This patent application is the US National Phase of and claims priority on and the benefit of International Application No. PCT/EP2019/074300 having an international filing date of 12 Sep. 2019, which claims priority on and the benefit of German Patent Application No. 20 2018 105 280.2 having a filing date of 14 Sep. 2018 and German Patent Application No. 20 2018 106 012.0 having a filing date of 19 Oct. 2018.
The invention relates to a slat system having a slat hanging which comprises a plurality of slats and a shifting apparatus for shifting the slats, the plurality of slats being intercoupled such that they can be moved from a closed position, in which the broad faces of the slats are substantially flush in a plane parallel to an opening and closing direction and narrow faces of adjacent slats face one another, into an open position, in which the broad faces of the slats are in particular parallel to one another but not parallel to the opening and closing direction, by means of the shifting apparatus and by the slats being shifted in the opening and closing direction, and the shifting apparatus comprising at least one pulling means which is coupled at one end to the slat hanging, and to a cabinet which comprises a slat system of this type.
Providing cabinets in particular with doors composed of slats is known. One example is the classic Venetian blind, which comprises a sheet consisting of interconnected slats guided in a furniture body. Moreover, a slat system in which the classic Venetian blind sheet is replaced by an arrangement consisting of slats which are guided so as to be mutually parallel and are moved by means of a transmission arrangement arranged on the ends of the slats has previously been established. The latter arrangement in particular has the visual advantage that the entire slat door can essentially be arranged in front of the furniture body. Therefore, no space is lost inside the furniture body for accommodating slats in the open state. A drive motor that actuates the transmission arrangement, which is usually designed as a scissor transmission, is used in order to bring the slat system into the open position or into the closed position.
The problem addressed by the present invention is that of further developing a slat system of the type mentioned at the outset, and of providing a cabinet which does not require a motorized drive.
This problem is solved by a slat system, having a slat hanging which comprises a plurality of slats, said system also having a shifting apparatus for shifting the slats, the plurality of slats being intercoupled such that they can be moved from a closed position, in which the broad faces of the slats are substantially flush in a plane parallel to an opening and closing direction and narrow faces of adjacent slats face one another, into an open position, in which the broad faces of the slats, in particular of each of the slats, are in particular parallel to one another but not parallel to the opening and closing direction, by means of the shifting apparatus and by the slats being shifted in the opening and closing direction; and the shifting apparatus comprising at least one pulling means which is coupled at one end to the slat hanging, characterized in that the slat system further comprises at least one first sheave which is mounted so as to be rotatable about an axis in two directions, to which sheave the other end of the pulling means is fastened, at least one locking means which is designed to block the sheave (23) from rotating in the open position being arranged on the sheave. The problem is further solved by a cabinet comprising a furniture body and a frontal opening and a slat system as disclosed herein, wherein the slats of the slat system are arranged on the cabinet in such a way that, in the closed state, they close the opening of the cabinet. Advantageous embodiments can be found in the respective dependent claims.
The slat system according to the invention has a slat hanging comprising a plurality of slats, and a shifting apparatus for shifting the slats upward. The plurality of slats are intercoupled such that they can be moved from a closed position, in which the broad faces of the slats are substantially flush in a plane parallel to an opening and closing direction and narrow faces of adjacent slats face one another, into an open position by means of the shifting apparatus and by the slats being shifted in the opening and closing direction. In the open position, the broad faces of the slats, in particular of each of the slats, are in particular parallel to one another but not parallel to the opening and closing direction. The shifting apparatus comprises at least one pulling means which is coupled at one end to the slat hanging. The slats can in principle be made of any desired material, preferably of glass or plastics.
According to the invention, the slat system further comprises at least one sheave mounted so as to be rotatable about an axis in two directions. The other end of the pulling means is fastened to said sheave. At least one locking means which is designed to block the sheave from rotating in the open position is arranged on the sheave.
In this way, it is made possible for the slat hanging to be transferred from the closed position into the open position, where it can be fixed in the open position without requiring a self-locking electrical drive motor or similar.
According to one particular embodiment, the slat system according to the invention can comprise at least one first pulling means and one second pulling means. One end of each of the two pulling means is preferably coupled to the slat hanging.
