NZ522833A - Improvements in or relating to roller doors to reduce friction in opening and closing - Google Patents

Abstract

A roller door structure for a building comprises a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation of the tambour, the tambour to be disposed at or proximate the top of an opening of the building and a tambour supported door to cover the opening of the building, the door being of a kind capable of being wound on and dispensed from the tambour, and a pair of mounting members, wherein in use during the rolling of the door to uncover (or cover) the opening, the next to be dispensed or wound on section of the unrolled door at the perimeter roll of door of the tambour, is by linear displacement away from (or toward) the opening of the roller door by movement of the slide members, kept tangential to the opening thereby reducing the friction and effort required to open and close the roller door structure.

Description

inr ! - i,i, -v;'s,j NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT, 1953 No: 522833 Date: 26 November 2002 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO ROLLER DOORS We, NORTH ROLL DOORS, a company duly incorporated under the laws of New Zealand of 10 Doctors Hill Road, Maungaturoto, New Zealand, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: ... intellectual property office OF fU. 1 2 MAY 2005 RECEIVED NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT, 1953 No: 522833 Date: 26 November 2002 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO ROLLER DOORS I, THOMAS JOHN STEWART, a New Zealand citizen of 8 North Ten-ace, Gore, New Zealand, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and bv the following statement: The present invention relates to improvements to roller door mechanisms, such as for example of a sectional design or a continuous sheet style.

Mechanisms for closing of an opening via a roller door are well known in the art. Sectional doors are for example wound onto a tambour or drum that is axially suspended above and near the opening which is to be closed off. The roller door is normally tracked in vertical guides at both sides of the opening which in conjunction with the out of plane stiffness of the roller door or sections of roller door provides for a resilient and stiff door covering which is also easily slidable. However when a roller door is being discharged from its tambour, the diameter of the roll decreases. This invariably changes (usually decreases) the angle of incidence of the tangent off the roll to the guides of the door. This decreasing angle leads to an increase in friction at the guides as the door is unrolled due to the increased horizontal component of force applied to the guides by the unrolling of the door. The same occurs as the door is being rolled back on to the tambour as this friction must be overcome also. Various means have been used in the past to overcome this resulting friction such as spring means or powered means aiding or assisting the rolling and unrolling of the door, see for example NZ270920 of Advanced Door Systems. However these have the disadvantage of adding additional cost and weight to the door structure and assembly and do not address the problem of friction itself.

It is therefore an object of the invention to overcome at least to a certain extent at least some of the above disadvantages and improve the mechanism of the above prior art door or to at least provide the public with a useful alternative.

Accordingly in a first aspect the present invention may be said to broadly consist in a roller door structure for a building comprising or including, a) a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation for said tambour, said tambour to be disposed at or proximate the top of an opening of a said building, and b) a tambour supported door to cover said opening of said building, said door being of a kind capable of being wound on and dispensed from said tambour, Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 2 <i DEC 2004 RECEIVED c) a pair of mounting members, each mounting member comprising or including: i) a slide support member engageable to and supportable by a fixed structure of said building, ii) a slide member supported by and linearly displaceable relative to said slide support member, said slide member to be linearly displaceable in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said tambour and is in use, urged toward said opening and, iii) a means to mount of or disposed from said slide member, from which said roller door assembly is mounted via at least one axle, wherein in use during the rolling (either to wind up or unwind from the tambour) of the door to uncover (or cover) said opening, the next to dispensed or wound on section of the unrolled door at the perimeter roll of door of said tambour, is by linear displacement away from (or toward) said opening of said roller door by movement of said slide members, kept tangential to said opening (or a guide thereof) thereby reducing the friction and effort required to open and close said roller door structure.

Preferably said door section is kept at a substantially constant angle to said opening.

Preferably said movable slide member and said roller door structure carried thereby are urged towards said opening under action of gravity.

Preferably said linear displacement is inclined between 1 and 10 degrees to the horizontal.

Preferably said linear displacement is inclined at 2 degrees to the horizontal. Preferably said linear displacement is inclined by having the mounting means proximal ends to said opening being lower than the mounting means distal ends.

Preferably in the alternative said linear displacement may be also urged towards said opening by action of driving or biasing means, or a combination of means.

