Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~362S~
Foil Roof of a Hall, especially of a Greenhouse
The invention relates to a foil roof of a hall, especially
of a greenhouse, in the form of a ridge roof or preferably a
barrel roof, comprising a plurality of transverse roof girders
distanced from each other and spanned by a one- or two-walled
foil.
In known foil greenhouses, the transparent plastic foils- -
forming the roof are firmly clamped on both tides of the roof-
The foil may be detached if necessary err establishing open air conditions in the greenhouse, although this would cause a groat
expenditure on assembly. Because of the relatively time-
consuming procedure ox fixing the foil again, the interior of
the greenhouse can, in case of a sudden change of weather, also
be exposed to temporarily unfavoura~le weather.
By the invention, a foil roof of a hall of the
above mentioned type is provided and developed in such a way as
to allow the interior to be opened and closed towards the
environment in a very short time.
According to the invention, this is-achieved by the
features that respective carriages are arranged on several or
all of the transverse roof girders, the carriages being
displaceable along the latter and interconnected through a
profiled bar to which the foil is affixed at one lateral foil
edge while being kept stationary at its opposite lateral edge
Consequently/ the carriages can be displaced, when
required, from the one roof edge is the other, thus taking the
foil with them by its firs lateral edge affixed to the
profiled bar and pushing the foil towards the other edge of the
roof when the roof is being opened, while drawing thy foil back
when the roof is being closed. In this operation, the profiled
bar connecting the carriages acts as a coupling Mooney for the
carriages; hence, these are displaced in synchronism with each
other. In a variant of this embodiment, however, it is also
possible to arrange a rotatable win~ins3 rod at the roof edge at
which one lateral edge of the foil is kept stationary, or a
the profiled-bar, in order to wind the foil onto the winding
rod when opening the roof and to unwind the foil from the
2 I
winding rod when closing the roof, wherein the synchronization
of the carriages by the profiled bar supports the proper
winding of the foil. Nevertheless, preference is given to the
embodiment in which for opening the roof the foil is only
pushed together.
The invention is not restricted to greenhouses, although
foil greenhouses represent the preferred field of application
of the invention. Rather, the invention may be advantageously
employed also in toil roofs of other halls, such as offender
swimming pools and tennis courts.
. , ,.,.. ...... I.. ... .
While the carriages may be displaceable in a sliding
manner along the transverse roof girders guiding them, they
preferably comprise rollers rolling on the associated
transverse roof girder.
Especially in case of short foil roofs or roof sections,
the carriages may be manually displaceable, and a suitable tool
- such as a rod or rope - may be provided for this purpose.
Preferably, however, drive means are provided for displacing
the carriages. To this end, the carriages may be coupled to a
manual drive, such as a crank handle drive for a hauling rope
attached to at least one carriage, or - preferably - are
coupled to a drive motor, especially an electric motor. For
this purpose, a pulling train embodied by a chain, belt or rope
and running around at least one drive pulley or drive tube may
be secured to at Yeast one carriage, or to the profiled bar,
for driving the carriages. In another embodiment the pulling
train can act on a drive lever, which is articulated to the
Corey. On the other hand, it is also possible to make at
least some of the carriages self-propelled, i.e. to equip them
with automotive drive means, wherein for instance a pinion gear
driven by an electric motor mounted on the carriage engages a
rack extending along the associated transverse roof girder. In
case of several carriages being equipped with such rack drives,
it is also possible to provide on one of the carriages an
electric motor common to the rack drives and coupled to the
pinion gears of the rack drives through a common drive shaft.
Mien the invention is applied to a ridge root, for
example, wherein one half or both halves of the roof can be
3 2~6~5(~
separately opened in accordance with the invention the
preferred embodiment - in which the carriages are driven by a
drawing train - may be designed such that the drawing train can
drive the carriages only for their upward displacement from the
lower roof edge to the gable, while gravity effects their
downward movement when the drawing train is released. However,
especially in case of a foil roof according to the present
invention in the form of a barrel-roof having arcuate
transverse roof girders, the pulling train preferably engages
the carriage for both of it direction of displacement, thus
providing a driven opening a well as a driven closing of the
roof.
