FR2673974A1 - Security device for an up-and-over garage door - Google Patents

Abstract

Security device for an up-and-over door (1) driven by a motor (11) in such a way as to move between a substantially vertical closed position and a high, substantially horizontal, open position. It comprises transmission members (12) mounted between the motor and the door in such a way as to limit the drive force transmitted from the motor to the door, by allowing the door to stop in its opening movement when a child is suspended therefrom, and the reversal of the closing movement under the effect of a force exerted manually in the direction of opening in order to extricate a child trapped under the door.

Description

Safety device for tilting garage door
The invention relates to overhead doors, in particular automatic garage doors, driven by a motor so as to move between a substantially vertical closed position and a high, substantially horizontal, open position.

The operation of automatic garage doors of this type is subject to various requirements concerning personal safety. In particular, when a child hangs from the lower edge of the door during the opening movement of the door, this movement must stop.

On the other hand, it must be possible to reverse, by manual effort, the closing movement of the door, in order to free a person, in particular a child, who would be trapped between the lower edge of the door and the ground.

The object of the invention is to meet these security requirements.

To this end, 1 invention relates to a safety device for a door of the type defined in the introduction, this device comprising two transmission members mounted between the engine and the door so as to limit the driving force transmitted from the engine to the door. , a first member allowing the door to stop in its opening movement under the effect of a resistant force, and the second member allowing the reversing of the closing movement under the effect of a force exerted manually in the sense of openness.

The device according to the invention preferably comprises means for adjusting the limiting drive force.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the first transmission member comprises a bearing with conical rollers, the inner and outer rings of which tighten the rollers together and are rotationally secured one of an upstream element and the other of 'a downstream element, relative to the transmission member, in the transmission channel.

The tapered roller bearing can be freely mounted on a shaft and clamped axially between two radial surfaces which respectively belong to said upstream and downstream elements and which cooperate by friction respectively with the two rings.

In particular, the upstream element can be the motor and the downstream element the second transmission member.

The shaft may be integral with the downstream element when the latter cooperates with the inner ring of the roller bearing.

The means for adjusting the entrainment limit force may in particular comprise a nut screwing onto a threaded end part of the shaft, a first tapered roller bearing, the motor and a second tapered roller bearing being tightened, in this order, between the radial cooperation surface of the second transmission member, integral with the shaft, and the nut, with the interposition of at least one elastic washer.

As for the second transmission member, it may comprise two parts integral in rotation respectively with an upstream element and a downstream element, with respect to this transmission member, and provided with means of mutual cooperation ensuring positive drive of the part. downstream by the upstream part in the direction corresponding to the opening of the door, and a transformation of the rotational movement of the downstream part in the direction corresponding to the closing of the door into an alternating axial relative movement of the two parts, a spring urging them in their relative axial position for which a positive drive occurs.

These means of mutual cooperation may include two asymmetrical tooth crowns meshing with one another.

In the case where the door exerts on the transmission members a variable force along its opening and closing travel, the invention provides balancing means intended to compensate for this variation. These balancing means may comprise a tension spring whose tensile force is an increasing function of its length, and a mechanism for lengthening the spring by tension during the movement of the door.

In particular, the force exerted by the door and the force exerted by the balancing means can be substantially zero in the open position of the door.

This is particularly the case when the door is articulated around a horizontal axis, in a median region between its horizontal edges, at the end of an arm pivoting about a horizontal axis, a door element located at the lower part thereof being guided along a vertical path, the upper end of which is close to the pivot axis of the arm.

The invention also provides means for locking the door in the closed position.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the detailed description of an exemplary embodiment, and from the appended drawings in which - FIG. 1 is an elevation view of a garage door system equipped with a device security according to the invention; - Figure 2 is a sectional view along the line II-II of Figure 1; and - Figure 3 is an axial sectional view of the transmission members of the safety device.

FIG. 1 illustrates an automatic tilting garage door system composed, in addition to the door 1 itself, of actuation means and of a bSti supporting the door and the actuation means.

The door 1, substantially planar and rectangular, is formed in the usual way of ribbed sheets and reinforcing profiles. It is shown in Figure 1 in its vertical closed position, and can come, under the effect of the actuating means, in a horizontal upper position of opening, shown in broken lines in Figure 2. The frame, fixed to the wall in which the opening to be closed by the door is formed, comprises two vertical boxes 2 and 3 located on either side of this opening and extending substantially at the same height as the latter, and a horizontal crosspiece 4 connecting the tops of the two boxes and positioned higher than the door.

 The cross-member 4 carries bearings 5 distributed over its length and in which a shaft 6 can rotate. Two arms 7 are pivotally mounted by one of their ends around an axis 40 parallel to the shaft 6. The two vertical edges 8 of the door are articulated at the opposite ends of the two arms 7 respectively around a horizontal axis 9 located approximately halfway up the door. Each of these edges 8 carries at its lower part a tab 42 projecting laterally and penetrating into a vertical slide belonging to one of the boxes 2 and 3 to be guided there vertically for example by means of a wheel not shown. The tab 42 is also linked to a chain 43 comprising two vertical strands extending between an upper pinion secured to the shaft 6 and a lower pinion free to rotate. When the shaft 6 is rotated by means which will be described below, the door 1 rocks towards the interior of the garage while rising, from the closed position illustrated in FIG. 1 to the open position illustrated by FIG. 2. A rotation in the opposite direction from the shaft 6 causes the door to move in the opposite direction. The arms 7 are located, relative to the plane of the door, towards the inside of the garage in the closed position and upwards in the open position.

