EP2944754B1 - Drive system for a gate - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a drive system for a gate.

The drive system is generally used to operate a gate, that is to open and close a gate. The gate can generally be moved horizontally or vertically. For example, the door can be designed as a garage door, in particular as a sectional door.

Such a drive system can be equipped with a safety function, which brings about a safety shutdown of the drive unit in a hazardous situation. This ensures, in particular, that when an obstacle, in particular a person, enters the area of the door and is detected by the latter, the drive unit immediately stops and reverses the door through the safety shutdown so that dangerous situations are avoided.

The safety function can be ensured, for example, by continuously ascertaining the occurring forces acting on the drive unit in a control unit, which can be accomplished, for example, by measuring the rotational speed of the drive of the drive unit. Furthermore, it is possible to install a safety edge on the door edge, by means of which forces can be detected.

In general, there is a problem with such drive systems equipped with safety functions in that when a safety shutdown has taken place, the door can not or may not be moved in self-holding.

In order to enable a safe movement of the gate in such a case, it is known to operate the drive system in a deadman mode. The Anrieb itself does not go into the deadman mode, but rather switch pulse generator, which drive the drive their functioning. For this purpose, a key is provided on the control unit, wherein it is essential that the key is arranged relative to the gate so that an operator pressing the key can see the door. Deadman operation is then started by an operator pressing the key. The process of the gate is maintained only as long as the operator keeps the button pressed. If the operator releases the button, the dead man's journey is ended immediately and the gate stops.

But this ensures a safe movement of the gate in deadman mode, since the gate is only moved in deadman mode when the operator holds the button and thus has the goal in their field of vision, so that the operator visually the occurrence of possible dangerous situations at the gate can recognize.

A disadvantage of such dead man's circuit is that for this purpose a key in the field of view of the door must be fixed. This requires on the one hand an additional design effort. In addition, the button is often installed in hard to reach places, so that their operation is cumbersome and not very comfortable. Finally, there is even a certain security risk, in particular a risk of burglary, by such a permanently installed button as an activation option of the drive unit, since this can in principle also be operated by unauthorized persons.

The EP 1 447 518 A1 relates to a drive system for a gate, which can be moved between a closed position and an open position. For actuating the door actuators are provided which can be designed as non-contact radio transmitter or as a key switch. The gate can also be operated in deadman mode.

The FR 2 838 855 A1 relates to a radio transmitter, which can be used in particular for the operation of drive systems of gates. The radio transmitter has means for receiving electromagnetic energy. This energy can be stored in the radio transmitter to its power supply. For the radio transmitter to be functional, it must be located near an energy source so that the radio transmitter can receive energy from there.

The EP 1 304 442 A2 relates to a drive system for a gate that can be closed and opened by means of an operating element such as a radio transmitter. Depending on the signals of a safety switch, the drive of the drive system can be driven with increased torque.

The invention has for its object to provide a drive system of the type mentioned, which has increased reliability with low design effort.

To achieve this object, the features of the independent claim are provided. Advantageous embodiments and expedient developments of the invention are described in the subclaims.

The invention relates to a drive system for a gate, with a drive unit, by means of which the door can be moved between a closed position and an open position. During a drive, operating parameters of the drive unit are learned. The drive unit is associated with an actuating means, by means of which the door is moved in a deadman mode. As actuating means, a radio transmitting element is provided, which transmits radio signals to a receiver. The deadman operation is enabled when the radio signals registered in the receiver are recognized as valid, the radio signals being classified as valid when their power levels exceed a predetermined threshold. A condition caused by external influences safety shutdown of the drive unit is canceled during Einlernfahrt by means of activated by an actuating means Totmannbetriebs. The dead man's operation is maintained as long as in a receiver recognized as valid radio signals of the radio transmitter element are registered.

The basic idea of the invention is therefore to replace a key as permanently installed unit by a mobile radio system as a movable, portable unit as a dead man's operating means.

Since the radio transmitter element can be carried by an operator as a portable unit, the operator can himself determine the position from which she starts the drive of the door and thus starts a deadman drive, whereby the ease of use is considerably increased.

Particularly advantageous is the radio transmitter element, with the dead man's operation is triggered, part of a remote control, which leads an operator as a portable control element for regular operation of the door with it. The operation of the gate by means of the handheld transmitter is generally characterized in that with the hand-held transmitter at the touch of a button control signals are emitted in the form of radio signals that are received by the drive unit associated receiver. To transmit these radio signals and to emit the radio signals for deadman operation, it is particularly advantageous to use the same radio transmitter element in the hand-held transmitter, so that it can be used for provision ment of the actuating means for the Totmannbetrieb no additional design effort is required.

