Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02193083 2003-07-16
APPARATUS FOR SCALING OFF AN OPENING
Technical Field
This invention relates generally to safety apparatus far shielding
humans from harmful exposure to smoke, noxious fumes or contaminated air.
1 ~ More particularly, the safety apparatus described herein responds to
conditions
of dangerous or contaminated air and relialaly seals off certain openings
while
simultaneously affording entry or exit through the sealed off area if such
becomes necessary.
~3ac aund o,~th~ nvention
In order to protect humans against smoke, noxious fumes or
contaminated air which may erupt in a variety of building structure,
particularly
in office buildings, hotels, manufacturing plants, mines, and the like, many
different types of shielding devices have been developed aver the years which
are operative to seal off certain openings thxaugh which, smoke, noxious fumes
or contaminated air are likely to travel. As is well known, many deaths and
much property damage are the result. of smoke, noxious fumes or air
contamination, so there have been various different approaches proposed to
rapidly sealing off areas adjacent to which smoke noxious fumes or
contaminated air are likely to travel.
Examples of such prior patented approaches to sealing off certain
openings are disclosed in:
U.S. Patent No. 3,7(~fi,9~8 issued to Mitchell
U.S. Patent No. 3,9C0,2I6 issued to Isobe
3~ U.S. Patent No. ~.,0 i 7,4'7: issued tc~ 1-iattori
U.S. Patent No. 4,07'~,7~2 issued to l~.laenhammer et al.
U.S. Patent No. ~,3~3g,371 issued to :lenkins
CA 02193083 2003-07-16
U.S. Patent No. 5, I9a,59~ issued to Allen,
Other prior approaches to sealing off openings for the purpose of
isolation of smoke, noxious fumes or dangerous air conditions include
horizontally and vertically deployed metal and plastic screens. These latter
types
of prior art sealing approaches have exhibited rnarly operational
disadvantages
and have proven ineffective to provide an airtight seal. In addition"
maintenance
personnel can alter many of these schemes after installation which modifies
their
effectiveness at a time of emergenc;r.
1~
Sumg~~;~y of t a Invention
The present application demonstrates still. further new and useful
improvements in this art and over my co-pending U.S. Patent application.
Briefly summarized, the purpose, objectives and related advantages and novel
features of this invention are accomplished by the provision of a new and
improved method and apparatus including an apparatus; for sealing off selected
openings in response to smoke, -noxious fwmes or contaminated air which
2~ comprises a rolling flexible transparent reinforced kw,urtaln with.
flexible magnetic
side strips along two sides which falls adjacent to and being rapidly attached
to
ferromagnetic side rails or ferromagnetic door frame in. which tl~e curtain
expands to a predetermined limit and is wound unto a reel to which a pulley is
attached at each end around which a cord is wound and whose free end is
attached to a pulley connected to a drive means.
When fully deployed, the current invention resists up to 0.3 inches
of water column pressure differential across the opening to be sealed within a
temperature range between ~0".f and 4a0°.F for a minimum of 30 minutes
while
maintaining an air leakage rate of less than I cubic feet of air per minute
per
square foot of opening and expands at a controlled rate of 1" per foot of
width
and deploys in less than 10 seconds. This invention complies with the 1991
edition of the Uniform Building Code., Section 33C)a (h) as a gasket system
CA 02193083 2003-10-10
3
meeting the requirements of a tight fitting smoke and draft 'control assembly
and
complies with the National Fire Protection Agency Standard No: 105
Installation
of Smol~e-C9ntrol Door Assemblies, 1989 edition relating to smoke. and draft
control assemblies when tested under the procedures outlined in Underwriters
5 Laboratory Subject 1784 Air Leakage Tests of Door Assemblies, 1990 edition.
The film develops a flame spread index of 0 and a smoke developed rating of 0
when tested in accordance with Uniform Building Code Standard No. 42-1.
Brief escri~tio~p of the Drawings and Preferred Embodiment
10 Referring to Figure In there is shown an opening 2 located in a wall
4 that is desired to be sealed against the passage of smoke, noxious fumes or
contaminated air. Container 6 with a magnetic latch 7 attached to a hinged
bottom flap 9 is mounted directly above and centered over opening 2. A catch 5
is attached to the hinged door and aligned with the end reels 24. A remote
1 ~ switch 8 sensitive to smoke, noxious fumes or contaminated air is
connected to
an auxiliary energy source 10 which is connected to a limit switch 12
sensitive to
the tension in the connecting cord 20 and a remote rewind switch .1 1
connected
to a drive means 14. The shaft 16 of the drive means 14 is connected to the
primary pulley 18 around which a connecting cord 20 is wound. The opposing
20 end of the connecting cord 20 is connected to and wound around the
secondary
pulley 22 which is attached to the end reels 24. The neutral axis of the
reinforced curtain 26 is aligned with the neutral axis of the flexible
magnetic
strip 28 along each side of the curtain 26 and attached with an expandable
joint
25 and wound around the end reels 24. A series of ferromagnetic segments 27
25 are attached to the flexible magnetic strip 28 to allow a space 30. The
alignment
bar 32 is attached to the top of the curtain 26 and flexible magnetic strip 28
and
contains a hole 29 at its center which is aligned and connected to the bolt 31
attached to the container 6. The alignment bar 32 centers the flexible
magnetic
strip 28 directly above the ferromagnetic side rails 34 located at each side
of the
30 opening 2. A ferromagnetic cove base 36 is attached to the bottom of the
ferromagnetic side rail 34 and sized to ft the diameter of the end reels 24
when
the curtain 26.reaches the floor 38.
