TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
5 [0001] This invention relates to an articulated sliding door assembly for a public
transportation vehicle such as a railway vehicle.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] Articulated sliding doors for rail vehicles are known in a variety of
embodiments, which have in common the fact that they can be moved out of the
10 closed position by a transverse or swinging movement into a position which is ready
for opening, and subsequently moved parallel to the outer wall of the vehicle into a
position which clears the door opening, as illustrated e.g. in EP 0 312 450. Such
movement involves complex and bulky guiding and driving systems.
[0003] There is therefore a need for an alternative guiding system that is both
15 simpler and more compact.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided an articulated
sliding door assembly for closing a doorway, comprising:
- a door leaf;
20 - a guide rail assembly for guiding the door leaf in translation parallel to a
horizontal sliding direction relative to the guide rail assembly between a
first end position and a second end position;
- a linkage for guiding the guide rail assembly with respect to a doorway
between a recessed position and a protruding position whereby the
doorway is closed by the door leaf when the guide rail assembly is in the
recessed position and the door leaf is in the first end position, and open
when the guide rail assembly is in the protruding position and the door
leaf is in the second end position, wherein the linkage allows only a
pivoting movement of the guide rail assembly about a vertical pivot axis
fixed relative to the doorway.
[0005] The guide rail assembly is particularly simple and robust, and does not
require a complex and bulky linkage.
5 [0006] According to a preferred embodiment, the articulated sliding door
assembly further comprises driving means for moving the door leaf between the first
end position and the second end position, which may advantageously comprise a
stationary part that is fixed relative to the guide rail assembly.
[0007] The driving means can include a rotation motor having its stator fixed
10 relative to the guide rail assembly and its rotor coupled to the door leaf via a
transmission mechanism such as e.g. an endless belt transmission, a worm gear or a
rack and pinion system.
[0008] According to a preferred embodiment, the driving means includes a linear
motor, with one or more flat stators (i.e. stationary electromagnetic circuits
15 generating a controlled magnetic field) fixed relative to the guide rail assembly and
one or more rows of permanent magnets fixed relative to the door leaf, each of the
rows extending horizontally substantially from one vertical edge of the door to the
other and consisting of adjacent poles of alternate polarities. The resulting assembly
is particularly compact. This arrangement is particularly robust since it does not
20 involve any transmission mechanism between the driving means and the door leaf.
[0009] The permanent magnets can be individual permanent magnets. The row or
rows of permanent magnets can be located at an upper and/or a lower horizontal
edge of the door leaf, e.g. close to a guide rail of the guide rail assembly. According to a
preferred embodiment, however, the one or more rows of permanent magnets are
25 each located at an intermediate position below an upper horizontal edge of the door
leaf and above a lower horizontal edge of the door leaf, preferably at a distance of the
guide rails of the guide rail assembly, such that the guide rail assembly can be kept
simple and compact.
[0010] As will be readily understood, the stators are located at the same height as
the associated rows of permanent magnets, such that they do not necessitate
additional space at the level of the upper guide rail assembly. Access to the stators is
particularly easy for maintenance purposes. The overall concept is particularly
5 reliable since the upper rail assembly is independent and separated from the driving
means. Preferably, the one or more stators face and overlap an end of the rows of
permanent magnets close to a first vertical edge of the door leaf, so as to generate an
electromagnetic force in the first position. During the subsequent motion towards the
second position, the rows of permanent magnets progressively move past the
10 associated stators with a constant air gap. When the door reaches the second
position, the stators face and overlap a second end of the rows of permanent magnets,
close to a second vertical edge of the door leaf.
[0011] According to one embodiment, the one or more rows of permanent
magnets include at least two rows of permanent magnets and each of the two rows of
15 permanent magnets consists of adjacent poles of alternate polarities, distributed such
that when the stator associated with one of the two rows faces one of the poles, the
stator associated with the other of the two rows faces a space between two adjacent
poles.