An essential aspect of the invention is that the radio signals of the radio transmitter element, which are sent to the receiver as a dead man's operating means, are subjected to a validity check. Through this validity check is checked whether the radio transmitter element and thus the operator who operates the radio transmitter element, is in the field of view of the gate. This is done by classifying the radio signals of the radio transmitter element as valid if their power levels exceed a predetermined threshold.

This ensures that the dead man's operation is activated only when the operator is within a threshold distance. Thus, the essential for the deadman safety condition is met, that an operator can only activate the dead man's operation, if they can see the door and can detect dangerous situations at the gate. This ensures that the radio transmitting element forms a safe actuating means for the activation of deadman operation.

The function of the actuating means according to the invention is such that the gate is moved in the deadman mode only as long as the radio signal of the radio transmitting element is recognized as valid.

This means that the dead man's journey is interrupted immediately and the gate is stopped as soon as the operator moves farther than the distance from the gate.

The deadman function according to the invention can generally be used for bridging defective safety shutdowns of the drive unit, with safe operation of the drive unit also being ensured in dead man's mode. As a result of the drive system according to the invention, the functionality of the drive system when learning its operating parameters is also considerably improved, with the safety in particular when learning the operating parameters being considerably increased.

In known drive systems, the learning of the operating parameters, in particular the force values of the door and also the end positions of the gate, takes place during a teach-in run in such a way that the door is moved at the maximum speed. In this case, however, no safe operation of the drive system is possible. In principle, drive systems are also known in which the teach-in travel is started at low speed, but the user can increase the shut-off force, ie the sensitivity of the drive uncontrollably, by operating a potentiometer in order to prevent the door from remaining in difficult places. Also in this case, no safe operation of the drive system is guaranteed.

In the case of the drive system according to the invention, advantageously the teach-in travel takes place at a speed of the door which is less than the maximum speed, a first essential safety aspect already being taken into account.

At heavy points, the drive unit can not move the gate over them and then stops first. According to the invention, an operator can then start a dead man's journey. In the deadman mode, the door can then be moved across the stiff area.

Since the stop of the gate is bridged in a dead man's mode, it is ensured that the consequent passing over the difficult place of the gate does not lead to an unsafe condition. This is due to the fact that in dead man's operation, an operator must actuate the actuating means continuously, whereby it is ensured that the operator always has eye contact with the door during operation of the actuating means.

Force values of the gate are particularly advantageously learned during the teach-in run. When a stiffness of the door occurs, a safety shutdown of the drive unit.

In this case, therefore, the inventive, non-contact actuating means for the activation of deadman operation is used.

The functionality of the drive system is advantageously further increased by the fact that in dead man's operation, the drive unit adjusts the current force value in such a way that the sluggish position of the door is overcome by the drive unit.

The adjusted force value is taken over as a learned force value. The dead man's mode is thus used to overrun the stiff point of the gate by the adjusted and learned force value with an adapted speed, so that during the following on the Einlernfahrt Working operation, the drive unit is no longer stopped at this point, but runs over controlled controlled.

Since it is ensured in dead man's operation that the operator actuating the actuating device always has the door in view, the operator can advantageously determine and analyze the cause of the stiffness of the door in order to initiate suitable countermeasures if necessary.

Figur 1:

Schematische Darstellung eines Antriebssystems für ein Garagentor.

Figur 2:

Schematische Darstellung eines Handsenders für das Antriebssystem gemäß Figur 1.

The invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. Show it:

FIG. 1:

Schematic representation of a drive system for a garage door.

FIG. 2:

Schematic representation of a remote control for the drive system according to FIG. 1 ,

FIG. 1 schematically shows a drive system 1 for a gate 2, which is formed in the present case as a garage door in the form of a sectional door.

The gate 2 is guided at both edges in each case a guide rail 3. Each guide rail 3 has a rail segment running in the vertical direction and a rail segment running in the horizontal direction. The horizontal and vertical rail segments are connected by a curved rail segment.

FIG. 1 shows the gate 2 in its closed position, in which the door 2 is arranged between the vertical rail segments of the guide rail 3 and closes a door opening of the garage. In an open position, the gate 2 is arranged between the horizontal rail segments of the guide rail 3, which extend under the ceiling of the garage.

By means of the drive system 1, the door 2 can be moved between the closed position and the open position.

The drive system 1 has a movable on one of the guide rails 3 door drive 4 as part of a drive unit, which has a motor 5 integrated in a carriage 5, which is designed as an electric motor has. The door drive 4 is connected by means of a push arm 7 hinged to the upper edge of the door 2.

Furthermore, the drive system 1 comprises, as a further component of the drive unit, a control unit 8 which is connected to the door drive 4 via current supply means (not shown). The control unit 8, which is mounted in the present case on the inside of a wall of the garage, generates control signals for moving the door drive 4. In or on the control unit 8 is a receiver 9, which is adapted to receive radio signals. The radio signals registered at the receiver 9 are evaluated in the control unit 8.

