The present invention concerns an arrangement comprising at least two electrical drive units for driving a respective one of at least two drawers mounted movably in a common body of an article of furniture, wherein associated with each drive unit is a measuring device for the detection of a force action exerted on the respective drawer by a user, and at least one control or regulating device for controlling or regulating the drive units, wherein the measurement signals of the measuring device can be fed to the control or regulating device and wherein after receiving the predetermined measurement signal from one of the measuring devices the control or regulating device can trigger the associated drive unit.
Arrangements of that kind frequently encounter the problem that, after triggering of one of the drive units has been effected, by virtue of the vibration triggered by that drive unit, unintentional triggering of other drive units occurs. The reason for this is that the vibration produced by the intentionally triggered drive unit is detected by the measuring devices of other drive units and is wrongly interpreted by the control or regulating device as a wish for actuation, in relation to the other drive units.
The electrical drive units are fixed in operation either directly to a rear wall of the body of the article of furniture or to a common carrier element. To avoid the problem of unintended triggering, the solution now adopted is that of making the rear wall of the furniture body or the common carrier element as rigid as possible. That is disadvantageous however for economic and technical reasons because of the increased weight and the fact that special rear walls or carrier elements have to be used.
The object of the invention is to provide an arrangement which can be fixed to conventional rear walls or carrier elements, while avoiding unintended triggering operations.
That object is attained by an arrangement having the features of claim 1.
The control or regulating unit blocks the other electrical drive units so-to-speak electronically, whereby they can also no longer be triggered by the vibration which occurs in operation of the intentionally triggered drive unit.
Further advantageous configurations are defined in the dependant claims.
By way of example, detection of a force action exerted on the respective drawer by a user can be effected in such a way that at least one of the measuring devices includes a position measuring device which is so arranged that a movement of the associated drawer out of the storage position in the furniture body can be detected by the position measuring device. The movement of the drawer out of the storage position can in that respect be either a movement into the furniture body or a movement out of the furniture body. Preferably the arrangement has both functionalities so that triggering of the drive unit can be effected equally by the drawer being pressed into the body of the article of furniture or by the drawer being moved out of the body of the article of furniture by a predetermined distance.
In that respect it is not absolutely necessary for the movement of the drawer to be measured directly. For example it can be provided that the position measuring device can detect the movement of a part of the drive unit, that is in contact with the associated drawer. That part can be for example an ejection lever of the drive unit, which is biased in the direction of the rear wall of the drawer by suitable means (for example a spring). When the drawer is pushed into the furniture body, the ejection lever is pushed in the direction of the rear wall of the furniture body by the rear wall of the drawer. When the drawer is pulled out of the furniture body somewhat, the ejection lever which is subjected to the mechanical biasing force can move somewhat further away from the rear wall of the furniture body. Both movements can be detected by the position measuring device and signaled to the control or regulating device.
It can admittedly be provided that for each article of furniture a single control or regulating device is responsible for all drive units arranged in the furniture body. A particularly preferred structure however is a modular structure in which each of the drive units has a control or regulating device which is preferably integrated in the housing. In that case it is provided that each of the control or regulating devices can be configured as a master. The other control or regulating devices function as slaves which take their orders from the master.
The invention also concerns an article of furniture comprising a furniture body and at least two drawers which are mounted movably in the furniture body, wherein the article of furniture has an arrangement in accordance with one of the above-described embodiments.
Further advantages and details of the invention will be apparent from the Figures and the related specific description. In the Drawings:
a and 1b show a sectional view of an article of furniture with an arrangement in accordance with the state of the art and a detail view in relation thereto,
a and 2b show the article of furniture shown in
a and 5b show a perspective view of a drive unit according to the invention and the arrangement thereof in a furniture body.
The problems of the arrangements belonging to the state of the art will be briefly described with reference to
a shows an article of furniture 1 with a furniture body 3 in which three drawers 2 are movably mounted. Four drive units 4 are fixed to a common carrier element 5. One of the drive units is shown in
a and 2b show that the application of force by the drive unit 4 to the intentionally triggered drawer 2 causes bending of the common carrier element 5, whereby the ejection lever 7 of the uppermost drive unit 4 moves away from the rear wall 6 of the uppermost drawer 2 by a distance X. That is wrongly interpreted by a control or regulating device (not shown in
a shows a perspective view of a drive unit 4 which has an ejection lever 7 driven by an electric motor, for ejecting a drawer 2.
b shows an article of furniture 1, on the body 3 of which are arranged a plurality of drive units 4 with ejection levers 7.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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A 362/2006 | Mar 2006 | AT | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/AT2007/000093 | Feb 2007 | US |
Child | 12222993 | US |