DE29801562U1 - Shelf beam - Google Patents

Description

SHELF TRAVEL

The present invention relates to a shelf beam.

Shelf crossbars are struts between the vertical columns of a shelf. They usually run horizontally and are often used as a support for shelf shelves, floors made of slats or bars or pallets placed on the shelf crossbars (hereinafter generally referred to as shelves) .

Shelf crossbars are crucial for the load-bearing capacity of a shelf, because the load-bearing capacity of the crossbar determines the load-bearing capacity of the shelf on top and the number of crossbars determines the load-bearing capacity of the vertical columns by preventing the columns from buckling.

Up to now, closed square hollow profiles, often with a molded-in step-shaped support for a shelf, have mostly been used for shelf beams, see for example DE-C-2628537 or US-3587483. However, these well-known beams are usually relatively thick-walled and heavy in order to achieve sufficient load-bearing capacity. They are also bulky to transport and expensive to manufacture. Production starts with a metal strip material that is folded into the desired hollow profile and welded along a weld seam running in the longitudinal direction of the profile to obtain the hollow profile. An arc welding technique is usually used for this, in which an arc burns between an electrode and the weld seam to be formed. At the same time, additional material is introduced into the weld seam. This process is not only expensive but also has the disadvantage that the additional material inside the hollow profile can lead to unevenly solidified, small metal balls or lumps, which interfere with cutting the profile to the desired length.

Some of these disadvantages are avoided with shelf beams that have a double T or I profile and are cold-formed from a metal strip material simply by rolling or bending. Examples of such profiles are given in DE-A-2459421, DE-A-2421918 and DE-A-2634576. The cross section of a beam resulting from DE-A-2459421 is shown in Figure 3. This beam has an upper flange 101, a web 102 and a lower flange 103 formed in one piece from sheet steel. The sheet steel is formed in such a way that the upper and lower flanges 101, 103 and the adjacent areas 104, 105 of the web 102 are double-layered, while the middle area of the web 102 is single-layered. The profile remains unwelded.

However, the connection between the upper and lower chords and the web is a weak point in this traverse, as it is not very rigid there. In addition, the traverse is not very suitable as a support for shelves.

A traverse which combines features of the above-mentioned closed hollow profiles and the above-mentioned I-profiles, but has a low load-bearing capacity at high weight, is known from DE-A-3002401.

A shelf crossbar with a double-T or I-like profile, on whose upper chord a stepped support for a shelf base is formed, is disclosed in US 4,467,729. The crossbar is made by roll forming from a metal strip material. It has the disadvantage that the formed support has little load-bearing capacity, so that the shelf base must be supported by additional struts.

JP-A-4-180713 relates to a shelf with an additional support frame for attaching lighting to the individual shelf compartments.

The invention is based on the object of specifying a shelf beam which has a high load-bearing capacity and contributes to reducing the costs for manufacturing, transport, storage and assembly of the shelf.

This problem is solved with the shelf beams specified in claims 1, 2, 4 and 14.

The invention is based on the idea of integrating additional functions into the traverse, while maintaining or increasing stability, which previously required additional components or which could not be implemented at all.

The crossbeams according to claims 1 and 2 provide particularly secure supports for shelves. The L-shape of the supports can prevent the shelves from slipping and the arrangement of the supports centrally above the web (claim 1) or as part of a hollow profile (claim 2) can provide sufficient load-bearing capacity. The crossbeam according to claim 2 is advantageous if the support is not to be arranged above the web but at a horizontal distance from the web due to the dimensions of the shelves to be used.

In the traverse according to claim 4, the recesses enable the easy attachment of lighting fixtures or label signs and advertising boards, which can be attached so that they are easily readable, for example, facing the viewer.

The shelf beam according to claim 14 is cost-effective and at the same time highly stable.

