US20230404298A1

US20230404298A1 - Shielding apparatus for a workstation

Info

Publication number: US20230404298A1
Application number: US18/038,021
Authority: US
Inventors: Frank Blase
Original assignee: Igus GmbH
Current assignee: Igus GmbH
Priority date: 2020-11-23
Filing date: 2021-11-23
Publication date: 2023-12-21
Also published as: EP4248029A1; WO2022106717A1; DE202020106705U1; JP2024502398A; CN116724161A

Abstract

The invention relates to a shielding apparatus (1) for a workstation (2), which apparatus consists of a wall (3) at least partially surrounding the workstation (2), is only minimally technically complex, is not visually disruptive, and can be brought into a suitable position independently by the individual worker concerned using minimal effort. The apparatus is designed in such a way that the wall (3) is positioned above the workstation (2) in question and the wall (3) can be lowered in order to shield the workstation (2) if required.

Description

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:

FIG. 1 : a workstation with a shielding apparatus suspended above it,

FIG. 2 : the same formation as in FIG. 1 , with the shielding apparatus having been lowered,

FIG. 3 : the shielding apparatus in combination with a pulley in a pulled-upward position,

FIG. 4 : the same formation as in FIG. 3 , with the shielding apparatus having been lowered,

FIG. 5 : a shielding apparatus which is supported by a metal cross,

FIG. 6 : a further variant of the shielding apparatus with a counterweight in the pulley,

FIG. 7 : a further variant of the shielding apparatus, which is held in an upper position with a block and tackle, and

FIG. 8 : the same formation as in FIG. 7 , with the shielding apparatus having been lowered.

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 FIG. 2 , it surrounds the workstation 2 with an adequate spacing.
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 FIGS. 1 and 2 , any desired additional work equipment 6 which is not in constant use and is made available when required by lowering the cylinder 4 can be fastened to the inner wall of the cylinder 4. If the shielding apparatus 1 is used, for example, in open-plan offices, it is possible, where required, for additional monitors and displays to be fastened to the inner wall of the cylinder 4. In open-plan workshops, it is for example possible for various tools to be detachably fastened to the inner surface of the cylinder 4, in particular certain special tools which are not in constant use and are available to the user when the cylinder 4 has been lowered.
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 FIGS. 3 and 4 , the shielding apparatus is again formed as a cylinder 4. Fastened to the upper edge of the cylinder 4 are cables 8 which are connected via fixed rollers 10, which are installed on the ceiling 7, to form a pulley 9, such that the user can themselves lower or move the shielding apparatus upwards as required.
In the embodiment example illustrated in FIG. 5 , the cylinder 4 is suspended on a metal cross 11. The metal cross 11 can then be actuated by the user by hand using the cable 8, which is guided over two rollers 10 that are fixedly installed on the ceiling.
The same applies to the embodiment example as per FIG. 6 , in which a counterweight 12 is fastened to the cable 8, which counterweight compensates for the weight of the cylinder 4 such that the user need not exert greater force in order to actuate the shielding apparatus 1.
This applies similarly to the embodiment as per FIGS. 7 and 8 . In this embodiment example, the shielding apparatus 1 is raised and lowered by means of a pulley which is guided, in the manner of a block and tackle 14, around a fixed roller 10 attached to the ceiling 7 and around two movable rollers 13. In this embodiment example, too, a counterweight 12 for compensating for the weight of the cylinder 4 or of the wall 3 can be provided in the cable 8.
Aside from the pulleys 9 shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 , other pulleys can also be used, for example a spring balancer which is known per se and which is not separately illustrated in the drawing, and in the case of which a spring is tensioned when the cylinder 4 is pulled down, with the cable being wound up with the aid of the spring when the cylinder 4 is pushed upwards.
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.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 Shielding apparatus
2 Workstation
3 Wall
4 Cylinder
5 Upper opening
6 Work equipment
7 Ceiling
8 Cable
9 Pulley
10 Fixed rollers
11 Metal cross
12 Counterweight
13 Movable rollers
14 Block and tackle

Claims

1. A shielding apparatus (1) for a workstation (2), consisting of a wall (3) which at least partially surrounds the workstation (2),

wherein the wall (3) is positioned above the respective workstation (2), and the wall (3) can be lowered in order to shield the workstation (2) when required.

2. The shielding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wall (3) is formed as a dome and, in the lowered state, at least partially shields the workstation (2).

3. The shielding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wall (3) is formed closed all around and, in the lowered state, completely surrounds the workstation (2).

4. The shielding apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the wall (3) is formed as a cylinder (4).

5. The shielding apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the wall is formed as a circular cylinder.

6. The shielding apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the wall (3) is closed all around and is open to the top or has an upper opening (5).

7. The shielding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wall (3) is produced from solid material.

8. The shielding apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the material of the wall (3) is formed to be sound-deadening.

9. The shielding apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the material of the wall (3) is coated with sound-deadening substances.

10. The shielding apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the wall (3) consists of a hard fibre material, and in that the hard fibre material is coated with felt.

11. The shielding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein apparatuses for fastening work equipment (6) are provided on the inside of the wall (3).

12. The shielding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wall (3) is suspended under the ceiling (7) on at least one cable (8) and can be raised and lowered by pulley (9).

13. The shielding apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the pulley (9) is guided around a fixed roller (10) and movable rollers (13) in the manner of a block and tackle (14).

14. The shielding apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the cable (8) is equipped with a counterweight (12) for compensating for the weight of the wall (3).

15. The shielding apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the pulley includes a spring balancer.

16. The shielding apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the pulley (9) can be actuated by hand.

17. The shielding apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the pulley (9) can be actuated by electric motor.

18. The shielding apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the electric drive of the pulley (9) is remote-controllable.