FR2683258A1 - Warehouse door with roll-up shutter providing improved lateral sealing - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a door with a flexible roll-up shutter (4) for closing off an opening (5), comprising two lateral uprights, each of which has a slideway which forms a narrowed part (7), the shutter (4) approximately forming a plane and comprising lateral edges which slide in the said narrowed part (7) and which are fitted with reliefs, which project beyond the plane of the shutter, the said reliefs being located more or less continuously along the lateral edges of the shutter and being fitted so that they press in a more or less sealing manner against the narrowed part (7) of the slideways at least when the shutter (4) is subjected to a tensile force directed towards the inside of the opening (5), the said reliefs having sufficient flexibility to pass through the said narrowed part (7) in cases where the said tensile force exceeds a given value. The reliefs are made from a flexible elastic material in sheet form (20, 21) firmly secured to the lateral edges of the shutter, the said sheet material diverging away from each lateral edge of the shutter, on either side of the shutter plane.

Description

The present invention relates to a liftable curtain door with watertightness

  improved side, intended to reduce the passage of air through the door, to limit heat exchange and / or the entry of dust or microorganisms into a room. Such doors generally comprise two lateral uprights provided with slides in which the lateral parts of the curtain slide. European patent n o 194 194 describes a technical solution making it possible to avoid the passage of air between the slides and the lateral parts of the curtain. solution, the side uprights are U-section profiles which have a bottom wall substantially perpendicular to the curtain, and two side walls which extend from the bottom wall towards the curtain, parallel to the curtain The side edges of the curtain are extended by a strip of flexible material which rubs against the bottom of the U-shaped profile. In such a solution, obtaining an excellent seal between the lateral edges of the curtain and the slides involves significant friction between said strip of flexible material and the slides This results in a significant loss of energy when the curtain is operated. drawback is particularly annoying in so-called "handling" doors, which open and close a large number of times per

  day in the passage of handling vehicles.

  The document EP O 033 199 describes a liftable curtain door having a curtain

  flexible rubber with thick side edges that slide in slides.

  The slides have a constriction disposed between the thick edge of the curtain and the opening to be closed. This type of door is particularly intended to produce a substantially sealed closure between sections of a mine which are maintained at a determined pressure. The thick edges of the curtain are deformable so as to pass through the throttle of the slide during a violent impact on the curtain But in such a case, the thick edge of the curtain may get caught in the throttle of the slide,

  which subsequently prevents the curtain from being raised and blocks the door in the closed position.

  The object of the present invention is to remedy this drawback.

  The subject of the present invention is a door with a flexible curtain which can be raised to close a bay, comprising two lateral uprights each having a slide forming a constriction, the curtain forming substantially a plane and comprising lateral edges which slide in said constriction and which are provided with reliefs protruding out of the plane of the curtain, said reliefs being arranged in a substantially continuous manner along the lateral edges of the curtain and being adapted to be applied in a substantially sealed manner against the throttling of the slides at least when the curtain undergoes a pulling force directed towards the interior of the opening, said reliefs having sufficient flexibility to pass through said constriction when said tensile force exceeds a determined value, characterized in that said reliefs are constituted by a flexible elastic sheet material secured to the lateral edges of the curtain , and said sheet material extends in d submerging from each side edge of the curtain, on each side of the plane of the curtain Thus, the side edges of the curtain can be deformed to a very small thickness so that they are not likely to get caught in the throttles of the slides when partially out of

  runners In this way, it is certain that the curtain can be raised in any case.

  The sheet material may comprise two lateral sheets each integral with said lateral edge of the curtain, and each extending on one side of the plane of the curtain diverging from the lateral edge of the curtain, or it may comprise a single sheet

  formed in a loop, which constitutes a hollow bead secured to the lateral edge of the curtain.

  Advantageously, said sheet material can extend continuously along each lateral edge of the curtain. As a variant, said sheet material can comprise horizontal cutouts to facilitate the deformation of the curtain out of its plane, by

  example during a winding on an axis during the raising of the curtain.

