IT8922013A1 - AUTOMATION FOR MOTORIZED GATE OPENERS WITH ELECTRONIC LIMIT SWITCH DETECTION. - Google Patents

Description

The present invention refers to an innovative control device for the motorized opening of gates and the like.

In the known art, the automatisms of the type commonly known as gate openers have two limit switch devices (for example of the mechanical type) to detect when the gate, moved by a suitable gearmotor mechanism, reaches the extreme positions of its travel, cos? to be able to carry out the opening and closing operations correctly.

Usually the gate opener devices are made in ranges of models each usable for a certain set of gates or the like, sorted by type and size. AND? it is therefore necessary to provide means for adjusting the position of intervention of the limit switches to allow their correct operation with a certain independence from the type and amplitude of the movement of the particular gate served.

A prior art solution provides for positioning the limit switches in the vicinity of the of the extremes of the gate opening and closing travel cos? to be operated directly by this (possibly with interposition of strikers attached to the gate). There? entails for? the problem that, at the time of the installation of the gate opener, it is necessary to foresee the placement of the limit switches (variable according to the type of gate operated) and the installation of their electrical connections. be relatively long and expensive especially if the ends of the gate travel are particularly distant.

A different prior art solution provides for the positioning of the limit switch in a fixed position in correspondence with the mechanical movement part of the gate opener. This positioning can? therefore, it must be provided directly for the production of the opening and closing device in the factory. These limit switches are activated by means of strikers applied to some part of the mobile gate opener mechanism in proportion to the movement of the gate. However, such a second solution always involves a certain mechanical intervention during installation to adapt the positions of the strikers to the particular movement of the gate with consequent waste of time.

General purpose of the present invention? that of obviating the aforementioned drawbacks by providing a motorized opening device for a gate or the like which does not use limit switch means and which eliminates the need? of further mechanical adjustments or installation of electrical connections for setting the travel limits for opening and closing the gate or similar.

In view of this purpose, yes? thought of realizing, according to the invention, a motorized gate opener device of the type comprising a gearmotor, moving a gate or the like through a kinematic mechanism, operated by a control logic which commands the gate to open and close and? connected to signaling means to said control logic that the gate has reached the foreseen travel limits, characterized in that said means comprise in combination means for detecting the absolute position of the gate and a position data comparison circuit, detected by said detection means, with two values previously stored in a non-volatile memory.

To make more? the explanation of the innovative principles of the present invention and its advantages with respect to the known art will be clearly described. below, with the help of the attached schematic drawing, a possible exemplary embodiment of a motorized opening and closing device for a gate applying these principles.

With reference to the figure, the said device comprises a gearmotor 10, which moves a gate or the like (not shown) by means of a kinematic mechanism 11 of the known technique (for example, schematized in the figure with a rack). The gearmotor 10? activated by a control logic 12, of known art and therefore? not further shown, which commands the gate to open and close with modality? well known by the skilled technician in the art. According to the present invention, a circuit 21? connected, via a line 13, to the controller 12 to communicate that the gate has reached the foreseen travel limits.

This circuit 21 comprises a device 22 for detecting the absolute position of the gate, a circuit 16 (advantageously achievable with a microprocessor) for managing and comparing the position data detected by the device 22 with two predetermined values, two buttons 18 and 19, respectively of command to the storage in non-volatile memory means 17, for example RAM memories with buffer batteries or E2PROM memories, of said predetermined values obtained as gate position data (supplied by the device 22) in the two positions considered to be extreme of its stroke, a status light indicator 20 indicating the recordings that have been made.

Device 22? advantageously realized with an analog / digital conversion circuit 15 for the signal coming from a potentiometer 14, applied to the gearmotor 10 so as to be activated during the movement of the gate, so? to obtain a numerical datum, result of the conversion and representing the absolute position of the gate, to be sent via a line 23 to the circuit 16. 11 operation of the described device? the following. The position of the cursor of the potentiometer 14? obviously proportional to that of the gate, being both moved by the same drive and therefore the position of the gate? known instant by instant by the circuit 16 as a binary number supplied by the converter 15. Naturally, the potentiometer 14 (for example of the multiturn type) must have a stroke of the cursor sufficient to cover the movement of a gate having the maximum path applicable to the gate opener.

