JP7701045B2 - Opening/closing body shock absorber and folding door device using same - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an opening/closing body shock absorber that forcibly moves a door body to a closed or open state and absorbs the shock of the movement, and a folding door device that uses the same.

Conventionally, there is a folding door device that folds two doors in half to open and close. A known opening and closing body shock absorber for this folding door device is one that has an elastic biasing member attached inside the hinge, and uses the elastic force to bias the door in the opening and closing direction, moving the door to a completely closed or open state using this biasing force (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

There is also a technology that uses an opening/closing body shock absorber used in sliding doors and swing doors in a folding door device (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In the opening/closing body shock absorber used in such a sliding door device, a running roller and a closer (supplementary retraction mechanism) installed at the top of the sliding door move in the opening/closing direction within the rail of an upper guide rail installed on the building side. In addition, the closer is provided with an elastic spring that biases the sliding door in the opening/closing direction, and this biasing force moves the door body in the opening/closing direction (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

JP 2007-332633 A JP 2012-180640 A JP 2012-158957 A

The technology of Patent Document 1 mentioned above requires a strong biasing force to apply a rotational force within the hinge, and also requires durability so that it can be used repeatedly. To achieve this, the structure of the hinge section becomes complex and needs to be made strong, making it difficult to manufacture at low cost.

In addition, the technology in Patent Document 2 requires a closer to be installed on the outside of the upper guide rail along which the upper metal fittings on the leading edge of the folding door run. This means that the closer is visible to users, which is unsightly. Installation is also difficult.

Furthermore, when the technology of Patent Document 3 is used in a folding door device, the closer is long in the opening and closing direction, so it cannot be used in folding door devices with small openings. Also, because the closer moves on the upper side inside the upper guide rail, and the running rollers run on the lower side inside the upper guide rail, the vertical length of the upper guide rail as seen by the user becomes long, which can impair the design.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an opening/closing body shock absorber that is inexpensive and does not impair the design of the entire device.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an opening/closing body cushioning device that forcibly moves a door body to a closed or open state and cushions the impact of the movement, and is characterized in that it includes a closer attached to a predetermined position of an upper guide rail extending in the opening/closing direction, and a door end side upper metal fitting attached to the door body side, and a running roller moves along the upper guide rail to move the door body in the opening/closing direction, and the door end side upper metal fitting is provided with a closer space that allows the closer to pass inside the door end side upper metal fitting when the door end side upper metal fitting moves to overlap with the closer so that the closer and the door end side upper metal fitting do not interfere with each other.

The closer space is formed inside and surrounded by a bottom plate and two side plate sections that stand upward from the front-rear ends of the bottom plate, and the side plate sections may each have a running roller attached to a rotating shaft that protrudes outward in the front-rear direction.

Furthermore, the lower position of the running roller may be at the same height as the bottom plate portion or higher.

The present invention is characterized in that the opening/closing body shock absorber described in any one of claims 1 to 3 is used in a folding door.

In the opening/closing body shock absorber of the present invention, a closer space is provided so that the closer passes through on the inside so that the closer does not interfere with the upper metal fitting on the door end side when the upper metal fitting on the door end side moves to a position where it overlaps with the closer, and the range of movement of the upper metal fitting on the door end side in the opening/closing direction can be increased. Therefore, even if the width of the opening on the building side is narrow, an opening/closing body shock absorber can be installed with a sufficient length to retract the door body.

In addition, there is no need to separate the position of the closer from the position where the upper metal fitting on the door edge runs above and below so that the closer and the upper metal fitting on the door edge do not interfere with each other. This makes it possible to shorten the vertical length of the upper guide rail. As a result, the upper guide rail is made less noticeable to users, improving the design of the entire device.

1 is a perspective view of a folding door device to which an opening/closing body shock absorber device according to an embodiment of the present invention is attached, as viewed obliquely from above. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which an upper guide rail is removed from FIG. 1 . FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the door body is half-opened from the state shown in FIG. 3 . FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the door body is completely opened from FIGS. 3 and 4. This is an oblique view of the upper metal fitting on the door end side, viewed diagonally from above and to the left. This is an oblique view of the upper metal fitting on the door end side, viewed diagonally from above and to the right. 1A is a plan view of the upper metal fitting on the door end side, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B of FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the upper metal fitting on the hanging side as viewed from diagonally above the left, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the upper metal fitting on the hanging side as viewed from diagonally above the right. (A) is a front view of the upper bracket on the hanging side, (B) is a plan view, (C) is a left side view, and (D) is a right side view. FIG. FIG. 2 is a front view showing a cross section of the closer. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a modified example of the present invention in which the opening/closing body shock absorber is used in a sliding door.