[0012] The linkage may further comprise a coordination linkage for coordinating
20 a translation motion of the door leaf with respect to the guide rail assembly and a
motion of the guide rail with respect to the doorway. Alternatively or additionally, an
independent driving means may be provided to move the guide rail assembly
between the recessed and protruding position. A return means may also be provided
to return or bias the guide rail assembly towards the recessed position. The return
25 means can be a spring or an electromagnetic device.
[0013] The guide rail assembly preferably comprises an upper guide rail
assembly for guiding an upper edge of the door leaf. The upper guide rail assembly
may consist, as is well Itnown in the art, of a rail provided with one or more raceways
on which rollers attached to the door leaf can roll. In particular, the door leaf can be at
30 least partially or preferably fully suspended from one or more carriages rolling on
one or more raceways of the upper guide rail assembly.
[0014] According to a preferred embodiment, the articulated sliding door
assembly further comprises a lower guide rail assembly for guiding the lower edge of
the door leaf. The one or more rows of permanent magnets are preferably each
located above the lower guide rail assembly, such that the lower guide rail assembly
5 can be kept simple and compact. The door leaf is preferably at least partially and
preferably fully supported on rollers rolling on one or more raceways of the lower
guide rail assembly.
[0015] In one particular embodiment, the door leaf is completely supported on
the lower guide rail assembly and the upper guide rail assembly provides only lateral
10 guidance. Still in another embodiment, the door leaf is completely suspended from
the upper guide rail assembly with a lower guide rail assembly providing lateral
guidance only or without lower guide rail assembly.
[0016] The distance between the upper guide rail assembly or lower guide rail
assembly and the row or rows of permanent magnets has to be adapted to take into
15 account rolling friction between the door leaf and the lower and/or upper guide rail
assembly. In the case of a fully supported door leaf, for instance, at least one of the
one or more rows of permanent magnets is preferably located closer to the lower
guide rail assembly than to the upper guide rail assembly. Conversely, in the case of a
fully suspended door leaf, at least one of the one or more rows of permanent magnets
20 is preferably located closer to the upper guide rail assembly than to the lower guide
rail assembly.
[0017] According to one embodiment, the guide rail assembly further comprises
at least one vertical beam for rigidly connecting the lower and upper guide rail
assemblies. The stationary part of the drive means, e.g. the flat stators in the case of a
25 linear motor can advantageously be fixed to the vertical beam.
[0018] According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an
articulated double sliding door assembly comprising two articulated sliding door
assemblies as described above for closing a common doorway, the two articulated
sliding door assemblies having a common vertical pivot axis fixed relative to the
30 doorway.
[0019] Advantageously, the two articulated sliding door assemblies can be linked
by an interlock for coordinating the motion of the guide rail assemblies of the two
articulated sliding door assemblies between their recessed and their protruding
positions.
5 [0020] Various embodiments of the invention can be combined at will.
[0021] According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a public
transportation vehicle, in particular a railway vehicle provided with a single or
double articulated sliding door assembly as described above, in particular a side door
for accessing the vehicle.
10 DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0022] Other advantages and features of the invention will become more clearly
apparent from the following description of specific embodiments of the invention
given as non-restrictive example only and represented in the accompanying
drawings, in which:
15 - Fig. 1 illustrates a articulated sliding door assembly according to one
embodiment of the invention, in a closed position;
- Fig. 2 illustrates the articulated sliding door assembly of Fig. 1 in a closed
position;
- Fig. 3 illustrates the articulated sliding door assembly of Fig. 1 in an open
2 0 position;
- Fig. 4 illustrates a section through a lower guide rail assembly of the
articulated sliding door assembly of Fig. 1;
- Fig. 5 illustrates a section through an upper guide rail assembly of the
articulated sliding door assembly of Fig. 1;
- Fig. 6 illustrates a coordination linkage of a variant of the embodiment of
Fig. 1.
