JP7656491B2 - Automatic doors, automatic door control methods, automatic door control programs - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to automatic doors.

Automatic doors that open and close automatically using electricity are known to be equipped with a battery that provides emergency power in the event of a power outage (Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1-43686

Batteries have a limited capacity, so excessive opening and closing of automatic doors during a power outage may cause the battery to run out.

The present invention was made in light of these circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an automatic door that uses power efficiently.

In order to solve the above problems, an automatic door according to one aspect of the present invention is an automatic door that assists the opening of the door when an external force that moves the closed door in the opening direction is detected, and includes a control unit that controls the opening and closing of the door, a battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit that acquires a battery remaining amount parameter indicating the remaining amount of a battery that supplies power to the automatic door in an emergency when the normal power source is unavailable, and an opening assist determination unit that determines whether to assist the opening operation according to the battery remaining amount parameter acquired by the battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit when the automatic door is operating on power from the battery. The control unit controls the opening and closing of the door based on the determination result of the opening assist determination unit. According to this aspect, since the possibility of executing the opening assist is determined according to the battery remaining amount parameter, power can be used efficiently in an emergency.

Another aspect of the present invention is an automatic door. This automatic door includes an opening operation detection unit that detects a door opening operation caused by an external force that moves the closed door in the opening direction, an opening drive mode determination unit that determines the door opening drive mode according to the detection result of the opening operation detection unit, and a control unit that drives the door to open during an opening operation based on the determination result of the opening drive mode determination unit. According to this aspect, the door opening drive mode is determined according to the detection result of the opening operation detection unit, so power can be used efficiently.

In addition, any combination of the above components, and any transformation of the present invention into a method, device, system, recording medium, computer program, etc., are also valid aspects of the present invention.

The present invention allows for efficient use of power in automatic doors.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic diagram of an automatic door. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of various components capable of communicating with each other inside and outside an automatic door. The figure shows the functional block responsible for controlling automatic doors in an emergency. This shows the basic operation of an automatic door in an emergency. 1 shows a first mode of opening assist.

First, an automatic door 100 to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 is a front view showing an automatic door 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The automatic door 100 mainly comprises a door section 10 that is driven to open and close, a controller 20 that controls the entire automatic door 100, a sensor 30 (a collective term for an activation sensor 31 and an auxiliary sensor 32) that detects pedestrians, a door engine 40 that generates power, and a power transmission section 50 that transmits power to the door section 10. In the following description, the left-right direction in Fig. 1 is the horizontal direction, and the up-down direction in Fig. 1 is the vertical direction, but the automatic door 100 can be installed in any position, and the installation direction is not limited to the following example.

The door section 10 includes a first movable door 11L and a second movable door 11R that are each movable in the horizontal direction, a first fixed door 12L and a second fixed door 12R that are provided at positions overlapping the first movable door 11L and the second movable door 11R when the first movable door 11L and the second movable door 11R are in an open state, and a guide mechanism 13 that guides the horizontal movement of the first movable door 11L and the second movable door 11R. The first movable door 11L, the second movable door 11R, the first fixed door 12L, and the second fixed door 12R are configured in a vertically elongated rectangular shape whose vertical dimension is larger than its horizontal dimension. When the door section 10 is driven to open, the first movable door 11L shown on the left side in FIG. 1 is driven to the left, and the second movable door 11R shown on the right side in FIG. 1 is driven to the right. In addition, when the door section 10 is driven to close, the first movable door 11L is driven to the right and the second movable door 11R is driven to the left, which is the opposite of when the door section 10 is driven to open. The number and shape of the doors that make up the door section 10 are not limited to the above and can be designed appropriately according to the needs of the installation location. Similarly, the movable direction of the door section 10 is not limited to the horizontal direction and may be inclined from the horizontal direction.

The guide mechanism 13 includes a running rail 131, a door roller 132, a guide rail 133, and a vibration prevention part 134. The running rail 131 is a columnar rail member that extends horizontally above the movable doors 11L and 11R over the entire movable range. Two door rollers 132 are provided on the upper part of each of the movable doors 11L and 11R, and each of the movable doors 11L and 11R is suspended on the running rail 131. When each of the movable doors 11L and 11R is driven to open and close in the horizontal direction, the door rollers 132 roll on the running rail 131, enabling smooth opening and closing operations. The guide rail 133 is a groove-shaped rail member that extends horizontally below the movable doors 11L and 11R over the entire movable range. The vibration prevention part 134 protrudes from the lower part of the movable doors 11L and 11R and fits into the groove-shaped guide rail 133. When each movable door 11L, 11R is driven to open or close in the horizontal direction, the vibration prevention portion 134 moves along the guide rail 133, so vibration in the projection direction (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1) of each movable door 11L, 11R can be suppressed.

Note that various parameters related to the opening and closing of the door section 10 can be set by the controller 20. For example, the opening and closing speed, opening and closing strength, opening width, etc. can be set. The opening and closing speed is the horizontal speed of the first movable door 11L and the second movable door 11R, and the directions of the speeds of both doors are opposite to each other. It is preferable that the magnitude (speed) of the speed of both doors is equal, but they may be different. In addition, the opening and closing speed may be set to a different value between normal opening and closing and other times. For example, in the case of a so-called reversal in which the door section 10 is switched to an opening drive to urgently avoid a pedestrian being pinched by the closing movable doors 11L and 11R during normal closing drive, the speed of the movable doors 11L and 11R during the opening drive may be set to a value different from the speed during normal opening drive. In addition, the opening speed and closing speed when the door section 10 is driven by temporary power supplied from a battery in an emergency when the normal power source is not available, such as during a power outage, may be set to a value different from that during normal drive.

