Patent Publication Number: US-2007095488-A1

Title: Safety device of two-way braking for a retractable door leaf

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      (a) Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a safety device of two-way braking for a retractable door leaf, and more particularly to a safety device that can provide a safety protection to a retractable door, which is collapsible, during a process of opening and closing the door, and a two-way dead point position for opening and closing the door so as to acquire a command of operation to a motor by a two-way triggering device.  
      (b) Description of the Prior Art  
      Of an ordinary retractable door such as an iron rolling door, a scissor-type retractable door, or a single sheet horizontal or vertical movement door, the door which is operated electrically is provided with a limiter  6  at a closing side  110  of a rolling door leaf  1  as shown in  FIG. 1  for a safety protection, in addition to conventionally using a control button for manually operation. The limiter  6  is provided with a pressure switch  61  which faces a guarding plate  2  located at a lowest edge of the closing side  110 . The guarding plate  2  is connected to a bottom edge of the closing side  110  with an elastic member  21 , and a hoof  12  is formed at a bottom of the closing side  110 .  
      After being acted on by the guarding plate  2 , the pressure switch  61  will cut off a power to a motor, with a cut-off circuit being transmitted by a control wire  62 . The limiter  6  is a switch, and hence the control wire  62  must be connected between the motor and the limiter  6 . In addition, the control wire  62  must be attached to a surface of the door leaf. Accordingly, a cladding of the control wire  62  can be cracked or even the whole wire can be rolled over and cut into a half to cause a short circuit, due to a pressing and cutting force upon rolling the door leaf  1 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , other than the aforementioned stopping method, the hoof  12  located at a bottom of the door leaf  1  is connected with a flexible tube  91  via another method. The flexible tube  91  which is made by a material having an elastically restoring action forms deformation sides  911 ,  912  at two sides and its bottom surface  92  is in an arch shape in suspension due to a restoring effect of the deformation sides  911 ,  912 . The flexible tube  91  contains a limiting switch  9  below which installed a touch button  90 , which is electronically conducted by a control power  62 . If the closing side  110  of the door leaf  1  touches a ground upon closing down the door, the bottom surface  92  of the flexible tube  91  will touch the tube  91  will touch the ground (or any barrier) first, which will indirectly activate the touch button  90  by which to have the limiting switch to generate a signal to create a command of operation to the motor via the control power  62 . However, by using the aforementioned method, an elastic fatigue or even a rupture will occur to the flexible tube  91  by a long time of usage, thereby creating no action or allowing moisture to enter such that the limiting switch  9  is easy to be malfunctioning due to the rupture.  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , to maintain comprehensively such that the door leaf  1  can have a safety protection during a process of rolling, a laser side  71  and a photo-induction side  72  are separately installed using a photoelectric host  7 . A light beam  70  emitted from the laser side  71 , which is connected to the photoelectric host  7  via a power wire  73 , is received by the induction side  72 . If the photo-induction side  72  loses a photo-induction signal, the photoelectric host  7  will determine that an alien object is entering the closing side  110 , thereby providing a command of shutdown operation to a motor controller.  
      The laser side  71  and the photo-induction side  72  can be directly installed at a bottom position of the hoof  12  located at a lowest curtain  11 , whereas it requires other control elements to control a rolling of an upper develop a unidirectional safety protection, and cannot achieve a dual purpose of overall stopping and safety.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a stopping control of rolling upper and lower dead points and to provide an overall safety protection during the rolling process, by using a two-way action with a plurality of two-way triggering devices located at a closing side of a door leaf.  
      Another object of the present invention is to prevent the triggering devices from being damaged by an elastic buffering of a touch piece; as to cope with a condition of a sudden stop caused by receiving a stop command during a process of moving up and down the door, the door will continually move up or down by a distance of about 10-15 mm due to the law of inertial of motion.  
      To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  shows a schematic view of an installation position of a conventional rolling door leaf provided with a limiter.  
