EP0787865B1 - Box and system for insulation and ground drainage - Google Patents

Description

The subject of the present invention is boxes and systems insulation and drainage of natural soil or added soil.

The technical sector of the invention is the field of work public and building.

One of the main applications of the invention is dubbing external vertical walls of a building, either internally for habitable parts that we want to insulate, both thermally and phonically, either externally for the parts buried in the ground and that we want to insulate, both against humidity and thermally.

In the same field, the system according to the invention can be used for the production of supports for floor slabs the interior of a building and whose sound insulation is to be preserved and thermal, as well as protection against rising damp.

Another application is the recovery of seepage water in the ground of a ground covered for example by plantations which need to be watered.

We know in fact different techniques for insulation and / or drainage, each of which is generally adapted to the type of construction and / or the land concerned, and call at least for insulation walls, mainly artificial and / or natural materials, but reconstituted.

Thus, to insulate the external vertical walls of a building, we usually has double against the interior surfaces thereof walls made of large sheets of plasterboard type material (registered trademark) or even wood, or we make a real double partition in brick or other stacked building elements, delimiting a space which is preferably filled with materials polystyrene or glass wool or rock wool insulators etc ...

We can cite in this area, the German patent application DE4 02 1471 describing a thermal insulation component, consisting of a carrier body containing adjacent cells closed on their two main faces by airtight plates, said cells being filled with a granular insulating material preferably of expanded perlite; it is the walls of the cells themselves that stiffen the insulating component and maintain the main faces set aside. Such a thermal insulation component is produced in large plates glued directly against the external walls of buildings.

There are also composite building elements themselves of different layers of materials, some of which make up the core carrier of the wall that is made with said elements, and others, insulation, but this cannot be used for new buildings and represents a fairly high manufacturing and implementation cost.

Such techniques are certainly quite effective, at least for insulation, but must often be supplemented by others techniques, to combat humidity in particular, this often reducing the lifespan of the effectiveness of techniques used in isolation, or at least destroying the aesthetics of used materials. Thus, no technique, process, or element of construction cannot be used alone directly for various applications, such as to insulate both external walls, floors and basements of exterior walls, let alone in the area of drainage.

Indeed, moreover, with regard to soil drainage, in particular either along the bases of buildings, or in a land that we want to recover or at least collect for evacuate seepage water elsewhere, we mainly use techniques, such as filling trenches, carried out around the construction to be protected for example, with pebbles or other materials granular and heavy that is poured in bulk; we can use also a combination of layers of said pebbles or other materials, above of pipes pierced with orifices and arranged at the bottom of the trench. In most cases, in order to avoid clogging of the drainage and / or inter-grain spaces of the material being filled said trench, by the earth entrained by the water flowing from them surrounding land that we want to clean up or simply dehumidify and unclog water that would be poured into it, to protect buildings, at least line the wall of said buildings trenches on the side of these lands, before removing the pipes and / or pebbles, for example, of sheets of a porous flexible material, the porosity is ensured either by the weaving of the material or by perforations.

However, in addition to the fact that it is difficult to maintain said sheets of flexible materials against the walls during filling of the trench, which, in the event of a fairly frequent collapse, reduces efficiency, in addition to the difficulty of implementation, the use of rollers or other heavy materials requires handling equipment and transport heavy and slow to implement, encumbering the cost price of the operation; quarry pebble extraction in said rivers, is moreover more and more controlled and limited.

The problem is therefore to be able to have elements of prefabricated construction, which are usable, as well for insulation, both thermal and sound, and also to achieve drainage systems, using the same basic technique, and of products and construction elements of the same type, using products available, either in the wild or on the market at a cost low, with efficiency guaranteed for long periods, with a quick and simple installation and implementation, with the less site equipment possible, and for an overall cost of supplies and installation as small as possible.

For this purpose the invention has for object a closed box of rectangular parallelepiped shape, flattened on two main faces opposite, separated by four so-called lateral faces, the internal volume being filled with rigid fragments of pozzolan, which is a granular material with a honeycomb structure, density less than 1, and a good thermal insulation capacity; the six walls of the outer casing of the box are rigid, weak thickness, and made of resistant material, at least one of which said to be main, is perforated by microholes, able to pass water, air or other fluids but not the pozzolan grains, which main faces are connected by at least one internal stiffener.

Said box consists of a receptacle formed by one of its main faces integral with the four side faces, and a cover forming the other so-called main face, said cover being fixed on said receptacle after filling of the granular material.

