EP0882854A1 - Building facade with removable panels - Google Patents

Abstract

The system consists of a series of alternating panels, e.g. of plastic, one set of which is fixed to the building facade by means of a metal framework (29) while the other is held in place by spring-loaded catches (2) between the fixed panels (30), the catches being held in position by supports (16) inside the fixed panels. The panels held in place by the catches have shaped slots (28) in their sides with narrow and broad rectangular sections. The narrow section of each slot interacts with sloping surfaces (14) on a catch as the panel is pushed into position, opening the catch so that the broad section of the slot can then receive the whole catch, locking the panel in place.

Description

The invention relates to building facades including panels.

It is known to fix panels, for example ornamental slabs, to a frame of a facade without possibility of mobility of the panel relative to the frame. The panel is for example fixed by screws, or better glued to the frame via a invisible adhesive layer from outside the facade. However, such a method of attachment can be tedious to implement. In addition, it does not allow easily remove the panel from the front when it is damaged, in order to replace or repair it.

Document DE-38 26905 discloses an arrangement in accordance with the preamble of claim 1 of the this request. It includes in particular a slide mobile in a support to come and lock in position one building element in relation to the structure of a building. To fix the building element, place the slide in the unlocked position, we install the building element on the structure and we place the slide in the locked position to maintain the building element in position.

However, this arrangement requires that the operator maneuvers the slide while he install the building element on the structure, this which is generally difficult, and all the more so when the slide is operated at against his means of recall. In addition, the need to access the slide implies preserving one day making these mounting means visible and capable of therefore detract from the aesthetics of the building.

An object of the invention is to provide a facade of a different type, in which the installation of panels be easier and in which the means of panel mounting can be largely concealed from view.

In order to achieve this goal, provision is made according to the invention a building facade according to the claim 1.

Thus, the part being in the locked position before fitting the panel (for example under the effect severity or solicitation), the effect of ramp causes the part to recede to allow the installation of the panel. The operator therefore does not have to maneuver the room while it puts the panel in square. Knowing that the part is generally difficult access, installation of the panel is considerably simplified. In addition, when means stress or gravity recall the part in locked position, no further operation is necessary to re-pass the part from the unlocked position to locked position. Manual access to the room when mounting the panel can be reduced or even eliminated entirely, it becomes possible to foresee that the panel conceals from sight almost all of its mounting means. That improves the aesthetics of the facade.

Advantageously, the support is adapted to guide the part from the unlocked position to the locked position.

Advantageously, the facade comprises means to solicit the part so as to pass it from the unlocked position to the locked position.

Thus, the part automatically switches to locked position under the effect of these means of solicitation. The fixing of the panel is therefore simplified.

Advantageously, the facade has a second panel, the support being fixed directly to the second sign.

Thus, the support is hidden behind a other panel. We can make both panels practically joined without interposition of an element of visible reinforcement between them.

Advantageously, the facade comprises several fasteners alone fixing from panel to facade without possibility of mobility.

• fixer une pièce de fixation à un support, la pièce étant mobile à coulissement par rapport au support et fixer le support à la façade ou au panneau ;
• mettre en place le panneau sur la façade, la pièce coopérant par effet de rampe avec un élément de la façade de sorte que la pièce coulisse depuis une position verrouillée apte à interdire le retrait du panneau jusqu'à une position déverrouillée permettant la mise en place du panneau ;
• fixer le panneau à la façade sans possibilité de guidage par rapport à la façade, cette étape comprenant la phase de positionner la pièce sur le support en position verrouillée.

According to the invention, a method of producing a building facade is also provided by means of a panel, comprising the steps consisting in:

• fixing a fixing part to a support, the part being movable to slide relative to the support and fixing the support to the front or to the panel;
• set up the panel on the facade, the part cooperating by ramp effect with an element of the facade so that the part slides from a locked position able to prohibit the removal of the panel to an unlocked position allowing the establishment of the panel;
• fix the panel to the facade without the possibility of guidance relative to the facade, this step comprising the phase of positioning the part on the support in the locked position.

This process allows the facade to be produced according to the invention.

A tool is further provided according to the invention. for a facade according to the invention, comprising a handle and an actuating end adapted to come in support on the fixing part associated with a panel in place on the front to make the room slide by ramp effect from the locked position to the unlocked position.

