Adjustable shelving assembly and the method thereof

An adjustable shelving assembly includes at least two support rails, at least one geared rack provided in each of the at least two support rails, and an actuating mechanism placed adjacent to the at least one geared rack. The actuating mechanism is configured to support at least one shelf and facilitates movement of the at least one shelf along the at least two support rails. The actuating mechanism includes a pinion mating with the at least one geared rack, a plurality of permanent magnets mounted coaxially inside the pinion, ferromagnetic disks provided on either ends of the pinion, and a shaft placed axially in the pinion, connecting the permanent magnets. The permanent magnets magnetize or demagnetize the ferromagnetic disks when the shaft is rotated for locking or unlocking the at least one shelf.

This application claims the benefit of Indian Patent Application No. 1244/CHE/2014 filed Mar. 3, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a shelving mechanism. In particular, embodiments of the present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for adjusting a shelf of a storage unit.

BACKGROUND

Shelves are part of storage units found and used in a variety of domestic and industrial applications. Shelves are generally horizontally placed surfaces which are used for displaying, storing, or supporting an entity or plurality of entities. Shelves also act as an aesthetic aspect of many interior designs for houses and as a support structure to display valuable entities to the customer in shops.

In many domestic and industrial storage units including, but not limiting to, cupboards, shoe racks, refrigerators, inventory storage, supermarkets, grocery stores etc., shelves are used to store and display the entities. For example, in refrigerators, there are a number of shelves installed in various levels so as to divide the refrigerator compartment for storing food and other utensils. Shelving also helps in compartmentalizing the refrigerator compartment to freezer, meat storage, greens storage etc. Since, the refrigerator compartment has a space constraint; it is of at most importance for the manufacturers to compartmentalize the different sections of the refrigerator efficiently. Many of the refrigerators used for domestic purposes utilize shelves to compartmentalize the refrigerator for storing purposes.

In conventional refrigeration systems, shelves are installed in slots provided on the inner cabin of the refrigerator. If the user has to adjust the shelves to increase or decrease the space in a particular compartment, the entities stored over the shelf has to be removed and then the shelf has to be re-slotted. In many of the refrigerators, the slots provided are only at certain heights and these shelves have to be placed at these slots. The user cannot move the shelf to any desired location or adjust the height of the shelf based on his needs. In order to adjust the height of the shelves within the refrigerator, the user has to remove these shelves and slot them in the provisioned slots. Moreover, removing and placing the entities stored on the shelves for re-slotting the shelves may be an inconvenient task to the user.

Hence, there is a need for an adjustable shelving assembly to provide easiness and versatility in adjusting the shelves of the storage units at any desired height and without removing any of the entities placed on the shelves.

SUMMARY

The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.

Disclosed herein is an assembly for providing easiness and versatility in an adjustable shelving assembly. The adjustable shelving assembly comprises at least two support rails and at least one geared rack which is provided in each of the at least two support rails and an actuating mechanism placed adjacent to the at least one geared rack, the actuating mechanism configured to support at least one shelf and facilitates movement of the at least one shelf along the at least two support rails; wherein the actuating mechanism comprising: a pinion mating with the at least one geared rack, a plurality of permanent magnets mounted coaxially inside the pinion, ferromagnetic disks provided on either ends of the pinion, and a shaft placed axially in the pinion, connecting the permanent magnets, such that the permanent magnets magnetizes or demagnetizes the ferromagnetic disks when the shaft is rotated for locking or unlocking the at least one shelf.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the at least one shelf comprises a frame, a link assembly and a handle mounted at a fore end of the frame; a plurality of links connected to the handle and the shaft of the actuating mechanism, such that actuation of handle rotates the shaft through the plurality of links for locking or unlocking the at least one shelf.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, a method of adjusting height of at least one shelf of the shelving assembly as claimed in claim1, the method comprising acts of: demagnetizing the ferromagnetic disk for unlocking the at least one shelf and facilitating movement thereof, wherein the ferromagnetic disk is demagnetized by rotating the shaft in one direction; magnetizing the ferromagnetic disk for locking the at least one shelf and arresting movement thereof, wherein the ferromagnetic disk is magnetized by rotating the shaft in other direction.

