EP1310599B1

EP1310599B1 - Platform

Info

Publication number: EP1310599B1
Application number: EP02079729A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Petrus Kalman Van Bakel
Original assignee: Compa Tech Nv
Current assignee: Compa Tech Nv
Priority date: 2001-11-13
Filing date: 2002-11-11
Publication date: 2008-06-25
Anticipated expiration: 2022-11-11
Also published as: DE60227228D1; ATE399228T1; EP1310599A1; NL1019356C2

Abstract

Platform, such as a platform (1) at a railway station or a platform for loading and unloading at a transfer station and the like, said platform being assembled from, blocks (5, 6) of foamed plastic provided on an underground (3) and having their outer sides provided with vertical protection plates (4). Possibly, a layer of sand (15) for supporting the pavement (16) can have been provided on the uppermost blocks. The blocks (6) adjacent the protecting plates (4) are at least partly covered by a substantially L-shaped, relatively rigid adjusting edge (11), its vertical leg (12) extending across the protecting plates (4). Method for repairing an existing platform in which, after removing an amount of sand, the space created is filled-up by blocks (5, 6) of foamed plastic. The blocks (6) adjacent the retaining wall (4) are covered by a substantially L-shaped adjusting edge (11). Adjusting mechanisms (17) are used for bringing the adjusting edge (11) in place. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a platform, such as a platform at a railway station or a platform for loading and unloading at a transfer station and the like, said platform comprising a filling body consisting of blocks of foamed plastic with a pavement on it, at least one vertical side of said platform being formed by a protecting plate.
Such a platform is known from EP 0 997 581 . However, said known platform is provided with cantilevered coping members which requires the use of a relatively thick vertical protecting plate and the applying of a layer of concrete onto the upper surface of said blocks for receiving said pavement. So the construction of such a platform is rather cumbrous and so expensive in assembling.
Now the platform according to the invention is characterized in that said blocks of foamed plastic located immediately adjacent said protecting plate and extending almost to the upper edge of said protecting plate are at least partly covered by a horizontally extending leg of a substantially L-shaped, relatively stiff adjusting ridge, its vertical leg extending across a part of said protecting plate and being connected to it, said horizontally exending leg being provided with a longitudinal downwards directed edge, extending across an edge of said blocks located at the protecting plate, whereas the other part of these blocks will be situated on a lower level for receiving said pavement.
By this a simple and so cheap construction is obtained, which can be assembled very quickly. By using said stiff ridge the upper edge of the platform will run in the proper way.
According to an embodiment of the invention the further part of said blocks, outside the part covered by said horizontally extending leg and said downwards directed edge of said ridge, is bevelled for receiving sand in which the pavement can be provided.
So it is not necessary to bring a layer of concrete onto the upper surface of said blocks, which layer will have to be covered with an asphalt either with a concrete finish.
It can be remarked that using sand for applying a pavement on it is known by NL 9 200 116A . This describes concrete curbs for limiting a footpath. Said curbs are directly positioned onto the ground and are shaped such that the sand will be enclosed by the pavement, the ground and said curbs.
According to the invention the pavement can be formed by tiles. It is, however also possisble to use elements of plastic, in which at least the top layer of said elements will be of a high quality. Said top layermust be wear resistant and not smooth, even when there is water on it. In this way, the weight of the entire construction can be reduced further.
Further it can be provided for, that the plastic elements intended for the pavement are provided direclty on said blocks of foamed plastic and are connected to them.
The uppermost blocks, being the most outwardly, are thus partly encompassed by the horizontal leg with its flanged longitudinal edge and the vertical leg of the adjusting edge and possibly a portion of the protecting plate. This will provide for a proper capturing of these blocks and a firm structure. The flanged longitudinal edge will likewise contribute to the rigidity of the adjusting edge. It is obvious, that the pavement will align to the top surface of the adjusting edge.
Such a structure can also be applied in repairing a platform which is to be levelled up after subsidences have ocurred.
To that end, the invention provides for a method according to which, after removing an amount of sand, the created space is filled-up by blocks of foamed plastic.
The adjusting edge to be used could be provided with a supporting block beforehand, comprising foamed plastic, whereupon an adjusting mechanism sets the edge to the appropriate height before securing the entirety to the existing vertical wall, which is in the shape of a retaining wall.