The shaft 6 is driven by a geared motor 11 (called the motor below) fixed in the box 3, by means of transmission members 12 and a chain 13 cooperating with a pinion 14 mounted on the transmission members 12 and a pinion 15 secured to the shaft 6.

The motor 11, which can rotate in both directions under the action of control members not shown, has two outlet flanges 16 and 17 rotating jointly around the same horizontal axis 18 and turned opposite one the other. The motor has a through opening surrounding the axis 18 and in which a shaft 19 is guided so that it can rotate around this same axis relative to the flanges of the motor. The shaft 19 has at one of its ends a radial flange 20, and at its opposite end a threaded part 21, as well as, in an intermediate region, a part of increased diameter 22 limited on the side of the threaded part 21 by a shoulder radial 23 and forming on the side of the collar 20 a toothed crown with asymmetrical teeth 24. The threaded part 21 and the shouldered part 22 are placed relative to the motor 11 on the side of the flange 16 and on the side of the flange 17 respectively. Two tapered roller bearings 25a and 25b are mounted on the shaft 19, respectively between the flange 16 and the threaded part 21 and between the flange 17 and the shoulder 23. Each of these bearings comprises an internal ring 26, an external ring 27 and a series of conical rollers 28 capable of rolling between frustoconical rolling surfaces of the two rings. The outer ring 27 can move axially relative to the inner ring and the rollers. Two conical elastic washers 29a and 29b, the bearing 25a, a support ring 30a and a conical elastic washer 29c are threaded on the shaft 19, in this order, between a nut 31 screwed onto the threaded part 21 and the flange 16 Similarly, a conical elastic washer 29d, a support ring 30b and the bearing 25b are threaded on the shaft, in this order, between the flange 17 and the shoulder 23. When the nut 31 is tightened on the threaded part 21, it bears axially against the inner ring 26 of the bearing 25a, by means of the washers 29a and 29b which are in mutual contact by their outer edge and which are in contact with the nut and with the ring 26 by their inner edge. A radial bearing surface of the ring 27 of the same bearing is supported on the flange 16 by means of the bearing ring 30a and the washer 29c, the inner edge of which is in contact with the flange; the flange 17 is supported on a radial bearing surface of the ring 27 of the bearing 25b, by means of the washer 29d and of the support ring 30b, the latter and the bearing 25b being arranged symmetrically with the washer 29c, the ring 30a and the bearing 25a with respect to the engine 11; and a radial bearing surface of the ring 26 of the bearing 25b is supported on the shoulder 23 of the shaft. The chain sprocket 14 is mounted freely on the shaft 19, between the shouldered part 22 and the collar 20, and is integral with a toothed crown formed by teeth 32 of shape complementary to that of teeth 24 and meshing therewith. .A helical spring 33 surrounding the shaft 19 and bearing on the flange 20 biases the pinion 14 towards the part 22 so that the teeth 24 and 32 mesh with one another. Of course, to allow the mounting of the pinion 14 and the spring 33, the shaft 19 with its flange 20 and its shouldered portion 22 can be made of several parts joined together.

Due to the arrangement of the parts described above, the tightening of the nut 31 makes the outer rings of the two bearings integral in rotation with the motor outlet flanges, and the inner rings of the bearings integral in rotation with the shaft 19 , by means of the nut 31 with regard to the bearing 25a. In addition, the axial tightening of the bearings results in high friction between the rollers 28 and the rings of the bearings, so that the latter tend to rotate in one piece. Consequently, in the absence of a significant resisting force, the motor, when it rotates, drives the shaft 19 in rotation. The teeth 24 of the toothed ring secured to the shaft and the teeth 32 of the toothed ring integral with the pinion 14 are asymmetrical and each have a side oriented substantially axially and a side strongly inclined relative to the axis. When the motor turns in the direction corresponding to the opening of the door, the teeth 24 positively drive the teeth 32, by their respective flanks oriented axially, to effect the opening of the door. However, if a sufficient resistant force is manifested, for example if a child hangs from the bottom ascending edge of the door, the rollers 28 roll on the bearing rings, allowing the shaft 19 to no longer accompany the rotation of the motor and at the door to stop. When the motor rotates in the direction corresponding to the closing of the door, in normal operation, the teeth 24 also drive the teeth 32, by their respective inclined sides.

However, it is possible to immobilize the door manually and even to reverse its movement, the pinion 14 the spring 33 compressing, allowing the pinion 14 to slide and disengage from the ring gear of the part 22 so as to be able to rotate in the opening direction while the shaft rotates in the closing direction or is immobilized by the rolling of the rollers 28. This possibility of reversing the movement of the door can be used to free a person trapped under the edge lower of it.

