Control apparatus for an automatic door with a minimum error in a detected door position

Claim 3

An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said movable driving means comprises a drive belt directly coupled to the door and extending from a drive pulley and a driven pulley.

Claim 4

An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said drive belt is a synchronous belt having equally spaced teeth on the bottom surface thereof.

Claim 5

An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said sensing means comprise a pair of optoelectronic couplers spaced from each other in the direction of the movement of said synchronous belt, the light from the light emitting portion to the light receiving portion of each of said optoelectronic couplers being intermittently interrupted by successive teeth of said synchronous belt in response to the movement thereof.

Claim 6

An apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein the first of said optoelectronic couplers operatively produces pulses having a first predetermined phase relationship with the phase of pulses produced by the second of said optoelectronic couplers in response to the movement of said synchronous belt in a forward direction while said first optoelectronic coupler produces pulses having a second predetermined phase relationship, distinguishable from said first phase relationship, with the phase of pulses produced by said second optoelectronic couplers in response to the movement of said synchronous belt in a reverse direction.

Claim 7

An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 further including direction detecting means coupled with said pair of optoelectronic couplers for determining the direction of movement of said synchronous belt from the sensed phase relationship between pulses from the first and second optoelectronic couplers.

Claim 8

An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further including pulse interval monitor means for monitoring an interval between adjacent pulses from said sensing means and selectively generating a signal indicating that the interval has become greater than a predetermined length of time wherein said control means responds to said signal from said pulse interval monitor means to produce a stop command signal for said motor, thus avoiding the overheating of said motor which would be encountered in case that the transmission means from said motor to the door is disconnected.

Claim 9

In a door controlling system including a door, means for driving said door to run between ends of its stroke having final movable transmission means directly coupled to said door, speed control means for controlling said driving means in such a manner that said door will be initially accelerated from one end of said stroke, then run at a high speed, then be decelerated, then run at a low speed, and finally stop at the other end of said stroke, thus completing one stroke operation of said door, the improvement comprising: sensing means disposed relative to said final movable transmission means for generating pulses having a pulse repetition rate in proportion to the velocity of the movement of said final transmission means; door position detecting means for counting said pulses from said sensing means to obtain the current position of said door; means for providing a deceleration point associated with said one stroke operation of said door; and means electrically coupled with said speed control means for comparing said current position of said door with said deceleration point to generate a low speed command upon the coincidence of said current position with said deceleration point so that said speed control means will decelerate said door toward said low speed in response to the generation of said low speed command.

Claim 10

In a door controlling system including a door, means for driving said door to run between ends of its stroke having final movable transmission means directly coupled to said door, speed control means for controlling said driving means in such a manner that said door will be initially accelerated from one end of said stroke, then run at a high speed, then be decelerated, then run at a low speed, and finally stop at the other end of said stroke, thus completing one stroke operation of said door, the improvement comprising: sensing means disposed relative to said final movable transmission means for generating pulses having a pulse repetition rate in proportion to the velocity of the movement of said final transmission means; door position detecting means for counting said pulses from said sensing means to obtain the current position of said door; means for providing a deceleration point associated with said one stroke operation of said door; and means electrically coupled with said speed control means for comparing said current position of said door with said deceleration point to generate a low speed command upon the coincidence of said current position with said deceleration point so that said speed control means will decelerate said door toward said low speed in response to the generation of said low speed command.

Claim 11

A door controlling system, comprising: a door having a given stroke; driving means for driving said door to run between ends of its stroke, and including final movable transmission means directly coupled to said door; speed control means for controlling said driving means in such a manner that said door will be initially accelerated from one end of said stroke, then run at a high speed, then be decelerated, then run at a low speed, and finally stop at the other end of said stroke, thus completing one stroke operation of said door; sensing means disposed relative to said final movable transmission means for generating pulses having a pulse repetition rate in proportion to a velocity of movement of said final transmission means; door position detecting means for counting said pulses from said sensing means to obtain a current position of said door; means for providing a deceleration point associated with said one stroke operation of said door; and means electrically coupled with said speed control means for comparing said current position of said door with said deceleration point to generate a low speed command upon a coincidence of said current position with said deceleration point so that said speed control means will decelerate said door toward said low speed in response to generation of said low speed command.

Claim 12

A door controlling system, comprising: a door having a given stroke; driving means for driving said door to run between ends of its stroke, and including final movable transmission means directly coupled to said door; speed control means for controlling said driving means in such a manner that said door will be initially accelerated from one end of said stroke, then run at a high speed, then be decelerated, then run at a low speed, and finally stop at the other end of said stroke, thus completing one stroke operation of said door; sensing means disposed relative to said final movable transmission means for generating pulses having a pulse repetition rate in proportion to a velocity of movement of said final transmission means; door position detecting means for counting said pulses from said sensing means to obtain a current position of said door; means for providing a deceleration point associated with said one stroke operation of said door; and means electrically coupled with said speed control means for comparing said current position of said door with said deceleration point to generate a low speed command upon a coincidence of said current position with said deceleration point so that said speed control means will decelerate said door toward said low speed in response to generation of said low speed command.

Claim 13

A system as claimed in claim 9 wherein said final movable transmission means comprises a drive belt directly coupled to the door and extending from a drive pulley and a driven pulley.

Claim 14

A system as claimed in claim 10 wherein said drive belt is a synchronous belt having equally spaced teeth on the bottom surface thereof.

Claim 15

A system as claimed in claim 11 wherein said sensing means comprise a pair of optoelectronic couplers spaced from each other in a direction of movement of said synchronous belt, light from a light emitting portion to a light receiving portion of each of said optoelectronic couplers being intermittently interrupted by successive teeth of said synchronous belt in response to movement thereof.

Claim 16

A system as claimed in claim 12 wherein a first of said optoelectronic couplers operatively produces pulses having a first predetermined phase relationship with a phase of pulses produced by a second of said optoelectronic couplers in response to movement of said synchronous belt in the forward direction while said first optoelectronic coupler produces pulses having a second predetermined phase relationship distinguishable from said first phase relationship with a phase of pulses produced by said second optoelectronic couplers in response to movement of said synchronous belt in a reverse direction.

Claim 17

A system as claimed in claim 13 further including direction detecting means coupled with said pair of optoelectronic couplers for determining direction of movement of said synchronous belt from the sensed phase relationship between pulses from the first and second optoelectronic couplers.

Claim 18

A system as claimed in claim 9 further including pulse interval monitor means for monitoring an interval between adjacent pulses from said sensing means and selectively generating a signal indicating that the interval has become greater than a predetermined length of time wherein said speed control means responds to said signal from said pulse interval monitor means to produce a stop command signal for said driving means, thus avoiding overheating of a motor which would be encountered in case the transmission means from said motor to the door is disconnected.