SLIDING/PIVOTING MECHANISM OF A SHELF OF A PIECE OF FURNITURE OR OF A DOMESTIC APPLIANCE, DOMESTIC APPLIANCE, AND PIECE OF FURNITURE

Abstract

The invention relates to a sliding/pivoting mechanism of a shelf of a piece of furniture or of a domestic appliance for pulling out and raising the shelf from a body of the piece of furniture or of the domestic appliance, which sliding/pivoting mechanism has at least two pivoting arms, which are fastened by means of a first end to at least one of the side walls of the body in such a way that said pivoting arms can be rotated parallel to the plane of the side walls and which are arranged parallel to each other at a distance from each other, wherein at respective second ends of the pivoting arms, a guide rail is fastened in such a way that the guide rail can be pivoted parallel to the plane of the side walls and in such a way that the guide rail can be pivoted from a lower position inside the body to a raised upper position at least partially outside the body, and at least one running rail, which is linearly displacable in the guide rail and to which the shelf is fastened, wherein a damping unit that damps the traveling motion of the shelf in an end position is arranged on the sliding/pivoting mechanism. The invention further relates to a piece of furniture and to a domestic appliance having a sliding/pivoting mechanism and a domestic appliance having a damping unit, which is arranged on the pull-out guide, for damping the shelf in an end position.

Claims

1. A sliding/pivoting mechanism of a shelf of a piece of furniture or of a domestic appliance for pulling out and raising the shelf from a body of the piece of furniture or of the domestic appliance, having at least two swivelling arms which are pivotally fastened at respective first ends to a side wall of the body in such a way that the swivelling arms can be rotated parallel to the plane of the side wall, and which are arranged parallel to each other at a distance from each other, wherein at respective second ends of the swivelling arms, a guide rail is fastened in such a way that the guide rail can be pivoted parallel to the plane of the side wall and in such a way that the guide rail can be pivoted from a lower position inside the body to a raised upper position at least partially outside the body, and at least one running rail, which is linearly displaceable in the guide rail and to which the shelf is fastened, wherein a damping unit which damps the travelling motion of the shelf at an end position is arranged on the sliding/pivoting mechanism.

2. (canceled)

3. The sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the damping unit has a damper and an activator which activates the damper.

4. The sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the activator is arranged on the running rail or on a component which can be moved with the running rail and the damper is arranged on the guide rail or on a component which is connected to the guide rail.

5. The sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the damping unit is part of a retraction system.

6. The sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the damping unit is part of an ejection system.

7. The sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 4, wherein the sliding/pivoting mechanism has an activator assembly attached to the running rail and the activator is arranged on the activator assembly and the damper is arranged on the guide rail.

8. The sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the running rail is in one piece with the at least one support, wherein the activator is arranged on the support.

9. The sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 8, wherein the activator is in one piece with the support.

10. A piece of furniture with a furniture body and at least one shelf mounted in the furniture body with a sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 1 with which the shelf can be pulled out of the furniture body and raised.

11. A domestic appliance, in particular a dishwasher or cooking appliance with at least one shelf attached to the inner side of a useable space, in particular a washing compartment or cooking space, using a sliding/pivoting mechanism according to claim 1 with which the shelf can be pulled out of the useable space and raised.

12. (canceled)

13. A domestic appliance, in particular a dishwasher or cooking appliance having a body defining a useable space, in particular a washing compartment or cooking space, with at least one shelf attached to a runner on an inner side of the useable space, with which the shelf can be pulled out of the useable space, wherein the runner has at least one guide rail attached to the inner side of the useable space and a running rail which is displaceable in the guide rail and attached to the shelf, and on which at least one support is arranged for attaching the shelf, wherein a damping unit which damps the travelling motion of the shelf at an end position is arranged on the runner.

