Patent ID: 8109040

Claim:
A linear drive arrangement for a sliding door, the arrangement comprising: a guide track; a stator arrangement including coils fixed with respect to said guide track; a guide carriage to which a door leaf of the sliding door is fixed, the guide carriage and the door leaf being movable parallel to the guide track, the guide carriage comprising: a front end and a rear end, a pair of opposed sides extending between the front end and the rear end, and two supporting rollers supported at least at times on said guide track, the supporting rollers being disposed respectively at the front and rear ends and on one of said sides of the opposed sides, wherein each of the supporting rollers is journaled on a respective bearing shaft received through a respective bore hole in a body portion of said guide carriage; and a plurality of permanent magnets fixed to said guide carriage, wherein at least a portion of each of the permanent magnets is horizontally co-planar with said coils, wherein said permanent magnets and said coils form a holder so that the guide carriage and the door leaf affixed thereto, is suspended at least partially by a magnetic force between said permanent magnets and said coils of said stator arrangement, and wherein the permanent magnets and coils form a linear drive for the door leaf so that the guide carriage can be driven along said guide track by said magnetic force.