Automatic opening of curtains with your own hands. Automatic roller blinds - types, design and methods of installation of structures. Types and types of roller blinds

A motorized device for controlling curtains means a significant increase in indoor comfort. In addition to the convenience of manipulating curtains, such an electric drive guarantees the highest degree of safety of the curtain complex. This is explained by the fact that the electric drive forces are applied to curtains, runners and guide profiles in the most natural direction - along the line of movement. Such a natural and rational application of effort guarantees the least wear on all components and the same minimum risk of their breakage, especially the runners and hooks.

Do-it-yourself electric drive for curtains - the main components of such a device are covered with a simple screen.

Due to the fact that the drive device requires the placement of a control cable - a cord - transmitting force to the runners, such electrically controlled curtains can be made when used ceiling cornices. The control cord can be hidden in one of the cavities of the eaves profile, specially designed for such constructive solution. It is precisely this profile, designed for curtains with control, that is chosen by home handyman to implement your plans.

Some home craftsmen also install an electric drive for curtains placed on a regular aluminum or even plastic curtain rod. ceiling profile. The fact is that a set of curtains, most often, is installed near a window and in such a place it is quite possible to hide the visible control cord with the help of inconspicuous additional decor.

DIY electric drive

The experience of many craftsmen has shown that the most effective results are independent device electrical control curtains can be achieved using a ready-made window lift drive unit for any car. Here are the main ones technical qualities of this automobile unit, explaining this decision:

The operation of a car window lifter fully corresponds to the nature of the operation of the curtains - it is a reciprocating movement. Accordingly, the design of the window lift drive unit corresponds to the idea of automating the control of curtains
The forces developed by the automobile electric drive are sufficient to control curtains of medium and even heavy weight
The device of such a drive can be improved by the automatic stop used on the car.

The most important thing is that the curtain control cord can be arranged in exactly the same way as the control cable in a car drive. The master is required to solve all related problems, first of all, securely fastening the drive unit to the wall and creating a functional transmission that requires the installation of blocks. Such blocks can also be selected from the complex automotive industry.

It is important that the master is able to competently overcome the main drawback of such an automotive system - power supply from a 12 volt DC source. For the corresponding transforming device, it is best to provide a ventilated niche near the consumer motor, where you can place the necessary relays and a fuse assembly that protects this circuit.

Every year the problem self-made electric drive for curtains is becoming less and less acute. Many manufacturers of electromechanical equipment offer new and new models of electric drives for curtains. Nowadays DIY electric drive for roller blinds increasingly means good choice manufacturer and supplier of such a device.

The do-it-yourself tradition, fashionable in the West, is supported by many manufacturers of electric drives that are designed for amateur installation and connection. The buyer only needs to select and . When these structures are installed in place, you can choose the most suitable one for them. power plant with remote control.

Drive equipment is available for all types of curtains. Settings for sliding systems, which is not much different from the average level, miniature and quiet models are more expensive - a skilled craftsman can make a choice with high accuracy.

Making roller blinds with your own hands is a task that any home craftsman can perform.

The lifting mechanism used in this design is made in the form of a shaft; raising or lowering the curtains occurs due to its rotation.

Do-it-yourself curtains like this are a simple and interesting task; to complete it, you need to purchase necessary materials and tools.

Usage roll structures with a lifting mechanism in any room can transform it beyond recognition and allow you to solve a wide variety of problems design solutions. But when installing roller blinds, you need to take into account all the nuances, since you can either make the design stylish or completely destroy the design idea.

Roller blinds or blinds are attached directly to the frame or to the window opening; although they look simple, they are no less interesting than expensive curtains or lambrequins.

Rolled structures have convenient lifting mechanism, therefore they have found their application both in offices and apartments.

Advantages of roller blinds

These elements are equipped with a convenient lifting mechanism; they can be used independently or together with other window design elements. This design can be installed on both plastic and wooden windows. They cover the window tightly and are easy to care for.

This design has a simple lifting mechanism, so it does not break down when using such curtains. At correct installation they allow you to completely darken the room, there is a wide choice of colors.

Some people confuse Roman and roller blinds. They are similar in their own way appearance, but Roman blinds are assembled using a system of cords, and roller blinds have a lifting mechanism in the form of a rod, which rotates and is located at the top of the structure.

Types and types of roller blinds

The shaft design can be open or closed; an electric motor can be used to easily control the curtains.

Roller structures can be with or without cassettes, attic or in the form of roller blinds. According to the control principle, they can be adjusted manually using a chain or electrically. Such designs are distinguished by the material used, this can be the most different types fabrics.

Features of creating roll structures with your own hands

Let's look at an example of creating such a design with your own hands, in which the roll will be located at the bottom, and the canvas is fixed at the desired height using tapes.

