AU603845B2

AU603845B2 - Fire-resisting panel assembly and brackets therefor

Info

Publication number: AU603845B2
Application number: AU82276/87A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jonathan B. Wexler
Original assignee: Fire Research Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Fire Research Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1987-12-09
Filing date: 1987-12-09
Publication date: 1990-11-29
Anticipated expiration: 2007-12-09
Also published as: AU8227687A

Description

COMMON WEALTH OF A U 3 PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (Original) FOR OFFICE USE Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: S" Published: SPriority: S:.Related Art: o This document contains the amendments made under Section 49 and is correct for printing.

Name of Applicant: Address of Applicant: Address of Applicant: FIRE RESEARCH PTY. LIMITED 59 Normanby Road, Notting Hill, 3168, in the State of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: DAVIES COLLISON, Patent Attorneys, 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000.

Complete specification for the invention entitled: "Fire-Resisting Panel Assembly and Brackets Therefor" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to i -e Yi I 3 u~L -1 i: i 0t o 0 0 000 00 0 09 0 0 C 0e 0 Cc *0 a0 o CC 8 4i 4 I t 4 4 4 44' 4 "FIRE-RESISTING PANEL ASSEMBLY AND BRACKETS THEREFOR" The present invention relates to fire-resisting panel assemblies.

It is known to provide fire-resisting panels or infills in a variety of shapes and sizes to occupy openings made in concrete floors or masonry walls of buildings. A common reason for providing such openings is to allow the passage of various services in the form of cables, pipes, ducts, and so forth.

Occasionally, such openings may not be occupied by services on initial completion of the building, but are provided for future use. In the latter case it is common practice to set a removable infill panel either within or over the opening, allowing it to be subsequently removed and cut to fit around future services. More commonly, however, there are services I 3 present through the opening, and the infill panel is cut and shaped, sometimes involving separation into several pieces, to fit closely around the services, with minimal gaps so as to protect against penetration of fire or hot gases.

Materials which may typically be used for the construction of such infill panels are of light-weight fire-resisting construction, easily cut and shaped using simple hand tools, for low cost fitting around irregular profiles. Examples of such materials include foamed or cellular concrete, bonded expanded light-weight aggregates, for example, vermiculite or perlite, or resin bonded mineral wool batts. The panel is used in conjunction with intumescent or non-intumescent putties, sealants and coatings for filling any gaps and cracks at tne interfaces between the panel and the services and between the panel and the edge of the opening to prevent penetration of smoke, hot gases or flame.

In the fire stopping treatment of floor openings, it is commonly required that the fire-resistant infill panels are set into the opening flush or approximately flush with the upper surface and it therefore becomes necessary to provide a means of support under normal service and fire conditions to prevent the panel or panel pieces from falling through. One typical method is to attach steel supports in the form of flats or angles either to the underside or around the reveal of the opening, using conventional masonry anchors. Sometimes when using infill panels of light-weight, slightly compressible material such as resin bonded Rockwall, support is Si achieved by coating the edges with adhesive and jamming into the opening with an interference fit.

Attachment of steel supports, angles or other shapes to the concrete as described, is relatively labour-intensive and often not practicable in actual building site situations where use of power drills for attachment of anchors can be obstructed due to lack of room. The use of interference fit supplemented with adhesive jointing is open to P considerable criticism because of the absence of mechanical support for the infill panel which can become loose under fire conditions, due to shrinkage 0 I or movement of penetrating services and so become 15 dislodged.

It is a requirement of Australian Building r Regulations, and those of most other countries, that ,z for the purposes of effective fire separation in buildings, fire separation elements under standard fire test conditions must retain their structural integrity, must not develop openings permitting passage of flame or hot gases and must not develop a temperature rise on the surface not exposed to the fire of more than about 180 0 K above the initial (room) temperature. This limit on permissible temperature rise prevents the use of conventional metal support means involving passage of a metal profile through the edge of an opening from the hot (exposed) face to the cold (unexposed) face. Under typical fire test conditions it would be required to measure the temperature rise on any metal protrusion I on the unexposed face and this would normally be exceeded because of the high thermal conductivity of i i~ a conventional metal support profile.

According to the present invention there is provided a fire-resistant infill panel assembly for filling an aperture in a fire-resistant partition, said assembly comprising an infill panel of fire-resistant material and brackets secured to edges of the panel to support the panel from the partition, each bracket comprising a main limb which lies adjacent an edge of the panel, a first lateral limb at one end of the main limb and projecting laterally of the main limb into the thickness of the panel so as to be embedded in the panel, and a second lateral Slimb at an opposite end of the main limb, said second limb projecting laterally from the main limb in a direction away from the panel so as to pass over the edge of the aperture, the material of the main limb having in at least one zone between the first and second lateral limbs a cross-sectional size which is significantly less than that of the lateral limbs, whereby to reduce heat conductance along the bracket.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a perspective view of an infill panel assembly in accordance with the invention.

W_ Figure 2 is a perspective view of a floor having an opening for services, and into which the panel assembly of Figure 1 is designed to fit.

