The invention concerns a piece of furniture, in particular a cabinet unit, with a furniture body comprising sidewalls, a bottom as well as a top wall, that is closable and openable by means of a folding door arrangement comprising at least two folding door elements that, in an opening process of the folding door arrangement, are pivotable toward each other about a horizontal pivot axis and, in a closing process of the folding door arrangement, are pivotable about the horizontal pivot axis away from each other, wherein the at least two folding door elements during the course of their opening pivot movement are movably guided along vertically oriented sliding guides and transferable into a raised, substantially horizontally oriented, intermediate open position from where they are movable translatorily by a horizontally oriented movement along horizontal guides into their open end position inside the furniture body.
Pieces of furniture, in particular cabinet units such as upper hanging cabinets for kitchens have in general doors that are pivotable about vertically oriented axes which, after the transfer into their open position, project into the kitchen space and thereby present an obstacle for operating persons.
Moreover, it is known to pivot doors of such cabinets upwardly about a horizontal axis by a pivot movement, wherein, in their open position, they also project into the kitchen space but in a raised position so that they present no obstacle for short persons but they still present an obstacle for tall persons.
In addition, cabinets with folding doors are known that comprise folding door elements pivotable about horizontally oriented axes which can be pivoted toward each other for an opening movement and away from each other for a closing movement. DE 1925314 A discloses such a cabinet unit with two folding door elements, pivotably connected to each other, whose lower folding door element has guide members which engage in vertically oriented sliding guides, provided at the front inner sides of the sidewalls of the furniture body, and slide upwardly in vertical direction into an intermediate open position during the pivot movement of the folding door elements toward each other. In doing so, the lower folding door element pivots towards the upper one so that they are substantially horizontally oriented in the intermediate open position. From this intermediate open position, the folding door elements pivoted toward each other can be displaced as a package into the cabinet interior so that they are positioned therein in their open position in an upper stowage compartment of the furniture body. The vertical guides pass in the upper area into horizontal guides wherein, in the assumed open end position of the folding door elements, the latter remain visible from the viewing side of the piece of furniture. The force expenditure that is required for opening the folding door elements makes this construction of the cabinet difficult to handle, in particular because in the intermediate open position the folding door elements, due to their size, require an increased force expenditure in order to maintain them in a horizontal position in order to be able to subsequently move them horizontally.
It is the object of the present invention to further develop a piece of furniture, in particular a cabinet unit of the aforementioned kind, such that the folding door elements can be transferred with reduced force and operating expenditure from the closed position into the open end position.
As a solution to this object, the piece of furniture of the aforementioned kind is characterized in that the at least two folding door elements are movable by a first motor drive into their raised intermediate open position and from the intermediate open position are movable into the open end position by a second motor drive.
In this way, a piece of furniture is made available in which by means of the first motor drive the at least two folding door elements can be transferred from their closed position into the raised intermediate open position. This can be realized without additional manual force expenditure because the first motor drive must only take care of pivoting the at least two folding elements toward each other and of transferring the at least two folding elements from their closed position into their vertically raised and substantially horizontally oriented intermediate open position. Two drive motors as first motor drive can be provided which are synchronized with each other. It is however also possible to accomplish this with only one drive motor and to transfer its drive force to both sides of the lower folding door element, for example, of the at least two folding door elements, for example, by pulling means such as, for example, cable pulls with associated cable drum. When the two folding door elements have reached their intermediate open position, the second motor drive takes over the further drive action and the movement process of the at least two folding door elements from the intermediate open position into the open end position in which the at least two folding door elements are to be placed safely into the interior of the furniture body. In this context, the parts can also be configured and arranged such that the first motor drive together with the folding door elements is transferred by the second motor drive also into an end position in which it is positioned behind the two folding door elements in the interior of the furniture body.
It is particularly preferred when not only two folding door elements are provided but three so that the folding door elements with respect to their height dimension in the respective closed position can be designed smaller so that even taller cabinet units with a limited cabinet depth can also be furnished with electrically driven folding door elements. In this context, preferably the basic configuration of the at least two folding door elements is identical.
They can also comprise four-bar linkage arrangements by means of which they can be pivoted wherein a simple joint can be provided between the two folding door elements. The four-bar linkage arrangement associated with the lower folding door element of the at least two folding door elements or the two four-bar linkage arrangements on both sides of the lower folding door element are in this context preferably arranged on a guide body that can glide in corresponding vertical guides and on which the pulling means engages. It can comprise a further carrier on which respectively a connecting element of the third folding door element engages that during the opening movement is entrained by the motor and by the lower folding door element into the intermediate open position in which the third folding door element has not yet been pivoted. Only upon moving the at least two folding door elements that have been pivoted toward each other farther into the furniture body, the third folding door element is moved automatically toward the second folding door element by the second motor drive. For this purpose, guides or another suitable control element can be provided in order to assist this pivot movement of the third folding door element to the second folding door element. Thus, during the horizontal translatory movement of the at least two folding door elements, the third folding door element is successively pivoted onto the second folding door element so that, in the end position of the three folding door elements, they are positioned as a package inside the furniture body.
Another configuration provides that the first motor drive is movable by means of the second motor drive by means of the horizontal guides into a rearward end position in the furniture body and into a forward operating position in the furniture body. In this context, it is also provided that the first motor drive ensures that the folding door elements are transferred into the intermediate open position and the second motor drive then transfers the first motor drive and a package of folding door elements into the rearward end position whereupon the folding door elements together with the motor drives are positioned inside the furniture body interior.
