A shelf and a storage system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a shelf (9) for a storage system The shelf comprises a main piece (13) being formed by a sheet metal web, which is bent, at a front (15) and a rear (17) edge, out of the plane of the top surface (11) to form vertical front and rear edge surfaces (19). The shelf further comprises side pieces (21), attached to the main piece (13) and having connector means (23, 25) for connecting to a respective bracket thereby suspending the shelf. Each side piece (21) has a horizontal top flange (27) covering a side edge (29) of the main piece (13) and a vertical section (31) comprising said connector means (23, 25). An intermediate section (33) is located between the top flange (27) and the vertical section (31), such that the vertical section is retracted under the side edge (29).

Description

[0001] A SHELF AND A STORAGE SYSTEM

[0002] Technical field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to a shelf for a storage system, the shelf comprising a main piece, defining a top surface and being formed by a sheet metal web, which is bent, at a front and a rear edge, out of the plane of the top surface to form vertical front and rear edge surfaces, and first and second side pieces, which are attached to the main piece and comprise connector means for connecting each of the side pieces to a respective bracket, for instance, for suspending the shelf thereon.

[0004] The present disclosure also considers a storage system.

[0005] Background

[0006] Such a shelf is described for instance in EP-3398482-A1 , where a shelf made partly of an expanded mesh material has side pieces adapted to connect to other elements in a system, typically by each connecting to a cantilevered bracket.

[0007] One problem associated with shelves of this type is how to make a number of such shelves to function well together in a storage system.

[0008] One object of the present disclosure is therefore to provide a shelf with an improved functionality in a storage system.

[0009] This object is achieved by a frame as defined in claim 1 . More specifically, in a shelf of the initially mentioned kind, each of the side pieces comprises a horizontal top flange covering a side edge of the main piece and a vertical section comprising said connector means. Each side piece further comprises an intermediate section between the top flange and the vertical section, configured such that the vertical section is retracted under said side edge. This means that the side piece can protect the lateral side edge of the main piece at the same time as the vertical section, that comprises connector means, is withdrawn under this side edge. When two such shelves are fitted on a bracket with U-shaped cross section, on a respective side thereof, the gap in between the neighbouring shelves can be minimized. This provides an improved function, as the shelves can provide a more or less uninterrupted common shelf top surface. The intermediate section may be inclined with regard to the top flange, forming an acute angle in the range between 15 and 60 degrees therebetween. More particularly, the angle may be in the range between 45 and 55 degrees.

[0010] The connector means may include at least two tabs punched from the side piece. This facilitates connecting to a cantilevered bracket with a U-shaped cross section.

[0011] The front edge of each side piece may be covered behind the front edge surface of the main piece. This prevents a forward-directed edge of the side piece sheet metal from being exposed.

[0012] The shelf may further comprise a reinforcement beam which is welded to the bottom side of the main piece, and the ends of which are welded to a bottom flange of the side piece. This makes the shelf stronger.

[0013] The main piece may be at least partly punched and stretched to form a mesh material.

[0014] The present disclosure also considers a storage system comprising a shelf as defined above.

[0015] Brief description of the drawings

[0016] Fig 1 illustrates elements of a storage system.

[0017] Fig 2 shows enlarged the portion A of the shelf in fig 1.

[0018] Fig 3 illustrates elements of a sheet metal shelf example.

[0019] Fig 4A and 4B shows a side views of a side piece.

[0020] Fig 5 is a perspective view of the side piece in fig 4.

[0021] Detailed description

[0022] The present disclosure relates a storage system, and more particularly to a shelf for a storage system.

[0023] Fig 1 illustrates elements of a storage system 1 including a shelf 9. The storage system may include hang standards 5 that are attached to a wall, for instance, or used in a free-standing configuration by attaching feet to the hang standards 5. In the illustrated case, the hang standards 5 are wall-mounted and this is facilitated by means of a horizontal rail 3, attached to the wall and on which the hang standards 5 are suspended, optionally in addition to being screwed on the wall. Cantilevered brackets 7 are attached to the hang standards 5 which may include slots on their fronts, configured to connect to connection means on the rear of the brackets 7. The brackets 7 may be made in one piece in sheet metal and generally have a U-shaped cross section. Thus far, the system is well known, for instance from WO2021 / - 221555-A1. However, it may be noted that the shelf to be described in the following may work also with other types of systems that employ similar brackets or the like.