  According to an advantageous embodiment, said constriction of the slide of each upright comprises ribs directed towards said sheet material, which extend continuously parallel to the lateral edge of the curtain, and which are adapted to be applied in substantially sealed contact against said sheet material, at least when the curtain is subjected to a tensile force directed towards the inside of the opening In all cases, whether or not said constriction has ribs, it is possible that said sheet material has ribs directed towards the constriction of the upright slide, which extend substantially continuously parallel to the lateral edge of the curtain and which are adapted to be applied in sealed contact against said constriction, at least when the curtain undergoes a tensile force directed towards

inside the bay.

  According to one embodiment of the invention, on each lateral edge of the curtain, said sheet material has reliefs facing the throttle of the upright slide, and said throttle comprises reliefs against which said reliefs of sheet material abut when the curtain is subjected to a directed tensile force

towards the interior of the bay.

  According to another embodiment of the invention, said constriction of the slide of each upright comprises sliding pads or rolling means arranged at a certain distance on each side of the plane of the curtain, opposite

sheet material.

  According to yet another embodiment of the invention, said sheet material comprises sliding pads or rolling means arranged at a certain distance on each side of the plane of the curtain, opposite the constriction of the

  slide of each lateral upright.

  Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the

  following description of several embodiments of the invention, given by way of

  non-limiting examples with regard to the attached drawings, which will make it clear

  how the invention can be realized.

  In the drawings: FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an example of a door according to the invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic views illustrating two possible methods of lifting the curtain, FIG. 4 represents an edge side of the curtain, according to one embodiment of the invention, Figure 5 shows a side edge of the curtain, according to another embodiment of the invention, Figure 6 illustrates the winding of the curtain of Figures 4 and 5 around of an axis, FIG. 7 represents the lateral edge of the curtain of FIG. 5 or of FIG. 6, seen in transverse section before installation in its slides, FIG. 8 represents a variant of the lateral edge of FIG. 7, Figure 9 is a sectional view illustrating the position of the side edge of Figure 7 in the slides of the door, when the curtain does not undergo a tensile force directed towards the interior of the bay, Figure 10 is a view similar to figure 9, when the curtain is subjected to the force of the wind, Figure 11 is also a view similar to Figure 9, when the curtain is subjected to a violent shock, Figure 12 is a sectional view of a variant of the side edge of Figure 7 , Figure 13 is a perspective view of a particular shape of the side edge of the curtain according to the invention, Figure 14 is a detail view of Figure 13, Figures 15 and 16 show two particular embodiments of the edge side of the curtain according to the invention, Figures 17 and 18 show two particular embodiments of the slide according to the invention, Figure 19 shows a particular embodiment of the side edge of the curtain according to the invention, in place in its Figure 20 is a view similar to Figure 19, when a pulling force is applied to the curtain, and Figure 21 is a view similar to Figure 19, in which the side edge of the

  curtain is similar to that of Figure 7 and the slide has inner rollers.

  In the drawings, the same references designate identical or similar parts.

  In the following description, adjectives such as "vertical" or "horizontal" are

  sometimes used However, it should be noted that such adjectives are used only for convenience of language and are in no way limiting. Thus, the adjective "vertical" must be understood as meaning "parallel to the lateral edges of the curtain", and the adjective "horizontal" should be understood as meaning "perpendicular to the edges

curtain sides ".

  With reference to FIG. 1, the door according to the invention has two lateral uprights 1, 2, which generally frame an opening 5 open in a wall 9 of a building The lateral uprights 1, 2 each comprise a slide forming a constriction 7 in the vicinity of the opening 5, the constriction 7 delimiting a vertical slot 8 In the particular example shown in FIG. 1, the vertical lateral uprights are profiles, for example metallic, having a U-shaped section. Thus, in this example, the throttle of the slide consists of a front wall 7 from which extend two walls 10, towards the outside of the opening 5, but the uprights 1, 2 could have any other shape without leaving the frame of this

  invention, provided they have a throttle 7.

