EP4698743A1 - Device for slidingly moving a partition - Google Patents

Abstract

A device is described for slidingly moving a partition, such as a leaf or door, along a sliding - in use - horizontal axis, comprising a magnetic levitation skid equipped with a body made of ferromagnetic material that has a C- or U-shaped cross-section defining an open channel that is parallel to the sliding axis and delimited by two walls parallel to each other and parallel to the sliding axis, and by a bottom that joins the two walls. The skid also comprises a magnetic field generator for inducing in said body a magnetic field exiting perpendicularly from one of said side walls and entering the other thus crossing the channel orthogonally to the sliding axis. A linear guide made of ferromagnetic material is arranged inside the channel and the body is configured to float magnetically over the guide and move along it;. To improve the tolerance of the skid to overload, there is provided a rolling member having a rotation axis integral with the skid and configured so that it can touch and roll over the guide only when the guide and said bottom are at a predefined minimum distance.

Description

DEVICE FOR SLIDINGLY MOVING A PARTITION

The invention refers to a device for slidingly moving a partition.

Sliding systems for doors are known, such as for example in WO2021111376. Although these systems are optimal for the general translation of doors or leaves, when it comes to more specific applications they can be improved, in particular for the translation of suspended partitions.

The main object of the invention, defined in the attached claims in which the dependent ones define advantageous variants, is to improve this state of the art.

A particular object is to improve the overload tolerance of a sliding device.

Another particular object is to simplify the implementation of a sliding device.

A device is proposed for slidingly moving a partition, such as a door or a leaf, along a sliding, in use horizontal, axis, comprising:

• a magnetic levitation skid provided with

- a body made of ferromagnetic material which has a C- or U-shaped crosssection defining an open channel which is parallel to the axis and delimited by two walls parallel to each other and parallel to the axis, and by a bottom that joins the two walls, and

- a magnetic field generator for inducing in said body a magnetic field exiting perpendicularly from one of said side walls and entering the other thereby crossing the channel orthogonally to the axis;

• a linear guide made of ferromagnetic material; wherein the guide is arranged within the channel and the body is configured for magnetically floating over the guide and moving along it, and

• a rolling member having a rotation axis integral with the skid and configured so as to be able to touch - and roll on - the guide only when the guide and said bottom are at a predefined minimum distance, otherwise remaining without mutual contact.

The rolling member serves to prevent frictional sliding of the guide on the bottom of the channel in the event of overloading of the skid, and is e.g. a wheel, a roller or a ball. In particular, the rolling member has a rotation axis contained in a plane orthogonal to said axis, and more preferably is horizontal in use.

In a preferred embodiment of construction simplicity and compactness, the rolling member is rotatably mounted in the skid, but it could be rotatably integrated into one of the components of the device that surrounds - and/or cooperates with - the skid, e.g. in an member mounted to connect the skid and the movable partition.

In a preferred embodiment of simple construction, the rolling member has a fixed rotation axis. In a different embodiment, such rotation axis has adjustable position, to allow the adjustment of the intervention threshold of the rolling member.

In a preferred embodiment, the rolling member is mounted so as to partially project into the channel.

In a more preferred embodiment, the rolling member is mounted in the skid so as to partially project into the channel. In particular, the rolling member is mounted in the skid so as to protrude

- from the bottom of the channel (case in which the rolling member is for example arranged in said body) or

- from an imaginary plane tangential to such bottom (case in which the rolling member is only aligned with the channel but external to said body).

In a preferred embodiment, the skid comprises two or more rolling members as defined above, in particular arranged aligned parallel to the sliding axis of the skid.

To facilitate mounting the device in a fixed structure, e.g. of a building, the device comprises a box-like casing comprising in use

- a first upper wall,

- two side walls which are substantially parallel to and spaced apart from each other, said walls overall defining an internal cavity having an opening facing downwards,

- a support for the guide protruding from one side wall into the cavity,

- an anchoring to the fixed structure which is integral with the box-like casing, and

- means for adjusting the position of the support for the guide relative to the cavity.

