RoboDoors

How They Work!

Overview

The RoboDoor operators are pneumatic, powered either by compressed air or CO2.  Once installed with your standard pocket doors, these systems have proven to be extremely reliable and maintenance free.

Principals of
Operation

These products utilize modern, off the shelf, pneumatic components commonly used for industrial robots to accomplish relatively simple tasks. Unlike high speed industrial version door operators, however, safety and slow control of movement become the most important design characteristic. Pressurized air is used with linear or rotary actuators, valves, flow controls and throttle valves combined in patented pneumatic circuits to closely duplicate the forces normally needed to accomplish these tasks.

Advantages

Pneumatic components are inexpensive compared to their electromechanical counterparts. The control methods are mechanical in nature and coupled with the simplicity of the pneumatic design, yield extreme reliability, innate durability, and simplicity of installation and ease of adjustment. In addition, all Gentleman products are shipped as complete kits and contain all automation components necessary, except the power source. All residential remote activation kits include X-10 controls which offer expandability, simplicity, and easily interface with most environmental controls. Residential systems are equipped with a manual override so that the system may be activated without the use of remote controls or electricity to permit exiting a home or apartment in an emergency. The legendary reliability of pneumatics, with component ratings of over one million cycles, allow Gentleman products to carry an unconditional 90 day warranty and 1 year warranty on all mechanical components

Control Sources

An X-10 receiver and remote are supplied with all remote activated residential units. This controller is inexpensive, popular and interfaces with most environmental control units. For low energy systems, the units can be easily controlled by industry standard switches and low-voltage electronics.  Solenoid valves with 24v AC, 24v DC, or 12v DC may be ordered at no additional charge for these systems.

Power
Sources

The criteria involved will determine the selection of an appropriate power source.

There are three choices:

1. Carbon dioxide cylinders are commonly available from industrial gas supplier’s fire extinguisher maintenance facilities, and beverage and welding suppliers. Equipped with a special regulator from Gentleman Door they may be used for single installations, such as apartments, where cost and silence are prime considerations. Total cost is about $100. It is recommended that CO2 only be used if there is no practical place to install a compressor.
2. Small tank mounted air compressors are commonly available from local home hardware suppliers, generally at less than $200. These are ideal where a garage, basement, or utility area is available and noise is not a factor. These small compressors will run about one minute per day for each Automatic Door Operator connected to the system.   Up to 10 operators can be run using a single compressor, making this the cost effective solution where 2 or more operators are installed.
3. StarshipDoors offers a small, tank mounted, silent European design compressor. Current draw is less than 200 watts during the short periods that the unit is running. The noise level is 10 decibels on this silent compressor. The cost, expectedly, is higher.