In this embodiment with two pulling means, each pulling means can in particular also be assigned to a sheave. Therefore, in this embodiment, the slat system according to the invention preferably additionally comprises a second sheave mounted so as to be rotatable about an axis in two directions, the other end of the first pulling means being fastened to the first sheave and the other end of the second pulling means being fastened to the second sheave. With two sheaves, heavier hangings in particular can be advantageously moved. Moreover, in this case, when the sheaves are locked in the open position, a lock can be selected in which the two sheaves can reciprocally hold one other in the open position. According to one particular embodiment of the present invention, at least one, in particular magnetic or magnetizable, locking means which is designed to block relative rotation of the sheaves in the open position can therefore be arranged on each sheave.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, one end of the at least one pulling means (for purposes of symmetry, two pulling means can preferably be provided on the two lateral regions of the slat hanging) is connected to a shifting element that is coupled to the slat hanging. This shifting element can be guided, for example, but does not necessarily have to be. Alternatively, the end of the pulling means can also be directly connected to the slat hanging. According to a preferred embodiment, the shifting element is designed as an entraining means which captures the slat hanging at a suitable point and pulls it along.
The slats are preferably coupled to one another by a scissor transmission. In the design comprising a scissor transmission, the slats can in particular be attached to lever extensions, which are arranged on levers of the scissor transmission that are guided parallel to one another, and which project toward a front of the slat hanging. In this way, good restricted guidance of the individual slats can be achieved. Moreover, it is sufficient here for the pulling means to engage on only one part of the scissor transmission. For example, the shifting element can be coupled to, i.e. fixedly connected to or in contact with, the scissor transmission. The pulling means can, for example, be arranged below the lowermost lever of the scissors and connected to the shifting element, and pull the lowermost lever of the scissors along when moving into the open position. A loose coupling has the advantage that the slat hanging can be removed for maintenance purposes without it being necessary to remove the entire shifting assembly.
In order to lock the slat hanging in the open position and/or in the closed position, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the at least one locking means can comprise a magnet and/or a magnetizable, in particular ferromagnetic, material. Of course, other locking means, which should be of the aforementioned nature, are also possible in principle. For example, detent mechanisms or snap mechanisms or the like can of course be used as well. The magnetic variant has the advantage that locking is possible without movement, such that this form of lock will not wear out even if the slat system is opened and closed frequently.
In order to design the slat system according to the invention in an even more flexible manner, the locking means can be designed to be adjustable and in particular fixable in its position on the sheave, in particular by means of a slotted guide system provided in the sheave. In this way, the precise stopping point of the slats in the open position and the closed position can be finely adjusted.
The sheave can furthermore be coupled to a preloading element, in particular a spiral spring. This preloading element can in particular be designed in such a way that the slat hanging is preloaded such that the preloading element assists the movement of the slats into the open position. In this way, it is significantly easier for an operator to manually open a cabinet having the slat system according to the invention.
The invention thus also relates to a cabinet which comprises a furniture body and a frontal opening and a slat system as described above. The slats of the slat system are arranged on the cabinet in such a way that, in the closed state, they close the opening of the cabinet.
On the cabinet according to the invention, an additional counter locking element, as well as the at least one locking means of the sheave, which counter locking element interacts with the locking means of the sheave in order to establish a positional fixing of the slat hanging, can in particular be attached to the furniture body. The sheave is preferably rotatably mounted on the furniture body, in particular on the upper face thereof. According to a preferred embodiment, the aforementioned counter locking element can in particular be attached to an upper face of the cabinet. The counter locking element can comprise a magnetic and/or magnetizable, in particular ferromagnetic, material (as can the locking means on the sheave), such that the locking is brought about by magnetic interaction. Of course, additional locking means can be provided on the sheave or additional counter locking elements can be provided on the furniture body, in particular on an upper face, in particular if fixing the slat hanging in the closed position and/or in an intermediate position is desired.
According to a preferred embodiment of the cabinet according to the invention, the slat hanging is guided, in particular by means of one or two scissor transmissions, in a guiding region of the furniture body on one or both of the lateral walls that delimit the opening. The guiding region can be provided such that it can be inserted into the lateral walls of the furniture body. In this way, a very compact guiding assembly for the slat hanging can be provided.
The aforementioned shifting element can also be shiftably guided in the opening and closing direction in at least one guide that extends parallel to the opening and closing direction. This guide can also be located in the guiding region in which the slat hanging is also guided.
The technology described above comprising the at least one sheave can be used in particular for especially heavy hangings, e.g. in the case of tall cupboards, for additionally attaching a drive motor. In this case, the at least one sheave is mounted on a rotary bearing that is fastened to the upper face. The rotary bearing has a motor connection flange to which a drive motor is fastened. The motor shaft is coupled to the sheave such that the motor can drive the sheave in rotation. In this way, the rotation of the motor shaft is conveyed to the sheave and, due to the resulting torque, greater forces can be conveyed to the pulling means and thus to the hanging. Moreover, the drive can be replaced easily without dismantling the rest of the slat system or the rest of the drive assembly. A particularly maintenance-friendly design can be achieved in this way.
