Technical area.

The present invention relates to an operating device for a door comprising a door closing device with a first power mechanism that exerts a first torque on a rotatably journalled shaft, said torque via rotation of the shaft in a door closing direction being transferred to a closing torque on the door, and an electric motor driven second power mechanism comprising a driven gear mounted for rotating, for opening the door, the rotatably journalled shaft in a door opening direction. Door operating devices of this or similar types have the purpose of facilitating, for e.g. handicapped persons, mechanical opening of a door provided with such a device, at the same time as it, in another case, enables manual opening in a conventional way. A current circuit for the mechanical opening can be activated by means of a door button located adjacent to the door, or by some type of presence sensor.

Stand of the art.

Door operating devices of essentially the kind defined by way of introduction are known through e.g. the US patent

4,348,835 and the Swedish layed out specification 460,612. These are usually characterized by a complicated and expensive design requiring specially manufactured components.

Description of the invention.

There is an object of the invention to provide a door operating device of the kind indicated by way of introduction, that is characterized by a simple, safe and cheap design, that essentially can be based on standard components. The above mentioned object has been attained by a door operating device of the kind defined by way of introduction

having obtained the features stated in claim l. Advantageous embodiments of the invention have obtained the features stated in the respective subclaims.

According to the invention, the second power mechanism thus comprises first means which at manual opening of the door admit free rotation of the shaft with respect to the driven gear. The driven gear is located on the shaft and designed for admitting, at need, rotation of the same with respect to the shaft in the door opening rotation direction thereof. According to an advantageous embodiment the driven gear and the shaft are freely rotatably mounted with respect to each other and have a follower mechanism that starts to function a rotation of the driven gear in the door opening direction of tne shaft.

In a very advantageous way the possibility of rotation of the driven gear with respect to the shaft is obtained by it having a gear rim that, at exceeding a certain value of a peripheral power that is exerted on it relatively the shaft in the door opening rotation direction, moves in the direction of the force on a support structure for the gear rim. Preferably the gear rim is adjustably located in the support structure so that said value of the peripheral force can be given a desired magnitude.

In accordance with a very simple and advantageous embodiment the support structure consists of two clamp discs which by means of joining means keep the gear rim clamped between them. The joining means comprise a number of joining means arranged on a distance from and around the rotational axis of the gear rim.

An embodiment which is very advantageous from a cost and mounting point of view is obtained by the joining means rigidly joining contact movement means with the clamp discs, said contact movement means being intended for affecting switches included in an electric current control circuit for the door operating device.

The contact movement means can each form a cam extension on an annular carrier element carried by the joining means at a distance from the clamp discs. An accurate setting of the cam extensions can be attained in a simple and efficient way if the

annular carrier element consists of a number of rings which are mutually settable in a peripheral direction and each comprise a corresponding one of the cam extensions.

According to a further advantageous embodiment a transmiss- ion between the driven gear and the electric motor is dimensioned with an inertia which, when the door has been brought to an open position by the electric motor, is enough to keep the door in this position when the motor is deactivated and against the action of the first power mechanism. A current control circuit for the electric motor then contains switching means for activating the electric motor for reversed operation for closing the door in order to overcome said intertia and thereby allow the door closing device to close the door independent of the second power mechanism. The switching means can comprise a first switch that at activation opens a current circuit to the motor for door opening operation, and a second switch that at activation opens a current circuit to the motor for reversed operation. These switches are activated when the door shall be opened and closed, respectively. The first and second switches can be located at a start point and an end point, respectively, for the opening movement of the driven gear. In these points the first and second switches are activated by a respective contact operating means that is movable with the tooth wheel for opening and closing the door, respectively.

