Hingeless Door System for Pressure Vessels

Abstract

A hingeless door system for a pressure vessel; especially, aeronautic and astronautic crafts. The door system has the following major components: a contour in a pressure vessel wall, a doorway opening, a seal, an upper track, a lower track and a door. The door translocates laterally along the tracks from an open position to a closing position and moves radailly along the tracks to a sealing position against the contour which closes the door opening. The problem solved by the invention is to reduce weight, operational volume and complexity and increase durability of a door system for pressure vessel.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A hingeless door system for a pressure vessel having a wall that partitions a pressurizable internal space from an external environment comprised of:
 a. a contour in the wall on the internal side of the wall that forms a retaining surface capable of conformingly receiving an exterior engaging surface of a door;   b. a doorway opening that goes through the retaining surface and wall to allow for passage between the internal space and the external environment;   c. a pair of spaced-apart, oppositely opposed tracks mounted to the pressure vessel in tangential proximity to the doorway opening, where each of said tracks is comprised of:
 i. an inner guide wall; 
 ii. a running surface which mates to the inner guide wall with a section of said running surface opposite the doorway opening having an outward extension adapted to be approximately flush with the retaining surface such that a door can move radially on the outward extension between a sealed position and an unsealed position, where the track is of sufficient length such that a door can move transversely between an unsealed position and an ingressable-egressable door position; and 
   d. a door delimited by an outer edge that has an exterior engaging surface that conforms to the retaining surface and has at least one member with the capabilities of running along the running surfaces and moving radially on the outward extension that is movably mounted between the running surfaces on the opposing tracks; and   e. a seal having a mounting selected from the group consisting of a mounting on the retaining surface that circumscribes the doorway opening and a mounting on the exterior engaging surface of the door delimited by the outer edge, so as to be capable of forming an airtight engagement with an exterior engaging surface of a door.   
     
     
         2 . The hingeless door system of  claim 1  where the retaining surface has a concave-like configuration and the exterior engaging surface has a convex-like configuration. 
     
     
         3 . The hingeless door system of  claim 1  where the door is circular. 
     
     
         4 . The hingeless door system of  claim 1  where a track is positioned so that the running surface is proximal to the internal side of the wall such that the internal side of the wall opposes the inner guide wall to form a channel with the inner guide wall. 
     
     
         5 . The hingeless door system of  claim 1  where the tracks are arcuate. 
     
     
         6 . The hingeless door system of  claim 5  where the radii of the arcuate tracks are about the same. 
     
     
         7 . The hingeless door system of  claim 5  where the radius of one arcuate track is greater than the radius of the other arcuate track. 
     
     
         8 . The hingeless door system of  claim 1  where the seal is a strip seal. 
     
     
         9 . A hingeless door system for a pressure vessel having a wall that partitions a pressurizable internal space from an external environment comprised of:
 a. a contour in the internal side of the wall that forms a retaining surface having a concave-like configuration capable of conformingly receiving an exterior engaging surface having a convex-like configuration of a door;   b. a circular doorway opening that goes through the retaining surface and wall to allow for passage between the internal space and the external environment;   c. a strip seal mounted to the retaining surface that circumscribes the doorway opening so as to be capable of forming an airtight engagement with an exterior engaging surface having a convex-like configuration of a door;   d. a pair of oppositely opposed arcuate tracks mounted to the pressure vessel in diametrically spaced apart parallel arrangement in tangential proximity to the doorway opening, where each of said tracks is comprised of:
 i. an inner guide wall; 
 ii. a running surface which mates to the inner guide wall having an outward extension adapted to be approximately flush with the retaining surface having a concave-like configuration such that a door can move radially on the outward extension between a sealed position and an unsealed position, where the track is of sufficient length such that a door can move transversely between an unsealed position and an ingressable-egressable position; and 
   e. a circular door delimited by a rounded outer edge that has an exterior engaging surface having a convex-like configuration that conforms to the retaining surface having a concave-like configuration that hermetically engages the strip seal where the circular door is movably mounted between the running surfaces on the opposing tracks such that the rounded outer edge runs on the running surface and moves radially on the outward extension,   whereby when the circular door is in the sealed position and the internal space is pressurized, the exterior engaging surface having a convex-like configuration of the circular door hermetically seals against the strip seal and the circular door remains in said place so long as the internal space is pressurized.   
     
