EP2799638A1

EP2799638A1 - Panel made of insulating material for building structures

Info

Publication number: EP2799638A1
Application number: EP13165896.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Luca PONTAROLO; Valeiro Pontarolo
Original assignee: Pontarolo Engineering SpA
Current assignee: Pontarolo Engineering SpA
Priority date: 2013-04-30
Filing date: 2013-04-30
Publication date: 2014-11-05

Abstract

A panel (1, 2) made of an insulating material, adapted to be positioned, by means of gluing or mechanical fixing, on building structures, so as to obtain an external insulation system. Said panel comprises on at least two of the sides (12) defining the thickness of the panel itself, portions provided with a plurality of protuberances, which define, between one another, as many seats, adapted to house similar protuberances of another panel of the same type, which has to be coupled to the first panel, so as to coat said building structure.

Description

The present invention is relative to a thermally insulated or soundproofing panel for building structures, such as walls, to be coupled to the wall itself.
In particular, the present invention has advantageous application in the technical field of external insulation systems for vertical and non vertical walls of buildings, generally where high quality standards have to be fulfilled.
Currently, known technologies envisage the use of substantially smooth panels, of the type shown in figures 13a-13f, to be glued or mechanically fixed to the wall with tessellation one next to the other, the panels usually having height and width dimensions that are significantly larger than the thickness. The surfaces are mostly smooth (figure 13c), except for some cases in which a rabbet 9, 10 is created in the thickness of the panel. The technology currently known envisages that, as far as the corners of the buildings are concerned, they are built with straight panels coming from one direction and from the other, which meet at the corner. Normally, except for rabbets, the panel surfaces are substantially smooth, especially face 11 facing the wall; this implies that fixing glue 8, used to fix the panel to the wall, operates mostly by means of gluing and not by means of mechanical fixing, which means that it is less effective, especially in the long run. Furthermore, if the thickness comprises one single rabbet 9 or 10 or a completely smooth surface 13, the panels are free to move in some directions, as better described below; this means that either mis-positioning and movements can occur between one panel and the other or, even, one can experience the formation of cracks, even though they are small and have a dimensions of a few millimeters, which generate the phenomenon of the thermal bridge, normally to be avoided, which is a less insulated area of the wall where thermal energy is more allowed to flow than in the nearby layers of material that allow little heat transfer, thus causing, besides energy leaks, problems of condensation, mould on the walls affected by the problem and, in the worst cases scenario, unhealthiness of the room, which jeopardizes its fitness for human habitation. The present invention provides insulating panels of whatever material and whatever density that has thermally insulating properties or soundproofing properties, or both properties at the same time, featuring protuberances and seats, for example alternate coupling teeth, which, by eliminating every freedom of movement in all directions, guarantee an absolute coplanarity of the panels with respect to one another and allow the panels to be kept in place even in the direction of their length, which is not possible with the rabbets shown in figures 13a-f. With the panel according to the present invention, the final result will not be affected by laying problems and, in time, unlike what normally happens with the panels currently used, both with rabbets and without rabbets, there will not be movements of panels with respect to one another, which can cause the formation of thermal bridges.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the face of panel facing the wall structure is provided with grooves having a suitable size and shape, which can be filled with the material used to glue the panel to the wall, thus creating an effective fixing not only by means of adhesion but also by means of mechanical coupling, which guarantees that, in time, the panels will always remain in their place without possible detachments due to the worsening of the mechanical gluing caused by atmospheric temperature ranges, aging, bad laying.
A further embodiment of the present invention provides a panel with the features described above, which is already configured to be laid in a corner and, hence, is pre-formed so as to cover the external corners of the building and encompasses the beginning of the two faces of building making up the corner itself. The corner panel can be smooth on all surfaces, or it can have a rabbet on the sides defining the thickness or it can be provided with the above-mentioned protuberances in the form of coupling teeth; by means of said teeth it is coupled to the straight panels of the face, thus creating a complete belt or ring of insulation all around the building, which forbids any movement of the panels both during the laying activities, thus fulfilling high quality standards, and for the entire life of the building, which is normally very long.
The pre-formed corner panel can be arranged both on corners having an outer angle and on corners having an inner angle. The angle can be obtuse, right or acute.
The panel, after having been coupled to the structure of the building, can be finished with any kind of known material, such as plastering, paint, plasterboard panels, wood panels, concrete, ventilated walls, etc., or it can be already provided with the final finishing coating that has been pre-assembled.
One aspect of the present invention is relative to a wall insulating panel having the features set forth in appended claim 1.
Further features are set forth in the appended dependent claims.
The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate some non-limiting embodiments, wherein:

