EP0688916A1 - Plastic panel, method and device for making it, and structural element, in particular a chair made with this panel - Google Patents

Plastic panel, method and device for making it, and structural element, in particular a chair made with this panel Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0688916A1
EP0688916A1 EP95108819A EP95108819A EP0688916A1 EP 0688916 A1 EP0688916 A1 EP 0688916A1 EP 95108819 A EP95108819 A EP 95108819A EP 95108819 A EP95108819 A EP 95108819A EP 0688916 A1 EP0688916 A1 EP 0688916A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
sheets
reinforcing
mould
margins
folded
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP95108819A
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German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Adriano Odino
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
GOR Applicazioni Speciali SpA
Original Assignee
GOR Applicazioni Speciali SpA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by GOR Applicazioni Speciali SpA filed Critical GOR Applicazioni Speciali SpA
Publication of EP0688916A1 publication Critical patent/EP0688916A1/en
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    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E04—BUILDING
    • E04C—STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS; BUILDING MATERIALS
    • E04C2/00—Building elements of relatively thin form for the construction of parts of buildings, e.g. sheet materials, slabs, or panels
    • E04C2/30—Building elements of relatively thin form for the construction of parts of buildings, e.g. sheet materials, slabs, or panels characterised by the shape or structure
    • E04C2/32—Building elements of relatively thin form for the construction of parts of buildings, e.g. sheet materials, slabs, or panels characterised by the shape or structure formed of corrugated or otherwise indented sheet-like material; composed of such layers with or without layers of flat sheet-like material
    • E04C2/326—Building elements of relatively thin form for the construction of parts of buildings, e.g. sheet materials, slabs, or panels characterised by the shape or structure formed of corrugated or otherwise indented sheet-like material; composed of such layers with or without layers of flat sheet-like material with corrugations, incisions or reliefs in more than one direction of the element