[0023] Corresponding reference numerals refer to the same or corresponding
parts in each of the figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0024] Referring to Figs. 1 to 5, a doorway 10 in an external side wall 12 of a
5 railway vehicle, has two vertical sides 14, 16 and a transom 18. The doorway 10 is
equipped with an articulated guide rail assembly 20, which includes an upper guide
rail 42 and a lower guide rail 44. The upper guide rail 42 is connected to the transom
of the doorway via an upper axial pivot connection 46. Similarly, the lower guide rail
44 has one end connected to a doorsill 19 of the doorway 10 via a lower axial pivot
10 connection 48. The lower and upper pivot connections 46, 48 define a common
vertical pivot axis 50. A coordination linkage 52 between the upper and lower guide
rails includes a vertical shaft 54 provided with an upper bell crank 56 linked to the
upper guide rail 42 via a connecting rod 58, and with a lower bell crank 60 linked to
the lower guide rail 44 by means of a lower connecting rod 62. At least one of the
15 lower and upper bell cranks 56, 60, in this case the lower bell crank 60, is driven by
an actuator 64, which can be an electromechanical actuator or a pneumatic cylinder.
The vertical shaft 54 rotates about a vertical axis 66 fixed relative to the wall. A
vertical flat support beam 68 is attached to the upper and lower guide rails 42, 44
and supports the stators 38, 40 of a linear drive assembly, such that the stators are
20 fixed relative to the upper and lower rails 42,44. As illustrated in Fig. 4, the door leaf
24 is supported on a pair of lower carriages 70 provided with rollers 72, which roll
on a horizontal rolling track 74 of the lower guide rail 44. The upper edge of the door
leaf 24, illustrated in Fig. 5, is provided with rollers 76, which roll on vertical tracks
78, 80 of the upper guide rail to provide lateral guidance. The door leaf 24 is
25 provided with two rows of permanent magnets 28, 30 at an air gap distance of the
stators 38, 40. As illustrated, the rows 28, 30 of permanent magnets and the stators
38,4O are located at intermediate position between the upper and lower rails 42,44,
closer to the lower rail 44.
[0025] The assembly operates as follows. In the recessed position in Fig. 1, the
30 guide rails 42,44 are in the plane of the doorway 10 closed by the door leaf 24, which
is in a first position with respect to the guide rails. The upper and lower guide rails
42, 44 can be locked to the transom and doorsill and/or to the sides of the doorway
by positive locking means (not shown). The door leaf 24 is preferably also directly
secured to the wall by positive locking means.
[0026] In order to open the door, the locking means are unlocked and the
5 actuator drives the shaft in the clockwise direction in Fig. 2, so that the upper and
lower guide rails 42,44 rotate about the vertical pivot axis 50 together with the door
leaf 24 and the stators 38,40 to reach a semi open position in which the door leaf 24
has not yet moved relative to the upper and lower rails and 42, 44 is still in the first
position. Once this motion has been completed, the stators 38, 40 are powered and
10 move the door leaf 24 towards a second, open position.
[0027] In order to close the door, the operations are reversed, with the stators 38,
40 being first powered to drive the door leaf 24 back to the first position, after which
the door leaf 24 and drive rails 42, 44 are moved back to the recessed position with
the actuator 64.
15 [0028] According to a variant illustrated in Fig. 6, the upper and lower bell cranks
56, 60 can be replaced with two separate levers 70, each of which is articulated at
one end with a connecting rod 72 pivotally connected to the corresponding upper or
lower rail 42, 44, the other end of each of the two levers 70 being provided with a
roller 74 which directly cooperates with the door leaf 24 and is received in a cavity
20 76 of the door leaf 24 in the first position. This arrangement renders the actuator and
vertical shaft unnecessary. To move the door from the closed to the open position, the
stators 38, 40 of the linear drive are powered to move the door leaf 24 towards the
right in Fig. 10. In the very first centimetres of the sliding motion of the door leaf 24,
the rollers 74 are pushed out of engagement with the cavities 76 provided in the door
25 leaf and start to roll on the face 78 of the door leaf 24. Simultaneously, the levers 70
rotate about their common rotation axis 80 and push the connecting rods 72 and the
upper and lower guide rails 42, 44, which rotate about the fixed pivot axis 50. In
order to close the door, the operation is simply reversed. A spring 82 or another type
of return means, e.g. an electromagnetic return means can be added to bias the rails
30 towards the recessed position.
