EP3868993B1 - Sliding door, especially a cooling room sliding door - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a sliding door, in particular a refrigerator sliding door.

Cold room doors of the type in question are state of the art and are manufactured, for example, by EMS Isolationtüren GmbH in Pansdorf. They typically have a stainless steel-clad door leaf, which is provided with highly insulating foam on the inside and which is intended to close a door opening in a cold room. For this purpose, a running rail with a round cross-section is arranged above the opening on the outside of the cooling chamber, on which the door leaf is movably guided by means of two brackets, each of which carries a roller. The running rail protrudes laterally beyond the door opening, so that the door leaf is arranged next to the door opening in its open end position and completely exposes it, while in the closed position it completely covers the door opening. The design of the running rail and a lowering mechanism ensure that the door leaf is pressed against the outside of the cold room wall in its closed position and is lowered at the bottom, so that the door leaf with the seals attached to it ensures a tight closure of the door opening. Such sliding doors, which are also available in a double-leaf version, are relatively heavy, especially with large designs and door leaf thicknesses such as those required for deep-freeze rooms and shock rooms, and are difficult to move due to their inertia despite the good roller bearings.

On the other hand, when it comes to sliding doors, it is part of the state of the art to move them with the assistance of an electric motor, so that the door can be opened and closed again by an operator without force using an appropriate control device. However, a problem can be that if the electric drive fails, it is very difficult to operate the door manually because the movement resistance of the door drive has to be overcome. This can be particularly problematic with the refrigerator sliding doors in question, since for safety reasons they must always be designed in such a way that a person in the refrigerator can open the door by hand at any time and thus get out of the refrigerator. Conversely, an open refrigerator door should be able to be closed manually even in the event of a power failure.

The document ES 2 071 568 B1 discloses a door according to the preamble of claim 1. Other sliding doors with coupling devices between the door and the operator are in the documents DE 20 2010 000 745 U1 , DE 1 459 148 A1 and GB 421 433 A disclosed.

Against this background, the invention is based on the object of designing a sliding door, in particular a refrigerator sliding door of the type mentioned at the beginning, in such a way that it can be opened or closed without problems even if the drive fails.

This object is achieved according to the invention with a sliding door with the features specified in claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the subclaims, the following description and the drawings.

The sliding door according to the invention, which is in particular a refrigerator sliding door, has at least one door leaf which can be moved along a running rail to open or close the door. The sliding door is equipped with a drive for moving the door leaf along the running rail and, according to the invention, has a coupling device between the door leaf and the drive, with which the drive can be decoupled or coupled.

The sliding door according to the invention can be a single- or multi-leaf sliding door, which can basically be intended to close door openings in any room. It is particularly suitable for closing door openings in cold rooms. For the purposes of the invention, this also includes freezer rooms, freezer rooms, shock rooms and the like, which are particularly concerned with the thermal closure of such a room.

The basic idea of the present invention is, on the one hand, to provide a drive, typically an electric drive, for moving the door leaf along the running rail, so that even large and heavy door leaves can be opened and closed quickly and without manual effort. On the other hand, however, in the event of a failure of the drive, for example in the event of a power failure, the door can be opened and/or closed manually without the resistance of the drive having to be overcome. For this purpose, according to the invention, a coupling device is provided with which it is possible to uncouple the drive and, if necessary, to re-couple it in order to switch to (non-manual) drive operation.

According to the invention, the drive has an electric motor.

The electric motor drive typically takes place via a gearbox, which converts the rotational movement of the motor into a linear movement in the direction of travel of the door leaf. According to the invention, a traction mechanism is used because this is particularly easy to adapt to different door leaf sizes and thus travel paths and is also inexpensive to purchase and requires little maintenance. This is the case with a traction mechanism Traction means are advantageously mounted parallel to the running rail and close to the running rail. The coupling device is advantageously arranged between the traction mechanism and the door leaf or the traction mechanism and a holder on the door leaf.