Description of the drawings.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described more closely below with reference to the attached drawings, on which Fig. 1 illustrates the location of a schematically indicated door operating device on a door, a cover for the device having been omitted,

Fig. 2 shows a first embodiment in a greater scale of the door operating device shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 shows a view of the same device in the direction of arrows III-III in Fig. 2, also illustrating the position for certain details included in the device, when the door is closed,

Fig. 4 in a similar view as in Fig. 2 shows an essential part of the first embodiment enlarged and sectioned,

Figs. 5-8 show one and the same electric circuit diagram of an electric circuit for controlling current activation of an electric motor included in the door operating device, the different Figures showing the circuit with switches included therein in different positions corresponding to different steps of the operation of the device,

Fig. 9 in a similar view as Fig. 4 illustrates a second embodiment of the door operating device according to the invention and

Fig. 10 shows an exploded perspective view of the second embodiment.

Description of embodiments.

Referring to Figs. 1-4 a door 2 has a door operating device generally designated 4. The door operating device 4 includes a door closing device with a first power mechanism located in a housing 6 and exerting a first torque on a shaft 8 rotatably journalled in the housing 6. The first torque is transmitted via a power transfer mechanism to a closing torque on the door. The first power mechanism can e.g. be of a conventional spring type with the housing 6 attached to the side of the door 2 as shown in Fig. l. The power transfer mechanism is e.g. of link arm type conventional in the context, a link 10 being shown attached with one end to the shaft 8. The link 10 at its other end at a joint 12 in a conventional way may be rotatably connected with one end to a further link, not shown, the other end of which has a joint on the upper door post designated 14. A motor driven second power mechanism is arranged to exert, for opening the door 2, a second torque on the rotatably journalled shaft 8 in a direction opposite to the first torque. The motor driven power mechanism includes an electric motor 16 of a rotating type, likewise attached to the side of the door 2, and a transmission generally indicated 18 arranged between the electric motor 16 and the rotatably journalled shaft 8. The transmission 18 is of a gear type and includes a drive gear 20 on

the motor shaft, a driven gear 22 arranged for driving the shaft 8 in a way to be described more closely below, and a gear belt extending over the gears and only indicated by a dashed line 24. The motor driven second power mechanism 16-24 in a way to be disclosed more closely below is designed so as to allow opening of the door in another way than through the second power mechanism, e.g. manually, independently of the second power mechansism. More particularly, this capacity is based upon the gear 22 being essentially freely rotatably journalled on the shaft 8, but being able to carry with it the shaft 8 in a direction for opening the door 2, arrow 26 in Fig. 3, against the first torque exerted by the first power mechanism. This is performed by effecting engagement between a carrier pin 28 attached to the gear 22 and directed towards the housing 6, and an arm 30 non-rotatably arranged on the shaft 8 between the gear 22 and the housing 6. At rotation of the gear 22 in the direction of the arrow 26, the arm 30 and thereby the shaft 8 are thus conveyed, whereas rotation of the shaft 8 in the same direction due to manual opening of the door is performed independently of the gear 22 and leaves this unaffected.

Fig. 4 more closely illustrates the just described arrange¬ ment for the provision of the gear 22 on the shaft 8. The driven gear 22 includes a gear rim 32 that, at exceeding a certain value of a peripheral force exerted on it with respect to the shaft 8 in the door opening rotation direction, moves in the direction of the force on a support structure for the gear rim 32. More particularly, the gear rim 32 is adjustably clamped in the support structure so that said value of the peripheral force can be given a desired magnitude. More particularly, the gear rim 32 by means of a joining means in the form of a nut 34 is adjustably clamped between an inner clamp disc 36 and an outer clamp disc 38 which form the support structure and are provided with each a central opening. The nut 34 travels on an outer thread on a sleave shaped extension 40 from the periphery of the central opening of the inner disc 36, said extension 40 extending axially outwardly through the central opening of the outer disc 38.

The clamping force for the gear rim 32 settable by means of the nut 34 is chosen so that the gear rim during normal opera¬ tion, for operating the door 2 by means of the electric motor 16, can be regarded to be non-rotatably joined to the discs 36 and 38. However, if the door during such electric motor driven operation is exposed to a force that implies that the normal electric motor driven rotation of the gear 22 is counteracted, the clamping force shall admit skipping of the gear rim 32 between the discs 36 and 38. Such a counteracting force e.g. appears if the door 2 and thereby the arm 30 due to an outer obstacle is stopped during the opening movement of the door. By the skipping the drive mechanism is protected against overload and personal injuries through clamping are avoided.