In a preferred simple embodiment, the box-like casing is formed of an external profile, provided with an anchoring to the fixed structure, and an internal profile which is contained in the external profile and provided with the support for the guide; and the device comprises means for adjusting the position of the internal profile with respect to the external profile.

In a preferred, simple and effective embodiment, the means for adjusting the position of the internal profile with respect to the external profile comprise a threaded member mounted on a portion of the external profile for screwingly engaging into a threaded portion of the internal profile, or vice versa.

In particular, said adjustment means are configured in use to move the support for the guide vertically.

In a preferred embodiment, the external profile comprises said walls which define an internal cavity which houses the internal profile and an opening facing downwards.

In a preferred embodiment, the internal profile comprises a first wall, a second wall and a third wall which are substantially oriented, in the order, at 90 degrees with respect to each other and spaced apart from each other, where the third wall integrates the support for the guide.

In a preferred embodiment, the device comprises a bracket that extends from the skid up to approximately said opening where it is connected/connectable to the partition.

In a preferred embodiment, the device comprises a shock absorber for dampening the movement of the skid, the skid and the shock absorber being coupled by two parts, one integral with the skid and one slidable to meet and interact with the shock absorber, which are connected to each other with mechanical play, in particular a play that allows the two parts a degree of relative freedom in a, in use, vertical direction (i.e. along a direction substantially orthogonal to said bottom or parallel to said walls of the channel).

In a preferred embodiment, to distribute the load of the partition, the device comprises

N aligned skids, N >= 2, and a rigid member to which all the skids are connected at spaced points, the rigid member being connected at two points to the partition.

In a preferred embodiment, the device comprises a pulling magnet configured for cooperating magnetically with the magnetic field generated by said generator, or with a ferromagnetic part of the skid, so as to develop a force for braking the skid when it and/or the partition is about to reach an end-of-travel position, or for attracting the skid towards the end-of-travel position when the skid and/or the partition is about to reach the end-of-travel position.

In a more preferred embodiment, the pulling magnet is mounted at one or each end of the guide. In particular, the half-length of the guide is composed of a first and second portion, wherein the first portion forms an end of the guide and comprises or is constituted by a permanent magnet, and the second portion constitutes a central part of the guide and is made of ferromagnetic material.

Said magnetic field generator preferably comprises one or more permanent magnets, but electromagnets may also be used. More preferably said one or more permanent magnets are arranged on the side walls of the channel, in particular at the ends of the C or II.

The advantages of the invention will be clearer from the following description of preferred embodiments of device, referring to the attached drawing in which

• fig . 1 shows a front view of a sliding device;

• fig . 2 shows a cross-section of the sliding device in fig. 1 according to plane ll-ll;

• fig . 3 shows a cross-section of the sliding device in fig. 1 according to plane Ill-Ill;

• fig . 4 shows a cross-section of the sliding device in fig. 1 according to plane IV-IV;

• fig . 5 shows an exploded view of a skid of the sliding device;

• fig . 6 shows the skid in fig. 5 assembled;

• fig . 7 shows a front axonometric view of the sliding device in fig. 2 without the skid;

• fig . 8 shows a front view of a variant of sliding device.

In the figures equal members are indicated by equal numbers, and in order not to crowd the drawings sometimes only some numbers are shown.

Fig. 1 shows a sliding device 10 for slidingly supporting along a horizontal axis a movable barrier 12 like e.g. a door or window.

The device 10 comprises an external profile 20, fixed or fixable to a stationary structure 14, e.g. such as a wall or a ceiling panel, and an internal profile 40 mounted snugly inside the external profile 20. The profiles 20, 40 are e.g. in plastic or aluminium, easily produced by extrusion.