Alternatively said linear displacement is horizontal and said movable slide member and said roller door structure carried thereby are urged towards said opening under action of a driving or biasing means, or a combination of i 'NTELLECW PROPERTY"OFFICE1 Preferably said driving or biasing means is a coil spring acting on said tambour and on said slide member and/or said means to mount.

Preferably said slide support member is mounted to a wall, beam, joist or other support means.

Preferably said linear displacement is provided by roller means engaging in said slide support member and said movable slide member.

Preferably said means to mount has adjustable means for engaging said roller door structure, at varying heights.

Preferably said tambour rotates on an axle, said means to mount is a bracket and said axle is rotationally engaged thereon.

Preferably said means to mount each have a stub axle for said tambour to rotationally engage thereon.

Preferably said tambour itself is engaged on its periphery by said means to mount in a rotationally engageable manner.

Preferably said rotationally engageable manner of said tambour, axle and means to mount has a reduced friction interface.

Preferably said opening lies in a substantially vertical plane.

Preferably there are guides either side of said opening in said vertical plane.

Preferably said guides are straight along their vertical length.

Alternatively said guides may be curvi-linear.

A mounting means for a tambour door assembly of a kind including, a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation for said tambour extending axially there through, and a tambour supported door to cover an opening of a building, said door supported by and to be rotationally dispensed from said tambour to move between a covered and uncovered condition of said opening, said mounting means comprising a first and second mounting member to be disposed at each distal end of the tambour wherein each mounting comprises or includes: a slide support member, a slide member supported by and linearly displaceable to said slide support member, and Intellectual Property Offic© of N.Z. 2 4 DEC 2004 RFr.cu/cn a means to mount engaged to said slide member and able to receive said tambour door assembly, wherein each said linear displacement is in a direction perpendicular to said axis of rotation and is urged towards said opening, wherein in use during the rolling (either to wind up or unwind from the tambour) of the door to uncover (or cover) said opening, the next to dispensed or wound on section of the unrolled door at the perimeter roll of door of said tambour, is by linear displacement away from (or toward) said opening of said roller door by movement of said slide members, kept tangential to said opening (or a guide thereof) thereby reducing the friction and effort required to open and close said roller door structure.

Preferably said linear displacement is inclined to the horizontal.

Preferably said movable slide member and said tambour door assembly are urged towards said opening under action of gravity.

Preferably said linear displacement is inclined between 1 and 10 degrees to the horizontal.

Preferably said linear displacement is inclined at 2 degrees to the horizontal.

Preferably said linear displacement inclined by having with the mounting means proximal ends to said opening being lower than the mounting means distal ends.

Preferably in the alternative said linear displacement may be also urged towards said opening by action of driving or biasing means, or a combination of means.

Alternatively said linear displacement is horizontal and said movable slide member and said tambour door assembly carried thereby are urged towards said opening under action of a driving or biasing means, or a combination of means.

Preferably said driving or biasing means is coil spring acting on said tambour and on said slide member and/or said means to mount.

Preferably said slide support member is mounted to a wall or other support means.

Preferably said linear displacement is provided by roller means engaging in said slide support member and said movable slide member.

Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 2 4 DEC 2004 RECEIVED Preferably said means to mount has adjustable means for engaging said tambour door assembly, at varying heights.

Preferably said opening lies in a substantially vertical plane.

Preferably there are guides either side of said opening in said vertical plane. Preferably said guides are straight along their vertical length.

Alternatively said guides may be curvi-linear.

In still a further aspect a roller door configuration as described herein with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings.

In yet a further aspect a building having a roller door structure as herein before described.

In still a further aspect a mounting for a roller door as described herein with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the following figures.

Figure 1 shows an isometric view of the mounting, Figure 2 shows one mounting in situ with a roller door mounted on the bracket, the roller door is in the open position slide back on the mounting means, Figure 3 shows the roller door unwound closing the opening and the roller door on the mounting slid forward, Figure 4 is a further end view of the door rolled up on the tambour, Figure 5 is a similar view to that of Figure 4 with the exception that the tambour is in the main unrolled and the sliding assembly has moved forward, Figure 6 is an isometric view cut away of that of Figure 5 with the door unrolled showing the internal workings of the tambour axle and biasing means, Figure 7 is a further cut away front elevation of the roller door, Figure 8 shows a roller door construction and the angles in forces formed when the roller door is unrolled, Figure 9 shows a similar view to that of Figure 4 with the exception that the angle beta is increased as the diameter of the role decreases as more door material is rolled off, Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 24 DEC 2004 Figure 10 is a similar view to that of Figure 4 for a moving roll as of the present invention, and Figure 11 shows the similar detail to Figure 6 with the exception that the roller door can now translate horizontally and illustrates the fact that the angle beta can be kept constant for a decreasing roll radius.