Particularly practical, easy to manufacture and yet stable shelf beams according to the invention are specified in the subclaims. The design according to claim 3 results in efficient use of materials because it allows the largest part of the band material to be used as high up and as low down as possible on the beam, where the greatest loads occur.

The provision of recesses, for example fastening holes for screwing advertising boards in an inclined section of the cross member according to claim 5, means that the advertising boards can be fitted facing the viewer in an easily readable manner. If the recesses are as in

If they are mounted in a horizontal section as specified in claim 6, they are particularly suitable for fastening lighting fixtures.

Embossments or beads according to claim 12 contribute to the stiffening of the cross member and holes in the web along the neutral fiber according to claim 13 result in a reduction in weight by saving material in the area of the least stress and can also be used to attach lighting fixtures or information signs.

The invention is described in more detail below with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings. In this drawing:

Figure 1 shows the cross section of a shelf beam of a first embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2 shows a shelf beam according to a second embodiment of the invention in cross section,

Figure 3 shows the cross-section of a rack beam of the state of the art,

Figures 4 to 10 show sketches of further shelf beams according to the invention, and

Figure 11 shows a lighting fixture for use in a shelf.

In the figures, corresponding parts of the traverses are designated with the same reference symbols. Where there are no changes compared to the corresponding parts of a figure already described, the reference symbols are not shown again and the description is not repeated.

The cross-section of the traverse shown in Figure 1 is essentially I-shaped or double-T-shaped. It has an essentially horizontal upper chord 1, a web 2 running downwards from the middle of the upper chord 1 and a horizontal lower chord 3.

The traverse is folded from a single sheet steel strip material. The upper and lower chords 1, 3 each have two parallel layers 4, 5 and 6, 7 of the strip material. The

Web 2 contains a layer 8 of the belt material running along its entire length as well as support flanges 9, 10 at its ends, each of which is molded onto one of the material layers 5, 7 of the upper and lower chords and serves to stiffen the connection between web 2 and chords 1, 3. In its middle, along the neutral fiber of the traverse, web 2 is single-layered.

This structure ensures efficient use of materials where the traverse is exposed to the greatest loads. When the traverse is loaded from above, the upper chord 1 is subjected to compression and the lower chord 3 to tension, while the web 2 bears no load in its middle, the neutral fiber. The highest load-bearing capacity with the lowest weight of the traverse is therefore achieved if the material used is used as far as possible at the very top of the upper chord and at the very bottom of the lower chord, while material can be saved at the middle of the web.

When manufactured from a single, uniformly thick sheet steel strip material, the present embodiment approaches this ideal in that the upper chord 1 and lower chord 3 each comprise material layers 4, 5 and 6, 7 that run horizontally as high up and down as possible without or with very little distance from one another, while the web 2 essentially comprises only one material layer 8.

Starting from the vertical web 2, the upper chord 1 has two legs 15, 16 that run approximately horizontally in opposite directions. The leg 16 is provided at the end with a stop 12 that runs vertically upwards, creating an L-shaped support surface 13 for a shelf (not shown). The web 2 runs approximately centrally below the horizontal section of the support surface 13, preventing a tipping moment on the upper chord 1 when loaded by the shelf. The vertical section of the support surface 13 along the stop 12 fixes the shelf to prevent it from slipping.

To produce the crossbeam, a sheet steel strip material is first folded into the profile shape shown in cross-section in the figure using the known roll forming process. The support flange 9 is then connected to the material layer 8 of the web 2 by roll welding. To do this, the crossbeam is guided between two rollers that run on the outside of the strip material layers 8 and 9 to be welded. At the same time, a voltage is applied to the rollers, which leads to a current flow from one roller to the other and thus to resistance heating and melting of the material to be welded.

Welding prevents the top flange 1 from buckling if the shelf is placed asymmetrically and one of the two legs 15, 16 is subjected to more stress than the other.

The support flange 10 and the material layer 8 of the web or the double-layered areas 4, 5 or 6, 7 of the belts 1, 3 can also be connected to one another by roll welding in order to stiffen the crossbeam. Instead of roll welding, riveting, screwing or clinching can also be used.