  The door of FIG. 1 also has a lifting curtain 4, which has lateral edges 4 a sliding in the slot 8 of each lateral upright The curtain 4 is flexible, so that, when a force is applied to it perpendicular to its plane, this force results in a pull on the lateral edges 4a of said curtain, which tends to cause said lateral edges 4a to have slots 8 In the particular example represented in FIG. 1, the curtain 4 also comprises reinforcement bars 6 horizontal It is essential that these bars have sufficient flexibility to allow the edges 4a to come out of their slot 8 when a sufficient force is applied to the curtain 4 perpendicular to its plane, for example during an impact of 'a

  handling vehicle against the curtain 4.

  In the particular example shown in FIG. 1, the door further comprises a cross member 3 which connects the lateral uprights 1, 2 at their upper ends. Such a cross member 3 could possibly be omitted without departing from the scope of the

present invention.

  The curtain of the door according to the present invention can be raised in various ways. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the curtain 4 can be raised by winding around a horizontal axis 11 located in the upper part of the door. As a variant, as shown in FIG. 3, the lateral uprights 1, 2 of the door can be extended in the upper part by slides 15, 16 in which the lateral edges 4 a of the curtain 4 can slide. In the latter case, the curtain 4

  relieves without winding, by simple sliding in the slides 15 and 16.

  The curtain 4 can be actuated by mechanical or electromechanical means

  which are well known in the state of the art.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each lateral edge 4a of the curtain 4 of the door according to the present invention may comprise two sheets of elastic flexible material 20, 21 which extend continuously over the entire height of the lateral edge 4a, each on one side of the plane of the curtain Each of the sheets 20, 21 is integral with the side edge 4a of the curtain, and extends from said edge 4a in a direction not parallel to the plane of the curtain 4 The side edge 4a of the curtain thus has a Y-shaped or T-shaped section. As shown in FIG. 7, the flexible sheets 20, 21 may each have a part parallel to the plane of the curtain, respectively 20a, 21a, and a bent part, respectively 20 b, 21 b, not parallel to the plane of the curtain In the example shown in FIG. 7, each part parallel to the plane of the curtain 20 a, 21 a, made with the corresponding bent part 20 b, 21 b, an angle substantially equal to 90 However, this angle t be different from 90, provided that it is not equal 1800 Each part parallel to the plane of the curtain 20a, 21a, is fixed to the curtain by any known means, for example by sewing, welding, gluing, pressing hot, etc. As a variant, as shown in FIG. 8, the sheets 20, 21 can be fixed to one another in the vicinity of the junction 22 between their parts parallel to the curtain and their bent parts. Optionally, the sheets 20, 21 can thus be

formed in one piece.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the bent parts 20 b, 21 b of each flexible sheet 20, 21, may have horizontal slits 23, distributed over the height of the lateral edge 4 a of the curtain. The deformation of the curtain 4 is thus facilitated outside from its plane, for example when the curtain 4 must be rolled up when it is raised As shown in FIG. 6, the curtain 4 is then rolled up on a roller 24 rotating around an axis 11 It may be advantageous if the width of the roll 24 is equal to or slightly less than the width of the curtain 4 itself, so that the bent portions 20 b, 21 b of the flexible sheets 20, 21 wind up outside the axial ends 25 of said roll 24 On thus prevents said bent portions 20 b,

  21 b do not create local excess thicknesses in the curtain winding.

  FIG. 9 represents the arrangement of the lateral edge 4 a of FIG. 7 when it is inserted into a slide formed by a constriction 7 of a lateral upright 1 As long as the curtain 4 is not subjected to any stress perpendicular to its plane, the edge lateral 4 a does not undergo any pulling force towards the inside of the opening 5 In the example shown in FIG. 9, the bent parts 20 b, 21 b of the flexible sheets 20, 21 are slightly deformed towards the outside of the bay 5, so that their end

  respective free 20 c, 21 c is in elastic contact against the throttle 7 of the amount.