       FIG. 2  shows another schematic view of an installation position of a limiter of a conventional rolling door leaf provided with a limiter.  
       FIG. 3  shows a schematic view of a conventional door leaf provided with a photoelectric host at a closing side.  
       FIG. 4  shows a schematic view of a triggering device located at a closing side of a door leaf of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  shows a schematic view of a relationship between a triggering device and a door structure of the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  shows a system diagram of electrical working of a triggering device of the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  shows a schematic view of a location of a triggering device relative to a door of the present invention.  
       FIG. 8  shows a schematic view of an operation of safety protection of a triggering device of the present invention.  
       FIG. 9  shows a perspective view of another implementation of a probing rod structure of the present invention.  
       FIG. 10  shows a working diagram of a second tact key of the present invention.  
       FIG. 11  shows a schematic view of triggering devices which are uniformly distributed on a first curtain of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Referring to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , the present invention comprises primarily at least two triggering devices  3 , two tact devices  13 , one guarding plate  2 , one remote-control host  4 , and one motor  43 , wherein the triggering device  3  includes a first triggering key  310 , a second triggering key  311 , and an operating circuit  32 , whereas the tact device  13  includes a tact piece  30  and a touch piece  10 . The triggering device  3  is located at a lowest curtain  11  of a door leaf. A lower end of the curtain  11  is provided a trapezoidal hoof  12  which is connected to a guarding plate  2  via an elastic member  21 .  
      A tact piece  30  is located between the triggering device  3  and the guarding plate  2  for performing an action that when a lower end of the guarding plate  2  encounters an alien object or reaches a ground to retrieve a reaction force, the tact piece  30  will be pushed up to press a triggering switch  31  via an deformation of the elastic member  21 , and the tact switch operates such that the triggering device  3  generates a signal to a door  100 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the signal is received by a remote-control host  4  as a basis for serving commands to operate a working status of a motor  43 .  
      In addition, when a triggering key  311  above the triggering switch  31  installed by the triggering device  3  is pressed by an elastic touch piece  10  located at a relative position of the door  100 , it can be recognized that when the door  100  is rolled up to an upper dead point, a shutdown command is generated by the pressing of the touch piece  10  on the triggering key  311  installed by the triggering device  3 . The shutdown signal will be transmitted to the remote-control host  4  to perform a shutdown operation to the motor  43 . The triggering device  3  can operate in two ways.  
      By all elements of the guarding plate  2  installed by a closing side  110  (as shown in  FIG. 3 ), it can provide a safety protection and positions of upper and lower dead points to the door leaf during a retracting and collapsing process, and can provide a shutdown command of the upper and lower dead points using only the two-way function of the triggering device  3 .  
      The triggering device  3  is also provided with a power alert device  34  which can generate a power alert signal to inform a user to supplement electric energy when the triggering device  3  is in short of electric energy. The signal can be a sound or a twinkling light. In addition, the signal can be emitted based on a determination of electric current of an electric energy supplying element, which is a common current induction design, and hence will not be described further.  
      Referring to  FIG. 5 , it shows an overall operation system of the triggering device  3 . The triggering device  3  is provided with a two-way triggering switch  31  which includes a lower first tact key  310  and an upper second tact key  311 . When the tact switch  31  receives an external force to operate, a signal is generated to an operating circuit  32  for forming a radio wave which will be emitted through an emitting side  33 . The signal wave emitted by the emitting side  33  will be received by a receiving side  41  installed by the remote-control host  4  of the motor  43 .  
      The remote-control host  4  acquires power from a power source  42 ; therefore, after the triggering switch  31  operates by the tact piece  30  or the touch piece  10 , the radio signal wave generated will be transmitted to the remote-control host  4  which will conduct the motor  43  to perform a control of working status.  