The space beneath the block can then be filled-up with additional blocks of plastic and sand. Thus, the use of concrete for levelling up is prevented, whereas the weight of the entirety will be reduced in relation to the traditional way of levelling-up. With this way of levelling-up, elements of concrete are employed or the entirety is replaced under application of larger and heavier retaining walls.
Thus, it can be provided for, that the employed adjusting mechanisms comprise adjustable parts for easily obtaining an appropriate trajectory of the blocks of foamed plastic and thus of the adjusting edge.
Possibly, the adjusting mechanisms can be removed afterwards and be replaced by blocks of foamed plastic having the required dimensions. The adjusting mechanisms concerned can then be employed again in repairing other platforms.
The invention is further explained by way of embodiments, illustrated in the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates schematically the structure of a platform according to the present invention, provided at a railway line, in which certain parts have been omitted for the sake of clarity;
Fig. 2 illustrates schematically a method of repairing a platform, to wit in particular its longitudinal edge; and
Fig. 3 illustrates schematically a further elaboration of the method of Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 shows the structure of a platform 1, which is situated adjacent a railway line 2 and being located on the underground 3. The underground 3 can e.g. be formed of a layer of compressed sand.
Rectangular blocks 5 and 6 of foamed plastic have been stacked on the underground 3. Vertical protecting plates 4 have been secured on the side wall of thus formed core, which can comprise e.g. a lightweight, impact-resistant material or a similar suitable material. It is also desirable, that the protecting plates 4, at the railway line 2 in particular, consist of a noise dampening, non-metallic material.
At the protecting plates 4, the specially formed blocks 6 are located, having their top surface 7 merging into an edge 8 and an upper surface 9 extending obliquely away from said edge. On the upper surface 9 of the blocks 6 is the horizontally extending leg 10 of a substantially L-shaped adjusting ridge 11, its vertical leg 12 extending across part of the protecting plates 4.
As appears in particular from figure 2, the leg 10 is provided with a flanged wall 13. The wall 13 can come to fall across the edge 8 of the blocks 6.
Sand 15 is provided on the oblique surface 9 of the blocks 6 and the upper surface 14 of the blocks 5, and the pavement 16 is mounted on said sand, in which the pavement can comprise tiles, for example.
As stated above, possibly the sand 15 can be omitted and the blocks 5 and 6 can be designed in such a way, that the pavement can be provided immediately on them. The pavement will then comprise plastic elements, having at least a high quality top layer. Possibly, the elements can be connected to the blocks 5 and 6.
In figures 2 and 3, corresponding parts have been indicated with the same reference numbers as in figure 1.
Figure 2 illustrates the repair of a platform 1, which has been constructed in the conventional way, in which heavy retaining walls 20 have been employed. After excavating a part of the sand, adjusting mechanisms 17, provided with the supports 18 are placed on the retaining wall 20 in spaced-apart relationship.
After setting the height of the adjusting ridge 11 described above and already provided with blocks 6, with the help of the adjusting mechanisms 17, the space created underneath the adjusting ridge 11 can be filled-up by supporting blocks of foamed plastic 6.
The space behind the blocks 6 can, after excavating the sand from between the retaining walls 20, be filled-up by blocks of foamed plastic and by sand 15.
As illustrated in figure 3, after that the used adjusting mechanisms 17 can be removed and be replaced by blocks 19 of foamed plastic having the required dimensions. The blocks 19 will consist of some parts, in a way not further indicated, for allowing mounting thereof.
It will be obvious, that only one possible embodiment of the invention of a platform and of a method for repairing it 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, as it has been indicated in the claims.

Claims

Platform, such as a platform (1) at a railway station or a platform for loading and unloading at a transfer station and the like, said platform comprising a filling body consisting of blocks of foamed plastic with a pavement (16) on it, at least one vertical side of said platform being formed by a protecting plate (4), characterized in that said blocks (6) of foamed plastic located immediately adjacent said protecting plate (4) and extending almost to the upper edge of said protecting plate (4) are at least partly covered by a horizontally extending leg (10) of a substantially L-shaped, relatively stiff adjusting ridge (11), its vertical leg (12) exending across a part of said protecting plate (4) and being connected to it, said horizontally exending leg (10) being provided with a longitudinal downwards directed edge (13), extending across an edge (8) of said blocks (6) located at the protecting plate (4), whereas the other part of these blocks (6) will be situated on a lower level for receiving said pavement (6).
Platform according to claim 1, characterized in that the further part of said blocks (6), outside the part covered by said horizontally extending leg (10) and said downwards directed edge (13) of said ridge (11), is bevelled for receiving sand in which the pavement (16) can be provided.