In order to be able to quickly and efficiently assemble these boxes while allowing continuity of both insulation and outer surfaces of the boxes assembled against each other, at least two of the side faces facing said boxes have, for one, at least one male protuberance convex towards the outside of the face which supports it, and for the other, at least one female bowl concave with respect to the face which supports it and which can cooperate with the male outgrowth of another box placed against the first.

The invention further relates to an insulating system and a draining system.

In a mode of use of the boxes according to the invention, for obtain insulating or draining systems along vertical surfaces or horizontal or slightly inclined, the walls of said boxes are, either all perforated, or only a part of them, as specified in the description and in the examples of the attached figures.

The result is new insulating boxes and systems and drainage, responding to the problem posed without having the disadvantage of devices known to date, and providing specific advantages, with further the possibility, as recalled above, of using such same types of boxes according to the invention, either in wall insulation or in floor insulation, either in drainage while allowing, for different complementary objectives, the adaptation of specific equipment additional in each of the intended uses.

Such boxes according to the invention have dimensions, for their main faces on the order of 40 cm x 80 cm, or 50 cm x 50 cm either square, and for a height of their side walls of on the order of 12 to 20 cm; these walls can be made of HDPE and the filling material being pozzolan, the weight of a box is from 30 to 50 kg, either transportable by one person and therefore easy to place and stack on top of each other, without equipment special handling. This weight is indeed the maximum authorized by labor regulations in France; and the possibility of nesting boxes relative to each other, ensures their stability and alignment at least vertically, without requiring adjustment of the from the operator.

In addition, the choice of pozzolan as a granular material, in addition to its lower density allowing even more implementation easy boxes according to the invention, allows better resistance to temperature, because, on the one hand, pozzolan is a good insulator, leaves a always free passage between its grains and resists frost well: its qualities have been known and used since Roman times as an aggregate in insulating cements in certain constructions near places of production that are Auvergne in France and certain regions Italian.

Pozzolan is indeed a variety of rock of origin volcanic with alveolar structure, formed of slag remained in the state furniture, which is found in very large quantities in massifs volcanic: its mechanical characteristics are in particular its low density of 0.980, due among other things to its porosity, but also of good thermal and sound insulation capacity, a ability to withstand large and abrupt changes in temperature, grain roughness, richness in various components natural and a fairly good compactness and clean rigidity, avoiding its crushing, mechanical resistance to impact, wear and agents aggressive, all of whose characteristics are well known, and which can be referred to elsewhere.

The exploitation of this material has been developed in many applications, but none to date for use of the material in itself in the field of insulation and drainage: from more, despite its multiple possible applications, the quantity of this material used to date is relatively low, which allows have a large quantity at reasonable prices, all the more more than its implementation in the boxes according to the invention, does not no need to have an imperative particle size because of the rigidity walls constituting said box and the size of the microholes. These allow water, air or other fluids to pass through, but not pozzolan: preferably these however have particle sizes of around 10/60 or 20/40, because too small a particle size would weigh down the caissons and would reduce the effect of circulation of fluids such as for drainage, and too large a grain size would reduce the effect insulation and / or would require a greater thickness of box.

We could cite other advantages of the present invention, but those cited above already show enough to prove novelty and interest.

The description and the figures below represent examples of realization of the invention, but have no limiting character: others achievements are possible, within the scope and scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims, in particular by changing the shape of the stiffeners internal and / or interlocking growths.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an open box next the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view along a plane I / I 'passing to the times by the axis of a protuberance and an internal stiffener of the box Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a system according to the invention for the internal insulation of walls of a building.

Figure 4 is a sectional view of a wall isolated by a system of boxes according to figure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of an example of realization of the system according to the invention for the isolation of a foundation.

Figure 6 is an exemplary sectional view of a system according to the invention for the insulation of a floor.

Figure 7 is a sectional view of an embodiment of a system according to the invention for drainage and water recovery infiltrating into the ground after watering.

According to FIG. 1, the box according to the invention is of rectangular parallelepiped shape, flattened on two main faces facing each other, separated by four so-called lateral faces, such as the six walls of its outer shell are rigid, thin, 0.3 to 1.5 mm, made of resistant plastic-like material HDPE (high density polyethylene), and at least one of the faces said main, is perforated by micro holes 12, preferably of on the order of 0.2 to 1 mm in diameter, and even 0.2 to 0.6 mm; which main faces are connected by at least one internal stiffener 3, of preferably hollow.