     
         10 . The hingeless door system of  claim 9  where a track is positioned so that the running surface is proximal to the internal side of the wall such that the internal side of the wall opposes the inner guide wall to form a channel with the inner guide wall. 
     
     
         11 . The hingeless door system of  claim 9  where the radii of the arcuate tracks are about the same. 
     
     
         12 . The hingeless door system of  claim 9  where the radius of one arcuate track is greater than the radius of the other arcuate track. 
     
     
         13 . A hingeless door system kit for a pressure vessel having a wall with a doorway opening that is outfitable having a retaining surface and usable with a door with an exterior engaging surface comprised of:
 a. a first track having a running surface and a guide wall which mates to the running surface with a section of said running surface positionable opposite the doorway opening having an outward extension adapted to be approximately flush with the retaining surface where the track is of sufficient length for the movement of a door running along said running surface between an unsealed position alignable with the doorway opening and an ingressable-egressable position not aligned with the doorway opening;   b. a second track having a running surface and a guide wall which mates to the running surface with a section of said running surface positionable opposite the doorway opening having an outward extension adapted to be approximately flushable with the retaining surface where the track is of sufficient length for the movement of a door running along said running surface between an unsealed position alignable with the doorway opening and an ingressable-egressable position not aligned with the doorway opening; and   c. a seal that is configurable to be mounted on a mounting selected from the group consisting of a mounting on a retaining surface with a doorway opening so as to circumscribe the doorway opening and a mounting on the exterior engaging surface of a door with an outer edge so as delimit the outer edge.   
     
     
         14 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 13  where the first track and second track are arcuate. 
     
     
         15 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 14  where the radius of the first arcuate track is about the same as the radius of the second arcuate track. 
     
     
         16 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 14  where the radius of the first arcuate track is greater than the radius of the second arcuate track. 
     
     
         17 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 13  where the seal is a strip seal. 
     
     
         18 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 13  further comprising a door having an exterior engaging surface. 
     
     
         19 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 18  where the door has circular shape and a convex-like surface for conformingly contacting the retaining surface having a concave-like configuration. 
     
     
         20 . A hingeless door system kit for a pressure vessel having a wall with a doorway opening that is outfitable with a retaining surface having a concave-like configuration and usable with a door with an exterior engaging surface having a convex-like configuration comprised of:
 a. a first arcuate track having a running surface and a guide wall which mates to the running surface with a section of said running surface positionable opposite the doorway opening having an outward extension adapted to be approximately flush with the retaining surface having a concave-like configuration where the track is of sufficient length for the movement of a door running along said running surface between an unsealed position alignable with the doorway opening and an ingressable-egressable position not aligned with the doorway opening;   b. a second arcuate track having a running surface and a guide wall which mates to the running surface with a section of said running surface positionable opposite the doorway opening having an outward extension adapted to be approximately flushable with the retaining surface having a concave-like configuration where the track is of sufficient length for the movement of a door running along said running surface between an unsealed position alignable with the doorway opening and an ingressable-egressable position not aligned with the doorway opening; and   c. a strip seal that is configurable to be mounted on a retaining surface having a concave-like configuration so as to circumscribe a doorway opening in said surface.   
     
     
         21 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 20  where the radius of the first arcuate track is about the same as the radius of the second arcuate track. 
     
     
         22 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 20  where the radius of the first arcuate track is greater than the radius of the second arcuate track. 
     
     
         23 . The hingeless door system kit of  claim 20  further comprising a door that has circular shape and an exterior engaging surface with a convex-like configuration for conformingly contacting the retaining surface having a concave-like configuration.