With reference to Figures 1 through 7 there is shown the mounting members 1 and roller door assembly 19.

The mounting members 1 each consists of a slide support member 3, slide member 4 and means to mount 8. The slide support member 3 is mounted to any suitable support surface such as a wall, beam, joist or frame, or suspended framing system or similar, via fasteners at fastening points 6. The slide support members 3 are each mounted perpendicular to the plane of the opening. The slide member 4 is slidably engaged via rollers (not shown) or similar means to the slide support member 3 to allow the slide member 4 to easily slide in relation to the slide support member 3. Thus the linear translation of the slide member 4 is perpendicular to the plane of the opening 9. Such linear translation means may be by roller balls, needle bearings or a greased slide way or similar. The shape of the slide support member 3 and slide member 4 are complimentary in cross section so as to prevent disengagement of the two members. A stop 5 prevents the slide member 4 from sliding off the end of the slide support 3. The foregoing is only an example as any form that allows linear translation falls within the ambit of the invention.

In use, a pair of mounting members 1 are mounted at suitable points either side of the opening 9 to be closed, such that the axis of rotation of the tambour 11 is parallel to plane of the opening 9. Guides 10 (with "wool pile" 20) are present for the roller door 7 either side of the opening. In one embodiment the means to mount are brackets 8 engaging on axle 26 attached to the tambour. The stowed door roll 2, rolled up on a tambour or drum 14 is hung on its axle 26 between the mounting brackets 8 at the correct height. The mounting height of the assembly 19 (consisting of the tambour 14, axle 26 and the stowed door roll 2) can be adjusted by use of the height adjustment means 12. In this example they are slots to engage the axle 26, however they may take the form of a plurality of holes giving varying height or may be a mechanical means to Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 24 DEC 2004 RPr.dwcn vary the height, such as a threaded height adjustment, or any other form of adjustment known in the art. The roller door 7 is then installed into the guides 10. The roller door assembly 19 is free to rotate about its axis 11.

In other examples the rotational engagement of the tambour with the means to mount may be via stub axles extending into the tambour at the axis of rotation 11. The tambour may then rotate on these via reduced frictional means such as but not limited bearings, bushes greased rotational interface(s), or low friction polymers or other means to reduce rotational friction known in the art.

In another alternative the tambour may rest at its periphery (either internally or externally) on means to mount to allow it to rotate. Such may be achieved by one or more (preferably two) periphe3rally supporting internal or external rollers attached to the means to mount. In the internal case the rollers would be disposed above a horizontal line passing through the axis of rotation 11, one either side of a vertical line passing through the axis of rotation 11 against the internal tambour periphery. In the external case they would be disposed below the same horizontal line, one either side of the same vertical line against the external tambour periphery. Other methods for rotational engagement of the tambour to the means to mount that are known in the art as also within the scope of the invention.

The roller door 7 in the particular embodiment shown comprises door slats 22 fixed to a backing 23. The backing is in turn fixed via a keyway 21 in the tambour/drum 14, to maintain engagement and rotation of the drum as the door is unrolled.

In the preferred embodiment described herein the mounts 1 are each inclined to the horizontal by an angle oc, thus with the weight of the door assembly 19 suspended on the brackets 8 (or meant to mount) the roller door assembly is urged toward to opening under action of gravity. The angle oc is approximately 2 degrees but is variable between 1 degrees and 10 degrees depending upon the requirements of the installation. In other embodiments however the mounts may be horizontal and the urging may achieved by other means such as a spring or other known biasing or driving means. A combination of any of these means may also be employed.

Intellectual Property Office of N.z. 2 4 DEC 2004 R E r f i v p n In order to maintain even unrolling and unrolling tension a door tensioner 24 in the embodiment shown, lies within the tambour 14. The tensioner in this embodiment is a coil spring wound about the axle 26. The coil spring engages at one end by a flat spade into/onto the mounting bracket 8. The other end of the coil spring attached to a key plate 25 which is matched to key way internal of the tambour 14 (either that created internally by the intrusion into the interior of the tambour of external keyway 21, or by another separate internal key way). The key plate 25 can be free to slide axially into the tambour in response to the axial tension created by the spring coil and uncoiling. A duplicate door tensioning arrangement may be on the other end of the door if required. Other forms of tensioning system may be used provided they bias the rotation of the tambour door in relation to the brackets, or means to mount.