For this purpose, the pulling train may be arranged as an
endless train led around respective deflection pulleys on both
roof edges, wherein one of the deflection pulleys is driven for
both rotational directions or both deflection pulleys can be
alternately driven for opposite directions of rotation; in the
latter case, one deflection pulley idles while the other is
driven. In these cases, however, unwelcome slip may occur
between the driving pulley and the pulling train, especially in
large foil roofs, unless positive locking it ensured between
the pulling train and the driving pulley, such as by means of a
chain and a sprocket. It is preferred, therefore, to provide a
pulling train having two free end portions, between which the
carriage or profiled bar, respectively, is secured, directly or
indirectly, to the pulling train and which in turn are secured
to the drive pulley or drive tube, respectively, for winding or
unwinding, respectively. Thus, drive slip is avoided and a
robust drive connection is achieved.
In this case, the two roof edge may be each provided
with a separately driven drive pulley or drive tube for the
winding or unwinding, respectively, of the associated end
portion of the pulling train, as described above in connection
with driven deflection pulleys. It is also possible to provide
two separately driven drive pulley on the same roof edge, if
the pulling train is deflected by a deflection roller on the
other roof edge. Preferably, however, the two end portions of
the pulling train are secured to a common drive tube or two
coaxial drive pulleys firmly coupled to each other, for winding
and unwinding, respectively, of the end portions, and the drive
tube or drive pulleys are driven by a reversible motor, the
- winding directions of the end portions on the drive pulley or
drive tube being opposite to each other Due to the opposite
winding directions of the end portions of the pulling train,
one end portion - depending on the direction of rotation of the
motor - is wound onto its drive pulley or drive tube while the
other end portion is concurrently unwound from its drive pulley
or drive tube. The opposite winding directions may by easily
accomplished if, for example, the end portions of the pulling
train - upon deflection, as the case may be - run from
diametrically opposed sides onto the drive pulleys or drive
tube, respectively.
The drive pulleys or drive tube may be arranged at any
suitable place, especially at one of the root edges. In a
preferred embodiment of the invention, however, several roof
sections are arranged one behind the other, comprising separate
foils, transverse roof girders, carriage and profiled bars in
accordance with the invention, wherein the pulling train and
the drive pulleys or drive tube, respectively, are common to
all roof sections so that all roof suctions can be commonly
driven for opening and closing by the same motor. In this case,
the common drive pulleys or drive tube may be arranged on the
front edge of the first roof section, for example, from where
the pulling train runs with an upper trunk, to which the
associated carriages or profiled bars of the individual roof
sections are directly or indirectly mounted, to the rear most
roof edge of the last roof section; there, the pulling twain is
deflected by a deflection roller and runs back as a lower trunk
to the drive pulleys or drive tube, respectively. However, it
is also possible to arrange the drive pulleys or drive tube
beneath the edge of an intermediate roof section; for example,
and to deflect the pulling train at respective deflection
pulleys at the height of the front roof edge of the first roof
section and the rear roof edge of the last roof section.
In case of several roof sections being established, it is
also possible, of course to provide separate drives for each
or some of them, if it is desired that these roof sections can
be opened and closed independently of one another.
When winding the end portions of the pulling train onto a
drive pulley or drive tube, it is desired to obtain a coil in
which the coil windings axe properly placed side by side. In so
doing, the point of arrival of the pulling train at the drive
pulley or drive tube will travel axially when the coil length
increases, while on the other hand in case of securing the
pulling train directly o the respective carriage or to the
profiled bar the securing point of the pulling train moves
radially towards the rotational axis of the pulley or tube,
respectively, when the foil roof it being opened or closed;
hence, due to the increasing length of the coil, the angle
between the rotational axis and the portion of the pulling
train leading to the carriage varies the more, the closer the
carriage approaches the coil, thus possibly impairing proper
winding of the purling train portion. In order to avoid this,
however, the pulling train portion extending between the
carriage and the drive pulley or drive tube, respectively, may
be guided over a deflection roller arranged close to the drive
pulley or drive tube and axially displaceable along its own
axis for being axially shifted by the pulling train in
accordance with the increasing coil length.
