Retractable Sliding Door Automatic Wall Alignment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing retractable sliding doors require complex mechanical groups with multiple adjustments and maintenance, leading to high costs and potential damage to floors during operation.
Innovation Solution
A retractable sliding door design featuring a structurally simple movement mechanism with a 'U' shaped lower guide and a box-shaped upper guide, using rollers and magnets for alignment and stability, allowing automatic alignment with the wall during closure and avoiding floor contact through a swinging motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a complex mechanical group with multiple stabilizing bars and arms is used to support the door leaf, then the door can be held in position, but the device complexity increases and requires multiple adjustments and maintenance operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the complex mechanical support structure (stabilizing bars, arms, and multiple joints) from the door system. Instead of using a complex mechanical group to hold the door in position, the invention uses a simple recess in the wall that receives the door leaf when closed, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining position stability through the wall recess geometry rather than complex mechanical components.
Solution Approach 2:
The door leaf is designed to automatically align with and fit into the wall recess during closing without requiring complex mechanical adjustment mechanisms. The simple guide rails and roller system allow the door to self-align and self-position within the wall recess, eliminating the need for multiple adjustments and maintenance operations required by complex mechanical groups.
2Ease of operation
If traditional sliding door mechanisms are used, then the door can slide parallel to the wall, but the door thickness is significantly reduced and the door appears misaligned and discontinuous when closed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a new dimensional approach by creating a recess in the wall that extends into the wall thickness. This allows the door leaf to be positioned in a different spatial dimension (within the wall recess) rather than simply sliding parallel to the wall surface. The door maintains full thickness while achieving perfect alignment with the wall face when closed, as the recess accommodates the door's positioning without compromising its dimensional integrity.
3Ease of operation
If the door is designed to close automatically, then the closing operation is simplified, but the door may hit and damage the floor during the closing phase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a curved guide rail section that acts as a cushioning mechanism before the door reaches the closing position. The curved portion of the guide rail allows the door leaf to swing gently into the wall recess rather than impacting the floor directly. This beforehand cushioning through the curved guide path prevents floor damage while maintaining automatic closing functionality.
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 provides a cost-effective, reliable, and safe door that aligns perfectly with the wall during closure, avoiding floor damage and reducing maintenance needs, while being easily adaptable to existing masonry structures.
Implementation Method 1
a roller (24) which is movable with respect to the floor of the guide (18) and which is destined to abut the floor of the guide (18) when the door (10) is closed
Implementation Method 2
a magnet (44) connected with a screw (46) and destined to attract a ferromagnetic tape (48) which is stabilized in the guide (18)
Data Source
AI summary
A retractable sliding door (10) with automatic alignment to the wall (12) during the closing phase, suitable to alternately open and close a through space (14) made along said wall, comprising a lower guide (18) fixed to the floor and an upper guide (20) forming a support beam. In the upper guide (20) paired prominences (50, 52) and (60) are made constituting the sliding tracks of two or more pairs of wheels (54) and single wheels (58) borne by a shaft (56) and combined with a frame (62) to form a carriage. The lower guide (18) interacts with a roller (24) suitable to fit into a shaped channel with a mixed-line extension (26) made along the lower head of the door (10); the upper guide (20) is provided with a shaped channel (78) having the same and parallel mixed-line configuration as said shaped channel (26). The upper head of the door (10) being provided with means for its suspension to the frame (62) constituting the carriage.