[0024] The present disclosure is thus concerned with the shelf 9 also illustrated in fig 1 . Components of this shelf are illustrated in fig 3. The shelf 9 may be made up from a main piece 13 defining a top surface 11 . The main piece 13 may be formed in one piece from a sheet metal web. The web may be bent, at a front 15 and a rear 17 edge, out of the plane of the top surface 11 thereby forming vertical front and rear edge surfaces 19. This renders the main piece 13 in itself stiffer, and this effect can optionally be enhanced by bending the piece again at the front and rear edges 15, 17 thereby forming a main piece bottom flange 20, at each of the edges, that run at the bottom side of the main piece 13 along its long sides.

[0025] The main piece 13 may be wholly or partly be formed as an expanded metal mesh where cuts are formed in the sheet metal which is simultaneously expanded to form diamond-shaped openings in the sheet metal. This may be done in partial sections 43 where an intermediate section 45 is left intact with no cuts. A reinforcement beam 41 may be spot welded on the bottom side of the main piece 13 to increase its stiffness. This may be done under the intermediate, intact section 45 as described in EP- 3398482-A1 . However, the present disclosure is applicable to other configurations such as sheet metal main pieces 13 formed without mesh portions or even main pieces 13 formed entirely as a mesh.

[0026] There are provided first and second side pieces 21 , that are attached to the main piece 13 to further increase the stiffness of the shelf as a whole and to present connector means 23, 25 (cf. fig 5) for connecting each of the side pieces 21 to a respective bracket 7, for instance, for suspending the shelf. In the following, those side pieces 21 are described in more detail with reference to figs 4A, 4B, and 5.

[0027] In the present disclosure, the side pieces 21 (cf. fig 5) comprise a horizontal top flange 27, a substantially vertical section 31 , and an intermediate section 33 between the top flange 27 and the vertical section 31 . This is more clearly illustrated in the side view of fig 4A. The top flange 27 may be configured to cover a side edge 29 of the main piece 13 as more clearly illustrated in fig 4B and may extend about 10 mm on top if the main piece 13, although a larger or smaller extension is possible.

[0028] The substantially vertical section 31 may typically be about 18 mm in a configuration where the total height of the side piece is roughly 25 mm, although it could be more or less as will be discussed. By substantially vertical is meant that this section deviates less than 3° from vertical when the shelf is mounted in such a way that the top surface 11 is horizontal. Preferably the section 31 is vertical as illustrated in fig 4. The substantially vertical section 31 comprises the connector means 23, 25 which will be discussed in greater detail below.

[0029] Each side piece 21 comprises an intermediate section 33 between the top flange 27 and the substantially vertical section 31 . This intermediate section 33 serves to offset the substantially vertical section 31 towards the mid of the shelf a distance, typically in the range 3-7 mm, in the illustrated case about 5 mm. Thereby, the vertical section 31 becomes retracted under the side edge 29 of the main piece 13. This will provide advantages as will be illustrated in connection with fig 4B.

[0030] The intermediate section 33 may preferably be inclined as illustrated in fig 4A where the acute angle between the top flange 27 and the intermediate section 33 is about 50°, although a range between 15-60°, typically within 45-55° would be suitable. It would also in principle be possible to make the intermediate section 33 parallel with the top flange, simply providing a 180° fold therebetween, allowing a higher vertical section 31 . However, the inclined version has the advantage of providing a stiffer side piece. This may be advantageous particularly as the shelf as a whole may be made in a thin steel sheet metal material, typically in the range 0, 5-1 ,0 mm.

[0031] Fig 4B schematically illustrates an advantage with a shelf 9 according to the present disclosure. In Fig 4B, the side piece 21 and a neighbouring side piece 2T of a similar or identical shelf are attached to the same bracket 7, specifically suspended from the legs of the U-shaped cross section configuration of the bracket 7. Thanks to the substantially vertical sections 31 of the side pieces 21 , 2T being retracted under the side edge 29 of the main piece, the gap 47 in between the neighbouring shelves becomes relatively small, much smaller than the distance between the legs of the U-shaped cross section of the bracket 7. This makes it possible to form an almost continuous common shelf top surface made up from several neighbouring shelves of the present disclosure.

[0032] Fig 5 shows a perspective view of the side piece 21 of fig 4A illustrating examples of connector means 23, 25 for connecting the shelf to a bracket or the like. The connector means in this example includes tabs 23 and bulbs 25 formed in the vertical section 31 . In the illustrated case two tabs 23 are formed by punching the sheet metal of the side piece 21 in the vertical section 31 . The tabs 23 may then be inserted inside the U-shaped cross section of the bracket 7, while the remainder of the vertical section 31 remains outside of the bracket, thereby suspending the side piece 21 and thus the shelf as a whole on the bracket 7.

