TELESCOPIC ELEMENT FOR A DISPLACEABLE PARTITIONING WALL

Abstract

A telescopic element for a displaceable partitioning wall, includes a solid wall section for partially covering an opening in a building structure, and a telescopic section for covering a manoeuvring gap between the solid wall section and the building structure, The telescopic element, further includes an adjusting mechanism for deploying the telescopic section into a covering position covering the manoeuvring gap and a deployment of sealing lips of the solid wall section for sealing against the building structure. The adjusting mechanism includes an input shaft for receiving an adjusting movement and a distribution gearbox for the divided transmission of the adjusting movement to an upper telescopic gearbox and to a lower telescopic gearbox for deploying of the telescopic section. The two telescopic gearboxes each include a transmitting section for the transmission of the adjusting movement to an upper sealing gearbox and to a lower sealing gearbox, respectively, for deploying the sealing lips.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to and claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. DE 102015108661.1, filed on Jun. 1, 2015, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a telescopic element for a displaceable partitioning wall as well as to a method for the disposition of such a telescopic element in an opening of a building structure.

BACKGROUND

It is generally known to close large openings in building structures temporarily by means of partitioning walls. This arrangement is for example the case in large conference rooms, which may be subdivided into smaller units by means of displaceable partitioning walls. Usually, such partitioning walls include individual wall profiles, which may be displaced into the desired covering position by means of track systems. In this case, the last partitioning wall element, which forms the termination towards the associated building structure, is usually equipped at higher expense. For example a manoeuvring gap needs to be maintained for moving the last partitioning wall element into the final position thereof. So that nevertheless a complete termination to the building structure may be provided, usually, such final partitioning wall elements are configured as telescopic elements. Therefore, they include a solid wall section, which essentially may be configured identical or similar to the other partitioning wall elements. However, they are equipped additionally with the functionality of a telescopic section, which, according to the arrangement in the final position, may be moved into an appropriate covering position, in which the manoeuvring gap is likewise covered.

The known solutions are disadvantageous in that a high mechanical expense is required in order to be able to provide for an adjustment movement for deploying the telescopic section as well as for being able to guarantee for deploying sealing lips at the top side and the bottom side of the telescopic element. In this case, complicated scissor-arm mechanisms are employed, which perform said deployment movement, respectively transmit an appropriate adjusting movement to the desired positions. This circumstance results in that the interior space of such a solid wall section of the telescopic element is usually filled with the complicated adjusting mechanism. On the one hand, this arrangement reduces visual freedom, because in particular transparent telescopic elements will not be feasible. Moreover, the high complexity results in an increase in weight and in an increase of the risk of malfunctioning, because a complicated mechanism may have defects at the most different locations.

Therefore, the present disclosure overcomes the above-described disadvantages at least partially. The present disclosure further develops the adjusting mechanism in an inexpensive and simple manner.

SUMMARY

The above problem is solved by providing a telescopic element for a displaceable partitioning wall, including a solid wall section for partially covering an opening in a building structure, and a telescopic section for covering a manoeuvring gap between the solid wall section and the building structure. The telescopic element includes an adjusting mechanism for a deployment of the telescopic section into a covering position covering the manoeuvring gap and for a deployment of sealing lips of the solid wall section for sealing against the building structure, wherein the adjusting mechanism includes an input shaft for receiving an adjusting movement, and a distribution gearbox for the divided transmission of the adjusting movement to upper and lower telescopic gearboxes for the deployment of the telescopic section, wherein the two telescopic gearboxes include a first transmitting section configured for transmitting the adjusting movement to an upper sealing gearbox and the second telescopic gearbox includes a second transmitting section configured for transmitting the adjusting movement to a lower sealing gearbox for deploying the sealing lips.

The above problem is also solved by providing a method for arranging a telescopic element including the following steps: arranging the solid wall section in the final position; introducing an adjusting movement into the input shaft of the adjusting mechanism for deploying the telescopic section into the covering position; and continuing introduction of the adjusting movement into the input shaft for deploying the sealing lips for a sealing action against the building structure. Features and details, described in conjunction with the telescopic element, are obviously also valid in conjunction with the inventive method and respectively vice versa, such that mutual reference is made, respectively may be made with respect to the disclosure of individual aspects of the disclosure.