The opening/closing body shock absorber according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a folding door device to which an opening/closing body shock absorber according to an embodiment of the present invention is attached, seen from diagonally above, and Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the state in Fig. 1 with the upper guide rail removed, Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the state in which the door body is half-open from Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the state in which the door body is fully open from Figs. 3 and 4. Note that Figs. 3 to 5 are drawn without the upper guide rail for ease of explanation.

In addition, the directions of "left side (door open side)", "right side (door closed side)", "front side (near side)", "rear side", "upper side", "lower side", and "front and rear" used in the following explanation refer to the directions shown in Figures 1 and 3 to 5. The right end is called the door end side, and the left end is called the hinge side.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 5, the folding door device 1 has two door bodies (first door body 2a, second door body 2b), and the upper right corner of the first door body 2a and the upper left corner of the second door body 2b are connected by a hinge 3. Although not shown, the lower sides of the two door bodies 2a and 2b are also connected by a hinge in the same way as the upper sides. As shown in Figs. 3 to 5, when a user pulls the front end of the second door body 2b towards the front (or pushes the front end of the second door body 2b towards the front from the rear), the position of the hinge 3 moves towards the rear and the two door bodies 2a and 2b are folded and opened. Also, by performing the reverse action from the open state, they transition to a closed state.

The upper guide rail 4 shown in Figures 1 and 2 is attached to the upper end of the opening on the building side, and is provided continuously in the opening and closing direction (left and right direction) of the door bodies 2a, 2b. The cross-sectional shape of the upper guide rail 4 is formed into a U-shape that is open on the bottom, as shown in Figure 2. This upper guide rail 4 is composed of an upper surface portion 4a that is attached to the building side, and side portions 4b, 4b that extend downward from the front and rear of this upper surface portion 4a.

In addition, rolling surface portions 4c, 4c that extend substantially horizontally inward are provided below the side surface portions 4b, 4b. Furthermore, two positioning walls 4d, 4d that extend downward are provided on the upper surface portion 4a with a gap between them in the front-to-rear direction. The cross-sectional shape of the upper guide rail 4 is formed substantially symmetrically in the front-to-rear direction.

A closer (supplementary retraction mechanism) 40, which will be described later in detail, is attached to the area between the positioning walls 4d, 4d inside the upper guide rail 4. Two closers 40 are attached at predetermined positions in the left-right direction of the upper guide rail 4 (both left and right ends of the upper guide rail 4 in Figs. 1 to 5) with a gap between them. Note that the closers 40, 40 each have the same structure, and the left closer 40 can be used as the right closer by reversing the left-right orientation.
As shown in FIG. 2, the length of the upper guide rail 4 in the vertical direction is formed to be approximately equal to the length of the closer 40 in the vertical direction.

In addition, inside the upper guide rail 4, in the area between the positioning wall 4d and the side surface 4b, a running roller 23 of the door end upper fitting 20, which will be described in detail later, is arranged, and this running roller 23 runs in the opening and closing direction on the rolling surface 4c.

A leading-side upper metal fitting 20 is attached to the upper side of the second door body 2b, approximately in the center in the left-right direction. This leading-side upper metal fitting 20 is attached to the second door body 2b so that it can rotate horizontally relative to the second door body 2b, and rotates in accordance with the opening and closing movement of the second door body 2b. The leading-side upper metal fitting 20 is also configured to be movable in the opening and closing direction inside the upper guide rail 4 by the running rollers 23.

A hanging-side upper fitting 30 is attached to the upper left side of the first door body 2a. Like the end-side upper fitting 20, this hanging-side upper fitting 30 is also attached to the first door body 2a so that it can rotate horizontally and move in accordance with the opening and closing of the first door body 2a. Unlike the end-side upper fitting 20, the hanging-side upper fitting 30 is fixed to the left end of the upper guide rail 4 so that it does not move.

In this embodiment, the opening/closing body shock absorber 10 is composed of the door end upper metal fitting 20, the hanging side upper metal fitting 30, and the closer 40.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the leading-side upper fitting 20 as seen from diagonally above the left, and Figure 7 is a perspective view of the leading-side upper fitting 20 as seen from diagonally above the right. Also, Figure 8 (A) is a plan view of the leading-side upper fitting 20, and (B) is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of (A).