[0033] Optionally, outward projecting bulbs 25 may be formed in the vertical section 31. Those bulbs 25 may be included in the connector means and may snap into a hole or cut-out or a corresponding dent in the bracket when the tabs 23 are fully attached to the side of the bracket 7, thereby functioning as a snap lock connecting the side piece 21 to the bracket 7. Available brackets 7 include, for other purposes, such cutouts 8 as shown in fig 1 .

[0034] Returning to fig 3, the assembling of the shelf 9 is discussed. The main piece 13 is bent as illustrated in the figure and a reinforcement beam 41 is spot-welded to the bottom side of the main piece in the middle thereof, the reinforcement beam 41 thus being parallel with the elongation direction of the shelf 9 as a whole and coinciding with the centre line of the main piece 13, although it is possible to offset the reinforcement beam 41 with regard to that centre line. In the illustrated case, the main piece has two portions 43 where the sheet metal is cut and stretched to a mesh with an intervening unstretched portion 45. In that case, the reinforcement beam 41 may suitably be attached under the unstretched portion 45. If for instance three stretched portions were provided with two intervening unstretched portions, two reinforcement beams could be attached in another example.

[0035] The side pieces 21 are attached by welding to the main piece 13, such that their top flanges 27 cover the side edges 29 of the main piece 13 at the top surface 11 , while their vertical sections 31 are retracted under the top surface of the main piece 13 as already discussed. The top flanges 27 may be spot welded to the main piece 13. As seen for instance in fig 4A, the bottom edge of the side piece 21 may be bent into a side piece bottom flange 49, thereby making the side piece 21 stiffer. When the side piece 21 is attached to the main piece 13, this side piece bottom flange 49 may overlap with one of the aforementioned main piece bottom flanges 20 at each end of the side piece 21 , and one or more spot welds may be applied at those locations.

[0036] If the shelf comprises a reinforcement beam 41 , as discussed above, this beam may be welded to the bottom side of the main piece 13, as well as, at the ends of the beam 41 , to the bottom flange 49 of the side piece 21 .

[0037] At the front end of each side piece 21 , there is a front edge 51 , as seen in fig 5. Fig 2 illustrates an enlarged view of the portion A in fig 1 . As seen in fig 2, this front edge 51 of the side piece may be partly retracted behind the front edge surface 19 of the main piece 13, typically at the vertical section 31 of the side piece 19. This means that any burrs or the like at this section of the front edge 51 are not exposed.

[0038] It is possible to provide continuous, narrow laser weld between the main piece 13 and the side piece 21 at the corner of the shelf, for instance along the side of the top flange 27 and to the upper corner of the front surface 19 where otherwise a small opening 53 may be formed. The laser welded joint may then cover the area 55 indicated in fig 2 to make this piece smooth and the connection between the main piece 13 and the side piece 21 even stronger.

[0039] The present disclosure is not restricted to above illustrated examples and may be varied and altered in different ways within the scope of the appended claims. For instance, other attachment means than tabs and bulbs may be used, and the shelf may be devised to connect to another construction element than a bracket of the shown type.

Claims

CLAIMS1 . A shelf (9) for a storage system, the shelf comprising a main piece (13) defining a top surface (11) and being formed by a sheet metal web, which is bent, at a front (15) and a rear (17) edge, out of the plane of the top surface (11 ) to form vertical front and rear edge surfaces (19), and first and second side pieces (21), which are attached to the main piece (13) and comprise connector means (23, 25) for connecting each of the side pieces to a respective bracket or the like for suspending the shelf (9) thereon, characterized by each of the side pieces (21 ) comprising a horizontal top flange (27) covering a side edge (29) of the main piece (13) and a vertical section (31 ) comprising said connector means (23, 25) wherein each side piece (21) further comprises an intermediate section (33) between the top flange (27) and the vertical section (31), such that the vertical section is retracted under said side edge (29).

2. Shelf according to claim 1 , wherein the intermediate section (33) is inclined with regard to the top flange (27), forming an acute angle in the range between 15 and 60 degrees therebetween.

3. Shelf according to claim 2, wherein said acute angle is in the range between 45 and 55 degrees.

4. Shelf according to any of claims 1 or 2, wherein said connector means (23, 25) include at least two tabs (23) punched from the side piece (21).

5. Shelf according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the front edge (51 ) of each side piece (21) is covered behind the front edge surface (19) of the main piece (13).

6. Shelf according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the shelf further comprises a reinforcement beam (41) which is welded to the bottom side of the main piece (13), and the ends of which are each welded to a bottom flange (49) of a side piece (21).

7. Shelf according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the main piece (13) is at least partly punched and stretched to form a mesh material.

8. A storage system comprising a shelf according to any of claims 1 -7.

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