High-speed Door

High-speed doors are door systems, mainly used in industrial applications. They are technical enhancements of the generally known sectional doors, PVC fabric doors or roller shutters. The main difference is that the durable construction provides a higher operating speed and they are able to sustain a higher number of cycles (opening and closing cycles) and require lower maintenance and repair cost. Depending on the intended field of application, horizontal or vertical operating door types are available.

Application
High-speed doors are usually used wherever goods traffic occurs and where the doors have to fulfill special requirements. In the food and beverage industry, or Medical industry for example, special climatic conditions have to prevail; short opening and closing times reduce cooling loss, avoid airflow and enable a smooth operating procedure. They can also be designed in larger dimensions for the mining and aircraft industries.

Requirements
High strains, caused by the high operating speed (up to 4 m/s) and the frequency of openings, have to be taken into account during construction. In the same way, basic conditions like size and installation location add up to considerable requirements regarding safety and control technique.

A unique "roll-up" system generally defines a high-speed door from a conventional roller door. The door's main objective is to produce a high opening speed and the guiding system must allow smooth operations with minimal friction. Effortless movement will ensure the longevity of the door's moving parts and operating soundness.

The latest versions of high quality high-speed doors use a spiral guiding system, thus keeping the door blade apart through a whole operating cycle, ensuring effortless movement of the door's roller devices in the guiding system and contributing to the excessive high speed.

Regulation
In Europe, after a few incidents due to the excessive speed of the curtain and the stiffness of the embedded sensor, the European Community has implemented new regulations (EN 13241-1). Among the various normative constraints, the requirement against mechanical crushing during closure makes necessary to prevent contact with the door being closed or, in case of contact, to limit the vertical dynamic load below a strict curve.

If the high-speed door does not meet one or more of these constraints, the closing speed will be limited to 0.5 m/s (1.64 ft/s). Only a few manufacturers offering a fully flexible and harmless sealing edge kept possibility of closing at a higher speed.