First, measurements are taken of the window on which the specified curtain will be attached. The fabric width should be larger specified size by 2-4 cm, the length should be 5-15 cm longer. Depending on the room in which you will install this design, make a choice of fabric and its pattern.

To work you will need:

two pieces of fabric of the required size;
ribbons that will be used as garters, they should be twice as long as the curtains + 30 cm;
a wooden beam or pipe for fastening, their width should be 1 cm less than the width of the curtain; you can purchase a ready-made cassette system;
rod or bar for weighting;
screwdriver and screws;
stapler;
thread, needle.

Work order

We fold two pieces of fabric with the wrong side and sew them on three sides, after which we turn the resulting bag inside out. Now you need to insert the weighting material, or you can make a special pocket for it.

Iron the finished fabric and use a stapler to nail it to wooden block If a pipe is used, the fabric is wrapped around it and stitched. The garters are folded in half and also fixed to the bar using staples. After this, we attach the beam to the window frame.

The top of the timber needs to be decorated. If you plan to remove the curtain, you can attach it to special hooks. For mounting on plastic window you need to use double-sided tape. Making roller structures is a fascinating process; you don’t need any special knowledge or materials for this, and as a result you will get a beautifully designed window.

In this article I will talk about the design of an automatic curtain drive installed on my balcony. There we grow flowers that are harmed by direct sunlight. In addition, in the summer, if the balcony windows are closed, with direct sunlight the air on the balcony quickly overheats. However, when there is no direct light, it is advisable to open the curtains - the shadow also does not contribute to the growth of flowers. Therefore, to maintain acceptable illumination on the balcony, I automated the operation of the curtains.

Mechanics

The curtains were originally already on the balcony. There are two of them, both suspended on a metal cable stretched under the ceiling from one wall of the balcony to the other. It is clear that you need to move both curtains at once, and due to the friction of the curtains on the cable (it is quite rough), the required force must be quite large. In addition, sometimes there may be obstacles in the path of the curtains, for example, a slightly open balcony window, which further increases the strength requirements.
Thus, the drive must be sufficiently powerful and reliable - on the balcony it often happens high humidity, quite a large temperature difference between winter and summer is possible. Therefore, I based the drive on a car window lift drive. It has sufficient power, is capable of producing high torque (it has a built-in worm gear) and is very reliable.

The mechanical diagram of the drive is shown below:

More details about the design. A plastic roller with a groove is attached to the window lift drive shaft (on the left in the diagram), on which a turn of rope is wound. The drive is mounted on one of the walls of the balcony. A similar roller is attached to the opposite wall, through which a rope is also thrown.
After this, the rope is tensioned so that the friction of the rope on the drive roller is enough to move the curtains. The opposite ends of each curtain are attached to a rope so that when the motor rotates, the curtain moves or moves apart.

To test the operation of the drive, I made a smaller model of it. The window lift drive and the independent roller were mounted on a board, a rope was pulled between them, after which it was possible to check the operation of the electronics and measure the force developed by the drive.

Photo of the drive itself on the layout:

As can be seen from the photo, a fairly large thin plate is attached to the window lift drive (I used textolite). A metal corner with two holes is attached to it, through which a rope is passed. It is needed so that the turn of the rope on the roller does not get tangled; for this purpose, the holes in the corner are made at different heights relative to the plate.
To the right of the corner are limit switches needed to stop the curtains in their extreme positions. In order to indicate these positions, two plastic tubes are put on the rope (only one of them is visible in the photo next to the bottom switch). The tubes are arranged so that when the curtain reaches its extreme position, one of them presses the switch, and for reliable pressing, it is attached next to each of the switches. metal plate, which presses the tube to the switch.
Three metal posts attached to the plate are needed to secure the drive cover.
Both rope rollers are made from furniture wheels. Using a drill and a file, you need to make a groove in each of them; two turns of rope should fit in the groove of the drive roller. The drive roller is attached to the shaft by tension, and the hole in it had to be bored out to a square one, since the drive shaft is square.
The drive is attached to the wall of the balcony using suitable furniture corners (one of them is visible in the photo on the left). There are enough mounting holes in the window lift drive, so there are no problems with fastening.

View of the drive already attached to the wall and covered with a lid:

In order to tension the rope, a special screw with a nut is used, to which the ends of the rope are attached:

The end of one of the curtains is also attached to it.