14. The domestic appliance according to claim 13, further having a sliding/pivoting mechanism having at least two swivelling arms which are pivotally fastened at respective first ends to a side wall of the body in such a way that the swivelling arms can be rotated parallel to the plane of the side wall, and which are arranged parallel to each other at a distance from each other, wherein at respective second ends of the swivelling arms, a guide rail is fastened in such a way that the guide rail can be pivoted parallel to the plane of the side wall and in such a way that the guide rail can be pivoted from a lower position inside the body to a raised upper position at least partially outside the body, and at least one running rail, which is linearly displaceable in the guide rail and to which the shelf is fastened, wherein a damping unit which damps the travelling motion of the shelf at an end position is arranged on the sliding/pivoting mechanism.

15. The domestic appliance according to claim 13, wherein the damping unit has a damper and an activator which activates the damper.

16. The domestic appliance according to claim 15, wherein the activator is arranged on the running rail or on a component which can be moved with the running rail and the damper is arranged on the guide rail or on a component which is connected to the guide rail.

17. The domestic appliance according to claim 13, wherein the damping unit is part of a retraction system.

18. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein the damping unit is part of an ejection system.

19. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein the running rail is in one piece with the at least one support, wherein the activator is arranged on the support.

20. The domestic appliance according to claim 8, wherein the activator is in one piece with the support.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a sliding/pivoting mechanism with damping unit according to the disclosure,

[0020] FIG. 2a is a perspective view of the sliding/pivoting mechanism of FIG. 1 before installation of the damping unit,

[0021] FIGS. 2b and 2c are two detail views of a damped retraction system for a sliding/pivoting mechanism according to the disclosure or for a domestic appliance according to the disclosure,

[0022] FIG. 3 is a side view of the sliding/pivoting mechanism of FIG. 1,

[0023] FIG. 4 is a side view of the sliding/pivoting mechanism of FIG. 1 with shelf attached to it with running rails pushed out of the guide rails after lowering of the shelf back down,

[0024] FIGS. 5 and 6 are respective sections, labelled with V and VI in FIG. 4, for showing the position of the activator and the driver for the damping unit,

[0025] FIG. 7 is a side view of the sliding/pivoting mechanism with shelf attached to it shortly before reaching the end position in the body of the piece of furniture or domestic appliance during coupling of the activator with the driver for the damping unit,

[0026] FIG. 8 is a detailed representation of the section labelled with VIII in FIG. 7,

[0027] FIG. 9 is a side view of the sliding/pivoting mechanism with shelf attached to it in its fully retracted end position in the body of the piece of furniture or domestic appliance,

[0028] FIG. 10 is a detailed representation of the section labelled with X in FIG. 9,

[0029] FIG. 11 is a view of the sliding/pivoting mechanism with shelf attached to it from the front,

[0030] FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a shelf of a domestic appliance attached to a runner,

[0031] FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the runner,

[0032] FIGS. 14 to 16 are side views of the runner in a variety of positions, and

[0033] FIG. 17 is a view of the runner shown in FIG. 13 from the front.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] In the description below, terms such as above, below, left, right, in front of, behind, etc. refer to the relative representation and position of the sliding/pivoting mechanism, swivelling arms, shelf, damping unit and similar selected in the respective figures. These terms should not be understood to be limiting, i.e. these references can change as a result of different operating positions or a mirrored design or similar.

[0035] In FIGS. 1 to 11, an embodiment of a sliding/pivoting mechanism according to the disclosure is indicated as a whole with the reference number 1. The sliding/pivoting mechanism 1 has a side wall support 12 for attaching the sliding/pivoting mechanism 1 to the interior or inner side walls of a piece of furniture or domestic appliance (not shown) in particular a dishwasher or a cooking appliance, wherein the side support 12 is attached in the case of a domestic appliance to the respective opposite inner sides of a useable space, in particular a washing compartment or cooking space.

[0036] Swivelling arms 3, 4 are swivel-mounted on this side wall support 12 using respective swivel joints 31, 41. These swivelling arms 3, 4 are swivel-mounted, using further swivel joints, to a guide rail 5 such that the guide rail 5 can be swivelled from a bottom position inside the body of the piece of furniture or domestic appliance to a raised upper position at least partially outside the body, remaining in a horizontal position, through a swivelling movement of the swivelling arms 3, 4.

[0037] The synchronisation of two such sliding/pivoting mechanisms 1 preferably occurs through a synchronisation element which is described in more detail in the aforementioned WO 2014/033092 A1, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0038] As additionally shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, there is a raising and lowering aid 11, preferably designed as a tension spring, for supporting the raising and lowering movement on the side wall support 12 to support the swivelling movement of the swivelling arms 3, 4 which is attached to the bolts of the side wall support 12 on the one hand and to the first swivelling arm 3 on the other.

[0039] In order to prevent the simultaneous sliding and pivoting movement of the shelf 15 and thus also of the sliding/pivoting mechanism, the sliding/pivoting mechanism 1 has a locking mechanism arranged on the guide rail 5 and on the swivelling arms 3, 4 which can be operated through an activator group 7 attached to the running rail 6. Please refer once again to the description in WO 2014/033092 A1 for a more detailed description of the locking mechanism.

[0040] In order to damp the retraction movement of the shelf 15 into a lower end position within the body, there is a damping unit 18 located on the sliding/pivoting mechanism 1 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 11. This damping unit 18 preferably has a damper 181 and an activator 185 which activates the damper 181. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the damping unit 18 also has a driver 184 which can be slid into a driver housing 183, wherein the driver 184 is preferably connected to the damper 181 via a coupling rod which can be slid into and out of the damper 181 and therefore damps the movement of the driver 184 and thus also of the activator 185 which is engaged with it.

[0041] In addition to the damping unit 18, a retraction system 30 can also be used. The driver 33 is simultaneously coupled to an energy storage mechanism 35 and to a coupling rod 32 for a damper 181. A Detail of the retraction system is shown in FIGS. 2b and 2c once for a locked state and once for an unlocked state of the runner 2 in which the driver 33 passes along the guide track 34 in an angled section and the energy storage mechanism 35 is tensioned. The functioning of a damped retraction system is described in DE 102011053840 A1, for example. Here, the energy storage mechanism 35 is preferably designed as a spring element.

[0042] The driver housing 183 for the damping unit 181 is firmly connected with a fixing piece 182, as shown in FIG. 2a, which for its part is attached to the guide rail 5, for example with screws or bolts or even welded. As can also be seen in FIG. 2, this fixing piece 182 is preferably designed as a sheet metal component which is adapted to the geometry of the guide rail 5 and which, in the design variant shown here, encompasses it from below and is attached to the guide rail 5 on the side of it which faces the side wall of the body.

[0043] As shown in FIGS. 4 to 10, the activator 185 may be attached to the activator assembly 7 or be fabricated in one piece with the activator assembly 7. The activator assembly can also have fixing elements for the attachment of the shelf 15 to the runner 2 at the same time. Fixing of the activator 185 to the running rail 6 or another component which can be moved with the running rail 6, for example the shelf 15, is also possible.

[0044] In this embodiment, the activator 185 has ridges protruding downwards toward the driver 184 which, in the state shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, engage with a recess in the driver 184 which faces the activator 185. The driver 184 is guided in a guide track in the driver housing 183 which allows for tipping of the driver 184 at one end, in which the activator 185 can be released from or put into its state of engagement with the driver 184, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

[0045] FIGS. 4 to 6 show the pulled out position of the shelf 15 in which the activator 185 is separated from the driver 184 and the driver 184, as shown in the detail view in FIG. 6, remains in the tilted position until the shelf 15 and thus the running rail 6 and the activator assembly 7 are pushed back into the driver 184 area, shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in which the activator 185 enters back into the recess in the driver 184 and proceeds, together with the driver 184, in the guide track 183 to the end position within the body of the piece of furniture or domestic appliance (shown in FIGS. 9 and 10) and the retraction movement thus occurs with damping as a result of the coupling of the driver 184 with the damper 181. If a retraction system 30 with damping unit 18 according to FIGS. 2b and 2c is used, then additional support is provided for the retraction movement.

[0046] FIG. 11 shows the sliding/pivoting mechanism 1 with the shelf 15 attached to it from the front.

[0047] Another embodiment of the domestic appliance is described below with reference to FIGS. 12 to 17.

[0048] In FIG. 12, a runner is labelled with the reference number 2. Such a runner 2 is attached to each of the inner sides respectively of a useable space, in particular a washing compartment or a cooking space in a domestic appliance. A shelf 14 is attached to the runners 2, wherein the shelf 14 can be pulled out of and pushed into the useable space with the help of the runners 2 located on both sides.

[0049] The runner 2 has a guide rail 20 attached to the inner side of the useable space and a running rail 21 which is attached to the shelf 14 and can be displaced in the guide rail 20, wherein at least one support 22 for attaching the shelf 14 is arranged on the running rail 21. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 12 to 17, the damping unit 18 can be attached to the guide rail 20 through a preferably L-shaped fixing element 19. Fixing elements 23 are also fixed on the guide rail 20, which partially engage with the guide rail 20 and can be fixed, in particular with screws, to the inner side of the useable space of the domestic appliance.

[0050] In this embodiment, the runner 2 also, as shown in FIG. 17 for example, has a centre rail 24 which can be moved in the guide rail 20 and which movably accommodates the running rail 21. The running rail is preferably designed as one piece with the support 22, wherein the support 22 is used to attach the shelf 14. To this end, there are multiple clamping or fixing elements 221, 222, 223 on the support 22 which are used to attach the beam elements of the shelf 14, designed here as a wire basket. In addition, the support 22 can be designed so that the height of the shelf 14 is adjustable.

[0051] As can be seen in FIGS. 13 to 17 in particular, a damper 181 with driver housing 183 attached to it using a connecting piece 182 is fixed to the fixing element 19. An activator 185 is thus positioned on the support 22. The positioning of the activator 185 on the support 22 is preferably through the fixing, in particular clamping, of an activator 185 designed as a separate component in a recess in the support 22 designed for this purpose. However, it is also possible to embody the activator 185 as one piece with the support 22. The damping unit 18 arranged on the runner 2 in this manner preferably corresponds to the damping unit 18 for the sliding/pivoting mechanism as described above. Here too, the damping unit 18 is used for damping the retraction movement of the shelf 14 into its end position within the useable space of the domestic appliance.

[0052] FIGS. 14 to 16 show the sequence of a retraction movement of the shelf 14 or the shelf 14 moving with the support 22 into its end position.

[0053] FIG. 14 shows the pulled out state in which the activator 185 is uncoupled from the driver 184 of the damping unit 18.

[0054] FIG. 15 shows the position of the support 22 and thus of the shelf 14 in which the activator 185 couples with the driver 184 of the damping unit 18.

[0055] For the subsequent movement of the shelf 14 into its end position, the driver 184 is tilted in the driver housing 183 from the tipped position into the position for engaging with the activator 185 and moved into the end position, as shown in FIG. 16, damped by the damper 181.

[0056] FIG. 17 shows the runner 2 or the shelf 14 attached to it in a view from the front before the coupling of the activator 185 with the driver 184 of the damping unit 18.

[0057] In addition to the damping unit 18, a retraction system 30 can also be used. The driver 33 is simultaneously coupled to an energy storage mechanism 35 and to a coupling rod 32 for a damper 181. A Detail of the retraction system is shown in FIGS. 2b and 2c once for a locked state and once for an unlocked state of the runner 2 in which the driver 33 passes along the guide track 34 in an angled section and the energy storage mechanism 35 is tensioned. The functioning of a damped retraction system is described in DE 102011053840 A1, for example. If a retraction system 30 with damping unit 18 according to FIGS. 2b and 2c is used, then the retraction movement is additionally supported. The energy storage mechanism 35 is preferably embodied as a spring element.

[0058] The runner 2 can be designed as part of an ejection system, resulting in the benefits indicated in the introductory section.

[0059] At least part of the runner and the damping unit 18 may be made from stainless steel in order to withstand the conditions which occur in a domestic appliance such as a dishwasher or a cooking appliers, such as high heat, moisture, salt, detergents and grease.