The external profile 20 comprises an upper wall 22, and two side walls 24 which are substantially parallel to and spaced apart from each other. The walls 22, 24 define a boxlike structure with an internal cavity 30 and with an opening 26 facing, in use, downwards. Preferably from one or each side wall 24 an anchoring tab 28 protrudes orthogonally, useful for fixing to the structure 14.

The variant in fig. 1 is particularly suitable for recessed mounting in walls, e.g. in plasterboard.

The internal profile 40 comprises a guide on which there is mounted slidably along the X axis a magnetic levitation skid 60, to which the partition member 12 is connected through a bracket 63 which extends from the magnetic skid 60 downwards up to approximately the opening 26.

In particular, the internal profile 40 comprises an upper wall 42, a side wall 44 and a lower wall 46 which are substantially oriented, in the order, at 90 degrees relative to each other and spaced apart. As a result, the lower wall 46 and the upper wall 42 are substantially parallel. The lower wall 46 has extension smaller than the upper wall 42, so that a support member 48 placed at the end thereof is positioned approximately at the center of the horizontal width L of the cavity 30 (fig. 4).

The support member 48 in turn comprises an upper support portion 50a and a lower support portion 50b, e.g. in the shape of a race delimited by, respectively, parallel fins 52 and 54.

The upper support portion 50a supports a straight bar 98 of ferromagnetic material elongated along the X axis.

The skid 60 (fig. 5 and 6) comprises a member 62 which is elongated along the X axis with substantially U- or C-shaped cross-section, and comprises a central section 64 which joins two spaced and parallel arms 66 which delimit an empty channel 68 with a bottom 74.

The member 62 serves as a magnetic circuit for the magnetic field generated by magnets (e.g. permanent magnets).

The magnets 70 and the magnetic circuit are arranged so that between the two arms 66, along a horizontal Y axis orthogonal to the X axis, there develops a magnetic field M in the air that strikes orthogonally the facing internal parallel surfaces of the arms 66 and crosses the channel 68 substantially along its width.

In the illustrated example the magnets 70 are placed at the ends of the arms 66, or may replace the central section 64.

The bar 98 positions itself, in use, inside the channel 68, free to move along a vertical axis Z which is orthogonal to the X axis and the Y axis (the X, Y, Z axes form an orthogonal triplet).

The magnetic field M hits - and interacts with - the bar 98, according to the physical principle of operation fully explained in WO2017216656 or WO2019087152, and it is not repeated here. It will be enough to remember that the magnetic field M generates a force that opposes the movements of the bar 98 along the Z axis, keeping the skid 60 in a position of vertical equilibrium.

Fig. 3 shows the position of the skid 60 without a vertical load, and fig. 4 with maximum vertical load (the weight of the movable barrier 12). It is noted that in fig. 4 the bar 98 is closer to the bottom 74, i.e. the load pushes the bar 98 towards the bottom 74. To prevent an overload from causing the bar 98 to skim against the bottom 74, the skid 60 comprises a rolling member 72 (e.g. a wheel or a roller or a ball) mounted so as to touch the bar 98 before the bar 98 skims against the bottom 74. The member 72 has a rotation axis W, which e.g. is orthogonal to a plane containing the Z and X axis.

If the bar 98, due to overload, almost reaches the bottom 74, the bar 98 comes into contact with the rolling member 72 which prevents any further closing thereof and can roll on the bar 98 when the skid 60 slides along the X axis. Not only is friction reduced in the event of abnormal overload, but it is also possible to exploit to the maximum the load potential of the skid 60 because there is no need to keep a large safety margin. Furthermore, only the excess load weighs on the rolling member 72, thus it works stress- free and can be built in easy manner.

To enhance the effect, more preferably the skid 60 comprises at least two rolling members 72, e.g. mounted at two opposite end points along the X axis, for rolling on two separate points of the guide 98.

It is sufficient that the rolling member 72 is adapted to roll on the guide 98, so as to transfer the load of the skid 60 to the guide 98, only when the bottom 74 is about to skim the guide 98 or when the bottom 74 is away from the guide 98 less than a fraction (e.g. 1 /5 or 1 /10 or 1 /20) of the depth of the channel 68.

