Practical Door Dictionary for High Performance Doors (Get on the same page with door industry lingo)
Over the years, individual high-performance door manufacturers invented their own terminology related to high performance door components. To improve the effectiveness of industry standards, reduce confusion and to educate interested parties unrelated to the door industry, in 2018, DASMA members created a High-Performance Door Terminology list.
Our Door Dictionary for High-Performance Doors expands upon the industry terms list created by DASMA members, and we’ve added a few more we feel are worth including.
Whether you’re a newbie or veteran of the door industry, we hope you’ll find this information relevant to your everyday work in the field.
Start scrolling now and see if you learn something new!
A
Activation Device: Any device used to initiate operation.
Astragal: A compressible or deformable seal provided on the leading edge of the door.
Using laser technology, Hörmann’s Widescan sensor as a single device functions as an activation, and for area surveillance and safety.
B
Backing Plates (also known as Crush Plates): Bearing plates provided where doors are mounted on wall units with hollow cells to accommodate through-wall bolts to prevent crushing of the hollow wall.
Backup Electric Operation: Any door with a motor operator and an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) capable of opening and/or closing the door while facility line power is off.
Barrel Assembly Roll (also known as Pipe Shaft and Roll Tube): A cylindrical horizontal member at the head of the opening that supports the door curtain.
Bottom Bar (also known as Bottom Beam): A reinforcing member at the lower edge of the door curtain assembly. It shall be provided with an astragal or sensing edge.
Bottom Beam (also known as Bottom Bar): A reinforcing member at the lower edge of the door curtain assembly. It shall be provided with an astragal or sensing edge.
Bottom Edge: A compressible or deformable seal provided on the leading edge of the door.
Between Jamb Mounted: Type of mounting where the guides are positioned between the mounting surfaces and not on the surface (interior or exterior) of the wall.
Brackets: Plates bolted to the wall or to extensions of the guide wall angles that serve to support the barrel and form end closures for the hood.
Brush Seals: Term used to refer generically to the use of brush filament material as a weather-seal.
Brush Weather-Stripping: Weather-stripping for use on all configurations of doors to close the gaps at jambs and header.
C
Chain Hoist: A mechanical device to assist in raising and lowering the door by use of hand chain.
Coiling Door: A roll-up door that rolls the door panel vertically around a shaft or roll-tube.
Control Panel: An enclosure that houses electrical controls.
Corrosion Resistant Door Components: For use in corrosive environments such as waste management and composting facilities, these components resist degradation and include: EPDM rubber door panel, finishes such as zinc dichromate, aluminum, 304 or 316 stainless steel, and epoxy paint.
Counterbalancing (also known as Spring Counterbalance): A method by which the hanging weight of the door curtain is balanced by springs or weights.
Counterweights: Weights within the guide tracks that help balance the hanging weight of the door curtain.
Crush Plates (also known as Backing Plates): Bearing plates provided where doors are mounted on wall units with hollow cells to accommodate through-wall bolts to prevent crushing of the hollow wall.
Curtain (also known as Door Panel): Industrial fabric door panel or slats assembled together to close off the door opening.
Curtain Slats (also known as Slats): Formed or extruded members that form the door curtain.
Cycle: An action on the door from the fully closed position to the fully open position and returned to the fully closed position or reverses to the fully open position.
D
Direct-Drive: Directly drives a load without transmission components, such as gears, pulleys, or chains.
Door Opening: The clear open width and height.
Door Panel (also known as Curtain): Industrial fabric door panel or slats assembled together to close off the door opening.
Drive Shaft: The shaft in the barrel that is securely attached to the barrel, through welding or pinning. When this shaft rotates the barrel should also rotate.
Drive System: A powered mechanism that opens and closes a door.
E
Electric Sensor Edge: A device added to the leading edge of a power operated door, which stops or reverses the door curtain or panel upon contact with an obstruction when closing under power.
Electric Sensing Edge: An electrical astragal enclosed with two parallel foils. When bottom of closing door touches an obstruction, the foils close an electric circuit to signal the operator to stop or stop-and-reverse the door.
Emergency Electric Operation: Any door with a motor operator and an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) capable of opening and/or closing the door while facility line power is off.
Emergency Release Device: Permits emergency manual operation of the door without electrical power to open.
Endlock: A component that is attached to curtain to prevent curtain from shifting laterally.
Exterior Hood: A protective covering for a barrel assembly.
