EP4116525B1

EP4116525B1 - Electric door opener

Info

Publication number: EP4116525B1
Application number: EP21382601.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Roger Andreu Pallerola; Bernat Andreu Pallerola
Original assignee: Openers and Closers SL
Current assignee: Openers and Closers SL
Priority date: 2021-07-05
Filing date: 2021-07-05
Publication date: 2023-08-30
Anticipated expiration: 2041-07-05
Also published as: PL4116525T3; EP4116525C0; EP4116525A1; ES2958343T3

Description

Technical field.

The present invention relates to an electric door opener comprising an automatic mechanism for retaining an internal lever, for locking the latch, in an unlocked position from the moment the door opener is electrically actuated until the door is opened.

Prior state of the art

Electric door openers are access control devices that enable a door to be locked/unlocked. They are mounted on a door frame and have a latch that retains the bolt of the door leaf. When the door opener is unlocked, the latch has a rotational movement that enables the bolt of the leaf to escape by opening the door.
The rotation of the latch is dependent on an internal lever mechanism actuated by a solenoid. When power is applied to the solenoid, the mechanism is actuated and the latch is released such that it can rotate to open the door. When the power is cut off, the latch is locked again.
We speak of an electric door opener with an "automatic function" when it has the ability to remain unlocked once the power supply has been cut off.
In general, 3 modalities of the so-called "automatic function" can be distinguished:

-Automatic timed.

The door opener has a PCB with a capacitor that stores energy when it is powered. Once the power is cut off, the accumulated energy is released maintaining the door opener unlocked for a short period of time. The unlocking time will depend on the capacity of the PCB but is generally a few seconds.

- Automatic internal.

As explained, when the door opener receives power, the internal mechanism unlocks the rotation of the latch. But in this case, the very movement of the internal components causes the actuation of a second mechanism, the automatic internal.
This second mechanism will maintain the latch unlocked until the door performs an opening manoeuvre; the latch must be rotated to return the door opener to the locked position.

-Automatic (with external actuation).

This system is similar to the automatic internal but with one important difference. For the automatic mechanism to be activated, it is not enough to power the door opener. It is also necessary that the door is closed. The latch will have a cam or bushing mechanism that is activated by the bolt.
An advantage that the "Automatic Internal" has with respect to the "Automatic" is that there is no component on the external portion of the latch that interferes with the bolt. On the contrary, if an automatic internal door opener receives power while the door is open, the door opener will remain unlocked until the door is closed and reopened, potentially generating unsafe situations.
The automatic with external actuation is the one on which an improvement is presented in this document.
Currently the market has different solutions for the external actuation of the automatic mechanism:

-Automatic with bushing.

The operation of this mechanism is as follows: when the bolt enters the cavity of the latch, it presses an assembly made up of an external bushing, a spring and an internal bushing aligned, causing the spring to compress. An internal lever, the movement of which is locked, maintains the latch locked and the internal bushing in position. When the door opener is electrically powered, the internal lever is released such that the latch can now rotate. At this moment, the automatic system comes into operation. A compressed spring pushes the internal bushing which in turn presses and moves the lever.
For the door opener to lock, it is necessary to cut off the power supply and that the lever is in the rest position thereof. Due to the pressure exerted by the set of bushings and spring on the lever, it cannot return to the rest position. In this way, in addition to cutting off the power supply, it will be necessary to remove the bolt from the latch (open the door) so that the door opener locks again. The internal actuator can also be constituted by a strap riveted to the latch.
When using this system with a door opener provided with a latch with a height-adjustable front, operational problems may occur. Given that the bushing is mounted on the latch, if the position of the adjustable front is changed with respect to the latch, a space remains between the protruding area of the front and said bushing wherein the latch can be trapped.
To solve this problem, a cam is arranged between the bushing and the latch. In this way, contact with the bolt is always optimal.

-Automatic with bushing and cam.

In this case, the door opener includes a cam in the cavity of the latch that rotates with respect to a shaft that is riveted to the front of the latch. At other times, this cam is simply a small component that gets caught between the front of the latch and the latch itself. If the front of the latch is loosened to adjust it during installation, the cam may come out of position and even fall. This problem is avoided by attaching the cam to the front of the latch.
Document DE1138334B discloses an electric door opener having a locking lever held in an open position, after actuation of the door opener, by spring force of a lock latch via a follower pin traversing a hinged closing part of the faceplate, wherein in addition to the follower pin, a spring is connected into the force transmission path from the lock latch to the locking lever and participates in the force transmission from the lock latch spring to the locking lever.
Document ES1064398U discloses an electric door opener which is mounted on a door frame and comprises a hinged latch on which a bolt of the door leaf acts via a spring-loaded pusher, a pivoting latch locking lever on which a torsion spring acts, a spring antagonist of the spring-loaded pusher which pushes the latch locking lever towards a latch locking position, a pawl which holds the latch locking lever in the latch locking position, and a solenoid which, when electrically activated, releases the locking lever from the pawl.