Although other positions are possible, one or each rolling member 72 is preferably mounted on the skid 60, for construction simplicity, so as to protrude slightly from - or with respect to - the bottom 74. In the example shown one or each rolling member 72 is pivoted between the wings 302 of a fork 300 (fig. 5) mounted at one end of the member 62. The fork 300 maintains the rolling surface of the member 72 into position.

To stabilize the stroke of the skid 60, preferably the skid 60 comprises wheels 76 mounted with rotation axis parallel to the Y axis and arranged on the sides of the channel 68 to roll on the sides of the bar 98.

To make the rolling of the wheels 76 more silent, the bar 98 is preferably contained in a casing 78, e.g. a sheath or a plastic profile.

A solution to have optimal behavior of the system concerns the rollout of the device 10. The external profile 20 can never be positioned precisely with respect to the structure 14, due to the inevitable assembly tolerances and inaccuracies.

A system is then needed to level the skid 60, and essentially the X axis. For this purpose, the skid 60 comprises means for adjusting the relative position of the internal profile 40 inside the external profile 20 along the Y axis. In particular, from a side wall 24 extends a pedestal 80 (see fig. 7) which screwably supports a dowel 82 and a screw 84 both oriented parallel to the Z axis. The protrusion of the pedestal 80 is such as to place the dowel 82 and the screw 84 approximately at the center of the width L and under the lower support portion 50b.

The fins 54 can rest on the dowel 82, which can be screwed into the pedestal 80 for adjusting the height of the internal profile 40 inside the cavity 30. The screw 84 can be screwed in, and gain grip between, the fins 54 to pull the fins 54 towards the dowel 82 and lock them there.

Another solution to have optimal behavior of the system concerns the damping of the movable barrier 12. For this purpose, the device 10 comprises a shock absorber 86, e.g. a hydraulic piston, installed in a slot 96 of the internal profile 40 (see fig. 7 and 2). The skid 60 comprises a trailing extension member 88 provided with a ring 90 in which a striker 92 is inserted with play. The striker 92 has a head inserted and slidable into the slot 96, so that it can push one end of the shock absorber 86 when the skid 60 reaches the end-of-travel position. The play between the ring 90 and the striker 92 guarantees that their coupling is not affected by tolerances and especially by the load-dependent relative position of the skid 60 and the guide 98.

The sliding device may be installed on a stationary structure in various ways. A different variant (fig. 8) regards a device 100 which is attached hanging to a stationary structure 14 such as a fixed vertical wall. The device 100 still comprises one or more skids 60 as described above; and it differs in how it is applied to the structure 14 with different profiles. There is only one external profile 120 which defines laterally a longitudinal recess 122 into which a fin 130 is inserted which protrudes from a fixed profile 140 applied to the structure 14. The variant of fig. 8 is especially suitable for flush mounting on a wall.

According to a variant, the devices 10, 100 may constitute a module for more complex structures. By placing side by side, for example, 2 or 3 devices 10, 100 it is possible to move movable barriers composed of 2 or 3 members.

According to a variant, the movable barrier 12 is supported and moved by only two aligned skids 60.

According to a different variant, the load of the movable barrier 12 can be distributed over N aligned skids 60, N >= 2. In this case the bracket 63 of each skid 60 is connected to a common rigid member, e.g. a rocker, at spaced points to distribute the load, and the common member is connected to the movable barrier 12. When N > 2 a real distribution of the load between the N skids 60 is possible thanks to magnetic levitation of each skid 60 on the guide 98, which allows them to spontaneously find a point of vertical equilibrium with respect to the guide 98 when they are subjected to the respective load fraction. The same advantage is not obtained instead with a row of, for example, wheeled skids because it is almost impossible to guarantee that every wheel carries an equal fraction of the load.