It is to be understood that the aspects and embodiments of the invention described above may be used in any combination with each other. Several of the aspects and embodiments may be combined together to form a further embodiment of the disclosure.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects and features described above, further aspects, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Henceforth, embodiments of the present disclosure are explained with the help of exemplary diagrams and one or more examples. However, such exemplary diagrams and examples are provided for the illustration purpose for better understanding of the present disclosure and should not be construed as limitation on scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1illustrates the actuation mechanism101installed in each of the at least two support rails1in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The actuation mechanism101is geared onto a geared rack2which is fixed adjacent to the at least two support rails1. The geared rack2is formed by indexing a plurality of gears onto a flat rack. The outer surface of the actuation mechanism101has a pinion9which is mated onto the geared rack2. The pinion9has gears, which are indexed such that, the gears of the pinion9mesh with the gears provided on the geared rack2. This meshing of gears of the pinion9to the geared rack2enables movement, for example longitudinal movement of the actuation mechanism101within the at least two support rails1.

The at least two support rails1(best shown inFIG. 5) are placed adjacent to the geared rack2. The at least two support rails1, guides the actuation mechanism101fixed onto the geared rack2. The actuation mechanism101moves over the geared rack2wherein, the ferromagnetic disk11provided on the support rail side end is in contact with the at least two support rails1. A shaft12is provided on the central axis of the pinion9, whose one end is fixed to the link assembly13of the at least one shelf3(not shown in figure).

The at least one shelf3comprises a frame4which supports a platform5for supporting the entities placed on the at least one shelf3. The frame4of the at least one shelf3rests on the shaft housing16which takes up the load of the at least one shelf3. The shaft housing16is housed over the shaft12wherein, the frame4of the at least one shelf3is in contact with the shaft housing16which acts as a load bearing member.

FIG. 2illustrates exploded view of the actuation mechanism101in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The actuation mechanism101has a pinion9indexed with gears on its outer surface. The actuation mechanism101has a central cavity17which houses the shaft12and permanent magnets10. The permanent magnets10are housed within the central cavity17around the shaft12. The polarities of the permanent magnets10housed within the central cavity17are such that, the north pole magnets and the south pole magnets are arranged one after the other or vice versa. By arranging the permanent magnets10in alternate polarities, one after the other, aids in magnetizing and demagnetizing the ferromagnetic disk11provided on the support rail side end when the shaft12is rotated.

Ferromagnetic disks11are fixed on either ends of the actuator mechanism101which magnetize and demagnetize when the shaft12is rotated. One of the ferromagnetic disks11is fixed on the support rail side end and the other is provided on the shaft side end. The ferromagnetic disks11have a central slot provided which constitutes non-ferromagnetic material. One of the purposes of the ferromagnetic disk11is to capture the magnetic flux generated by the permanent magnets10which magnetizes or demagnetizes the ferromagnetic disks11. The ferromagnetic disk11provided on the support rail side end, when magnetized, gets attracted to the at least two support rails1. The magnetism generated by the permanent magnets10firmly locks the entire actuation mechanism101to the at least two support rails1. When the ferromagnetic disk11provided on the support rail side end is demagnetized, the ferromagnetic disk11unlocks from the at least two support rails1and moves longitudinally along the at least two support rails1. The shaft12provided along the central axis of the actuation mechanism101passes through the ferromagnetic disk11provided on the shaft12side end of the actuator mechanism101.

FIG. 3illustrates perspective view of the actuation mechanism101engaged onto the geared rack2in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The actuation mechanism101is geared onto the geared rack2which is fixed adjacent to the at least two support rails1. The ferromagnetic disk11fixed on the shaft side end has a shaft12at the central axis which is further fixed to the link assembly13of the at least one shelf3. The link assembly13comprises a handle14for actuation and plurality of links15fixed to the handle and the shaft12. The ferromagnetic disk11provided on the support rail end is in contact with the at least two support rails1so as to fix onto the at least two support rails1as the ferromagnetic disk11is magnetized or demagnetized when the shaft12is rotated by the link assembly13.