The door end upper metal fitting 20 is composed of a runner 21 formed by processing sheet metal, and a door engagement part 25 attached in a suspended manner to the underside of this runner 21.

The runner 21 comprises a bottom plate portion 21a that forms the bottom surface, left side plate portions 21b, 21b located on the left side of the bottom plate portion 21a and rising upward from both the front and rear ends of the bottom plate portion 21a, and right side plate portions 21c, 21c located on the right side of the bottom plate portion 21a and rising upward from both the front and rear ends of the bottom plate portion 21a.

The left side plate portion 21b, 21b and the right side plate portion 21c, 21c are provided with a rotating shaft 22 that protrudes outward in the front-rear direction, and a running roller 23 is rotatably attached to each of the rotating shafts 22. The inner end of the rotating shaft 22 is assembled so that it does not protrude inward beyond the inner surface of the left side plate portion 21b, 21b and the right side plate portion 21c, 21c.

With the above-mentioned configuration, a closer space S1 is formed in the inner portion surrounded by the bottom plate portion 21a, the left side plate portions 21b, 21b, and the right side plate portions 21c, 21c, as shown in Figures 6 to 8. The front-to-rear distance of this closer space S1 is formed to be wider than the front-to-rear width dimension of the closer 40, as shown in Figure 2. As a result, even if the runner 21 moves in the opening/closing direction and reaches the position of the closer 40, the closer 40 enters this closer space S1, and the door-end upper metal fitting 20 passes through it with the closer 40 on the inside as it travels, so that the closer 40 and the runner 21 do not interfere with each other at the same height.

As shown in FIG. 2, the running roller 23 runs on the outer side of the closer 40 in the front-to-rear direction while being supported by the rolling surface portion 4c of the upper guide rail 4. The position of the lower side (lower end) of this running roller 23 is at a height approximately equal to or higher than the position of the lower side (lower end) of the closer 40 and the bottom plate portion 21a, so that the height dimension of the upper guide rail 4 does not become unnecessarily large.

A captured member 24 is attached to the top surface of the bottom plate 21a on the left side of the bottom plate 21a. This captured member 24 is composed of a base portion 24a that extends in the left-right direction along the bottom plate 21a, and an engaged portion 24b that is provided on both the left and right ends of the base portion 24a.

The base portion 24a is fixed to the bottom plate portion 21a by a rivet 26. As shown in FIG. 8(B), the engaged portion 24b protrudes upward in a generally L-shape and is captured by a capture member 42 (see FIG. 11 and FIG. 12) of the closer 40, which will be described in detail later, so that the door end upper metal fitting 20 is pulled in by the closer 40 in either the opening or closing direction.

The door engagement part 25 is attached so as to be embedded in the upper center part of the second door body 2b. As shown in FIG. 8(B), the door engagement part 25 is attached so as to be freely rotatable in the horizontal direction to a rotation shaft 27 extending downward from the bottom plate part 21a, and thus can be freely rotated in the horizontal direction in accordance with the movement of the second door body 2b.

Figure 9 (A) is a perspective view of the upper hanging fitting 30 from the upper left, and (B) is a perspective view from the upper right. Also, Figure 10 (A) is a front view of the upper hanging fitting 30, (B) is a plan view, (C) is a left side view, and (D) is a right side view.

The upper hanging bracket 30 is composed of a fixed member 31 that is fixed to a predetermined position on the upper guide rail 4, and a door engagement part 25 that is attached in a suspended manner below the fixed member 31.

The fixing member 31 has a bottom plate portion 31a that forms the bottom surface, and side plate portions 31b, 31b that stand upward from both the front and rear ends of the bottom plate portion 31a. Similar to the runner 21, a closer space S2 is formed between the bottom plate portion 31a and the side plate portions 31b, 31b, as shown in Figures 9 and 10. The closer space S2 is approximately the same size as the closer space S1, and the front-to-rear spacing of the closer space S2 is wider than the front-to-rear width dimension of the closer 40. As a result, the closer 40 is housed in the closer space S2 and is attached to the upper guide rail 4 together with the closer 40.

In addition, adjustment members 32, 32 are attached to the outer sides of the side plate portions 31b in the front-rear direction. The thickness dimension of these adjustment members 32, 32 in the front-rear direction is the same as the thickness dimension of the running rollers 23 of the runner 21, and when the fixing member 31 is attached inside the upper guide rail 4, the adjustment member 32 is in contact with the inner surface of the side portion 4b of the upper guide rail 4 in the front-rear direction.

