Patent Application
20220125170
The present disclosure relates to sunshades for public spaces and to outside public spaces having such sunshades.
More particularly, the present disclosure concerns sunshades useful to protect people from the sun in public spaces such as, for example, public transportation stations. As used in the present, “public transportation station” means a place where public transportation vehicles regularly stop to let users get on and off the public transportation vehicles. Said public transportation vehicles may be, for example, buses, trams, trolleys, trains, above ground metros, car share stations, micro-mobility stations or similar.
Public transportation stations, such as bus or trolley pick-up and discharge locations, may be equipped with shelters or the like which protect users from bad weather and from the sun. Many public transportation stations, though, are not equipped with shelters, especially in areas having low rainfall or in locations having limited numbers of users, narrow sidewalks or in other spaces which have physical or technical challenges related to the installation of shelters. In these situations, the users waiting for public transportation may be subjected to exposure from the sun, resulting in adverse impacts to their well-being and health.
Similar situations can be found in other public spaces.
One purpose of the present disclosure is to improve this situation.
To this end, one object of the present disclosure is a sunshade for an outdoor public space having a bottom surface, said sunshade including:
The persons present in the public space may thus protect themselves from the sun in the shade created by the sunshade. This protection is made particularly efficient as the pane may be rotated and thus orient the sunshade to provide additional shade as desired. Further, the sunshade can be limited in its horizontal dimension, and thus limit the obstruction, if any, in the public space.
Further embodiments of the sunshade may have one or several of the following features and any combination thereof:
said sunshade further has an inclined wall which extends upwards from substantially said upper end of said pane;
Another object of the present disclosure is an outdoor public space having a sunshade as defined above, said pivotal mount being fixed to the bottom surface and said axis of rotation extending substantially vertically.
In embodiments of the above outside public space, one may further use one or several of the following features and any combination thereof:
Other features and advantages will appear from the following description of several embodiments, given by way of non-limiting examples, with reference to the drawings.
In the drawings:
In the various drawings, the same references designate identical or similar elements.
Outdoor public space 1 may be or include for instance a public transportation station as defined above, for instance a bus station.
The public transportation station may include for instance a signage 4 marking the place of the station for public transportation vehicles to stop.
Outdoor public space 1 includes one or more sunshades 5, for shading users who are waiting for public transportation vehicles at the public transportation station.
Each sunshade 5, as illustrated by
In a variant, pane 6 may let through part of the sunlight, for instance less than 50% of the incident light intensity. In this variant, pane 6 may be made from a structured opaque material having holes which let through part of the sunlight, or from a transparent colored material or from a translucent material.
Pane 6 may be rigidly mounted on a foot 7 which itself is pivotally supported by a pivotal mount 7a fixed to the ground, so that said pane 6 and foot are orientable by rotation about an axis of rotation Z0 which is substantially vertical. In a variant, pane 6 could be orientable and foot 7 could be fixed.
More generally speaking, pane 6 is mounted (directly or indirectly) on a pivotal mount 7a which is fixed (directly or indirectly) to the ground and which is pivotally supporting said pane 6 so that said pane is orientable by rotation about substantially vertical axis of rotation Z0.
Pivotal mount 7a may be installed in the ground, for instance in the sidewalk 2, as shown.
Alternatively, pivotal mount 7a may be adapted to mount pane 6 on a pole which is fixed to the ground, such as a pole from signage 4 or from a lighting or from a pedestrian light or from a bus shelter, etc. Pivotal mount 7a may simply be part of the pole, on which pane 6 is adapted to pivot around axis of rotation Z0.
When pane 6 is mounted on the pole, such pole may guide pane 6 in rotation on all the height of pane 6. For instance, the pole could be fixed and pane 6 could include a tubular coupling fitted on the pole, thus permitting rotation. In that example, the fixed pole constitutes said pivotal mount.
In a variant, pane 6 could be mounted to the pole through bearings mounted on the pole at one or several specific heights to guide pane 6 in rotation.
In one example, pane 6 may be freely rotatable on pivotal mount 7a.
In another example, pivotal mount 7a may include a brake, to brake rotation movements of pane 6 in case of wind for instance and/or to avoid the fall of a user leaning on pane 6.