The opening and closing strength is the magnitude of the force when the movable doors 11L and 11R are opened and closed, and is controlled by the torque value generated by the motor 42 described later. As with the opening and closing speed described above, it is preferable to set the opening and closing strength of the movable doors 11L and 11R to be equal. In addition, different opening and closing strengths may be set for normal opening and closing and other times. The opening width is typically the horizontal distance between the first movable door 11L and the second movable door 11R when the door section 10 is fully open. As shown in FIG. 1, if the movement distance between the fully closed position and the fully open position of the first movable door 11L is W1, and the movement distance between the fully closed position and the fully open position of the second movable door 11R is W2, the opening width is expressed as W1 + W2. Here, the movement distances W1 and W2 can be set individually within the horizontal dimension of the automatic door 100. In addition, in an emergency such as a power outage when the normal power source is unavailable, the opening width of the door unit 10 may be made smaller than normal when the door unit 10 is driven by temporary power supplied from a battery, thereby reducing power consumption caused by opening and closing the door unit 10 in an emergency.

1 shows an optical sensor, an activation sensor 31, and an auxiliary sensor 32 as examples of the sensor 30. The activation sensor 31 is a photoelectric sensor provided on the surface of the blind 60 above the door section 10. The activation sensor 31 has a light-projecting section that projects light such as infrared light toward the floor surface, and a light-receiving section that receives reflected light from the floor surface. When an object such as a person approaches the automatic door 100 and blocks the light, the amount of light received by the light-receiving section changes, so the object can be detected. When the detection information from the activation sensor 31 is input to the controller 20, the door section 10 is opened by driving the door engine 40. The activation sensor 31 is provided on the indoor side (for example, the front side of the paper in FIG. 1) and the outdoor side (for example, the back side of the paper in FIG. 1), and can detect people approaching from either side. When it is necessary to distinguish between the two below, they will be referred to as the indoor side activation sensor 31 and the outdoor side activation sensor 31, respectively.

The activation sensor 31 may be configured to detect passersby by reflecting radio waves such as microwaves or ultrasonic waves. As shown in FIG. 1 as 31A, the door section 10 may be actuated when a passerby presses a touch plate provided on at least one of the movable doors 11L and 11R. In addition, in tourist facilities, amusement parks, etc., it is also envisioned that the door section 10 may be actuated by operation of a facility attendant in addition to or instead of detection and operation of passersby. In this case, the facility attendant can remotely actuate the door section 10 using an operation panel provided at a position away from the door section 10 or an operation terminal capable of communicating with the automatic door 100.

The auxiliary sensor 32 is a photoelectric sensor provided on the first fixed door 12L and the second fixed door 12R of the door section 10. The auxiliary sensor 32 has a light-emitting unit provided on one of the first fixed door 12L and the second fixed door 12R, and a light-receiving unit provided on the other. The light-emitting unit and the light-receiving unit are provided at the same height from the floor surface, and the light-receiving unit receives light such as infrared light emitted horizontally from the light-emitting unit. When the door section 10 is open and a pedestrian passes through the opening and blocks the light, the amount of light received by the light-receiving unit changes, so the pedestrian can be detected. The main purpose of the auxiliary sensor 32 is to protect against closure, and when the auxiliary sensor 32 detects a pedestrian during the closing operation of the movable doors 11L and 11R, the controller 20 performs inversion control to stop the closing drive and switch to the opening drive. This prevents the pedestrian from being caught between the closing movable doors 11L and 11R. In addition, in this type of closing protection control, the detection information from the activation sensor 31, which is also composed of a photoelectric sensor like the auxiliary sensor 32, can be used in combination to increase the accuracy of pedestrian detection and further improve safety.

The auxiliary sensor 32 may be configured to detect passersby by reflecting radio waves such as microwaves or ultrasonic waves. The auxiliary sensor 32 may also be provided in a location other than the fixed doors 12L and 12R. For example, it may be provided in the blind 60 like the activation sensor 31, or it may be installed on the ceiling near the automatic door 100. Providing multiple such auxiliary sensors 32 increases costs but dramatically increases safety.

The door engine 40 includes a motor drive unit 41, a motor 42, and a drive pulley 43. The motor drive unit 41 is configured as an intelligent power module (IPM) and generates a voltage or current to drive the motor 42 under the control of the controller 20. The motor 42, which serves as a power source for generating rotational power, can be configured as various known motors, but in this embodiment, as an example, a brushless motor equipped with an encoder using a Hall element is used. The position of the rotor of the motor 42 detected by the encoder is input to the motor drive unit 41, and a corresponding drive voltage or drive current is applied to the motor 42 to generate the desired rotational power. The drive pulley 43, which is driven to rotate by the motor 42, is connected to the rotor of the motor 42 via a gear mechanism or the like (not shown) and rotates in conjunction with it.

The power transmission unit 50 transmits the power generated by the door engine 40 to the door unit 10, and drives the movable doors 11L and 11R to open and close. The power transmission unit 50 includes a power transmission belt 51, a driven pulley 52, and a connecting member 53. The power transmission belt 51 is a circular timing belt with many teeth formed on its inner peripheral surface, and is wound around the driving pulley 43 on the right side of FIG. 1, and around the driven pulley 52 on the left side of FIG. 1. In this state, the horizontal dimension of the power transmission belt 51 is equal to the horizontal distance between the driving pulley 43 and the driven pulley 52, and is also approximately the same as the horizontal dimension of the movable range of the movable doors 11L and 11R. When the driving pulley 43 is rotated by the motor 42, the driven pulley 52 rotates in conjunction with it via the power transmission belt 51.

The connecting member 53 connects the movable doors 11L and 11R to the power transmission belt 51, respectively, to drive them to open and close. Here, one movable door is connected to the upper side of the power transmission belt 51, and the other movable door is connected to the lower side of the power transmission belt 51. In the example of FIG. 1, when the power transmission belt 51 rotates counterclockwise, the first movable door 11L moves to the left and the second movable door 11R moves to the right, which is an opening operation, and when the power transmission belt 51 rotates clockwise, the first movable door 11L moves to the right and the second movable door 11R moves to the left, which is a closing operation.

