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Telescoping Guard Upgrade
This pneumatic drive powered two telescopic guard doors (horizontal door panels removed for clarity) using two rodless cylinders. The huge moment arms on the horizontal drive was much too large for the internal bearings of the rodless cylinder causing undue drag and imminent failure. The compressibility of the air in the cylinder caused uneven (stop/start) motion. The moment arm on the vertical cylinder was also at its limit and the lift force proved to be inadequate even with the counterbalance.
The pneumatic drives were both replaced with lead screws driven by electric motors controlled by a variable frequency drive. In addition, separate square rail bearings were installed to take the large moments. The drive arm of the horizontal drive was replaced with a more rigid design and the connection point for the vertical drive was moved up to provide more stability and to the center of the door panel. The improvement was dramatic.
Guard Bearing Upgrade
The vertical door panels used in the door design shown above were supported by bearings which were only created to take load in the vertical axis (as shown). However, the door panels experienced loads in both the horizontal and vertical axes (as shown) due to imperfections in the door and its balance point. The bearings failed after only a few weeks.
The replacement bearing was actually a combination of two low profile square rail bearings attached to a custom sheet metal frame. The design was complicated by the fact that the hole pattern as well as the overall height and width were dictated by the door design. These bearings have proven to be very reliable.