Also when a foil roof for a hall according to the
invention is embodied by a barrel roof having arcuate
transverse roof girders, it it possible to guide the pulling
train in a straight line from the associated carriage to both
roof edges. In this case, however, due to the arcuat~ form of
the transverse roof girders, toe length of the pulling train
between the roof edges varies during the displacement of the
carriage In order to nevertheless obtain a winding rate equal
to the unwinding rate for thy pulling train, the variation in
length might be compensated for by insertion of a coil spring
into the pulling train, which howler constitutes an increased
drive requirement for the tensioning of the spring. Therefore,
the pulling train is preferably guided along the associated
arcuate transverse roof girder for forming a track having a
substantially constant distance thexefromO While a
6 I
correspondingly arcuate guiding rail may be provided for this
purpose, it is preferred to provide guiding rollers or the
pulling train arranged along a track according to the arcuate
way of the transverse roof girder.
According to an especially favorable embodiment, the pulling
train is not directly affixed to the respective carriage or to
the profile bar, but indirectly through a drive lever. In this
case it is epochal puzzle that the upper end of the drive
fever it rotatable articulated to the carriage while the lower
end of it is rotatable articulated Jo the greenhouse a the
transverse middle of the respective roof section, the pulling
train acting on the drive lever in between the two articulation
points through a sliding guide which is displaceable on the
drive lever in the longitudinal direction thereof. This
embodiment has the advantage that the pulling train can be
guided in a straight line, even in case of a arcuate track of
travel of the carriage, which essentially simplifies the
guidance of the pulling train with no adjustment of the length
of the pulling train e.g. by means of a coil spring, being
necessary
If the barrel roof sections do not show the form of a
circular arc or if the drive lever is not pivoted in the centre
of circle of the respective barrel roof section, the drive
lever is preferably designed as a telescope arm or the lower
end of the drive lever is articulated to the greenhouse by
means of a sliding guide which is displaceable along the drive
lever. By way of this "double" sliding guide the drive lever
can substantially follow any chosen roof geometry.
The particular advantage of this embodiment is the easy
guidance of the pulling train which is relatively insensitive
to variations in length which can be effected e.g. by cold-
contractions. Furthermore there it a favorable power
transmission to the carriage, since the power acting on the
carriage basically acts in the direction of the carriage which
35 it guided along an arcuate track, although the guidance of the
pulling train is linear. The drive lever also causes a
favorable transmission ratio whereby a greater power is
transferred to the carriage within the closing area. Thus the
roof can be considerably tightened, thereby avoiding a
fluttering of the roof foil because of wind.
For further reducing the drive requirements, it is
preferred that the foil comprise, at its free edges paralleling
the transverse roof girders, sliding means bearing on the outer
transverse roof girders and guided by rings. These guiding
rings may be arranged on the outer transverse roof girders, but
in a further variant of this embodiment a respective sliding
bar may be arranged laterally above each outer transverse roof
girder for guiding the ring. This feature may at the same time
achieve a slight tensioning of the foil in a direction
transverse to the roof girders. For further reduction of the
friction, additional sliding means may be mounted, if desired,
on the underside of the foil for sliding along the transverse
roof girders arranged between the outer transverse roof
girders
For a better transfer of the foil when it is pushed
together, a transfer bar may be arranged on the profiled bar
such as to form a foil transfer pocket overlapping the foil
edge at a distance. By the way, it is also possible to provide
the foil with loops or rings of the curtain ring type resting
on the transverse roof girders for proper folding of the foil
during opening of the roof. Further, a profiled strip forming a
foil receiving pocket for the folded foil and overlapping the
stationary foil edge at a distance may be arranged at the roof
edge where the foil is kept stationary at one lateral edge
Thor. If the above mentioned transfer pocket is provided in
addition Jo the foil receiving pocket, the width of the
transfer pocket is preferably greater than that of the foil
receiving pocket so that the transfer bar can be put over the
profiled strip and, thus, the folded foil is received and
protected in a closed box formed by the transfer bar and the
profiled strip when the foil roof has been completely opened.
