GB1578975A

GB1578975A - Cooling chambers

Info

Publication number: GB1578975A
Application number: GB1391477A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: SONN W
Current assignee: SONN W
Priority date: 1976-04-03
Filing date: 1977-04-01
Publication date: 1980-11-12
Also published as: CH617483A5; FR2346652A1; FR2346652B1; ATA221477A; NL7703360A; ES457487A1; PT66378B; IT1081571B; PT66378A; AT351060B

Abstract

The heat-insulated unitised unit which can be used preferably as a cooling unit is system-built from side wall elements (14) which are connected at the corner joints with the aid of clamping bolts (6) which run inside these side wall elements. The clamping-bolt connection of the side wall elements (14) arranged at an angle with respect to one another is effected by means of connecting elements (12) which have two internal screw threads (13, 20) into which in each case the clamping bolts (6) of the side wall elements (14) at an angle with respect to one another are screwed. It is advantageous that side wall elements (14) of this type can either be delivered such that they are ready to mount or, with a small amount of machining outlay at the location where they are to be mounted, coupled to one another by means of a simple clamping-bolt connection such that no cold bridges arise. <IMAGE>

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO COOLING CHAMBERS (71) I, WILHELM SONN, Erftstrasse 25, 4050 Mönchengladbach 2, Federal Republic of Germany, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to cooling chambers, especially those made of an insulating material such as foam to insulate them against the influence of temperature, and is an improvement in, or modification of, the invention of British Patent No.

1,457,951.

Cooling chambers are being used to an increasing extent and in many different embodiments. The term cooling chamber is used herein in a broad and general sense and includes movable and fixed insulating chambers of various sizes, including insulating rooms, in particular for cold storage, in fixed buildings and superstructures and installations in vehicles, for example in lorries, freight waggons and ships. To achieve good insulation against the influence of temperature, especially against exterior heat, the floors, ceilings and lateral limiting walls of the chambers are produced from insulating material, especially from foam.

Increasingly, these cooling chambers are being constructed from pre-fabricated parts which can be made on a large scale in standardised dimensions, only a few bays;( types being necessary; cooling chambers of varied shape and size can be assembled from them.

However, the joining of these individual elements poses a considerable technical problem, because, at the points where adjacent elements meet, cold bridges easily occur, so that at these meeting points the insulation against the warmer outside air is frequently poorer. In addition, when there is a change in temperature, as occurs, for example, when defrosting the cooling chambers, stresses are frequently caused which may lead to gaping in the region of the meeting points.

For this reason, increasing importance has been attached to the joining of the elements, and, in particular in this respect, to the joining of side elements, which are arranged at an angle to one another.

In order to avoid as much as possible the labour-intensive screwing together of the elements and the risk of cold bridges that can occur with engaging from the out side, proposals have been made in US Patent Specification 2,394,134 and German Patent Specification 1,401,590 to join the individual elements together by means of tension bolts which run approximately in the middle of the thickness of the individual elements. However, in the solutions described in these publications, the corner region still presents a problem because the tension bolts in this region are either passed right to the outside, or, as is the case in German Patent Specification 1,401,590, although they are countersunk, they still have to be accessible from the outside.

These disadvantages in the corner region have been overcome in a neat manner by the proposals of British Patent No.

1,457,951, which describes and claims a cooling unit or chamber of thermally insulating material comprising engageable side and corner elements which when engaged constitute the walls of the unit, wherein a corner element is provided with a flexible connecting member inside the corner element and engageable at each end with a tension bolt inside a side element.

Thus, by using here the flexible connecting anchor members, assembly and tensioning can be effected round the corner, as it were. A particular advantage of this solution is that the outer and inner surfaces of the individual elements do not have any break and, starting from a wall beside the door frame, all the elements forming the lateral limiting walls of the cooling chamber can be joined by one continuous connecting line formed from tension bolts and connecting stays to the other side of the door frame. As a result, the cooling chamber can be assembled from the inside of the space enclosed by the cooling chamber, so that the space available can be utilised to the full.