      Moreover, the wave emitted by the emitting side  33  can be a radio wave or an infrared wave according to an application condition, in order to carry an induction signal for providing to the remote-control host  4 . The remote-control host  4  can also accept a control of operation status with a remote controller  40  operated by one person. The signal wave emitted by the remote controller  40  has a same frequency as that emitted by the emitting side  33 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 6 , at least two triggering devices  3  are linearly distributed along a longitudinal direction of the closing side  110  of the door leaf  1 , wherein at least two triggering devices  3  are installed at positions close to left and right sides of the closing side  110 . The triggering devices  3  receive an operation status of the guarding plate  2  through the tact pieces  30 , so as to serve as a basis of tact.  
      When the closing side  110  of the door leaf  1  reaches a ground  5 , as the guarding plate  2  is compressed on a basis of deformation of the elastic member  21 , it will simultaneously push up the tact pieces  30 , such that the tact pieces  30  will move up to act on the triggering devices  3 . Therefore, the triggering devices  3  can emit a radio wave such that a remote-control host (as the remote-control host shown in  FIG. 5 ) will acquire an operation command, in order to control an operation of the motor  43 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 7 , the purpose of installing the triggering devices  3  at the left and right sides of the closing side  110  of the door leaf  1  is to use the guarding plate  2  which is a straight plate, such that if the guarding plate  2  touches a barrier  8  during a process of closing the door leaf  1 , as shown in the drawing, then at least the triggering device  3  at the right side will be touched, thereby enabling the triggering device  3  to emit a shutdown signal.  
      As the guarding plate  2  is in a straight shape, which is connected to the closing side  110  installed by the door leaf  1  via the elastic member  21 , therefore if its right side is pressed by the barrier  8 , the triggering device  3  will be activated through the tact piece  30 , and an angle θ will be formed between the guarding plate  2  and a lower rim of the door leaf  1 .  
      Overall, if any location below the guarding plate  2  is pressed by the barrier  8 , there is a chance that one of the triggering devices  3  will generate an induction signal, thereby acquiring a complete safety protection.  
      There are at least two triggering devices  3  installed for the present invention, and the minimum requirement is that the triggering devices  3  must be installed at the left and right sides of the closing side  110 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 8 , an implementation of triggering the signal includes installing a triggering device  3  on the vertical hoof  12  of a first curtain  11 . The triggering device  3  is provided with a first tact key  310  and a second tact key  311 , wherein the first tack key  310  is acted by a first probing rod  35  whose fixing side is connected to a second curtain  111 . A deformation band  112  is formed between the second curtain  111  and the first curtain  11 . When the first curtain  11  encounters a resistance upon pressing the hoof  12  from top to bottom, a feedback to the resistance will be generated through the deformation band  112 . As a contraction deformation will be generated by pressing the deformation band  112 , and the fixing side of the first probing rod  35  is fixed on the second curtain  111 , a relative contraction shifting will be generated between the hoof  12 , so as to enable a foot side  351  of the probing rod  35  to touch the first triggering key  310  for generating a shutdown signal, thereby allowing the door leaf  1  to perform a designated action before reaching a ground surface in closing the door.  
      Referring to  FIG. 9 , when the door leaf  1  is rolled up to reach a top position, the second tact key  311  of the triggering device  3  will act on a second probing rod  36  installed on the door  110 . By using a foot side  361  of the second probing rod  36  to touch the second tact key  311 , a command signal can be generated to provide the remote-control host  4  for issuing a shutdown command to the motor  43 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 10 , two symmetric triggering devices  3  are distributed at the hoof  12  installed at a lower end of the door leaf  1 . The triggering devices  3  are corresponding to each probing rod  35  to achieve a tact operation as shown in  FIG. 8 . By symmetrically distributing the triggering devices  3 , a uniform action and a control at an effective timing can be available. In addition, under a circumstance that deformation stresses at left and right to the deformation band  112  are equal, a resisting force is also generated at a center of the door leaf  1 ; therefore, the triggering devices  3  at two sides can uniformly share the pressure and accept the designated signal activated separately by each probing rod  35 .  
      It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.