Basic Elements

Zaiger sectional gates are convenient, reliable, and most effective gate constructions. Actually, they can be installed in all types of openings as well as all types of internal configuration of building. The gates match perfectly with the face of building owing to a broad range of decorative finish and colour solutions of gate leaves.

The construction of sectional gates consists of sections joined together by hinges. The gates move along the guides fixed along the edges of opening. The guides are brought under the span of the premises (a garage, workshop, or storehouse).

Another advantage is that the gate leaf moves in the vertical plane, which saves space and allows opening the gates even if there is a vehicle directly in front of the gate.

Sectional gates open vertically and when the gate is in the open position, the gate is positioned in the ceiling area. This principal construction feature ensures maximum space possible in the garage as well as a parking lot in front of the garage. 

We offer only such designs that have been tested in the Russian climatic conditions and proved to be the best under severe Siberian winter conditions. Delivery as a complete set includes fastening parts that make it easy to install gates in brick, concrete, or metallic walls in the opening. 

 

Besides, gates can be designed to accommodate a wicket-door and windows. Sectional gates can be opened and closed manually or operated by automatic remote control. A reliable European automatic control system makes gate exploitation easy and comfortable, whereas a multilevel system of safety serves as a guaranty against any accidents.

 

 

Zaiger garage gate leaf is assembled of individual sections, sandwich-panels, filled with rigid foamed polyurethane. Sandwich-panels ensure a good thermal insulation of buildings. Thermal resistance of panels corresponds approximately to 530mm-thick brickwork.

 

Sandwich-panels are manufactured on a modern computer controlled automated continuous production line. Only the best available eco-clean domestic and imported materials are used in the production, and a multi-stage technology of quality control is employed for testing the characteristics of raw materials both at entry and at the stage of finished products.

 

Both external and internal panel surfaces are treated by method of deep galvanizing and coated with a multilayer polymer coating, corrosion-resistant and providing good resistance to high mechanical loading.

 

 

Built-in galvanized plates for fastening hinges situated at the top and bottom along the whole panel length give the panels and the whole gate construction extra strength and make fastening of hinges secure.

High-quality seals make gate perimeter hermetic. Besides, panels have a special foam rubber seal that makes the adjacent panels to be snug against each other. Bottom gate edge is equipped with hollow elastic frost-resistant rubber sealing profile with two edges to smooth out floor surface.

Sealing profile retains its high mechanical strength and elasticity at low temperatures, and weather resistance during the whole service life of gates. 

 

 

Connection joints for sandwich panels are designed in such a way as to prevent accidental pinching of a finger (sandwich panels with “finger-crush” protection system).

For heat conservation it is essential that sandwich panels of which sectional gates are assembled be thick enough (as a rule, not less than 40mm). Besides, according to GOST 31174-2003 for “Metal Gates”, sandwich panels should have a thermal gap; according to the same GOST, its value is specified to be no less than 2mm. Foreign producers do not always comply with this requirement (which can probably be explained by less severe climatic conditions of exploitation).

 

Technical characteristics of sandwich panels confirmed by Quality Conformance Certificate No РОСС RU.СГ43.Н01473, Test Report Protocol, and Act on the State of Production and Assessment of Product Quality Stability are as follows:

 

Technical Characteristics of Sandwich Panels	Unit of Measurement	Value
Panel thickness:	mm	40
Steel sheet thickness:	mm;	0,5
Coefficient of resistance to heat transfer	мС/Втm2х°C/W	0,95
Sound absorption coefficient	db	23
Thermal Insulation Filler	Rigid foam polyurethane

For supplementary daylight illumination or when it is necessary to observe processes that occur on the reverse side, the gates may be equipped with set-in windows 202607 or 330635 mm in size with double acrylic glazing.
 

Functional possibilities of sectional gates may be substantially improved by accommodating a wicket-door in them. A wicket-door is manufactured of the same sandwich-panels as the main leaf, is equipped with a door closer and lock, framed along the perimeter with aluminium profile and rubber seal outline. Wicket-doors are, as a rule, chosen of standard size: 800 mm in width, 1800mm in height. Exact connection of profiles secures a tight wicket-door frame ledge.

 

Windows and a wicket-door built in the gate leaf make sectional gates elegant and at the same time convenient in exploitation.

At the customer’s wish, the wicket-door may be shifted towards the left or right side of gate leaf. The distance between the gate-leaf edge and wicket-door should be no less than 500mm.

 

Gate leaf furnished with a wicket-door has a number of shortcomings, such as:

Degradation of leaf rigidity;

Freezing along the framing aluminium profile;

Sagging of the wicket-door in the course of gate exploitation;
Degradation of reliability of construction as a whole.

 

 

For lifts of all types except the vertical one, if gate width is from 4.5m or more, to prevent sagging of the leaf in the open position it is recommended to use a reinforcing Ω-profile (omega profile). Frequency of installation of reinforcing profile is determined by gate width and may vary from one to a gate to one to a leaf (as a rule, Ω-profile is not installed on the bottom panel).

 

The basic designation of guides is to serve as a supporting structure and to secure smooth movement of gate leaf in the desired direction. Generally, any guides consist of three main component parts:
 

1)  A vertical part installed to the garage wall;

2)  A horizontal part fastened to the garage ceiling;

3)  Rear connection plate connects the ends of horizontal guides.

 

Zaiger sectional gates are equipped with guides made of galvanized steel no less than 2mm in thickness, which guarantees the rigidity of construction and extends its service life.          

