GB2268957A

GB2268957A - Balanced window panel assembly.

Info

Publication number: GB2268957A
Application number: GB9215797A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Paul Ernest Laidman Temple
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-07-24
Filing date: 1992-07-24
Publication date: 1994-01-26
Anticipated expiration: 2012-07-24
Also published as: GB9215797D0; GB2268957B

Abstract

A window assembly comprises a frame (10) and two movable panels (12, 14) mounted in the frame, at least one of the movable panels (12) being transparent, and drive means, such as a worm drive (16) for moving the panels into and out of operative positions. The weight of one movable panel acts on the drive means in a direction opposite to that of the other movable panel. The weight of one panel serves, at least in part, to counter-balance the weight of the other. The movable transparent panel (12) comprises a sub-frame (22), and one or more minor frames (24) hingedly mounted in the sub-frame and each carrying a sheet (26) of transparent material. The sub-frames (22) can be hinged from an operative position to a maintenance position, allowing access to both sides of the transparent material for cleaning purposes. <IMAGE>

Description

WINDOW ASSEMBLY This invention relates to a window assembly, in particular to a window assembly of the type in which two or more movable panels are mounted in a frame.

It is known that window assemblies comprising a frame made, for example, of wood or metal (steel, aluminium or alloys thereof) or other suitable materials, can be provided with one or more upright-sliding panels, each having a different function. Window assemblies are components in building constructions intended to complete the openings made in outer walls, with the aim of protecting the inner room from the exterior environment, while allowing the passage therethrough of natural light from the outside. Such window assemblies may be provided with shutters to reduce the transmitted light passing into the interior, to serve as protection or as a security device. Shutters are often hingedly-mounted on the outside of the building but may also be slidably mounted.

Such an assembly is known from European Patent Specification EP 77 307-A (Zambrini) in which complete closing or opening of a window space is achieved by means of a single upright-sliding shutter disappearing entirely into a wall when it is completely lifted. The assembly also includes an upright-sliding glazed panel. The sliding panels are driven independently by hand.

However, such an assembly has not found widespread commercial use, suffering from the disadvantage that where the panels have a significant weight, which is especially so in the case of large assemblies or where one or more of the panels is formed of metal, the power required to move the panels into and out of operative position is considerable. We have now discovered that a window assembly comprising two movable panels mounted in a frame can be constructed in such a manner that the power requirement for operation is significantly reduced.

Thus, according to the invention there is provided a window assembly comprising a frame and two movable panels mounted in said frame, at least one of said movable panels being transparent, and drive means for moving said panels into and out of operative positions, characterised in that the weight of one movable panel acts on the drive means in a direction opposite to that of the other movable panel.

Thus, the weight of one panel serves, at least in part, to counter-balance the weight of the other. The power needed to move from one operative position to another is more a function of the difference in weight between the movable panels, rather than of the movable panels Per se.

I prefer that each movable panel is mounted in said frame for movement in a vertical direction, although other orientations are also possible. By the term "vertical" as used herein, we include not only truly vertical, but any orientation in which a vertical component may be present, such as where the window assembly is positioned at an angle in, for example, a roof light or the like.

The invention necessarily requires at least two panels operatively connected to the drive means. However, further pairs of panels may be included, and indeed it is possible for the number of panels acting on the drive means in one direction to be different to the number of panels acting in the other direction. Furthermore, the assembly may optionally include one or more fixed transparent panels.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a further transparent panel is mounted in the frame, and the movable transparent panel slides in a plane to one side of the further transparent panel, while the other movable panel slides in a plane to the other side of the further transparent panel. This arrangement is particularly useful where one movable panel is one component of a double glazing unit, and is positioned towards the inside of the building while the other panel is an exterior shutter, provided for example for security purposes at night or when the building is unoccupied. Thus, it is possible that the spacing between the further transparent panel and the movable transparent panel, when~the latter is in its operative position, is such as to provide a thermal break.

The drive means preferably includes a worm drive to which both movable panels are operatively connected. The worm drive may be driven by an electrically powered motor, the operating circuit of which includes a switch which is a manual switch, a time-switch, or an automatic switch sensitive to environmental changes. Such environmental changes may include changes in light levels, noise levels, occupation of the building, temperature changes and changes in the composition of the atmosphere.

The assemblies according to the invention can be constructed in such a manner that the movable transparent panel comprises a sub-frame, one or more minor frames hingedly mounted in the sub-frame and each carrying a sheet of transparent material, whereby the sub-frames can be hinged from an operative position to a maintenance position allowing access to both sides of the transparent material for cleaning purposes.

