Soft-Bottom Roll-Up Door Panel With Edge Drive Teeth
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Solution Overview
Problem
Overhead roll-up door assemblies with flexible door panels face issues such as disengagement from guide tracks due to wind pressure or pressure differentials, leading to potential damage and difficulty in disengagement when impacted, and safety concerns when closing on objects or people.
Innovation Solution
A door assembly design featuring columns of drive teeth along the vertical edges of the door panel, with drive teeth engaging guide tracks and sprockets to maintain tautness and rigidity without a weighted bottom bar, using Keders and drive teeth configurations to enhance engagement and alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If thickened bodies are used along the lateral edges of the door panel to prevent disengagement from guide tracks, then the door panel remains stable under wind load and pressure differential, but the door panel becomes difficult to disengage when impacted and may become wedged or stuck in the side columns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the edge structure by using a Keder (a flexible, resilient member) instead of rigid thickened bodies. The Keder can deform elastically under impact forces, allowing the door panel to disengage from the guide track when needed, while still providing structural support to prevent disengagement under normal wind loads and pressure differentials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite structure combining the Keder member with the door panel edge. The Keder provides both the structural integrity needed to resist wind loads and the flexibility needed to allow controlled disengagement under impact, creating a material system that exhibits both rigidity and compliance depending on the applied force.
2Reliability
If a weighted bottom bar is used to maintain tautness in the door panel, then the door panel remains stable and taut during opening and closing, but the door panel may cause damage if it closes on a person or object
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the weighted bottom bar entirely from the door panel structure. Instead of adding weight to maintain tautness, the invention uses the Keder members along the vertical edges to provide structural support and maintain panel tension through the interaction with the guide tracks, eliminating the safety hazard associated with heavy bottom bars.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces Keder members as intermediary elements between the door panel and the guide tracks. These Keders serve as flexible connectors that maintain panel tautness through mechanical engagement with the guide tracks while allowing controlled movement and disengagement, replacing the direct weight-based tensioning system.
3Force
If thickened bodies are used to prevent disengagement from guide tracks, then the door panel resists wind pressure, but unwanted friction increases with the side columns and guide tracks during opening and closing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the friction characteristics of the edge interface by replacing rigid thickened bodies with a Keder member that has elastic properties. The Keder can deform to reduce contact pressure and friction during movement, while still providing sufficient structural support to resist wind pressure and maintain proper door panel alignment in the guide tracks.
Data Source
AI summary
A door assembly having a door panel fixed proximate a top edge of the door panel to a rotatable drum. The door assembly includes a first and a second side column, each positioned proximate a doorway which is opened and closed by the door panel. Each side column includes a guide track positioned to guide one of the first or the second vertical edge of the door panel as the door panel is moved. A first column of drive teeth is positioned along the first vertical edge and a second column of drive teeth positioned along the second vertical edge, wherein each of the first column of drive teeth and the second column of drive teeth are formed by a plurality of adjacent drive teeth, each drive tooth in each plurality of drive teeth abutting an adjacent drive tooth as the door panel is wound and unwound from the drum.