Example embodiments relate generally to a shelf unit, more specifically to a rotatable gravity feeding shelf unit comprising a shelf arranged on a bracket, which shelf, in a display position when a front side of the shelf is accessible, is arranged having an inclination angle for providing gravity feeding in a forward direction.
Gravity feeding rotatable shelving systems for the purpose of exposing products and articles to customers in stores are known. By providing gravity feeding new articles are transported to the front side of the shelves as a customer purchases an article. To avoid that articles with a certain best-before date, do not get hidden from the customer by means of articles, having better best-before dates, being placed in front of the older articles when refilling the shelf, the gravity feeding shelves are preferably refilled from the rear.
WO 2008/060222 discloses a shelf assembly for displaying articles, which shelf assembly is to be placed in a limited space. The shelf assembly consists of a shelving section with a front and a rear having a plurality of gravity-feeding shelving sections vertically arranged. The shelving section is arranged to be rotatable about an axis of rotation, between a display position in which the front of the shelving sections is accessible, and a refill position in which the rear of the shelving section is accessible.
Although, the shelving assembly above is generally good for providing an efficient refilling of the shelving assembly from the rear, it is limited when it comes to flexibility of refilling. For instance if one article which is displayed on one shelf is more popular than the articles on the other shelves, the whole assembly must be rotated when refilling that specific shelf, which exposes the staff for unnecessary work.
An object of example embodiments is to provide an improved solution for shelves, which can be refilled from behind without suffering from drawbacks indicated in connection with prior art.
More specifically, according to one aspect of example embodiments there is provided a rotatable gravity feeding shelf unit comprising a bracket and a shelf. The shelf, in a display position when a front side of the shelf is accessible, is arranged having an inclination angle for providing gravity feeding in a forward direction. The shelf is rotatably engaged with the bracket. The shelf unit further comprises tilting means arranged for providing tilting of the plane of rotation of the shelf during rotation, thereby controlling the inclination angle of the shelf.
With the present inventive concept a free standing shelf unit is provided which is mountable to a wall or other support structure in a store or warehouse. The shelf unit provides built in functionalities of gravity feeding, providing rotatability of the shelf, and providing control of the inclination angle of the shelf, which is advantageous. Several shelf units may be mounted adjacently (vertically and/or laterally) to provide a shelving system, in which each shelf is individually controlled. Regardless if most of the shelves in the shelving system are not in the need of refilling, when one individual shelf needs to be refilled, that particular shelf is rotated to a refill position. This is advantageous as this is less heavy, and less complicated for the staff as compared to rotating a complete shelving system.
As shelf units according to example embodiments provide individual mounting of shelves in a shelving system, each shelf unit may be individually positioned, vertically, horizontally, and in depth. This is advantageous in that it for instance enables that the floor shelf unit (the shelf unit which is arranged closest to the floor), which may have a poor exposure to the customer, can be positioned with an offset in depth with respect to other shelf units, such that the that floor shelf unit becomes more exposed to the customer.
A further advantage with the shelf unit is that it in addition to providing a simpler, less heavy mounting procedure, which may be done without special tools and by the staff in the store, transport and logistics is simplified as handling of a shelf unit is less heavy, and less complicated than for a prior art rotatable shelving system.
By tilting the plane of rotation of the shelf, the inclination angle is advantageously controlled and may be selected, for instance to be suitable for the refilling of the shelf with a merchandise of a specific weight or bottom side surface friction. When filling the shelf from the rear side of the shelf, which is commonly done with gravity feeding shelves, a too steep inclination of the shelf may result in articles gaining to high speed when sliding towards the front of the shelf, after which they may tip over the front edge.