To prevent the door from being able to be reopened manually when it is completely closed, an electromechanical device 34 (FIG. 1), known per se, is provided for locking the door in the closed position.

The effort required to interrupt the movement of the door by the action of the tapered roller bearings 25a and 25b can be adjusted by tightening the nut 31 more or less.

As for the force required to reverse the closing movement of the door, it is determined by the compression force of the spring 33.

Due to its guide mode described above, the door 1 exerts on the shaft 6 a force in the direction of closing, this force being substantially zero in the open position and gradually increasing to the closed position . For the safety device described above to function optimally, there are provided balancing means exerting on the shaft 6, in the direction of opening, an increasing torque from the open position to the position closing, so that a roughly constant resisting torque, less than the limit drive torque defined by the transmission members 12, is exerted on the pinion 14, both during opening and during closing Door. These balancing means are housed in the box 2. They comprise a spring 35 in the form of an elastic cord of the bungee cord type, wound in the manner of a belt, in several turns, on two pulleys 36 and 37 of axes. horizontal. The pulley 36 is mounted in a fixed position at the bottom of the box, and the pulley 37 is suspended above the pulley 36, by means of a chain reduction mechanism 38, of conventional design and which will not described in detail, so that the pulley 37 moves in the vertical direction, at a speed proportional to the speed of rotation of the shaft 6, between a high position shown in solid lines in FIG. 2, corresponding to the position of door closing, and a low position shown in broken lines in Figure 2, corresponding to the door opening position. The transition from the low position to the high position is accompanied by an increasing tension of the spring 35, corresponding to an equally increasing tensile force which results in an increasing torque exerted via the mechanism 38 on the shaft 6 , in the direction of opening. The tension and the pulling force can be zero for the low position of the pulley 37. The pulling force, for a given position of the pulley 37, can be adjusted by the choice of the quality of the cord 35, its length and the number of turns it describes around the two pulleys.

Claims (15)

Claims 1. Safety device for a tilting door (1) driven by a motor (11) so as to move between a substantially vertical closed position and a high, substantially horizontal, open position, characterized in that it comprises two transmission members mounted between the motor and the door so as to limit the drive force transmitted from the motor to the door, a first member (25a, 25b) allowing the door to stop in its opening movement under the effect of a resistant force, and the second member (27,32) allowing the reversal of the closing movement under the effect of a force exerted manually in the direction of opening. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means (31) for adjusting the limit force of drive. 3. Device according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the first transmission member comprises a bearing (25a, 25b) with conical rollers (28) whose inner (26) and outer (27) rings tighten the rollers between them and are integral in rotation one of an upstream element (11) and the other of a downstream element (22), relative to the transmission member, in the transmission chain. 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the tapered roller bearing (25b) is mounted freely on a shaft (19) and is clamped axially between two radial surfaces (17,23) which belong respectively to said upstream elements (11 ) and downstream (22) and which cooperate by friction respectively with the two rings (27, 26). 5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the upstream element is the motor (11) and that the downstream element is the second transmission member (22,32). 6. Device according to one of claims 4 and 5, characterized in that the shaft is integral with the downstream element, the latter cooperating with the outer ring (26) of the roller bearing. 7. Device according to one of claims 5 and 6, characterized in that the first transmission member comprises two tapered roller bearings (25a, 25b) mounted symmetrically on either side of the motor (11)? the shaft (19) passing through the engine. 8. Device according to claim 7, attached to claim 2, characterized in that the means for adjusting the limit drive force comprise a nut (31) screwed onto a threaded end part (21) of the shaft (19), a first roller bearing (25b), the motor (11) and the second roller bearing (25a) being clamped, in this order, between the radial surface (23) of cooperation of the second transmission member, integral of the shaft, and the nut, with the interposition of at least one elastic washer (29a, 29d). 9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the second transmission member comprises two parts (22,32) integral in rotation respectively with an upstream element and a downstream element, relative to this member transmission, and provided with mutual cooperation means (24,32) ensuring a positive drive of the downstream part by the upstream part in the direction corresponding to the opening of the door, and a transformation of the rotational movement of the downstream part in the direction corresponding to the closing of the door in an alternating axial relative movement of the two parts, a spring (33) urging them in their relative axial position for which a positive drive occurs. 10. Device according to claim 9, characterized in that the means of mutual cooperation comprise two crowns with asymmetrical teeth meshing with one another. 11. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, the door exerting on the transmission members a variable force along its travel, opening and closing, it comprises balancing means (35, 38) intended to compensate for this variation. 12. Device according to claim 11, characterized in that the balancing means comprise a tension spring (35) whose tensile force is an increasing function of its length, and a mechanism for lengthening the spring by tension during the movement Door.  13. Device according to one of claims 11 and 12, characterized in that the force exerted by the door and the force exerted by the balancing means are substantially zero in the open position of the door. 14. Device according to claim 13, characterized in that the door is articulated around a horizontal axis (9), in a median region between its horizontal edges, at the end of an arm (7) pivoting around a horizontal axis (40), an element (42) of the door located at the lower part thereof being guided along a vertical path, the upper end of which is close to the axis (40) of pivoting of the arm. 15. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means (34) for locking the door in the closed position.