The profile of the transverse roof girders may take
almost any form, so long as they have the required stiffness
and can serve as running and guiding rails for the carriages.
The solid or preferably hollow profile may therefore be of
square, elongate rectangular, hexagonal or T-shaped or H-shaped
cross-section or the like. However, a round profile is
preferred at present, the carriages being equipped with rollers
and at least one of the rollers being provided with guiding
flanges or having the form of a rope roller. The other roller
ma be a cylindric roller, for example.
The profiled bar as well ens the profiled strip may be at
least partially formed as gutters. In this case, the transfer
pocket and the foil receiving pocket may have perforated
bottoms so as to allow water collected therein to drain into
the gutters.
A plastics materiel or preferably a metal material,
especially of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, may be used as
the material for the transverse roof girders and the profiled
parts.
In order to reduce fluttering of a double-walled foil of
the foil roof of the invention in the closed position of the
roof, an inflatable tube may be arranged in the double-walled
foil between the foil walls for tensioning them. Further,
limiting sods may be provided at a distance above the
transverse roof girders for limiting foil flutter, in order to
facilitate the foil folding operation when the roof is being
opened, and to prevent the foil from hying inflated by wind.
The hall foil roof according to the invention will be
explained below with reference to embodiments of a foil roof
for a greenhouse which can be seen at least schematically from
the drawing. In the drawing, there are shown in
Foggily a front view of a foil roof according to the
invention I
Fugue a view of a carriage,
Fugue a front view of another embodiment of a foil roof
according to the invention,
Fugue a front view of a foil roof according to the
invention spanning two separate roof sections,
Fugue a front view of a further embodiment, with a drive
lever and a chosen number of roof sections, and
Figs. 6 to 8, respectively, details of foil roofs
according to the invention.
The hall foil roof depicted in Fugue in the form of a
9 2~25~
barrel roof comprises a plurality of transverse roof girders 1
bent as circular arc segments (only one being shown) and a
foil spanning the transverse roof girders 1, the foil 2 being
kept stationary by one lateral foil edge 6 at one roof side
S edge while being affixed at the other lateral foil edge S to a
profiled bar 4. On each transverse roof girder 1, a carriage 3
is displaceable, the carriage being guided laterally on the
associated transverse roof girder and coupled to the other
carriages 3 through the profiled bar 4 fixed Jo the carriages
3. Thus, by displacement of the carriages 3 on the transverse
roof girders 1, the foil 2 can be pushed together from one roof
edge towards the other roof edge for opening the foil roof, or
extended from the second roof edge back Jo the first one for
reclosing the foil roof.
For driving the carriages 3 in one direction of
displacement or the other, a pulling train is secured to one or
several of the carriages 3 by a first pulling train portion 8
running to a drive pulley 9 drivable in both directions of
rotation by a reversible electric motor (not shown) and
arranged at the roof edge where the stationary lateral edge 6
of the foil 2 is located. In addition, a second pulling train
portion 11 is secured to one or several of the carriages 3,
running around a deflection pulley 12 at the roof edge where
the carriages 3 are located in the closed roof position and
extending to a second drive pulley 10 arranged at the same roof
edge as the first drive pulley 9, the second drive pulley 10
being coaxial with the latter and driven with it by the motor.