This receiver 9 are associated with one or more hand-held transmitter 10, wherein such a hand-held transmitter 10 is shown schematically in FIG FIG. 2 is shown. The radio transmitter 12 emits radio signals transmitted by the receiver 11 and converted by the control unit 8 into control commands for moving the door 2. By operating the keys 11, the radio transmitter element 12 emits radio signals ,

The drive system 1 has a power cutoff as a safety function. For this purpose, force values are determined during a teach-in drive over the entire travel path of the door 2 between the closed position and the open position, and learned from this permissible force values. The force measurement can be done by a speed determination of the door drive 4.

If an impermissible force value is then registered in the control unit 8 during the working operation following the training run, for example if the door 2 runs against an obstacle, a safety shutdown takes place, that is to say the door drive 4 is stopped.

According to the invention, such a safety shutdown can be bridged by a deadman operation, wherein the radio transmitter element 12 of the handheld transmitter 10 forms the actuation means for the activation of deadman operation.

The method of the gate 2 in the deadman mode is thereby only released when the radio signals of the radio transmitter element are received in the receiver 9 and if they are recognized in the control unit 8 as valid. The validity check in the control unit 8 is carried out by a threshold value of the registered at the receiver 9 radio signals. Specifically, a radio signal is only recognized as valid if the power of the radio signal is above a predetermined threshold stored in the control unit 8. This threshold value is selected so as to ensure that an operator operating the hand-held transmitter 10 has the door 2 in view when the radio signals at the receiver 9 are above the threshold value. As a result, the safety condition necessary for the dead man's operation is met, that an operator may only activate the dead man's operation if it has visual contact with the door 2.

By the validity check of the radio signals namely the deadman operation is activated only, that is, the method of the door 2 allows only if the receiver 9 receives the radio signals of the radio transmitter element 12 and if they are above the threshold. This means that the dead man's operation is interrupted, that is deactivated, when the operator still operates the hand-held transmitter 10, so that the radio signals reach the receiver 9, but the operator away from the receiver 9, so that the level of the radio signals below the Threshold lie. The hand-held transmitter 10 is used as an actuating means for a dead man's operation also during the teach-in drive, in which the permissible force values of the door 2 are taught in, whereby this teach-in operation is also safe.

The teach-in is not performed at maximum speed but at a reduced speed of the door drive 4. Therefore, in a difficult place of the gate 2, the door drive 4 does not overcome this point and stops. The overcoming of this difficult point is achieved in that the operator activates the deadman mode described above by pressing the remote control 10. The door drive 4 then regulates, as long as the deadman mode is active, its force in such a way that it can overcome the difficult position of the gate 2. This adjusted force value is then taught in as a permissible force value, since the operator can inspect the door 2 during the adjustment of the force value and can be sure that no dangerous situation arises.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

(1)

drive system

(2)

gate

(3)

guide rail

(4)

door drive

(5)

carriage

(6)

engine

(7)

push arm

(8th)

control unit

(9)

receiver

(10)

transmitter

(11)

button

(12)

Radio element

Claims (8)

1. Drive system (1) for a door (2), comprising a drive unit by means of which the door (2) can be moved between a closed setting and an open setting, wherein operating parameters of the drive unit are learnt during a learning travel and wherein associated with the drive unit are actuating means by way of which the door (2) is moved in a dead-man operation, characterised in that a radio transmitting element (12) which transmits radio signals to a receiver (9) is provided as actuating means, wherein the dead-man operation is released when the radio signals registered in the receiver (9) are recognised as valid, wherein the radio signals of the radio transmitting element (12) are classified as valid when the output level thereof exceeds a predetermined threshold value and that a safety switching-off, which is caused by external influences, of the drive unit during the learning travel is cancelled by means of the dead-man operation activated by the radio transmitting element (12), wherein the dead-man operation is maintained until radio signals, which are recognised as valid, of the radio transmitting element (12) are registered in the receiver (9).
2. Drive system according to claim 1, characterised in that the radio transmitting element (12) is a component of a hand transmitter (10) for actuating the drive unit.
3. Drive system according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the radio signals registered in the receiver (9) are evaluated in a control unit (8).
4. Drive system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that this comprises means for safety switching-off, wherein the safety switching-off is bridged over in the dead-man operation.
5. Drive system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that force values of the door (2) are learnt during the learning travel and that safety switching-off of the drive unit is carried out if heavy running of the door (2) occurs.
6. Drive system according to claim 5, characterised in that in the dead-man operation the drive unit regulates the instantaneous force value in such a way that the heavy-running position of the door (2) is overcome by the drive unit.
7. Drive system according to claim 6, characterised in that the regulated force value is taken over as learnt force value.
8. Drive system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the learning travel is carried out at a speed of the door (2) which is less than the maximum speed.

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