EP0741214A2

EP0741214A2 - Method of connecting a partition, or a lowered ceiling to a building structure, and means for application of said method

Info

Publication number: EP0741214A2
Application number: EP96201211A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Arthur Antonius Theodorus Borst; Marie Otto Camille Keulen
Original assignee: NEVIMA BV
Current assignee: NEVIMA BV
Priority date: 1995-05-03
Filing date: 1996-05-02
Publication date: 1996-11-06
Anticipated expiration: 2016-05-02
Also published as: NL1000288C1; EP0741214B1; DE69631088D1; DE69631088T2; EP0741214A3; NL1000288A1

Abstract

Method of connecting a partition (1) or a lowered ceiling to a building structure (3). One employs U-profiles (4) having their bodies (5) provided with damping material (8) being directly or indirectly connected to the building structure (3) or to a part rigidly secured to it, such as by means of bonding or stapling. The legs (6) of the U-profiles (4) or the parts and panels (11) to be connected to the U-profiles are mounted such that they do not contact the building structure (3). With a partition (1) the damping material (8) is provided with bores (12) for passing screws (13) by which said damping material is secured to a floor (2), ceiling or wall and the U-profile (4) is provided with openings (16) being concentrical to the bores (12) and being larger than the heads (14) of the screws (13).

Description

The invention relates to a method of connecting a partition, or a lowered ceiling to a building structure, in which U-profiles are employed, the body of which being directly or indirectly connected to the building structure, or to a part rigidly connected to it, with the profile being connected to the wall or ceiling panels.
On mounting partitions, elongated U-profiles are employed, one of them having its body fixed to the floor and another one to the ceiling above. Vertically extending profiles are mounted in the U-profiles. At the end of the partition, a U-profile can be mounted to the wall. Subsequently, wall panels, such as plaster board for example, are fastened to the assembly of the profiles. With lowered ceilings, rails are mounted at some distance beneath the ceiling of the building structure. Across the rails, U-shaped brackets are mounted to the legs from above, the ceiling panels being fastened to said legs either directly or indirectly.
Consequently, both the wall and the ceiling panels are rigidly connected to the building structure. This entails that acoustic oscillations are easily transmitted. When wall panels are applied on both sides of the profile assembly, insulation material can be applied between two panels for reducing sound transmission.
However, it has turned out that even then, acoustic vibrations are insufficiently absorbed and are thus transmitted to the surrounding structure to a considerable degree. This is caused by the rigid connection between the parts of the partition and between the U-profiles and the floor, the ceiling and possibly the walls.
With a lowered ceiling it will generally be desired that it damps acoustic vibrations as well, although the panels will not be suitable for that purpose.
The object of the invention is to remove these difficulties and to that end provides for a method characterized in that on mounting the U-profiles between the body of the profile and the building structure, or the part rigidly connected to said building structure, a layer of a flexible or resilient damping material, such as felt for example, is applied, and further the parts and panels to be connected to the U-profiles being mounted such, that they do not contact the building structure.
In this way it can be achieved, that there is no rigid connection between a partition or a lowered ceiling and the building structure or parts rigidly connected to it.
Obviously, the damping material will have to be suitable to resist the loads exerted on it. However, in general this will not cause any problems.
On applying the method described above, one will usually act in such a way, that by means of bonding, stapling or in a similar way the U-profiles are provided with a layer of damping material fixedly connected to it.
Connecting the damping material to the U-profiles can then take place beforehand in the workshop, and thus under controlled circumstances. Due to this, an optimum connection between the parts can be obtained. Also, it can be largely prevented that during mounting a partition or a lowered ceiling, profiles are rigidly connected to the building structure after all.
The means for applying the method described above will thus be U-profiles to which the damping material has been secured by bonding, stapling or in a similar way.
When applying U-profiles for assembling a partition, the damping material will be on the outer plane of the U-profile body and said damping material will be provided with bores for passing screws, while the U-profile has openings extending concentrically to the bores and being larger than the heads of the screws by which the damping material can been secured to the floor, the ceiling or a wall of the building structure.
Thus, only the damping material is secured to the building structure, while there can be no contact between the screws and the U-profile. Obviously, the screw head must have a sufficiently large diameter in order to provide that the damping material will locally be pushed in too strong, or be pushed away completely. Therefore, one will generally use standard screws, with a washer having a sufficiently large diameter situated beneath the screw head. The diameter of the openings in the U-profile will be slightly larger than the outer diameter of a washer.
In order to enable easy mounting of the wall panels and in order to prevent these from being in contact with the building structure, it can be provided for, that the damping material will at least partly protrude beyond the body of the U-profile at both sides.
On mounting a wall panel, it will then automatically come to bear on the part of the damping material protruding beyond the U-profile. Also, the upper edge must remain free from the ceiling and must come to lie under the protruding part of the damping material, since otherwise the panel can not be secured. A wall situated near a wall will also remain free from the wall by part of the damping material protruding beyond the U-profile.
The distance across which the damping material protrudes beyond the U-profile will therefore be almost equal to the thickness of the wall panels to be mounted on the legs of the profile.
When applying U-profiles in the form of brackets for assembling a lowered ceiling, the damping material will be secured on the outer plane of the U-profile body such as by means of bonding, stapling or in a similar way, and the damping material will extend to beyond the body, while a second, likewise U-shaped, profile is applied across the damping material, having its legs extending in the same direction, yet across a greater length than the legs of the first U-profile, said second U-profile likewise being connected to the damping material by bonding, stapling or in a similar way.
The distance between the legs of the first U-profile will be such that the profile fits exactly over the rails connected to the rail structure, while the legs of said second profile will be connected to means for supporting the ceiling panels.
To that end, the legs of said second profile can be provided with openings made in the end edges and extending vertically when in mounted condition, with the end edges convergering from the openings to form bevelled parts for resiliently pushing apart the legs turned to each other of a C-profile, which legs can be accomodated in the openings on mounting the C-profile.
The invention is further explained by way of embodiments, illustrated in the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a cross-section across the lower part of a partition obtained with application of the method and the means according to the invention;
Fig. 2 shows a plan view of a part of the partition of Fig. 1, but omitting the wall panels and the screw;
Fig. 3 shows a cross-section and view of some parts of a lowered ceiling and of the bracket applied with it in particular;
Fig. 4 shows a side view of the bracket of Fig. 3; and
Fig. 5 shows a plan view of the bracket of Fig. 3 and of a part of the control units belonging to it.