According to the disclosure, a telescopic element is provided for a displaceable partitioning wall. Said telescopic element includes a solid wall section for partially covering an opening in a building structure. Furthermore, a telescopic section is provided for covering a manoeuvring gap between the solid wall section and the building structure. Moreover, the telescopic element includes an adjusting mechanism for deploying a telescopic section into a covering position, in which the manoeuvring gap is covered, and for a deployment of sealing lips of the solid wall section for a sealing action against the building structure. The inventive telescopic element is distinguished in that the adjusting mechanism includes an input shaft for the reception of an adjusting movement and a distribution gearbox for the divided transmission of the adjusting movement to an upper telescopic gearbox and a lower telescopic gearbox for deploying the telescopic section. In this case, the two telescopic gearboxes include respectively one transmitting section for the transmission of the adjusting movement to an upper sealing gearbox and to a lower sealing gearbox for deploying the sealing lips.

The inventive telescopic element is thus based on the basic embodiment of a solid wall section and a telescopic section for allowing to be able to guarantee the desired positioning into a final terminal position in the vicinity of a wall of a building structure. With the intention to cover the manoeuvring gap, the adjusting mechanism provides a possibility to displace the telescopic section into a covering position, in which the manoeuvring gap is covered. The sealing lips are disposed in particular at the top side and at the bottom side of the telescopic element, so as to be able to guarantee a sealing action likewise against the ceiling and the floor in the final position of the telescopic element. Deploying and retracting is necessary in order to be able to keep the telescopic element movable in a desired manner, for example by means of a track system. Only once the telescopic element is disposed in the final position thereof, the sealing lips are deployed and accordingly an additional sealing action against the building structure is provided.

to An inventive core idea focuses on the explicit embodiment of the adjusting mechanism. In contrast to the complex scissor-arm mechanism, as included in the known telescopic elements, in a simple and inexpensive manner, a single input shaft is able to provide for a corresponding reception of the adjusting movement. By means of the distribution gearbox, which may include gearing wheels but also lever structures, a division and transmission of the adjusting movement to the upper and the lower telescopic gearboxes may be provided. In this case, with regard to their arrangement, an upper and lower telescopic gearbox are positioned one above the other. The upper telescopic gearbox is located above the lower telescopic gearbox. The function of the two telescopic gearboxes serves for deploying the telescopic section into the covering position thereof. As long as in this application it is question of deploying sealing lips or telescopic sections, this obviously also applies as a reversible movement such that the same mechanism and a reversal of the adjusting movement allows for retracting the sealing lips, respectively for retracting the telescopic section in the same technical manner.

According to the disclosure, the two telescopic gearboxes are equipped with an additional function, namely the transmitting section for transmitting the adjusting movement. In the solid wall element, respectively partially also in the telescopic element, the upper sealing gearbox and the lower sealing gearbox are configured to be able to deploy the upper sealing lip and the lower sealing lip for a sealing action against the ceiling or against the floor. In contrast to the known solutions of the telescopic elements, which essentially operate all of the gearboxes at the same time via complicated scissor-arm mechanisms, in an inventive manner the transmission of the adjusting movement to the sealing gearboxes is enabled via the telescopic gearbox itself. In other words, the upper telescopic gearbox and the upper sealing gearbox, respectively the lower telescopic gearbox and the lower sealing gearbox are configured as cascades of gears. Therefore, the adjusting movement for the sealing lips passes through the respective telescopic gearbox only to arrive in the respective sealing gearbox.

In an inventive telescopic element, the arrangement into the final position is realized in a way that an adjusting movement is introduced into the input shaft in a manual or automated configuration. In this case, it may be in particular a rotary movement, namely a rotation.

