EP2766549B1

EP2766549B1 - Door leaf

Info

Publication number: EP2766549B1
Application number: EP12840723.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Pekka Rissanen
Original assignee: Pekpac Oy
Current assignee: Pekpac Oy
Priority date: 2011-10-10
Filing date: 2012-10-09
Publication date: 2017-06-14
Anticipated expiration: 2032-10-09
Also published as: WO2013053994A1; EP2766549A1; FI20115989L; EP2766549A4; FI20115989A0

Description

Background

The invention relates to a door leaf of a door in a building, the door leaf comprising a skeleton having vertical and horizontal skeleton parts, on a first side of which skeleton there is arranged a first cover plate.
In residential buildings, such as detached houses, terraced houses and blocks of flats, business and office premises, production plants, storage buildings or the like buildings, door leafs have surface layers made of high-density fibreboard (HDF), for instance. A problem with the high-density fibreboard is relatively poor moisture resistance. FR 1097821 discloses a method of manufacturing composite panels or boards comprising the features of the preamble of claim 1.

Brief description

The door of the invention is characterized by what is disclosed in the characterizing part of the independent claim. Other embodiments of the invention are characterized by what is disclosed in the other claims.
Inventive embodiments are also disclosed in the specification and drawings of this patent application. The inventive content of the patent application may also be defined in other ways than those defined in the following claims. The inventive content may also consist of several separate inventions, especially if the invention is examined in the light of expressed or implicit subtasks or in view of obtained benefits or benefit groups. In such a case, some of the definitions contained in the following claims may be unnecessary in view of the separate inventive ideas. Features of the different embodiments of the invention may be applied to other embodiments within the scope of the basic inventive idea.
According to an idea the door leaf comprises a first cover plate having a layered structure and comprising a first, metallic front cover plate arranged away from the skeleton and a first composite plate, arranged on the rear side thereof and consisting of a material mixture containing thermoplastic material and filling material of plant origin. An advantage is that the cover plate resists excellently both to moisture and to external radiation and thermal load exerted thereon.
The idea of an embodiment is that density in the material mixture of the composite plate is about 1.2 g/cm³. An advantage is that the composite plate may be worked with conventional woodworking tools and that the quality of accomplished work is high.

Brief description of the figures

Figure 1 is a schematic front view of a door leaf,
Figure 2 is a schematic, cross-sectional explosion view of a door leaf and
Figure 3 is a schematic, cross-sectional explosion view of a second door leaf.

In the figures, the invention is shown simplified for the sake of clarity. Like reference numerals refer to like parts in the figures.