The present embodiment can be modified in that the web 2 is not guided from the center of the upper chord 1 to the center of the lower chord 3 but from one side of the upper chord 1 to the nearest side of the lower chord 3 or to the opposite side of the lower chord 3, resulting in a C or Z profile.

The traverse shown in Figure 2 is similar to the traverse in Figure 1 in the structure of the lower chord and the web 2, which in an area that preferably includes the neutral fiber consists of only a single layer 8 of the band material. The upper chord 1 has two legs 15, 16 running away from the web in different directions due to the central arrangement of the web 2 in the I-profile. The first leg 15 is constructed horizontally in two layers with the material layers 4, 5, as in the traverse in Figure 1. The second leg 16 is

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formed by the material layer 4, which initially runs horizontally starting from the web 2 (to the left in Figure 2). At the end of the leg 16 it is angled vertically downwards, then runs horizontally again in the same direction and finally back to the web 2, where it forms a support flange 17 resting on the web over a limited distance.

Thus, the leg 16, like the upper area of the web 2, is part of a hollow profile with a molded-in step. The step provides a support surface 13 for a shelf (not shown). The support flange 17 is connected to the web 2 by roll welding, as explained in Figure 1 for the support flange 9, whereby the hollow profile mentioned receives its rigidity.

The present embodiment has the advantage over that of Figure 1 that the two horizontal material layers 4, 5 forming the leg 15 are arranged above the support surface 13 and therefore have a particularly large distance from the lower flange 3, whereby the load-bearing capacity of the traverse is higher.

In order to prevent the web 2 from buckling in the area of the support flange 17 when the support surface 13 is subjected to heavy loads, stiffening beads can be installed in the material layer 8. In addition, the crossbeam can be modified so that it has an approximately C-shaped cross section by leading the web 2 not from the middle of the upper chord to the middle of the lower chord, but from the leg 16 at the vertical section of the support surface 13 vertically downwards to the left side of the lower chord 3 in Figure 2.

The traverse shown in Figure 4 has the following special features compared to those described so far:

The material layer 5 of the upper chord 1, like the material layer 7 of the lower chord 3, ends bluntly at the base of the web 2, without continuing along the web to form a support flange. The web 2 is therefore single-layered over its entire surface. This means that the load-bearing capacity of the

A saving in material is achieved by the traverse. The rigidity of the connection between the upper chord 1 and the web 2 is sufficient if it is not expected that the upper chord 1 will be subjected to asymmetrical loading, for example due to shelves or pallets being placed at an angle, and could bend out of its right-angled alignment with the web 2.

In the web 2, beads 18 are embossed to stiffen the crossbeam. In addition, the web 2 is provided with holes 19 near the neutral fiber. On the one hand, the holes 19 serve to save weight without losing the load-bearing capacity of the crossbeams, since the area of the neutral fiber hardly contributes to the load-bearing capacity anyway. On the other hand, they can be used to attach price or label signs (not shown), which are attached to the holes 19 using screws, rivets or clamping pins.

The lower flange 3 includes a horizontal leg 21 aligned at right angles to the web 2 and a second leg 22 angled away from it. The second leg 22 is provided with a reinforcing bead 23 and with recesses 24, 25. The recesses 24 are used to attach information signs or advertising boards (not shown) for the products stored on the shelf. The boards point diagonally downwards due to the inclination of the second leg 22. The label side is on the underside of the board.

The traverse is suitable for connecting two shelf columns located to the left and right in front of a viewer above the viewer's head. In Figure 4, the viewer would be on the left. The label side of the board then points diagonally downwards towards the viewer.

The elongated recesses 25 are used to attach lighting fixtures. Due to the inclination of the second leg 22, there is sufficient space on this leg for the attachment of, for example, a fluorescent tube lighting fixture that runs in the longitudinal direction of the crossbeam. The recesses 25 also allow cables to be fed through to supply the lighting fixtures.