The sleave shaped extension 40 is slidably arranged on an end shaft pivot on the shaft 8 via a slidable sleave 44 which is somewhat longer than the sleave shaped extension 40. The arm 30 by its form engages the shaft pivot 42 and is pressed by means of a screw joint by the inner edge of the sleave 44 against an end shoulder of the shaft 8, that extends between the peripheral end edges of the shaft 8 and the shaft pivot 42. More particularly, the screw joint comprises a screw 46 which is axially screwed into the end of the pin 42, and a disc 48 via which the head of the screw 46 acts against the outer edge of the sleave 44. Due to the length difference between the sleave 44 and the sleave shaped extension 40 the later is freely rotatable on the sleave shaped extension 40 between the disc 48 and the follower arm 30.

By means of the just described screw joint two contact operating arms 50 and 52 by means of each a respective joint part 54 and 56, joined to the gear 22 to be able to follow its movement. More particularly, the joint parts 54 and 56 are disc shaped and via a respective hole brought over the sleave shaped extension 40 and clamped between the nut 34 and the disc 38. From an extension on each of the joint parts the respective contact movement arm extends in a direction from the gear 22 as is illustrated by the contact arm 50 in Fig. 2. The contact movement arm 52 is hidden in Fig. 2.

The electric motor 16 and the contacts operated by the

contact operating members 50, 52 are included in a circuit schematically shown in each of Figs. 5-8. The circuits in the respective four Figures differ from each other by showing different connection positions for the included switches, for illustrating the appearance of different positions of operation of the door 2. Current feeding conductors designated 58 and 60 of the motor 16 are via a switching circuit generally designated 62 connectable to the positive terminal 64 and negative terminal 66 of a direct current source, e.g. of 24 volts. The switching circuit 62 includes two switches 72 and 74 operated by an electromagnetic relay 70 and each having a respective contact 76 and 78 connected to the positive and negative battery terminal, respectively. The switching circuit 62 furthermore includes two switches 80 and 82 having a closed rest position and a respective movable contact 84 and 86 that is movable by the contact movement arms 50 and 52, respectively, to an open position to obtain said different operational positions of the door 2. A fixed contact 88 of the switch 80 is connected to the current feeding conductor 60 of the electric motor 16 and to a fixed contact 90 of the switch 74. A fixed contact 92 of the switch 82 is connected to the current feeding conductor 58 of the electric motor 16 and to a fixed rest contact 94 of the switch 74. The movable contacts 84 and 86 of the respective switches 80 and 82 are connected to a respective fixed contact 96 and 98 of the switch 72. The contact 96 is a rest contact.

An electromagnetic coil, not shown, of the relay 70 and with a break contact, not shown, of a time relay 100 are connected in series over the two battery terminals 64, 66. A current feeding conductor 102 for the time relay 100 connected between the battery terminals 64, 66 furthermore includes a door opening switch 104. The switch 104 can consist of a door opening button and/or be movable by means of a presence indicating device, such as a photocell or similar.

Referring to Figs. 2, 3 and 5, the respective movable contacts 76 and 78 of the switches 72 and 74 are, when taking their respective rest position and in the closed position of the door 2, in contact with the fixed rest contacts 96 and 94,

respectively, and the movable contact 84 of the switch 80 is kept by the contact operating arm 50 in an open position for the switch 80.

For opening the door 2, the switch 104 is closed instantane- ously for feeding current to and activating the time relay 100 which closes a current path from the relay 70. The relay 70 operates so that the movable contacts 76 and 78 of the switches 72 and 74, respectively, are moved from the position shown in Fig. 5 to the position shown in Fig. 6 into contact with the fixed contacts 96 and 90, respectively. This closes a current path, shown in Fig. 6, to the motor 16 so that current flows from the battery terminal 64, through the contact 98 of the switch 72, the closed switch 82, the motor 16 in the direction of arrows 106, the contact 90 of the switch 74, and to the battery terminal 66. When thereby the motor 16 turns the shaft 80 anticlockwise in

Fig. 3 according to the arrow 26, the contact operating arm 50 releases the movable contact 84 of the switch 80 so that thereby the switch 80 proceeds to its rest position in a closed state.

