JPH01187281A - Closer for sliding door - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit a closer to be attached even to an existing sliding door by a low-cost simple structure in which a sliding door is pulled to the direction of closing by using a natural contact type spiral spring and braked by using a DC motor. CONSTITUTION:One end 2b of a drive spring 1 consisting of a natural contact type spiral spring is connected to a door frame 3, and the other end of the spring 1 is attached to the periphery of a drive drum 6 supported on a base plate 5a attached to the sliding door 12. A DC motor 8 and a reduction gear 7 to transmit the amplified rotation angular velocity of the drum 6 to the output shaft of the motor 8 are provided. One-way clutch to connect with the motor 8 only when the drum 6 winds up the spring 1 is built in the bearing 11. The sliding door 12 can thus be pulled to the direction of closing by the spring 1 and the motor 8 can have a braking function.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a sliding door closer, and more particularly to a sliding door closer that is simple and compact in structure and operates reliably.

[Conventional technology and issues]

Closers for revolving doors that are supported by a door frame via a hinge have been in practical use for a long time, and it is no exaggeration to say that the common name "door closer" refers to the closer for revolving doors.

On the other hand, sliding doors that are guided by rails, door wheels, etc. and move along a plane parallel to the door surface are more frequently used than revolving doors, but it is said that closers for sliding doors are not in practical use, at least at present. But it's not an exaggeration.

This is because the inventors were aware of the fact that sliding door closers that combined a tension coil spring and an air damper were commercially available, and when they actually purchased and used them, they found that the springs were It was weak and could not close the sliding door reliably and its operation was uncertain, and on the other hand, I could easily predict that if the spring was made stronger, the impact when the sliding door closed would be greater, so I decided to purchase it in the end. However, I have had the experience of removing it from a sliding door.

Furthermore, a sliding door closer has been proposed in which the link mechanism of a door closer for a revolving door is modified for use with a sliding door so as to be capable of linear movement. However, although this sliding door closer can be expected to operate reliably, it is too large in weight and size, and is generally unsuitable for a simple sliding door.

Furthermore, a closer has been proposed in which a weight is movably guided in the vertical direction on the inside of the sliding door or the door frame, and the sliding door is closed using gravity. However, this closer requires a weight etc. to be incorporated into the sliding door or door frame when manufacturing the sliding door.
The disadvantage is that it is difficult to apply to existing sliding doors.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sliding door closer that is simple and compact in structure, operates reliably, and is applicable to existing sliding doors.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a tape-shaped drive spring that is made of a natural contact type spiral spring, one end of which is connected to a sliding door or door frame, and a drive spring that is rotatable to a base plate attached to the door frame or sliding door. A drive drum supported by a drive drum having a drive spring wound around its outer periphery from the other end, a DC motor, the output shaft of this DC motor, and the drive drum are interconnected, and the rotational angular velocity of the drive drum is amplified to generate DC current. A speed increaser that transmits the transmission to the output shaft of the motor, a one-way clutch that connects the drive drum to the DC motor only when the drive drum rotates in the direction to wind up the drive spring, and an electric motor that shorts the input end of the DC motor. It is characterized by having a resistance.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 indicates a drive spring;
This drive spring 1 is a tape-shaped leaf spring called a so-called natural contact type spiral spring.

Such natural contact type spiral springs are well known and are used, for example, in camera suspension springs for television camera support stands in broadcasting stations.Since their characteristics are closely related to the characteristics of the present invention, they will be briefly described below. I will explain it to you.

A natural contact type spiral spring is a spring made by bending a tape-shaped spring plate so that each part in the length direction has a constant curvature. In this case, the spring plates are curled into contact with each other. As shown in FIG. 3, when a force P is applied to one end of this spring to pull it outward, the natural contact type spiral spring unwinds into a substantially straight line. At this time, a tensile force P is exerted to the outside as a reaction force, and this tensile force is expressed by the following equation (1).

P-Ebh /24(1-1/rr?)ρ (1)
However, E - modulus of longitudinal elasticity b - width of the spring plate - thickness of the spring plate m - Poisson's number ρ - radius of curvature of the leaf spring at the point at which it is unwound.