In the automatic door 100 configured as described above, when the activation sensor 31 detects a person passing by, the door engine 40 generates counterclockwise rotational power under the control of the controller 20 to drive the door section 10 to open. Furthermore, if a state in which a person is not detected continues for a predetermined time after the opening drive, the door engine 40 generates clockwise rotational power under the control of the controller 20 to drive the door section 10 to close. Furthermore, if the auxiliary sensor 32 or the activation sensor 31 detects a person passing by during the closing drive, the controller 20 performs inversion control to switch from the closing drive to the opening drive.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of various components that can communicate with each other inside and outside the automatic door 100. The automatic door 100 has a bus 2 to which each component is connected and through which data communication takes place between the components. The bus 2 is configured in accordance with any communication standard, for example CAN (Controller Area Network). CAN is designed to allow components to communicate with each other without going through a host computer, and is widely used to transmit control information for various systems, not just automatic doors. Each component connected to the bus 2 can transmit information to other components via the bus 2, and can selectively receive information that it requires from the information transmitted to the bus 2 by other components.

In FIG. 2, the components connected to the bus 2 are exemplified as the controller 20, the activation sensor 31, the touch plate 31A, the auxiliary sensor 32, the operation panel 33, the authentication device 34, the electric lock controller 35, the external interface 36, and the display device 37, and all of these components constitute the automatic door 100. Note that this figure is an example of the components that can be connected to the bus 2, and includes components that are not shown in FIG. 1. In addition, the components to be installed in the actual automatic door 100 can be selected according to the purpose, and it is not necessary to install all of the components shown in the figure. For example, in an automatic door 100 that operates the door section 10 only by detecting and operating a passerby, it is not necessary to install an operation panel 33 for the staff to operate. Conversely, in an automatic door 100 at a tourist facility or an amusement park, etc., that operates the door section 10 only by the operation of the staff at the facility, it is not necessary to install the activation sensor 31 or the touch plate 31A for detecting and operating a passerby. However, the controller 20 that controls the entire automatic door 100 is an essential component in many cases.

Of the components shown in the figure, the controller 20, the activation sensor 31, the touch plate 31A, and the auxiliary sensor 32 have been described above, so their description will be omitted. The operation panel 33 is a control panel operated by facility staff at a tourist facility, amusement park, etc., to drive the door section 10. For example, in an attraction in which users move between different rooms at a specified timing, the staff operates the operation panel 33 in accordance with the timing of the movement, and controls the opening and closing of the door section 10 of each room, allowing the users to move smoothly. The operation panel 33 may be fixedly installed in the facility, or may be portable by the staff. The function of the operation panel 33 may also be implemented in a communication terminal such as a tablet or smartphone that can communicate with the controller 20, etc., via an external interface 36 described later.

The authentication device 34 authenticates passersby who should be allowed to pass through locations that require a high level of security, such as the entrance to an apartment building or office. Authentication methods include password authentication by inputting a password on a keypad installed near the door section 10, and biometric authentication using the passerby's biometric information, such as a fingerprint. If authentication by the authentication device 34 is successful, the controller 20 drives the door section 10 to open, allowing the passerby to pass through the automatic door 100. If authentication by the authentication device 34 fails, even if the activation sensor 31 detects a passerby, the controller 20 does not drive the door section 10 to open, preventing unauthorized passage of unauthenticated passersby.

The electric lock controller 35 controls the electric lock 35A that locks the automatic door 100. The electric lock 35A is equipped with a lock driving means that drives the lock between the locked position and the unlocked position, such as a solenoid that generates a driving force according to the current state.

The external interface 36 inputs and outputs signals to and from various external devices 36A outside the automatic door 100 by wired or wireless connection. Examples of the external devices 36A include a work terminal such as an adjuster used by a worker who visits the site to install or maintain the automatic door 100, and a remote server or computer connected via a public information and communication network such as the Internet. By inputting data into the external device 36A, various settings such as control of the components of the automatic door 100 and parameter adjustment can be performed. The external device 36A can also read information from the components of the automatic door 100 and the memories associated with them to perform status diagnosis and maintenance inspection. As described above, the bus 2 in the automatic door 100 is configured in accordance with the CAN standard, but if communication between the external device 36A and the external interface 36 is performed using a different standard, such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or Wi-Fi (registered trademark), the external interface 36 functions as a protocol converter that converts a signal based on one standard into a signal based on the other standard.

The display device 37 is a display unit that displays the operating status of the automatic door 100 based on information received from other components. If the display device 37 is equipped with an input function such as a touch panel, various settings such as control of each component device of the automatic door 100 and parameter adjustment can be performed by touching the display screen. The display device 37 may be installed near the door unit 10, or in a location away from the door unit 10, for example, in a back yard where the automatic door 100 is managed within the same building.

The components of the automatic door 100 listed above, namely the controller 20, activation sensor 31, touch plate 31A, auxiliary sensor 32, operation panel 33, authentication device 34, electric lock controller 35, external interface 36, and display device 37, can communicate with each other via bus 2 that conforms to the CAN standard. In other words, each component has a built-in CAN transceiver and CAN controller for CAN communication. In addition to these, the external interface 36 has a protocol conversion unit that converts the protocol between the communication standard used by the external device 36A and the CAN standard. As a result, the external device 36A connected to the external interface 36 can communicate with the other components of the automatic door 100 via bus 2.

The automatic door 100 has been outlined above with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. Next, the control of the automatic door 100 in an emergency will be described. FIG. 3 shows the functional blocks that control the automatic door 100 in an emergency. In this embodiment, "emergency" refers to a time when the normal power source 300, such as a commercial power source outside the automatic door 100, cannot be used to open and close the door section 10 due to a power outage or an emergency signal. In an emergency when the normal power source 300 cannot be used, the door section 10 is opened and closed by temporary power supplied from a battery 70 installed inside or outside the automatic door 100. Since the capacity of the battery 70 is limited, the power of the battery 70 is used with the highest priority given to keeping the door section 10 closed for safety reasons. The battery 70 is a rechargeable secondary battery, and is charged by the power of the normal power source 300 in preparation for an emergency when the normal power source 300 can be used.

