Company Announcement - At the Hannover fair, SKF demonstrated its Sliding Door Damper whose unique design ensures that heavy sliding doors are brought to a halt safely and smoothly. SKF has developed a revolutionary design of damping system that brings heavy sliding doors to a smooth close. The Sliding Door Damper incorporates two gas springs and an oil damper, ensuring that doors up to 400kg in weight can quickly be brought to a soft, safe final position– almost no matter how hard they are closed. As well as acting as a brake, the SDD also positions the door in its closed position.

“Now it is possible to close heavy sliding doors completely without bouncing.” says Hans Intelmann, head of product design at SKF Group company HAHN Gasfedern. The design is a vast improvement on existing systems, which tend to use a single air-gas-oil spring, and are limited to doors up to 100kg in weight. Existing comparable products for heavier doors are often bulky, expensive and require an electrical or hydraulic connection.

The new product combines three separate functions: regressive braking; cushioned docking; and gentle closing. It decelerates the linear motion of doors, windows and even heavy drawers until they reach a defined end position. The SDD is mounted to the sliding door, and consists of a longitudinal section with a floating piston at each end – plus a damper piston that runs in oil. Both ends of the SDD are filled with gas which makes an oil leakage almost impossible. A hook is connected to the piston rod of the damping element. As the door is pushed shut, it engages the hook, which unlocks the pre-stressed damping element. The door’s momentum pulls on the piston rod, causing the damping piston to brake in the oil. It comes to a gentle halt when it presses against the air spring at the ‘closed’ end.

The SDD is designed in four different sizes, each with a different casing length. This allows the concept to handle doors ranging from 60 up to 400kg. The smallest model, the ‘Soft Close’ 04-12, is the first to launch: it has a casing length of 315mm and can handle door weights of 60-100kg. It is aimed at manufacturers of furniture and furniture fittings. At the top end, the 08-23 model will have a casing length of 480mm and a capability of 200-400kg door weights.

The SDD is likely to be used in a range of sliding door structures, such as barn doors, room partitions and French windows. SKF sees opportunities with manufacturers and wholesalers of sliding doors, furniture and construction fittings. The Sliding Door Damper is among a series of innovations that SKF showcased at Hannover fair.