A disadvantage of this excellent solution, however, is that flexible connecting members are more complicated than rigid tension bolts, which were used in the conventional constructtion, and that when working with these flexible connecting members "round the corner" to join side elements arranged at an angle to one another, relatively great care and dexterity are necessary. This does not present any great difficulties for trained construction gangs in the erection of these cooling chambers, but poses problems for those who wish to assemble this cooling chamber themselves by the do-it-yourself method.

There is therefore a need to simplify such cooling chambers, especially in the corner region of the chamber.

It has now been found that in the case of a cooling chamber, especially made of an insulating material such as foam to insulate it against the influence of temperature, comprising side elements and, if ap appropriate, corner elements, which when assembled constitute the walls of the chamber, wherein adjacent faces of the elements are preferably so formed that they engage in one another, and wherein adjacent elements are joined with the assistance of tension bolts which run inside the walls, suitably in guide tubes, two side elements arranged at an angle to one another may be joined by means of a corner joining member having two internal threads into which in each case the tension bolt of walls arranged at an angle to one another is screwed. The two side elements at an angle to one another may be directly adjacent or they may be joined via a corner element.Thus the corner joining member may be inside the two side elements forming the corner or inside a corner element.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a cooling chamber comprising side elements and, if appropriate, corner elements, which when engaged constitute the walls of the chamber, wherein engagement at a corner is effected by means of a corner joining member having two internal threads which engage with tension bolt disposed in bores extending within the side elements parallel to their major surfaces, the axes of the two threads being angled to one another.

By the use of corner joining members having two internal threads, the advantages resulting from the use of complex flexible connecting members according to British Patent No. 1,457,951 may be retained.

Thus, no apertures to the outside are necessary, the tension bolts need not be accessible from the outside, and the chamber may be held together by a continuous connecting line formed from tension bolts and joining members running inside the walls.

If desired, there may be two or more such continuous connecting lines formed from tension bolts and connecting members lying one above the other and/or on the same level. The possibility of erecting the cooling chamber from the inside is also retained; thus, an existing space, whether it is a building or a vehicle structure, can be used to its full extent, right up to the inner limiting wall thereof.

There are, however, a number of advantages over the chamber of Patent No.

1,457,951, since the complicated, flexible corner connecting members can be dispensed with and rigid tension bolts made of metal or high-grade plastics can again be used in this region.

In one embodiment of the invention, side elements can be joined together by way of corner elements if a screw joint is made possible through an opening in the foam, advantageously from the interior of the chamber.

However, in a preferred embodiment, side elements arranged at an angle to one another are directly adjacent and are relatively located advantageously by means of interfitting formations comprising a step on the end face of one element and a corresponding groove on the end face of an adjacent element, the corner joining member suitably being disposed in this region.

This embodiment is especially preferred because separate corner elements can thereby be completely omitted, and the side elements which are arranged at an angle to one another may have approximately the same dimensions as the remaining side elements, differing only as regards their graduation or other shaping by which they are adapted to their function of forming the corner of the cooling chamber. This roughly standardised size for all the elements of the cooling chamber has special advantages for manufacture and transport.

From the point of view of the space they occupied, the corner elements previously required were extremely disadvantageous both in their manufacture and in their transport. In the foaming process they required special, very cumbersome moulds.

The same applied to the transport of these cumbersome corner sections. When the corner region is formed by flat elements that correspond in size and thickness almost with the remaining side elements, these elements intended for the corner region may be manufactured in flat moulds like the remaining elements, so that mass production from the assembly line and above all a large-scale foaming of the elements in the continuous method is possible.

These elements can be chamfered or given the appropriate graduation for use in the corner region in a simple manner by a subsequent milling operation or by the insertion of appropriate profiled parts in the mould.

Apart from these advantages relating to the finishing techniques, there is of course quite considerable advantage in the simple assembly of the cooling chambers from the individual elements, requiring little expenditure on labour. Almost all that is required for screwing the corner joining members on to the thread of the tension bolts is a box spanner. To prevent an involuntary loosening of these screwed joints in the course of time, especially with great fluctuations in temperature, it is advisable to secure tension bolts and corner joining members by a check nut.

The corner joining members may be constructed in various ways, provided that they comply with the essential feature of having two internal threads, the axis of which in the screwed-in state in each case points towards the tension bolt with which they are to be screwed.