As described later, in this embodiment, the power of the battery 70 is used to assist the manual opening operation of the door unit 10 depending on the situation. In this way, assisting the opening operation of the door unit 10 by using the power of the battery 70 during the manual opening operation of the door unit 10 is hereinafter referred to as "opening assist." Note that the following are examples of the opening assist that is executed when an external force that moves the door unit 10 in the closed state in the opening direction is detected.
- The driving force in the closing direction is reduced to zero. - The door unit 10 is driven to open instead of a person. - The external force required to manually open the door unit 10 is reduced.

As shown in FIG. 3, the controller 20 includes an emergency detection unit 21, a battery remaining capacity parameter acquisition unit 22, an opening assist determination unit 23, an opening drive mode determination unit 24, an opening operation detection unit 25, and a load parameter acquisition unit 26.

The emergency detection unit 21 includes a disconnection detection unit 211 and an emergency signal acquisition unit 212, and detects a switch from normal to emergency and switches the power supply of the automatic door 100 from the normal power supply 300 to the battery 70. The disconnection detection unit 211 detects an emergency by detecting disconnection of the automatic door 100 from the normal power supply 300. Disconnection from the normal power supply 300 typically occurs during a power outage. Note that if the disconnection detection unit 211 detects that the power supplied to the automatic door 100 from the normal power supply 300 is unstable for some reason, it may consider that the automatic door 100 has been disconnected from the normal power supply 300 and switch to the battery 70, regardless of whether a power outage has occurred or not. The emergency signal acquisition unit 212 acquires an emergency signal indicating an emergency. The emergency signal may be an external signal input from an external device 36A outside the automatic door 100, or it may be an internal signal generated by the controller 20 itself when the controller 20's self-diagnosis reveals that the automatic door 100 is in a state where it cannot normally receive power from the normal power source 300.

The battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit 22 includes a battery remaining amount detection unit 221, an emergency time detection unit 222, a door movement amount detection unit 223, a battery voltage detection unit 224, and a full closure count detection unit 225, and acquires various battery remaining amount parameters indicating the remaining amount of the battery 70. The battery remaining amount detection unit 221 detects the remaining amount of the battery 70, specifically, for example, the charging rate or SOC (State Of Charge), as the battery remaining amount parameter. The emergency time detection unit 222 detects the elapsed time since the battery 70 started to supply power as the battery remaining amount parameter. Note that instead of the elapsed time, the emergency detection unit 21 may detect the elapsed time since the emergency detection unit 21 detected the emergency. The door movement amount detection unit 223 detects the amount of movement of the door unit 10 since the battery 70 started to supply power as the battery remaining amount parameter. The battery voltage detection unit 224 detects the voltage of the battery 70 as the battery remaining amount parameter. The full-closing count detection unit 225 detects the number of times the door unit 10 has been driven to be fully closed since the supply of power from the battery 70 began as a battery remaining capacity parameter. These battery remaining capacity parameters will be described later together with specific examples of opening assistance.

The opening assist determination unit 23 determines whether to use the power of the battery 70 to assist the manual opening operation of the door unit 10 (opening assist) according to various battery remaining amount parameters acquired by the battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit 22. When the opening assist determination unit 23 determines to perform opening assist, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the opening drive mode, such as the opening drive amount and opening drive force by the door engine 40 as a control unit, according to various battery remaining amount parameters acquired by the battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit 22. Note that when an abnormality such as a hardware failure inside the automatic door 100 is detected by the self-diagnosis of the controller 20, the opening assist determination unit 23 determines not to perform opening assist regardless of the battery remaining amount parameters. Alternatively, the opening assist determination unit 23 determines not to perform opening assist when the remaining amount of the battery 70 indicated by the battery remaining amount parameters acquired by the battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit 22 is equal to or less than a threshold value.

The opening operation detection unit 25 includes an opening operation amount detection unit 251 and an opening operation speed detection unit 252, and detects the opening operation of the door unit 10 caused by an external force that moves the closed door unit 10 in the opening direction. The opening operation amount detection unit 251 detects the manual opening operation amount of the door unit 10, and the opening operation speed detection unit 252 detects the manual opening operation speed of the door unit 10. The opening operation amount and opening operation speed of the door unit 10 may be detected directly by a sensor that measures the displacement and speed of the door unit 10, or may be detected indirectly by a sensor that measures the displacement and speed of the motor drive unit 41, motor 42, and drive pulley 43 that drive the door unit 10, the power transmission belt 51, the driven pulley 52, etc. that are linked to the door unit 10.

The load parameter acquisition unit 26 acquires load parameters indicating the load of the door unit 10 when the door engine 40 drives the door unit 10 to open. Examples of load parameters include the weight of the door unit 10, the friction coefficient between the running rail 131 and the door roller 132 and between the guide rail 133 and the anti-sway unit 134, which slide against each other when the door unit 10 moves, and the current of the motor 42. It is preferable that the weight of the door unit 10 and the friction coefficient of the sliding parts are recorded in advance in a memory (not shown) in the automatic door 100 that is accessible by the controller 20 based on the specifications of the automatic door 100 and the measurement results at the time of installation. Here, since the friction coefficient of the sliding parts of the door unit 10 changes due to deterioration of the automatic door 100 over time, it is preferable to correct the value recorded in advance in the memory based on the installation period of the automatic door 100 to obtain the load parameter.

Details will be described later, but the information obtained by the opening operation detection unit 25 and the load parameter acquisition unit 26 is used to determine the opening assist in the opening assist determination unit 23 and to determine the opening drive mode in the opening drive mode determination unit 24.

When the opening assist determination unit 23 determines that the door engine 40 should perform the opening assist, the door engine 40 uses the power of the battery 70 to perform the opening drive (opening assist) of the door section 10 in the opening drive mode determined by the opening drive mode determination unit 24 during the manual opening operation of the door section 10 detected by the opening operation detection unit 25. The opening drive mode is mainly exemplified by the opening drive amount and the opening drive force, but in this embodiment, the opening drive force is set to be equal to the drive force during the closing drive. Therefore, the opening drive mode in the following description mainly represents the opening drive amount. On the other hand, when the opening assist determination unit 23 determines that the door engine 40 should not perform the opening assist, the door engine 40 does not open the door section 10 during the manual opening operation of the door section 10. In this case, since there is no opening assist, the opening operation of the door section 10 is performed completely manually. In addition, regardless of the presence or absence of the opening assist during the manual opening operation of the door section 10, when a predetermined time (for example, 1 second) has elapsed after the manual opening operation of the door section 10, the door engine 40 uses the power of the battery 70 to close the door section 10. In this way, in an emergency when the normal power source 300 is unavailable, the door unit 10 is kept closed by the temporary power supplied from the battery 70, except for certain time periods when the door unit 10 is manually opened.