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a plastic panel composed of two sheets of thermoplastic material, for example polypropylene, preferably filled with inert powdery, granular or similar material, such as for example wood flour, wood particles, or the like, which two sheets comprise bounded regions of mutual contact distributed in any manner and having any shapes and dimensions, which limited regions of mutual contact are surrounded at least partly by regions of hollow space in which said two sheets of thermoplastic material are separate from each other, the regions of hollow space optionally communicating with each other.
  • thermoplastic material for example polypropylene
  • inert powdery, granular or similar material such as for example wood flour, wood particles, or the like
  • the invention achieves this object with a panel of the kind described at the outset, in which along at least one of the peripheral edges of the panel is a stiffening element formed by at least one peripheral margin of at least one of the sheets, which margin runs part or all of the way along said edge, being folded in on top of one of the faces of the sheet to which it belongs, or of the other sheet, and fixed to said face.
  • the panel is provided with a peripheral reinforcement on one or more sides that helps greatly to increase its stiffness and mechanical strength without creating a large increase in weight, and the panel can moreover be made rapidly and economically.
  • the peripheral reinforcing elements also advantageously form reinforced parts for connecting one or more panels together to produce composite structures. They may also form housings in which additional reinforcing inserts, made of any kind of material, may be incorporated in the panel.
  • the invention also relates to a method of making the above panel comprising the following stages:
  • the blowing stage may be begun during the stage of bringing together the mould and countermould and may be continued also during the stage of compression.
  • the invention provides a device comprising:
  • the method of manufacture is extremely simple and does not require any great lengthening of manufacturing times.
  • the device for carrying out the method is likewise easy to build and inexpensive and does not necessitate any great amount of work to construct it.
  • the invention also relates to a structural element composed of a plurality of said panels fixed together by means of joint pieces, in particular a chair or seat composed of two panels of which one is the seat and the other the back.
  • the use of the panel according to the invention to produce structural elements, in particular chairs, allows much lighter structural elements than currently known constructions to be made, which nevertheless display great stiffness or mechanical strengths owing to the presence of the contact recesses and of the hollow projections which form ribs or ridges by which stiffness is increased, and to the provision of one or more peripheral stiffening elements formed by the folded reinforcing margins.
  • the invention also relates to other features which further improve the panel, method, device and structural element discussed above and which are the subject of the dependent claims.
  • a plastic panel is composed of two sheets 1, 2 of thermoplastic material such as for example polypropylene or the like.
  • the sheets 1, 2 consist of thermoplastic material filled with inert substances in the form of powders, granules or particles, such as wood flour or the like, for example a material known by the trade name Woodstock.
  • At least one of the two sheets 1 comprises recesses 101 of any shape, preferably frustoconical, that are distributed in any order, preferably a regular order, on the surface of the sheet, with their bottom wall forming regions of contact 201 with the opposite sheet 2.
  • the recesses 101 i.e.
  • the regions of contact 201 are surrounded by regions of hollow space 3 communicating with each other, where the two sheets 1, 2 are at a distance from each other.
  • the sheet 1 may be so shaped that the hollow spaces 3 only partly surround the regions of contact 201 and do not communicate with each other.
  • the shape of the sheet 1 may be conjugate in form to that illustrated, such that instead of the recesses 101, the sheet 1 has projections containing the hollow spaces and surrounded completely or partly by regions of contact between the two sheets 1, 2.
  • the opposite sheet 2 may also be of a symmetrically corresponding shape with respect to the plane of contact with the sheet 1 and/or conjugate or complementary with that of said sheet 1.
  • the sheet 2 may be basically flat or shaped so as to correspond to the desired application, but with its surface being continuous.
  • the panel comprises a peripheral stiffening reinforcement which consists of a peripheral reinforcing margin 301, 102 of each sheet 1, 2.
  • the reinforcing margins 301, 102 are folded and joined by compression under heat, one being on top of the other, towards the interior and on the face of one of the two sheets, in particular sheet 2.
  • bands or ribs of greater thickness are formed which contribute to stiffening the panel.
  • Said peripheral stiffening elements of the panel may be flat like those illustrated or may be shaped to suit particular requirements.
  • Figs. 2 to 7 show various alternative embodiments of the device for making the panel according to the invention in the various possible alternatives for the peripheral stiffening elements.
  • the two sheets 1, 2 are subjected to a first stage of heating in an oven, especially an infrared oven, not shown in detail and known per se.
  • Both sheets 1, 2 are then deposited on the lower mould part 5 with their peripheral reinforcing margins 301, 102 projecting from the corresponding side of the mould 5.
  • the lower part of the mould 5 is of a conjugate shape to that of the sheet 1, i.e. to the recesses 101, being provided with projections 105 complementary to the recesses 101, preferably rising frustoconical projections surrounded by depressions communicating with each other.
  • the sheet 1 is deposited directly on said mould part 5 and sheet 2 on top of that.
