A STORAGE UNIT FOR THE STORAGE OF TRANSPORT CARTS

Abstract: A storage unit (1) for use in the storage of transport carts that are preferably used in the transportation of meals to and from aeroplanes, trains, buses, ferries and the like, has an upper (2) and a lower (3) platform, of which the lower platform may consist of a floor. The upper platform may be moved downwards to floor level. Two of the four side walls of the upper platform are configured as ramps (6) that may be used as travel ramps for transport carts when the platform is in floor level. Optionally the lower platform comprises a housing arranged as a cold storage. A plurality of storage devices may be arranged opposite each other. Thus, the invention provides storage units wherein transport carts may be arranged very densely which is advantageous where the rent of storage space is capital intensive, like in airports.

Description: A storage unit for the storage of transport carts The invention relates to a storage unit for the storage of transport carts that are preferably used in the trans- portation of meals to and from an aeroplane. As it is known, the world-wide transportation of passengers is very comprehensive. On many trips by aeroplane, train, bus, ferry or the like, food and beverages of some sort are served during the passage. Usually, the meal is served on a tray equipped with one or more plates, cups, glass and cutlery. When the trays are to be transported to and from the aeroplane, the train, the bus, and the ferry or the like, their transportation is usually car- ried out in the so-called transport carts that are replenished and emptied in a catering kitchen at an airport. Obviously, in particular the comprehensive traffic involves huge amounts of meals to be prepared on a daily basis . Since the number of arrivals and departures aero- planes arriving to and from the airports every day throughout the world is moreover very large, it is of course necessary that a large number of ready-for-use transport carts are currently available. In order to ensure adequate delivery and satisfy the requirements to hygiene and observe time schedules, the transport carts are prepared as close in time as possible to the scheduled departure of the aeroplanes. When the transport carts are prepared in the catering facility, however, they are, for hygiene considerations, moved to a cold storage facility, for a relatively short period. Besides, it is a requirement that the temperature inside the transport carts does not exceed 10°C at the time of departure. It goes without saying that if a large number of transport carts are to be stored in a cold storage facil- ity, it is important that the colds storage space is utilised optimally since it is expensive to rent storage facilities, including cold storage facilities, in airports. Moreover, since operation of catering facilities is a trade which faces fierce competition, it is important to optimise all processes relating to the prepara- tion and transportation of meals. Measures have already been taken to minimise the storage space for plates and cutlery as much as possible, and also to minimise the use of expensive storage facilities, cf. e.g. published WO application No. 96/01584 describing a method of sorting cutlery, cups, plates, etc. according to which the need for storage space is reduced. Since it is thus of significance to rationalise all steps in the operation of catering facilities as much as possible, it is desirable that the use and storage of transport carts for the transportation of meals to and from aeroplanes is optimised to a maximum. In this connection it should be noted that it is hardly possible to limit the number of transport carts, and therefore it is necessary to resort to other measures for rationalising the use of transport carts. In other words it is desirable i.a. to make use of the space available in a cold storage in order to utilise the space in the cold storage opti- mally. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a storage unit for transport carts wherein the transport carts are stored as densely as possible while maintaining easy access to the individual transport cart. The object of the invention is accomplished by means of a storage unit of the kind described in the introductory part which is characterised in featuring an upper and a lower platform which is configured in such a manner that the upper platform may be moved from an upper position downwards to level with the lower platform. In this manner a very large number of transport carts may be densely stored and the fact that the platform may be moved from its upper position downwards in level with the floor facilitates access to any transport cart and driving of it to or from this platform. Since, as featured in claims 2 and 3, the lower platform is in floor level or is in the form of a floor, the space below the upper platform can be exploited since the upper platform pivots in such a manner that transport carts located on the lower platform will not come into contact with the upper platform during movement. In accordance with the features of claim 4, the upper platform has a floor and vertical side walls, at least one of which side walls being configured as a ramp that may be moved from a vertical position to horizontal position, which provides the advantage that transport carts may be stored safely when the platform is in its uppermost position, and may readily be driven to and from the upper platform when in its lowermost position, said ramps facilitating the access of the transport carts