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Something might be workable. I might investigate a symmetric version of something somewhat similar to posts 68 and 10.
nvn said:cybertron: No, the design concept is not finished yet. Let's first try waiting for three or four days to see if tyroman has comments.
cybertron (paraphrasing) said:The drive mechanism cannot be in-line beyond the long square tube.
tyroman said:When the doors are opened beyond 90 degrees, ... the twine(?) [cable] would lose contact with the pulley at H, and the doors would then have to be manually closed (at least until they reach 90 degrees or less).
nvn said:cybertron: Don't worry about the image in post 110. It is a free-body diagram by tyroman of the left-hand door.
My latest concept is shown in the attached diagram, below. Not to scale. The red part is a U-shaped plate. The bottom of the U is underneath linkage bar BH. Only if the doors are being opened by the motor, then the two uprights of the U actuate the green compression springs, beginning when the door angle is 85 deg. The red U-shaped part does not engage the springs when opening the doors manually. Let's see if tyroman has comments.
You can use right-angle, helical bevel gears to rotate the drive mechanism, if you wish. You can mount the linkage mechanism inside or outside the square tubes, whichever you prefer. If the mechanism is mounted outside the square tubes, the spool can be quite narrow.
tyroman said:nvn,
Another clever design... but I'm not sure how cybertron is going to find the spring/bracket assembly "off-the-shelf", though it reminds me of some spring-loaded cabinet door latches I have seen.
When the door is lifted manually from the closed position, tension in the cable would be released and your linkage bar BH would immediately drop down and subsequently the two uprights of the U would pass below the springs.
This would work fine; however, if I understand the mechanism correctly, the springs will supply a tensioning force to maintain cable contact with the pully at H when the motor moves the door from 90 to 100 degrees. Would the force they exert (when the motor is stopped at 100 degrees) then not be sufficient for the springs to independently tip the door back to the 90 degree position from which it would fall closed of its own weight? This assumes that the motor (including its gear box and any right angle drive connected) can be driven in reverse via a force exerted on its output shaft... an assumption which is necessary for manual and motor operation to be independent. I suppose it might be possible (if the springs are sized very carefully) to find the fine line between operation as you envision it and the scenario I describe.
My comment above reminds me of something cybertron has said in an earlier post which has troubled me;
#58 "The motor will hold the mass of both doors at ANY ANGLE as indicated."
and,
#33 "When one side of the small bar is pull up from the close position the opposite side starts lifting at the same time assisting the opposite side and rotates to ANY ANGLE between zero degrees to 100 degrees."
NOTE: I added CAPS above to highlight the phrase of concern.
If, for example, cybertron wants to be able to open the doors to 60 degrees by hand or motor and have them remain there without further input, then some sort of counterbalance system or arbitrary frictional force will need to be introduced into the design.
cybertron said:The part that connects the spool to linkage B is a custom part...