Figure 3 shows, to an enlarged scale a I- c U detail "14" of Figure 1; and Figure 4 shows, to an enlarged scale, a bracket of the panel assembly.

As shown in the accompanying drawings, a fire-resistant infill floor panel assembly 2 comprises a fire-resistant panel 4 of relatively soft consistency such as a high density Rockwall batt or light-weight vermiculite and supporting brackets 6 which suspend the panel 4 from the edge of the opening 8 in the floor 10 and which are engaged with the panel 4 by being pressed manually into the edges of the panel 4, the soft consistency of the panel being such as to enable this to be done.

Each bracket 6 is approximately of Z shape having a main vertical limb 6a, and opposite projecting horizontal limbs 6b, 6c at the upper and lower ends of the vertical limb 6a. The bracket 6 is composed of a fire-resistant nietal, steel being the preferred material. In a fire situation, the tendency is for the flame and hot gases to impinge on the infill panel from beneath, and the primary object of the panel is to prevent flame, smoke, and hot gases from rising through, the floor and thereby penetrating the space above the floor. Accordingly, the hot "exposed" face of the panel 4 will normally be the lower face. The brackets 6 are mounted on the panel 4 so that their upper limbs 6b are level with the upper surface of the panel but extend away from the upper surface so as to project over the edge of the opening 8, with the lower limbs 6c being pressed into the edge of the panel at a distance above the r I I. 7 lower face of the panel so that they are not directly exposed to the flame and hot gases. Typically, for a panel having a thickness of 120mm, the depth of the brackets 6 would be about 90mm so that the lower limbs 6c would be pressed into the panel 30mm above the exposed lower face of the panel.

In order to minimise the heat conductance of the bracket 6 from its lower end to its exposed upper horizontal limb 6b, the vertical limb 6a of the rtr bracket is provided with one or more apertures which act to substantially reduce the cross-sectional f| area of the bracket in one or more zones between the S"two horizontal limbs and thereby to reduce the l if 15 overall heat conductivity. The aperture 10 may ~I consist of a cut-out of circular or rectangular shape spanning a substantial portion of the width of the vertical limb 6a, for example in excess of about of the width, leaving only a narrow land at each edge. One such cut-out may be formed at the junction between the vertical limb 6a and the upper horizontal limb 6b, and a second such cut-out may be formed further down the vertical limb.

The panel 4 may be pre-assembled with the brackets by the installer who simply presses the brackets 6 manually into position and then drops the panel into the opening 8 so that it sits flush with the remainder of the floor 10. Where it is necessary to cut openings 12 extending from the panel edges to enable the panel 4 to be fitted around packs of cables 14 or pipes 16, smaller shaped blocks 18 of the panel material can be used to close the remaining space(s) in the panel after mounting, brackets 6

I

li~iiiOll ~slMM~C~~~WslYCI- 8 being fitted to the end edges of the blocks 18 so that their projecting upper horizontal flanges engage the upper surface of the main body of the panel 4 and thereby support the blocks 18 from the main body of the panel.

The invention is also applicable to infill panels for openings in vertical walls. In this case, that panel may be supported by two sets of brackets, the brackets of one set engaging one face of the wall, and the brackets of the other set engaging the opposite face of the wall, whereby the panel is supported from both faces. The brackets of both sets may initially be L-shaped. The brackets which extend to the unexposed or rear face of the wall are bent into the Z-shaped configuration described above, prior to or after installation of the panel or panel pieces into the opening and the brackets which extend to the exposed or front face of the panel are bent into the Z-shaped configuration described above, after installation of the panel or panel pieces into the opening.

The invention has been described by way of example only, and modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

Claims

2. An assembly according to claim i, wherein the main limb of each bracket is provided with one or more apertures which substantially reduce the cross-sectional area of material in at least one zone of the limb.
3. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein the main limb has at least one said aperture in a zone adjacent to the second lateral limb. _1 I
4. An assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the brackets are formed from metal strip. An assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the panel is formed from a material of such a nature that the first limbs of the bracket can be pressed manually into the edge of the panel.
6. An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, when installed in an aperture in a a floor, wherein the panel is substantially flush with the surface of the floor, with the second lateral limbs of the brackets resting on the floor around the aperture.
7. A method of installing an assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising attaching the brackets to the edges of the panel by pressing the first lateral limbs of brackets into the edges of the panel and then fitting the panel in the opening so that the panel is supported from around the opening by means of the second lateral limbs of the brackets.
8. A method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of cutting at least one aperture in the panel to receive a pipe or cable, and then closing the aperture around the pipe of cable using a shaped element of the panel material, further ones of said brackets being attached to the shaped element in positions such that the second limbs of the further brackets overlie a surface of the panel to support the element from the surface. :I 11
9. A method according to claim 7 or claim 8 for installing a panel according to claim 5, wherein the first lateral limbs of the brackets are pressed manually into the edges of the panel. A fire-resistant infill panel assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 11, A method of installing a fire-resistant .infill panel assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 9th day of December, 1987. FIRE RESEARCH PTY. LIMITED I by Its Patent Attorneys DAVIES COLLISON c