to and from the platform. Conveniently movement of the upper platform may be generated by means of hydraulic transmission in the shape of parallelogram transmission with two arms at each end of the storage unit. Other movement methods are also conceivable, such as link guidance, wire pulling or the like. For security reasons it is advantageous that the movement of the upper platform is only permitted when a detector has detected that no obstacles are encountered during the pivoting. This is of particular importance if objects are present in the space around the path of movement of the storage unit, since it is hereby avoided that the upper platform is unintentionally moved downwards with the ensuing risk of objects being hit. In that connection it should be noted that quite powerful forces are released when the pivoting is carried out, in particular when taking into account that the weight of any transport carts present on the platform may be quite considerable. Conveniently and as featured in claim 9, the storage unit has modular dimensions whereby a plurality of opposed units will, when placed simultaneously in the storage, be at a distance from each other which corresponds to the extent of the upper platform when moved out to floor level. In this manner the entire space where several storage units are arranged will be utilised extremely op- tima11y . As featured in claim 10, when units arranged opposite each other will share a support, such as at least two joists, the very large pressure and pull forces from a moving storage unit are partially absorbed by the opposed storage unit. When the storage unit is moved, large pressure forces will develop before its supporting points whereas large pull forces will act behind the support points of the storage unit. Other convenient embodiments of the invention will appear from the independent claims. The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to an exemplary embodiment shown in the drawings, wherein Figure 1 illustrates a first embodiment of the storage unit. Figure 2 illustrates the storage unit according to Figure 1 with transport carts, Figure 3 illustrates a plurality of storage units according to Figures 1 and 2 arranged in a cold storage, Figure 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the storage unit according to the invention, Figure 5 illustrates the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 4 wherein transport carts have been arranged. Figure 6 illustrates a plurality of the storage units according to Figures 4 and 5 arranged outside in a cold storage, e.g. arranged on a so-called loading ramp, whereas Figure 7 illustrates the principles of the movement of the platform from the upper position, in accordance with the invention. In Figure 1, the reference numeral 1 designates a storage unit according to the invention. It consists of an upper platform 2 and a lower platform 3. Besides, the platform 3 may be in the form of a floor in a storage facility. As will appear from the figure, the upper platform has a floor 4, and side walls 5 and 6, respectively, that are arranged opposite each other in pairs. Via a parallelo- gram transmission 12,14 the upper platform 2 may be moved hydraulically 13 from its upper position and downwards to floor level, cf. below. Other movement transmitting measures, e.g. link guidance, wire pulling, etc., are alter- native options. The pivoting is controlled by means of an operating device 7 that becomes power-operated and is supplied with control data via a cable connection 8. Like Figure 1, Figure 2 shows the storage unit, but now it contains transport carts 19,20. As will appear, the transport carts 19 are arranged on the top platform with their longitudinal direction parallel to the side walls 5 whereas the transport carts 20 on the lowermost platform is positioned perpendicularly to the transport carts 19. Hereby any transport cart is freely accessible and thus it is possible to handle any transport cart 19 and 20 to and from the platforms. In particular, the transport carts 19 will, following movement of the platform 2 to level with the lower platform (not shown in Figure 2), be readily accessible when the vertical wall 6 which is in the shape of a ramp is moved down to floor level. Figure 3 is a sectional view of a cold storage 21 wherein is arranged a plurality of storage units of the type shown in Figures 1 and 2. As will appear, the cold storage 21 may be utilised completely optimally while simultaneously maintaining the individual access to each of the transport carts. Thus, the cold storage 21 has such width that, at floor level, exactly two lower platforms and one downwardly pivoted platform may be positioned therein. Furthermore, the reference numeral 24 and dotted lines that connect the supports to opposed storage units exemplify a through-going joist for supporting opposed stor- age units. This may be advantageous from a manufacturing point of view since, upon movement of the upper platform, large pressure forces are exerted in a direction towards the lower platform (the floor) in support points before this, and large pull forces in support points behind this. The use of the aforementioned joist (or plurality of joists, preferably two for each storage unit) will reduce the load on the floor itself, since the storage unit which is inoperative will absorb some of the power influ- ences from the movable storage unit via the joists. Figure 4 illustrates a further embodiment of a storage unit according to the invention. This embodiment differs from the one shown in Figure 1 