Arranging the traction means parallel to the running rail and as close to it as possible is advantageous because then only small levers have to be overcome. Such an arrangement is also particularly suitable for sliding refrigerator doors in which the door leaf is arranged hanging on a running rail. Then the moving parts, such as guide rollers, gears and drive motor, are protected above the door leaf, where they are easily accessible but cannot be reached by people during normal operation.

The traction device can basically be driven at any suitable location. It is particularly advantageous to provide this in the area of the deflection, since gears or chain wheels or pulleys are required in the deflection areas of a traction mechanism anyway, which cause the deflection from the upper run to the lower run and vice versa.

It is particularly advantageous to use a traction mechanism that works in a form-fitting manner, since position detection is then simple and can be carried out in particular via the electric motor itself or a corresponding incremental encoder. The position orientation is important because in particular the end positions, namely the open position of the door and the closed position of the door, have to be approached repeatedly. In practice, a toothed belt transmission has proven to be effective, which works without slipping and without maintenance, especially in conjunction with can be used advantageously with the coupling device described below.

According to the invention, the coupling device has a driver which is arranged on the traction means side. If, which is advantageous, this driver should also be controlled by its own weight, then it is expedient to arrange it in the upper run of the traction mechanism, since there is sufficient space at the top to enable the driver to move upwards against its weight.

On the door leaf side, the coupling device according to the invention preferably has a pin which is attached to a suitable location on the door leaf side and whose longitudinal axis is directed transversely to the door leaf surface. It is particularly advantageous if this pin is part of a holder that connects the door leaf to a roller, which is required anyway to connect the door leaf to the running rail.

This holder typically has an axle on which the roller is rotatably mounted. It is then particularly advantageous if the pin is formed and arranged in alignment with the axis, preferably in its continuation. This pin can then be formed in a simple manner by making minor structural changes to the holder and at the same time ensures that the force intervention to move the door leaf takes place at a suitable point, namely where the holder has to absorb the weight and/or thrust force for the door leaf anyway .

According to the invention, the coupling device is designed so that it is automatically uncoupling in at least one end position of the sliding door. For a refrigerator door, this end position is preferably the position in which the door is closed. Additionally or alternatively, such a Automatic uncoupling can also be provided in the fully open position. Such an automatically decoupling configuration has the advantage that the door is decoupled from the drive in at least one, preferably both, end positions, so that if the drive fails, the door can easily be opened or closed manually without the need for manual decoupling beforehand is. Such a configuration is advantageously combined with an automatic clutch engagement, that is to say the clutch device is designed such that automatic clutch engagement occurs when the drive is activated. In this way, when the drive is actuated, automatic engagement can take place regardless of the position of the door leaf, after which the door is then taken along by the drive, i.e. moved along the running rail to one or the other end position or possibly also an intermediate position.

When using a toothed belt as a traction device, a connecting element must be provided which connects the toothed belt ends to form a revolving endless belt. Such a connecting element can advantageously be formed by a suitable design of the driver, in which these ends are releasably fixed.

The driver itself can be of simple construction, for example made of flat material (sheet metal) and have a recess that is open at the bottom to accommodate the pin. Advantageously, viewed in the direction of the traction means, it has starting bevels in front of and behind the recess, which are intended to effect uncoupling, for example in the end positions, by means of suitable stationary rollers or contact surfaces. In addition, these starting bevels can serve to ensure that when the driver passes over the pin, the driver is deflected upwards and is subsequently lowered in a weight-controlled manner and then its recess engages over the pin and thus ensures automatic engagement.

In principle, the uncoupling can be carried out using any suitable contact surface that is stationary, for example on the door frame or on the wall on which the sliding door is arranged and fastened. It is particularly advantageous to install a roller as a contact surface, which is rotatably mounted so that only small forces are required when coupling or uncoupling.

It is not necessary, but expedient, to provide the pin of the coupling device on one of two brackets with which the door leaf is attached to the running rail via rollers rotatably mounted on the brackets. It is advantageous to arrange the pin on the holder, which is the rear holder when viewed in the closing direction of the door. In this area there is sufficient space, particularly on the door frame side, for the deflection and drive of the traction device. Then the door leaf is pushed by the pin in the closing direction and pulled in the opening direction.