Referring to Figure 2, the end reel 24 is shown before reaching the
floor .38. The ferromagnetic cove base 36 is shown in relationship to the
35 ferromagnetic side rail 34 forming a smooth surface transition 35. The
secondary pulley 22 around which the connecting cord 20 is wound is attached
to
the end reel 23 with a bolt through a slotted hole 33 in the end reel 24.
WO 95/35427 PCT/US94/06899
4
Referring to Figure 3, the reinforced curtain 26 wraps between the
floor 38 and the flexible container 40 filled with a self leveling material 43
which
is wrapped around the spacing bar 42. The end reel 24 is shown in the
background for reference.
Referring to Figure 4, the taper 44 of the end reels 24 are shown
connected to the spacing bar 42.
The curtain is essentially comprised of 2 mil thick polyimide film
reinforced with 200 denier nomex yarn spaced 1 /4 inch each way. The
reinforcing fill yarn must be attached to the film and overlap the unadhered
reinforcing warp yarn. The bond between the yarn and the film must be at least
rivo pounds per inch. The film is connected along its length to a 2-1/2 inch
wide
by 0.125 inch thick PM 14 mufti-pole flexible magnet of energized ferrite in a
nitrile rubber binder exerting minimum 1.4 MGOe of force. The mufti-poles are
oriented along the length, perpendicular to the magnet width and visible on
the
strong face of the magnet. The film and magnets are aligned relative to their
neutral axes and connected with a 0.5 inch wide by 0.125 inch thick continuous
joint of low-modulus silicone. Two 1/8 inch wide strips of 0.002 inch
synthetic
elastomer, two stage, laminating adhesive developing a thermoset bond above
350°F are continuously attached at third points along the length of the
strong
face of the flexible magnet. Full hard, cold rolled steel strips measuring 5/8
inch
long, 2-1/4 inch wide by 0.004 inch thick are spaced at 11/16 inch on center
along the weak face of the flexible magnet and attached with 0.005 inch thick
acrylic transfer adhesive.
r ' n
When smoke, noxious fumes or contaminated air are detected
adjacent to the opening 2, an electrical contact is closed in a remote switch
8 and
the drive means 14 is activated to turn a primary pulley 18 releasing a
controlled
amount of a connecting cord 20 which in turn allows the secondary pulley 22
located at each end of the end reels 24 to unwind deploying the transparent,
reinforced curtain 26 with flexible magnetic edge strips 28 in alignment with
the
ferromagnetic side rails 34 and rapidly attracting the flexible magnetic
strips 28
to the ferromagnetic rails 34. The downward action of the unrolling of the
reinforced curtain 26 overcomes the holding power of the magnetic door latch 7
opening the bottom flap 9 of the container 6 and allows the reinforced curtain
26
to unroll. The limit switch 12 sensitive to the tension in the connecting cord
20
WO 95135427 PCTNS94106899
S
opens a circuit immediately stopping the flow of power to the drive means 14
and immediately short circuiting the energy remaining in the motor coil when
the
curtain is fully deployed and the connecting line 20 becomes slack. When the
reinforced curtain 26 has been fully deployed at the floor 38 a ferromagnetic
cove base 36 which is sized to the diameter of the end reels 24 and attached
to
the floor 38 in alignment with the ferromagnetic rails 34 allowing the
magnetic
edge strips 28 to become attracted to the cove bases 36. When the reinforced
curtain 26 reaches the floor 38 a flexible container 40 partially filled with
a self
leveling material 43 compresses over a portion of the reinforced curtain 26
against the floor 38. As the curtain 26 expands under pressure, the connection
between the reinforced curtain 26 and the flexible magnetic edge strips 28
stretches a predetermined amount to limit the amount of expansion and the
reinforced curtain 26 slips under the flexible container 40 without disturbing
the
seal at the floor 38 or pushing the end reels 24 away from the ferromagnetic
rails
34. The apparatus is rewound by closing an electrical contact 11 at a remote
location and activating the drive means 14 to turn the primary pulley 18 in
the
opposing direction winding the connecting cord 20 from the secondary pulleys
22 onto the primary pulley 18 and rolling the reinforced curtain 26 upwards
into
the container 6 closing the bottom flap 9 when the end reels 24 meet the catch
5
mounted to the bottom flap 9 and opening the rewind contact 1 1 allowing the
apparatus to be deployed again.