In one preferred embodiment, the corner joining member is a long nut having a longitudinal threaded bore and a transverse thread. An advantage of this embodiment is that a mass-produced long nut, suitably in the shape of a hexagonal nut, can be used, the transverse thread being tapped therein at right angles to its longitudinal axis.

In another advantageous embodiment, a corner joining member consists of a threaded bolt having a transversely threaded bore and a multi-sided nut, especially a hexagonal nut.

Especially preferred is a corner joining member in the shape of a hinge joint, one arm of the hinge joint being expediently multi-sided, e.g. in the form of a hexagon.

The especial advantage of this corner joining member is that the space required for it is particularly small and its construction as a hinge joint permits an especially preferred and simple method for erecting the cooling chamber. In this method the tension bolt of one side element may be screwed to the corner joining hinge member when this hinge is extended, that is, with a 1800 angle between the two arms of the hinge point. The arm of the hinge joint which is still is then bent at right angles and after attaching the other side element arranged at an angle to the first, the hinge joint is screwed to the tension bolt of the second side element.A further advantage of this space-saving and articulated construction of the corner joining member is that the usual standardised side elements are suitable as corner-forming elements, the abrasion to form the chamfer of 45" and the graduation and grooving desired to prevent cold bridges being effected simply in the abutting faces of these side elements.

It is of particular advantage that this finishing process does not need to be undertaken until the chamber as such is being erected, so that in the last analysis, when erecting such chambers, in the simplest case a single type of side element is required.

Occasionally, however, when all spatial factors are taken into account, it is necessary to provide, additionally, side elements of half and possibly a quarter of the normal width, in which case the number of standardised side elements to be kept in store increases again. In every case, however, there is considerable standardisation of the side elements, above all in their manufacture, so that there is considerable rationalisation both as far as the manufacturer of the elements is concerned and in transport and storage in the wholesal trade and by the ultimate consumer.

To facilitate this rationalisation still further, in an especially preferred embodiment of the invention, the guide tubes for the tension bolts are shortened at both ends by at least the length of one arm of the hinge joint, so that the above-mentioned standardisation applies also to the foamed guide tubes in which the tension bolts lie.

In the case of side elements abutting along the side of a wall of the cooling chamber, the free space which is produced by the shortening of the guide tube is advantageously bridged by a joining nut having two internal threads, the nut corresponding approximately to the dimension of the hinge joint in its extended state, and serving to join the tension bolts of two adjacent side elements. Should it be necessary, especially in the case of side elements having a relatively large wall thickness, to shorten the guide tubes still further, then the distance between the guide tube and the joining nut having the double thread may be bridged in a simple manner by the insertion of tubular spacer pieces.

This preferred embodiment of the corner joining member as a hinge joint also considerably reduces the number of tension bolts and guide tubes to be kept in stock since these are required only in as many different lengths as there are different lengths of side elements. Here too, it is therefore possible to provide only a single length of tension bolt and guide tube.

It should be understood that the principle of the advantageous corner joint described herein may be applied wherever elements are to be joined together at an angle without the joining means passing through to the outside or the inside and thus adversely influencing the optical appearance and the insulating effect or including other disadvantages such as the corrosion tendency and the possibility that damp and moisture may penetrate.

The present invention also provides kit of parts for assembling the chamber of the invention.

The invention will now be described in further detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view in cross-section of two adjacent side elements arranged at an angle to one another, joined according to the invention by a long nut having both longitudinal and transverse threads; Figure 2 is a plan view of this long nut; Figure 3 is a plan view in cross-section of two adjacent side elements arranged at an angle to one another joined according to the invention by a threaded bolt having a transversely-threaded bore and a multisided nut; Figure 4 is a plan view in cross-section of two adjacent side elements arranged at an angle to one another, in which the joining according to the invention is effected by a hinge joint; Figure 5 is a perspective view of this hinge joint; and Figure 6 is a plan view in cross-section of two adjacent side elements arranged conventionally in a straight line.

Referring to Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 6, each side element 14 has a sandwich construction in which polyurethane foam 2 is encased between aluminium sheets 1 which may have a stucco design. Guide tubes 3 are positioned in the side elements 14 at a uniform distance from the edges and extend through the side elements 14, lying exactly in the middle of the side elements 14 relative to their thickness. A tension bolt 6 provided with an external thread 27 is passed through each guide tube 3.