In order to be able to reliably determine the position of the coupling device, in particular of the driver, and to ensure that the driver is moved to the end positions in which automatic uncoupling preferably takes place, position detection is advantageous. This is advantageously done by an incremental encoder of the electric motor or an incremental encoder that is coupled to the electric motor. Electric motors with incremental encoders are available in numerous design variants and performance levels and are comparatively easy to initialize with appropriate self-learning controls.

Alternatively or additionally, according to a further development of the invention, limit switches can also be provided, which switch off the drive when the open and closed end positions of the door are reached. Such an embodiment is also particularly in connection conceivable with an electromagnetic coupling device, which is always automatically disengaged in the event of a power failure.

Fig. 1

in stark vereinfachter schematischer Darstellung eine Ansicht einer Kühlraumschiebetür in geschlossener Stellung mit entkuppelterKupplungsvorrichtung,

Fig. 2

die Schiebetür in Ansicht gemäß Fig. 1 in teilgeöffneter Stellung mit eingekuppelter Kupplungsvorrichtung,

Fig. 3

eine Ansicht der Schiebetür gemäß Fig. 1 in geöffneter Stellung und ausgekuppelter Kupplungsvorrichtung,

Fig. 4

in stark vergrößerter schematischer Darstellung eine Ansicht auf die Kupplungsvorrichtung in ausgekuppelter Stellung von oben,

Fig. 5

eine Ansicht gemäß Fig. 4 in eingekuppelter Position,

Fig. 6

in stark vergrößerter Ansicht die Kupplungsvorrichtung im ausgekuppelten Zustand,

Fig. 7

die Kupplungsvorrichtung gemäß Fig. 6 beim Ein- bzw. Auskuppeln,

Fig. 8

einen Schnitt durch die Schiebetür im Bereich der Kupplungsvorrichtung und

Fig. 9

eine alternative Ausgestaltung der Kupplungsvorrichtung in Darstellung gemäß Fig. 8.

The invention is explained in more detail below using exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings. Show it:

Fig. 1

in a highly simplified schematic representation a view of a refrigerator sliding door in the closed position with the coupling device decoupled,

Fig. 2

the sliding door in view according to Fig. 1 in the partially open position with the coupling device engaged,

Fig. 3

a view of the sliding door according to Fig. 1 in the open position and the clutch device disengaged,

Fig. 4

a greatly enlarged schematic representation of a view of the coupling device in the disengaged position from above,

Fig. 5

a view according to Fig. 4 in engaged position,

Fig. 6

a greatly enlarged view of the coupling device in the disengaged state,

Fig. 7

the coupling device according to Fig. 6 when engaging or disengaging the clutch,

Fig. 8

a section through the sliding door in the area of the coupling device and

Fig. 9

an alternative embodiment of the coupling device shown in accordance with Fig. 8 .

When based on the Figures 1 to 8 The sliding door shown is a refrigerator sliding door, which is shown in view ( Figures 1 to 3 ) has a rectangular door leaf 1, which can be moved along a running rail 2, which is attached to a wall 3 above a door opening 4 or to the frame 5 provided for this purpose. The door leaf 1 has two brackets 6 and 7 on the top, with a U-shaped bracket 8 made of round material, one leg of which is attached to the top of the door leaf 1 and the other leg, which is arranged at a distance from the top, carries a roller 9, which rests on the running rail 2 and transfers the weight of the door leaf 1 to the running rail 2. The door leaf 1 has a handle 10 on its outside and also on the inside, which is not shown in the drawings. These handles are used to open or close the door by hand.

In addition to manual operability, an electric motor drive is provided for opening and closing the door. This drive has an electric motor 11, which has an incremental encoder and an angular gear 12 and which is drive-connected via the angular gear 12 to a gear 13, which is part of a toothed belt transmission. The gear 13 forms the in the Figures 1 to 3 right deflection of the toothed belt transmission, the left deflection of which is formed by a gear 14. This drive, which consists of an electric motor 11, an angular gear 12, the gears 13 and 14 and a toothed belt 15, is arranged in a stationary manner, namely on the frame 5 surrounding the door opening 4, but can also be attached directly to the wall 3 if necessary.