Said adjusting movement is then transferred to the upper and lower telescopic gearboxes such that the deployment of the telescopic section starts. As will be explained in the following, the transmitting section is preferably configured for a mechanical closure sequence control such that during the introduction of the adjusting movement, the latter is transferred in the first time slot essentially exclusively to the two telescopic gearboxes. Only after the telescopic section has been deployed over a defined path via the telescopic gearboxes, the transmitting section will be activated for the transmission of the adjusting movement to the two sealing gearboxes. Thus, so to say, a closure sequence control is mechanically provided, which ensures that only after completing the deployment movement of the telescopic section, the start of the deployment movement of the sealing lips is realized. In particular, if the sealing lips are to be disposed partially in the solid wall section and partially in the telescopic section, this is a great advantage, because during the movement of the telescopic section, the sealing lips may not yet be in contact, respectively should not yet be in contact.

It may be advantageous, if, in an inventive telescopic element, each telescopic gearbox includes a telescopic spindle, which is entrained into rotation by means of an adjusting movement, such that a spindle nut moves along the spindle axis. In this case, the spindle nut is connected in a force-transmitting manner to a telescopic lever, in order to move this telescopic lever at a first end concurrently with the spindle nut. To the same extent, by means of the movement of the telescopic lever, the telescopic section, which is attached to the second end thereof, is deployed. By arranging the two telescopic gearboxes in a vertical direction spaced apart from each other as upper and lower telescopic gearboxes, in this manner a particularly stable deployment movement is allowed. The larger the distance is formed between the two telescopic gearboxes in vertical direction, the larger the tilt stability when deploying the telescopic section. In contrast to the known solutions of combined scissor-arm mechanisms, in an execution according to this embodiment, additional guiding means in the shape of tubes or other guiding rails may be essentially completely foregone. However, it should be noted in this case that the force-transmitting connection between the spindle nut and the telescopic lever may be configured both directly and indirectly. An indirect connection is in particular understood as inserting a spring element in between, as will be elaborated further in the following section.

It is advantageous, if, in an inventive telescopic element, in both telescopic gearboxes, the spindle nut is connected in a force-transmitting manner to the telescopic lever via a spindle spring element. This means namely, that it is question here of an indirect connection between the telescopic lever and the spindle nut. Such a spindle spring element may be configured for example as a helical spring around the spindle. This circumstance results in that, when introducing an adjusting movement onto the telescopic section without a counter-force, the deployment movement will be performed in the known manner. As soon as the telescopic section abuts against a walling of the building structure and contacts the latter, a corresponding counter-force is created, which will be introduced into the spindle spring element. This means that the spindle spring element generates a pre-tensioning force in this manner, which will allow for providing a sealing force onto the telescopic section at the corresponding contacting location towards the walling of the building structure.

It is likewise an advantage, if, in an inventive telescopic element, a support lever is attached between the two ends of each telescopic lever, which lever supports the telescopic lever against the solid wall section. All levers are equipped at their respective ends with rotation bearings in order not to adversely affect the desired lever functionalities. The support lever serves for being able to provide an additional stabilization of the telescopic lever. In particular in this manner the risk of spreading of the telescopic lever during the deployment procedure will be reduced or even completely avoided.

Moreover, it is advantageous if, in an inventive telescopic element, each transmitting section of the two telescopic gearboxes includes a contacting surface for a touching contact with a counter-contacting surface of the associated sealing gearbox. This represents a particularly simple and inexpensive solution for providing the transmitting functionality. The contacting surface touches the counter-contacting surface and in this manner continues to move the counter-contacting surface concurrently with the contacting surface by means of the adjusting movement. In this case, such a touching contacting action is configured in a reversible manner according to the disclosure. In particular releasing and establishing the contact, depending on the movement position and the movement direction, are conceivable. In this case, the contacting surface and the counter-contacting surface include in particular a two-dimensional contacting in order to be able to guarantee an improved and moreover a more tilt-stable transmission of forces, respectively transmission of the adjusting movement.