in that the area of the lower platform which may be a floor is provided with a housing 22 with doors 23. This housing is usually provided with air conditioning means so as to allow regulation of the temperature, the humidity, etc., within the housing. This enables energy savings since the space be- low the upper platform may be used universally for the storage and transport carts which in some situations require and in others do not require cooling and other climate-controlling measures. Transport carts that do not require climate-controlling measures will then, as shown in Figure 6, be arranged on the uppermost platform, whereas transport carts that do require temperature control may be arranged in the housing on the lower platform. Finally Figure 7 is a schematical illustration of the principle of the movement of the upper platform from the upper position accomplished as a parallelogram transmission. As mentioned in connection with Figure 1 the movement of the upper platform 2 is accomplished by a paral- lelogram transmission 12,14 being caused to pivot by means of hydraulic device 13. As will appear the two arms 12,14 of the parallelogram transmission that secure the upper platform may be moved downwards by pivoting about shafts 18 and 24. When the hydraulic device 13 is activated the arms 12,14 will hereby pivot about the shafts 18,24 and thereby swing to floor level as shown schematically in Figure 7. When the upper platforms subsequently reach floor level, the ramps 6 at each end of the transport device may be cleared and serve as travel ramps for transport carts to and from the upper platform. The above-identified parallellogram transmission may be replaced by other guide mechanisms, such as link guidance in wire pullings, etc. Although explained in connection with the storage of transport carts to and from an aeroplane, nothing prevents the storage unit according to the invention from being used for storing other objects which require compact but simultaneously unimpeded access to the objects.

Claims: C l a i m s 1. A storage unit (1) for storing transport carts (19,20) that are preferably used in the transportation of meals and beverages for serving onboard aeroplanes, trains, buses, ferries and the like, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in featuring an upper (2) and a lower (3) platform and is so configured that the upper platform may be moved downwards from an upper position to level with the lower platform. 2. A storage unit according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the lower platform is in level with the floor. 3. A storage unit according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the lower platform is a floor. 4. A storage unit according to claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the upper platform has a floor (4) and vertical side walls, at least one of which being in the shape of a ramp (6) which is movable from a vertical position to a horizontal position. 5. A storage unit according to claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the movement of the upper platform is accomplished by means of hydraulic transmission (13) which is in the form of a parallelogram transmission with two arms (12,14) at each end of the storage unit. 6. A storage unit according to claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the movement of the upper platform is accomplished by means of a link guidance, wire pulling or the like. 7. A storage unit according to claims 1-6, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the movement of the upper platform can only be accomplished when a detec- tor has detected that no obstacles will be encountered during the movement. 8. A storage unit according to claim 7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the detector is a photocell arranged for detecting interruption of a light beam that transmits light along the lower platform. 9. A storage unit according to any one of the preceding claims and for use upon positioning in a cold storage, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that its dimensions are modular, whereby it is obtained that, when a plurality of units are arranged in the cold storage, the units which are opposed will be arranged at a distance from each other which corresponds to the extent of the upper platform when moved out in level with the floor. 10. A storage unit according to claim 9, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that opposed units share a support that comprises at least two joists. 11. A storage unit according to claims 1-8, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that below the upper platform a separate chamber is provided which may option ¬ ally include air conditioning measures, such as tempera- ture adjustment means or moisture regulation. 12. A storage unit according to any one of the pre ¬ ceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that it is arranged for being controlled by a freely suspended operating device (7) . 13. A storage unit according to claim 12, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the upper platform is only movable during operation of the operating device.

Inventors: HOEST-MADSEN KNUD, LUND THOMAS, POVLSEN JENS HASSING, REENBERG STEEN, HOEST-MADSEN, KNUD, LUND, THOMAS, POVLSEN, JENS, HASSING, REENBERG, STEEN
Applicants: GATE GOURMET INTERNATIONAL AG, HOEST MADSEN KNUD, LUND THOMAS, POVLSEN JENS HASSING, REENBERG STEEN, HOEST-MADSEN, KNUD, LUND, THOMAS, POVLSEN, JENS, HASSING, REENBERG, STEEN
Application year: 1997
Main classification: B65G1
IPC codes: B65G1