Further, as the example embodiments concept allows for control of the inclination angle of the shelf, a sloping floor or irregularities in the floor may be compensated for. When mounting the shelf unit in a support structure arranged on the sloping floor, a desired inclination of the shelf can be achieved by slightly rotating the shelf.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, a direction and an amplitude of the tilting during rotation of the shelf between the display position and a refill position, when the shelf is accessible from a rear side, is selected to provide a predetermined inclination angle of the shelf in the refill position. This is advantageous for instance when the tilting of the plane of rotation of the shelf is selected to be in a direction providing a decreased inclination angle of the shelf during rotation from the display position to the refill position, the rear edge of the shelf, which in the display position is positioned vertically higher than the front edge of the shelf for providing gravity feeding, will be lowered. If the shelf is positioned in a vertically limited space, and particularly when being vertically positioned between other shelves having an inclination angle for providing gravity feeding, the total vertical space needed for rotating the shelf will advantageously be decreased. Thus, the vertical packing density of adjacently arranged shelf units in a shelving system may be increased, such that an increased number of shelf units fit into a limited space.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the predetermined inclination angle in the refill position is zero, thereby providing levelling of the shelf, which is advantageous for refilling of e.g. delicate articles which need to be carefully handled, like glass bottles, or tall, thin articles that easily tilt over.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the inclination angle in the display position is at least partly provided by the tilting means. That is, the tilting means may be arranged such that the shelf is provided with an initial (at the display position present) inclination angle, which is advantageous, since then the shelf itself can be of a relatively simple design which facilitates replacing of the shelf etc.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the tilting means is arranged on the bracket, and is a rotatable inclined bracket element having a predetermined bracket angle, onto which the inclined bracket element of the shelf is arranged. The tilting of the plane of rotation is determined by the bracket angle. The bracket angle may be a fixed angle which is determined by the design of the bracket, or may be adjustable.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the tilting means is arranged as a rail whose vertical profile comprises a height difference along the extension of the rail, and a corresponding tracking means arranged for running along the rail. The rail is arranged on the shelf, and the corresponding tracking means is arranged on the bracket, or vice versa. That is, the tracking means may be arranged on the shelf and the rail is arranged on the bracket. This embodiment is advantageous because with the rail, the tilting of the shelf, and thereby the inclination angle of the shelf, can be carefully controlled during the rotation of the shelf.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the tracking means is one of a receiving recess, and at least one roller element, which provide advantageous solutions with respect to manufacturing and cost.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the trail runs along at least part of a circular path, which facilitates the rotation of the shelf.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the height difference of the trail is one of a proportional to the rotation of the shelf, and stepwise during the rotation of the shelf. That is, the control of the inclination angle of the shelf is advantageously controllable in different ways. In some situations, the proportional decrease or increase in inclination angle is applicable, while in other situations, depending on the limitation of space for the rotation of the shelf, a stepwise increase or decrease of the inclination angle is applicable. The solution according to the present inventive concept thus provides a high flexibility.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, at least a portion of the bracket is arranged to tilt during the rotation of the shelf. That is, part of the change in inclination of the shelf comes from tilting the bracket which is advantageous.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the bracket is further arranged for mounting into an existing shelving system, which is highly advantageous. The flexibility of the shelf unit derives from the shelf unit in itself being a freestanding unit. That is it can easily be integrated in an existing shelving system, the bracket provides the fixation to the existing shelving system, but also in itself governs the functionality of the shelf.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the shelf is arranged to rotate about an asymmetrically positioned axis of rotation, which is positioned closer to the front edge of the shelf than to the rear side of the shelf, which facilitates using the shelf unit in a limited space.
According to an example embodiment of the shelf unit, the shelf unit further comprises means for interconnecting the shelf unit with at least one adjacently positioned shelf unit. Thereby, a number of shelf units may be rotated simultaneously, which is advantageous when refilling of a whole section of shelves is needed, e.g. when several shelf units display the same article.
According to another example embodiment, there is provided a shelving system comprising a plurality of adjacently positioned shelf units according to the invention, providing the benefits as described above when discussing the shelf unit. The shelf units may be interconnected.
The invention will now be described in more detail by way of non-limiting embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Equivalent components in the example embodiments have the same reference numerals.
a is a perspective front-side view and 1b-1c are two top views illustrating embodiments of a shelf unit according to an example embodiment;
a-2b show perspective side views of two vertically mounted shelf units according to an example embodiment when both shelf units are in display position, and one shelf unit is in a refill position and one shelf unit is in display position, respectively, and 2c shows a side view of an embodiment of a shelf unit according to an example embodiment;
a is an exploded perspective view of, and 3b shows a detail of embodiments of a shelf unit according to an example embodiment;
a is a partly exploded side view of an embodiment of a shelf unit according to an example embodiment;
a and 5b show side views of an example embodiment of a shelf unit according to an example embodiment in a display position and a refill position, and
a-c illustrate laterally arranged embodiments of a shelf unit according to an example embodiment; and
a-7c are illustrations of an embodiment of a shelving system according to an example embodiment.