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective d'un verrou pour un panneau d'une façade selon l'invention;
• la figure 2 est une vue en coupe axiale suivant le plan II-II du verrou de la figure 1;
• la figure 3 est une vue de face d'une gâche pour le verrou de la figure 1;
• la figure 4 est une vue partielle en élévation d'une façade selon l'invention;
• la figure 5 est une vue partielle de côté d'un panneau mobile de la façade de la figure 4;
• les figures 6, 7 et 8 sont des vues partielles en coupe de la façade de la figure 4 respectivement suivant les plans VI-VI, VII-VII, et VIII-VIII;
• la figure 9 est une vue partielle en coupe horizontale d'une arête d'angle de la façade de la figure 4 ; et
• la figure 10 est une vue en perspective d'un instrument de démontage pour le verrou de la figure 1.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following description of a preferred embodiment given by way of nonlimiting example. In the accompanying drawings:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a lock for a panel of a facade according to the invention;
• Figure 2 is an axial sectional view along the plane II-II of the lock of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is a front view of a keeper for the lock of Figure 1;
• Figure 4 is a partial elevational view of a facade according to the invention;
• Figure 5 is a partial side view of a movable panel of the facade of Figure 4;
• Figures 6, 7 and 8 are partial sectional views of the facade of Figure 4 respectively along the planes VI-VI, VII-VII, and VIII-VIII;
• Figure 9 is a partial view in horizontal section of a corner edge of the facade of Figure 4; and
• FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a disassembly instrument for the lock of FIG. 1.

We will first describe an embodiment of the lock according to the invention with reference to Figures 1 to 3.

The lock 1 comprises a fixing part 2 or bolt, elongated comprising a shaft 6 and a head 4 disposed at one end of the shaft. Head 4 has two flat side faces 8, 10, parallel to a straight axis 12 of the shaft and parallel between they. Face 8 is wide in the direction perpendicular to axis 12. Face 10 is narrow following the same direction. Head 4 has two coplanar flat ramps 14, arranged on either side on the other side of the narrow side face 10, and inclined by relative to the axis 12 so that at the level of the ramps 14, a width of the head 4 is narrowing in direction of the free end of the head.

The lock 1 comprises a body or support 16 defining a bolt chamber to guide the bolt 2 to sliding parallel to axis 12 and supporting the bolts from one end to the other of its trajectory. This guidance is effected by complementary forms of profiles of the body 16 and the bolt 2, in particular of its head 4. The body 16 has a flat rear wall 17 perpendicular to axis 12 and having an orifice central crossed by the shaft 6. The shaft carries a staple 18 in the vicinity of its rear end opposite the head 4. The clip 18 extends projecting from the profile of the shaft and outside of the body 16 so that it limits the stroke of the bolt towards the front of the body 16.

Latch 1 has a compression spring 20 housed in the bolt chamber. The spring has a rear axial end resting against the wall rear 17 of the body and a front axial end in support against a rear face of the head 4. The spring surrounds the shaft 6. The spring 20 biases the bolt 2 towards the front of the body along axis 12, in the direction opposite the rear wall 17.

The body 16 has a flat front wall 22 perpendicular to axis 12 and extending around the head 4 of the bolt regardless of its position relative to the body along the axis 12. This wall front 22 has a notch 23 on its outer edge, extending from the side of the wide lateral face 8 of the bolt, for coding purposes.

The lock 1 also includes a keeper 24, visible in figure 3. The strike is configured in one rectangular flat plate with a recess rectangular 26 at its center, this recess being just enough to receive with a slight play the head 4 of the bolt 2 when its axis 12 is perpendicular to the strike plate. Keep 24 has notch 28 extending from the recess 26 to the outer edge strike plate, for passage of the narrow side face 10 when mounting the panel. With the exception of the spring 20 and clip 18, all parts of latch 1 are made of plastic.

With reference to Figures 4 to 9, the front of the building according to the invention comprises a frame 29, in the species a fishnet, including beams metallic 27 vertical and horizontal arranged for constitute a vertical grid, generally planar, with square boxes.