It is likewise advantageous, if, in an inventive telescopic element, in a retracted position of the telescopic section, a contacting distance is configured between the contacting surface and the counter-contacting surface, the dimension thereof being variable by means of introducing the adjusting movement into the adjusting mechanism. As elaborated in the preceding section, the contacting between the contacting surface and the counter-contacting surface is in particular configured to be reversible. For example in a completely retracted position of the telescopic section, a defined contacting section may be given between the contacting surface and the counter-contacting surface. If now the introduction of the adjusting movement is realized, at the same time a deployment of the telescopic section and a movement of the contacting surface and of the counter-contacting surface towards each other occur. The contacting distance will now adjust at what time in positioning the contacting surface and the counter-contacting surface will touch each other. This will be in particular the case, if the telescopic section is completely or essentially completely deployed. At this point in time, now a further movement of the telescopic gearbox will result in that, additionally respectively subsequently to deploying the telescopic section, now to the transmission of the adjusting movement to the sealing gearboxes for deploying the sealing lips will be realized. This represents one possibility for providing a mechanical automatic closure sequence control.

It is likewise advantageous, if, in an inventive telescopic element, each sealing gearbox includes a sealing spring element, which is configured for the reception of the adjusting movement from the transmitting section of the associated telescopic gearbox and charges the associated sealing lip with a spring force. In this case, said sealing spring element also serves for transmitting the adjusting movement to the sealing lip for the deployment procedure thereof. The sealing spring element serves for providing a pre-tension onto the respective sealing lip, in particular as soon as the sealing lip abuts against the corresponding walling, respectively the ceiling or the floor of the building structure. In this case, the sealing spring element may directly or indirectly include an associated counter-contacting section for the correlation with a contacting section of the transmitting section. Furthermore, the sealing spring element is preferably equipped with a variation device, in order to be able to vary and adjust the spring force and/or the contacting section already described above. This is in particular solved via an adjusting screw. The sealing spring element may be preferably configured with regard to reducing the constructional dimension and the weight of a leaf spring.

It is furthermore advantageous, if, in an inventive telescopic element, the distribution gearbox is configured as an angled gearbox for a repartition of the adjusting movement with different directions of movement, in particular different directions of rotation, to the two telescopic gearboxes. In this case, an angled gearbox is understood in that the repartition will not only be realized with regard to the transfer of an adjusting movement to two recipients of the adjusting movement, but will moreover be able to consider in this manner different directions of movement during the repartition. Thus, the upper telescopic gearbox will receive, with regard to a direction of rotation, for example a left turn as an adjusting movement, whereas the lower telescopic gearbox will receive for example a right turn as the direction of rotation as the adjusting movement. The two telescopic gearboxes are thus allowed, in particular for corresponding telescopic spindles, to have the same mechanical configuration, for example in the form of having the same thread orientation and thread pitch. Furthermore, this results in that during the mounting procedure of the entire telescopic element, a source of errors, namely an erroneously oriented telescopic spindle is essentially completely prevented.

Another advantage may be, if, in an inventive telescopic element, the two telescopic gearboxes are disposed one above the other at a border of the solid wall section. This arrangement is only possible by means of the inventive embodiment, because only the repartition and the cascaded arrangement of the telescopic gearboxes and of the sealing gearboxes with regard to each other allows for a narrower embodiment of the adjusting mechanism. In this case, the border of the solid wall section includes in particular of the border, at which also the telescopic section is to be deployed. As a result, the central region of the solid wall section remains free and may be configured to be transparent as well.

It is likewise advantageous, if, in an inventive telescopic element, the to sealing lips include respectively at least two overlapping sealing lip sections, wherein one of the two sealing lip sections is connected to the telescopic section and the other one is connected to the solid wall section. Such a sealing lip may be configured as a telescoping sealing lip as well, such that, when deploying the telescopic section, said overlapping decreases with regard to their geometrical deployment and also the sealing effect in the deployed condition of the telescopic section may be provided at the entire upper side of the telescopic element and at the lower side of the telescopic element.

Another advantage may be, if, in an inventive telescopic element, the adjusting mechanism includes a drive device for generating the adjusting movement and the introduction into the input shaft. This means that an automated adjusting movement is provided, in particular in the form of an electric motor. Thus, it is an automated solution, which, for said automatic drive, may have provided for example for a battery or a power supply within the telescopic element. As an alternative, also crank handles at the exterior side are conceivable for a corresponding crank handle connection for introducing the adjusting movement within the framework of the present disclosure.

