Management Information System: Automatic Doors

Have you ever wondered how do automatic doors know when to open? You went to shopping mall and your hands are full of bags of groceries and your need to put down all your groceries to open the door. Suddenly the doors open by itself as it is like a magic!

What’s going on here? Is something mystic at work? Or is there a ghost standing nearby opening the doors for people leaving the supermarket? Would you believe it is pure science and technology?

The doors known as automatic doors technically open and close with the help of simple technology not magic. Automatic doors are one of the best modern inventions. All we have to do is walk up to the door and it magically open for us. An automatic door is a closing or opening structure that is used to an entrance through the use of automated technology. Doors consist of many types for instance swinging, rotating and sliding.

The primary purpose of automatic doors is to allow for objects to pass through an area. Automatic doors also are used to control the physical atmosphere such as blocking wind from entering the building or acting as a noise barrier. Besides, some automatic doors have locking mechanisms that automatically open the door when a card is scanned or by scanning a fingerprint.

Have you ever wondered how these automatic doors are able to magically detect you and open the door just as you approach it?

Automatic doors have many useful purposes. It can be found in many different types of places. From supermarket to airports and many types of large buildings, automatic doors make it easier for people to get into and out of buildings. Automatic doors operate with the help of sensors. They are many different types of sensors that can sense different types of things such as sound, light, weight and motion. Most automatic doors use motion detection or optical sensors to activate the closing or opening mechanism. The sensors are installed at the sides of the door to track motion. Automatic door sensors are used in industrial and commercial environments to allow easy access to a building especially for disabled people. This makes entry to a building safer and more efficient.

One type of sensor is the pressure sensor. Automatic doors that use a pressure sensor have a large area that is placed in front and behind the building. The large area acts a weighing scale. If the weight limit that is set, then the door will open. Pressure sensors can also be used as secondary sensor. If the primary sensor were to fail, then the pressure sensor will activate.

Another type of sensor is the infra-red sensor. Infra-red sensors are usually used as the primary sensor in automatic door system. Infra-red sensor use infra-red technology to open automatic doors. The infra-red sensors are able to detect a change in temperature. When the sensors detect a temperature that is warmer, it will activate the opening and closing mechanism of the door.

Similar to resolving doors, automatic doors also help to save energy since they limit the amount of time that doors are open to only those times people are entering or exiting a building. If you have ever shopped until your hands are full of bags, you know how handy automatic doors can be when it is time to head to the car.