GB2116598A

GB2116598A - Connecting panels

Info

Publication number: GB2116598A
Application number: GB08306065A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Philippe Demonsablon; Jean Millot; Andre Corneloup
Original assignee: SODETEG SOC D ET TECH ENTREPRI
Current assignee: SODETEG SOC D ET TECH ENTREPRI
Priority date: 1982-03-12
Filing date: 1983-03-04
Publication date: 1983-09-28
Also published as: GB8306065D0; FR2523176B1; EP0089262A1; FR2523176A1

Description

Building construction method, and panels for use in the method The present invention relates to a method of constructing a building from panels which are prefabricated and then assembled to one another. It is common practice in the building industry to use concrete for prefabricating panels which serve, for example, as facade walls, partition walls, end walls, or floors. There are several different methods of assembling such panels. Most of them require the panels to be held temporarily in place, in particular while waiting for horizontal floor members to be laid. Stays are generally used for this purpose, which results in a long series of operations which are particularly costly in construction time. Further, a large number of stays are required, and they take up a large amount of time on equipment such as cranes. Finally, since the panels are rather precariously held in place for some of the time, and since workers are needed at the top of the structure, there is always a risk of accidents whose consequences are generally very serious. Preferred implementations of the present invention mitigate these drawbacks. The present invention provides a method of constructing a building, the method consisting in assembling prefabricated building panels, wherein the panels are assembled by means of fittings which are embedded in the panels during panel fabrication. The invention also provides prefabricated building panels suitable for performing the method. The invention is described in greater detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a building under construction; Figure 2 is a horizontal section through fittings 107 and 108 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a vertical section through the fitting 107; Figure 4 is a partial front view of a facade in the course of construction; Figure 5 is a vertical section through a fitting 408 of Figure 4; Figure 6 is an exploded view of a variant of the fitting 408; and Figure 7 is a horizontal section through the fitting of Figure 6. A portion of a building under construction is shown in Figure 1 in a manner which is highly schematic, particularly in relation to the shapes and the cross sections of the panels. To put up a building, an end panel 102 is laid first at the left hand end of a floor panel 101. The end panel 102 is stayed by stays such as 103, since as first panel to be laid, there is nothing else to hold it up to begin with. In a second step, a first facade panel 104 is laid with its bottom edge resting on the floor 101, and it is locked to the end panel 102 by means of a fitting 105 shown in broken lines. The fitting is substantially one third of the way down the panel and is described in greater detail below. The facade panel is held in place on the floor by its weight, and it is held upright by virtue of being fastened to the end panel 102 by means of the fitting 105. Construction is continued by laying a partition panel 106 which rests on the floor 101 and which is held upright by a second fitting 107 similar to the fitting 105, but which locks it the facade panel 104. Construction of the building on this floor can then continue by laying further facade, partition, and end panels which are locked to one another in succession by fittings such as the fitting 105. Thus, construction will continue by using a portion of a third fitting 108 similar to the fitting 105 which is level with the fitting 107 but which is visible on the uncovered portion of the edge of the partition panel 106. Naturally, the opposite side edges of the end panels 102 and the partition panels 106 also include fittings of the same nature. To explain the structure of the fittings for fixing the panels to one another, Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the fittings 107 and 108 of Figure 1. An extra panel 109 has been added in alignment with the panel 104. The panels 104 and 109 have respective rabbets 201 and 301 running along the inside of their facing vertical edges to form a groove in which the end of the panel 106 is received, thereby anchoring all three panels together. On the panel 104, the fitting 107 comprises a male portion or pin which mates with a female portion or slot fixed on the panel 106. The pin comprises a substantially rectangular steel plate 202 welded to the end of a steel rod 203 which is embedded in the panel 104. The rod 203 extends longitudinally in the plane of the panel and is curved at its end to project from the bottom of the rabbet 201 perpendicularly to the plane of the panel. Advantageously, one of the reinforcing rods of the panel is used to constitute the rod 203. The slot comprises a length of split tube 204 of rectangular and generally C-shaped section. The tube is mounted vertically up the edge of the panel 106. It is held to the edge by being welded to a rod 205 which is embedded in the panel, and which advantageously is likewise one of the reinforcing rods thereof. Both ends of the tube 204 are open, and its outside face directed away from the edge of the panel has a vertical opening 206 for slidably receiving the rod 203 in the slot. The width of the plate 202 constituting the head of the pin is suitable for inserting into the tube 204 either via its top or via its bottom, and at the same time as the rod 203 is inserted into the opening 206. Thus, when the panel 106 is being laid after the panel 104 has already been laid, the vertical edge of the panel 106 is engaged in the rabbet 201 and the panel 106 is lowered. During lowering, the pin engages in the bottom of the slot, and when the panel 106 comes to rest on the floor 101, the pin is substantially half way up the slot with its head 202 held captive inside the tube 204, thereby holding the panel 106 upright. However, the panel 106 can alternatively be the first panel to be laid, depending on the order in which assembly takes place. The fitting 108 which serves to hold the panel 109 to the panel 106 comprises parts 302 to 306 which are identical to the corresponding parts 202 to 206. Thus, when the panel 109 is laid, the head 302 of the pin in the fitting 108 is inserted into the tube 304 by sliding, but from the top since the panel 106 is already in place. That is why the slots are open both top and bottom in this embodiment which is intended to enable a building to be completely prefabricated. Assembly is subsequently finished off by pouring a liquid filler mortar into the groove constituted by the two rabbets 201 and 301, thereby, in particular, protecting the pin and the slot against rusting. Figure 3 is a vertical section through the panels 104 and 106 in a plane perpendicular to the panel 104 and passing through the centre of the head 202 of the pin in the fitting 107. It should be observed in particular that the front edge of the panel 106 has a step between a bottom portion 207 and a top portion 208 which occupies substantially the top third of the panel. The step leaves room for the slot's tube 204 between the bottom of the rabbet 201 in the panel 104 and the top portion 208 of the edge of the panel 106, while at the same time minimising the play between the bottom portion 207 of the edge and the bottom of the rabbet 201, thereby ensuring a solid structure after the liquid filler mortar has been cast. It should also be observed that the tube 204 is indeed open at the top and at the bottom and that the opening 206 therein extends along the entire length of the tube 204, whereby the pin may be inserted from above as well as from below. In another implementation of the method in accordance with the invention, slot and pin fittings may be used for holding vertical panels, and in particular facade panels, to a structure which is prepared in advance. Said structure may be formed by a metal frame, for example, or by concrete posts. By limiting the description to the particularly typical case of facade panels, the framework used will be constituted by a grid of rectangular apertures. Figure 4 shows a portion of such a structure, limited to one aperture with a single facade panel attached to the structure to close said aperture. The panel 404 attached to the structure 406 by means of fittings 407 and 408 has a step 410 in its outside surface and a step 409 in its inside surface, whereby the panels can be made to overlap in conventional manner, thereby ensuring continuity in waterproofing and in thermal insulation while leaving room to accommodate expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature. The panel further includes two inside rabbets 401 and 501 for receiving the vertical risers of the structure 406. Devices 407 and 408 for hooking the panel to the structure are very similar to the pin and slot fittings described above. Thus a horizontal section through the fittings would show substantially the same structure for the fitting 408 as is shown in Figure 2 for the fitting 107. The panel 104 would be equivalent to the panel 404, and the portion of the panel 106 would correspond to the riser of the structure 406 on which the slot of the fitting 408 is mounted. