Shelf for a wine cabinet

Abstract

A shelf for storing bottles in a wine cabinet has a rectangular frame bounded by two side beams and two crossbeams, respectively front and rear, and being equipped with individualized reception locations for a plurality of bottles. Each slot has a cradle for the neck of a bottle, the cradle being equipped with a sensor to detect the presence of a bottle neck. The front crossbeam of the shelf can include, for each individualized location, an electronic device to visualize the presence of a bottle.

Claims

1. A shelf for storage of bottles in a wine cabinet, comprising: a rectangular frame being comprised of a first side beam, a second side beam, a front cross beam between said first side beam and said second side beam, and a rear cross beam between said first side beam and said second side beam and across from said front cross beam; a central bar extending from said first side beam to said second side beam, having a horizontal upper face, and being comprised of a plurality of cradles on said horizontal upper face, and a plurality of sensors, each cradle of said plurality of cradles being equipped with a respective sensor of said plurality of sensors; and an electronic means of visualizing presence in said rectangular frame, said electronic means being on said front cross beam, wherein each cradle of said plurality of cradles is positioned on said central bar so as to detect a neck of a bottle with a corresponding sensor of each cradle of said plurality of cradles, wherein the electronic means is positioned on said front cross beam so as to detect a cylindrical body of the bottle by visualizing said cylindrical body, wherein said central bar is arranged parallel to said front cross beam and said rear cross beam so as to divide said rectangular frame into two symmetrical half-frames, and wherein each cradle of said plurality of cradles is oriented parallel to said front cross beam and said rear cross beam, wherein each half-frame of said two symmetrical half-frames is comprised of: two supports between said first side beam and said second side beam, wherein each support of said two supports is comprised of a rod with a plurality of loop portions, and wherein each loop portion is positioned relative to a corresponding cradle of said plurality of cradles and said front cross beam so as to support the bottle in said rectangular frame so as to detect the neck of a bottle with a corresponding sensor of each cradle of said plurality of cradles and the cylindrical body of the bottle by visualizing said cylindrical body.

2. The shelf, according to claim 1, wherein each sensor of said plurality of sensors is placed in a bottom of a respective cradle of said plurality of cradles so as to be positioned at a distance less than or equal to 3 mm from the neck of the bottle, wherein each sensor of said plurality of sensors has a detection area covering between 8 mm and 12 mm in diameter.

3. The shelf, according to claim 2, wherein each sensor of said plurality of sensors is placed in an orifice at said bottom of the respective cradle of said plurality of cradles.

4. The shelf, according to claim 1, wherein each sensor of said plurality of sensors is an infrared sensor.

5. The shelf, according to claim 1, wherein said electronic means of visualizing presence in said rectangular frame is comprised of a light-emitting diode placed in said front cross beam.

6. The shelf, according to claim 1, wherein each cradle of said plurality of cradle has a flat bottom shape with rounded arcuate banks.

7. The shelf, according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one electronic module in communication with said plurality of sensors and the electronic means for visualizing so as to process signals from and to said plurality of sensors and the electronic means of visualizing.

8. The shelf 1, according to claim 1, wherein said electronic module comprises means of transmitting/receiving data.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Other aims and advantages of the present invention will become apparent throughout the following description, which is in particular based on a particular embodiment which is given only by way of an indicative and non-limiting example. The understanding of this description will be facilitated in particular by reference to the attached figures.

(2) FIG. 1 represents a perspective view of a shelf according to the invention, in view of three quarters back.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of this shelf, this time seen from three quarters forward.

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates a longitudinal sectional view of the central bar.

(5) FIG. 4 represents an elevation view of a support of bottles with arches preferably used in the shelves of the invention.

(6) FIG. 5 represents a perspective view of a complete shelf, i.e. equipped with four bottle holders as shown in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(7) Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the shelf 1 very generally comprises a frame (rectangular frame 1a) formed of two side members 2, 3 (a first side beam 2, a second side beam 3), two crosspieces 4, 5 (a rear cross beam 4, a front cross beam 5), and a central bar 6 provided with cradles 7 shaped to accommodate lower necks/necks of bottles. The side members 2, 3 (a first side beam 2, a second side beam 3) are provided with rails 8 (only that of the side member 2 appears in FIG. 2) which allow them to slide in the slides fitted to the side walls of the cabinet of the wine cooler (not shown). The front crosspiece (front cross beam) 5 further comprises light-emitting diodes 9 (LEDs) (electronic means of visualizing presence in the rectangular frame), in a number equal to the number of bottles which can be stored in the shelf 1, in this case twelve.

(8) The upper face of the central bar 6 comprises a series of identical cradles 7, the bases of which have, on their flat central portions, a sensor 10 placed in an opening with a diameter in this case equal to 10 mm. The sensors 10 are installed on a non-visible printed circuit board placed in the hollow body of the central bar 6, which in particular manages their power supply and the signals coming therefrom. The association of the detector 10 and the opening makes it possible to control the spatial coverage of the detection, which is guided in the manner of a waveguide by the tube which in practice is constituted by the opening. The necks, and more particularly the lower necks of the bottles, are positioned in the cradles 7 at a maximum distance of 3 mm from the sensors 10, allowing the detection of a bottle.

(9) In the possibility shown in the figures, the shelf 1 is equipped with twelve infrared IR sensors all installed on a single elongate electronic board located inside the central bar 6 of the shelf 1. The shape of said shelf 1 has in fact been designed to accommodate very different bottle shapes, for example but not exclusively bottles of Champagne, Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Jura, Anjou, Prosecco, Mateus wine, etc. In short, it is possible to store any bottle up to 10-12 cm in diameter, depending on the spacing between shelves, with bottle sizes up to 100 cl. The shelf 1 of the invention allows optimized storage, head to tail, of all these sizes and shapes of bottles.

(10) FIG. 3 shows with greater precision the shape of the cradles 7, in each case showing the precise space allocated to the sensors 10 (indicated by the vertical parallel lines projecting from the flat segments indicating the flat base of the cradles 7). This space is in practice linked to the opening connecting the printed circuit board on which the sensors 10 are installed, which is housed inside the central bar 6, and the cradles 7 housing the necks of the bottles, on the upper face of said central bar 6.

(11) In the same manner, the front crosspiece 5 is equipped with an electronic board (electronic module 26) managing the power supply of twelve indicator lights connected to the sensors of the central bar, reflecting the movements of the bottles by indicating the presence or the absence of said bottles, resulting from the individualized signals from the sensors. The appearance given to the front of this crosspiece 5 preferably makes it possible to distinguish the exact positions of the bottles, placed either at the front or at the rear of the shelf 1, on either side of the central bar 6. The two printed circuit boards (electronic module 26) are connected by wiring arranged inside one of the side rails 8 (see FIG. 2).

(12) The bottle holder 20 shown in FIG. 4 is the same regardless of its position in the shelf 1, it is only mounted in one direction when it is in a half-frame of the two symmetrical half-frames 1b, 1c and in the opposite direction when in the other half-frame of the shelf 1, as explained in detail below (see FIG. 5). These supports 20 are rods 25a, for example metal rods of uniform diameter, which are shaped to have arches or loop portions 25 for supporting the bodies of the bottles. More specifically, the ends 23, 24 of the support 20 assume two perpendicular orientations, the end 23 being vertical while the opposite end 24 being horizontal. The support 20 is shownin FIG. 4with the same generally horizontal orientation as when it is mounted in shelf 1 as seen in FIG. 5.

(13) Returning to FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the frame 1a of the shelves 1 without the supports 20, the inner sides of the side members 2, 3 have openings 21, 22 which are not oriented in the same manner, on each side member 2, 3, according to the half-frame to which they belong. Thus, in a half-frame, the openings 21 are horizontal, therefore designed to interact with the ends 24 of the supports 20. In the other half-frame, on the same side member but on the other side of the central bar 6, the openings 22 are provided vertically on a shoulder, and they are therefore provided to cooperate with the ends 23 of the supports 20. Each half-frame has in practice the two types of openings 21, 22 on the opposing side members 2, 3. Thus, in the same half-frame, the horizontal openings 21 are on the side member 3, while the vertical openings 22 are provided on the side member 4. In the other half-frame, it is the opposite.

(14) Therefore, the metal supports 20 as shown in FIG. 4 are mounted in one direction in a half-frame, and turned horizontally by 180 in the other half-frame, as shown in FIG. 5. This results, from one half-frame to the other, in an offset of the arches or loop portions 25 which makes it possible to target the other cradles 7 of the central bar 6 when the bottles are stored and rest on the arches 25. Since said arches or loop portions 25 have a lower periodicity than that of the cradles 7, the two supports 20 which are installed in a half-frame support bottles of which the necks are placed in every other cradle 7 of the central bar 6, thus leaving one out of every two empty. The supports 20 fixed in the other half-frame, as a result of this offset, place the bottles in the axis of the unoccupied cradles, so that if all the bottle spaces are occupied, all the cradles 7 are also occupied. The bottles are then found head to tail, in the opposite direction according to the half-frame in which they are stored.

(15) The line L (see in FIG. 4), which substantially shows the support level of the bodies of the bottles, is placed under the flat base of the cradles 7 as evidenced by the location of the horizontal openings 21 for attaching the ends 24 (see in particular in FIG. 1), so that when the bottle rests in an arch or loop portion 25, its neck is at least partially housed in a cradle 7. Bottle detection then becomes possible. It should be noted that it would certainly be possible to detect the bottle in other positions along the length of said bottle, for example at its body, but this would imply the management of two sets of sensors linked to two separate electronic boards, which is economically less advantageous.

(16) The shelf 1 of the invention makes it possible to detect the presence or absence of bottles solely at the central bar 6, and information on the presence or absence of bottles is sent to the indicator lights (electronic means of visualizing presence in the rectangular frame) 9 installed on the front face of the front crosspiece 5. The shape of the cradle 7, being simple in appearance, is actually designed to accommodate various bottle shapes. Thus, its axial length is such that the part of the bottle which interacts with the cradle 7, or comes into contact with it, is not always the same: it may indeed be the lower neck, the shoulder or the neck of the bottle.

(17) For very elongate bottles, for example of the type of bottles of Alsace wine, there is no clear separation between the lower neck and the body, but a continuity of shape which makes it possible to pass smoothly from the body to the lower neck. In this case, the shoulder of the bottle can rest on the axial end edge of the cradle 7, which, according to the invention, maintains the neck within the limit of 3 mm distance from the sensor 10.

(18) The configuration of the shelf makes it possible in practice to ensure optimal operation of the management of the detection of the different shapes and configurations of bottles, as well as the colors of the collars.

(19) It should be noted that the configuration example given above with reference to the attached figures is neither exhaustive nor limiting of the invention, which in particular encompasses shape variants for the cradles 7, the supports 20, etc.