When the door 2 reaches the opening end position represented by Fig. 7, the contact operating arm 52 hits the movable contact 86 of the switch 82 and thereby opens it, as is shown in Fig. 7, which implies that said current path and thereby the motor current is breaken. The door is, however, kept in the open position by a suitable shaping, after the rotational shaft of the motor, of the transmission system to obtain a suitable inertia for this purpose. This inertia can e.g. be attained by the rotational shaft, designated 110, of the motor 16 extending perpendicularly to and being connected with the rotational shaft of the gear 20 via a worm gear, cf . Fig. 2. A conceivable alternative would be that, with another location of the electric motor, the gears 20 and 22 directly engage each other in a worm gear.

Referring to Fig. 8, the time relay 100 releases after a set time, which implies that the magnetic coil of the relay 70 will be out of current, and the movable contacts 76 and 78 of the switches 72 and 74 return to their rest position against the rest contacts 96 and 94, respectively. This implies that a current

path is closed from the positive terminal 64 of the battery over the rest contact 96 of the switch 72, the closed switch 80, the motor 16 in the direction of arrows 108, the rest contact 94 of the switch 74 to the negative battery terminal 66. The motor 16 is thereby started in a direction opposite to the opening direction and overcomes the inertia of the transmission system so that thereby the door closing device is allowed to close the door independent of the opening mechanism. When the door has reached the closing position the contact 84 of the switch 80 is moved to an open position by the contact operating arm 50 and thereby breaks the current feed to the motor. The electric circuit has thereby once again reached its state shown in Fig. 5.

A second embodiment of mechanical design of the device according to the invention differs from that described with reference to Figs. 2-4 above mainly only through the location and, to a certain extent, the shape of the support structure for the gear rim and thereby caused modification of connected elements, such as contact operating elements corresponding to the contact operating arms 50 and 52. The differences between the two embodiments are illustrated more closely by Figs. 9 and 10 of which Fig. 9 in a similar view as Fig. 4 shows the modified design of support structure and contact operating means, and Fig. 10 shows the parts included therein in a perspective exploding view of the whole door operating device. Details in Figs. 9 and 10, the design of which essentially agree with corresponding details of the first embodiment have obtained the same reference designations as in Figs. 2-4 and are not described more closely once again.

As in the first embodiment the support structure in Figs. 9 and 10 consists of two clamp discs 36, 38 which by means of joining means keep the gear rim 32 clamped between them. However, in the second embodiment said joining means consist of a number of joining means located at a distance from and around the rotational axis of the gear rim 32. More particularly, these joining means consist of three equidistantly and from the rotational shaft regularly arranged screw joints. Of these screw joints, which thus replace the nut 34 in the embodiment according

to Figs. 2-4, only one is visible in the view according to Fig. 9.

Each of the screw joints comprises a screw 150 of which two are visible in Fig. 10, the head 152 of which is located on the side of the disc 36 turned towards the arm 30. From there the screw 150 extends in turn through the clamp disc 30, a control disc 154 for the gear rim surrounded by the gear rim 32, the clamp disc 38, a stretch screw spring 156 and a pair of nuts 158 and 160. In Fig. 10 the nuts 160 are omitted. The three nut pairs fixedly hold, between the two sides of the respective nuts 158 and 160 turned towards each other, two disc shaped rings 162 and 164. Each ring has a cam extension 166 and 168, respectively. The cam extensions 166 and 168 have the same function, described above with reference to Figs. 5-8, as the contact operating arms 50 and 52, respectively in the embodiment according to Figs. 2-4, i.e. they shall operate the movable contacts 84 and 86, respectively, of the switches 80 and 82, respectively.