Figure 4 shows the basic operation of the automatic door 100 in an emergency. Of the doors in the door section 10 in Figure 1, this figure shows only the second movable door 11R and the second fixed door 12R, which are simply referred to as the movable door 11 and the fixed door 12 below. In Figure 4 (A), the emergency detection unit 21 detects a switch from normal to emergency, and switches the power source of the automatic door 100 from the normal power source 300 to the battery 70. In response, the door engine 40 uses the power of the battery 70 to drive the movable door 11 to close. For safety reasons, it is preferable to close the movable door 11 at this time at a slower speed than normal. In Figure 4 (B), the movable door 11 moves to the fully closed position and stops.

In FIG. 4(C) where the movable door 11 is in the fully closed position, the door engine 40 uses power from the battery 70 to drive the movable door 11 in the closing direction (to the left in FIG. 4) at a predetermined cycle, such as once per second, thereby reliably maintaining the door section 10 in a closed state. Here, while the movable door 11 is not being pressed in the closing direction, it is in a door-free state where no force is being applied to the movable door 11 in either the closing or opening direction (to the right in FIG. 4). In the door-free state, the movable door 11 can be manually moved in the opening direction (manual opening operation).

In FIG. 4(D), the movable door 11 is manually opened. The manual opening of the movable door 11 is detected by the opening operation detection unit 25, and the door-free state is maintained at all times while the movable door 11 is moving in the opening direction. Therefore, during the manual opening of the movable door 11, the movable door 11 can be opened smoothly without resistance from the closing drive of the door engine 40. Also, as described below, during or immediately after the manual opening of the movable door 11, an opening assist is performed depending on the situation, using the power of the battery 70 to drive the movable door 11 open.

In FIG. 4(E), the movable door 11 stops in a door-free state at the position where the manual opening operation or opening assistance is completed. When a predetermined time (e.g., 1 second) has elapsed in the state of FIG. 4(E), the door engine 40 uses the power of the battery 70 to drive the movable door 11 to close (FIG. 4(A)) and move it to the fully closed position (FIG. 4(B)). If the movable door 11 is stopped manually or otherwise during the closing operation in FIG. 4(A), it returns to the state of FIG. 4(E) and stops again until a predetermined time (e.g., 1 second) has elapsed. Also, if the movable door 11 is manually opened again from the state of FIG. 4(E), it returns to the state of FIG. 4(D) and the movable door 11 in the door-free state can be manually opened.

Next, the opening assist performed depending on the situation in the state of Figure 4 (D) will be described in detail. Figure 5 shows a first mode of the opening assist. In this mode, the opening assist judgment unit 23 judges whether or not to perform the opening assist using the power of the battery 70 depending on the "conditions" related to various battery remaining capacity parameters acquired by the battery remaining capacity parameter acquisition unit 22, and the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the "stroke", which is the amount of opening assist by the door engine 40. Specific examples shown in the figures will be described in order below.

In the illustrated first specific example, the opening assist is performed according to the elapsed time from the start of emergency closure detected by the emergency elapsed time detection unit 222 (the elapsed time from the start of power supply from the battery 70 or the elapsed time from the emergency detection unit 21 detecting an emergency). If the elapsed time from the start of emergency closure is within a first threshold value (e.g., 30 minutes), the battery 70 is considered to have a sufficient remaining charge, so the opening assist determination unit 23 determines to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70, and the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the opening assist amount for driving the movable door 11 to the full open width. As a result, when the movable door 11 is manually opened in FIG. 4(D), the door engine 40 performs opening assist by using the power of the battery 70 to drive the movable door 11 to the full open width.

When the time elapsed since the start of emergency closing is greater than the first threshold (30 minutes) and less than the second threshold (e.g., 60 minutes), the battery 70 is considered to have a sufficient remaining charge, so the opening assist judgment unit 23 judges to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70. However, in order to leave enough power necessary for maintaining the movable door 11 in a closed state (FIGS. 4(A) to (C)), which should be given top priority in an emergency, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 limits the opening assist amount to a certain width (e.g., 300 mm) less than the full open width, such as a half-open width. As a result, when the movable door 11 is manually opened in FIG. 4(D), the door engine 40 uses the power of the battery 70 to perform opening assist, driving the movable door 11 to open to a certain width.

As shown in Figure 4 (E), the movable door 11 stops in a door-free state at the position where the opening assist is completed, but the person who performed the manual opening operation can pass through the opening of a certain width that is formed at that time. If the certain width of the opening is insufficient for a person to pass through, the movable door 11 can be manually opened again from the state of Figure 4 (E) (Figure 4 (D)). At this time, the door engine 40 does not perform opening assistance, but since the movable door 11 has already been opened to a certain width by the opening assistance that has already been performed, the amount of manual opening operation required is minimal.

If the time elapsed since the start of the emergency closing is greater than the second threshold (60 minutes), it is considered that the battery 70 does not have any remaining charge, and in order to preserve the power necessary to maintain the closed state of the movable door 11, which is given top priority in an emergency, the opening assist determination unit 23 determines not to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70. As a result, even if the movable door 11 is manually opened in FIG. 4(D), the door engine 40 does not perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70. However, as described above, the door is kept free during the manual opening operation of the movable door 11, so the movable door 11 can be opened smoothly without resistance from the closing drive of the door engine 40.

The second to fourth concrete examples shown in the figure are similar to the first concrete example above, except that the battery remaining capacity parameters or "conditions" referenced are different.