In Figs. 1, 3 and 4, two side elements 14 are chamfered in the region of the corner join at an angle of 45" On the sloping end face thereby formed a step 15 projects in the case of one element, and is constructed in the case of the counter element as a triangular groove 16. Both the step 15 and the triangular groove 16 consist of shaped, foamed polyurethane foam 2, covered on both sides by the aluminium sheet 1. The aluminium sheet 1 is angled at its end and thus forms a stop for the polyurethane foam 2. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, a seal 9 which prevents the formation of a cold bridge may be positioned around this stop.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 only, the guide tubes may start from a key (or tongue) (not shown) or a slot (or groove) 17, and terminate in an empty space 10 which has been hollowed out of the polyurethane foam 2 in the region of the ends of the guide tubes 3, that is to say, there is a cavity in the region of the step 15 and in the triangular groove 16. One tension bolt 6 is fixed in its position with respect to the guide tube 3 by a check nut 11. Following this, a long nut 12 having a longitudinal threaded bore 20 is screwed on to the projecting portion of the tension bolt 6, so that a transversely threaded bore 13 of the long nut points towards the second side element 14 which forms a corner joint with the first side element.After passing a tension bolt 6 through this second side element 14, this tension bolt 6 is screwed to the long nut 12, the tension bolt 6 engaging with the transversely threaded bore 13.

The tension bolts 6 are either provided with external threads 27 at both ends or have an external thread 27 at one end and at the other end a threaded bushing which corresponds in its dimensions approximately to the long nut 12, so that the side elements 14 can be screwed together continuously.

Referring to Fig. 3, the corner join is effected by a threaded bolt 8 and a hexagonal nut 4 which lie in a space 10. The hexagonal nut 4 is screwed with its threaded bore 24 on to the tension bolt 6 and the threaded bolt 8 is screwed into the threaded bore 24 of the hexagonal nut. The threaded bolt 8 likewise has a transversely threaded bore 13, in which a further tension bolt 6 from the second side element 14 engages. In addition, the threaded bolt 8 is equipped with a corner portion 7 which is advantageously welded to it directly and is connected as a result by way of a screw 18 to a corner strip 5. The corner strip 5 has a middle bar 19 which serves for stabilisation and receives the screw 18. By tensioning both tension bolts 6, the corner strip 5 is thereby pressed against the aluminium sheet 1 of the side elements 14, whereby this receives an increased stability in the region of its outer edge.

Referring to Figs. 4 and 5, the corner joining member is a hinge joint 32 of which one arm is a multi-sided arm 33 having a threaded bore 34 and its other arm is a tubular arm 31 with a threaded bore 30 and an abutment or shoulder 26, the arms being articulated together by way of a hinge 29. A corner profile 25 that in this case is constructed in one piece, has an attachment piece 21 which has an opening (not shown) at one end through which the tubular arm 31 of the hinge 32 engages.

When the hinge joint 32 is screwed to the tension bolt 6, which additionally has a check nut 28, the corner profile 25 is drawn firmly towards the side element 14 and is at the same time a protection for the edges of the side elements.

The guide tubes 3 of the side elements 14 are shortened by the length of one arm of the hinge 32, so that the side elements 14 which are arranged at an angle to one another can be manufactured without problems from normal side elements 14.

Assembly is carried out by first screwing the hinge joint 32 with its tubular arm 31 on to the thread 27 of the tension bolt 6 in one side element 14 and at the same time the corner profile 25 is secured in position. This screwing process is effected with the multi-sided arm 33 extended. The multi-sided arm 33 is then bent at right angles, the other side element 14 shown horizontally in the drawing is pushed into the corner profile 25 and then the tension bolt 6 is screwed into the threaded bore 34 of the multi-sided arm.

In Fig. 6, side elements 14 are joined together in a straight line, the joining of adjacent tension bolts 6 being effected by a joining nut 22 which has two internal threads 23. The cooling chamber may comprise side elements 14 joined together in this manner as well as side elements at an angle to one another joined together as specified above.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: - 1. A cooling chamber comprising side elements and, if appropriate, corner elements, which constitute the walls of the chamber, wherein engagement at a corner is effected by means of a corner joining member having two internal threads which engage with tension bolts disposed in bores extending within the side elements parallel to their major surfaces, the axes of the two threads being angled to one another.