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The crossbeam shown in Figure 5 corresponds largely to the crossbeam in Figure 2, although the leg 16 of the upper chord 1 forming the step-shaped support surface 13 protrudes less far from the web 2. In addition, the web 2 contains two layers of material 8, 27 in the area of the leg 16 and even three layers of material 8, 27, 28 where the vertical section of the support surface 13 runs parallel to the web. These measures result in a particularly high load-bearing capacity of a shelf (not shown) resting on the support surface 13 without the risk of the web collapsing.

In the traverse shown in Figure 6, the design of the upper chord 1 corresponds to Figure 1. The lower chord 3 contains two horizontally running two-layer legs 21, 22. The leg 22 is angled upwards at its end to form a rib 33 running parallel to the web 2. The rib 33, like the horizontal area of the leg 22, is provided with recesses 34, which, like the recesses 25 and 24 of the embodiment in Figure 4, can be used to attach signs and lighting fixtures. In a modification of the present embodiment, the recesses 34 can also be made only in the rib 33, while the recesses in the horizontal area of the leg 22 are omitted. This increases the load-bearing capacity of the traverse, since the horizontal area contributes more to the load-bearing capacity of the traverse than the rib 33.

The shelf traverse according to Figure 7 differs from the embodiment according to Figure 4 in particular in the design of the web 2 and the lower flange 3. The lower flange 3 is inverted V-shaped in cross section and, in contrast to the embodiment according to Figure 4, its two legs 21 and 22 do not extend at right angles but at an obtuse angle in opposite directions from the web 2. At least one of the two legs 21 and 22 is, as in the embodiment according to Figure 4, provided with recesses 24 and 25 for attaching

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for the installation of lighting fixtures and information signs or advertising boards. However, these recesses are not visible in the profile view in Figure 7. Unlike in Figure 4, the web 2 of the present traverse is provided with support flanges 9 and 10, which are formed on the upper and lower chords 1, 3 and serve to better support it on the material layer 8 of the web 2.

The shelf cross member according to Figure 8 is similar to that according to Figure 2, but the support flange 17 is not arranged above the neutral fiber of the web 2 but in the lower area of the web 2, close to the support flange 8 adjoining the bottom flange 3. Only a short section remains between the two support flanges 8 and 17, in which the web 2 consists of a single layer of material only 8. This increases the cross-sectional area of the hollow profile with the molded-in step-shaped support surface 13 and further increases the load-bearing capacity of the cross member compared to that in Figure 2.

Figures 9 and 10 show schematically various shelf beams with attached lighting fixtures. A perspective view of a typical lighting fixture is shown in Figure 11.

This lighting fixture has a control box 35 that contains an electrical control circuit for a fluorescent tube 37. Two connectors 36 extend downwards from the control box 35. The fluorescent tube 37 is inserted between the two connectors 36.

In the rack beam shown in Figure 9, the upper chord 1 is designed in two layers and is connected to the material layer 8 and the support flange 9 of the web 2.

The lower flange 3 has two material layers 6, 7 of the metal strip material, which are integrally connected to the material layer 8 and the lower support flange 10 of the web 2 at an angle of 90°. The lower flange 3 consists of only a single horizontally running, double-layered leg 21.

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The lower support flange 10 runs from the lower flange 3 towards the middle of the web. This is followed by a horizontal section 38 that projects away from the web. It serves as a support for the control box 35 of a lighting fixture. The horizontal section 38 is provided with recesses 39 that correspond to the recesses 25 and 34 shown in Figures 4 and 6 and through which the connecting pieces 36 of the lighting fixture protrude downwards. The fluorescent tube 37 of the lighting fixture is inserted between the connecting pieces 36 after they have been pushed through the recesses 39.