Electronics

All my electronics are divided into two parts - power and control. Main task power section - providing power to the drive motor. The power window drive can draw very high current. To reduce this current, I reduced the drive supply voltage to 5 volts, but even so, the maximum current consumed by the motor can reach up to 3A. To provide such a current, I used a printer power supply capable of delivering a voltage of about 30V and a current of up to 0.7A, as well as a DC-DC converter of up to 5V. By lowering the voltage, DC-DC is quite capable of delivering the required current.
Motor power control is carried out using a powerful relay designed to change the polarity of the signal, and a MOSFET that controls the voltage supply to the motor. Thanks to the use of MOSFETs, it is possible to control the rotation speed of the motor, but this feature is not currently used.
Also installed on the power section are stabilizers designed to power the control electronics and the engine power control circuit. The stabilizers are powered from a lower voltage circuit of the power supply, the voltage there does not exceed 12V.

Power circuit diagram

The control electronics are represented by the STM8S microcontroller. The controller performs quite a lot of functions - measuring illumination, making a decision about starting the drive, monitoring the position of the curtains using limit switches, controlling the power supply of the drive, controlling the drive in manual mode- according to remote control commands. In addition, a radio module based on NRF24L01 and a 1-Wire bus are connected to the controller, through which three temperature sensors are connected. Using the radio module, you can control the drive and read temperature values at different points on the balcony and on the street, however, at the moment the second radio module is connected only to the breadboard, so I will not consider this functionality further.

The printer power supply used has an input for switching it to Stand-by state. I also use it, which reduces the energy consumption of the structure. The program takes into account that the power supply switches to operating mode with a certain delay, and after 30 seconds of inactivity of the drive, the power supply again switches to Stand-by mode.

Indication of drive operation using a three-color LED (only blue and red diodes are used). Blue lights up when voltage is applied to the motor, red starts flashing periodically if there are errors in the drive operation. The number of flashes allows you to determine the error number.
For audible signaling of certain events (for example, when a closing command is given, closed curtains) the drive motor itself is used. A PWM signal with a small duty cycle is supplied to it, as a result of which the engine beeps quite loudly.

Control circuit diagram

A photoresistor attached to the window with a suction cup is used as a light sensor. Since the suction cup may fall off the window, there is a small button next to the photoresistor. While the suction cup is held on the window, the button is pressed against the window. If the suction cup falls off, automatic operation drive stops and the red diode starts flashing. If the sensor is not connected to the connector, this is also detected by the controller.
Type of light sensor:

Since the illumination of the sensor can change sharply - due to various flashes on the street, partly cloudy weather - the data from the sensor has to be filtered. I have implemented the following processing algorithm: data from the sensor is digitized at a frequency of 10 Hz and written to an array. Once a second, the value of this array is averaged (primarily this is needed to filter out noise and flashes). Next, the resulting values are added to another array of 600 elements; after reaching the end of the array, recording begins from the beginning. Also, this array is analyzed every second - the controller calculates what percentage of the array elements is less than a certain threshold (with increasing illumination, the voltage at the output of the photosensor drops). If the values of more than 66% of the elements are less than a given threshold, then it is considered that the illumination is high enough and the curtains can be closed. In this way, periodic changes in illumination are filtered. At the same time, a limitation is also imposed on the operating frequency of the drive - in automatic mode, the motor turns on no more than once every ten minutes.

As I mentioned above, it is possible to control the curtains from the remote control. Using the remote control, you can fully open and close the curtains, partially open them, and start the drive based on the instantaneous illumination value. When controlled from the remote control, there are no restrictions on the operating frequency of the drive.
It is also possible to programmatically reboot the controller.
When moving the curtains, the controller monitors the state of the limit switches. If, after starting to move, the corresponding switch does not operate within 20 seconds, the engine stops working. To continue operation of the drive after eliminating the malfunction, you just need to reboot the controller.

All electronics are installed in a standard plastic housing:

One of the switches is needed to switch the electronics to automatic operation mode, the second allows you to completely turn off the power to the motor.
Using 3.5mm Jack sockets, a light sensor, TSOP for receiving data from the remote control, and external temperature sensors are connected to the device.
The LED is covered with a white cap so it can be seen from any angle.

View of the assembled and installed electronics unit:

Video of the drive operation (control from the remote control):

In this article I will talk about the design of an automatic curtain drive installed on my balcony. There we grow flowers that are harmed by direct sunlight. In addition, in the summer, if the balcony windows are closed, in direct sunlight the air on the balcony quickly overheats. However, when there is no direct light, it is advisable to open the curtains - the shadow also does not contribute to the growth of flowers. Therefore, to maintain acceptable illumination on the balcony, I automated the operation of the curtains.

Mechanics

The curtains were originally already on the balcony. There are two of them, both suspended on a metal cable stretched under the ceiling from one wall of the balcony to the other. It is clear that you need to move both curtains at once, and due to the friction of the curtains on the cable (it is quite rough), the required force must be quite large. In addition, sometimes there may be obstacles in the path of the curtains, for example, a slightly open balcony window, which further increases the strength requirements.
Thus, the drive must be quite powerful and reliable - there is often high humidity on the balcony, and a fairly large temperature difference is possible in winter and summer. Therefore, I based the drive on a car window lift drive. It has sufficient power, is capable of producing high torque (it has a built-in worm gear) and is very reliable.