Figures 1 and 2 show a partition 1 standing on the floor 2 of a building structure 3. The wall 1 comprises the U-profile 4 consisting of the body 5 and the legs 6. The damping material 8 is connected to the outer plane 7 of the body 5 by means of bonding, stapling or in a similar way. The material 8 consists of two layers 9 and 10 likewise connected to each other. The layer 10 protrudes beyond the layer 9, so that on mounting the wall panels 11, they can bear on the layer 10. Further, starting from U-profile 4, profiles not further indicated extend in vertical direction for supporting the wall panels 11.
In the damping material 8, bores 12 have been made through which screws can extend for securing the damping material to the floor 2. Beneath the head 14 of a screw 13 there is the washer 15 so that the force exerted by the screw 13 on the material 8 will be distributed across a sufficiently large surface thereof. In the body 5 of the U-profile 4, an opening 16 has been made, which is larger than the diameter of the washer 15. Owing to this, there will be no mechanical contact between the washer 15 and the U-profile 4 and neither will there be any rigid connection between the U-profile and the floor 2 of the building structure 3.
Mounting the partition near the ceiling and near a wall of the building structure 3 will take place in the same way as described by means of the Figures 1 and 2. Obviously, there the damping material 8 connected to the U-profile 4 lies against the ceiling or the wall.
The Figures 3 - 5 illustrate the way of mounting a lowered ceiling to a building structure. Parts corresponding to the structure according to the Figures 1 and 2 have been indicated with the same reference numbers.
Rails 17 are connected to the building structure 3. Brackets 18 are placed across the rails 17, said brackets comprising a first U-profile 4 consisting of the body 5 and the legs 6. The outer plane 7 of the body 5 again provided with the damping material 8 protruding beyond the body. Across the damping material 8, a second U-profile 19 has been applied, consisting of the body 20 and the legs 21.
As appears from Figure 4 in particular, the side edges 22 of the legs 21 are provided with openings 23 for accomodating the legs 24 of a C-profile 25 therein. The C-profile 25 is square to the legs 21. Ceiling panels not further indicated can be attached to the profiles 25. In order to enable easy mounting of the profiles 25, the side edges 22 of the legs 21 are provided with bevelled portions 26 beneath the openings 23. Due to this, on mounting the profile, the legs 24 of the C-profile 25 can be resiliently pushed apart so that they can subsequently snap into the openings 23.
It will be obvious, that only some possible embodiments of a method and of the means applied therewith according to the invention have been illustrated in the drawing and described above and that many modifications can be made without leaving the inventive idea.