Said box consists of a receptacle 22 formed by one of its main faces integral with the four lateral faces, and a cover 2 forming the other so-called main face, said cover 2 being fixed on said receptacle after filling with rigid fragments of a granular material 11 with a honeycomb structure, which granular material is pozzolan: the opening of said boxes according to one of its large faces, allows easier filling than by one of the faces side, and the fixing of said cover 2 is carried out by pressing the periphery thereof on a lip also peripheral 7 bordering the opening of the receptacle 22, the assembly being bonded cold or hot, or stapled, riveted or whatever.

Said stiffeners 3 which are represented in FIG. 1 at number of 3, can be cylinders with a diameter of approximately 70 mm, as shown in Figure 4, but also and preferably trunks of cone, of identical median diameter and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2: their largest base opens out, is open, and is integral with the main face forming the bottom 23 of the box 1; their most small base cooperates with a cup 4 interlocking integral with the other main face constituting the cover 2, ensuring centering when it closes, better support and better distribution of the loads that said box 1 could bear on its two opposite main faces 2, 22.

• pour l'une, au moins une excroissance mâle 5 et de préférence deux ou même trois, comme représenté sur la figure 1, convexe vers l'extérieur de la face qui la supporte,
• et pour l'autre, au moins une cuvette femelle 6 ou deux ou trois, en même nombre et réparties de la même façon que les excroissances mâles, concave par rapport à la face qui les supporte et pouvant coopérer avec l'excroissance mâle 5 d'un autre caisson placé contre le premier ; un tel assemblage de plusieurs caissons par emboítement permet de constituer une surface continue, telle que représentée sur les figures 3 à 8.

Two of the lateral faces of said box 1 facing each other, comprise:

• for one, at least one male protuberance 5 and preferably two or even three, as shown in FIG. 1, convex towards the outside of the face which supports it,
• and for the other, at least one female bowl 6 or two or three, in the same number and distributed in the same way as the male growths, concave with respect to the face which supports them and able to cooperate with the male growth 5 d 'another box placed against the first; such an assembly of several boxes by interlocking makes it possible to constitute a continuous surface, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 8.

The section according to FIG. 2 of said box 1 illustrates well the different features described above.

To facilitate the installation of said boxes 1, in particular along vertical surfaces, such as in FIGS. 3 to 5, one of the main faces of the box, in fact the bottom 23 of the receptacle 22, comprises at least three fixing lugs 8, each forming an appendage outwards, from three of the lateral faces and arranged in the plane of said main face 23 which supports them: in FIG. 1, it is example shown four legs along a long side of the rectangle of the bottom 23 and which will be positioned upwards, and two following the small ones sides; the other large side of the bottom 23 indeed does not need such legs which would even bother, because it comes to lean on the box already put in place.

To allow the connection of the boxes assembled one by compared to the others, especially and at least in the lateral faces which do not do not carry the protrusions 5 and 6, two of the other lateral faces in vis-à-vis, but also all others possibly, include each at least one orifice 9 with a diameter of approximately 50 mm per example, which can be made in the form of a closed pre-hole during filling of the granular material in the box and cut out quickly on site to be connected to the neighboring orifice of a box placed side by side.

According to the assembly method of Figure 3, where it is shown an insulating system constituted by the vertical assembly of boxes 1 such as described above and arranged against each other according to their lateral faces against the internal face of an external wall 15 of a building, all the faces of said boxes 1 are perforated; some main faces facing the interior of the building, can have internal ventilation grilles 13, preferably one in the box located at floor level and another in the box located at ceiling level to ensure air circulation between the top and bottom of the room thus insulated.

To also ensure an external air supply, at least one internal stiffener 3 of one of said boxes 1 preferably placed towards the floor, is hollow and perforated, and connected to an air inlet 14 external opening in said wall 15, as shown in FIG. 4.

In this particular application of thermal insulation and sound from inside a building, said boxes 1 can also include electrical resistors with temperature probes heaters arranged inside their volume 11, and connected to any electric source to diffuse heat in the room thus insulated.

In an application for the insulation and drainage of foundations of a building for example, as shown in Figure 5, five of faces of said boxes 1 are perforated, with the exception of one of the faces main 2, corresponding in fact to their cover since the bottom which is the face corresponding to the fixing is located against the wall; said covers 2 being oriented vertically towards the ground 17 which one wants insulate the building.

