A garage door opener is an electronic device which automatically opens and closed garage gates electrically, usually controlled by small switches installed on the garage ceiling. Garage doors are controlled by a trolley attached to the garage door and it has a metal track that rolls along the ceiling in tracks. Most also come with a handheld electronic remote control which is used to open and shut the door manually from a distance.
Some garage door openers are operated through electricity and have separate electrical motors. There are two types of electrical motors – the pneumatic type and the belt drive types. The belt drive type uses pulley and clutch systems in order to increase the rotation speed of the motor. Pneumatic systems are quiet and more reliable than the electric ones. They also produce less noise and have a smoother operation.
Belt drives are basically driven by a counter-weight rod. They are a lot more reliable than the pneumatic garage door opener and produce less noise. When deciding on which type to purchase you should take into account belt drive range, weight, speed and complexity of use. An automatic unit requires more power and thus is heavier. It consumes more battery energy and has a limited operating period. The belt drive model is suitable for lightweight operations where there is no need for much lifting capacity.
The pneumatic garage door opener uses a cylinder which is supported by a shaft. The cylinder is filled with compressed air and has a nozzle at its end, which shoots out the air stream into the tracks of the door. The cylinder also has a trigger at its end which when activated allows the opener to pull up or lower the door. This type of door opener produces a quieter sound and smoother operation.
Torsion springs are another type of garage door opener. They are used on double doors and have a steel coil on the inner surface. The springs compress the spring and produce a smooth movement, which is ideal for high tension applications. This type of mechanism requires an expert technician to maintain it and install it properly. Manual torsion openers can also be installed, if required.
The final type of garage door opener, we will discuss is the intelligent LED (Light Emitting Diode) openers. This model runs on a single LED, producing almost no heat and consumes very little battery power. This model runs silently and has very few limitations. As mentioned earlier, these models run on a single LED and produce almost no heat so are ideal for low-voltage applications.