The present invention relates generally to work stations used in office and industrial applications, and more particularly, to a composite work station that most advantageously interfaces with specialized arrangements of services needed by office and technical workers.
Most particularly, one aspect of the invention relates to a unitized work station which includes a compact, individually adjustable system for circulating conditioned air in the vicinity of a worker, that is, to provide both supply and return air capability suitably localized and controlled by the user. Another aspect relates to the provision of electrical/data services including power and data conductors and other services if desired. A further aspect is to provide adjustable positioners for work station equipment such as keyboards, viewing display equipment, specialized lighting and the like as well as providing user seating that is desirably positioned relative to the services being supplied through the station. Other optional features are readily provided.
In its present form, the apparatus is best utilized in connection with a multi-level raised floor service arrangement of the type to be described herein; however this is not strictly necessary. Also, in its preferred form, the entire system is mounted on a single platform such as a round support plate, optionally mounted for rotation.
In recent years, there has been a constantly increasing preoccupation with employee productivity. Attempts of all sorts have been made to improve the productivity of office and technical workers, including secretarial personnel; engineers such as designers, estimators and the like; workers controlling manufacturing operations; and a vast array of accountants, bookkeepers and others who are continually required to work with technical information.
One aspect of this emphasis has been that of providing more and more highly capable, faster operating equipment. By way of example, secretarial stations that formerly used typewriters now include computerized word processors having not only the capability of word processing, but also interconnection to other computers by way of local area networks, communications, connections such as those required to send messages by telefax, and a variety of so-called modems or other connections adapted to supply or exchange information with remote work stations in digital or other encoded form.
Clerical workers, including office and engineering and underwriting personnel, for example, have also been equipped with a wide variety of messaging equipment including telephones, image display apparatus such as CRT's, etc., clip-on type miniaturized microphones and earphones for portable, wireless telephony and like equipment. These "advances" have become increasingly common in an continuing effort to increase the productivity of employees.
However, critical observers of such so-called progress have noted that mere addition of equipment does not necessarily mean greater productivity, especially over an extended time period. Such observers have noted that the stress level of most employees so situated and equipped has also risen significantly in recent years. Managers at various levels have increasingly noted that the mere presence of more and faster-operating equipment is not itself sufficient to insure increased productivity.
In particular, overcrowding of desks, and creating the feeling in an employee that he or she is surrounded by equipment requiring constant attention, has often caused significantly adverse emotional reactions, ranging from concern to fear and hostility, all of which have actually proven counterproductive to the announced and hoped-for goal of increased employee productivity.
In recent years, managers have reluctantly agreed that employee comfort in and around the work place has become a paramount consideration if such an employee is to continue to work at high levels with sufficient comfort that the inevitable job-generated stress may be reduced, kept low, and/or effectively managed. It has been found that true productivity, which combines work rate with minimizing mistakes and insuring employee longevity on the job so that beneficial experience can be taken advantage of, is facilitated by employee comfort and convenience.
With these realizations regarding psychological considerations have come the counterpart realizations that reasonable physical comfort is also a necessity for effective operation. By "physical comfort" as used in this sense is not meant simply pampering employees or catering to unsubstantial whims, but is meant comfort in the broader sense of adapting the surrounding space to the surrounding to the physiological needs of the employee. In particular, it has been recently realized that a supply of truly fresh, conditioned air at the proper temperature is a requirement for effective human performance, especially performance of mental work.
Moreover, a comfortable seating position and comfortable position of equipment relative to the employee has become a true necessity. Thus, in recent years, ergonomics has moved toward becoming a true science rather than a luxury. For example, proper positioning and/or variability of positioning of keyboards or other manually operated devices have been accepted as a way of greatly reducing or eliminating repetitive motion stress such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Proper positioning of screens and monitors is able to overcome employee discomfort and even visual damage by eliminating glare and reflections. Most important of these, however, has been the requirement for air which is fresh, but the circulation of which need not be and in fact must not be annoying to the user. Discomfort from air circulation need no longer be considered simply a price to be paid for the necessity of having fresh air available for the worker.