The facade comprises panels or cassettes 30, 32 here in plastic. Each panel has a appearance wall 34 of square planar shape, one side of which external is intended to be visible from the outside of the facade, and four flat borders 36 extending perpendicular to the aspect wall 34, towards the back of the panel. On panels 30, each border 36 is extended by a planar support blank 38 parallel to the aspect wall 34 and extending towards the outside of the panel.

Referring to Figure 5, each border 36 presents several cutouts, in this case the number of four, distributed along the border 36. These cutouts are identical in shape and size to those 26, 28 of the strikes 24, the edge of the border 36 having the notch 28 being opposite the aspect wall 34 and toward the back of the panel.

The panels 30 are load-bearing panels and are fixed directly to the mesh 29. The panels 32 are carried by the load-bearing panels 30. The panels carriers 30 and the panels carried 32 are arranged on the facade next to each other following a alternating checkerboard, the edges 36 of the panels being adjacent. In this case, the panels have their borders 36 parallel to the vertical and horizontal directions.

Referring to Figures 4 and 6, the support blank upper 38 of each support panel 30 is fixed directly to the fishnet 29, in this case by means of several bolts 40.

Referring to Figures 4 and 8, the blanks left and right support 38 of each support panel 30 are fixed directly to the mesh 29 by being taken into sandwich and clamped between one of the beams 27 and one metal clamp 42, itself fixed to the beam at the by means of a flange 44 and a rivet 46. One end of the flange 44 passes through an orifice in the support blank 38 and the associated beam 27. The clamp 42 passes through a notching beam 27 so that it extends to the inside of the beam at the rivet 46 and at the outside of the beam at the support blank 38.

As for the lower support blank 38 of each carrier panel 30, it is simply supported on the fishnet 29 as shown in Figure 7.

Each carrier panel 30 comprises for each border 36 four locks 1, the front face 22 of the body 16 being fixed surface against surface on the face internal of the border 36. The body 16 extends to the interior of the panel 30, facing the internal face of the appearance wall 34 and facing the mesh 29. The bolt 2 crosses the corresponding cutout 26, 28 of the border 36, so that the head 4 of the bolt makes projection of the periphery of the panel 30. The lateral face narrow 10 and the ramps 14 are oriented towards the exterior of the facade in the opposite direction to the fishnet.

Each border 36 of each panel carried 32 comprises four strikes 24 fixed internally on the surface-to-surface border, so that cutouts 24, 28 of the border and strikes are in correspondence. Each keeper provides local reinforcement of the border. The head 4 of each bolt 2 extends in the border 36 and the respective keeper 24 of the worn panel 32 extending opposite, thus prohibiting the withdrawal of the panel 30 of its location. The sixteen bolts 2 carrying each carried panel 30 extend in the same plane parallel to the mesh 29. The worn panel 32 is thus rigidly immobilized on the mesh 29 without any possibility of movement or guidance. The signs carriers 30 and carried 32 are fixed panels other as door or window leaves, or panels analogs mounted swinging and / or sliding so as to be able to be mobile by being guided in relation to the fishnet 29. In the present case, these load-bearing and worn panels are fixed over the entire height of the facade, from the floor to roof. They are suitable to be fixed to the facade, being able to have only a single position on this without possibility of guidance or movement.

To make this facade using the process according to the invention, the fishnet 29 is installed on the building. We latch the bolts 2 in the bodies 16 respective. Each carrier panel 30 is fixed sixteen locks 1 as mentioned above. Bolts 2 extend projecting from the periphery of the panel 30, in position locked i.e. the end of their run out of body 16 under the effect of spring stress 20.

The carrier panels 30 are then fixed to the fishnet 29 by means of nuts 40 and pliers 42. The arrangement of the support blanks 38 outside the panels 30 and the absence, at this stage, of the panels worn 32 facilitate this installation.

Then each panel 32 is installed. For this, we approach the panel 32 of its location fixing in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the mesh 29, the panel carried being parallel to the load-bearing panels 30 already in place. The worn panel 32 then comes into abutment by the song of its edges 36 against the two ramps 14 of each head 4 of the bolt sixteen locks 1 associated. This contact is established on the part of ramp 14 closest to the narrow face 10 and farthest from the free end of the head 4. The notches 28 of the keeper and the edge 36 receive the corresponding narrow side face 10 for each bolt 2.