According to an example embodiment of a shelf unit 110, described with reference to
The shelf 112 is arranged having an inclination angle α, see
The shelf unit 110 further comprises a bracket 115 onto which the shelf 112 is rotatably arranged to rotate about an axis of rotation. In this exemplifying embodiment the bracket 115 comprises a substantially horizontally arranged rectangular support plate 113. The support plate 113 is along its two side edges engaged with a respective elongated bracket member 111, each of which is arranged with mounting means, here apertures 114 arranged for receiving a screw or bolt for mounting of the bracket 115 to a support structure, like a wall or a shelf chassis.
b) is a top view of the shelf unit 110 being arranged inside a cabinet 140 having a front door 145, to which front door 145 the front side 120 of the shelf unit 110 is facing when the shelf unit 110 is arranged in the display position. The cabinet 140 may be a refrigerator, arranged with a front door 145 or a refrigerator without a front door.
c) is a top view of the shelf unit 110 being mounted to a shelving structure comprising four corner posts 130 onto which the bracket members 111 are mounted. The shelving structure may be an existing shelving structure employing other types of shelves as well, or a shelving structure specifically arranged for employing shelf units according to the present inventive concept. The arrangement of the bracket members 111 and their mounting means 114 is preferably adapted for a specific mounting place, i.e. suitable for the cabinet or other mounting structure of choice.
To continue, in this embodiment the support plate 113 is arranged having a bracket angle β, which angle is illustrated in
As is evidently understood by a man skilled in the art, the bracket members and the mounting means may be designed in numerous forms of execution to fit the specific environment in which the shelf unit is to be mounted, or to meet other requirements like e.g. weight of the shelf when filled, space limitations, existing shelving structures etc. Further, the bracket angle may be provided in other ways, e.g. by a wedge shaped element arranged on the support plate.
In an embodiment of a shelf unit as described with reference to
Alternatively the rotatable disc is arranged as illustrated in
To continue with reference to
a, is a perspective side view of two shelf units 210, 210′ being vertically mounted, i.e. above each other, and being in the display position. It is desirable to pack the articles as close as possible to utilize the space inside e.g. a refrigerator as efficiently as possible, thus a high packing density (both vertically and adjacently, as will be illustrated later) is important. It can be seen in
a is a partly exploded side view to illustrate an embodiment of a shelf unit 410 with substantially the same construction as for the embodiments as described with reference to
In an embodiment of the shelf unit 500, as illustrated in
As explained above, the support plate 513 is thus tiltable about the pivotal connections 516 on the elongated bracket members 511. On an upper surface of the tiltable support plate 513, a rotatable disc 213 according to the description above is fixated. Further, the shelf 512 is arranged on top of the rotatable disc 213.
As illustrated in top views of the shelf unit 500 in
In alternative embodiments of a shelf unit according to the present inventive concept, instead of, or in addition to, the flange, the shelf is provided with a net basket or a suitable box to display articles which are displayed in bulk, like for instance fruit.
To continue, now with reference to
In an alternative embodiment the height difference of the vertical position of the rail is provided as (a smooth) vertical step provided near the second corner of the front side (not shown). In an alternative embodiment the height difference of the vertical position of the rail is adapted to the specific shelf and may be varied for instance in several steps around the circular flange (not shown).
To continue with the embodiment as described with reference to
In an alternative embodiment, the rail is arranged such that the height of the vertical profile is changed proportionally with respect to the extension of the rail. Preferably the trail has a semicircular extension, such that tracking of the rail during rotation of the shelf is facilitated. Further, provided that the tracking means is a protrusion arranged on the bracket such that is engages with the rail, the rail can be arranged as a recess extending along the outer rim of the shelf (not shown).
In an alternative embodiment, the rail can be formed by the edge of the shelf, or the flange of the shelf. In an embodiment when the edge of the shelf is used as rail, the height of the edge is increased during 60 degrees of a total 180 degrees rotation. That is, when rotating the shelf the first 120 degrees, no tilt of the plane of rotation of the shelf is provided, but the last 60 degrees as the shelf is rotated into refill position, the shelf tilts in correspondence with a height difference provided vertical position of the rail, i.e. the edge or flange.
In
Shelf units according to the present inventive concept are applicable for different kinds of shelving systems: open shelving systems, and shelving systems arranged in a limited space, e.g. a refrigerator with doors. The limited space may also consist of a cabinet without doors, or of walls, support structures, or consist of other juxtaposed and/or posteriorly situated shelf assemblies. Also other combinations of shelf assemblies, cabinets and walls constitute conceivable limited spaces, which are not to be excluded by the description.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10187542 | Oct 2010 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2011/067892 | 10/13/2011 | WO | 00 | 2/27/2012 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2012/049249 | 4/19/2012 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country |
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18339 | Jun 2001 | RU |
WO-0160216 | Aug 2001 | WO |
WO-2008060222 | May 2008 | WO |
WO-2010143973 | Dec 2010 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20120193312 A1 | Aug 2012 | US |