This can be realized in this further embodiment variant in a particularly noise-reduced and slip-free configuration in that by means of a pulling element, in particular a pulling cable, the first motor drive and the second motor drive are coupled in a special way such that the second motor drive by means of a pulling means (e.g. pulling cable), embodied quasi continuous, pulls the first motor drive together with the package of the folding door elements by means of the horizontal guides into the rearward end position. For this purpose, preferably a guide pulley, preferably however two guide pulleys, are provided on the second motor drive. The pulling element is held on this guide pulley that is motion-fixedly coupled with the second motor drive and also on the optional second guide pulley on which then a different end of the pulling means (pulling cable) is fastened. The pulling means can be guided from the guide pulley of the second motor drive across a deflection first along the next horizontal guide, associated with the second motor drive, to a forward fastening support that is relatively movable parallel to the first motor drive within the furniture body from the front to the rear and from the rear to the front. For this purpose, the fastening support can be coupled by means of a cross member with the first motor drive. By means of a deflection at this fastening support the pulling element can then extend diagonally through the furniture body (beginning at a position of the fastening support in the front area of the furniture body) and be guided to a rearward deflection where it is again deflected in an orientation parallel to the horizontal guide along which the first motor drive can be guided. Then the pulling element is guided about the first motor drive in order to be able to entrain it. In this context, special guide and/or fastening elements can be provided on the first motor drive. By means of a deflection on the first motor drive, the pulling element with its other end can extend in turn diagonally through the furniture body and in this context cross the already diagonally extending area of the pulling element and be returned to the second motor drive in order to be attached thereat on the guide pulley or a second guide pulley.
Depending on the rotational direction of the second motor drive (clockwise; counterclockwise), one end area of the pulling element can then unwind from the guide pulley that is associated with this end area and the other end area of the pulling element can be moved by the other guide pulley of the second motor drive so as to be wound up. This can be exactly the opposite for a change of the rotational direction of the second motor drive so that the previously wound-on end area is unwound and the previously unwound end area is wound on, wherein in each case with one and the same pulling element a pulling, i.e., winding movement depending on the rotational direction of the second drive can be performed whereby a slip-free movement course is enabled. Depending on in which direction the pulling element is pulling, the first motor drive that pulls the folding door elements into the furniture body is moved into the rear end position or is moved from the rear end position into the front position whereupon the folding door elements again are transferred into their vertical closed position, be it due to their own weight or be it by motor assistance by the first motor drive. The first motor drive, in turn, can ensure by pulling elements (pulling cables) that can be wound up a lifting movement of the folding door elements or in case of three folding door elements at least the upward movement of two folding door elements pivoting toward each other. For this purpose, the first motor drive is preferably provided with a first pulling means and also with a second pulling means that are moved parallel and simultaneously wherein one pulling element engages a lateral area of at least one folding door element and the other pulling means engages the oppositely positioned lateral area.
As a whole, in this way a very noise-reduced slip-free operation with electro-motoric drives of a very small size is provided.
Further advantageous embodiments of the invention result from additional dependent claims, the following description, and the drawing. The drawing shows in:
In
A first motor drive is provided which is provided with reference numeral 11 and a second motor drive 12 which is arranged in the rearward area in a furniture body. The first motor drive 11, which may comprise, for example, an electric motor with a drive shaft, comprises at both sides of the furniture body a cable drum 13 onto which a cable 14.1 can be wound that engages the guide body 9 of the folding door element 3. It is also possible to provide only a centrally arranged cable drum. The first motor drive 11 with its cable drums 13 is guided in horizontal guides 14 by pulleys 15 so that the first motor drive 11 with the cable drums 13 is to be moved in the direction of the second motor drive 12 by the latter with entrainment of the folding door elements 2, 3, and 4. Moreover, a push chain 16 can be seen (partially) in
In
In this context, the push chain 16 also comes into contact with a closure flap 18 which during movement of the upper run of the push chain 16 is moved out of the upper guide 14 to an end stop and there, under the force of gravity, is moved into the position as illustrated in
In the opposite case, at the beginning of a closing movement of the folding door arrangement 1, the closure flap 18 is moved by the opposite movement of the push chain 16 first into its open position whereupon the folding door elements 2, 3, and 4 together with the drive motor 11 are moved out of the interior of the folding door arrangement 1 in order to close the furniture body. This is realized without additional force expenditure by an operating person. The motors can also be activated in automated sequence or by special operating elements.
In
In
Subsequently, by a further deflection 26 it is deflected and extends diagonally across the structural bottom 1.1 to a further deflection 27 which is located thus on the opposite side of the structural bottom 1.1 in the rearward area of the structural bottom 1.1. Here the pulling element is again deflected and extends parallel to the horizontal guide 14 to the left in
When the motor drive 12 moves counterclockwise, the end of the pulling means at 28 is pulled from the guide pulley provided thereat by the second motor drive 12 wherein the first end of the pulling means is unwound from the other pulley.
Accordingly, a continuous winding and unwinding of the respective end of the pulling means with corresponding entrainment of the first motor drives 11, the fastening support 20, and the folding door elements 2, 3, and 4 is provided.
Therefore, depending on the direction of rotation of the second motor drive, a noise-reduced, slip-free movement course of the aforementioned parts is enabled.
In
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2014 018 682.2 | Dec 2014 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2015/002516 | 12/15/2015 | WO | 00 |