Exterior Mounted: Condition where door is mounted on exterior surface exposed to weather and wind load.
Exterior mounted doors almost always require an exterior hood.
F
Fabric Clear Area: Minimum distance between any obstructions required to prevent fabric wear.
Face of Wall Mounting: Door mounting where guides mount directly to wall, and side and header clearances are allowed.
Fascia: Metal closure for the back of door housing.
G
Guide Rail: Vertical assembly, fastened to the jamb, in which the curtain travels and which retains the edges of the door curtain and closes the space between the curtain edges and the jamb.
Guide Track: Vertical assembly, fastened to the jamb, in which the curtain travels and which retains the edges of the door curtain and closes the space between the curtain edges and the jamb
Gussets: Support brackets.
H
Hand of Operation: The side on which the door operator is placed, as viewed from the barrel side of the door. It is either a RH or LH operation.
Headplates: Plates bolted to the wall or to extensions of the guide wall angles that serve to support the barrel and form end closures for the hood.
Header Seal: Weather-stripping mounted to opening header to seal the opening between header and curtain.
Headroom: Amount of clear unobstructed space above the door lintel or header.
High Performance Door: A power-operated rolling, folding, or sliding non-residential door, generally characterized by either 100 or more cycles per day or 20 or more inches per second opening speed, and typically made-to-order and/or designed for higher durability, and/or designed to break away due to equipment impact.
High Speed Door: A type of high-performance door with a minimum opening rate of 32 inches per second and a minimum closing rate of 24 inches per second.
Hood: A housing that mounts horizontally, serving as an enclosure for the door header.
High-speed door models are available for use in specific environments such as food processing and clean rooms.
I
Inertia Brake: A unit that is attached to the door shaft and headplate or wall, which will stop the door from free falling should there be a failure in the motor operator brake, roller chain drive or torsion spring assembly. When the shaft is moving at a certain RPM the unit will lock up the shaft, preventing it from moving until door can be repaired.
J
Jamb: The vertical member that frames the side of an opening in the wall.
Jamb Angle: An angle of the guide assembly, which attaches to the face of wall and supports the load of the door assembly.
Jamb Load: Force exerted on jamb by guide assembly when curtain is subjected to wind load.
L
Leading Edge: The front edge of the door relative to its closing movement.
Light Curtain (also known as Light Grid): A series of light beams that shine across the doorway width and when a beam is interrupted, the door automatically reverses.
Light Grid (also known as Light Curtain): A series of light beams that shine across the doorway width and when a beam is interrupted, the door automatically reverses.
Lintel: A horizontal member spanning and carrying the load above an opening.
M
Manual Override: Means of operating a door by manual operation in case of power loss.
Manual Release Device: Device that allows manual operation of the door without electric power to open.
Motor Cover (also known as Motor Shroud): Cover to protect the motor from exterior weather, debris, or to meet OSHA safety requirements.
Motor Shroud (also known as Motor Cover): Cover to protect the motor from exterior weather, debris, or to meet OSHA safety requirements.
O
Operator: A powered mechanism that opens and closes a door.
Optical Type Sensing Edge: Astragal enclosing a tube with a light emitting transmitter at one end and a detector at the other end. When IR source is obstructed, the operator will stop or stop-and- reverse the door.
P
Panel: Assembly that closes off the door opening.
Perforated Slats (also known as Ventilated Slats): A curtain with holes or slots in slats to allow air infiltration.
Perforated slats are an option on some rigid high-performance door models. Also called ventilated slats, they are popular choice for doors installed in parking garages to promote air circulation.
Photoelectric Eye (also known as Photoelectric Sensor): A sensor that consists of a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device. If the beam of light is blocked by an obstruction, the sensor signals the operator to stop and/or reverse.
Photoelectric Sensor (also known as Photoelectric Eye): A sensor that consists of a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device. If the beam of light is blocked by an obstruction, the sensor signals the operator to stop and/or reverse.
Pipe Shaft (also known as Barrel Assembly and Roll Tube): A cylindrical horizontal member at the head of the opening that supports the door curtain.
Pneumatic Sensing Edge: An air hose installed inside the astragal and connected to a diaphragm switch, to signal the operator to stop or stop-and-reverse the door.
R
Reversing Edge (also known as Sensing Edge or Stop Edge): A device added to the leading edge of a power operated door, which stops or reverses the door curtain or panel upon contact with an obstruction when closing under power.
R-Value: Evaluates thermal resistance as measured through the center of a door section.