To set the limit switch limits of the gate? it is sufficient, once the installation of the opening and closing device has been completed, to bring the gate, for example manually, to the fully open position (or in any case to the position to be set as the end of the opening stroke) and press button 18; then move the gate to its fully closed position and press button 19.

In this way, the circuit 16 stores in the memory 17 when the key 18 is pressed the binary number supplied by the converter 15 and represents the position of the cursor of the potentiometer 14 and therefore of the gate at the end of the opening stroke and when the key 19 is pressed the number track supplied by the converter 15 and representing the position of the cursor of the potentiometer 14 and therefore of the gate at the end of the closing stroke.

The light 20 can advantageously be used to indicate, for example, by flashing, that the said positions have been stored.

During normal operation of the motorized gate movement device, circuit 16 continues to compare binary numbers arriving from converter 15 with the two stored in memory 17 and representing the extremes of the range of admissible numbers (i.e. the admissible extremes of the gate travel ). If it detects that an incoming number? equal to the number representing an extreme (or a limit outside the extremes of said admitted range) it sends a signal 13 to the controller 12 communicating the reaching (or exceeding) of a limit switch position. In this way the control circuit 12 stops the movement of the gate as happened with the circuits of the known art having limit switch devices.

Advantageously, the circuit of the present invention can? provide an additional benefit. In fact, the circuit 16 can? be expected to perform the comparison between the speed? of variation of the numbers arriving from the converter and a predetermined reference value representing the speed? of variation of these numbers when the gate moves at its normal speed? opening or closing. Any deviation from this reference value indicates that the gate? braked during movement (for example due to a foreign body present in the path of the gate) and this condition is signaled by the circuit 16 to the controller 12 again through line 13. The controller 12 can? so, for example, stop the gate instantaneously if it was opening and reverse its direction if it was closing.

In this way, overload damage to the gate opener mechanisms and above all to the bodies that accidentally find themselves in the path of the moving gate can be avoided.

Of course, the above description of a device applying the innovative principles of the present invention? reported here by way of example of these principles and must therefore not be taken as a limitation of the property rights claimed here.

For example, although the proposed solution is particularly effective and economical, the device 22 can? be made with any absolute position detector such as an absolute position encoder with output in the form of a binary number connected to the management and comparison circuit 16.

Claims (8)

CLAIMS 1. Motorized gate opener device of the type comprising a gearmotor (10), moving a gate or the like through a kinematic mechanism (11), operated by a control logic (12) which commands the gate to open and close and? connected to means (21) for signaling to said control logic (12) that the gate has reached the foreseen travel limits, characterized by the fact that said means (21) comprise in combination means (22) for detecting the absolute position of the gate and a circuit (16) for comparing the position data, detected by said detection means (22), with two values previously stored in a non-volatile memory (17). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the two previously stored values are numerical position data detected by said detection means (22) stored in the non-volatile memory (17) upon activation of storage command means. 3. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the means (22) for detecting the absolute position of the gate comprise an analog / digital conversion circuit (15) for the signal coming from a potentiometer (14), applied to the gearmotor (10 ) in the sense of being activated when the gate moves, obtaining a numerical data resulting from the conversion and representing the absolute position of the gate. 4. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the storage command means comprise a first button (18) enabling the storage of a value as a representation of the extreme closing travel position of the gate and a button (19) enabling storage of a value as a representation of the gate's extreme opening travel position. 5. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the non-volatile memory means (17) are made in the form of E2PROM memories. 6. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the non-volatile memory means (17) are made in the form of RAM memories with a buffer battery. 7. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the comparison circuit (16) comprises a luminous status indicator (20) for indicating the memorization in the non-volatile memory (17). 8. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the comparison circuit (16)? made in the form of a microprocessor circuit.