The end portions of the pulling train 8, 11 are wound onto or
unwound from the associated drive pulley, depending on thy
rotational direction of the motor. Hence, as the winding
directions ox the pulling train portions 8, 11 on the drive
pulleys 9, 10 are opposite to each other, one pulling train
portion -depending on the rotational direction of the motor -
will be wound onto the associated drive pulley while the other
pulling train portion is unwound from the associated drive
pulley. A tension spring 36 is inserted in the pulling train to
compensate for variation in the length ox the pulling train 8,
if when the carriages 3 are displaced on the arcuate transverse
I I
roof girder 1.
At the profiled bar 4, a transfer jar 14 is formed
overlapping the lateral edge 5 of foil 2 at a distance and thus
constituting a transfer pocket 13 for the toil. Similarly, a
profiled strip 16 is arranged above the other lateral edge 6 of
foil 2 and overlaps the latter at a distance, thus foxing a
foil receiving pocket 15 in which the foil 2 will be
accommodated when pushed together for opening the roof. As the
distance of the transfer bar 14 above foil 2 is greater than
the distance of the profiled strip 16 above foil 2, the
profiled strip 16 is covered by the transfer bar 14 in the
completely opened roof position so that the folded foil 2 will
be protected from wind, for example
In the embodiment of the carriages 3 according to Fugue,
lo the transverse roof girders 1 have a hollow circular profile
and are gripped by upper and lower rollers 7 each having a rope
roller profile adapted to the diameter of the transverse roof
girder l so that the carriages 3 are guided laterally on the
transverse roof girders l while being prevented from rotation
about the respective transverse roof girders l by their mutual
coupling through profiled bar 4. The pulling train 8, if is
clamped to carriage 3 by means of screw clamps 37 at the
transverse middle of the bottom side of carriage 3.
The embodiment of Fugue corresponds largely to that of
Fugue, as indicated by like reference numerals for like parts.
on essential difference, however, resides in the tact that in
the embodiment of Fugue the upper trunk of the pulling train 8,
11 is guided at substantially constant distance from the
arcuate transverse roof girder on guiding rollers 30 supported
in correspondingly different heights on distanced supports 32
arranged along the transverse roof girder. Owing to such a
guidance of the pulling train trunk on an approximately arcuate
curve corresponding to the curvature of the transverse roof
girder, the length of the upper pulling train trunk will not
change when the carriage 3 is displaced for opening or closing
the roof, thus eliminating the need or tension spring 36 of
Fugue.
In the embodiment of Fugue, the foil 2 is moreover
I
paralleled by arcuate limiting rods 27 disposed at a distance
above the foil which limit the size of the plies developing
when the foil 2 is pushed together, and prevent the foil 2 from
inhalation by wind when the roof is being opened.
S The foil roof according to Fugue comprises several barrel
roof sections 28 and 29, each having a construction
corresponding to the barrel foil roof of Fugue. This is
apparent prom the respective like reference numerals assigned
to like parts. The roof sections 28 and 2g can be jointly
opened and recoils, for which purpose the pulling train
portion 8 is guided along the transverse roof girders 1 of both
roof sections 28, 29, and both carriages 3 are secured to the
pulling train portion 8. Between the roof sections 28, 29, the
pulling train portion 8 is deflected by intermediate deflection
pulleys 31, and at the relax edge of the second roof section 29,
the pulling train is back to the front by the deflection pulley
12 so that the pulling train portion 11 runs back to the drive
pulleys 9, lo arranged at the front roof edge of the front most
roof section I
Fugue shows a further embodiment with a drive lever. The
drive lever 38 is rotatable articulated with its upper end to
the carriage 3 by a joint 39. The drive lever 38 is connected
to the upper pulling train portion 8 by a upper sliding guide
40. By means of a respective sliding guide 41 the lower end
portion of the drive lever 38 is rotatable articulated to a
girder 42 of the greenhouse at the transverse middle of the
roof section 28 or at the level of the apex of the arcuate
transverse roof girder 1 on a chord of -the arc below the
latter.