In still another example pivotal mount 7a may include a brake or lock, to stop rotation movements of pane as long as an actuation member (not shown) is not actuated by a user. Such actuation member might be a pedal or a handle actuatable by a user.
Pivotal mount 7a may also include a mechanism to replace the pane automatically to a predetermined position, for instance a certain time after orientation by a user.
In still another example pivotal mount 7a may include a motorized mechanism as will be explained below with regard to the second embodiment.
Pane 6 is of substantially flat and elongate shape, extending longitudinally, substantially parallel to a vertical axis Z, between a lower end connected to the pivotal mount and an upper end.
The upper end of pane 6 is a free end in the example disclosed in the drawings.
Said upper end of said pane may be at a height H1 comprised between 130 cm and 300 cm above the ground. The lower values of this range are usable especially when the pane is equipped with a seat as will be explained below. In one example of preferred embodiment, said height H1 may be comprised between 180 cm and 250 cm. For instance, height H1 may be of about 210 cm.
The lower end of pane 6 may be at a height of a few tens of centimeters above the ground, for instance 20 to 50 cm, which helps limit the obstruction by sunshade 1 of the sidewalk.
Pane 6 also extends laterally on certain width L parallel to a horizontal axis X. Width L may be comprised between 32 cm and 140 cm, in particular between 50 and 70 cm. For instance, width L may be of about 60 cm.
Rotation axis Z0 may be substantially in the middle of width L.
Pane 6 has also a certain thickness parallel to a second horizontal axis Y perpendicular to axis X. Such thickness may be constant on all the extent of pane 6 (flat pane 6) or not. Pane 6 might have for instance a profiled shape similar to an airplane wing. Typical values for the thickness of pane 6 may be of a few centimeters, for instance 1 to 10 cm. Generally, pane 6 is shaped so that, when considering a horizontal cross-section thereof, its greatest thickness within this horizontal cross-section is smaller than its greatest width.
Sunshade 1 may further have an inclined wall 8 which extends upwards from said upper end of pane 6.
Inclined wall 8 may extend vertically on a height H2 over the upper end of pane 6. H2 may be for instance comprised between 30 and 60 cm. In one example, H2 may be about 45 cm.
Inclined wall 8 may be substantially flat and may form an angle α of for instance 30 to 60 degrees with vertical plane XZ. In one example, angle α may be of about 45 degrees.
Inclined wall 8 has an upper face which, in one example, may be equipped with at least one photovoltaic panel 15.
Pane 6 has a first face 9, adapted to be oriented toward the sun, and a second face 10 opposite to said first face. Said inclined wall 8 extends from said second face.
In one example, first face 9 of pane 6 may bear for instance advertisement or other information, or decoration, or branding, or city public service announcement or additional photovoltaic panel(s) (not shown).
Second face 10 of the pane may have equipment usable by users of the sunshade.
Such equipment may include a seat 11 adapted to support a user sitting on said seat. Seat 11 may be mounted to pane 6, or for instance to foot 7. Seat 11 may be fixed in use position or may be foldable between the use position as shown and a vertical, retracted position (not shown).
In a variant, first face 9 of pane 6 may have an additional seat 11a (
In another example, the above-mentioned equipment of the second face 10 of pane 6 may also include at least one electrical device (in addition or alternatively to seat 11).
In one example, said at least one electrical device may be chosen in the group comprising: a display 13; an electrical charger 14 for mobile electronic devices; an emergency call system (for instance, having a call button, a microphone and a loudspeaker).
The sunshade 5 may also include a lighting 12, for instance in the lower face of inclined wall 8.
The above display 14, or an additional display, could also be located in the lower face of inclined wall 8.
As illustrated in
Said electrical system may include an electronic processing unit 17 (UC) such as a microcontroller or similar unit, which controls electrical devices such as, for example:
The electrical system could also be connected to an external power source (not shown) such as a public electricity network.
Processing unit 17 may be adapted to communicate, via communication interface 18, with remote source of information 20 to retrieve information, and processing unit 17 controls display 13 to display said information.
Said information may include:
In the second embodiment, illustrated by
In the third embodiment, illustrated by
In the fourth embodiment, illustrated by
