A Swing Door Operator With an Adaptive Safety Zone Automatic Doors That Resize Their Safety Field as They Move

This patent describes the powered mechanism that opens and closes an automatic swing door, with a safety system that changes the size of its protective zone as the door moves. It comes from ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems, a global leader in door and entrance technology.

The Problem

An automatic swing door has to open and close near people without striking them, which is why these doors watch a safety zone in front of the leaf and stop or slow if something is detected there. The trouble is that a fixed safety zone is a poor fit for a swinging door. As the door leaf sweeps through its arc, the area that actually needs protecting shifts and changes shape, and a zone sized for one position may be too large in another, causing nuisance stops, or too small, leaving a gap. Installers also need to set limits appropriate to each site. A safety system that simply uses one fixed zone cannot handle all of this gracefully.

What This Invention Does

The patent sets out a swing door operator with at least one drive unit that moves the door leaf between open and closed, and a control unit connected to that drive and to a first sensor. The sensor identifies objects in front of one side of the leaf, and the control unit reacts to any object detected within a safety zone there. The key idea is that the control unit adapts the size or area of that safety zone based on the swing path of the leaf and the leaf’s current position, so the protected area always matches where the door actually is in its arc. The operator also includes a memory and communication means: the control unit sets a maximum size for the safety zone based on limitation information stored in memory, and that limitation information can be updated through an external connection. This lets the safety behaviour be configured and revised remotely for each installation.

Key Features

• Adaptive safety zone. The protected area changes size and shape as the door swings.
• Position-aware control. Zone adaptation is based on the swing path and the leaf’s current position.
• Object sensing. A sensor identifies objects in front of the leaf so the control unit can react.
• Configurable limits. A maximum zone size is set from limitation information held in memory.
• Remote updates. That limitation information can be changed via an external connection.

Who Is Behind It

The applicant is ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems AB, the entrance automation division of the Swedish ASSA ABLOY group, a worldwide supplier of doors, locks and access solutions. The named inventor is Roger Dreyer.

Why It Matters

Automatic doors are everywhere in shops, hospitals and public buildings, and their safety systems must protect users without constantly false-triggering. A swing door that resizes its safety zone to match its motion can be both safer and less prone to nuisance stops, while remote configuration makes large fleets of doors easier to manage and keep compliant. Protecting the operator in Australia supports the company’s entrance systems business across local commercial and public buildings.

Related Concepts

• Automatic door – the product category this operator drives.
• ASSA ABLOY – the entrance and access technology group behind it.
• Proximity sensor – the kind of sensing used to detect objects near the door.
• Actuator – the drive component that moves the door leaf.
• Functional safety – the engineering discipline behind such protective systems.

---

AU 2026201930 was published in the Australian Official Journal of Patents on 2 April 2026 and is open for public inspection. Patent applications represent inventions that are sought to be protected and do not necessarily reflect commercially available products.