R-Value only evaluates thermal resistance as measured through the center of a door section. The higher the R-value, the better the insulation. U-Factor is a more comprehensive measure of thermal performance. U-Factor measures the rate of heat transfer from the warmer side to the colder side, through the complete door assembly including the solid panels, windows, and perimeter.
Removable Mullion: A combined guide assembly joining two adjacent doors, grilles, or shutters where center guide is removable to expose a full opening width.
Roll Hood: A housing that mounts horizontally, serving as an enclosure for the door header.
Roll Tube (also known as Barrel Assembly and Pipe Shaft): A cylindrical horizontal member at the head of the opening that supports the door curtain.
Rubber Door: An industrial roll-up door available for extra-large openings and with a panel constructed of SBR (styrene butadiene rubber), or EPDM rubber (ethylene propylene diene monomer) or MSHA self-extinguishing rubber (Mine Safety and Health Administration approved).
Rubber doors are suited for extreme industrial locations such as waste management, waste composting and mining.
S
Self-Supported Header: Head support member supported by jambs.
Sensing Edge (also known as Stop Edge or Reversing Edge): A device added to the leading edge of a power operated door, which stops or reverses the door curtain or panel upon contact with an obstruction when closing under power.
Side Frame: Vertical assembly, fastened to the jamb, in which the curtain travels and which retains the edges of the door curtain and closes the space between the curtain edges and the jamb.
Side Jamb (also known as Wall Angle): An angle of the guide assembly, which attaches to the face of wall and supports the load of the door assembly.
Sideroom: Required unobstructed space on either side of the opening.
Shroud: Cover or hood at side frame and header.
Slats (also known as Curtain Slats): Formed or extruded members that form the door curtain.
Insulated curtain slats help maintain a more controlled environment on openings between the building interior and exterior.
Sloped Bottom Bar: Tapered or angled leading edge to match sloped ground at a door opening. The sloped bottom bar will hang into opening on the low side unless the door height is increased and door curtain is raised to have sloped bottom edge clear opening when door is open.
Spiral Door: The door panel is not wound on a shaft or tube, but instead rolled into a spiral-shaped guide that prevents the panel from rolling around on itself.
Spring Cycle Life: Spring counterbalance is designed for a fixed number of cycles.
Spring Counterbalance (also known as Counterbalancing): A method by which the hanging weight of the door curtain is balanced by springs or weights.
Stop Edge (also known as Sensing Edge or Reversing Edge): A device added to the leading edge of a power operated door, which stops or reverses the door curtain or panel upon contact with an obstruction when closing under power.
Stops: Bars mounted at top of guides to prevent bottom bar from traveling out of the guides when the curtain is fully raised.
Swing-Up Mullion: A combined guide assembly joining two adjacent doors where center guide is hinged and motorized to lift up and out of the way, to expose a full opening width when both doors are open.
T
Torsion Spring: A spring in a counterbalance assembly, used to counterbalance the curtain.
U
U-Factor: Measurement of both conduction (the transfer of heat through a material or substance) and convection (heat transfer through air movement). U-Factor measures the rate of heat transfer from the warmer side to the colder side, through the complete door assembly including the solid panels, windows, and perimeter.
V
Variable Frequency Drive (VFD): A type of AC motor drive (system incorporating a motor) that controls speed and torque by varying the frequency of the input electricity to provide ‘soft-start’ and ‘soft-stop’ functionality.
Ventilated Slats (also known as Perforated Slats): A curtain with holes or slots in slats to allow air infiltration.
Vision Panel: Cutout in a door, glazed with clear plastic or glass.
Fabric high-performance doors often have full-width vision panels to maximize visibility through the opening and make it easier for motorized and pedestrian traffic to move through the area safely.
W
Wall Angle (also known as Side Jamb): An angle of the guide assembly, which attaches to the face of wall and supports the load of the door assembly.
Wind Bar: Channel, bar, tube, or other material used to stiffen the door panel under wind load.
Wind-lock: A component attached to prevent the curtain from leaving the guides under wind load or a component used to prevent a door from lifting upward under wind load.
We hope our Door Dictionary for High-Performance Doors has inspired you to refresh your knowledge of door industry lingo. For our door dealers, this is fantastic educational tool to include in your new hire packets.
Did you learn anything or were you surprised by the official definition of a term you thought you knew? If we’ve missed any, be sure to let us at pr@hormann.us so we can update the list.