By the way, the only thing that changes on the right side of equation (1) is ρ, and this ρ is almost constant and does not change much unless the spring plate is wound extremely thickly, so the above tensile force P is determined by the unwinding. The length S1 of the straight line portion, which corresponds to the elongation in a tension coil spring, is approximately constant regardless of the value. That is, the spring constant of the natural contact type spiral spring is approximately zero.

Further, the above-mentioned tensile force P is due to the elastic energy released when the spring plate returns from the radius of curvature to ρ, so it is quite strong for a relatively compact spring. For example, b=15m+5Sh-〇, 36mtas p
-50 mta, the P force is 1 kg.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, one end of the drive spring 1 is provided with a connecting hole 2a having, for example, a U-shape in cross section and a potbellied shape.
The connecting body 2 with the opening is crimped. One end of the drive spring 1 is connected to either a sliding door or a door frame via the connecting body 2. In the embodiment shown in the fourth figure, the connecting hole 2a of the connecting body engages with a locking pin 4 with a flange fixed to the door frame 3 side, and the connecting body 2 and the locking pin 4 are connected to each other. One end of the drive spring 1 is locked to the door frame 3 through the door frame 3. The outer diameter of the flange of the locking pin 4 is set to be smaller than the opening of the large diameter part of the connecting hole 2a (FIG. 1) but larger than that of the small diameter part. Since the small-diameter portion of the connecting hole 2a and the shaft portion of the locking pin 4 are engaged with each other by utilizing the above, the connecting body 2 will not be pulled out from the locking pin 4. Furthermore, a bent portion integrally formed at one end (the right side in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the connecting body 2 serves as an operating piece 2b.
A finger or the like is hooked onto this operation piece 2b and the drive spring 1 is operated to be pulled out from the case 5.

Further, the bent portion at the other end of the connecting body 2 serves as a stopper piece 2C, which prevents the connecting body 2 from being drawn into the case 5.

On the other hand, the other end of the drive spring 1 is wound around the outer periphery of a flanged cup-shaped drive drum 6, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In order to restrain the other end of the drive spring 1 and the drive drum 6, the other end of the drive spring 1 is bent inward at right angles, and this bent portion is formed along the generatrix on the outer peripheral surface of the drive drum 6. The locking slit (
(not shown). Note that the dimension of the bent portion in the length direction of the drive spring 1 is set to be slightly smaller than the thickness of the outer peripheral portion of the drive drum 6. Also, drive spring 1
The radius of curvature r (see FIG. 3) given in advance to is set to be smaller than the outer diameter of the drive drum 6. With the above configuration, the other end of the drive spring 1 is firmly held on the outer circumference of the drive drum 6 unless the drive spring 1 is completely unwound from the drive drum 6.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the case 5
has a substrate 5a and a box-like lid 5b with one side open. A DC motor 8 with a reduction gear 7 is mounted on the inner surface of the board 5a (the upper surface in the figure ffi1). The DC motor 8 in the illustrated embodiment is constructed by fastening the mounting plate 9 integrally connected to the base plate 5a with four bolts and nuts implanted on the inner surface of the base plate, so that the output shaft of the reducer 7 can be connected to the DC motor 8. 7a is attached to the substrate 5a at a relative angle that keeps it perpendicular to the substrate 5a.

The drive drum 6 is coaxially supported on the output shaft 7a of the speed reducer via a bearing 11 incorporating a one-way clutch. Note that an ultra-small needle bearing incorporating a one-way clutch is suitable as the bearing 11, and such needle bearings are generally commercially available.

The one-way clutch incorporated in the bearing 11 operates to connect the drive drum 6 to the output shaft 7a of the speed reducer only when the drive drum 6 rotates in the direction to wind up the drive spring 1. In other words, when the drive drum 6 rotates clockwise in FIG. 2, the drive drum 6 becomes rotatable relative to the output shaft 7a.

The input terminals of the DC motor 8 are short-circuited to each other via a resistor or a variable resistor (not shown).

