Patent Application
20220104615
The present invention relates to an automated shelf assembly. More particularly, the present invention relates to a motor operated automated storage system for cabinets or racks that raises or lowers storage shelves maintaining an optimal height and is provided with a shelf guide mechanism for movement of the shelves between an extended position and a retracted position.
Shelves are flat, horizontal and dense devices used for items that are displayed or stored in a home, business, store, or elsewhere. Shelves are raised off the floor and often anchored to a wall, supported on its shorter length sides by brackets, or otherwise anchored to cabinetry by brackets, dowels, screws, or nails. The items can include paper files such as files and books, etc. According to the purposes and based on the items stored, the shelves can be divided into archive shelves, book shelves, accounting shelves, case shelves, and storage shelves. The emergence of dense shelves eased the long-standing problem of warehouse tension and improved storage conditions. In order to retrieve items stored on the shelves high up in the cabinet, a user needs to stand preciously on a ladder or on a stool or a like. This practice is dangerous, especially for children, elderly and for physically challenged people.
To overcome this problem, the shelves are provided with pull down assemblies. Generally, these assemblies lower the shelves using inherently complicated mechanism. The mechanism uses biasing members, linkage mechanisms and/or pulleys. Some of the shelf assemblies are costly. Also to reach the assembly can also be a challenge sometimes.
Following are some of the attempts made to design shelf assemblies in order to provide automatic guide mechanisms.
JP2002096907A provides a trackless motor shelf that relates to an electric movable rack, and more particularly to a rail less electric movable rack whose wheels directly move on a floor without using rails. A pair of rail-shaped guides are arranged in parallel along a traveling direction at intervals from a back face of the moving shelf single body. A pair of front and rear axles orthogonally crossing a moving shelf single body traveling direction are provided by at least one pairs on a back face side and a front side, and the axles on the front side and axles on the back face side are driven by each of different electric motors.
JP2017043461A provides a moving rack device and control method of moving rack device that relates to a movable shelf apparatus having a movable shelf movable on a floor surface in a facility and a control method of the movable shelf apparatus. Before the movement of moving racks, it is confirmed whether or not an obstacle exists about the whole of an inter-rack passage which is opened to a front side of the moving racks in a forward direction by the determination of the detection of the existence of the obstacle in a pre-movement detection range by an obstacle sensor, and after a start of the movement.
CN209543442U provides an unmanned shelf replenishment system that relates to a product sales management system based on a two-dimensional code.
Although, there are a number of solutions in the form of the automatic shelf assemblies, none of them are operated using a mobile phone or remote. Although, some of the prior existing assemblies attempt to create an automatic shelf with a guide mechanism, but those solution fails to meet the user's requirement. In the view of above prior art, it can be understood that many automatic assemblies have been designed in an attempt to provide a similar solution, however they are complex, expensive, and inefficient.
In the light of foregoing, there is need for an automatic pull-down shelf assembly that overcomes problems prevalent in the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic pull-down shelf assembly that uses simple guide mechanism wherein the user is able to bring the shelves close to them using either a button, or a command given on an operating device such as mobile phone. It is allowed to increase or decrease number of shelves as per height required at an extended position.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic pull-down shelf assembly that reduces human effort and can be easily and safely operated by children, elderly and physically challenged people.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic pull-down shelf assembly configured to limit the extension of the shelf assembly beyond an extended position.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic pull-down shelf assembly which is reliable, cost efficient, durable and compact.
Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic pull-down shelf assembly, wherein optionally the assembly can be easily installed within an existing cabinet.
It is an object of the present invention to use a switch or computer/mobile phone to control the movement of the shelves.
It is an object of the present invention that a person can remotely control the operation of the shelves using a piece of software or an app running on the operating device.
Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.
So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may have been referred by embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. These and other features, benefits, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following text figure, with like reference numbers referring to like structures across the views, wherein:
Some embodiments, illustrating its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any methods, and systems similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments, the preferred methods, and systems are now described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary.
The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, several materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The various features and embodiments of the present invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying figures, namely
A shelf is a flat, horizontal and dense devices used for items that are displayed or stored in a home, business, store, or elsewhere. The present invention provides an automatic pull-down shelf assembly. The assembly uses a simple guide mechanism that allows a user to increase or decrease a number of shelves as per height required at an extended position. The assembly reduces the human efforts and can be easily and safely operated by children, elderly and physically challenged people. The assembly provides a provision to limit the extension of a shelf assembly beyond an extended position. The assembly is reliable, cost efficient, durable and compact. The assembly can be easily installed with existing article storing cabinets. The assembly can also be built into new racks or cabinets.
From herein afterwards the assembly is referred as the assembly (100). Referring now to the
The cabinet (101) is mounted to a rigid surface. Generally, the cabinet is anchored to a wall. The shelves (102) are movably configured inside the rack or cabinet. In one embodiment, as shown in
The pair of shelf guide mechanisms (103) are mounted to the shelf (102) as shown in
A power source may be used to provide energy to the assembly (100). The power source may include a battery or a rechargeable battery. In one embodiment, the energy is provided to the assembly (100) using an external power source.
The prime mover (104a) provides a power to the assembly (100). More specifically, the power provided to the assembly (100) is a rotary power. The prime mover (104a) is an AC motor or a DC motor.