The transparent material used in the movable transparent panels, and any fixed transparent panels which may be present, will usually be glass, but other transparent material such as transparent plastics material may also be used.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the assembly is in the form of a prefabricated unit which can simply be incorporated in buildings during the construction thereof, to serve a number of useful purposes. Thus, I prefer that the frame comprises an enclosed portion and an open portion, at least the movable transparent panel being movable from an operative position located in the open portion of the frame to a non-operative position located in the enclosed portion of the, frame. This construction enables the movable panels to be out of sight when not in use, and the enclosed portion within the frame may accommodate services selected from heating, air conditioning, power supply, energy transmission services and any combination thereof.

Usually, one movable panel is transparent, while the other is a non-transparent shutter formed of a stronger material than for example the glass of the transparent panel, such as wood or metal. Alternatively, the other shutter is also transparent, but with different light transmission properties, so that it may be used for example as a sun-screening panel to reduce transmission of greenhouse effect wavelengths into the building and thus reduce the overheating of buildings which occurs in sunny environments. When the incident solar radiation falls, the solar screening panel may be moved out-of the operative position to be replaced by a panel with greater light transmission properties, for example to allow more light into the building when the weather conditions are poorer.

The invention will now be described in more detail, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an end elevation of a window assembly according to the invention, with glazing panels in an "up" position; Figure 2 is the same view as Figure 1, but with the glazing panels in a "down" position; Figure 3 is a front elevation of the window assembly shown in Figures 1 and 2 showing in diagrammatic form the connection between a movable panel and its drive means; Figure 4 shows diagrammatically in plan view the worm drive and electrical circuit for driving movement of the panels of the assembly shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a part plan sectional view of an alternative window assembly.

As shown in Figure 1, a window assembly comprises a frame 10, constructed for example of enamelled steel or aluminium, which includes an enclosed lower portion 34 defined by a fixed outer panel 40 provided with a sill 42 and a fixed inner panel 44 also provided with a sill 46. Above the enclosed lower portion 34 is an open upper portion 36. The portions 34 and 36 have approximately the same dimensions as each other, but this is an optional feature.

Mounted for sliding vertical movement within the frame 10 are two pairs of panels. The first pair consists of a glazed panel 12 and a curtain panel 14. The second, outer, pair of panels consists of a glazed panel 112 and a metal or plastic screen 114. Each pair of panels is operatively connected to drive means diagrammatically shown in Figures 1 and 2 as 16 and 116. The glazed panels 12 and 112 are spaced from each other, when in their operative position shown in Figure 1, by a distance S which is so sized to provide a thermal break, so that the panels 1 and 112 in this position effectively form a double-glazing unit.

Located beneath the sill 46 of the frame 10 are services such as a room heating radiator generally shown as 38. A decorative or louvred panel, not shown, may be provided on the room side of the radiator 38, in which case the fixed panel 44 may be omitted.

Figures 1 and 3 show that the two glazed panels 12, 112 each comprise a sub-frame 22 within which a minor frame 24 is hinged at its top edge, the minor frame 24 carrying the window glass 26 secured in the usual manner. The minor frame 24 may alternatively be hinged along its bottom edge, or along a side edge, to the sub-frame 22.

By hinging the minor frame 24 upwards as shown in Figure 1, access to both sides of the window glass 26 is possible for cleaning purposes.

While a single un-interupted sheet of glass 26 is shown in Figure 3, subdivisions according to a desired architectural style may be included.

The glazed panel 112 is similarly constructed. However, the hinge axes of the panels 12 and 112 are preferably offset from one another, as shown in Figure 1, enabling both sub-frames to be hinged upwards together.

The panels 14 and 114 may also be hingedly mounted, to enable cleaning and to provide access to the exterior of the building.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4 the drive means for each pair of movable panels of the assembly comprises an electrically powered motor 28, which drives two horizontally disposed drive shafts 50, 51. The remote end of the drive shaft 50 carries a worm gear 52 which meshes with two complementary gear wheels 54, 56, which are secured respectively to the upper end of a vertically disposed worm drive 58, 60 of which only worm drive 60 can be seen in Figure 3. The left-hand end of the drive means shown in Figure 4 is a mirror image of the right-hand end, the vertical worm drives on the left-hand side being designated 61 and 62. As shown in Figure 3, the sub-frame 22 is connected at each corner to an arm 64, the remote end of which carries a threaded bore, meshed with an adjacent one of the vertically disposed worm drives 60, 62.The sub-frame belonging to movable panel 112 is similarly connected to the vertically disposed worm drives 58, 61. The arrangement is such that operation of the motor 28 in one direction, drives the panel 12 in a downwards direction while simultaneously driving the panel 112 in an upwards direction. The weight of the panel 12, insofar as it is transmitted via the worm drive to the motor 28, acts on the motor in a direction opposite to that of the panel 112. The power required by the motor 28 to move the panels is merely that required to overcome any difference in weight between the panels and the friction inherent in the drive-. The panels 12 and 112 are thus effectively counter-balanced, especially when it is arranged that the weight difference between them is small.