The electric motor is controlled via a controller 16, via which the door leaf 1 is controlled by the in Figure 1 shown, the door opening 4 completely covering closed position in the in Figure 3 Open position shown can be moved and vice versa. Activation takes place via appropriate sensors or switches in the area of the outer handle 10 and the inner handle. A coupling device is arranged between the toothed belt transmission and the door leaf 1, which has a driver 17 on the transmission side, which is made of flat material and has a downwardly open recess 18 which is intended to receive a pin 19. The pin 19 is either as in the embodiment according to Figures 1 to 8 on a separate bracket 20 between the brackets 6 and 7 arranged approximately in the middle of the top of the door leaf 1 and forms part of this bracket 20 or is formed in an extension of a bracket 8, as shown in Figure 9 is shown.

The driver 17 also forms a connecting element for the ends of the toothed belt, which are fixed there. On both sides of the recess 18 (in side view), the driver 17 has starting bevels 21, as shown in FIG Figures 6 and 7 is visible.

The pin 19 is arranged on the door leaf side so that it is arranged between the upper run 22 and the lower run 23 of the toothed belt drive, such that when the toothed belt 15 is moved, the driver 17 initially comes into contact with the pin 19 in the disengaged position with a starting slope 21. If the driver 17 now moves further, it is raised by the pin 19 in conjunction with the starting slope 21 until it reaches the recess 18. The pin 19 enters this recess 18 when the driver 17 returns due to its own weight (in Figure 7 ) is moved downwards. Then the driver 17 is positively connected to the pin 19, so that with further movement the driver 17 Pin 19 and the door leaf attached to it via the bracket 20.

To uncouple the coupling device, a stationary contact surface is required, which in the embodiment shown is formed by two uncoupling rollers 24, which, as in the Figures 4 and 5 can be seen, on the frame 5, i.e. fixedly attached to the wall 3. These disengagement rollers 24 are attached in such a way that when the driver 17 contacts them with its starting bevels 21 when approaching or driving over them, the driver is raised, as shown in FIG Figure 7 is shown. By lifting the driver 17, the pin 19 of the bracket 20 is first disengaged. As the driver 17 continues to be driven over, the disengagement roller 24 finally reaches the area of the recess 18; this is a disengaged end position of the coupling device. When arranging the pin 19, the disengaging rollers 24 are arranged approximately in the area of the center of the door leaf 1, as shown in FIG Figures 1 to 3 shown, i.e. in such a way that when the door is closed, it is first moved over the door opening 14 so far that the door opening 4 is completely covered by the door leaf 1 and is also sealed using existing seals. The electric motor 11 moves in this position, which is in Figure 7 is shown, the driver 17 arranged in the upper run 22 a little further, so that it disengages and virtually locks in this position when the disengagement roller 24 reaches over. The door can now be opened either manually if, for whatever reason, the drive has failed. Since the drive is disengaged, no additional forces are created by the drive when pushing the door by hand.

During normal operation, however, the door is removed from the in Figure 1 The closed position shown is moved by activating the electric motor 11 through the controller 16. The driver 17 is now in the opposite direction, i.e. in the Figures 1 to 3 and 6 To the right moves, whereby the driver 17 is raised by the disengagement roller 24 and moves over it, after which it is lifted by the pin 19, moves over it and then secures it in a form-fitting manner in its recess 18 and takes it with it over the bracket 20 together with the door leaf 1, that is the door from the in Figure 1 closed position shown in Figure 3 shown open position moves. For the automatic coupling process between the driver 17 and the pin 19, it does not matter where the door leaf is currently located; in every position, with the exception of the end positions, automatic engagement occurs when the pin is passed over and is subsequently taken along by the drive.

In the embodiment shown, a disengagement roller 24 is also provided for the fully open position of the door, that is, after the door has been fully opened, the driver 17 comes with a starting slope 21 onto a disengagement roller 24, then disengages and engages over the disengagement roller 24 in the manner of a locking position. The drive is also decoupled in this position, that is, the door leaf 1 can be moved as desired by a person along the running rail 2 using the handle 10 on the outside or a corresponding handle on the inside.