  Thus, said sheets 20, 21 make a sealed contact between the curtain 4 and the lateral uprights 1, 2, without the friction between said sheets 20, 21 and the constriction 7 being significant. In fact, when the curtain 4 is raised, said sheets 20, 21 rub against the constriction 7 only by their free ends 20 c,

  21 c, so that the friction surface is limited.

  It is possibly possible to provide that when the curtain 4 is not subjected to any stress, the flexible sheets 20, 21 are not at all in contact with the constriction 7 Indeed, as shown in FIG. 10, as soon as there is between the two faces of the curtain 4 a difference in air pressure, due for example to the wind, to the maintenance of a part in overpressure, or to the maintenance of a part in depression, the curtain 4 undergoes a tensile force directed towards the inside the opening 5 Therefore, the flexible sheets 20, 21 are drawn by the curtain 4 towards the inside of the opening 5, so that their bent parts 20 b, 21 b are applied in a sealed manner against the 'throttle 7 of each upright 1, 2 Thus, the door according to the invention ensures that there is substantially no significant passage of air through the opening 5 when the curtain 4

is lowered.

  When there is a difference in air pressure between the two faces of the curtain 4, the flexible sheets 20, 21 bear against the constriction 7 with a significant elastic force, and the contact surface between said flexible sheets and the 'constriction 7 is possibly greater Therefore, the friction between said flexible sheets 20, 21 and the constriction 7 increases But it will be noted that, when the curtain is raised, the pressure between these two faces tends to equalize, the fact that air can pass below the curtain The curtain then tends to resume the shape shown in FIG. 9, where the friction between the flexible sheets 20, 21 and the constriction 7 is reduced, or possibly eliminated. energy consumption

during the operation of the curtain 4.

  In the event of a sufficiently brutal impact against the curtain 4, due to the flexibility of the sheets 20, 21, the bent portions 20 b, 21 b of the said sheets tend to be placed in the extension of the curtain 4, as shown in FIG. 11, which allows the lateral edge 4a of the curtain to come out of the constriction 7 This prevents the curtain from being

damaged.

  In addition, if part of a lateral edge 4a of the curtain 4 has not completely come out of the slot 8 delimited by the constriction 7, said lateral edge 4a does not remain trapped in the slot 8 In fact, the cumulative thickness of the flexible sheets 20, 21 is less than the width of the slot 8 Thus, if part of a side edge 4 has curtain 4 remains in slot 8, this does not prevent the curtain from being raised 4 therefore certain that the door does not remain locked in the closed position after a shock, which would be very annoying in

  the operation of an industrial facility.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the bent parts 20 b, 21 b of the flexible sheets 20, 21 may have ribs 27 parallel to the lateral edge 4 a of the curtain. These ribs 27 are directed towards the throttle 7 of the lateral upright and are

  adapted to apply elastically in a sealed manner against said constriction 7.

  Thus, the ribs 27 limit the contact surface between the flexible sheets 20, 21 and the constriction 7, and therefore also limit the friction between said flexible sheets.

  , 21 and the throttle 7 when the curtain 4 slides.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the constriction 7 of each upright 1, 2 can optionally include ribs 28 parallel to the lateral edge 4 a of said curtain and directed towards the sheets 20, 21 of said lateral edge 4 a, on each side of the plane curtain 4 These ribs 28 also have the effect of limiting the friction between the constriction 7 and said sheets 20, 21 when the curtain 4 slides. Furthermore, it is advantageous to provide both said ribs 28 on the constriction 7 and said ribs 27 on the flexible sheets 20, 21 This increases the tensile force which it is necessary to apply to the curtain 4 to cause the lateral edges 4a of said curtain to constrict 7 The ribs 28 of the constriction 7 can be formed in one piece with said constriction 7, as shown in Figure 17, or, as shown in Figure 18, the ribs 28 may be seals

  made of rubber or other flexible material, reported on throat 7.