The action of unrolling of the door to close the opening 9 results in a decreasing diameter of the stowed door roll 2. As this diameter decreases the roller door assembly 19 is free to move forward under action of gravity and to some extent the horizontal component of force generated by the pull of the roller door 7. The moving forward of the assembly keeps the roller door 7, that is about to feed into the guides 10, tangential to the stowed door roll 2 and inline or at least at a fixed angle to the door guides 10. By keeping the roller door 7 in line with the guides 10 the friction over the point 15 is reduced or eliminated thus making the raising and lowering of the door easier.

When the door is rolled up to open the opening the diameter of the roll 2 increases and the assembly moves away from the opening to compensate and retain the section 7 at the required angle to the guides 10.

With reference to Figures 8 and 9 showing a prior art arrangement is shown of a simplified force analysis for the pull force (Fp) required and the resulting normal force (Fn) that creates in friction at the guide or point 15. For a given radius rj at the initiation of unrolling of the door from the roll there is an angle Pi which is formed between the guide 15 and the tangent release point 18 of the stowed door roll 2. A continued unrolling of the door will eventually result in a radius r2 (which is less than r0 which subtends an angle (32 to the horizontal at the guide 15. As can be seen an increasing angle for the same pull force will result in a greater normal force F^ at the Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 24 DEC 2004 D P r I I / r- rN

Claims (31)

guide. Whilst the pull force Fp2 will have an increasing component of self weight of the door as it is unrolled, nevertheless there is still an increased component of force required in that direction to overcome the normal force F„2. In the situation where the roll, before unrolling, has the roll off point 18 directly over the guide (as in Figure 11) the door angle |3 will still decrease as the door is unrolled due to the decreasing radius and thus the roll off point 18 will move towards the static centre point 16. With reference to Figures 10 and 11 is shown an embodiment of the present invention whereby the stowed door roll 2 is allowed to translate in a horizontal manner towards the point 15. In a similar situation to Figures 8 and 9 as the stowed door roll 2 is unrolled via a force supplied Fpi for a given radius ri then an angle Pi (in this example close to 90 degrees to reduce friction throughout unrolling) is subtended to the horizontal. In the optimal situation where the tangent release point 18 is kept directly above the guide 15 then essentially no friction force will result. However if a point directly over can not be achieved due to space constraints, then at least a constant low friction force will be developed throughout rolling and unrolling. As the roller door is unrolled the radius of the roll r2 decreases (r2 being less than ri). However since the stowed door roll 2 is allowed to translate from its original position at 16 towards a final position 17 as it is unrolled the angle p2 is substantially similar to the angle Pi. It can therefore be seen that when the angle remains the same then the normal force Pi and F,^ will be equal. Again whilst Fp2 will have an increasing component of self weight of the door as it is unrolled which aids in pulling the door down in comparison to Figure 9 the component from the user unrolling the door is significantly less than that in Figure 9, due to the decreased normal force F^ in Figure 11. Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 2 4 DEC 2004 RECEIVED CLAIMS:

1. A roller door structure for a building comprising or including, a) a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation for said tambour, said tambour to be disposed at or proximate the top of an opening of a said building, and b) a tambour supported door to cover said opening of said building, said door being of a kind capable of being wound on and dispensed from said tambour, c) a pair of mounting members, each mounting member comprising or including: i) a slide support member engagable to and supportable by a fixed structure of said building, ii) a slide member supported by and linearly displaceable relative to said slide support member, said slide member to be linearly displaceable in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said tambour and is in use, urged toward said opening and, iii) a means to mount of or disposed from said slide member, from which said roller door assembly is mounted via at least one axle, wherein in use during the rolling (either to wind up or unwind from the tambour) of the door to uncover (or cover) said opening, the next to dispensed or wound on section of the unrolled door at the perimeter roll of door of said tambour, is by linear displacement away from (or toward) said opening of said roller door by movement of said slide members, kept tangential to said opening (or a guide thereof) thereby reducing the friction and effort required to open and close said roller door structure.

2. A roller door structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said door section is kept at a substantially constant angle to said opening.

