Foam Roller Door Slats with Tongue and Groove Joints
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Solution Overview
Problem
Rapid acting roller doors for cool-stores face challenges in achieving rapid operation, thermal insulation, minimizing air leakage, high reliability, accommodating forklifts, and withstanding minor collisions while maintaining low energy consumption and cost-effectiveness.
Innovation Solution
A roller door constructed with extruded foamed plastics slats featuring a tongue and groove joint system, nylon-based flexible straps, and guides with seals, allowing for pivoting joints and minimizing air leakage, along with a lightweight design and 'break out' feature for collision tolerance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If traditional rigid door materials are used, then thermal insulation is improved, but weight increases leading to higher energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The door combines rigid foam plastic panels for thermal insulation with a honeycomb structure for structural strength, achieving good insulation performance without requiring excessive material weight. The composite construction allows the door to maintain rigidity and insulating properties while keeping the overall mass lower than traditional solid material doors.
2Reliability
If heavy duty materials are used for collision resistance, then reliability is improved, but weight increases leading to higher energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The door incorporates an energy absorption mechanism that activates upon collision, allowing the structure to deform controllably and dissipate impact energy. This beforehand designed cushioning system protects the door from damage without requiring the entire door to be constructed from heavy duty materials, thus maintaining reliability while controlling weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The honeycomb structure provides high strength-to-weight ratio, giving the door good collision resistance without excessive weight. The combination of rigid foam panels and honeycomb core creates a composite structure that is both protective and lightweight.
3Speed
If rapid operation is achieved through lightweight construction, then speed is improved, but collision resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The energy absorption mechanism is pre-designed into the door structure, allowing lightweight rapid-operating doors to withstand collisions through controlled deformation rather than relying solely on material mass. This enables fast operation while maintaining collision protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The honeycomb composite structure provides high strength-to-weight ratio, enabling the door to operate rapidly due to low weight while simultaneously providing adequate collision resistance through the structural integrity of the honeycomb pattern.
4Loss of energy
If thermal insulation is enhanced through thick materials, then energy loss is reduced, but air leakage paths increase between panels
Solution Approach 1:
The door uses flexible sealing elements between the rigid foam panels that conform to panel variations and maintain tight seals. These flexible sealing films prevent air leakage paths that would otherwise exist between adjacent panels, ensuring thermal insulation performance is not compromised by panel joints.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables rapid, energy-efficient operation with reduced air leakage, quiet operation, and enhanced durability, accommodating forklifts and minor collisions while maintaining low manufacturing costs and ease of maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
For doors into and out of cool-stores the material that the doors are constructed of, should have good thermal insulation properties
Implementation Method 2
the tongue of one slat rolls about a line of contact between the apex of the tongue and the base or apex of the groove of an adjacent slat
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~6
AI summary
A roller door (11) having a door panel which includes a plurality of horizontal slats (13). The horizontal slats are made from a closed cell polyethylene foam material. The horizontal slats are held together by one or more substantially vertical and flexible elongate members (15) which are connected at an upper end to an accumulation device, for example a drum. Each horizontal slat connects with the adjacent horizontal slats with a tongue and groove joint, the joint being configured to allow a small amount of pivoting to occur at the joints so that the door panel can be rolled onto the drum. Contact between adjacent horizontal slats comprises direct contact between the foamed plastics material of each adjacent horizontal slat.