 

Guide roller type also affects construction reliability. Zaiger-Rus uses rollers that are made on the basis of steel bearings filled with wear-resistant plastic material and pressed on a steel shaft. The use of ball bearings combined with the adjustability provided for in the design of side hinges ensure smooth and soft travel.

 

 

Sectional gates have an important structural element, that is, a torsion spring-actuated mechanism that counter-balances the gate weight and facilitates its movement. Thanks to powerful torsion springs, the gates close softly and open effortlessly and are securely fixed after opening to the full. Springs that were previously twisted create on the shaft a torque equal in magnitude and back in direction with respect to the moment of gate leaf weight. That is why there is no necessity to apply any big efforts when lifting the gates manually or using an electric motor drive. By way of illustration, to lift a gate leaf weighing 100 kg, it is sufficient to apply force equal to 3 up to 5 kg.

Reliability of torsion springs is achieved, on the one hand, by employing high-quality specially-hardened steel with special electroplating, and on the other hand by a thorough engineering design of the torsion mechanism construction. To improve the precision of design the gate leaf is weighed after it has been assembled

 

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For industrial gates that are mainly intended for more intensive exploitation (such as a warehouse, production, car-care center, etc.) the choice will be in favour of torsion springs of a respective class with resource over 50 thousand opening-closing cycles. Resource of torsion springs for private customers’ domestic use does not exceed 25 thousand cycles. Springs in Zaiger gates are furnished with special plugs with cut thread that prevents them from turning-through, whereas springs 152mm in diameter or more are supplied with an internal plastic insert that supports them in the horizontal position.

 

The spring-actuated mechanism consists of the following:

- Torsion springs;

- A pair of drums;

- A shaft;

- End brackets;

- Internal support bracket.

 

Torsion springs differ in their outside diameter (from 60 up to 160mm), spring wire diameter (from 5 to 11,5 mm), length (from 600 mm up to 3000 mm) and direction of spring winding (right and left spring winding).

Each spring is calculated for each individual gate taking into account the following factors:

- Weight of gate leaf;

- Height of gate leaf;

- Type and height of lift of gate;

- Drum diameter and characteristics.

 

As a rule, one pair of springs (left and right) is installed on each gate to prevent the gate from shifting towards the shaft. If the gate is small and narrow, up to 7 m² in area or up to 2.2 m in width, one spring is installed. Sometimes, when it is not possible to find a pair of springs that would suit to some particular gates, one spring has to be installed, which deteriorates the gate quality. Spring plugs are wound on each end of spring. At one end the spring plug is fastened on the gate shaft, at the other end the spring plug is fixed through a special bracket (an internal support bracket) to the wall. Thus, one end of the spring always remains immovable, while the other rotates together with the shaft.

 

In some cases when the springs do not fit in the gate embrasure in length, the springs may be installed on the outside of the gate embrasure on the right and left sides. In this case some extra end brackets have to be installed. Also, in this case it is possible to manufacture one spring inside another (the spring of a smaller diameter should be longer than the spring of a larger diameter). In this case, spring plugs fixed on the shaft are connected between each other, and at the other end both plugs are fastened to the wall by special brackets.

Pair of drums (right and left) are fixed rigidly on both sides on the gate shaft. The drum rotates together with the gate shaft and takes up hoisting rope fastened to the bottom corner bracket on gate leaf lifting the gate.

A drum is selected depending on gate leaf height, type and height of lift. Drums differ depending on the type of gate lift, outer diameter, length and diameter of the cable to be wound.

 

A gate shaft is manufactured from steel covered with a layer of protecting zinc. The diameter of a standard shaft is 25.4 mm (1 inch). Shafts may be of three kinds: tubular, tubular with a key slot, and solid with a key slot. Solid shafts with a key slot, 31.75 mm (1.25 inches) are used very seldom.

 

Tubular shafts are installed on smaller gates (from 9 to 10 m² in area) that have no axle drive. Tubular shafts with a key slot are installed on gates up to 14 m² in area or on gates equipped with an axle drive. Solid shafts with key slots are used for gates up to 20 m² in area. Further, use is made of solid shafts with a key slot, 31.75 mm in diameter. Gate leaf width is also considered in choosing the type of shaft.

End brackets are installed at the top of corner poles and are fastened to the corner pole and the wall. End support bracket is equipped with closed-type bearings. The shaft of the gate torsion system is installed in the end brackets. The shaft is installed inside closed-type bearing. End brackets are placed in the horizontal plane at different distances from the point of fastening to the wall to the axle of the bearing, to be used with different drums.

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Internal support brackets serve for fastening spring plugs to the wall. Their sizes depend on type of gate lift.

 

A sudden fall of gate leaf is the main cause of danger to man’s health and threat to material values.   Gate leaf may accidentally fall for one of the two causes:

Because of spring breakage;

Because of wire rope breakage.

 

To prevent these accidents, special protective mechanisms to ensure gate safety have been elaborated:

1. Protective device against spring breakage

2. Protective device against wire rope breakage.

These devices are especially recommended for using with industrial gates with intensive exploitation and having great weight (area of gate leaf from 16 m²). Spring breakage protective device is installed instead of internal support bracket on the shaft of torsion mechanism, and an immovable spring plug is fastened to it. The device is fastened to embrasure lintel. In the case of spring breakage, the shaft starts rotating by jerk; a ratchet-and-pawl mechanism comes into action in the spring breakage protection device, and locks the gate shaft.