  • folding tongues 6 able to pivot about a spindle 7 parallel with the upper edge of said side of the mould 5 from an approximately coplanar position with the upper surface of the mould 5 to a position in which they swing the reinforcing margins 301, 102 in onto the upper surface of the upper sheet 2.
  • the folding tongues 6 are controlled by actuators 8 which may be of any kind, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic etc. and which in the example are cylinder actuators. In the inactive position, the folding tongues 6 constitute a peripheral continuation of the mould 5 on which the overlapping reinforcing margins 301, 102 of the sheets 1, 2 are deposited.
  • a countermould 9 which in the example is flat and which in the region where the margins 301, 102 are to be laid over the upper surface of the upper sheet 2 comprises an indentation 109 whose depth is approximately equal to the greater thickness of the material in said overlapping region of the reinforcing margins 301, 102.
  • one or more compressed-air blowing nozzles 10 that can be inserted between said two sheets 1, 2 along a peripheral edge of these sheets where at least in part, that is at least around the nozzles 10, there are no reinforcing margins. This can be achieved for example by means of slots cut into the reinforcing margins and ending with their inner side approximately level with the corresponding side of the mould 5.
  • the corresponding folding tongues 6 likewise comprise a recess or slot for the insertion of the nozzles 10, at the same point as that of the reinforcing margins, or else two folding tongues are provided in line with each other and offset axially one from the other on the two sides of each blowing nozzle 10 so as to form a passage for the latter.
  • the countermould 9 comprises complementary lateral indentations 209 where the blowing nozzles 10 are to be inserted, which indentations are open on the associated end of the countermould 9 and on its underside facing the mould 5.
  • the folding tongues are then returned to the rest position and the mould and countermould 5, 9 are closed upon each other, while the compressed air is fed in through the blowing nozzles 10 and between the two sheets 1, 2.
  • the blowing may already have taken place during the stage of bringing together the mould 5 and countermould 9 and may be continued also during the stage of compression of the two parts 5, 9 against each other.
  • the blowing nozzles 10 preferably have a diameter of from 6 to 10 mm and are provided with holes distributed on the surface in a quantity of from 3 to 6/cm2 and with a diameter of between 1 and 3 mm.
  • compressed air is supplied at a pressure of preferably between 2 and 4 atm.
  • the blowing stage during compression of the mould against the countermould is ended from 3 to 10 s before the countermould is withdrawn from the mould, while the compressed air is preferably supplied at a pressure of between 4 and 7 atm.
  • the blowing is interrupted when the press is closed, while the air cushion formed between the two layers helps to form the regions of hollow space.
  • the folding tongues 6 may execute a further action of prior compression on the peripheral reinforcing margins 301, 102 against the upper sheet 2 to guarantee a degree of sealing along the peripheral edges of the two sheets 1, 2 and thus make it possible to form the air cushion.
  • the peripheral stiffening of the panel according to the invention may be produced by folding a single reinforcing margin 301 of only one of the two sheets 1.
  • said reinforcing margin 301 can be folded either onto the same sheet 1 and therefore in an intermediate position between sheet 1 and 2, as shown in Fig. 4, or onto the upper surface of the upper sheet 2 so as to overlap it from the outside.
  • the device for manufacturing the panel in this alternative embodiment remains identical to that described previously with reference to Figs. 2 and 3.
  • the manufacturing method involves the sole alternative of initially depositing sheet 1 only on the mould 5, folding the reinforcing margin 301 and only then depositing the second or upper sheet 2.
  • the reinforcing margins 301', 102' of the sheets 1, 2 may be folded more than once on themselves before being folded onto the sheets, that is onto the upper sheet 2.
  • Figs. 5 to 7 an alternative is shown of the manufacturing press for a panel of this kind, in the various stages of folding the margins 102', 301', and in which said margins are folded once on themselves and then onto the upper sheet 2.
  • the device and procedure for folding the margins 102', 301' in the case of additional foldings upon themselves, before the fold onto the upper sheet 2, will be obvious from the illustrations of the example of Figs. 5 to 7.
  • the device is constructed in much the same way as in the previous examples shown in Figs. 2 to 4, differing from that embodiment only in the fact that outside the first folding tongue 6 is a second folding tongue 6', basically identical to the first.
  • the second folding tongue 6' is oriented parallel to the first and is hinged about a spindle 7' parallel with the hinge spindle 7 of the first or inner folding tongue 6, the spindle 7' being contained in the same horizontal plane as the spindle 7, that is in a plane parallel or coplanar with the upper surface of the mould 5.
  • the means for operating the outer folding tongues 6' are basically identical to those of the inner tongues 6 and the outer tongues 6' are moved in much the same way as the inner folding tongues 6.
  • the reinforcing margins 301', 102' of the two sheets 1, 2 placed on top of each other lie partly on the outer folding tongue 6' and partly on the inner folding tongue 6.
  • the radial lengths of the folding tongues 6, 6' may be identical so that each of them acts on half of the reinforcing margin 301', 102'.
  • a different distribution of the margins 301', 102' on the folding tongues is also possible, the latter having different radial dimensions from each other and their total lengths being approximately identical to the corresponding dimension of the margins 301', 102'.
  • the outer folding tongues 6' which, as indicated in Fig. 6, swing the associated outer part of the margins 301', 102' onto that part of the same that is lying on the inner folding tongues 6.