The lower position of the adjustment member 32, like the running roller 23, is formed to be at a height approximately equal to or higher than the lower position of the closer 40 and the bottom plate portion 21a.

The door engagement part 25 has the same structure as that used in the door end upper fitting 20, is attached in an embedded manner in the upper left end part of the first door body 2a, and freely rotates horizontally in accordance with the movement of the first door body 2a.

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the closer 40. Figure 12 is a front view showing a cross section of the closer 40. Note that the closer shown in Figures 11 and 12 is the same as that used in Patent Document 3, with no change in orientation. In the present invention, however, the closer is used as is, with the top and bottom directions reversed.

The closer 40 is designed to prevent the door bodies 2a, 2b from being left half-open by having the capture member 42 of the closer 40 capture the engaged portion 24b of the door end upper metal fitting 20 when closing the door bodies 2a, 2b, and pulling them in until the door bodies 2a, 2b are completely closed. Similarly, the closer 40 is designed to capture the engaged portion 24b when opening, so that the door bodies 2a, 2b are completely open. In addition, when the door bodies 2a, 2b are closed (opened) forcefully, the shock is absorbed and they move gently to the closed (open) position.

This closer 40 has the same structure and functions as the conventional one (see, for example, Patent Document 3). However, the conventional structure has running rollers for running the closer 40 in the opening and closing direction, but the present invention differs in that the closer 40 is fixed to the upper guide rail 4 and does not have running rollers. Therefore, detailed explanation of the structure and function will be omitted, and the main parts will be explained briefly below.

As shown in Figures 11 and 12, inside the main body 41 of the closer 40, a spring member 44 for retracting the capture member 42 and a damper 43 for cushioning the momentum of the door bodies 2a, 2b are provided. The capture member 42 moves up and down as the link pin 42b moves along the guide hole 41a, and captures or releases the engaged portion 24b of the runner 21 at a predetermined position. In the captured state, the engaging portion 24b (the door end upper metal fitting 20) is retracted by the biasing force of the spring member 44, and the damper 43 absorbs the impact in the retracting direction.

Next, the operation and function of the opening/closing body shock absorber 10 according to this embodiment will be described.
In the present invention, the closer 40 is fixed at a predetermined position on the upper guide rail 4 and is not movable. Therefore, by eliminating the portion where the running rollers are provided as in the conventional structure, the length of the closer in the opening and closing direction can be shortened. Therefore, even if the width of the opening of the building is small, the opening and closing body shock absorber 10 can be installed.

In addition, the leading-side upper fitting 20 runs in the opening and closing direction along the upper guide rail 4, and when it reaches a position where the closer 40 and leading-side upper fitting 20 overlap when viewed from the front, the closer enters the closer space S1 of the leading-side upper fitting 20. Therefore, the leading-side upper fitting 20 can run in the opening and closing direction at the same height as the closer 40 without interfering with each other.

In addition, the running rollers 23 of the door end upper metal fitting 20 are positioned on the outside in the front-to-rear direction of the closer space S1, so there is no interference between the running rollers 23 and the closer 40 when the door end upper metal fitting 20 runs in the opening and closing direction. In addition, by positioning the running rollers 23 on the outside, the height dimension of the upper guide rail 4 can be shortened to a dimension almost equal to the height dimension of the closer 40. In detail, conventionally, the closer 40 and the running rollers 23 were positioned one above the other, so the height dimension of the upper guide rail 4 needed to be the combined height of the closer 40 and the running rollers 23, but now it is possible to adjust it to a length equal to the height dimension of the closer 40.

On the other hand, a typical folding door device has a unique issue not found in sliding door devices in that the center of gravity of the door body moves in the front-to-rear direction while opening and closing, which causes the door body to swing in the front-to-rear direction and become unstable. In contrast, in the present invention, by arranging the running rollers 23 on the outer sides in the front-to-rear direction, sandwiching the closer space S1, the distance between the pair of running rollers 23 in the front-to-rear direction can be ensured to be longer than the conventional distance, and by arranging the pair of running rollers 23 in the front-to-rear direction, stability in the front-to-rear direction is improved.