The sheaves used here can have diameters in the range of the body depth of the cabinet.
Advantageously, the axis of rotation of the motor shaft can extend parallel to the axis of rotation of the sheave, and can in particular be identical thereto.
The invention is described in more detail below with reference to
The cabinet 10 shown in more detail in
The cabinet 10 is equipped with a slat system 20 according to the invention, which involves a hanging consisting of slats 21 that closes the opening 16. The slat system can be opened and closed in an opening and closing direction X. In the closed position shown in
The intercoupled slats 21 are coupled, via at least one pulling means 22a and 22b, which is preferably a pulling cord or pulling tape, to a sheave 23 that is mounted so as to be rotatable in two directions P1, P2, the pulling means 22a and 22b being guided over the narrow face of the sheave 23. By raising the hanging consisting of slats 21, for example by engaging a handle (not shown here) in the lower region of the cabinet 10, the slats 21 shown in the closed position in
The coupling of the pulling means 22a, 22b to the sheave 23 and the locking of the sheave 23 are explained in more detail with reference to
At least in the open position, the hanging formed by the slats 21 should not move back into the closed position by itself as a result of gravitational force. A lock which, at least in the open position, locks the sheave 23 with respect to the upper face 14 of the cabinet 10 is provided for this purpose. A magnet 24 or at least a magnetic material is also fixed to the upper face. A corresponding counter element 25 which is either magnetic or at least magnetizable is located on the sheave 23. Other locks are also possible, of course. If the hanging consisting of slats 21 is opened, the sheave having the element 25 enters the working region of the magnet 24 such that a mutual magnetic attraction which holds the sheave 23 in place and locks it with respect to the upper face 14, where the magnetic interaction is strongest, is brought about between these two elements 24, 25. For fine adjustment, an adjustment slot 25a or an adjustment device in general can also be provided on the sheave 23 in the circumferential direction for adjusting the element 25 on the sheave 23.
If the hanging consisting of slats 21 is to be transferred from the open position back into the closed position, the user pulls on the hanging consisting of slats 21 (for example using an aforementioned handle), and thus releases the lock by overcoming the magnetic force or other force exerted by the lock, or by unlatching a latch or the like. The hanging can thus be pulled back into the closed position by an operator.
For this purpose, it can be useful to use a preloading element which preloads the sheave 23. This element is preferably held such that a preload is built up when the hanging moves back into the closed position. This has the advantage that the downward movement of the hanging consisting of slats 21 is slowed down or attenuated so that the hanging does not strike a stop forcefully in the stop position, for example. This preload can also be used to assist the muscle power of the operator that would otherwise be applied against gravitational force when opening the hanging. A spiral spring which is mounted about the axis of rotation A and arranged in the region of the rotary disk 23 is preferably used as the preloading element. Of course, other preloading elements are also possible in principle.
While one end of the pulling means 22a, 22b is fastened to the sheave 23, the other end of the pulling means engages on the slat system 20 so as to raise said system during opening and slow down said system during closing. The pulling means can be directly connected to the slats 21 or the drive apparatus 30 thereof. In the example shown in
In this way, a corresponding hanging consisting of slats 21 can be manually moved from an open position into a closed position, and vice-versa, using a relatively simple system. If a preloading element is used, this kind of adjustment is convenient and can protect the hanging consisting of slats 21 from damage.
The embodiment shown in
In order to support or lock the hanging in the closed position, a magnet can be arranged in or on the base 16, and at least the last slat of the hanging, i.e. the lowermost slat or the slat that is closest to the base 16 in the closed position, can have a magnetic or magnetizable component in all embodiments. In the closed position, as a result of the magnetic interaction between the base 16 of the cabinet 10 and the last slat, said slat is pulled toward the base 16. Of course, the magnetic component or the magnet can also be provided in or on the last slat, in which case a counter element that interacts with this magnet is correspondingly located on the base, for example a magnetic or magnetizable component or a correspondingly polarized magnet.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202018105280.2 | Sep 2018 | DE | national |
202018106012.0 | Oct 2018 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2019/074300 | 9/12/2019 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2020/053320 | 3/19/2020 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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9637964 | Kun | May 2017 | B1 |
9637966 | Kun | May 2017 | B1 |
20170183901 | Kun | Jun 2017 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
202016106223 | Mar 2018 | DE |
202019105632 | Feb 2021 | DE |
202020103730 | Nov 2021 | DE |
1516997 | Mar 2005 | EP |
Entry |
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WIPO, International Search Report (on the priority application), Oct. 22, 2019. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210340811 A1 | Nov 2021 | US |