This shelf traverse is particularly suitable for connecting the two front columns of the shelf, with the lighting fixture being located on the side of the traverse facing the inside of the rack. It illuminates the shelf compartment located below the traverse and is simultaneously protected by the traverse against damage when loading and unloading the shelf.

The crossbeam of Figure 10 differs from that of Figure 9 only in that the lower chord 3 is provided with two double-layered legs 21 and 22 running in opposite directions from the web 2, as in the embodiment of Figure 1. This results in a higher load-bearing capacity of the crossbeam and better protection of the fluorescent tube 37 against damage.

The present invention therefore relates to a shelf crossbar with upper chord 1, web 2 and lower chord 3. The crossbar fulfills other functions in addition to its function as a brace between two shelf columns. These functions include the provision of an L-shaped support surface 13 and devices for attaching lighting fixtures and information signs. These devices comprise recesses 24, 25, 34 on the lower chord 3. In addition, the lower chord 3 can be provided with a section 22, 33 that does not run perpendicular to the web 2 and on which the aforementioned recesses are attached.

Claims (14)

- 12 CLAIMS FOR PROTECTION: 1. Rack traverse with an upper chord (1), a lower chord (3) and a web (2) connecting them, which are formed from metal strip material, wherein the upper chord (1) has two legs (15, 16) extending from the web (2) in opposite directions, which form an L-shaped support surface (13) for a shelf, which includes a horizontal section, under which the connection of the upper chord (1) to the web (2) is located approximately in the middle. 2. Rack traverse with an upper chord (1), a lower chord (3) and a web (2) connecting them, which are formed from metal strip material, wherein the upper chord (1) has two legs (15, 16) extending in opposite directions from the web (2) and a hollow profile with a molded-in step which forms an L-shaped support surface (13) for a shelf. 3. Traverse according to claim 2, wherein one leg (15) of the upper chord (1) includes a region with two horizontal layers (4, 5) of the strip material and the other leg (16) is part of said hollow profile. 4. Rack traverse with an upper chord (1), a lower chord (3) and a web (2) connecting them, which are formed from metal strip material, - 13 - wherein the upper and lower belts (1, 3) have a region with two horizontal layers (4, 5; 6, 7) of the belt material, wherein recesses (24, 25, 34) are provided in the shelf cross member for attaching lighting fixtures or information signs. 5. Traverse according to claim 4, wherein said recesses (24, 25, 34) are provided in a section (22, 33) that is inclined and not perpendicular to the web (2). 6. Traverse according to claim 4, wherein said recesses (24, 25, 34) are arranged in a section extending horizontally from the web (2). 7. Traverse according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the upper and lower belts (1, 3) each have a region with two horizontal layers (4, 5; 6, 7) of the strip material and the web (2) has a region with only a single layer (8) of the strip material. 8. Traverse according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the upper chord (1), the web (2) and the lower chord (3) are formed in one piece from the strip material. 9. Traverse according to one of claims 1 to 8, whose cross section is essentially I-, C- or Z-shaped with approximately horizontal - 14 - valley-running upper and lower chords (1, 3) and an approximately vertical web 2. 10. Traverse according to one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the strip material runs in one piece from the web (2) to the upper or lower chord (1, 3) and runs horizontally starting from the web (2) to form a first layer (5, 7), then runs back at an angle of 180° to form a second layer (4, 6) and finally runs along the web to form a support flange (9, 10, 17). 11. Traverse according to claim 10, wherein the support flange (9, 10, 17) is welded to the web (2). 12. Traverse according to one of claims 1 to 11 with a stiffening bead (18, 23). 13. Traverse according to one of claims 1 to 12 with recesses (19) in the region of the middle of the web (2) along its neutral fiber. 14. Rack traverse with an upper chord (1), a web (2) and a lower chord (3) made of a metal strip material, wherein the upper flange, web and lower flange are roll-formed in one piece from the strip material, and two superimposed layers (4, 5; 6, 7; 8, 17) of the strip material are roll-welded.