Anyone have any experience with the SEES Smooth Operator door opertaor? It seems like a decent product but have no experience with it. Also, seems borderline lawsuit territory considering it is basically a replica of the MOVFR.
In today's day and age. Please please stay clear of using harmonic (link driven) operators, especially on completely new systems. They are just too outdated and unsafe compared to the European style linear operators. This is why other countries have banned their use, except under extreme special case. The US and Canada needs to get with the program. All major companies like Schindler no longer make em. I know it's a lot to read, by please do so if you wanna keep your passengers safe. These outdated operators are more DANGEROUS than one might think.
Yay Schindler for ditching ECI in favor of Fermator and Sematic, which is way better than both SEES and GAL. Reason: GAL and SEES are the last men standing on this, which they should stop doing this because all the others have long stopped, is that they still make those old style mechanical link driven (harmonic) operators, such as MOVFR. They need to stop for many good reasons. These reason are why most other countries have ban the use of such operators. I do agree that GAL makes good linear operators, like MONXT, which is very similar to a Fermator mechanically, but better built. The only drawback is that it's very new to the industry and may still have minor bugs.
Reasons why I absolutely hate mechanical operators:
1. The dangers of the gate switch. They can get inadvertently or intentionally pressed, compromising the safety system. Not all jurisdictions require DLM. Even with DLM, it can still be problematic. The lift could go out of service trapping people on upper floors who can't walk stairs, especially in high-rise apt buildings with only 2 lifts. The new-style linear ones have cabin door interlocks (no gate switch), making such situations impossible. Here's an ex. of what I'm talking about. Being able to spit the door at floor level is also bad. Pranksters are capable of manually separating the doors compromising the lock system, or sticking feet in door at final end of close cycle. This can also happen if a spring or roller is weak and the door strikes an object. This scenario can be dangerous if jumpers are left behind and no DLM installed (especially if interlock release is near gate switch), or case a system shutdown w/DLM (no safety system shall be user compromisable in order to activate a fail-safe system). Non-splitable doors resolve this. Ex. Imagine if a jumper were on that hall lock. PS: The original idea behind splitable doors was, back in the day, there was more moving parts on the door panel, such as push-bar door retractor. With the Euro style, nothing is mounted on the door panel but the feet.
2. With the presence of interlocks, restrictors are no longer necessary. Harmonic operators do not support cab door interlocks and many types of restrictors can easily be disabled/bypassed by mechanics compromising passenger safety. Worse yet, those electronic restrictors like hatch-latch by Adams can fail in the locked position and are prone to sensor misalignment and dead batteries during power failure. These were responsible for many fatalities at WTC on 9/11, where Othis 6940 locks were used. For this reason, they could only be released from cab top. On new installs (especially all glass), no ugly expensive sheet metal is needed between floors.
3. During entrapment, Harmonic operators can become self-locking (operator can move the doors, but doors cannot move operator). This situation requires rescue workers to have to get on the cab top and spin the infamous wheels, this can be problematic in situations where the lift is on the top floor or in the case of a steep drop (i.e train station, garage). Linear door operators never become self-locking. Once interlock is released (can be done at floor or top), door can be manually opened from both floor level and cab top. Also, if lift stalls at floor level, no triangular or drop key is needed due to the spring loaded clutch. All you gotta do is push open the door. See examples below.
Self-locking ex. GAL: Self-locking ex. MAC (0:36): Linear difference:
4. Use of Harmonic operators on full glass door panels is not only more expensive due to construction costs, but a fall hazard for mechanics. Operators propped up on pedestals pose fall hazards for workers due to a steep drop from the operator to the cab top. New-style linear operators eliminate this as clutch is mounted on roller header instead of doors. This also increases installation costs as more overhead is needed. Worse yet, big money has to be spent on ulgy tackly looking sheet metal between the floors. All this is solved by Euro style linears.
These are the main reasons OEM companies stopped producing harmonic operators. They don't want to get hit by lawsuits involving their lower safety record.
Will let you know in a couple of months, we have a mod coming up in which we have one coming. The GAL is so old there is no patients left, so I don't think a lawsuit would gain anything, plus Vantage has GAL so screwed up right now its the least of their concerns.
Get over the nonsense of harmonics are bad. Harmonic operators (GAL ones) are some of the best quality equipment in the US market. Very safe abd very reliable. Linears are good too, but not necessarily better than harmonics. And almost none of those points above are even valid.
Sorry I can't offer a review on the sees one directly
I'm going to have to agree with EE... We work on elevators and our job is inherently dangerous. Movfr2 use to be a tank and out of the box you could put it on just about anything. Granted since vantage took over things have been a little shaky. Linear operators are also good. I really like the Otis glide it's a nice system, comes with good paperwork and super easy to mount. I don't believe that there's one right part for every elevator. I do believe, however, that we shouldn't stop using harmonic door operators in the name of safety when they've been around forever and were/are industry standard. If you bubble wrap the world you end up with idiots who still get hurt because they get complacent and they stop thinking about safety.
