Door breakout detection system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10794116-B2
Application number	US-201815877518-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2018
Priority date	Jan 23, 2018
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

A break-out door sensor system is provided. In one aspect, the system includes: a door; a sensor located on the door; a trigger connected to the door and located proximate to the sensor and configured to move to an actuating position, and when in the actuating position, the trigger contacts the sensor causing the sensor to emit a signal, the trigger being biased away from the actuating position; and a camming surface on the trigger, wherein dimensions of the trigger and the trigger's location on the door with respect to the sensor including the location and dimensions of the camming surface are selected to cause the trigger to move to the actuating position when the camming surface moves against door guide forming a channel and the trigger moves out of the channel.

First claim

I claim:

1. A door sensor system comprising:
a door;
a sensor located on and configured to move with the door;
a trigger connected to the door and located proximate to the sensor and configured to move to an actuating position, and when in the actuating position, the trigger contacts the sensor causing the sensor to emit a signal, the trigger being biased away from the actuating position; and
a camming surface on the trigger, wherein dimensions of the trigger and the trigger's location on the door with respect to the sensor including the location and dimensions of the camming surface cause the trigger to move to the actuating position when the camming surface moves against a door guide forming a channel and the trigger moves out of the channel.

2. The door sensor system of claim 1 , wherein the door is located proximate to an opening to selectively provide and deny access to the opening and the door guide is located proximate to the opening, the door guide includes at least one angled surface and the angled surface defines, at least in part, the channel having a width, the channel for guiding and retaining the door in a desired orientation.

3. The door sensor system of claim 2 , further including a portion of a retaining structure sized larger than the width of the channel.

4. The door sensor system of claim 3 , wherein the door has an outer peripheral edge and the trigger and the sensor are located closer to the outer peripheral edge than the retaining structure is located to the outer peripheral edge.

5. The door sensor system of claim 3 , wherein the angled surface of the door guide is configured to flex to allow the channel to widen to allow the retaining structure to move through the channel and out of the door guide.

6. The door sensor system of claim 5 , further comprising side structures forming, at least in part, the door guide and the angled surface is connected to the side structures, wherein the angled surface of the door guide and the side structures are configured to flex to allow the channel to widen to allow the retaining structure to move through the channel and out of the door guide.

7. The door sensor system of claim 6 , wherein the side structures and the angled surface are made of metal.

8. The door sensor system of claim 7 , further comprising an overlapping region where two of the side structures overlap each other.

9. The door sensor system of claim 3 , wherein a distance the trigger extends from a surface of the door is smaller than the portion of the retaining structure sized larger than the width of the channel.

10. The door sensor system of claim 2 , further comprising a second angled surface located on the door guide opposite the at least one angled surface.

11. The door sensor system of claim 2 , wherein the width of the channel is smaller than a distance the trigger extends from a surface of the door so that the trigger moves to the actuating position when the camming surface on trigger moves against the angled surface defining the channel.

12. The door sensor of claim 1 , further comprising a door controller operatively connected to the sensor to allow the controller to receive the signal from the sensor.

13. The door sensor of claim 12 , wherein the door controller is configured to at least one of:
stop the door, slow down door, and go into a door reset sequence when the controller receives the signal from the sensor.

14. The door sensor of claim 12 , wherein the sensor is operatively connected to a transceiver and the sensor sends the signal to the transceiver, and the transceiver sends a signal indicative of the signal the transceiver received from the sensor to the controller.

15. A door sensor system comprising:
a door mounted over an opening, the door configured to move between open and closed positions to allow and deny access through the opening;
a door guide forming a channel located to a side of the opening;
a sensor located on and configured to move with the door;
a trigger connected to the door and located proximate to the sensor and configured to move to an actuating position, and when in the actuating position, the trigger contacts the sensor causing the sensor to emit a signal, the trigger being biased away from the actuating position; and
a camming surface on the trigger, wherein dimensions of the trigger and the trigger's location on the door with respect to the sensor including the location and dimensions of the camming surface are selected to cause the trigger to move to the actuating position when the camming surface slides against the door guide channel and when the trigger moves out of the channel.

16. The door sensor system of claim 15 , further comprising a door controller operatively connected to the door to actuate the door to the open and closed positions and the sensor is operatively connected to the door controller to input the signal to the door controller.

17. The door sensor system of claim 16 , wherein the door controller causes the door to stop when the door controller receives the signal from the sensor.

18. A method for controlling a door having the door sensor system according to claim 1 , the method comprising
locating the trigger movable to the actuating position on the door;
locating the sensor proximate to the trigger;
providing the door guide; and
configuring the location of the trigger and sensor so that when the trigger leaves the door guide, the trigger will contact the door guide and move to the actuating position and contact the sensor causing the sensor to emit the signal.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
configuring a door controller to receive the signal from the sensor;
configuring the door controller to send a door open control signal and a door close control signal; and
configuring the door controller to send a stop movement of the door control signal when the controller receives the signal from the sensor.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
operatively connecting the sensor to the door controller; and
placing a portion of the door having the trigger and sensor in the door guide.

Assignees

• Overhead Door Corp

Inventors

• Kanuri Sree Lakshmi

Classifications

• E06B9/88

  for limiting unrolling · CPC title

• E06B9/82 Primary

  automatic · CPC title

• E06B9/581 Primary

  Means to prevent or induce disengagement of shutter from side rails · CPC title

• E06B2009/885

  Braking mechanism activated by the bottom bar · CPC title

• E06B2009/6818

  using sensors · CPC title