Fast roll-up door comprising a curtain speed detection device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9714540-B2
Application number	US-201515117405-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2015
Priority date	Feb 12, 2014
Publication date	Jul 25, 2017
Grant date	Jul 25, 2017

Abstract

The present invention concerns a fast roll-up door for closing an aperture ( 20 ), said roll- up door comprising:
(a) a curtain ( 1 ) having two opposite and parallel lateral edges extending along a longitudinal direction, and two opposite end edges joining the lateral edges, the curtain comprising a continuous bead ( 3 b ) extending parallel and adjacent to each of the two lateral edges, said continuous beads ( 3 b ) being held in, (b) a pair of elongated guiding rails ( 4 ) suitable for interacting with the continuous beads ( 3 b ) of the lateral edges of the curtain, for holding said lateral edges, and for guiding them as the curtain is being wound or unwound about a rotating axle, X 1,

characterized in that, the curtain comprises a plurality of windows ( 8 ) of same geometry and evenly distributed along a line the continuous beads ( 3 b ) of the lateral edges of the curtain and in that, the roll-up door further comprises a speed device ( 10 ) for detecting and monitoring during the winding and unwinding of the curtain about the rotating axle, X 1 , of the time sequence of passage of the windows ( 8 ) before a fixed point, and thus for determining the instantaneous translation speed of the curtain along the guiding rails ( 4 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fast roll-up door for closing an aperture, said roll-up door comprising:
(a) a curtain having two opposite and parallel lateral edges extending along a longitudinal direction, and two opposite end edges joining the lateral edges, the curtain comprising continuous beads extending parallel and adjacent to each of the two lateral edges;
(b) a pair of elongated guiding rails suitable for interacting with the continuous beads of the lateral edges of the curtain for holding said lateral edges and for guiding them as the curtain is being wound or unwound about a rotating axle, wherein said continuous beads are held in corresponding guiding rails,

wherein the curtain comprises a plurality of windows of same geometry and evenly distributed along a line adjacent and parallel to at least one of the continuous beads of the curtain, and wherein the roll-up door further comprises a speed device for detecting and monitoring, during the winding and unwinding of the curtain about the rotating axle, of the time sequence of passage of the windows before a fixed point, and for determining the instantaneous translation speed of the curtain along the guiding rails.

2. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , wherein the windows have a size in the longitudinal direction between 3 and 30 mm and the distance between two adjacent windows is between 5 and 50 mm.

3. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , wherein the windows are evenly distributed along two lines, each line being adjacent and parallel to a corresponding continuous bead of the curtain.

4. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , wherein the curtain comprises a central portion flanked by two lateral strips, each lateral strip having a free edge proximal with said continuous bead and forming the lateral edges of the curtain, the windows being located on at least one of said two lateral strips.

5. The fast roll-up door according to claim 4 , wherein the lateral strips are bonded to the central portion of the curtain by welding, gluing, stitching, or combinations thereof.

6. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , wherein the curtain comprises a first main surface and a second main surface separated from one another by the thickness of the curtain, and wherein the speed device comprises:
(a) a wave emitter facing the first main surface of the curtain at a level of the line of windows and adjacent to a corresponding one of the guiding rails, said wave emitter being capable of emitting a wave towards the curtain, which is allowed to proceed beyond a plane formed by the curtain only through the windows and which is interrupted by the material separating two adjacent windows, and
(b) a wave receptor capable of transmitting a signal to a central processing unit each time it receives a wave emitted by the wave emitter which has proceeded though one of the windows,

wherein the emitted wave is an ultraviolet light, an optical light, or an infrared light.

7. The fast roll-up door according to claim 6 , wherein the wave emitter and wave receptor are located facing the first main surface of the curtain, and the speed device further comprises a wave guide located facing the second main surface of the curtain and capable of redirecting the wave emitted by the wave emitter after proceeding through the one window back through the one window to the wave receptor.

8. The fast roll-up door according to claim 6 , wherein the wave emitter is located facing the first main surface of the curtain and the wave receptor is located facing the second main surface of the curtain and facing the wave emitter.

9. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , wherein the speed device is capable of determining the instantaneous position of the curtain by counting a number of the windows passed before it.

10. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , further comprising a central processing unit capable of generating predetermined actions of the curtain depending on the time sequence of passage of the windows detected by the speed device, wherein, when said time sequence falls out of a predetermined range, the central processing unit is capable of generating one or several of the following actions: stop the movement of the curtain, wind up the curtain, and initiate an optical or an acoustic alarm.

11. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , comprising a system for automatic re-insertion of the continuous bead of a lateral edge of the curtain into the corresponding guiding rail in response to the continuous bead being pulled out from said guiding rail.

12. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , wherein the curtain comprises a corrugated portion defined by ridges and valleys extending parallel to the whole length of each lateral edge, wherein two adjacent ridges of the corrugated portions at rest are separated by a rest distance and the distance separating two adjacent ridges of the corrugated portions increases upon application of a pressure applied substantially normal onto the surface of the curtain, and returns substantially to the rest distance upon release of the pressure.

13. A process for producing a curtain suitable for use in the fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , said process comprising the following steps:
(a) providing a central portion of a curtain, said central portion being flexible and comprising two parallel lateral edges,
(b) extruding a lateral strip comprising a first and a second free edges and being provided with a continuous bead running parallel to the first free edge, and with a planar coupling portion located adjacent to the second free edge;
(c) punching a series of equidistant windows of same geometry onto the lateral strip along a line running parallel to the continuous bead
(d) coupling the planar coupling portion of a lateral strip as defined above to both lateral edges of the central portion of the curtain.

14. The process according to claim 13 , wherein the step of coupling the lateral strips to both lateral edges of the central portion of the curtain is carried out by welding, gluing, stitching, or combinations thereof.

15. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , wherein the windows have a size in the longitudinal direction between 5 and 20 mm and the distance between two adjacent windows is between 7 and 30 mm.

16. The fast roll-up door according to claim 1 , wherein the windows have a size in the longitudinal direction between 7 and 12 mm, and the distance between two adjacent windows is between 10 and 20 mm.

Assignees

• Assa Abloy Entrance Systems Ab

Inventors

• Lorenzani Mauro
• Vecchi Armando

Classifications

• E06B9/88 Primary

  for limiting unrolling · CPC title

• E06B2009/6827

  sensing light · CPC title

• E06B9/581

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

• E06B9/92

  Means allowing the closures to be shifted out of the plane of the opening · CPC title

• E06B9/13 Primary

  with closing members of one piece, e.g. of corrugated sheet metal · CPC title