[0029] According to another variant, the articulated sliding door assembly can be
provided with two symmetrical door leafs 24, each provided with its own linear
drive.
[0030] More generally, it may prove advantageous in all embodiment to have one
5 row 28 of permanent magnets located in the upper half of the door leaf 24 and the
other row 30 located in the lower half, or at least to have the two rows 28,30 spaced
apart from one another by a distance of more than 1/10 of the door leaf height. It
becomes possible to control the two stators 38, 40 such as to balance the effects of
resulting magnetic forces on the upper and/or lower guide rails.
10 [0031] The linear motor can be replaced with alternative driving means, e.g. a
rotary motor having its output shaft directly or indirectly connected to a pinion of a
rack and pinion system.

WE CLAIM:
1. An articulated sliding door assembly for closing a doorway, comprising:
- a door leaf (24);
5 - a guide rail assembly (20) for guiding the door leaf (24) in translation
parallel to a horizontal sliding direction (100) relative to the guide rail
assembly (20) between a first end position and a second end position;
- a linkage for guiding the guide rail assembly with respect to the
doorway (10) between a recessed position and a protruding position
whereby the doorway (10) is closed by the door leaf when the guide
rail assembly (20) is in the recessed position and the door leaf is in the
first end position, and open when the guide rail assembly (20,42) is in
the protruding position and the door leaf is in the second end position;
characterised in that the linkage allows only a pivoting movement of the guide
rail assembly (20) about a vertical pivot axis fixed relative to the doorway

2. The articulated sliding door assembly of claim 1, characterised in that it further
comprises driving means for moving the door leaf between the first end position
and the second end position.
3. The articulated sliding door assembly of claim 2, characterised in that the
driving means comprise a stationary part that is fixed relative to the guide rail
assembly.
4. The articulated sliding door assembly of claim 3, characterised in that the
driving means comprise a flat stator fixed relative to the guide rail assembly and
one or more rows of permanent magnets fixed relative to the door leaf, each of
the rows (28, 30) extending horizontally and consisting of adjacent poles of
alternate polarities.
5. The articulated sliding door assembly of claim 4, characterised in that the one or
more rows (28, 30) of permanent magnets are each located at an intermediate
position below an upper horizontal edge of the door leaf and above a lower
horizontal edge of the door leaf.
6. The articulated sliding door assembly of any one of the preceding claims,
characterised in that the linkage further comprises a coordination linkage (70)
for coordinating a translation motion of the door leaf with respect to the guide
rail assembly and a motion of the guide rail with respect to the doorway.
7. The articulated sliding door assembly of any one of the preceding claims,
characterised in that it further comprises independent driving means (64) for
moving the guide rail assembly between the recessed and the protruding
position.
8. The articulated sliding door assembly of any one of the preceding claims,
characterised in that it further includes a return means (80) for biasing the
guide rail assembly towards the recessed position.
9. The articulated sliding door assembly of any one of the preceding claims,
characterised in that the guide rail assembly comprises an upper guide rail
assembly (42) for guiding an upper edge of the door leaf.
10. The articulated sliding door assembly of any one of the preceding claims,
characterised in that the guide rail assembly further comprises a lower guide
rail assembly (44) for guiding the lower edge of the door leaf.
11. The articulated sliding door assembly of claims 9 and 10, characterised in that
the guide rail assembly further comprises at least one vertical beam (68) for
rigidly connecting the lower and upper guide rail assemblies.
12. The articulated sliding door assembly of claims 2 and 11, characterised in that
the drive means (38,40) is fixed to vertical beam.
13. An articulated double sliding door assembly comprising two articulated sliding
door assemblies according to any one of the preceding claims, having a common
vertical pivot axis (50) fixed relative to the doorway.
14. The articulated double sliding door assembly of claim 13, characterised in that
the two articulated sliding door assemblies are linked by an interlock for
coordinating the motion of the guide rail assemblies of the two articulated
sliding door assemblies between their recessed and their protruding positions.
15. A railway vehicle provided with the articulated sliding door assembly of any one
of the preceding claims.