Regarding prior attempts to provide comfort for office workers, the widely accepted system of ceiling supply and ceiling return has not proved highly effective in actual practice, primarily because such a system basically works against natural convection. Almost everyone is familiar with complaints of workers that depend on the position of such workers relative to the conditioned air outlets. For example, being situated beneath a conditioned air outlet, particularly on a warm day, is almost certain to create various levels of discomfort in office workers. Yet, if a significant amount of air is to be supplied to such offices, their cold air drafts become inevitable, with the coldest air being the most dense and moving most rapidly down under towards the employees with the additional impetus of delivery under forced air circulation conditions. If hot air is being supplied, it often stays near the ceiling unless forced toward the floor by strong drafts. Most, if not all, existing ceiling supply/return systems do not offer the option of moving the outlets to the vicinity of the employee.
Supplying conditioned air through the floor has proven very effective for circulation in environments wherein human comfort is not a particularly significant factor, i.e., computer rooms. However, a large volume of cold air supply from the floor is simply not acceptable to most office workers. The concept of reversible supply and return air, with floor supply and ceiling return for heat and vice versa for cold are possibilities that have been mentioned in the past, but such concepts are usually too expensive, space-intensive and complex to be workable in reality.
Under these circumstances, it would be greatly desired to provide an office or like work area where air was circulated with a view towards increasing individual user comfort and meeting individual user needs rather than being laid out as a part of an overall plan into which all employees would ultimately be required to fit. Thus, an ideal air circulation pattern would be one that would provide individually controllable comfort to each employee, and, if possible, which would arrange for convective circulation in the vicinity of the employee, regardless of the number or positioning of such employees within an office space.
With the foregoing in mind, and in particularly, the failure of the prior art to provide a consistently favorable climate for office workers, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved, integrated work station providing a number of advantages in use.
Another object of the invention is to provide a work station wherein all the services ordinarily used as well as generally needed by an employee are immediately available and can be individually adjusted or controlled by that employee.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an integrated employee work station that includes its own individual supply air space, a return air space, an electrical space, and also preferably includes an employee seat and adjustable equipment positioning facilities.
A further object of the invention is to provide a modular work station which permits an employee to adjust the climate in his or her individual work area without significantly affecting the climate of adjacent areas.
A still further object is to provide a work station which does not require, but is adaptable for use with a multi-level underfloor service distribution system.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a work station that includes a columnar arrangement of services, providing a generally cylindrical or like column having its interior subdivided into isolated spaces such as a center or core air supply area, an intermediate space in the form of a cylindrical shell adapted to receive return air and direct it to a return air plenum or other destination and a third, preferably radially outermost space dedicated to conductors, including electrical power and/or signal conductors such as data cables, fiber optic communication cables or the like.
Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of spaces within a single column whereby supply air, return air, and communication spaces are isolated from each other and yet adjacently disposed for compact packaging and for convenient availability and distribution.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a column-like arrangement, preferably circular in cross-section, that includes air supply, air return, and communication spaces and which also includes a plurality of equipment positioners that are individually adjustable by the user for maximum comfort and effectiveness.
A further object of the invention is to provide a work station of the type described wherein the entire structure of the station is mounted on a single support such as a plate or the like and wherein a concentric arrangement of service spaces is able to be integrated with a multi-level distribution system, preferably a floor system that is divided into separate levels providing supply air, return air, and communication and power spaces.
A still further object of the .invention is to provide an arrangement in a work station whereby the same structure that provides the services also provides support for equipment that is positionable according to the desires of the user.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a work station wherein the equipment positioners are in the form of rotatable rings, optionally motor driven, supported on a fixed column, with the rings including inner and outer mounting areas and vertically open spaces permitting passage of electrical or data conductors therethrough.
A further object of the invention is to provide a work station wherein a lower portion includes a return air space and a dedicated electrical space terminating in a power outlet area to which removable power and/or data connections can be made with ease and simplicity, leaving the upper and middle portions of the station available for other services.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention are achieved in practice by providing a modular work station including a column having plural isolated vertical passages individually dedicated to supply air, return air and communication and/or power, each of the services being able to serve a wide angle arc around the work station area.
The invention also achieves its objects by providing such an apparatus that further includes adjustable equipment positioners, climate and/or accessory control systems, and optionally seating, lighting and/or other operator-positionable equipment.
The exact manner in which the foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention are achieved in practice will become more clearly apparent when reference is made to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention set forth by way of example and shown in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers indicate corresponding parts throughout.