According to a variant, the device 10 comprises a pulling magnet configured to cooperate magnetically with the magnets 70 and/or a ferromagnetic part of the skid 60 so as to attract the skid 60 towards the end-of-travel position when the barrier 12 is about to reach the end-of-travel position. Together with the shock absorber 86 this allows for a "soft" closing of the barrier 12. Alternatively or in combination, the pulling magnet may be configured to magnetically cooperate with the magnets 70 and/or a ferromagnetic portion of the skid 60 so as to brake the skid 60 when the barrier 12 is about to reach the end-of- travel position.

For example, the pulling magnet (see fig. 2) is mounted at one or each end of the bar 98. The half-length of the bar 98 is preferably divided into two portions 98a, 98b where the portion 98a is at the end of the overall bar 98 and the portion 98b at the center. The portion 98a is a permanent magnet which acts as a pulling magnet, while the portion 98b is made of ferromagnetic material.

Claims

1 . Device for slidingly moving a partition, such as a leaf or door, along a sliding - in use

- horizontal axis, comprising:

• a magnetic levitation skid equipped with

- a body made of ferromagnetic material that has a C- or U-shaped cross-section defining an open channel that is parallel to the sliding axis and delimited by two walls parallel to each other and parallel to the sliding axis, and by a bottom that joins the two walls, and

- a magnetic field generator for inducing in said body a magnetic field exiting perpendicularly from one of said side walls and entering the other thus crossing the channel orthogonally to the sliding axis;

• a linear guide made of ferromagnetic material, wherein the guide is arranged inside the channel and the body is configured to float magnetically over the guide and move along it; and

• a rolling member having a rotation axis integral with the skid and configured so that it can touch and roll over the guide only when the guide and said bottom are at a predefined minimum distance.

2. Device according to claim 1 , wherein the rolling member is rotatably mounted in the skid to protrude partially inside the channel, or is rotatably mounted externally to said body and aligned with the channel.

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a box-shaped casing comprising in use

- a first upper wall,

- two side walls that are substantially parallel to and spaced apart from each other, said walls altogether defining an internal cavity having a downwardly facing opening,

- a support for the guide protruding from a side wall inside the cavity,

- an anchorage to the fixed structure integral with the box-shaped casing, and

- means for adjusting the position of the support for the guide relative to the cavity.

4. Device according to claim 3, wherein the box-shaped casing comprises an outer profile, provided with the anchorage to the fixed structure, and an inner profile which is contained in the outer profile and is provided with the support for the guide; and the device comprises means for adjusting the position of the inner profile relative to the outer profile.

5. Device according to claim 4, wherein said means for adjusting comprise a threaded member mounted on a portion of the outer profile for screwing engagement with a threaded portion of the inner profile, or vice versa.

6. Device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein. the outer profile comprises said walls defining an inner cavity which houses the inner profile and an opening facing downward, and the inner profile comprises a first wall, a second wall and a third wall that are substantially oriented, in that order, at 90 degrees to each other and spaced apart from each other, wherein the third wall incorporates the support for the guide.

7. Device according to any preceding claim, comprising a shock absorber to dampen the movement of the skid, the skid and the shock absorber being coupled by two parts, one integral with the skid and one slidable to meet and interact with the shock absorber, which are connected to each other with mechanical play that allows the two parts a degree of relative freedom in a direction which is - in use - vertical.

8. Device according to any preceding claim, comprising.

N magnetically levitated skids, N >= 2, which are aligned and constructed according to claim 1 or 2, and a rigid member to which all N skids are connected at spaced-out points, the rigid member being connected at two points to the partition.

9. Device according to any preceding claim, comprising a magnet configured to cooperate magnetically with the magnetic field generated by said generator so as to develop a force to brake or attract the skid when it and/or the partition is about to reach a limit position thereof, said magnet being mounted to form one or each end of the guide.

10. Device according to any preceding claim, wherein the position of the rotation axis of the rolling member is adjustable.