In the illustrated second specific example, the opening assist is performed according to the amount of movement of the movable door 11 from the start of emergency closing detected by the door movement amount detection unit 223. Here, the "amount of movement of the movable door 11 from the start of emergency closing" is preferably the amount of movement of the movable door 11 using the power of the battery 70. Specifically, it is the sum of the closing drive amount of the movable door 11 from FIG. 4(A) or FIG. 4(E) to FIG. 4(B) and the opening drive amount of the movable door 11 when the opening assist is performed in FIG. 4(D). If the drive amount of the movable door 11 from the start of emergency closing is within the first threshold value (e.g., 100 m), it is considered that the remaining charge of the battery 70 is sufficient, so the opening assist determination unit 23 determines that the opening assist should be performed using the power of the battery 70, and the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the amount of opening assist to drive the movable door 11 to the full open width.

When the amount of movement of the movable door 11 from the start of emergency closing is greater than the first threshold (100 m) and within the second threshold (e.g., 150 m), it is considered that the battery 70 has a sufficient remaining charge, so the opening assist judgment unit 23 judges to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70. However, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 limits the amount of opening assist to a certain width less than the full open width, such as the half-open width. When the amount of movement of the movable door 11 from the start of emergency closing is greater than the second threshold (150 m), it is considered that the battery 70 does not have a sufficient remaining charge, so the opening assist judgment unit 23 judges not to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70.

In the illustrated third specific example, the opening assist is performed according to the time elapsed since the battery check acquired by the battery remaining capacity parameter acquisition unit 22. Here, the battery check is a process for checking the charge state and the presence or absence of an abnormality of the battery 70, which is periodically performed during normal operation when the normal power source 300 is available. Since the battery 70 is discharged for the battery check, the remaining capacity of the battery 70 temporarily decreases after the battery check. During normal operation, the battery 70 is recharged by the normal power source 300, so the remaining capacity of the battery 70 recovers after a certain period of time (e.g., one day). However, if the operation mode is switched to an emergency mode while the battery 70 is being recharged, the door unit 10 needs to be driven in an emergency mode when the remaining capacity of the battery 70 is insufficient.

If the time elapsed since the battery check is equal to or greater than the first threshold (e.g., 1 day), the battery 70 is considered to have sufficient remaining power, so the opening assist determination unit 23 determines to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70, and the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the opening assist amount for driving the movable door 11 to open to the full open width. If the time elapsed since the battery check is less than the first threshold (1 day) and equal to or greater than the second threshold (e.g., 12 hours), the battery 70 is considered to have sufficient remaining power, so the opening assist determination unit 23 determines to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70. However, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 limits the opening assist amount to a certain width less than the full open width, such as a half-open width. If the time elapsed since the battery check is less than the second threshold (12 hours), the battery 70 is considered to have no remaining power, so the opening assist determination unit 23 determines not to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70.

In the illustrated fourth specific example, the opening assist is performed according to the voltage of the battery 70 detected by the battery voltage detection unit 224. Here, the voltage of the battery 70 may be obtained from the result of the most recent battery check performed under normal circumstances, or may be simply measured in an emergency using a voltage sensor or the like attached to the battery 70. If the voltage of the battery 70 is equal to or higher than a first threshold value (e.g., the voltage when "fully charged"), the battery 70 is considered to have a sufficient remaining charge, so the opening assist determination unit 23 determines to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70, and the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the amount of opening assist to drive the movable door 11 to the full open width.

When the voltage of the battery 70 is less than the first threshold (the voltage when "fully charged") and equal to or greater than the second threshold (e.g., the voltage when "normal"), it is considered that the battery 70 has a margin of error remaining, so the opening assist judgment unit 23 judges to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70. However, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 limits the amount of opening assist to a certain range less than the full open width, such as the half-open width. When the voltage of the battery 70 is "insufficient" and less than the second threshold (the voltage when "normal"), it is considered that the battery 70 does not have a margin of error remaining, so the opening assist judgment unit 23 judges not to perform opening assist using the power of the battery 70.

In addition to or instead of the first to fourth specific examples shown in the drawings, opening assistance may be performed according to the following battery remaining amount parameters acquired by the battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit 22. For example, the opening assistance determination unit 23 may determine the opening assistance and the opening drive mode determination unit 24 may determine the opening drive mode according to the remaining amount of the battery 70 detected by the battery remaining amount detection unit 221, the number of full-closing operations of the door unit 10 (full-closing operations from FIG. 4(A) or FIG. 4(E) to FIG. 4(B)) since the emergency detection unit 21 detected an emergency detected by the full-closing number detection unit 225, the number of manual opening operations or opening assistance operations (FIG. 4(D)) of the door unit 10, etc.

In the above-described first mode of opening assist, the opening assist judgment unit 23 and the opening drive mode determination unit 24 may refer to the load parameters acquired by the load parameter acquisition unit 26. By referring to the load parameters indicating the power consumption during the opening assist of the door unit 10 in addition to the battery remaining capacity parameters indicating the remaining capacity of the battery 70, it is possible to make an optimal opening assist judgment and an opening drive mode decision to preserve the power required to maintain the closed state of the door unit 10, which is the highest priority in an emergency.

The first mode of the opening assist has been described above. In this mode, when the opening operation detection unit 25 detects the manual opening operation of the movable door 11 in FIG. 4(D), the opening assist determination unit 23 immediately determines the opening assist according to the battery remaining capacity parameter and the opening drive mode determination unit 24 immediately determines the opening drive mode, so that the door engine 40 can start the opening assist immediately after the start of the manual opening operation of the movable door 11. In the second mode of the opening assist described below, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the opening drive mode of the movable door 11 when the door engine 40 performs the opening assist in addition to the manual opening operation, particularly the opening drive amount, according to the result of the opening operation detection unit 25 detecting the manual opening operation of the movable door 11 for a certain period of time. For this reason, the second mode is disadvantageous compared to the first mode in that the timing of starting the opening assist is delayed, but is advantageous in that the optimal opening drive amount (opening assist amount) can be determined according to the detection result of the manual opening operation. Below, specific examples of the opening assist of the second mode will be described in order.