figure 1 is an axonometric view of a panel with coupling teeth arranged on the longer sides defining the thickness of the panel according to the present invention;
figures 2a and 2b are a lateral view of the panel of figure 1 and a plan view of the panel of figure 1 respectively;
figures 3, 4a and 4b show, respectively, an axonometric view and a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the panel is pre-formed so as to cover a corner;
figure 3a shows a pre-formed corner element 23 with the surfaces all smooth;
figures 5 and 6 show, respectively, an axonometric view and a plan view of a series of panels according to the present invention, which have been assembled on the building;
figure 7 shows the enlarged detail A of a head of a panel of figure 6, which has been arranged on a wall of a building by means of glue;
figure 8 is a further embodiment of the panel of the present invention, wherein the coupling teeth of panel are not one next to the other but arranged in groups;
figure 9 is plan view of the panel according to the present invention in an embodiment in which there are no grooves on the face facing the wall, which is substantially smooth;
figure 10 is an enlarged detail showing the connection area between two panels that are arranged one next to the other and overlap one another according to the present invention;
figure 11 is an enlarged detail showing the connection area between two panels that are coupled to one another according to the present invention;
figure 12 is an enlarged detail showing the connection area between two corner panels that are coupled to one another;
figures 13a, 13b, 14a and 14b show, respectively, sections and a plan view of panels according to the prior art provided with non-toothed rabbet;
figure 13c and 14c show two panels according to the prior art that are not provided with rabbets and are smooth;
figure 15A is a plan view of teeth 6 of a panel 2 with an indication of connection elements 24 between the teeth;
figure 15B shows an assembly layout of two panels, namely a lower panel and an upper panel, from which one can assume how elements 24 cross;
figure 15C shows an arrangement layout of the elements (the lower one and the upper one) before the assembly, after having been laid down so as to form a gasket/trap to prevent liquids from flowing out;
figure 15D indicates how elements 24 are connected when height 25 is half height 26;
figure 15E shows the same layout of figure 15D and, in particular, how elements 24 crush and expand when height 25 is higher than half height 26.