[For production]

As shown in FIG. 4, the sliding door closer according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above has, for example, one end of the drive spring 1 connected to the door frame 3 via the connecting body 2 and the locking pin 4. When used, the case 5 is fixed to the sliding door 121; for example, by screws. Alternatively, contrary to FIG. 4, the case 5 may be attached to the door frame 3 side, and the locking pin 4 for locking one end of the drive spring 1 may be attached to the sliding door 12 side.

Therefore, when the sliding door 12 is opened from the door closed state shown in FIG. 4, the sliding door 12 moves to the left, so the drive spring 1 is relatively pulled out from the case 5. At this time, the drive drum 6 rotates clockwise in FIG. 2, so the one-way clutch described above does not operate, and only the drive drum 6 is supported by the bearing 11 and rotates while unwinding the drive spring 1. . Therefore, the load applied to the finger or the like that opens the sliding door is usually the sum of the tensile force exerted by the drive spring 1 and the frictional resistance of the sliding door.

When the sliding door is released after straddling the threshold or the rail of the door wheel of the sliding door, the drive spring 1 exerts a tensile force P on the sliding door 12 via the drive drum 6 and the base plate 5a, and begins to move it in the direction of the door frame 3. Then, the drive drum 6 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 2, the one-way clutch built in the bearing 1 is activated, and the drive drum 6 and the output shaft 7a of the reducer are integrally connected. .

Therefore, the rotation of the drive drum 6 is transmitted to the rotor of the DC motor 7 via the reducer 7, and the rotor is transferred to the drive drum 6.
driven by. That is, the DC motor 7 functions as a generator. In this case, when viewed from the rotor side of the DC motor 7, the reducer 7 functions as a speed increaser, and the rotational angular velocity of the drive drum 6 is amplified and transmitted to the rotor of the DC motor.

As is well known, a generator acts as a brake when viewed from the side that drives it. The brake torque T seen from the drive drum 6 side is expressed as follows, where ω is the angular velocity of the rotor, N is the reduction ratio of the reducer 7, R is the value of the electrical resistance shorting the input terminals, and K is a constant. It appears as shown in equation (2).

T-N・N-(2) As is clear from equation (2), the brake torque T is proportional to the angular velocity ω of the rotor, which means that negative feedback is applied to the drive system. The generator functions as a speed governor.

When such a speed governor is driven by a constant tensile force P of the drive spring 1 according to the present invention, the drive drum 6 immediately begins to rotate at a constant angular speed after the transition period at the beginning of running. When the drive drum 6 rotates at a constant angular velocity, that is, with zero acceleration, the output torque of the drive drum 6 and the brake torque T of the DC motor 8 with the reducer 7 are equal, so the following equation (3) holds true.

However, F is the frictional resistance of the sliding door.

From equation (3), on the other hand, if the speed of the sliding door is V, as is clear from equation (5), the speed ■ of the sliding door is ρ (of the drive spring 1), assuming that the resistance F of the sliding door is constant. (radius of curvature at the point of curling), and as mentioned above, ρ is almost constant, so ■ is also almost constant.

Therefore, the sliding door 12 advances in the closing direction at approximately the same speed, and when the stile of the sliding door comes into contact with the door frame 3, the sliding door 12 stops without impact. The choice of whether to close the sliding door 12 with a gentle swish or with a gentle thud can be made by appropriately setting the values of various parameters on the right side of equation (5) above, depending on the frictional resistance F of the sliding door. be. Specifically, the tensile force P1 of the drive spring, the capacity of the DC motor 8, the reduction ratio of the reducer 7, and the value R of the electrical resistance that short-circuits the input terminal of the DC motor 8 are appropriately set. In addition, sliding door 1
Regarding changes in frictional resistance F due to type and individual differences in 2.
If the electric resistance is made variable and the electric resistance value R can be arbitrarily adjusted when the closer is attached to the sliding door, it is convenient because the speed can be adjusted on site.

