Patent ID: 6761205
Filing Date: 2004-07-13
Classification: E06B

Abstract:
A method for regulating flow through an aperture on a path from a first to a second location on the path, the method comprising the steps of:locating in the aperture a movable barrier defined by a sequence of discrete vertical elements; providing for transverse displacement of the vertical elements, each of the vertical elements being supported by a support and each support being driven along one of a plurality of parallel tracks by a drive, the drive having a plurality of belts with each belt driving one of the vertical elements so as to cause the barrier to reproduce a wave motion in a direction along the path so as to cause the barrier to periodically generate along the path, an entry region which is open towards the first location but isolated from the second location, a traversing region generated from the entry region by progressive movement of the barrier, and an exit region generated from the traversing region by further progressive movement of the barrier, the exit region being open towards the second location but isolated from the first location; and regulating the displacement of the vertical elements so that adjacent vertical elements in the barrier subject to regulated displacement cause the barrier to conform to one of a plurality of available predetermined reproducible wave patterns.