Figure 4 also shows diagrammatically an electrical circuit for powering the motor 28, comprising a source of power 80 and an automatic switch 30 sensitive, for example, to low ambient outside light conditions and suitably located accordingly. As well as the automatic switch 30, or in place thereof, a time switch 32 may be placed in the circuit.

While not shown in the drawings, limit switches are located within the frame 10 to be triggered by the moving panels, thereby to disconnect power to the motor 28 when the panels reach their end positions.

The second pair of movable panels 112, 114 are similarly interlinked and driven, independently of the panels 12, 14 although it is possible that a common operating switch, or via a suitable gearing arrangement, a common drive motor could be used according to the desired manner of operation.

In an alternative embodiment, not shown, where the dimension of the upper portion 36 is greater than that of the lower portion 34, the panels may be duplicated, the movement of the top panel drawing up second and third panels into an operative position.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the window assembly comprises inner and outer fixed transparent panels 71, 76, a first pair of linked movable panels 72, 73 of which one 72 is a security screen while the other 73 is a glazed panel, and a second pair of linked movable panels 74, 75 of which one 74 is a glazed panel and the other 75 is a thermal screen. Reference numeral 78 indicates extension pieces and linked drive rods for raising and lowering panels 72 and 73 while reference numeral 79 indicates extension pieces and linked drive rods for raising and lowering panels 74 and 75. As can be seen in Figure 5, the edges of the various panels 71 to 76 are progressively off-set from one another, to allow hinging, and are held in position by an aluminium extruded side section 77.

Claims

1. A window assembly comprising a frame (10) and two movable panels (12, 14) mounted in the frame, at least one of the movable panels (12) being transparent, and drive means (16) for moving the panels into and out of operative positions, characterised in that the weight of one movable panel acts on the drive means in a direction opposite to that of the other movable panel.

2. A window assembly according to Claim 1, wherein each movable panel is mounted in the frame for sliding movement in a vertical direction

3. A window assembly according to Claims 1 or 2, further comprising a further transparent panel (18) mounted #in the frame.

4. A window assembly according to Claim 3, wherein the movable transparent panel (12) slides in a plane to one side of the further transparent panel (18) while the other movable panel (14) slides in a plane to the other side of the further transparent panel (18).

5. A window assembly according to Claim 4, wherein the spacing between the further transparent panel (18) and the movable transparent panel (12), when the latter is in its operative position, is such as to provide a thermal break.

6. A window assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the drive means (16) includes a worm drive (20) to which both movable panels are operatively connected.

7. A window assembly according to claim 6, wherein the worm drive is driven by an electrically powered motor (28), the operating circuit of which includes an automatic switch (30), sensitive to environmental changes.

8. A window assembly according to claim 7, wherein the automatic switch (30) is sensitive to changes in light conditions.

9. A window assembly according to claim 6, wherein the worm drive is driven by an electrically powdered motor (28), the operating circuit of which includes a time-switch (32).

10. A window assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the movable transparent panel (12) comprises a sub-frame (22), one or more minor frames (24) hingedly mounted in the sub-frame and each carrying a sheet (26) of transparent material, whereby the sub-frames (22) can be hinged from an operative position to a maintenance position, allowing access to both sides of the transparent material for cleaning purposes.

11. A window assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the frame (10) comprises an enclosed portion (34) and an open portion (36), at least the movable transparent panel (12) being movable from an operative position located in the open portion (36) of the frame (10) to an non-operative position located in the enclosed portion (34) of the frame.

12. A window assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the frame (10) accommodates services (38) selected from heating, air conditioning, power supply, energy transmission #ervices and any combination thereof.

13. A window assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the other movable panel (14) is a non-transparent shutter.

14. A window assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the other movable panel (14) is a second transparent panel having different light transmission properties to that of the first movable panel (12).