The mechanical diagram of the drive is shown below:
More details about the design. A plastic roller with a groove is attached to the window lift drive shaft (on the left in the diagram), on which a turn of rope is wound. The drive is mounted on one of the walls of the balcony. A similar roller is attached to the opposite wall, through which a rope is also thrown.
After this, the rope is tensioned so that the friction of the rope on the drive roller is enough to move the curtains. The opposite ends of each curtain are attached to a rope so that when the motor rotates, the curtain moves or moves apart.

Photo of the drive itself on the layout:

As can be seen from the photo, a fairly large thin plate is attached to the window lift drive (I used textolite). A metal corner with two holes is attached to it, through which a rope is passed. This is necessary so that the turn of the rope on the roller does not get tangled; for this purpose, the holes in the corner are made at different heights relative to the plate.
To the right of the corner are limit switches needed to stop the curtains in their extreme positions. In order to indicate these positions, two plastic tubes are put on the rope (only one of them is visible in the photo next to the bottom switch). The tubes are arranged so that when the curtain reaches its extreme position, one of them presses the switch, and for reliable pressing, a metal plate is attached next to each of the switches, which presses the tube to the switch.
Three metal posts attached to the plate are needed to secure the drive cover.
Both rope rollers are made from furniture wheels. Using a drill and a file, you need to make a groove in each of them; two turns of rope should fit in the groove of the drive roller. The drive roller is attached to the shaft by tension, and the hole in it had to be bored out to a square one, since the drive shaft is square.
The drive is attached to the wall of the balcony using suitable furniture corners (one of them is visible in the photo on the left). There are enough mounting holes in the window lift drive, so there are no problems with fastening.

View of the drive already attached to the wall and covered with a lid:

In order to tension the rope, a special screw with a nut is used, to which the ends of the rope are attached:

The end of one of the curtains is also attached to it.

Electronics

All my electronics are divided into two parts - power and control. The main task of the power section is to provide power to the drive motor. The power window drive can draw very high current. To reduce this current, I reduced the drive supply voltage to 5 volts, but even so, the maximum current consumed by the motor can reach up to 3A. To provide such a current, I used a printer power supply capable of delivering a voltage of about 30V and a current of up to 0.7A, as well as a DC-DC converter of up to 5V. By lowering the voltage, DC-DC is quite capable of delivering the required current.
Motor power control is carried out using a powerful relay designed to change the polarity of the signal, and a MOSFET that controls the voltage supply to the motor. Thanks to the use of MOSFETs, it is possible to control the rotation speed of the motor, but this feature is not currently used.
Also installed on the power section are stabilizers designed to power the control electronics and the engine power control circuit. The stabilizers are powered from a lower voltage circuit of the power supply, the voltage there does not exceed 12V.

The control electronics are represented by the STM8S microcontroller. The controller performs quite a lot of functions - measuring illumination, making a decision about starting the drive, monitoring the position of the curtains using limit switches, controlling the power supply of the drive, controlling the drive in manual mode - according to commands from the remote control. In addition, a radio module based on NRF24L01 and a 1-Wire bus are connected to the controller, through which three temperature sensors are connected. Using the radio module, you can control the drive and read temperature values at different points on the balcony and on the street, however, at the moment the second radio module is connected only to the breadboard, so I will not consider this functionality further.

Indication of drive operation using a three-color LED (only blue and red diodes are used). Blue lights up when voltage is applied to the motor, red starts flashing periodically if there are errors in the drive operation. The number of flashes allows you to determine the error number.
For audible signaling of some events (for example, when a command is given to close curtains that are already closed), the drive motor itself is used. A PWM signal with a small duty cycle is supplied to it, as a result of which the engine beeps quite loudly.

A photoresistor attached to the window with a suction cup is used as a light sensor. Since the suction cup may fall off the window, there is a small button next to the photoresistor. While the suction cup is held on the window, the button is pressed against the window. If the suction cup falls off, the automatic operation of the drive stops and the red diode begins to flash. If the sensor is not connected to the connector, this is also detected by the controller.
Type of light sensor:

All electronics are installed in a standard plastic housing:

One of the switches is needed to switch the electronics to automatic operation mode, the second allows you to completely turn off the power to the motor.
Using 3.5mm Jack sockets, a light sensor, TSOP for receiving data from the remote control, and external temperature sensors are connected to the device.
The LED is covered with a white cap so it can be seen from any angle.

View of the assembled and installed electronics unit:

Video of the drive operation (control from the remote control):