Detailed description

Figure 1 shows schematically a front view of a door leaf.
The door leaf 1 is depicted transparent and in dashed lines so that a skeleton 2 of the door leaf is visible. The skeleton 2 has vertical and horizontal skeleton parts in a manner known per se.
In this connection it should be noted that the proportions of both the door leaf 1 and the skeleton 2, as well as the number and positioning of the vertical and horizontal parts of the skeleton 2 may be other than those appearing in Figure 1. Further, it is to be noted that the skeleton 2 typically extends up to the edge of the door leaf 1. In Figure 1 the skeleton 2 and the edge of the door leaf 1 are shown apart for the sake of simplicity.
To the door leaf 1 it is possible to attach supplementary parts known per se, such as hinges 3, locking devices or the like.
The door leaf shown in Figure 1 includes a window 4. It is clear, however, that the door leaf may be implemented without a window.
Additionally, the door leaf 1 may be arranged to include, inter alia, insulating material for improving thermal insulation and/or sound insulation and/or for increasing rigidity of the door leaf 1. The insulating material may comprise e.g. foamed or cellular plastic, such as polyurethane or polystyrene, fibrous insulation material, such as glass wool or wood-fibre insulation material or the like.
The door leaf 1 may be intended for an entrance door, a flat entrance door in a block of flats or the like, for a partition door separating room spaces from one another, etc. The skeleton 2 of an entrance door may be about 80mm in thickness, for instance. The skeletons 2 of a flat entrance door and a partition door are typically thinner, they may be about 40mm in thickness, for instance.
Figure 2 shows schematically part of a door leaf in exploded, cross-sectional view.
A first cover plate 5 is attached to a first side of the skeleton 2. This plate has a layered structure comprising a first, metallic front cover plate 6 arranged away from the skeleton and a first composite plate 7 arranged on the rear side of said front cover plate. Both the skeleton and the plates are shown apart from one another for the sake of simplicity.
Said plates 6, 7 may be attached to one another, for instance, with glue, e.g. polyurethane glue PUR, urea-formaldehyde glue UF, epoxy glue or melamine-urea-formaldehyde glue MUF, nails, screws, rivets or the like, or by partly melting the thermoplastic material of the composite plate 7 so that it adheres to the front cover plate 6. The first cover plate 5 may be attached to the skeleton 2 in the above-described maners, for instance.
The first front cover plate 6 is preferably a metal sheet made of e.g. aluminium, steel, copper or the like. The first front cover plate 6 may be of one and the same material throughout, yet alternatively, it may have a layered structure, for instance, comprising a back layer of cheaper material.
According to an embodiment, the thickness of the first front cover plate 6 is at most 1 mm, preferably less than 0.5mm, for instance 0.3mm or 0.25mm.
The first composite plate 7 is made of a material mixture containing thermoplastic material and filling material of plant origin. The filling material may originate, for instance, from straw, reed, flax, cellulose-based or paper-based fibre or powder. According to an embodiment the filling material is wood filling material.
The thermoplastic material may be, for instance, polyolefin, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, chlorine plastic, such as polyvinyl chloride, styrene plastic, polyamide, polycarbonate, polyester or the like. The thermoplastic material may also be a mixture of two or more thermoplasts. The thermoplastic material may be a so-called virgin material or recycled material.
The wood filling material may comprise fibrous and/or powdery filling material of wood origin. The filling material may be, for instance, mechanically milled chips, e.g. softwood chips, such as pine chips or spruce chips, hardwood chips or a mixture thereof. An advantage with the powdery wood filling material is that it behaves in a uniform and predictable manner when manufacturing the skeleton by an extrusion method.
The composite plate 7 may be manufactured by pressing or extruding, and its thickness may be, for instance, 2 to 8mm, preferably 5.5mm or 3.8mm.
The material mixture of the first composite plate 7 may contain, in addition to the above components, also other fillers and additives. The filler may be, for instance, a mineral filler, such as calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, silicates, micas, oxides, silica compounds and/or talcum. As additives it is possible to use, for instance, a colorant, a fire retardant, an adhesion promoter, an anti-mould agent, an antioxidant and/or a UV-stabilizing agent.
In a preferred embodiment the material mixture comprises polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as thermoplast, mechanically milled pine chips as filler and calcium carbonate as mineral filler. The proportions of said mixture components may be, for instance, 55% by weight thermoplast, 25% by weight pine chips and 20% by weight calcium carbonate.
The density of said material mixture is typically 1.0 to 1.4 g/cm³, preferably about 1.2 g/cm³. This density value allows the first composite plate 7 to be worked with conventional cutting tools or the like, the quality of accomplished working being high. If the density is substantially lower than that, the structure of the composite plate 7 will be so porous that the quality of accomplished working is poor. If the density is substantially higher than that, the working requires expensive special tools, for instance, diamond bits.
The material mixture is well suited for entrance doors, because it is well resistant to moisture. Consequently, the first composite plate 7 need not necessarily be covered or lined with moisture-proof structures. Naturally, the material mixture in question may also be used in other doors.
The first front cover plate 6 may have several functions and/or advantages. It may, inter alia, be a purely decorative element modifying the appearance of the door leaf 1. It may substantially stiffen the first cover plate 5 and further the whole door leaf 1. It may protect the first composite plate 7 and/or the skeleton 2 against damage caused by mechanical loads, such as impacts. It may protect the composite plate 7 and/or the skeleton 2 from temperature- and/or radiation-induced stresses. This is a particularly significant advantage, when the first cover plate 5 is arranged to serve as the outer surface of an entrance door, which may, at least from time to time, be exposed to intense solar radiation.
In the first front cover plate 6 it is possible to mill, drill, or machine in another manner known per se, three-dimensional shapes. It may be provided with grooves or other recesses, even perforations 12 extending therethrough, so that the underlying first composite plate 7 is visible at said perforations 12. The grooves, recesses and perforations 12 may form decorative patterns, letters, numerals etc.
On the other side of the skeleton 2, which in Figure 2 refers to the left side of the skeleton 2, it is possible to arrange a second cover plate, which may be a cover plate or skin used in door leaves and known per se, the material of which is, for instance, high-density fibreboard, veneer, hardboard or the like, or a second cover plate 9 as illustrated in Figure 3 and presented in its description.
The skeleton 2 may comprise skeleton parts made of timber, such as solid wood or gluelam, of composite material, e.g. manufacturing material of the first composite plate 7, or the like. In the skeleton 2, in the longitudinal direction of the door leaf 1, it is possible to arrange a skeleton reinforcement element 13 which is of other material than said skeleton part. In an embodiment the reinforcement element 13 comprises an aluminium profile.
Wooden parts of the skeleton 2 may be lined with surfaces made of metal or composite materials, whereby it is possible to provide a particularly highly waterproof structure for the door leaf 1.
Figure 3 is a schematic, cross-sectional explosion view of a part of a second door leaf. It is to be noted that the three-layered structure of the first cover plate 5 does not fall within the scope of the claims.
Apart from the above-described first cover plate and first composite plate 7, the first cover plate 5 also comprises a rear cover plate 8 made of metal and arranged on the rear side of the first composite plate 7 towards the skeleton. Thus, the first cover plate 5 comprises a three-layer structure with the composite plate 7 as the middle layer and metal plates 6, 8 on both sides thereof. This solution enables a highly rigid structure. A three-layer cover plate 5 of this kind is particularly advantageous for the external surface of an entrance door in a building.
On the other side of the skeleton 2 there is arranged a second cover plate 9, which has a layered structure and comprises a second rear cover plate 11 made of metal and arranged towards the skeleton 2, and a second composite plate 10 arranged on the front surface thereof.
The second rear cover plate 11 may be made of the same materials as the first cover plate 6, and correspondingly, the second composite plate 10 may be made of the same materials as the first composite plate 7. In an embodiment, both composite plates 7, 10 are made of at least substantially similar material mixtures. In a second embodiment, the front cover plate 6 is made of at least substantially the same material as the second rear cover plate 11. In a third embodiment, the composite plates 7, 10 are made of at least substantially similar material mixtures and the metal sheets 6, 8 and 11 are of at least substantially the same material.
Further, on both sides of the skeleton 2 it is possible to arrange the two-layer first cover plates 5 of Figure 2 or the three-layer first cover plates 5 of Figure 3.
The second composite plate 10 may be provided with grooves or other recesses that may extend therethrough. The outer surface of the cover plate 5, 9 may be finished, for instance, by painting or attaching a membrane that provides a suitable appearance. By means of the membrane the cover plate 5, 9 may be rendered to look like hardwood or three-dimensional. The membrane may be attached by means of heat or glue. In the finishing it is also possible to employ a membrane solution, in which a colorant and/or a pattern on a carrier membrane is transferred from the membrane to the cover plate 5, 9, after which the carrier membrane is detached from the cover part concerned.
In some cases, features disclosed in this application may be used as such, regardless of other features. On the other hand, when necessary, features disclosed in this application may be combined in order to provide various combinations.
The drawings and the relating description are only intended to illustrate the idea of the invention. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described above, in which the invention is described by means of some examples, but many modifications and different embodiments of the invention are possible within the scope of the inventive idea defined in the following claims.

