Colossal six-leaf doors on the fifth continent

When it comes to lifts, landing and car doors with very large dimensions are a special challenge – a task that the door specialist Meiller has been handling for years.

Recently, Meiller constructed sliding doors with "monstrous" dimensions on the request of the architects for a museum on the fifth continent. The product range of the company includes an extremely large sliding door in the form of the door series Zenit Xtreme with which passage dimensions of up to 8,000 x 5,000 mm (B x H) can be realised.

The design technicians of Meiller were given a special assignment in 2018: six-leaf doors with a door width clearance of 5,000 mm and door height clearance of 4,500 mm. The door leaves were to be clad with stainless steel on the lower landings while the landing door of the top floor stop was to be made of glass.

The fact that the project involved an extension to the "Art Gallery of New South Wales" in Sydney in Australia, an important museum in the city with Australian as well as European and Asian works of art added a special logistical challenge. All of the parts and components, especially the glass door leaves, had to be shipped safely and undamaged across half the world.

With a view of the harbour and skyline

The top floor stop in the Art Gallery in Sydney. Photo: © Meiller Aufzugtüren

The special requirements were elaborated in close cooperation between the specialist Meiller departments and the local business partner, Liftronic Pty. Ltd: a cargo lift with correspondingly large car dimensions was desired for transporting the large, heavy works of art.

At the top floor, the Japanese architects did not want to be deprived of the unique view of the harbour and skyline of Sydney. Consequently, the landing door of the highest stop had to be made with glass door leaves - given a total door leaf weight of almost two tons, a special demand on the drive concept.

After numerous coordination discussions with all parties involved in the project, all of the requirements were finally implemented and the doors delivered from Munich to the other end of the world, in sturdy, protective packaging. The Australian specialists installed the products in the prescribed timeframe, meaning the lift could enter operation in summer of last year and the art museum could be opened at the beginning of December.

Driven by 800 kg motors

Heavy duty sill for wheel loads up to 5 tons. Photo: © Meiller Aufzugtüren

During the assembly of these extremely large doors, it is helpful that the transom, upper frame, sill bracket, sill and apron are always centrally divided in order to make handling and mounting of the individual assemblies easier. The landing door imposts are also attached to the wall via an attachment bracket on the top of the transom and aligned vertically by means of a jig. Below, the transom is adjusted vertically by ejector screws.

The MiDrive concept is used as standard in the Zenit Xtreme in order to move the enormous door leaf masses reliably: instead of a mechanical skate connection, an optical coupling ensures synchronous running of the landing and car doors. Each door is driven by two 800 kg motors, coordinated by a controller. The drive, telescoping and deflection occur exclusively via a chain drive.

A servo-supported emergency release function guarantees the safety of users and fitters: instead of a conventional closing weight, an electrical closing installation ensures that a landing door that was unlocked and opened using an emergency triangle is closed again in a controlled manner at jostling speed.

Reinforced components and a well thought-out design finally ensure that the doors can also withstand improper use and the lift runs reliably.

More information: meiller-aufzugtueren.de