According to the embodiment of the opening and closing body shock absorber of the present invention, the opening and closing body shock absorber includes a closer 40 attached to a predetermined position of the upper guide rail 4 extending in the opening and closing direction, and a door end side upper metal fitting 20 attached to the door body 2b side, in which the running roller 23 moves along the upper guide rail 4 to move the door body 2b in the opening and closing direction. The door end side upper metal fitting 20 has a closer space S1 that allows the closer 40 to pass inside so that the closer 40 and the door end side upper metal fitting 20 do not interfere with each other at a position where the door end side upper metal fitting 20 moves and overlaps with the closer 40, so that the movement range of the door end side upper metal fitting 20 in the opening and closing direction can be increased. Therefore, even if the width of the opening on the building side is narrow, the opening and closing body shock absorber 10 can be installed with a sufficient length to retract the door body 2b.

In addition, to prevent interference between the closer 40 and the door-end upper fitting 20, there is no need to separate the position of the closer 40 and the position where the door-end upper fitting 20 runs above and below, and the closer 40 and the door-end upper fitting 20 can be configured at the same height. This allows the vertical length of the upper guide rail 4 to be shortened. As a result, the design of the entire device is improved by making the upper guide rail 4 less noticeable to the user.

The closer space S1 is formed inside and surrounded by a bottom plate portion 21a and two side plate portions 21b, 21c that stand upward from the front-rear ends of the bottom plate portion 21a. The side plate portions 21b, 21c each have a running roller 23 attached to a rotating shaft 22 that protrudes outward in the front-rear direction, so that the mounting position of the closer 40 and the position where the door end side upper metal fitting 20 runs can be configured to overlap each other when viewed from the front.

Furthermore, the lower position of the running roller 23 is positioned at the same height as the bottom plate portion 21a or higher, so the height dimension of the upper guide rail 4 can be configured to be approximately the same as the height dimension of the closer 40. As a result, the height dimension of the upper guide rail 4 can be shortened, improving the design.

On the other hand, in the folding door device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the opening/closing body shock absorber 10 having the above-mentioned configuration is used for the folding door, which improves the overall design of the folding door device 1. In addition, the spacing between the running rollers 23 located in the front-to-rear direction is widened, which overcomes the problem specific to folding door devices that the center of gravity of the door bodies 2a, 2b moves in the front-to-rear direction, thereby improving stability in the front-to-rear direction.

The above describes the opening/closing body shock absorber according to the embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various modifications and changes are possible based on the technical concept of the present invention.

For example, in this embodiment, the opening/closing body shock absorber 10 is used in a folding door device 1, but as shown in FIG. 13, it can also be used in a general sliding door device 100 that moves a sliding door 102 along the opening/closing direction. By configuring the upper guide rail 4 to be shorter in the vertical direction than in the conventional technology, the upper guide rail can be made less noticeable to the user. This improves the design.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Folding door device 2a First door body 2b Second door body 3 Hinge 4 Upper guide rail 4a Upper surface portion 4b Side surface portion 4c Rolling surface portion 4d Positioning wall portion 10 Opening/closing body shock absorber 20 Door end side upper metal fitting 21 Runner 21a Bottom plate portion 21b Left side plate portion (side plate portion)
21c Right side plate part (side plate part)
22 Rotating shaft 23 Traveling roller 24 Captured member 24a Base portion 24b Engaged portion 25 Door engagement portion 26 Rivet 27 Rotating shaft 30 Hanging side upper metal fitting 31a Bottom plate portion 31b Side plate portion 32 Adjustment member 40 Closer (capture retraction mechanism)
41 Main body 41a Guide hole 42 Capture member 42b Link pin 43 Damper 100 Sliding door device 102 Sliding door S1, S2 Closer space

Claims (4)

An opening/closing body shock absorber that forcibly moves a door body to a closed state or an open state and absorbs the shock of the movement,
A closer attached to a predetermined position of an upper guide rail extending in the opening and closing direction;
A door end upper fitting is attached to the door body side, and the door body moves in the opening and closing direction as the running roller moves along the upper guide rail,
This opening/closing body cushioning device is characterized in that the door end side upper metal fitting has a space for a closer that allows the closer to pass inside the door end side upper metal fitting so that the closer and the door end side upper metal fitting do not interfere with each other when the door end side upper metal fitting moves to a position where it overlaps with the closer. The opening/closing body shock absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the closer space is formed inside and surrounded by a bottom plate and two side plate sections that stand upright from the front-rear ends of the bottom plate, and that the side plate sections each have a running roller attached to a rotating shaft that protrudes outward in the front-rear direction. The opening/closing body shock absorber according to claim 2, characterized in that the lower position of the running roller is at the same height as the bottom plate portion or higher. A folding door device characterized in that the opening/closing body shock absorber described in any one of claims 1 to 3 is used in a folding door.