WO2006105952A1

WO2006105952A1 - Gearmotor for roll shutters

Info

Publication number: WO2006105952A1
Application number: PCT/EP2006/003102
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giampaolo Maffioli
Original assignee: Jolly Motor International S.P.A.
Priority date: 2005-04-07
Filing date: 2006-04-05
Publication date: 2006-10-12
Also published as: EP1871969A1; ITVE20050018A1

Abstract

A gearmotor for roll shutters with a tubular casing (2) provided with a headpiece (4) for its fixing to the fixed structure (6) to which the roll shutter is applied, said casing being completely insertable, with the exclusion of said headpiece, into a support tube (14) for said roll shutter, and internally housing an electric motor (5), a speed reduction gear (8) and an electronic card (16) for controlling said motor, characterised in that said motor (5) is of direct current type, said headpiece (4) forming the casing of a transformer (18) feeding a rectifier provided in the electronic card (16), for powering said motor and said card.

Description

GEARMOTOR FOR ROLL SHUTTERS

The present invention relates to a gearmotor for roll shutters.

Gearmotors for roll shutters are known. They generally comprise a box casing internally housing an electric motor, a reduction gear, and the electronic circuit for controlling the electric motor and its travel limit switches.

The tubular casing is generally provided at one end with a headpiece extending outwards from the cylindrical shape of the casing, and at the other end with the reduction gear exit shaft.

On this shaft a pulley is applied which, when the gearmotor is inserted into the winding tube, engages the inner surface thereof and can rotate it relative to the tubular casing of the motor which, together with the end headpiece, is rigid with the roll shutter support structure.

The electric motors of known gearmotors are generally mains-fed alternating current motors and, as they have to be of small transverse dimensions because of the limited space available for their housing within the winding tube, are of considerable axial length, this inevitably conditioning the total length of the entire gearmotor.

Gearmotors with direct current fed electric motors have also been proposed. They present more advantages, because they are of smaller axial length for the same delivered power and hence enable the overall axial length of the gearmotor to be reduced. However they require a direct current feed line, or the presence of a transformer-rectifier separate from the gearmotor, this resulting in space requirement and installation problems, which have limited their acceptance. The present invention is based on the idea of using the headpiece of the gearmotor, i.e. that element which inevitably has to be present in a gearmotor to enable it to be fixed to the roll shutter support structure, as the element for containing a transformer for transforming the alternating mains voltage into low voltage, which when suitably rectified can power a direct current electric motor and its control electronics. The present invention therefore provides a gearmotor for roll shutters with a tubular casing provided with a headpiece for its fixing to the fixed structure, as described in claim 1.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a gearmotor according to the invention; and Figure 2 shows it installed in a winding tube for a roll shutter.

As can be seen from the figures, the gearmotor of the invention comprises a tubular casing 2, having at one end a headpiece 4 of dimensions such as to surpass the transverse dimension of said casing 2. The headpiece is provided with traditional connectors (not shown) for its fixing to the roll shutter support structure 6, this structure consisting for example of the two brick shoulders laterally bounding the box for housing the roll shutter.

The tubular casing 2 of the gearmotor internally houses a direct current electric motor 5, a reduction gear 8, for example of epicyclic type with its input shaft mechanically coupled to the shaft of the motor 5 and with its output shaft 10 emerging from the inner end of the tubular casing 2 and intended to be coupled to a traditional pulley 12 for rotatably dragging the metal winding tube 14 when the gearmotor is inserted into it. The interior of the tubular casing 2 also houses a card containing the control electronics for the motor 5, and in particular for controlling its travel limit switches. This card is arranged to receive pulse trains relating to the rotation of the winding tube 14 and generated by the cooperation between a magnetic ring with alternating poles, rotated by said tube, and a magnetic sensor which faces it, in accordance with that described for example in Italian patent application MI2004A001497 of 23 July 2004.

The headpiece 4 of the gearmotor, of circular, square or polygonal shape, also forms the casing of a preferably toroidal transformer 18 powered by mains voltage, which it transforms to a lower voltage to be rectified by a rectifier circuit provided in the electronic card 16, to become a d.c. voltage of 12/24 volts for use both for powering the electric motor 5 and for powering the electronic card 16.

As stated, the speed reduction gear 8, the d.c. electric motor 5 and the electronic control card 16 are housed inside the tubular casing 2 of the gearmotor. For this purpose the electric motor 5 is housed within an internally hollow cylindrical shell 20 constituting the mechanical interface between the motor 5 and the tubular casing 2, and is provided with a circumferential step for its insertion-fitting to the casing 21 of the reduction gear 8 and to the support for the electronic card 16.

To install the gearmotor of the invention, its tubular casing 2 is inserted into the winding tube 14 as far as is allowed by the headpiece 4. The combination is then fixed by the headpiece 4 to one of the two shoulders 6 for the containing box and by its other end to a different traditional support 22 fixed to the opposite shoulder 24.

The inlet cable 26 of the toroidal transformer 18 is then connected to the mains and the shutter is fixed to the winding tube 14. After adjusting the travel limit switches, the drive for the roll shutter is complete.

From the aforegoing it is apparent that as the transformer 18 is incorporated into the headpiece 4, the gearmotor of the invention enables this latter to perform not only its traditional function as an element for fixing the gearmotor to the fixed structure 6 of the containing box, but also that of a casing for the transformer 18, which is used to both power the d.c. motor 4 and to power the electronic card 16.

Because of this, the gearmotor of the invention offers the following advantages:

- the headpiece of the gearmotor, which has in any event to be provided for its fixing to the fixed structure, can also be used as the casing for a transformer,

- different types of electronic limit switches can be used for the d.c. electric motor, both for controlling the motor via cable, and for radio control,

- motors of small axial length can be used, which the result that gearmotors much shorter than traditional ones can be constructed,

- the d.c. power unit, which in any event has to be provided for the electronic card, can also be used for the electric motor.

Claims

C L A I M S

1. A gearmotor for roll shutters with a tubular casing (2) provided with a headpiece (4) for its fixing to the fixed structure (6) to which the roll shutter is applied, said casing being completely insertable, with the exclusion of said headpiece, into a support tube (14) for said roll shutter, and internally housing an electric motor (5), a speed reduction gear (8) and an electronic card (16) for controlling said motor, characterised in that said motor (5) is of direct current type, said headpiece (4) forming the casing of a transformer (18) feeding a rectifier provided in the electronic card (16), for powering said motor and said card.

2. A gearmotor as claimed in claim 1 , characterised in that the transformer (18) is of toroidal type.

3. A gearmotor as claimed in claim 1 , characterised in that the headpiece (4) is of circular shape.