  As shown in FIG. 19, it may be advantageous for the bent portions 20 b, 21 b, to have in the vicinity of their respective free ends 20 c, 21 c rollers adapted to roll vertically against the throttle 7, maintaining a spacing between said bent parts 20 b, 21 b and the constriction 7, when no tensile force is applied to the curtain 4 In this configuration, there is no sealed contact between the flexible sheets 20, 21 and l 'constriction 7 of each lateral upright of the door Thanks to the rollers 29, any friction between the flexible sheets 20, 21 and the constriction 7 of each lateral upright of the curtain is substantially eliminated, which results in an appreciable energy gain As shown in FIG. 20, as soon as there is a difference in ambient pressure between the two faces of the curtain, which could cause an air passage on the sides of said curtain, this difference in pressure is reflected p ar a deformation of the curtain which causes a pulling force on the curtain 4, directed towards the inside of the opening 5 Therefore, the flexible sheets 20, 21 are moved towards the inside of the opening 5, so that the bent portions 20 b, 21 b of said flexible sheets 20, 21 come into tight contact with the constriction 7 on the edges of the slot 8 1 therefore there is never any passage of air between the lateral edges of the

curtain 4 and the uprights 1, 2.

  As shown in FIG. 21, as a variant, the rollers 29 could be placed on the throttle 7 instead of being placed on the bent parts 20 b, 21 b

said flexible sheets 20, 21.

  According to another variant, shown in FIG. 15, the rollers 29 could be replaced by sliding pads 30, which can be arranged on the bent parts 20 b, 21 b of the flexible sheets 20, 21, in the vicinity of their free ends respective 20 c, 21 c As a variant, the sliding shoes 30 can be

  arranged on the throttle 7, like the rollers of Figure 21.

  As shown in FIG. 12, instead of having two elastic flexible sheets 20 and 21 arranged on each side of the plane of the curtain 4, the lateral edge 4 a of the curtain can be fixed to a single elastic flexible sheet 26 formed in a loop and s extending longitudinally along the lateral edge 4a of the curtain The flexible sheet 26 has two ends 26a and 26b which are fixed to the lateral edge 4a of the curtain, by any known means In the vicinity of the edge of the curtain 4, the flexible sheet 26 deviates from the plane of the curtain 4, on each side of said plane of the curtain 4, so that the lateral edge 4a of the curtain locally has a Y-shaped section, as has been seen previously The curtain 4 shown in the Figure 12 therefore behaves exactly the same way as the curtain described above, and it is likely to have the same variants. As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, when the curtain 4 has horizontal reinforcing bars 6 which slide in the lateral uprights 1, 2, these bars are generally threaded in sheaths formed in the curtain 4 Therefore, it can be difficult to fix flexible elastic sheets as seen above at the lateral edge of the curtain 4 at the level of the bars 6 In fact, if this fixing is done for example by sewing or by hot pressing, it risks locally obstructing the sleeves intended for receive the bars 6 To avoid this drawback, one can use the solution shown in Figure 13 In Figure 13, the side edge 4a of the curtain has a single flexible sheet 26 formed in a loop and fixed by its two ends 26a to the edges curtain 4 The sheet 26 extends along the side edge 4a of the curtain, but it is interrupted at each horizontal bar 6 In order to avoid a loss of watertightness inherited at each horizontal bar 6, at each end 6 is fitted with bars 6, seals 31, one of which is shown in FIG. 14 Each seal 31 has a front part 32 adapted to fit onto the end 6 a of the bar 6, and a rear part 33 which may comprise two elastic flexible sheets 34, 35 extending from the front part 32 towards the outside of the curtain 4, diverging on each side of the plane of the curtain 4 La rear part 33 is adapted to be applied in a sealed manner against the constriction 7 of the slide in which the lateral edge 4 has curtain. Instead of having two flexible sheets 34, the rear part 33 could comprise a single flexible sheet formed in a loop and fixed at its two ends to the front part 32 In the example shown in FIG. 14, the front part 32 of the joint 31 comprises two elastic sheets 35, 36 joined at a rear end 37, and which are nt adapted to be fitted onto the side bars 6 and the curtain 4 from the side edge 4a of the curtain, by elastically tightening the said

bars 6 and said curtain 4.