Since the electric motor has an incremental encoder and a corresponding control 16, these two end positions, in which the door is completely opened or completely closed and the coupling device is decoupled, can always be reached again after a short learning phase after installation.

The based on Figure 9 The embodiment variant shown differs from the one described above in that the pin 19a is not arranged on the bracket 20, but on the bracket 8 of the holder 7. The bracket 8 not only forms the axis of rotation for the roller 9, but is also extended and forms the pin 19a, which is in Figure 9 marked as 19a. This arrangement has the advantage that the bracket 20 can be omitted.

Reference symbol list

1

door leaf

2

Running track

3

Wall

4

Door opening

5

Frame

6

Bracket on the left

7

Bracket on the right

8th

hanger

9

Roller

10

Handle

11

Electric motor

12

Angle gear

13

Drive and deflection gear

14

deflection gear

15

timing belt

16

steering

17

taker

18

recess

19

Cones

19a

Cones in Figure 9

20

hanger

21

Starting slopes of the driver 17

22

Upper strand

23

lower strand

24

Disengagement rollers

Claims (12)

1. Sliding door, especially a cooling room sliding door, with at least one door leaf (1) that can be moved along a running rail (2), with a drive (11, 12) for purposes of moving the door leaf (1) along the running rail (2), wherein the drive (11, 12) has an electric motor (11), which drives a traction drive mechanism (13, 14, 15), and a coupling device (17, 19) is provided between the door leaf (1) and the drive (11, 12, 15), which coupling device is arranged between the traction drive mechanism (13, 14, 15) and the door leaf (1), or a holding device (6, 7, 20) on the door leaf (1), and which has a driver element (17), characterised in that, the driver element (17) is arranged on the traction mechanism side, and in that, a roller (24) or a contact surface is provided in a fixed position, and is arranged such that, in an end position of the door, it transfers the driver element (17) from its coupled position into a decoupled position.
2. Sliding door according to Claim 1, characterised in that, the traction mechanism (15) is guided parallel to the running rail (2), and is preferably driven in the vicinity of its reversal of direction.
3. Sliding door according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that, the traction drive mechanism is a positive traction drive mechanism (13, 14, 15), preferably a toothed belt drive (13, 14, 15).
4. Sliding door according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that, the coupling device (17, 19) has, on the door leaf side, a pin (19), which is preferably part of a holding device (6, 7), which connects the door leaf (1) to a roller (9) that runs on the running rail (2).
5. Sliding door according to Claim 4, characterised in that, the holding device (6, 7) has an axle, on which the roller (9) is mounted such that it can rotate, and in that, the pin (19a) is arranged in alignment with the axle, preferably on a continuation of the latter.
6. Sliding door according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that, the coupling device (17, 19) is designed such that an automatic coupling takes place when the drive (11, 12) is activated.
7. Sliding door according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that, the ends of the traction mechanism (15) are connected by the driver element (17), and are detachably fixed in the latter.
8. Sliding door according to one of the Claims 4 to 7, characterised in that, the driver element (17) has a downwardly-open recess (18) to receive the pin (19) and in that, in front of, and/or behind, the recess (18), as viewed in the direction of the traction mechanism, approach slopes (21) are provided.
9. Sliding door according to one of the preceding Claims 4 to 8, characterised in that, the door leaf (1) has two holding devices (6, 7), and rollers (9) mounted on the latter such that they can rotate, by means of which it is attached to the running rail (2) in a suspended manner, and in that, the rear holding device (7), as viewed in the direction of closure, has the pin (19a) of the coupling device (17, 19).
10. Sliding door according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that, the electric motor (11) has an incremental encoder, or is coupled to such an encoder.
11. Sliding door according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that, limit switches are provided, which switch off the drive when the open and closed end positions of the door are reached.
12. Sliding door according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that, the driver element (17) is arranged in the upper run (22) of the traction drive mechanism (13, 14, 15).

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