2. A chamber as claimed in claim l wherein two side elements are directly adjacent at a corner of the chamber.

3. A chamber as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein two directly adjacent side elements are provided with mutually-engageable step and recess.

4. A chamber as claimed in claim 3, wherein at a corner of the chamber the corner joining member is located in the step of two directly adjacent side elements.

5. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the corner joining member is a long nut having a longitudinal threaded bore and an additoinal transverse thread.

6. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the corner joining member consists of an externally threaded bolt having a transversely threaded bore, and a multi-sided nut having a threaded bore.

7. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the corner joining member is a hinge joint.

8. A chamber as claimed in claim 7, wherein one arm of the hinge joint is a multi-sided arm.

9. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein guide tubes for tension bolts which engage with the corner joining member are, at each end, shorter than their respective side elements by at least the length of the part of the corner joining member lying in the side element.

10. A chamber as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the guide tube for each tension bolt is shortened at each end at least by the length of an arm of the hinge joint.

11. A chamber as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10, wherein corner joining member and tension bolt are secured by a check nut fixing the tension bolt in position with re spect to its guide tube.

12. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein engagement of side elements abutting along a side of the chamber is effected by an internallythreaded nut which engages with the tension bolts of the side elements.

13. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the tension bolts are of rigid metal or high-grade plastics.

14. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein a corner is provided with a seal on its outer and/or inner surfaces.

15. A chamber as claimed in claim 14, wherein the outer surface is provided with a corner strip which engages with the corner joining member.

16. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein each element comprises thermally insulating material.

17. A chamber as claimed in claim 16, wherein the thermally insulating material is foam.

18. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein each element is water-proof.

19. A chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the side elements and, if appropriate, corner elements are joined by means of at least one continuous connecting line formed from tension bolts and joining members from one side of a door frame to another.

20. A chamber as claimed in claim 1.

wherein engagement at a corner is effected substantially as described herein with reference to, and as illustrated by, the accompanying Figs. 1 and 2 or Fig. 3 or Figs. 4 and 5.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. tubular arm 31 of the hinge 32 engages. When the hinge joint 32 is screwed to the tension bolt 6, which additionally has a check nut 28, the corner profile 25 is drawn firmly towards the side element 14 and is at the same time a protection for the edges of the side elements. The guide tubes 3 of the side elements 14 are shortened by the length of one arm of the hinge 32, so that the side elements 14 which are arranged at an angle to one another can be manufactured without problems from normal side elements 14. Assembly is carried out by first screwing the hinge joint 32 with its tubular arm 31 on to the thread 27 of the tension bolt 6 in one side element 14 and at the same time the corner profile 25 is secured in position. This screwing process is effected with the multi-sided arm 33 extended. The multi-sided arm 33 is then bent at right angles, the other side element 14 shown horizontally in the drawing is pushed into the corner profile 25 and then the tension bolt 6 is screwed into the threaded bore 34 of the multi-sided arm. In Fig. 6, side elements 14 are joined together in a straight line, the joining of adjacent tension bolts 6 being effected by a joining nut 22 which has two internal threads 23. The cooling chamber may comprise side elements 14 joined together in this manner as well as side elements at an angle to one another joined together as specified above. WHAT I CLAIM IS: -

1. A cooling chamber comprising side elements and, if appropriate, corner elements, which constitute the walls of the chamber, wherein engagement at a corner is effected by means of a corner joining member having two internal threads which engage with tension bolts disposed in bores extending within the side elements parallel to their major surfaces, the axes of the two threads being angled to one another.

20. A chamber as claimed in claim 1.

21. A chamber as claimed in claim 1 or

claim 20, wherein engagement along a side is effected substantially as described herein with reference to, and as illustrated by the accompanying Fig. 6.

22. A kit of parts for a cooling chamber which comprises side elements having bores extending within them parallel to their major surfaces, tension bolts, corner joining members and, if appropriate, corner elements, which when assembled constitute a chamber as claimed in claim 1.