Sliding Door Spacer for Collision Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sliding door arrangements suffer from unsightly collision protection devices that are visible and ineffective in preventing collisions between sliding leaves, leading to potential damage and an unappealing aesthetic.
Innovation Solution
A sliding door arrangement featuring a captive spacer within the support or guide rail that sets the minimum distance between leaves, combined with a coupling device and optional damping, ensuring collision prevention and a visually concealed design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If plastic or rubber buffers are used to mitigate collision impact, then collision protection is improved, but rebound of panels occurs and visual appearance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The collision protection function is extracted from the sliding panels themselves and placed into a separate stop element positioned in the rail. This removes the visible buffers from the panel surfaces while maintaining collision protection through the hidden stop element that engages when panels approach each other.
Solution Approach 2:
A stop element acts as an intermediary component between the sliding panels, positioned in the rail to prevent direct collision. This mediator absorbs the collision protection function while remaining invisible from the front, eliminating both rebound issues and visual disruption.
2Ease of manufacture
If cover strips or end-edge contours are used to conceal collision protection devices, then visual appearance is improved, but collision protection effectiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The collision protection function is completely extracted from the visible panel surfaces and relocated to the rail system. The stop element resides within the rail structure, making no visual impact on the sliding panels while providing effective collision prevention through its positioning and engagement mechanism.
3Reliability
If spacers are provided between sliding doors to prevent hard collision, then collision protection is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stop element is merged with the existing rail structure, utilizing the rail's space and support. This integration avoids adding separate complex mechanisms between panels, as the stop element simply resides in the rail and engages naturally when panels approach, maintaining simplicity while providing reliable collision protection.
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A sliding door arrangement having sliding leaves (1, 2) which are arranged in a common plane and in common support and guide rails (5, 7), at least one collision protection device (8, 8') being provided between the mutually opposite front edges of the adjacent sliding leaves (1, 2), is designed such that the at least one collision protection device (8, 8') comprises a spacer element (9, 15) which is arranged inside the support and/or guide rail (5, 7) and is located in the sliding region of the sliding leaves (1, 2).