DK2835076T3

DK2835076T3 - Furniture with a height-adjustable furniture part.

Info

Publication number: DK2835076T3
Application number: DK14174963.0T
Authority: DK
Inventors: Roland Hölzle
Original assignee: Schneider Anton Gmbh & Co Kg
Priority date: 2013-08-07
Filing date: 2014-06-30
Publication date: 2016-04-11
Also published as: EP2835076B1; DE202013103546U1; EP2835076A1

Description

Piece of furniture with a height-adjustable furniture part

The invention relates to a piece of furniture comprising a height-adjustable furniture part, an electric lifting drive for moving the furniture part, at least one contact sensor which is disposed on the lower side of the furniture part and a controller which controls the lifting drive and stops a lowering motion of the furniture part upon actuation of the contact sensor and lifts the furniture part until the contact sensor is released again. FR 2504789 discloses a piece of furniture comprising a height-adjustable furniture part in accordance with the preamble of claim 1.

With respect to kitchens having an electrically operated height-adjustable work surface or work block, it must be ensured that, when the work surface is lowered and contacts an obstacle (e.g. the thighs of a person in a wheelchair), the work surface stops and is immediately lifted again. To this end, an electrical contact switching strip is arranged on the lower side of the work surface, which is actuated from an open into a closed switch position upon contact with an obstacle and thereby closes an electric circuit, upon which the work surface is lifted. As soon as the work surface has been lifted off the obstacle, the switching strip should open again and the work surface should perform a so-called revision ride through the entire lift. If the switching strip remains in its closed switch position despite lifting of the work surface, e.g. since the switching strip is jammed or bent caused by the contact with the obstacle, a revision ride can consequently not be initiated. In fact, the work surface moves up to is upper end position and can no longer be lowered by the operator using the switches of the controller provided for this purpose since no revision ride has taken place.

In contrast thereto, it is the object of the present invention to further develop a piece of furniture of the above-mentioned type such that in case the contact sensor is jammed or bent, the revision ride of the height-adjustable furniture part, which would in principle be necessary, can be omitted.

In accordance with the invention, this object is achieved in that the controller comprises a time delay which, in case the contact sensor has not been released again after a predefined time period after its actuation, deactivates the lifting drive or the controller, in particular disconnects them from a supply voltage. The height-adjustable furniture part is preferably designed as a work surface, a work block or a cabinet element or a shelf element.

In accordance with the invention, in case the contact sensor has not returned into its open switch position and consequently has not signaled release of the obstacle after lapse of the predefined time period during which the furniture part is lifted, the drive or the controller is automatically deactivated e.g. by disconnection from the mains voltage in order to terminate waiting of the controller for a revision ride and prevent further actuation by the operator. Due to power failure protection e.g. mechanical self-locking of the furniture part against automatic lowering, the furniture part then remains in its lifted positon.

In a particularly preferred manner, the predefined time period (e.g. 1 second) corresponds at least to the time period for maximum lift of the height-adjustable furniture part such that the furniture part is located in its upper end position when the lifting drive or the controller are disconnected from the supply voltage. The furniture part then remains in its upper end position.

In accordance with the invention, one single contact switch or a plurality of contact switches are provided which may advantageously be designed as contact switching strip(s).

The controller may furthermore comprise a display which shows that the contact sensor has not been released again after a predefined time period after its actuation.

Further advantages of the invention can be extracted from the description, the claims and the drawing. The features mentioned above and below may be used individually or collectively in arbitrary combination. The embodiment shown and described is not to be understood as an exhaustive enumeration but has exemplary character for describing the invention.

Fig. 1 schematically shows an inventive piece of kitchen furniture comprising a height-adjustable work surface.

The piece of kitchen furniture comprises a stationary furniture body 1 with a height-adjustable work surface 2, an electric lifting drive 3 for moving the work surface 2, a contact sensor 4 e.g. in the form of an electric contact switching strip arranged on the lower side of the work surface 2 and a controller 5 controlling the lift of the lifting drive 3.

When the contact sensor 4 of the work surface 2 comes into contact with an obstacle (e.g. the thighs of a person in a wheelchair) when the work surface is lowered, the contact sensor 4 is actuated from an open into a closed electric switch position. For this reason, an electric circuit of the controller 5 is closed, whereupon the controller stops the lowering motion of the work surface 2 and immediately lifts again the work surface 2 (“reversal of motion”) until the contact sensor 4 is released again. The work surface 2 subsequently performs a so-called revision ride through the entire lift and only thereafter, the operator can move it again using the switches of the controller 5 provided for this purpose.

The controller 5 has a time delay 6 which, in case the contact sensor 4 has not been released again after a predefined time period (e.g. 1 second) after its actuation, e.g. since the contact sensor 4 is jammed or bent caused by the contact with the obstacle, deactivates the lifting drive 3 or the controller 5, in particular disconnects them from a supply voltage 7. This deactivation (“safety shutdown”) terminates waiting of the controller 5 for the revision ride and also prevents further actuation by the operator. Due to power failure protection, e.g. mechanical selflocking of the work surface 2 against automatic lowering, the work surface 2 then remains in its lifted position.

The predefined time period preferably corresponds at least to the time period for a maximum lift of the height-adjustable work surface 2 such that the work surface 2 is always in its upper end position after safety shutdown.

The controller 5 moreover has a display 8 which shows that the contact sensor 4 has not been released again after the predefined time period after its actuation.

The contact sensor 4 may be a direct contact switch which is switched through direct contact with the obstacle, or a non-contact proximity switch.

Claims

1. Furniture provided with a height-adjustable furniture part (2), with an electric lifting drive (3) for displacing the furniture part (2), with at least one contact sensor (4) located on the underside of the furniture (2) and a control device (5) of the lifting drive (3) which, when activating the contact sensor (4), stops the lowering of the furniture part (2) and raises the furniture part (2) until the contact sensor (4) is released again, characterized in that the control device (5) comprises a time delay (6) which, in the event that the contact sensor (4) is not released again after a predefined period of time after its activation, the lifting drive (3) or the control device (5), preferably separated from a supply voltage (7), is deactivated.

Furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that the predefined time period corresponds at least to the time period for a maximum lift of the height-adjustable furniture part (2).

Furniture according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the height-adjustable furniture part (2) is designed as a work table, as a workbench or as cabinet or shelving element.

Furniture according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one contact sensor (4) is designed as a contact switch, in particular designed as a contact switch list.

Furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control device (5) comprises a readout means (8) which shows that the contact sensor (4) has not been released after the predetermined period of time after its activation.