In the first specific example, the additional opening assist amount of the movable door 11 is determined according to the amount of manual opening movement of the movable door 11 detected by the opening movement amount detection unit 251. Here, the "manual opening movement amount of the movable door 11" is the displacement B from the fully closed position (left end of FIG. 4) where the manual opening movement of the movable door 11 ends in FIG. 4(E). The opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the additional opening drive amount of the movable door 11 from the stopped state (displacement B) in FIG. 4(E) according to the opening movement amount B detected by the opening movement amount detection unit 251.

For example, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the additional opening drive amount of the movable door 11 based on a comparison between an opening width parameter indicating the predetermined opening width A of the movable door 11 and the opening movement amount B detected by the opening movement amount detection unit 251. Here, the "predetermined opening width A" is the minimum opening width through which a person can pass, and a unique value is set in advance for each automatic door 100. This opening width A multiplied by an arbitrary positive coefficient α equal to or less than 1 is used as the opening width parameter α×A. In the following, as an example, α=0.5, and the opening width parameter α×A is expressed as A/2 (=0.5×A).

When the opening movement amount B detected by the opening movement amount detection unit 251 is less than the opening width parameter A/2, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the opening movement amount required to open the movable door 11 to the opening width A as the additional opening movement amount. As a result, the movable door 11, which is stopped in a state where it is manually opened to the opening movement amount B (less than A/2) in FIG. 4(E), is opened to the opening width A that allows a person to pass through by the opening assistance performed by the door engine 40. Note that if the opening width A is insufficient for a person to pass through, the manual opening operation of the movable door 11 (FIG. 4(D)) can be performed again. At this time, the opening assistance is performed to the full open width as described below.

When the opening movement amount B detected by the opening movement amount detection unit 251 is equal to or greater than the opening width parameter A/2, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 determines the opening drive amount for driving the movable door 11 to open to the full open width as the additional opening drive amount. As a result, the movable door 11, which is stopped in a state where it has been manually opened to the opening movement amount B (A/2 or more) in FIG. 4(E), is driven to open to the full open width where multiple people can pass through by the opening assist performed by the door engine 40 using the power of the battery 70.

In the first specific example above, the opening operation amount B is compared with the opening width parameter α×A to determine the additional opening assist amount, but the opening operation amount B may be compared with a predetermined opening operation amount threshold to determine the additional opening assist amount. For example, if the opening operation amount B is less than the opening operation amount threshold (e.g., 200 mm), opening assistance may be performed up to the opening width A, and if the opening operation amount B is equal to or greater than the opening operation amount threshold, opening assistance may be performed up to the full opening width. Also, opening assistance may be performed up to a uniform, fixed width equal to or less than the full opening width regardless of the opening operation amount B. For example, in the case of a door section 10 whose full opening width exceeds 2000 mm, opening assistance may be performed up to a uniform, fixed width equal to or less than the full opening width, regardless of the opening operation amount B.

In a second specific example, the amount of additional opening assistance for the movable door 11 is determined according to the manual opening operation speed of the movable door 11 detected by the opening operation speed detection unit 252. For example, if the opening operation speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined first opening operation speed threshold (e.g., 200 mm/s), opening assistance may be provided up to the opening width A, and if the opening operation speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined second opening operation speed threshold (e.g., 300 mm/s), opening assistance may be provided up to the full opening width.

In the above-described second mode of opening assist, the opening drive mode determination unit 24 may determine the additional opening drive amount of the door section 10 according to various battery remaining amount parameters acquired by the battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit 22 and load parameters acquired by the load parameter acquisition unit 26. The battery remaining amount parameters indicate the remaining amount of the battery 70, and the load parameters indicate the power consumption during the opening assist of the door section 10, so that it is possible to determine the optimal opening assist amount for retaining the power required to maintain the closed state of the door section 10, which is the highest priority in an emergency.

The present invention has been described above based on the embodiments. The embodiments are merely examples, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in the combination of each component and each processing process, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.

The functional configuration of each device described in the embodiments can be realized by hardware resources or software resources, or by the cooperation of hardware and software resources. Processors, ROM, RAM, and other LSIs can be used as hardware resources. Programs such as operating systems and applications can be used as software resources.

Among the embodiments disclosed in this specification, those in which multiple functions are provided in a distributed manner may have some or all of the multiple functions consolidated, and conversely, those in which multiple functions are provided in a consolidated manner may have some or all of the multiple functions distributed. Regardless of whether the functions are consolidated or distributed, it is sufficient that the configuration is such that the object of the invention can be achieved.

10 Door unit, 11 Movable door, 20 Controller, 21 Emergency detection unit, 22 Battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit, 23 Opening assist judgment unit, 24 Opening drive mode determination unit, 25 Opening operation detection unit, 26 Load parameter acquisition unit, 40 Door engine, 42 Motor, 70 Battery, 100 Automatic door, 211 Disconnection detection unit, 212 Emergency signal acquisition unit, 221 Battery remaining amount detection unit, 222 Emergency time detection unit, 223 Door movement amount detection unit, 224 Battery voltage detection unit, 225 Full closing count detection unit, 251 Opening operation amount detection unit, 252 Opening operation speed detection unit, 300 Normal power source.

Claims (20)