Even when the sliding door is closed, the drive spring 1 moves the sliding door to the door frame 3.
Since the sliding door is biased in the direction of pressing, the closed state of the sliding door is maintained stably.

If it is necessary to keep the sliding door open for some reason, the connecting body 2 (see FIG. 4) connected to one end of the drive spring 1 can be removed from the locking pin 4.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides a sliding door closer in which the sliding door is pulled in the closing direction by the force of a drive spring made of a natural contact type spiral spring, and braking is applied by a generator. Not only has the basic objective of the present invention been achieved, but the closer operates reliably, and is compact and lightweight.

In addition, since a rotational movement is naturally generated in the drive drum when the drive spring is curled, there is no need for a mechanism to convert the linear movement of the sliding door into the rotational movement of the generator, and the structure is impressive and can be manufactured at low cost.

Furthermore, since the electromagnetic force of the generator that generates the braking force does not change depending on temperature, there is no need in principle for a mechanism to adjust the orifice opening through which hydraulic oil passes, unlike in closers that use conventional oil dampers. Not only is it easier to manage, but it is also easier to structure.

In addition, when it is not needed, it can be removed at any time by touching the engagement between the connecting body at one end of the drive spring and the locking pin, and it can be applied regardless of the amount of movement of the sliding door, or it can be attached to an existing sliding door. This has various effects, such as ease of use.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case was provided protruding from the outside surface of the sliding door or the door frame, but the case is omitted and the board 2 is built into the sliding door, and one end of the drive spring is connected to the joint end of the sliding door with the door frame. Of course, it is also possible to pull it out from the edge, and in this case, the locking pin that engages with the connecting body is housed in a recess dug into the door frame.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a sliding door closer according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional plan view thereof, Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining a natural contact type spiral spring, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a sliding door closer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a partial front view of a sliding door equipped with a closer. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Drive spring, 5a... Board, 6... Drive drum, 7... Reducer, 8... DC motor, 11...
Bearing, 12...Sliding door. Figures I, A, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4. Written amendment to the procedure April 19, 1999 1. Indication of the case 1988 Patent Application No. 11232 2. Name of the invention Sliding door closer 3. Amendments to be made. Relationship with the case Patent applicant 4-21-16 Denenchofu, Ota-ku, Tokyo Date of amendment order Voluntary amendment 5 Number of inventions increased by amendment 0 66 The scope of claims of the specification subject to amendment Column and Detailed Description of the Invention Column (1) "Claims" shall be amended as follows. ``2. Claims: A tape-shaped drive spring consisting of a natural contact type spiral spring, one end of which is connected to a sliding door or door frame; A driving drum having a driving spring wound around one end from the other end, an electric motor, an output shaft of this electric motor, and the driving drum are interconnected, and an amplifying device that amplifies the rotational angular velocity of the driving drum and transmits it to the output shaft of the electric motor. A sliding door characterized by having a speed mechanism, a one-way clutch that connects the drive drum to the electric motor only when the drive drum rotates in a direction to wind up the drive spring, and an electric resistance that short-circuits the input end of the electric motor. (2) Insert the following sentence on a new line between lines 10 and 11 on page 14 of the specification. "Also, in the explanation so far, we assumed that a DC motor would be incorporated as a speed governor to generate brake torque, but
Any electric motor such as an AC motor, not just a DC motor, can apply mechanical rotational force to its output shaft, so that any electric motor can be used as a speed governor. ” One or more -

Claims (1)

[Claims] A tape-shaped drive spring is made of a natural contact type spiral spring, and one end is connected to the sliding door or door frame, and the other end is rotatably supported by a board attached to the door frame or sliding door, and the drive spring is attached to the outer periphery. A drive drum wrapped around the DC motor, a speed increaser that interconnects the output shaft of the DC motor and the drive drum, amplifies the rotational angular velocity of the drive drum, and transmits the amplified rotational angular velocity to the output shaft of the DC motor; A sliding door closer comprising a one-way clutch that connects the drive drum to a DC motor only when the drive drum rotates in a direction to wind up a drive spring, and an electric resistance that short-circuits the input end of the DC motor. .