Reference numerals

1: door leaf
2: skeleton
3: hinge
4: window
5: first cover plate
6: first front cover plate
7: first composite plate
8: first rear cover plate
9: second cover plate
10: second composite plate
11: second rear cover plate
12: perforation
13: reinforcement element

Claims

A door leaf of a door in a building, the door leaf comprising
a skeleton (2) having vertical and horizontal skeleton parts, on a first side of which skeleton (2) there is arranged a first cover plate (5), the first cover plate (5) having a two-layer structure and comprising a first, metallic front cover plate (6) arranged away from the skeleton (2),
characterized in that the the first cover plate (5) further comprises
a first composite plate (7), arranged on the rear side of said front cover plate and made of a material mixture containing thermoplastic material and filling material of plant origin.
The door leaf of claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said material mixture comprises polyolefin, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, chlorine plastic, such as polyvinyl chloride, styrene plastic, polyamide, polycarbonate and/or polyester.
The door leaf of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said filling material of plant origin is wood filling material.
The door leaf of claim 3, characterized in that the wood filling material contains at least mainly mechanically milled wood chips.
The door leaf of any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that density of the material mixture is about 1.2 g/cm³.
The door leaf of any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that on the other side of the skeleton (2) there is arranged a second cover plate (9) which has a layered structure and comprises a second rear cover plate (11) made of metal and arranged towards the skeleton (2), and a second composite plate (10), arranged on the front side of the second rear cover plate, comprising thermoplastic material and filling material of plant origin.
The door leaf of claim 6, characterized in that the second composite plate (10) is made of a material mixture similar to that of the first composite plate (7).
The door leaf of any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first front cover plate (6) is of aluminium.
The door leaf of any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first front cover plate (6) comprises perforations (12) extending therethrough, whereby the underlying first composite plate (7) is visible at said perforations (12).
The door leaf of any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the skeleton (2), in the skeleton part longitudinal to the door leaf (1), comprises a reinforcement element (13) that is made of other material than said skeleton part.
The door leaf of claim 10, characterized in that the reinforcement element (13) comprises an aluminium profile.