Claims

Method of connecting a partition (1), or a lowered ceiling, to a building structure (3), in which U-profiles (4) are employed, the body (5) of which in particular being directly or indirectly connected to the building structure (3), or to a part rigidly secured to it, with the profile (4) being directly or indirectly connected to the wall or ceiling panels (11), characterized in that on mounting the U-profiles (4) between the body (5) of the profile and the building structure (3), or the part (17) rigidly connected to said building structure, a layer (8) of a flexible or resilient damping material, such as felt, for example, is applied, and further the parts (20, 25) and panels (11) to be connected to the U-profiles (4) being mounted such, that they do not contact the building structure (3).
Method according to claim 1, characterized in that one acts in such a way, that the U-profiles (4) are provided with a layer of damping material (8) fixedly connected to it by means of bonding, stapling or the like.
Means for applying the method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the means are U-profiles (4), to which a damping material (8) has been secured by bonding, stapling or the like.
U-profile (4) applied for assembling a partition (1), characterized in that the damping material (8) is situated on the outer plane (7) of the body (5) of the U-profile body (4) and said damping material is provided with bores (12) for passing screws (13), the U-profile having openings (16) extending concentrically to said bores (12) and being larger than the heads (14) of the screws (13) by which the damping material (8) can been secured to the floor (2), the ceiling or a wall.
U-profile according to claim 4, characterized in that standard screws (13) are employed, with a washer (15) beneath the screw head (14), the diameter of the openings (16) in the U-profile (4) being slightly larger than the outer diameter of a washer (15).
U-profile according to one of the claims 3 - 5, characterized in that the damping material (8) protrudes at least partly beyond the body (5) of the U-profile (4) at both sides.
U-profile according to claim 6, characterized in that the distance across which the damping material (8, 10) protrudes beyond the body (5) of the U-profile (4) is almost equal to the thickness of the wall panels (11) to be mounted on the legs (6) of the profile (4).
U-profile according to claim 3, in the form of brackets (18), for assembling a lowered ceiling, characterized in that the damping material (8) is secured on the outer plane of the body (5) of the U-profile (4) such as by means of bonding, stapling or the like, and that the damping material (8) extends beyond the body (5), while a second, likewise U-shaped profile (20) is applied across the damping material (8) and has its legs (21) extending in the same direction as, yet across a greater length than, the legs (6) of the first U-profile (4), said second U-profile (19) likewise being connected to the damping material (8) by bonding, stapling or the like.
Bracket according to claim 8, characterized in that the distance between the legs (6) of the first U-profile (4) is such that the profile fits exactly over the rails (17) connected to the rail structure (3), while the legs (21) of said second profile (19) will be connected to means (25) for supporting the ceiling panels.
Bracket according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the legs (21) of said second profile (19) are provided with openings (23) made in the end edges (22) and extending vertically when in mounted condition, with the end edges convergering from the openings (23) to form bevelled parts (26) for resiliently pushing apart the legs (24) of a C-profile (25) turned to each other, which legs (24) can be accomodated in the openings (23) on mounting the C-profile (25).