Description of the invention

This electric door opener is of the type described in the initial part of the claim, comprising a box mountable on a frame of a door; a latch provided with a housing configured for receiving a bolt mounted on a leaf of the door, a rotating shaft of the latch between a locked position and an unlocked position of the bolt, means for locking the rotational movement of the latch, able to be electrically actuated, and comprising an internal movable lever, located behind the latch, and an automatic mechanism for retaining the internal lever for locking the latch in an unlocked position from the moment the door opener is electrically actuated and the internal lever is arranged in an unlocked position of the latch until the door is opened.
This electric door opener exhibits technical features aimed at solving the problems set forth above and related to risks of misalignment or even accidental release of the cam of the automatic mechanism when the position of the front of the latch is modified.
Another objective of the invention is to simplify the automatic mechanism for retaining the internal lever for locking the latch, in an unlocked position, from the moment the door opener is electrically actuated until the door is opened.
For this, the automatic mechanism of the electric door opener of the invention further comprises:

a cam mounted on the latch on a rotating shaft coaxial or coinciding with the rotating shaft of said latch, said cam comprising: a front end arranged in the housing of the latch and forming a contact area of the bolt in the closed position of the door and a rear end accessible through the rear area of the latch,
a compression spring that causes the cam to rotate towards an inoperative front position and
a strap solidly attached to the internal locking lever and exhibiting a front end facing the rear end of the cam of the latch; said strap is elastically deformed by the action of the rear end of the cam and tends to move the internal lever towards an unlocked position of the latch when the door is closed and the bolt acts against the front end of the cam, causing the rotation thereof into the latch; said strap moving the internal lever towards the unlocked position of the latch when the door opener is electrically powered, and retaining it in said unlocked position until: the door is opened, the bolt stops acting against the cam and said cam returns to the inoperative position by the action of the compression spring.

The operation of the door opener equipped with the aforementioned automatic retention mechanism is as follows:
In the closed position of the door and with the internal lever in the locked position of the latch, the bolt acts against the front end of the cam and moves it into the latch, overcoming the action of the compression spring. In said position, the cam acts with the rear end thereof against the strap that tends to move the internal lever towards the release position of the latch. This is due to the fact that said internal lever is retained in the locked position of the latch and the strap is not able to move it and said strap is elastically deformed by the action of the cam, accumulating elastic energy.
When the door opener is electrically powered, the internal lever is released and moves towards an unlocked position of the latch by the action of the strap that releases the elastic energy accumulated therein; the internal lever remaining in said position until the door is opened, the bolt releases the cam, the cam stops acting against the strap and the internal lever returns to the locked position of the latch by the action of a return spring.

Brief description of the contents of the drawings.

As a complement to the description provided herein, and for the purpose of helping to make the features of the invention more readily understandable, the present specification is accompanied by a set of drawings which, by way of illustration and not limitation, represent the following:

Figure 1 shows a schematic plan view of the electric door opener object of this invention, wherein the upper cover has been removed to enable the locking and unlocking means of the latch to be observed.
Figure 2 shows a front view of the electric door opener of the invention.
Figure 3 shows a partial perspective view of the electric door opener, wherein an exploded view has been represented of: the latch, the cam, the compression spring and the rotating shaft of the cam and the latch.
Figure 4 shows a partial perspective view of the electric door opener, wherein the internal lever for locking the latch and the elastic strap have been represented as exploded.
Figure 5 shows a side view of the door opener, cross-sectioned along the A-A' plane referenced in Figure 2, in an open door position and with the latch locked.
Figure 6 shows a view analogous to the previous one, with the door in the closed position and the latch locked.
Figure 7 shows a view analogous to Figures 5 and 6, with the door in the closed position, the latch of the door opener unlocked, and the internal lever retained in the unlocked position of the latch by the automatic retention mechanism.

Detailed description of embodiments of the invention.