3. A roller door structure as claimed in claims 1 or 2 wherein said movable slide member and said roller door structure carried thereby are urged towards said opening under action of gravity. "fNlt'LLEC'fllAL PROPERTY OFFICE" OF N2 3 1 JAM 2005

4. A roller door structure as claimed in claims 1 to 3 wherein said linear displacement is inclined between 1 and 10 degrees to the horizontal.

5. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein said linear displacement is inclined at 2 degrees to the horizontal.

6. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein said linear displacement is inclined by having the mounting means proximal ends to said opening being lower than the mounting means distal ends.

7. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein said linear displacement may be urged towards said opening by action of driving or biasing means, or a combination of means.

8. A roller door structure as claimed in claims 1 or 2 wherein said linear displacement is horizontal and said movable slide member and said roller door structure carried thereby are urged towards said opening under action of a driving or biasing means, or a combination of means.

9. A roller door structure as claimed in claim 8 wherein said driving or biasing means is a coil spring acting on said tambour and on said slide member and/or said means to mount.

10. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein said slide support member is mounted to a wall, beam, joist or other support means.

11. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein said linear displacement is provided by roller means engaging in said slide support member and said movable slide member.

12. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 wherein said means to mount has adjustable means for engaging said roller door structure, at varying heights.

13. A roller door structure, as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein said tambour rotates on an axle, said means to mount is a bracket and said axle is rotationally engaged thereon.

14. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 wherein said means to mount each have a stub axle for said tambour to rotationally engage thereon. -13-

15. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein said tambour itself is engaged on its periphery by said means to mount in a rotationally engageable manner.

16. A roller door structure as claimed in claim 15 wherein said rotationally engageable manner of said tambour, axle and means to mount has a reduced friction interface.

17. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16 wherein said opening lies in a substantially vertical plane.

18. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 17 wherein there are guides either side of said opening in said vertical plane.

19. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 18 wherein said guides are straight along their vertical length.

20. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 18 wherein said guides may be curvi-linear.

21. A mounting means for a tambour door assembly of a kind including, a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation for said tambour extending axially there through, and a tambour supported door to cover an opening of a building, said door supported by and to be rotationally dispensed from said tambour to move between a covered and uncovered condition of said opening, said mounting means comprising a first and second mounting member to be disposed at each distal end of the tambour wherein each mounting comprises or includes: a slide support member, a slide member supported by and linearly displaceable to said slide support member, and a means to mount engaged to said slide member and able to receive said tambour door assembly, wherein each said linear displacement is in a direction perpendicular to said axis of rotation and is urged towards said opening, wherein in use during the rolling (either to wind up or unwind from the tambour) of the door to uncover (or cover) said opening, the next to dispensed or wound on section of the unrolled door at the perimeter roll of door of said tambour, is INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFROrl I-- m I 3 1 JAN 2005 -14- by linear displacement away from (or toward) said opening of said roller door by movement of said slide members, kept tangential to said opening (or a guide thereof) thereby reducing the friction and effort required to open and close said roller door structure.

22. A mounting means as claimed in claim 21 wherein said linear displacement is inclined to the horizontal.

23. A mounting means for a tambour door assembly as claimed in claims 21 or 22 wherein said movable slide member and said tambour door assembly are urged towards said opening under action of gravity.

24. A mounting means for as claimed in claims 21 to 23 wherein said linear displacement is inclined between 1 and 10 degrees to the horizontal.

25. A mounting means as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 24 wherein said linear displacement is inclined at 2 degrees to the horizontal.

26. A mounting means as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 25 wherein said linear displacement inclined by having with the mounting means proximal ends to said opening being lower than the mounting means distal ends.

27. A mounting means as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 26 wherein said linear displacement may be urged towards said opening by action of driving or biasing means, or a combination of means.

28. A mounting means as claimed in claim 21 wherein said linear displacement is horizontal and said movable slide member and said tambour door assembly carried thereby are urged towards said opening under action of a driving or biasing means, or a combination of means.

29. A mounting means as claimed in claim 28 wherein said driving or biasing means is coil spring acting on said tambour and on said slide member and/or said means to mount.

30. A mounting means as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 29 wherein said slide support member is mounted to a wall or other support means.

31. A mounting means as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 30 wherein said linear displacement is provided by roller means engaging in said slide support member and said movable slide member. wiriestWmpmiY^c 3 ? JAH 200 3