Pivoting Keeper Electric Strike for Slim Housing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Surface mount electric strikes face challenges in embedding mechanical and electrical components to achieve desired security, reliability, and cost-effectiveness within a slim housing, with existing designs being unsatisfactory in terms of thickness and functionality.
Innovation Solution
The electric strike features a pivoting keeper with a pivot axis parallel to the latch or bolt retraction axis, allowing the keeper to form a moveable wall within the socket, and includes a catch mechanism for selective engagement with the distal end to control the pivoting motion, enabling a thinner design while maintaining security and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the keeper is designed to pivot within the socket to block the escape path, then security is improved, but the housing thickness increases
Solution Approach 1:
The keeper is designed as a movable component that pivots within the socket between a closed position (blocking the escape path) and an open position (allowing door opening). This dynamic mechanism provides security when needed while maintaining a compact housing thickness when the keeper is in the open position.
Solution Approach 2:
The keeper is nested within the socket housing, allowing it to pivot within the existing housing volume rather than requiring additional external space. The catch mechanism is also nested within the housing, engaging with the distal end of the keeper to control its positioning.
2Reliability
If a catch mechanism is added to control the keeper pivoting, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The catch mechanism is designed to automatically engage with the distal end of the keeper when the keeper pivots to the closed position, providing self-locking functionality without requiring additional actuators or complex control systems. The mechanism uses the keeper's own motion to trigger the catch engagement.
3Length of stationary object
If the keeper pivots parallel to the socket axis, then the housing thickness is reduced, but the mechanical complexity of the pivoting mechanism increases
Solution Approach 1:
The keeper pivots about an axis parallel to the socket axis, allowing the keeper to move between blocking and unblocking positions within the existing housing thickness. This pivoting motion is achieved through a simple hinge connection rather than complex mechanical linkages.
Solution Approach 2:
The keeper is segmented into distinct functional portions: the gate member that blocks the escape path, the distal end that engages with the catch, and the pivot connection point. This segmentation allows each portion to be optimized for its specific function while simplifying the overall mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
The electric strike can have a housing having an internal face receivable against a receiving face of a door frame, an external strike face, a socket recessed into the strike face along a socket axis normal to the receiving face of the door frame, for receiving a male locking member retractably mounted to a door, the male locking member also being moveable transversally to the socket axis, along a horizontal escape path, by opening the door, the electric strike further having a keeper pivotally mounted around a pivot axis between a closed configuration and an open configuration, the pivot axis parallel to the socket axis and offset from the escape path on a first side of the socket, inside the housing, the keeper having a gate member forming a restraining wall of the socket blocking the escape path when in the closed configuration, and a distal end.