As can be seen in the exemplary embodiment shown in Figure 1, this door opener comprises a box (1) in which a latch (2) and locking means of said latch (2) are mounted, in this case represented by an internal lever (3), a locking lever (4) of the internal lever (3) and a solenoid (5) that acts against the retention lever (4), releasing the internal lever (3) when the door opener is electrically powered.
This door opener comprises an automatic mechanism for retaining the internal lever (3) in an unlocked position, the elements of which have been represented as exploded in Figures 3 and 4.
Specifically, this mechanism comprises a cam (6), mounted on the same rotating shaft (21) of the latch (2) and comprising a front end (61) arranged in the front housing of the latch and a rear end (62) accessible by the rear area of the latch. Said cam (6) tends to remain displaced towards the outside of the latch by the action of the compression spring (7).
This mechanism further comprises a strap (8), solidly attached to the internal lever (3) and which has been represented as disassembled in Figure 4. This strap (8) exhibits a front end facing the rear end (62) of the cam (6).
As shown in Figure 5, when the door is open, the cam (6) rotates outwards due to the pressure of the compression spring (7) and the latch (2) remains locked by the internal lever (3) which, in turn, is retained by the retention lever (4) as shown in Figure 1. In this position, the strap (8) solidly attached to the internal lever (3) is at rest, it simply comes to rub against the rear end (62) of the cam (6).
As shown in Figure 6, when the door is closed, the bolt (P) thereof accesses the housing of the latch (2) and presses the cam (6) causing the rotation thereof into the door opener. When this rotation occurs, the rear end (62) of the cam (6) acts against the strap (8) causing the elastic deformation thereof, because the internal lever (3) is locked by the retention lever (4) and said strap (8) is not able to move it to the unlocked position.
As shown in Figure 7, when the solenoid (5) is electrically powered, it moves the retention lever (4) towards a release position of the internal lever (3) and the strap releases the accumulated elastic energy by moving said internal lever (3) towards the unlocked position of the latch (2).
In this way, the retention mechanism maintains the internal lever (3) in the release position of the latch, shown in the aforementioned Figure 7, until the door opens and the bolt stops pressing the cam (6).
At that moment, the cam (6) rotates outwards and stops pressing against the strap (8), which enables the internal lever (3) to return to the locked position by the action of a return spring (9); the cam (6) and the internal lever (3) returning to the position represented in Figure 5.
The rotation of the cam (6) with respect to the rotating shaft (21) of the latch (2) achieves a smoother movement, which entails an important improvement both in the operation and in the durability of the mechanism. In addition, the mechanism can be used both as a fixed latch and as an adjustable latch and it is very simple as it only consists of the three aforementioned components: the cam, the compression spring and the strap.
Having sufficiently described the nature of the invention, in addition to a preferred exemplary embodiment, it is hereby stated for the relevant purposes that the materials, shape, size and layout of the described elements may be modified, provided that it does not imply altering the scope of the invention as defined by the claim below.

Claims

An electric door opener, comprising:
- a box (1) mountable on a frame of a door;

- a latch (2) provided with a housing configured for receiving a bolt (P) mounted on a leaf of the door;

- a rotating shaft (21) of the latch (2) between a locked position and an unlocked position of the bolt (P);

- means for locking the rotational movement of the latch (2), able to be electrically actuated, and comprising an internal lever (3); and

- an automatic mechanism for retaining the internal lever (3) in an unlocked position of the latch (2) from the moment the door opener is electrically actuated until the door is opened;
wherein said automatic mechanism comprises:
- a cam (6) mounted on the latch (2) on a rotating shaft coaxial or coinciding with the rotating shaft (21) of said latch, said cam comprising: a front end (61) arranged in the housing of the latch (2) and forming a contact area of the bolt (P) in the closed position of the door and, a rear end (62) accessible through the rear area of the latch,

- a compression spring (7) that causes the cam to rotate towards an inoperative front position and,

- a strap (8) solidly attached to the internal lever (3), facing the rear end (62) of the cam (6) and which is elastically deformed by the action of the rear end (62) of the cam (6) and tends to move the internal lever (3) towards an unlocked position of the latch (2) when the door is closed and the bolt (P) acts against the front end of the cam (6) causing the rotation thereof into the latch; said strap (8) moving the internal lever (3) towards the unlocked position of the latch when the door opener is electrically powered, and retaining it in said unlocked position until the door is opened, the bolt (P) stops acting against the cam (6) and said cam (6) returns to the inoperative position by the action of the compression spring (7).