A further subject matter of the present disclosure is a method for the arrangement of an inventive telescopic element in an opening of a building structure, including the following steps:

• • arranging the solid wall section in the final position,
  • introducing an adjusting movement into the input shaft of the adjusting mechanism for deploying the telescopic section into the covering position,
  • continuing the introduction of the adjusting movement into the input shaft for deploying the sealing lips for a sealing action against the building structure.

By employing an inventive telescopic element, the inventive method offers the same advantages as those explained in detail in relation to the inventive telescopic element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further advantages, features and details of the disclosure will result from the following description, in which, reference being made to the drawings, exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are described in detail.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a telescopic element,

FIG. 2 shows the embodiment of FIG. 1 in an enlarged representation,

FIG. 3 shows a telescopic gearbox in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, and

FIG. 4 shows the correlation between a telescopic gearbox and a sealing gearbox in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a technical solution of an embodiment of an inventive telescopic element 10 with an opened walling. Therefore, just a view into the inside of the telescopic element 10 is possible. Basically, the telescopic element 10 has two core sections, namely the solid wall section 20 and the telescopic section 30. Here, the telescopic section 30 is seen as a profile, to which the corresponding ceiling wall sections may be attached. Moreover, the illustration in FIG. 1 shows the correlation of such a telescopic element 10 in the final position thereof with regard to a building structure 200. In this case, it is well visible that a manoeuvring gap 210 is formed in the final position between the solid wall section 20 and the building structure 200. The telescopic section 30 is to be displaced in the covering position AP thereof into said manoeuvring gap 210, with the intention to be able to provide here a fully and in particular sound-absorbing termination.

At the same time, deploying the sealing lips at the top side of the telescopic element 10 and at the bottom side of the telescopic element 10 is necessary for a particular advantageous sound-absorption. This is realized by means of associated sealing gearboxes 70a and 70b.

FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates the configuration of a telescopic gearbox 60b or of the upper telescopic gearbox 60a. The two telescopic gearboxes 60a and 60b are in particular configured to be identical. FIG. 4 shows the correlation of the upper telescopic gearbox 60a with the upper sealing gearbox 70a. For a better understanding, the individual movement of the respective structural components with regard to performing the deployment procedure will be subsequently explained while referring to all four Figures.

to Once the telescopic element 10 is disposed in the final position thereof for the partitioning wall 100, as the one shown in FIG. 1, now the deployment of the telescopic element 30 into the covering position AP thereof is to be performed. For this purpose, an adjusting movement is being introduced via an input shaft 42 into a distribution gearbox 44 of an adjusting mechanism 40. This action may be realized via a drive device or manually by means of a crank handle. Now, said distribution gearbox 44 distributes the adjusting movement to the top and to the bottom into an upper telescopic gearbox 60a and into a lower telescopic gearbox 60b. Telescopic spindles 64, in which the adjusting movement is translated into a rotation about a spindle axis SA, are provided in both telescopic gearboxes 60a and 60b. Accordingly, a relative rotation with regard to the respective spindle nut 66 is performed during said rotation such that depending on the rotational movement, the spindle nut 66 moves to the top or to the bottom. For deploying the telescopic section 30, an upward movement of the spindle nut 66 is realized at the upper telescopic gearbox 60a and accordingly a downward movement of the spindle nut 66 is realized at the lower telescopic gearbox 60b. In this manner, via a spindle spring 65 in a force-transmitting contacting, the adjusting movement is relayed to the telescopic lever 68 such that the latter is moved upwards in an associated oblong hole, which can be seen in the FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. As said oblong hole is provided as a fixed position at the solid wall section 20, the other end of the telescopic lever 68 is pushed to the right hand outside and thereby displaces the profile, which is a part of the telescopic section 30, to the right hand side into the covering position AP thereof. A mechanical stabilization is realized during this movement by means of the associated support lever 69, as the one illustrated in the Figures.