An automatic door that assists the opening operation of a door when an external force that moves the door in an opening direction while the door is closed is detected,
A control unit that controls opening and closing of the door;
a battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit that acquires a battery remaining amount parameter indicating a remaining amount of a battery that supplies power to the automatic door in an emergency when a normal power source is unavailable;
and an opening assist determination unit that determines whether to assist the opening operation according to the battery remaining amount parameter acquired by the battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit when the automatic door is operated by the power from the battery,
The control unit controls opening and closing of the door based on a determination result of the opening assist determination unit.
Automatic door. The automatic door according to claim 1, wherein the opening assistance determination unit determines not to assist the opening operation when the remaining battery level indicated by the battery remaining capacity parameter acquired by the battery remaining capacity parameter acquisition unit is equal to or lower than a threshold value. The battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit further includes an open drive mode determination unit that determines an open drive mode of the door when assisting the opening operation according to the remaining amount of the battery indicated by the battery remaining amount parameter acquired by the battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit,
The control unit controls opening and closing of the door based on a determination result of the opening drive mode determination unit when the opening assist determination unit determines to assist the opening operation.
3. The automatic door according to claim 1 or 2. A load parameter acquisition unit that acquires a load parameter indicating a load of the door opening drive by the control unit,
the opening drive mode determination unit determines an opening drive mode to be performed by the control unit in response to the battery remaining amount parameter and the load parameter when the opening assist determination unit determines that the opening operation is to be assisted.
The automatic door according to claim 3. An automatic door according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the control unit drives the door to close using the power of the battery after the door is opened by an external force. An automatic door according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the battery remaining capacity parameter is the remaining capacity of the battery. An automatic door according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the battery remaining capacity parameter is the elapsed time since the battery started supplying power. An automatic door according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the battery remaining capacity parameter is the amount of movement of the door after the emergency occurs. An automatic door according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the battery remaining capacity parameter is the voltage of the battery. An automatic door according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the battery remaining capacity parameter is the number of times the door has been driven to close completely since the emergency occurred. A method for controlling an automatic door that assists the opening of a door when an external force that moves a closed door in an opening direction is detected, comprising:
a battery remaining amount parameter acquisition step of acquiring a battery remaining amount parameter indicating a remaining amount of a battery that supplies power to the automatic door in an emergency when a normal power source is unavailable;
an opening assist determination step for determining whether to assist the opening operation according to the battery remaining capacity parameter acquired when the automatic door is operated by the power from the battery;
a step of controlling opening and closing of the door based on a result of the determination step of the opening assist determination step;
An automatic door control method comprising: A control program for an automatic door that assists the opening of a door when an external force that moves a closed door in an opening direction is detected, comprising:
a battery remaining amount parameter acquisition step of acquiring a battery remaining amount parameter indicating a remaining amount of a battery that supplies power to the automatic door in an emergency when a normal power source is unavailable;
an opening assist determination step for determining whether to assist the opening operation according to the battery remaining capacity parameter acquired when the automatic door is operated by the power from the battery;
a step of controlling opening and closing of the door based on a result of the determination step of the opening assist determination step;
An automatic door control program that causes a computer to execute the following. an opening operation detection unit that detects an opening operation of the door caused by an external force that moves the door in a closed state in an opening direction;
an opening drive mode determination unit that determines an opening drive mode of the door in accordance with a detection result of the opening operation detection unit;
A control unit that performs an opening drive of the door during the opening operation based on a result of the determination by the opening drive mode determination unit;
Equipped with
The opening operation detection unit detects an amount of opening operation of the door caused by an external force that moves the door in the closed state in an opening direction,
The opening drive mode determination unit determines an opening drive mode of the door according to the opening operation amount,
The opening drive mode determination unit determines an opening drive mode of the door in accordance with a comparison between a predetermined opening width parameter of the door and the opening operation amount . The automatic door according to claim 13 , wherein the opening drive mode determination unit determines, when the amount of opening operation is less than the opening width parameter, an amount of opening drive for driving the door to open up to the opening width parameter as the opening drive mode of the door. The automatic door according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the opening drive mode determination unit determines an opening drive amount for driving the door to open to a full open width as the opening drive mode of the door when the opening operation amount is equal to or greater than the opening width parameter. The opening operation detection unit detects a speed of an opening operation of the door caused by an external force moving the closed door in an opening direction,
The opening drive mode determination unit determines an opening drive mode of the door according to the opening operation speed.
The automatic door according to any one of claims 13 to 15 . an opening operation detection unit that detects an opening operation of the door caused by an external force that moves the door in a closed state in an opening direction;
an opening drive mode determination unit that determines an opening drive mode of the door in accordance with a detection result of the opening operation detection unit;
A control unit that performs an opening drive of the door during the opening operation based on a result of the determination by the opening drive mode determination unit;
Equipped with
The opening drive mode determination unit determines an opening drive amount for driving the door to open to a predetermined width equal to or smaller than a full-open width of the door as an opening drive mode of the door. an opening operation detection unit that detects an opening operation of the door caused by an external force that moves the door in a closed state in an opening direction;
an opening drive mode determination unit that determines an opening drive mode of the door in accordance with a detection result of the opening operation detection unit;
A control unit that performs an opening drive of the door during the opening operation based on a result of the determination by the opening drive mode determination unit;
Equipped with
The automatic door system further includes a battery remaining amount parameter acquisition unit for acquiring a battery remaining amount parameter indicating a remaining amount of a battery for supplying temporary power to the automatic door in an emergency when a normal power source is unavailable,
The automatic door, wherein the opening drive mode determination unit determines an opening drive mode of the door in accordance with the battery remaining capacity parameter. an opening operation detection step of detecting an opening operation of the door caused by an external force that moves the door in a closed state in an opening direction;
an opening drive mode determination step of determining an opening drive mode of the door according to a detection result of the opening operation detection step;
a door driving step of driving the door to open during the opening operation based on a result of the determination in the opening drive mode determination step;
Equipped with
The opening operation detection step detects an amount of opening operation of the door caused by an external force that moves the door in the closed state in an opening direction,
The opening drive mode determination step determines an opening drive mode of the door according to the opening movement amount,
The opening drive mode determination step determines an opening drive mode of the door in accordance with a comparison between a predetermined opening width parameter of the door and the opening operation amount . an opening operation detection step of detecting an opening operation of the door caused by an external force that moves the door in a closed state in an opening direction;
an opening drive mode determination step of determining an opening drive mode of the door according to a detection result of the opening operation detection step;
a door driving step of driving the door to open during the opening operation based on a result of the determination in the opening drive mode determination step;
on the computer ,
The opening operation detection step detects an amount of opening operation of the door caused by an external force that moves the door in the closed state in an opening direction,
The opening drive mode determination step determines an opening drive mode of the door according to the opening movement amount,
The opening drive mode determination step is a control program for an automatic door that determines an opening drive mode of the door in accordance with a comparison between a predetermined opening width parameter of the door and the opening operation amount .

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