The shaft12is further fixed to a plurality of links15of the link assembly13which is used to actuate the rotation of the shaft12. The link assembly13is fixed to a plurality of links15which transfers the actuated motion from the handle14upon actuation by the user.

FIG. 4illustrates an exemplary adjustable shelving assembly100of the present disclosure in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The at least one shelf3in the present disclosure comprises a frame4which houses a platform5. The platform5is made up of durable materials such as but not limited to glass, Fiber reinforced plastic (FRP), wood, non-ferromagnetic materials etc., which can withstand heavy loads and stresses. The at least one shelf3in the present disclosure has a fore end6, aft end7and side walls8forming a rectangular shaped shelf (best shown inFIG. 5). The handle14of the link assembly13is provided at the fore end6for actuation. The link assembly13has plurality of links15connected to each other and are housed along the fore end6and the side walls8of the at least one shelf3. The plurality of links15are fixed to the handle14and the other end of the plurality of the links15are fixed to the shaft12. The plurality of links15transfers the force generated on the handle14by the user onto the shaft12for rotation. The side walls8of the shelf3are designed so as to rest onto the shaft housing16of the actuation mechanism101.

FIG. 5illustrates perspective view of the adjustable shelving assembly100in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The shelf3is supported onto the at least two support rails1. The at least one shelf3comprises the fore end6which has the handle14used for actuation in order to move the shelf3longitudinally along the at least two support rails1. The side walls8of the shelf3comprise a plurality of links15which are fixed to the handle and the shaft12. When the handle14is actuated in an upward direction, the plurality of links15connected to the handle14actuate the shaft12so as to rotate the permanent magnets10in one direction which demagnetizes the ferromagnetic disk11provided on the support rail1side end. Once the ferromagnetic disk11is demagnetized, the actuation mechanism101moves longitudinally along the geared rack2. The user can adjust the height of the shelf3at any desired position. When the handle14is actuated in a downward direction, the plurality of links15connected to the handle14actuate the shaft12which rotates the permanent magnets10in another direction which magnetizes the ferromagnetic disk11provided on the support rail1side end. Once the ferromagnetic disk11is magnetized, the movement of the actuation mechanism101is arrested onto the at least two support rails1due to the magnetism generated by the permanent magnets10housed within the central cavity17of the actuation mechanism101.

The user on actuation of the handle14in an upward direction demagnetizes the support rail1side ferromagnetic disk11. The user has to hold the bottom of the shelf3in order to provide additional support during the longitudinal movement of the shelf3.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the at least two support rails1are placed apart from each other in a vertical or substantially vertical orientation. As used herein, the phrase substantially vertical means that or refers to, the at least two support rails1configured to have an orientation angle of approximately ranging from 0° to 90° with vertical plane.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the at least one shelf3is placed horizontal or substantially horizontal to the at least two support rails1. As used herein, the phrase substantially horizontal means that or refers to, the at least one shelf3configured to have an orientation angle of approximately ranging from 0° to 90° with horizontal plane.

FIG. 6illustrates direction of adjustment of the at least one shelf3in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The fore end6of the at least one shelf3comprises the link assembly13having the handle14and plurality of links15which actuates the rotation of the permanent magnets10housed within the central cavity17of the actuation mechanism101. Actuation of the handle14in an upward direction demagnetizes the support rail side ferromagnetic disk11which aids in longitudinal movement of the shelf3in the at least two support rails1. From theFIG. 6, the at least one shelf3can be moved in an upward or downward direction based on the user's requirement. The user can also lock or arrest the movement of the at least one shelf3at any height by just moving the handle14downward which magnetizes the ferromagnetic disk11provided on the support side end.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the movement of the shelf3can be moved in a longitudinal direction, horizontal direction, lateral direction and vertical direction.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the adjustable shelving assembly100finds its application use in refrigerators, book shelves, storage racks, shoe racks, inventory storage rooms, storage cabinets, cupboards or etc.

The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise. The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.