Patent Application
20230404298
The invention relates to a shielding apparatus for a workstation, consisting of a wall which at least partially surrounds the workstation.
The shielding apparatus according to the invention is provided in particular for open-plan offices and/or open-plan workshops. Noise and a lack of privacy are among the most important causes of workplace dissatisfaction. It has therefore already been attempted several times to make workstations in open-plan offices and open-plan workshops more pleasant for employees.
Lightweight mobile partitions that are set up between the workstations or around a single workstation are a known measure for shielding workstations. Such partitions are however commonly very annoying and often do not have the desired effect.
Furthermore, for open-plan offices and open-plan workshops, sound-insulating cubicles are known into which employees can withdraw when they need to work with increased concentration and without exposure to noise. Such cubicles, which are set up in static form, are relatively cumbersome and require additional set-up space, which is commonly not available or is undesirable. In addition, such cubicles disrupt the design of an elegantly styled open-plan office.
The invention is therefore based on the object of creating a shielding apparatus for a workstation, which shielding apparatus requires only little outlay on apparatus, is not visually disruptive, and can be brought into a suitable position by the individual employee concerned, independently and with little effort.
According to the invention, this object is achieved in that the wall is positioned above the respective workstation, and in that the wall can be lowered in order to shield the workstation when required.
After lowering the wall, the respective employee can work without any disturbing influences from their surroundings, and at the same time they also do not disturb other employees who are working in the immediate vicinity.
The wall used for shielding the workstation is preferably formed as a dome and should, in the lowered state, at least partially shield the workstation from the surroundings.
In a preferred embodiment, the wall is formed closed all around and, in the lowered state, can completely surround the respective workstation.
If the workstation is in a free-standing position, the wall can, for example, be formed as a cylinder, preferably as a circular cylinder.
If the workstation is situated in front of a building wall or in the corner of a room, a half cylinder or a quarter cylinder may suffice.
Depending on requirements, the wall can alternatively also be of another design, for example a cuboid, cube, polygon or the like. Here, the respective shielding apparatuses can be formed closed all around or, in accordance with the respective spatial circumstances, can be formed open to one side.
If the wall used for shielding is closed all around, it is in any case advantageous for this to be designed open to the top or provided with an upper opening in order to ensure adequate air circulation.
In any case, the wall should be produced from a solid material in order to ensure adequate stability during daily use and in order to ensure an adequate service life.
The wall according to the invention should primarily have a sound-deadening action because noise pollution is the main source of disturbance in open-plan offices and open-plan workshops.
In order to achieve this aim, the material of the wall is expediently coated with sound-deadening substances.
For example, the wall can consist of a hard fibre material that is coated on one side, or on both sides, with felt.
Furthermore, the shielding apparatus according to the invention can also be used to improve and augment the workstation. For this purpose, apparatuses for fastening work equipment can expediently be provided on the inside of the wall. For example, a PC workstation that is only occasionally required can be installed as additional equipment on the inside of the wall. Further monitors, displays and holders for other work equipment, and optionally also fastening or suspension means for tools, can also be attached to the inside of the wall.
The wall is preferably suspended under the ceiling on at least one raisable and lowerable cable with a pulley.
Here, the cable can be guided around rollers in the manner of a block and tackle in order to raise and lower the wall, for example if it is of heavy design, with little expenditure of force.
Furthermore, the cable can be equipped with a counterweight for compensating for the weight of the wall in order to spare the respective user from having to exert a greater force.
Alternatively, a spring balancer, which requires only minimal outlay on equipment, can also be used as a pulley.
The pulley is expediently equipped such that it can also be actuated by hand by the respective operating person.
Alternatively, the pulley can self-evidently also be actuated by electric motor, specifically, in particular, if a relatively heavy structure is involved or if easy actuation by the respective user is desired.
In order to make the shielding apparatus according to the invention even more convenient to actuate, the drive unit of the pulley can also be remote-controlled, such that there is no need for laborious handling by the operating person.
The invention is illustrated by way of example in the drawing and described in detail below on the basis of the drawing. There are shown in:
In the embodiment example illustrated in the drawing, the shielding apparatus 1 consists of a wall 3 which is closed all around and has the shape of a cylinder 4.
The cylinder 4 closed all around in the present case is suspended on the ceiling 7 with the aid of cables 8, specifically directly above a workstation 2. The diameter of the cylinder 4 is so large that, in the lowered state, as illustrated in
The cylinder 4 that forms the shielding apparatus 1 is produced from solid and substantially rigid material. The material is selected to have a sound-deadening action. The material of the wall 3 that forms the cylinder 4 can in this case be coated with sound-deadening substances.
In a preferred embodiment example of the shielding apparatus according to the invention, the wall 3 that forms the cylinder 4 consists of a hard fibre material that is coated on one side, or on both sides, with felt.
After the shielding apparatus 1 formed as a cylinder 4 has been lowered, any disturbing ambient noise occurring is substantially eliminated, such that the respective user can work without any disturbing influences from their immediate surroundings.
If the user themselves generates disturbing noise, for example at a workstation 2 in a larger factory hall, then this noise is also deadened when the shielding apparatus 1 has been lowered, also resulting in less disturbance to persons working in the immediate vicinity.
As illustrated in
The embodiments of the shielding apparatus 1 according to the invention illustrated in the drawing are used in particular for shielding a free-standing workstation 2. By contrast, if workstations are installed in front of a building wall, then the wall 3 need merely be formed in the form of a half cylinder. For workstations in the corner of a room, even a cylinder surface that extends through 90° may suffice under certain circumstances.
The shielding apparatus according to the invention is in no way restricted to a cylindrical wall 3. Depending on the given spatial circumstances or the desired design, walls 3 of different design are also possible, for example in the form of cuboids, cubes, polygons etc., which completely surround or only partially shield the respective workstation.
In the case of walls 3 closed all around, for example in the case of a cylinder 4, the top side should be open or should have a relatively large opening 5 in order that no accumulation of air occurs in the shielding apparatus, and good air circulation is ensured.
In the embodiment example illustrated in
In the embodiment example illustrated in
The same applies to the embodiment example as per
This applies similarly to the embodiment as per
Aside from the pulleys 9 shown in
As an alternative to the actuation of the shielding apparatus 1 by hand, the various versions of the pulleys 9 can also be actuated by electric motor. The electric drives of the pulley 9, which are not separately illustrated in the drawing, can if required be remote-controlled by the user.
The apparatus according to the invention is a very pleasant enhancement to any open-plan office or any open-plan workshop. The walls 3 designed as cylinders 4 or in another shape can, as part of an interior design scheme, be furnished in the form of design elements with correspondingly matched colours and patterns. In any case, the at least intermittently attainable noise deadening, and the newly created sense of privacy, should contribute to the satisfaction of the respective employees.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 2020 106 705.2 | Nov 2020 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2021/082630 | 11/23/2021 | WO |