  • the inner folding tongues 6 are then actuated and swing the margins 301', 102', already folded on themselves, onto the upper surface of the upper sheet 2.
  • the countermould 9 obviously has an indentation 109 whose depth is equal to the greater thickness of the margins 301', 102' folded in this way on the upper sheet 2.
  • a peripheral stiffening element is made that has greater strength than that of the previous embodiments.
  • each panel may comprise on different sides, different or identical peripheral stiffening elements each formed according to one of the different alternatives described above.
  • the stiffening element is made partly in accordance with one alternative embodiment and partly in accordance with another of those described.
  • the device for making the panel is basically identical to that shown in Figs. 5 to 7, while one of two superimposed reinforcing margins of the sheets 1, 2 has a narrower width approximately equal to that of the inner tongue 6 in the single-fold regions and a width equal to that of the two tongues 6, 6' in the double-fold regions.
  • the panel may also be provided with additonal reinforcing inserts, such as metal, wood, plastic or other such rods which may advantageously be incorporated in the panel during its manufacture, especially along the folded reinforcing margins, which will therefore advantageously form seats for the incorporation of said reinforcing inserts (not shown).
  • additonal reinforcing inserts such as metal, wood, plastic or other such rods which may advantageously be incorporated in the panel during its manufacture, especially along the folded reinforcing margins, which will therefore advantageously form seats for the incorporation of said reinforcing inserts (not shown).
  • the panel according to the invention may also be covered on one or both sides with materials of various kinds, for example sheets of fabric, simulated leather, paper, nonwoven fabrics or the like, or may be provided with designs produced in the course of moulding by means of embossing.
  • the panel need not necessarily be flat as illustrated, but may be shaped either on the side of the sheet 1 having the continuous surface or on the side having the recesses 101 as required by the functional and aesthetic demands of the particular application.
  • the panel according to the invention lends itself to the manufacture of a variety of structural elements produced by joining two or more panels together and in particular to the production of plastic chairs or seats.
  • a panel P forms the seat element, while another panel P' forms the back element.
  • the stiffening elements formed by the folded reinforcing margins are advantageously located at least in the lateral regions of the chair and are situated on the rear side or forward side of the panel.
  • the sheet 2 of continuous surface forms the supporting surfaces for the seat and back, while the sheet 1 with the recesses 101 is located on the back of the seat and back panels P, P'.
  • the two panels can be fixed together by means of angle brackets 11, or other joint pieces.
  • bracket 11 or the optional other joint piece for the panels P, P' may be fixed to the panels P, P' in any manner and may themselves be incorporated in at least one of the two panels P, P' during its manufacture, that is during the process of moulding it.
  • the joint piece 11 may consist of two plate or frame parts, each of which is fixable in any manner to one of the two panels P, P', while the two parts can be hinged together or coupled to each other in an articulated or pivoting manner, at least about a transverse axis relative to the chair and parallel with the adjacent sides of the panels P, P'.
  • said panels have sufficient mechanical strength or stiffness when made from sheets with thicknesses of between 1.5 and 4 mm, preferably 1.8 and 2.2 mm.
  • the outer covering sheets may however weigh between 20 and 600, preferably between 80 and 200 g/m2.
  • the frustoconical recesses have larger and smaller diameters of 70 to 90, and 80 to 60, mm respectively, while the depth of the recesses may vary from 15 to 25, preferably about 20 mm.
  • the regions of hollow space in which the sheets 1, 2 are not in contact with each other may have dimensions of between 5 and 50 mm, preferably between 10 and 25 mm.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Architecture (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Laminated Bodies (AREA)
  • Casting Or Compression Moulding Of Plastics Or The Like (AREA)
  • Dry Formation Of Fiberboard And The Like (AREA)
  • Shaping Of Tube Ends By Bending Or Straightening (AREA)
EP95108819A 1994-06-22 1995-06-08 Plastic panel, method and device for making it, and structural element, in particular a chair made with this panel Withdrawn EP0688916A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IT94GE000083A ITGE940083A1 (it) 1994-06-22 1994-06-22 Pannello di materia plastica, procedimento e dispositivo per la sua fabbricazione, nonche' elemento strutturale, in particolare poltrona
ITGE940083 1994-06-22

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0688916A1 true EP0688916A1 (en) 1995-12-27

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ID=11354606

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP95108819A Withdrawn EP0688916A1 (en) 1994-06-22 1995-06-08 Plastic panel, method and device for making it, and structural element, in particular a chair made with this panel

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0688916A1 (it)
IT (1) ITGE940083A1 (it)

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB996805A (en) * 1960-07-20 1965-06-30 George Mountford Adie Improvements in and relating to constructional panels
EP0426619A2 (en) * 1989-10-31 1991-05-08 ICMA SAN GIORGIO S.p.A. A method of producing panels

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB996805A (en) * 1960-07-20 1965-06-30 George Mountford Adie Improvements in and relating to constructional panels
EP0426619A2 (en) * 1989-10-31 1991-05-08 ICMA SAN GIORGIO S.p.A. A method of producing panels

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
ITGE940083A0 (it) 1994-06-22
ITGE940083A1 (it) 1995-12-22

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