Various modifications may be made in and to the above described
embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. For
example, the present invention is not limited to the use of any particular
types of
drive means and can include controlling an electrical impulse to a gear motor,
altering the magnetic forces in the flexible magnetic strips, altering the
thickness
or configuration of the metallic edge strips attached to the flexible magnetic
strips, controlling the rate of release of the line by utilizing a hydraulic
clutch,
geared clutch, friction clutch, mechanical displacement system, fluid
displacement system, or the like.
The control of the winding of the line is not limited to the use of
pulleys but may also include wrapping the line between the flexible magnetic
strips and the ferromagnetic frame.
Providing a method to allow a uniform winding of the apparatus is
not limited to utilizing a flat profile connecting cord but may also include a
round cord aligned and contained in a grooved spool, or the like.
WO 95/35427 PCT/US94106899
6
Providing a method to allow a uniform winding of the apparatus is
not limited to aligning the film and flexible magnetic strips along their
respective
neutral axes but may also include attaching the film and flexible magnetic
strips
with a high strength adhesive, or the like.
Reinforcing the curtain is not limited by the spacing of the
reinforcing on the film, type of reinforcing or the adhesive with which the
reinforcing is attached to the film.
Allowing the film to expand at a predetermined rate under pressure
is not limited to the joint between the film and the flexible magnetic strips
but
may also include folding the film or occur in the film or flexible magnetic
strips.
Allowing the film to expand under pressure while maintaining an
airtight seal is not limited to utilizing end reels connected to a spacing bar
but
may also include folding the film at the bottom of the curtain, attaching the
film
to the end reels with an expanding connection, and the like.
Sizing the diameter of the end reels to prevent stressing of the
flexible magnets when rolling and unrolling is not limited to the use of a
4"QS
cylinder but may also include different shaped end reels, different magnetic
binders, and the like.
The time to deploy the curtain is not limited to 10 seconds but may
also include lesser times and greater times.
The width of the ferromagnetic rails is not limited to 2" in width
but may include any width.
The ferromagnetic rails are not limited to additional rails but may
also include ferromagnetic door frames, or the like.
Control of the apparatus from a remote area or deploying a
plurality of curtains is not limited to a direct wired system but may include
any
method of signal.
Providing reliable power to the apparatus is not limited to the use
of a low voltage battery and charger but can include any alternative energy
source.
Reliably sealing the area between the ferromagnetic rails and the
end reels when the curtain is fully deployed is not limited to utilizing a
ferromagnetic cove base sized to the diameter of the cylinder but may also
include triangular shaped end reels, utilizing a compressible material
attached to
the flexible magnetic strips, or the like.
Reliably sealing the area between the film and the floor when the
curtain is fully deployed is not limited to utilizing a container filled with
a self
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WO 95/35427 PCT/1JS94I06899
leveling material but may also include a compressible material, a radius
shaped
spacing bar, or the like.
Constant tension on the connecting cord is not limited to utilizing a
limit switch which activates a relay causing the energy field in the electric
motor
to be shorted wherein the turning of the motor is instantaneously stopped but
may include weights suspended on the line connected to the container located
to
center upon the length of line but may also include a braking system to stop
the
motor precisely, providing a pulsing or timed reverse current to the motor
upon
stopping, or the like.
Reliably raising and lowering the reel a predetermined distance is
not limited to utilizing limit switches but may also include a distance
sensing
mechanism, a potentiometer set to time the deployment, a magnetic read switch
that is sensitive to a particular point in the connecting cord, an optic
reader to
sense distance, a mechanical counter to measure travel distance of the
connection
1 S cord, a mechanical counter to measure the revolutions of the pulley, a
voltage
switch sensitive to the load on the motor, or the like.
The current invention is not limited to a fire resistive surface
mounted container but may also include a container that can be recessed into
the
wall or ceiling above the opening, creating a fire resistive recessed area
above
the opening, providing a transom type installation above a door, or the like.
Controlling the buckling of the ferromagnetic segments 27 attached
along the length of the flexible magnets caused by differential rolling
diameters
is not limited to providing a space between the ferromagnetic segments but may
also include different adhesives, non-directional flexible magnetic strips, or
the
like.
Mounting the curtain in a plumb condition is not limited to
attaching the curtain to a leveling bar but may also include fixing the top of
the
curtain to the container, or the like.
Providing a passive latch for the hinged container door is not
limited to the use of a magnetic door latch but may include a mechanical
latch,
spring hinge, or the like.
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above and other
unspecified design and operational modifications may be made by those skilled
in the art without departing from the scope of the following appended claims.