In particular FIG. 4 shows that during an upwards movement of the spindle nut 66 at the upper telescopic gearbox 60a, a contacting distance KA between a contacting surface 63 of a transmitting section 62 and an associated counter-contacting surface 73 of a spindle spring element 75 is reduced. At a predetermined point in time, a touching contact of the contacting surface 63 and the counter-contacting surface 73 will occur such that now via the subsequent lever arm assembly also the upper sealing lip 50 and in the same manner the lower sealing lip 50 will be deployed and pressed against the building structure 200. The respective spindle spring element 75 serves for being able to guarantee an appropriate contacting pressure for increasing the sealing force. In the embodiment as shown in the FIGS. 1 to 4, the sealing lip 50 is configured in two parts in the shape of two sealing lip sections 52. These are disposed in a telescoping manner such that, when deploying the telescopic section 30, a moving apart in a telescopic manner is performed for the two sealing lip sections 52, such that, also in the covering position AP of the telescopic section 30, it will be possible to seal the entire upper part and the entire lower part of the telescopic element 10.

The above explanation of the embodiment describes the present disclosure exclusively based on examples. Obviously, individual features of the embodiments, as long as they are technically reasonable, may be freely combined with each other without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A telescopic element for a displaceable partitioning wall, including a solid wall section for partially covering an opening in a building structure, and a telescopic section for covering a manoeuvring gap between the solid wall section and the building structure, the telescopic element comprising an adjusting mechanism for a deployment of the telescopic section into a covering position covering the manoeuvring gap and for a deployment of sealing lips of the solid wall section for sealing against the building structure, wherein the adjusting mechanism includes an input shaft for receiving an adjusting movement, and a distribution gearbox for the divided transmission of the adjusting movement to an upper telescopic gearbox and to a lower telescopic gearbox for the deployment of the telescopic section, wherein the first two telescopic gearbox includes a first transmitting section configured for transmitting the adjusting movement to an upper sealing gearbox and the second telescopic gearbox includes a second transmitting section configured for transmitting the adjusting movement to a lower sealing gearbox for deploying the sealing.

2. The telescopic element according to claim 1, wherein the first telescopic gearbox and the second telescopic gearbox each includes a telescopic spindle entrained into a rotation by means of the adjusting movement such that a spindle nut moves along the spindle axis, wherein the spindle nut is connected to a telescopic lever in a force-transmitting manner for moving said telescopic lever at a first end concurrently with the spindle nut and for deploying the telescopic section attached to a second end of the telescopic lever.

3. The telescopic element according to claim 2, wherein at both first and second telescopic gearboxes, the spindle nut is connected in a force-transferring manner to the telescopic lever via a spindle spring element.

4. The telescopic element according to claim 2, wherein between the two ends of each of the telescopic levers, a support lever is attached, which supports the telescopic lever against the solid wall section.

5. The telescopic element according to claim 1, wherein each transmitting section of the first and second telescopic gearboxes includes a contacting surface for a touching contact of a counter-contacting surface of the associated sealing gearbox.

6. The telescopic element according to claim 5, wherein in a retracted position of the telescopic section, between the contacting surface and the counter-contacting surface, a contacting distance is configured wherein the dimension is varied by means of introducing the adjusting movement into the adjusting mechanism.

7. The telescopic element according to claim 1, wherein each sealing gearbox includes a spindle spring element configured for receiving the adjusting movement from the transmitting section of the associated telescopic gearbox and charges the associated sealing lip with a spring force.

8. The telescopic element according to claim 1, wherein the distribution gearbox is configured as an angled gearbox for distributing the adjusting movement with different directions of movement, onto the two telescopic gearboxes.

9. The telescopic element according to claim 1, wherein one of the first and second telescopic gearboxes is disposed above the other at a border of the solid wall section.

10. The telescopic element according to claim 1, wherein the sealing lips each include at least two overlapping sealing lip sections, wherein one of the two sealing lip sections is connected to the telescopic section and the other is connected to the solid wall section.

11. The telescopic element according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting mechanism includes a drive device generating the adjusting movement and the introduction into the input shaft.

12. A method for the arrangement of a telescopic element having the features of claim 1 in an opening of a building structure, the method includes the following steps:

arranging the solid wall section in the final position,

introducing an adjusting movement into the input shaft of the adjusting mechanism for deploying the telescopic section into the covering position, and

continuing introduction of the adjusting movement into the input shaft for deploying the sealing lips for a sealing action against the building structure.