Figures 1, 2a and 2b show, as a whole, a preferred non-limiting embodiment of a panel 1 made of insulating material and with different thicknesses 12 and dimensions comprising, on at least two of sides 20 delimiting the thickness of the panel itself, portions provided with a plurality of protuberances, which are distributed in various manners and define, between one another, as many seats, which are suited to house similar protuberances of another panel of the same type, which has to be coupled to the first panel, so as to coat a wall.
Preferably, said protuberances are distributed on the entire surface of said faces 20.
Said protuberances preferably are coupling teeth, adapted to be mutually connected to projecting teeth 4, opposite to recessed teeth 5, of a similar panel. Furthermore, the protuberances can have a regular shape, such as the shape of a square, a circle, a triangle, a trapezoid, an hexagon, an octagon, etc., or an irregular shape, such as a comma shape, a V shape, a U shape, a C shape or other complex shapes.
In a preferred embodiment, said teeth 4 and 5 have a size of no more than 3 (three) millimeters in the three dimensions, if they are not round, or of no more than 3 (three) millimeters of diameter, if they are round.
Said panel comprises, furthermore, grooves 7 which are arranged on face 11 that, once the panels have been laid, will face wall 3. The grooves can have whatever shape allows them to be easily filled with the material used to glue the panel to the wall.
In a preferred embodiment, said grooves are from 1 (one) to 35 (thirty-five) millimeters long, from 1 (one) to 33 (thirty-three) millimeters deep and have a length that ranges from 15 (fifteen) millimeters to the whole length of the panel; furthermore, they are spaced apart by a distance ranging from a minimum of 4 (four) millimeters to a maximum of 600 (six hundred) millimeters.
Preferably, said grooves 7 have an undercut shape, which means that the inside is larger than the entering mouth.
Figures 3, 3a, 4a and 4b show an alternative 2 of panel 1 shown in figure 1, which is already preformed to as to be laid on the corners of the buildings; angle 14 can be both obtuse and acute, even if the figures show a right angle.
Figures 5 and 6 show a preferred assembly layout of panels 1 and 2 of a wall portion of a building 4, with teeth 4 and 5 coupled to one another so as to create, at the end of the installation, a belt or ring system, so as to prevent the panels from moving.
Figure 7 shows an enlarged detail of a plan view of a panel 1, which illustrates projecting teeth 5 and recessed teeth 5 that will be opposed in the two faces of the panels 1, so that, during the installation, projecting teeth 4 of upper panel 1 correspond to recessed teeth 5 of lower panel 1.
This figure also shows grooves 7 that allow gluing material 8 to fix panel 1 to wall 3 in a mechanical and chemical manner, thus causing gluing 8 to be more effective and safer in time.
Figure 8 shows a further non-limiting embodiment of panel 1, in which teeth 4 and 5 are not arranged on entire thickness 12 and width 21 of the panel, but only on some portions of the thickness.
Figure 9 shows a further embodiment of the panel without grooves 7 and with face 11 substantially smooth.
Figure 10 is an enlarged detail of two panels 1 prior to their coupling, which shows how the projecting and recessed teeth are coupled to one another.
Figures 11 and 12 show a layout of how the teeth of the panels are be arranged when they are coupled to one another, blank teeth 16 belonging to a panel 1 and hatched teeth 17 belonging to the other panel.
When panels 1 and 2 are assembled, the shape and arrangement of teeth 4, 5, 16, 17 do not allow any kind of movement in directions A-B, B-A, C-D, D-C, E-F, F-E, G-H and H-G, thus creating a ring or belt effect of the insulation, which allows the problems caused by other insulating products currently available on the market to be solved.
In figures 11 and 12, blank teeth 16 belong to a panel 1 and hatched teeth 17 belong to the other panel.
Figures 13a and 13b show two types of rabbets arranged on the faces defining the thickness of the panels currently available on the market. These rabbets allow the panels to move in some directions. In particular, the panels of figures 13c and 14c are not provided with a striking surface and the panels are free to move in all directions A-B, B-A, C-D, D-C. The panels of figures 13a and 14a have a type of rabbets that only locks them in one of the two directions A-B and B-A and leaves them free to move in directions C-D and D-C.
In figures 13b and 14b, with this type of rabbets, the panels are locked in directions A-B, B-A and they are free to move in directions C-D e D-C.
Furthermore, according to a feature of the present invention, the panels can be provided with holding elements 24 between the protuberances, which, in this case, are slightly spaced apart from one another, as shown in figure 15A, and are made of the same material as the insulating panel or of another material. Height 25 of holding element 24, which is at least as high as half height 26 of protuberances or teeth 6 or, even better, higher than half height 26, allows, during the coupling step, namely when teeth 6 of the upper panel are inserted into teeth 6 of the lower panel, holding elements 24 to cross one another 28 and to touch as shown in figure 15D.
Holding elements 24 come into contact and deform, expanding a little bit 29, due to the effect of the crushing, as shown in figure 15E, thus creating a sort of gasket/trap 28 for possible liquids (water, water-cement). Without holding elements 24, liquids would tend to flow from the inside to the outside during the pouring step, thus dirtying outer surface 15.
This element 24 prevents water and liquids from flowing out and the outer surface of panel (15) remains perfectly clean.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, which have to be considered as simple implementing examples of the wall insulating panel.

Claims

Panel (1, 2) made of an insulating material, for being positioned, by means of gluing or mechanical fixing, on building structures, so as to obtain an external insulation system; said panel comprises on at least two of the sides (12) defining the thickness of the panel itself, portions provided with a plurality of protuberances (5, 6), which define, between one another, as many seats, which are suited to house similar protuberances of another panel of the same type, which has to be coupled to the first panel, so as to coat said building structure,
wherein the panels are provided with holding elements (24) between the protuberances (6).
Panel according to claim 1, wherein said elements (24) are made of the same material as the insulating panel.
Panel according to claim 1, wherein said elements (24) are made of a material that is different from the one of the insulating panel.
Panel according to claim 1, wherein the height (25) of the holding element (24) is at least half the height (26) of the protuberances.
Panel according to claim 1, wherein said protuberances are distributed on the whole surface of said faces (20).
Panel according to claim 1 and comprising grooves (7) in the face (11) that faces the building structure (3).
Panel according to claim 1, wherein said protuberances are coupling teeth, for being mutually connected to projecting teeth (4), opposite to recessed teeth (5), of a similar panel.
Panel according to claim 1, characterized in that it has the shape of a corner.
Panel according to claim 6, wherein the grooves (7) have whatever shape allows them to be easily filled with the material used to glue the panel to the wall.
Panel according to the previous claims, which is made of any type of thermally insulating and soundproofing material.
Panel according to claim 1, wherein the protuberances can have a regular shape, such as the shape of a square, a circle, a triangle, a trapezoid, an hexagon, an octagon, etc., or an irregular shape, such as a comma shape, a V shape, a U shape, a C shape or other complex shapes.
Panel according to claim 6, wherein said grooves have an undercut shape, namely the inside is larger than the entering mouth.