The construction of the sliding guide 40 can be seen from
the section A-A. Basic elements of the sliding guide are the
guide plates 43. Between the guide plates 43 the drive lever 38
is guided rotatab~y about and displaceable relative against a
bolt, slidingly passing through a guide slot designed within
the straight drive lever 38 in longitudinal direction, so that
the arm of the drive lever 38 which leads to the carriage can
vary in its length in correspondence to the arcuate run of the
transverse roof girder 1 or the accept track of the carriage
12 ~3~5(~
3, respectively, at its rotational movement. The pulling train
is connected with the sliding guide 40 by suitable means of
attachment, lice in this case by a lock nut 45. In order not to
allow the pulling train to evade upwards or downwards in the
axe of the sliding guide 40 because of the force component
which acts at right angle to the drive lever 33, the sliding
guide 40 is additionally guided along the girder 47 through
guiding attachments 46, the girder 47 thug receiving the
respective force component.
Thea guide 41 at the lower end of the drive lever is, as
already mentioned above, designed similarity. Also in this
case, a bolt of the sliding guide 41 penetrates a guide slot
which is designed in the lower end portion of the drive lever
38 in longitudinal direction, so that the distance between the
sliding guides 40, 41 or between the carriage 3 and the lower
sliding guide 41 can vary during the swinging movement of the
drive lever 38 around the bolt of the sliding guide in
correspondence to the arcuate track of the carriage 3. However,
an additional guidance of the sliding guide 41 through guide
attachments can be dropped because! the lower sliding guide 41,
different from the upper sliding guide, is supported
stationarily with respect to the girder 42 and therefore with
respect to the whole greenhouse.
The pulling train 11 is, as already explained by other
embodiments, intermitted and guided from both side to the
drive tube 9 with opposite winding directions. The latter can
be operated by the electric motor in both senses of rotation.
At the ends of the hall, which can show a chosen number of
barrel roof sections 28, the deflection rolls 12 are situated
which divide the whole pulling rope into the pulling train
portion 8 and the pulling train portion 11.
If the foil roof of the hall is operated to be opened
form a closed position, where the carriage 3 is situated in the
depiction in Fugue at the left end of the transverse roof
girder 1, the drive lever 38 is rotated by the upper sliding
guide 40, on which the pulling train 8 acts, clockwise around
the bolt of the lower sliding guide 41 and hereby pushes the
carriage 3 along the transverse roof girder 1 to the right into
13 I
an open position. In Fugue, the traced lines show the nearly
closed position and the depiction in dotted lines show the
position of the drive lever 38 in case of a half-open foil
roof. As it can be seen from the dotted depiction, the sliding
guides have changed their position in relation to the drive
lever 38 from the half-open position to the nearly closed
position.
According to the detail depicted in Ego, the foil is
5 lidingly guided on the outer transverse Roy girders 1 by
means of sliding means 22 mounted on the front edges of the
transverse roof girders 1, the sliding mean 22 in turn being
guided, through holding straps 33, by rings 23 slidingly
sunning on arcuate guiding bars 24 extending at a constant
distance along the transverse roof girder l and arranged
outside the foil roof laterally above the outer transverse roof
girder l. By means of the rings 23 and holding straps 33, the
foil 2 is held slightly tensioned in directions parallel with
the roof ridge, whereby the sliding jeans 22 are guided on the
outer transverse roof girders l while bearing thereon at little
friction.;
According to Fugue, the pulling train portion 8 between
the drive tube 34 used her and the carriage (not shown here)
is guided around a deflection roller 19 close to thy drive tube
34 driveable`by the motor 35, wherein the deflection roller 19
is slidingly displaceable on its axis 20 to allow adaptation to
the length of the pulling twain portion wound onto the drive
tube 34, whereby when the pulling train portion is wound up the
coil windings will be properly set side by side and thus cannot
block each other when the pulling train portion is unwound.
According to Fugue, an inflatable tube 26 is inserted
between the foil walls 25 at one lateral edge of the
double-walled foil 2. Hence, the foil walls can be tensioned by
inflating the tube 26 in the closed position of the roof, in
order to avoid foil flutter due to wind.
