wall or another part of the building.
Device according to claim 1, wherein the support (14) comprises a stem (131) arranged for fixing to the fixing bracket (26A) making it possible to adjust the position of the support (14) with respect to the latter.
Device according to claim 2, wherein the stem (131) is threaded.
Device according to claim 1, wherein the support (14) is provided with two or more jaws (142, 144) arranged for grasping and locking the shaft (12).
Device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the elastic elements (19) comprises a helical spring with an overall cylindrical or conical shape.
Device according to claim 5, wherein at least part of the elastic elements (19, 19') comprises a helical spring formed by a wound tape or by a wound metal wire.
Device according to claim 1, wherein the support (14) is provided with one or more screws (146) suitable for locking the two or more jaws (142, 144) against one another.
Rolling shutter assembly (10) comprising:
F) a device for assisted lifting having the characteristics according to one of claims 1-7;

G) a roller shutter (22) formed by a plurality of laths fixed together and alongside one another;

H) a winding roll (11) on which the roller shutter (22) can reversibly wind and unwind;

I) a pulley (18) fixed at or near to one end of the winding roll (11).
Rolling shutter assembly according to claim 8, wherein the fixing bracket (26A) comprises a clamp or bracket in the wall or otherwise fixed to a box, a wall or another part of the building.
Rolling shutter assembly according to claim 8, wherein the fixing bracket (26A) comprises:
- a plate for fixing to a wall (15), attached to the wall or otherwise fixed to a box, to a wall or to another part of the building; and

- an adapter (13) that makes it possible to fix the support (14) to the wall plate (15).
Rolling shutter assembly according to claim 10, wherein the adapter (13) substantially has T-shaped cross-sections.
Rolling shutter assembly according to claim 8, wherein at least one elastic element (19) is fixed to the shaft (12) and to the winding roll (11) so as to actuate the latter.
Rolling shutter assembly according to claim 10, wherein on the plate for fixing to the wall (15) a seat (150) is obtained suitable for receiving and holding part of the adapter (15).
Delivery kit suitable for making a rolling shutter assembly (1) having the characteristics according to claim 8, wherein the kit comprises:
- a device for assisted lifting having the characteristics according to one of claims 1-7;

- one or more adapter flanges (21) mounted on the shaft (12), each lying on a plane that is substantially perpendicular, or in any case transversal to the shaft (12) itself and each arranged for being inserted inside the winding roll (11) coupling so as to not be able to rotate with respect to it.
Delivery kit according to claim 14, comprising the adapter (13).