Sliding Door Inline Closure via Double-Pivot Hinge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sliding doors face limitations in size and shape flexibility, require extensive clearance, are aesthetically unpleasing, and lack adequate sealing, leading to energy inefficiencies and noise issues, particularly in external and complex applications.
Innovation Solution
A sliding door system utilizing a guiderail assembly with double-pivot hinge assemblies and a transition support assembly that allows for flexible door movement, sealing, and reduced clearance requirements, enabling the door to fit various shapes and sizes while maintaining aesthetic appeal and energy efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If traditional sliding doors are used, then clearance space in the transverse direction is reduced, but the door size and opening size are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The door system transitions from traditional lateral sliding motion to inline sliding motion along the plane of the opening. The door panel moves from a side-by-side configuration to a configuration where it slides within the plane of the opening, allowing the door to be larger than the opening while still providing adequate clearance space in the transverse direction.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs a dynamic transition mechanism where the door panel can move between different positions and orientations. The inline sliding mechanism allows the door to dynamically adjust its position within the opening plane, enabling it to service openings of various sizes and shapes while maintaining operational flexibility.
2Ease of operation
If traditional sliding doors are used, then ease of operation is improved, but sealing performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The door system incorporates a transition phase before reaching the fully closed position. During this transition, the door panel moves inline along the opening plane to engage sealing mechanisms, ensuring that sealing action occurs progressively as the door approaches closure, thereby improving overall sealing performance while maintaining ease of operation.
3Shape
If barn door type sliding doors are used, then aesthetic appeal is improved, but sealing and noise isolation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The door system segments the sealing function from the structural door panel. The inline sliding mechanism allows the door to maintain an aesthetically pleasing barn door appearance while incorporating separate sealing components that engage during the inline transition, thereby achieving both aesthetic appeal and effective noise isolation.
4Ease of operation
If sliding doors with tracks are used, then ease of operation is improved, but maintenance difficulty and debris accumulation worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and eliminates the traditional track mechanism from the door assembly. By implementing an inline sliding design where the door panel moves within the plane of the opening without requiring external tracks, the invention removes the maintenance burden and debris accumulation issues associated with tracks while preserving the ease of sliding operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A sliding door system for inline closure of an opening in the wall of a structure, which may be a building or an item of furniture, for example, that includes a door panel, a guiderail assembly, and a guiderail coupled to the wall mount via a plurality of doubled-hinge assemblies that together serve to allow the guiderail to pivot towards and away from the wall, and includes a stop on the guiderail that serves as a catch, or cam, that causes a closing force on the door panel to be transferred to the double-hinge assemblies and to cause the door panel to be pulled into inline closure in the opening.