Offset Rail Sliding Door Reduces Installation Depth
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional sliding doors for rail vehicles require a significant installation space due to parallel arrangement of rails, which limits their depth and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The sliding door design features rails that run offset from each other in one direction and overlap in another, allowing for parallel movement of door leaves while reducing the overall depth, with options for roller guides, cage guides, or profile rail guides, and includes power-actuated mechanisms for controlled movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the rails are arranged parallel to one another in a simple planar configuration, then the door leaves are easily guided and the structure is simple, but the installation space depth is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dimensionality change by arranging the rails in an offset parallel configuration where the rails are displaced relative to each other in a direction perpendicular to their longitudinal axes. This creates a three-dimensional arrangement where rails project onto overlapping areas in a top-down view, effectively utilizing vertical space to reduce the horizontal installation depth while maintaining parallel guidance for the door leaves.
2Length of stationary object
If the rails are arranged offset and overlapping, then the installation space depth is reduced, but the rail alignment and door leaf guidance become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the guidance function by providing separate rails for each door leaf, with each rail independently positioned and configured. This segmentation allows each rail to be optimized for its specific door leaf while maintaining overall system coordination, reducing the complexity of aligning multiple interdependent components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediary elements such as rollers and guide surfaces that mediate between the offset rails and the door leaves. These intermediaries simplify the interaction by providing standardized contact points and movement paths, reducing the direct complexity of the offset rail arrangement.
3Device complexity
If manual operation is used, then the structure is simpler, but power-actuated operation requires additional mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The rail and roller configuration is designed to be universally compatible with both manual and power-actuated operation modes. The same offset parallel rail structure supports direct manual pushing as well as attachment to motorized drive mechanisms, eliminating the need for separate structural designs for different operation modes.
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
This design reduces the horizontal installation space required and allows for efficient, power-actuated operation of the sliding door, enhancing its functionality and space utilization within rail vehicles.
Implementation Method 1
the rails are designed as roller guides, in particular as grooves which are undercut on at least one side and in which rollers are mounted, by means of which the door leaves are movably mounted in rails
Implementation Method 2
The door leaves are arranged so that they hang in the rails
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The vehicle has a sliding door comprising two or multiple door leaves (1-3), which are respectively guided parallel to each other in rails (4-6) e.g. undercut grooves. The rails are displaced with respect to each other in a direction parallel to the door leaves and arranged overlapping with each other in vertical to the door leaves. The sliding door comprises rollers (7) for displaceably supporting the door leaves in the rails. The rails are fixed at a ceiling (9) of the vehicle. The sliding door is provided in an inner space of the vehicle between two inner space parts.