Are there standards for automatic doors?

Hello all. the standard ....first time.. please don't bite too hard...yada yada.. I have been monitoring this site for a while and think it's great. I was wondering if there is any "standard" for the placement and / or amount of photo eyes for an automatic enviornment. I am working on a project that will require some garage doors to close automatically. due to the arc of the door as it closes I feel that a light beam would be insufficient. what area needs to be protected ? , are there "radius rules?" Which style will provide the safest enviornment, the possibility of people or animals getting caught could happen . any input would be great. I imagine the elevator people deal with these type of problems frequently. Thanks in advance

Well, I don't know how it is on the opposite side of the pond, but here in Europe we do have rules and standards. I'm not reaaly in to this safety business, but searching the site of SICK (a major company when talking about detetction over here) I found this page , where some standards are mentioned, e.g. EN 954-1, EN 61508 and EN 61496. Maybe this info can give you what you need.

Good luck and kind regards,

I would think you'd use an area sensor similar to THIS from Sick.

You want to know when people, forklifts, etc. are APPROACHING, rather than only when they're directly under the door (assuming you're talking about overhead doors).

You must use a safety-rated device. An ordinary photoeye is NOT a safety device.

beerchug

-Eric

Methinks that unless you want to spend a lot of money on active safety devices (like that area detector), then you must design the system to be safe in a passive way.
Not being an expert in gates and doors, I would guess that it means that:
The actuator of the door must have so little power that the door cannot crush anybody.
The door must move so slowly that people cannot be surprised of its movements and so that it will be harmless even if someone is hit during movement.
There are no sharp edges (rubber seal at the bottom ?) and no nip or pinch points (rubber or covers or out of the way high up?).

Disclaimer: Forget what I said ! I know nothing on the subject ! You alone is responsible if someone gets hurt !

Eric,

maybe you would use this because this IS a safety light curtain. I would go for two of them, one for when I'm approaching the door and one for when I'm leaving the door.

Kind regards,

Jean Pierre,
what if two persons go thru the door, but one of them stays under the door (fixing his shoelaces or something..) ?
The BEST safety is passive safety. And its a lot simpler than trying to figure out what can go wrong.
Have you seen an elevator or door where the safety was with active components ? I have, but it is very rarely done that way.

Jesper brings up a good point. If the door can be safe on its own, you wouldn't need to rely on the control system for safety. Many of the facilities I've been in recently are using soft doors throughout. HERE'S an example of a soft door.

A big benefit of these is that they move VERY quickly!...

beerchug

-Eric

Download This

Just what do you mean "due to the arc of the door as it closes"??

Is the door curved on the horizontal, or vertical? Does the door swing, slide sideways, or slide up. How wide is the door opening?

By the wording of your question i can only guess that this is an automatic swing door. In that case, good reliable door protection is going to be very diffucult. I would consider limiting the closing torque to something less than 30 ft lbs, and limit the enertia of the door also. Usually if you keep the speed of the leading edge of the door below 1 ft per second, (Depending on the weight of the door) this might keep the enertia down to safe levels.

If by chance the door is a side sliding door, a light curtain will do the trick. http://www.elevatoredge.com/pdf/Elevator_Brochure_for_web1.pdf

We often use products from Miller Edge. They make all sorts of door protection. Link: http://www.milleredge.com/pages/applications.html

Have a look at UL 325. I believe its for roll-up doors. Here are some links.
rite-hite
UL 325
Photoeyes

Thanks for the help

In response to all who are attempting to help, here is some more info. The doors are steel and heavy. they are currently configured using the older style garage door hinges that pivot on the sides. This application is next to a sidewalk and people frequently pass by, as the doors (automaticaly of course ) begin to close this it is not anything pretty.
On a side note,... am I the only one who has attempted to close the garage door hoping that it will miss the bicycle parked below only to hear the sound of warping aluminum and the opener reverse direction and go back up?
This is what I wish to avoid with these steel doors they would operate daily. Thanks again you all are great

Question to elevmike:

What is commonly used in elevators to detect obstacle and
reverse door? Is it overcurrent device, load cell or
something fancier...?

Two jobs ago I used to work for a manufacturer of transit doors and door operators.

Most of our doors had "sensitive edges" of which there were two basic types (maybe there are more now). The simplist and cheapest was pneumatic. the door edge would have a rubber extrusion attached that had an enclosed chamber connected to a pressure wave switch. When something would obstruct the door, the pressure switch would be tripped and the door would reverse. These worked well until the temperature got below -10F or -15F.

The other type is electrical. These took a little more force to actuate but didn't have the temperature problem. I have seen companies advertise in "Machine Design" and other trade magazines with this type of door edge. We made our own edges but here is a link to a company that makes sensitive edges: Tapeswitch

All of our specifications were for vertical openings and were specified by transit authorities so would not be much help for a garage door.

Note to jvdcande:

I agree you in the EU have eclipsed us yankees regarding safety but that wasn't always the case. In the late 80's we were dealing with a dutch co. that also made transit doors and when we asked them what they used for sensitive edges there only response was "Why would anyone stand in the doorway when the doors are closing?" As the commercial says, You've come a long way baby

Panic Mode,

For most passenger elevator doors we use a light curtain on side sliding doors. The device costs about 600 - 800 US$. On Freight elevators we use a miller edge. Links on both types are provided in my last post. Elevator door closing force is limited to 30 lbs. by code. Most newer elevators also have stall protection in the form of a timer. Once the time is tripped the door will try to reverse. They will cycle two or three times before faulting.

Download This,

It is my interpretation that this is a overhead swing door. That is that the door swings down and in to close, and swings up and out to open. This configuration would generally not be acceptable on a commercial/industrial application. I would say that the best protection that could be provided is to close the door with a constant pressure push button that is in close proximity to the door. Opening the door could also be a problem, and may require a key switch outside the door for opening it.

As liability is a serious issue, and if you insist on a remote for controlling the door, then consider replacing the door with a vertically sliding, or roller curtain door, that can be properly protected.

If you can't replace the door and your serious about protection you could mount three Miller Edges around the parimiter of the door facing the inside, then cover the inside field mounting a light curtain on the door. $$$$$

Mike

Hi Guys,

In my experience with the plastic transparent/ or colored with window roll up doors, they have two photo sensers in the door travel. One at chest height and the other about 1 ft or more off the floor. They also have an electric edge sensor (rubber pad along the bottom of the door) so as to not crush anyone under it. It works well but still hurts the head a little. ha ha. In our case they wanted pull cords mounted on ether side of the door for open requests. It timed closed.
this system worked well with a high traffic forklift operation.

ndzied1 said:

The simplist and cheapest was pneumatic. the door edge would have a rubber extrusion attached that had an enclosed chamber connected to a pressure wave switch. When something would obstruct the door, the pressure switch would be tripped and the door would reverse.

Click to expand...

This is a Miller Edge.

ndzied1 said:

As the commercial says, You've come a long way baby

Click to expand...

My guess is that your at least 40, as cigarette commercials have been banned for about 30 years...