Referring now to the
The transition mechanism (104) receives the motion from the prime mover (104a). The transition mechanism receives a rotary motion from the prime mover (104a) and converts the received rotary motion into a linear motion. The transition mechanism (104) is connected to the connecting member (105) as shown in
The mounting plate (106) is fixed to the rack or cabinet (101) as shown in
Referring further to the
Referring further to the
The pivotal arm (111) is pivotally fixed to the mounting plate (106) at a pivotal end. The pivotal arm (111) is fixed to the shelves (102) at a pivot arm distal end. The pivotal arm (111) is rotatable about a pivotal axis. The horizontal arm (109) and the pivotal arm (111) allow the shelves (102) to move in and out.
Referring now to the
When the operating device (114) is operated in the first manner, the prime mover (104a) rotates in a first direction. The first direction is a clockwise direction or an anticlockwise direction. The prime mover (104a) thereby allows the transition mechanism (104) to move the connecting member (105) from the bottom position to the top position. Further, the moving of the connecting member (105) from the bottom position to the top position enables the assembly (100) to move from the extended position to the retracted position. At the retracted position, the vertical arm (108) is extended outside the first bracket (107) and the horizontal arm (109) is retracted inside the second bracket (110) in order to move the shelves (102) in the rack or cabinet (101). The retraction of the horizontal arm (109) moves the pivotal arm (111) closure towards the connecting member (105) in order to push the shelf (102) up inside the rack or cabinet (101). Therefore, at the retracted position, the shelves (102) are pushed up inside the rack or cabinet (101) as shown in the
Similarly, when the operating device (114) is operated in the second manner, the prime mover (104a) rotates in a second direction. The second direction is the anticlockwise direction or the clockwise direction. The prime mover (104a) thereby allows the transition mechanism (104) to move the connecting member (105) from the top position to the bottom position. Further, the moving of the connecting member (105) from the top position to the bottom position enables the assembly (100) to move from the retracted position to the extended position. At the extended position, the vertical arm (108) is retracted inside the first bracket (107) and the horizontal arm (109) is extended outside the second bracket (110) in order to pull down the shelves (102). The extension of the horizontal arm (109) moves the pivotal arm (111) away from the connecting member (105) in order to pull down the shelf (102) outside the rack or cabinet (101). Therefore, at the retracted position, the shelves (102) are pulled down outside the rack or cabinet (101) as shown in the
In the preferred embodiment, one or more sensors (not seen) are configured for sensing required parameters. The sensors include a proximity sensor and/or a displacement sensor and/or a vision sensor and/or a scanner and/or a position sensor and/or an IR sensor and/or a UV sensor and/or a vibration sensor. In a given example, the position sensor senses the position of the shelves (102). The displacement sensor senses the displacement of the shelves (102) when pushed inside the rack or cabinet (101) or pulled outside the rack or cabinet (101). The vision sensor may be a camera or a thermal camera that captures the images or records a video of one or more articles kept on the shelves (102) and stored in the rack or cabinet (101). The vibration sensor senses a vibration generated while moving the shelf (102). It is known to a person ordinary skilled in the art to configure known sensors within the assembly (100). The sensors send the sensed data to the controller.
The controller is a controller or a processor or a microcontroller or a microcomputer or a microprocessor. The controller receives a command for pulling down or pushing up the shelves (102) from the user using the operating device (114) through a communication module. The communication module is a wired communication module or a wireless communication module. The well-known wireless communication modules are a radio frequency, a Wi-Fi, an internet and a Bluetooth. After receiving the command, the controller enables the assembly (100) to move from the retracted position to the extended position or vice versa by controlling the energy supplied by the prime mover (104a).
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention as shown in
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention as shown in
In another alternative embodiment of the present invention as shown in
In yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention, the prime mover (104a) includes a hydraulic mover or a pneumatic mover or a hydro-pneumatic mover or a magnetic mover or an electromagnetic mover or a like. The prime mover (104a) is directly used to move the connecting member (105) between the top and the bottom position by providing a linear motion to the connecting member (105).
In one more alternative embodiment, the assembly (100) is provided with the plurality of cameras (116), as shown in
In a given example as shown in
In one more example, the cabinet or rack (101) is a refrigerator cabinet (not shown). The refrigerator cabinet is provided with the shelf guide mechanism (103) that pushes up and pulls down a freezer shelves upon receiving command via the operating device (114).
In another example, the cabinet or rack (101) is a garage cabinet (not shown). The garage cabinet is provided with the shelf guide mechanism (103) that pushes up and pulls down tool shelves upon receiving command via the operating device (114).
In another example (not shown), the cabinet or rack can have one or more linear actuators that bring the shelf out of the cabinet and multiple linear actuators that can bring the shelf down near the user.
The present invention has an advantage of providing the automatic pull-down shelf assembly (100). The assembly (100) uses the simple shelf guide mechanism (103) that allows the user to increase or decrease the number of shelves (102) as per height required at the extended position. The assembly (100) reduces the human efforts and can be easily and safely operated by children, elderly and physically challenged persons. The assembly (100) provides a provision to limit an extension of the shelf assembly (100) beyond an extended position. The assembly (100) is reliable, cost efficient, durable and compact. The assembly (100) can be easily installed with existing article storing racks or cabinets.
It should be understood according to the preceding description of the present invention that the same is susceptible to changes, modifications and adaptations, and that the said changes, modifications and adaptations fall within scope of the appended claims.