As you push the panel 32 into direction of the mesh 29, the ramps 14, the keeper 24 and the edge edge 36 cooperate by ramp to request the corresponding bolt 2 towards the rear of the body 16 against the spring 20. The bolts 2 thus move towards the rear of the bodies 16 set back from the location of the panel to be fixed. To one certain position of the bolt 2 on its backward trajectory, its position is such that the edges of the keeper 26 and of panel 32 leave the ramps 14 at the free end of the head 4 of the bolt. This position is the position unlocked the bolt 2. We continue to push the panel 32 towards the mesh 29, each bolt 2 coming then pressing against the outer face of the border 36 under the effect of spring stress 20. Finally, when the openings 26 of the keeper and the border are located opposite head 4, in accordance with the profile thereof, the spring 20 biases the bolt 2 to make it go through its openings and place it in the locked position securing the panel on the facade.

FIG. 10 illustrates a tool for unlocking 50. It has a handle 52 and a elongated actuating part 54 of flat shape having a cutout giving it a fork shape opposite the handle. This actuating part 54 is adapted to come into abutment against the two ramps 14 of each bolt 2 retaining a worn panel 32, all along each ramp on either side of the face narrow side 10 thanks to the fork shape. The ends of the fork are folded back to be reinforced. The actuating part 54 is adapted to be inserted between two borders 36 opposite two adjacent panels. Using this part, we requests the ramps 14 in the direction of the mesh 29, which, by ramp effect, causes the retraction of the bolt 2 against the spring to its position unlocked allowing disassembly of the worn panel 32.

In the present invention, the term "panel" will be understood broadly and will include any element of facade. Referring to Figure 9, it could be for example a corner strip ensuring the junction between two adjoining facades of the same building and forming an angle between them. This angle is perpendicular in this case, the listel presenting two perpendicular walls between them associated with the two facades. The vertical edges of the strip are fixed as previously, the associated locks 1 having their axes perpendicular to each other.

The invention is particularly suitable for fixing of plastic panels, in particular in thermoformed polymer, because it provides fixation effective of these even in case of large expansions under the effect of climatic conditions.

The invention secures the panels in concealing in the facade most of the locks.

Of course, we can bring to the invention many modifications without departing from the framework of this one. Locks can be worn by panels carried 32 so that the bolts 2 are inserted in the openings of the load-bearing panels 30. We can vary the shape, dimensions and relative arrangement Signs.

Claims (7)

Building facade with a panel (32) fixed to the facade without possibility of guiding in relation on the front, a part (2) for fixing the panel to the front, and a support (16) fixed to the panel (32) or to the front and supporting the fixing part (2) in a locked part position preventing removal of the panel (32) of the facade, the support (16) being suitable for supporting the part (2) in one position unlocked allowing the installation of the panel (32) on the facade, the part (2) being movable at sliding relative to the support (16), characterized in that the part (2) is configured to cooperate by ramp effect with an element (36, 24) of the facade of so that the placement of the panel (32) on the facade causes the part (2) to slide from the locked position to the unlocked position. Facade according to claim 1, characterized in that the support (16) is adapted to guide the work (2) from the unlocked position to the position locked. Facade according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that it comprises means (20) for urging the part (2) of to move it from the unlocked position to the locked position. Facade according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the facade comprises a second panel (30), the support (16) being attached directly to the second panel. Facade according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it comprises several fixing parts (2) ensuring alone fixing the panel (32) to the facade without possibility of mobility. Method for producing a building facade by means of a panel, characterized in that it comprises the steps consisting in: fixing a fixing part (2) to a support (16), the part being movable by sliding relative to the support and fixing the support (16) to the facade or to the panel; place the panel (32) on the facade, the part cooperating by ramp effect with an element (36, 24) of the facade so that the part (2) slides from a locked position capable of preventing the panel from being removed up to an unlocked position allowing the panel to be put in place; fixing the panel to the facade without the possibility of guidance relative to the facade, this step comprising the phase of positioning the part (2) on the support (16) in the locked position. Tool (50) for a facade according to one any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that that it has a handle (52) and one end actuator (54) capable of coming to bear on the part of fixing associated with a panel in place on the facade to slide the part by ramp effect from locked position to position unlocked.

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