Ideally adapted to the weight of a wooden gate
Over the past few years, the fields of use of industrial gas springs have steadily expanded for lowering and lifting particularly heavy loads thanks to new developments such as special tandem models. However, the fact that standard gas springs can do more than support muscular strength when handling flaps, hoods,
caps and other devices is shown in this case, at the entrance of a refugee camp in Germany.
"Powerful ideas from wood," is Bernd Jorkisch's guiding principle in managing his company from Daldorf in the northern part of Germany. Launched as a raw wood trade decades ago, the family-run company has developed into one of the leading wood trading companies with more than 1,000 specialist dealers. Today, the business areas are "wood and more" following the company's slogan, from raw wood to wood solutions for
construction and gardening,
carports and block building houses to the production of
pallets and also wood as an energy source. Many of these offers give customers a choice between standard or made to measure solutions. The latter was the case when presented with the task of designing an entrance area to a refugee camp. "We wanted to develop a stable, high-quality wooden gate which can be easily and quickly operated by means of rollers," says Gerd Kästle from the production department of Jorkisch GmbH & Co. KG. Recommended by a supplier specialized in automation industry, the woodworkers took up contact with Kai Boelingen, ACE's technical consultant in this northern part of Germany. After a local date, he quickly realized that the biggest challenge with this application lay in the uneven ground. This led to the fact that the very solid entrance gate made of wood was not as easy to open and close as desired because the
wheels supporting the heavy gate were still to be optimized.
Ideal helper for easy operation of heavy, high-quality wooden entrance gate
Even under normal circumstances it can be complicated to overcome unevenness at great weight. When
wheels are mounted, uncontrolled masses can
lead to jerks or halting, possibly also damage to the wheels or their
construction. To avoid this, the wheels should be able to move freely and travel a certain way. "Commercially available rollers for gates are equipped with integrated spiral springs, but those are limited in travel", Kai Boelingen concludes. Thus, he and the technicians of Bernd Jorkisch GmbH & Co. KG counteracted the shortcomings of the spiral springs by integrating industrial gas springs into the supports made of metal. The specialists primarily used the weight of the gate to calculate which gas spring would fit best. ACE types GS-40-200-BB-500N were installed at the end of the consultation process. With a cylinder diameter of 40 mm and a stroke of 200 mm, they are able to generate a force of 500 N in the case described here. This physical value shows ACE's customer-oriented approach. Whereas the selected gas spring delivers a force of 5,000 N when supplied as a standard solution, this value was evidently too high for the case described. The spring with full
filling could not have mastered the task of absorbing the forces arising from the uneven ground and making the wooden gate easy to operate as it was intended. Therefore, Kai Boelingen and the team used the adjustable
valve on the gas springs to optimally fit it to the weight of the high-quality wooden door. By reducing the standard force from 5,000 to 500 N, ACE's
valve technology proved to be the decisive advantage. With just a few expert moves, it enabled the discharge of the right amount of nitrogen from the spring using the compatible DE GAS setting tool. For this purpose, the tool is screwed onto the valve thread pin with the valve held vertically upwards. Then it is actuated with slight manual force until the nitrogen escapes. If there is still too much nitrogen in the spring, this process may be repeated or, if too much nitrogen is discharged, it can also be re-filled to the desired extent via the nitrogen suitcase supplied by ACE as an accessory.
Optimal matching accessories a further plus
The maintenance-free and ready-to-install gas springs, which can be adapted in the manner described above, have reliably performed their job in the gate from the start. Their high durability, which is attributable to a piston rod with wear-resistant surface coating as well as an integrated plain
bearing and a grease chamber, makes the difference. A variety of DIN-standardized components, which ACE can deliver within 24 hours, also simplified
assembly in this case.
ACE also offers gas springs in stainless steel versions. Then the modern machine elements even meet the strict hygiene requirements of the food industry and medical technology. In the case described here, the ACE solutions approved for ambient temperatures from -20 °C to 80 °C work reliably for the benefit of all parties involved and simplify the handling of the heavy wooden door enormously even after months.