Said boxes 1 are then placed in an excavation 16 dug around said building, to allow their installation, said excavation 16 can only be a narrow trench in which one slides said boxes.

In a mode of use as shown in FIG. 6, said boxes 1 are used to isolate sound and against humidity a floor, consisting for example of a concrete slab 18 pouring on said caissons, themselves arranged on a basement 19 can be made of "all-purpose" material; said boxes 1 are in this case perforated on all their faces.

Figure 7 shows another particular example of use of a box according to the invention: a draining system constituted by the assembly of boxes arranged in a generally horizontal orientation plane against each other the others according to their lateral faces, and such that only their face main facing up is perforated, the entire plane constituted by the assembled boxes 1 being inclined; these are connected together by sleeves arranged in orifices 9 in opposite, and at least one recovery tank 20 is placed below of the lowest casing 24 and connected at least to the latter.

The recovery tank 20 can then also be connected to a filtration and pumping system to reuse water thus recovered by a pipe returning above the surface of the ground to ensure watering 21 thereof above the system of recovery constituted by said boxes 1; well, apart from the evaporation and absorption of water by the plants that we want water and loss of water in the surrounding land, much of it is still reused, reducing consumption overall required by said watering.

The boxes 1 can also be in this application, covered with a geotextile fiber, of the “Bidim” type (registered trademark), for their protection, said geotextile allowing water infiltration towards said boxes 1, and avoiding clogging of the micro-holes 12 of the main side facing up and should collect the water.

Claims (13)

1. A closed box in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped that is flat with two "main" faces in register and spaced apart by four "lateral" faces such that all six walls of the extemal envelope of the box are rigid, thin, and made of a strong material, the main faces being interconnected by stiffening means, and the inside volume of the box as defined by its envelope being filled with rigid fragments of a granular material (11) whose density is less than 1 and that has good thermal insulation properties, characterised in that said granular material (11) of cellular structure is pozzolan, at least one of said main faces is perforated by microholes (12) capable of letting in water, air or some other fluid but not the pozzolan seeds and the stiffening means are constituted by at least one intemal stiffener (3).
2. A box according to claim 1, characterised in that it is constituted by a receptacle (22) formed by one of its main faces secured to the four lateral faces, and by a cover (2) forming the other of said other main faces, said cover (2) being fixed on said receptacle (22) after it has been filled with the granular material (11).
3. A box according to one of claims 1 to 2, characterised in that at least two of its lateral faces in register include, for one of them at least one convex male projection (5) projecting outwards from the face which supports it, and for the other one of them, at least one concave female depression (6) projecting from the face that supports it and suitable for cooperating with a male projection (5) of another box placed against the first.
4. A box according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that each of at least two of its lateral faces in register include at least one respective orifice (9).
5. A box according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that one of the main faces includes at least three fixing tabs (8) each projecting outwards from three of the lateral faces, and lying in the plane of said main face.
6. A box according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that said internal stiffeners (3) are hollow in shape.
7. A box according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that said stiffeners (3) are truncated cones, with the open larger base being secured to the main face (23) constituting the bottom of the box (1), and the smaller base co-operating with interlock cups (4) secured to the other main face, constituting the cover (2).
8. A box according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that said microholes (12) have a diameter lying in the range 0.2 mm to 1 mm.
9. A box according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that the strong material from which the walls of said box (1) are made is high density polyethylene (PEHD) and the thickness of said walls lies in the range 0.3 mm to 1.5 mm.
10. An insulating system constituted by assembling together boxes according to any one of claims 1 to 9, being disposed against one another via their lateral faces, and characterised in that all the faces of said boxes (1) are perforated by said microholes (12).
11. An insulating system according to claim 10, characterised in that said boxes (1) are fixed to the inside of a wall (15) of a structure and at least one internal stiffener (3) is hollow and perforated, being connected to an air inlet (14) of said wall (15).
12. An insulating system constituted by assembling together boxes according to any one of claims 1 to 9, placed against one another via their lateral faces, and characterised in that five of said faces are perforated, with the exception of one of the main faces.
13. A drainage system constituted by assembling together boxes according to any one of claims 1 to 9, disposed in a generally directed horizontal plane against one another via their lateral faces, and characterised in that only the upwardly-facing main face of each box is perforated, the entire plane constituted by the assembled-together boxes (1) sloping, the boxes being connected to one another via sleeves disposed in facing orifices (9), and at least one drainage tank (2) is located lower than the lowest box and connected at least to said lowest box.

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