Claims (12)

Claims:   1. Door with flexible liftable curtain (4) for closing a bay (5), comprising two lateral uprights each having a slide forming a constriction (7), the curtain (4) substantially forming a plane and comprising lateral edges (4a ) which slide in said constriction (7) and which have reliefs projecting out of the plane of the curtain, said reliefs being arranged in a substantially continuous manner along the lateral edges (4a) of the curtain and being adapted to be applied in a manner substantially tight against the constriction (7) of the slides at least when the curtain (4) undergoes a tensile force directed towards the interior of the opening (5), said reliefs having sufficient flexibility to pass through said constriction (7) when said tensile force exceeds a determined value, characterized in that said reliefs consist of a flexible elastic sheet material (20, 21; 26) secured to the lateral edges (4 a) of the curtain, and said sheet material extends diverging from   each side edge (4 a) of the curtain, on each side of the plane of the curtain.   2. Door according to claim 1, further characterized in that on each lateral edge (4 a) of the curtain, said sheet material comprises two lateral sheets (20, 21) each secured to said lateral edge (4 a) of the curtain, and each extending   on one side of the plane of the curtain (4) diverging from the lateral edge (4 a) of the curtain.   3. Door according to claim 1, further characterized in that on each lateral edge (4 a) of the curtain, said sheet material comprises a single sheet (26) formed in a loop, which constitutes a hollow bead secured to the lateral edge ( 4 a) of the curtain.   4. Door according to any of claims 1 to 3, further characterized in   that said sheet material (20, 21; 26) extends continuously along   each side edge (4a) of the curtain.   5 A door according to any of claims 1 to 3, further characterized in   that said sheet material (20, 21; 26) has horizontal cutouts to facilitate the deformation of the curtain out of its plane, for example during winding   on an axis during the raising of the curtain.   6. Door according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in   further in that said constriction (7) of the slide of each upright (1, 2) has ribs (28) directed towards said sheet material (20, 21; 26), which extend continuously parallel to the lateral edge ( 4 a) of the curtain, and which are adapted to be applied in substantially sealed contact against said sheet material, at least   when the curtain (4) undergoes a tensile force directed towards the interior of the opening (5).   7. Door according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in   further in that on each lateral edge (4 a) of the curtain, said sheet material (20, 21; 26) has ribs (27) directed towards the throttle (7) of the rail of the upright, which extend substantially continuously parallel to the lateral edge (4 a) of the curtain and which are adapted to be applied in sealed contact against said constriction (7), at least when the curtain (4) is subjected to a tensile force directed towards the interior of the bay (5).   8 Door according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in   further in that on each lateral edge (4 a) of the curtain, said sheet material (20, 21 26) has reliefs (27; 29; 30) facing the throttle (7) of the upright slide, and said constriction (7) includes reliefs (28; 29; 30) against which said reliefs of the sheet material abut when the curtain (4) is subjected to a force   of traction directed towards the interior of the bay (5).   9. Door according to any of claims 1 to 5, further characterized in   that said constriction (7) of the slide of each upright (1, 2) comprises sliding pads (30) arranged at a certain distance on each side of the plane of the   curtain (4), facing the sheet material.   10 Door according to any of claims 1 to 5, further characterized   in that said constriction (7) of the slide of each upright (1, 2) comprises rolling means (29) arranged at a certain distance on each side of the plane of the   curtain (4), facing the sheet material.   11. Door according to any of claims 1 to 5, further characterized   in that said sheet material comprises sliding pads (30) arranged at a certain distance on each side of the plane of the curtain (4), opposite the constriction   (7) of the slide of each lateral upright (1, 2).   12. Door according to any of claims 1 to 5, further characterized   in that said sheet material comprises rolling means (29) arranged at a certain distance on each side of the plane of the curtain (4), opposite the constriction   (7) of the slide of each lateral upright (1, 2).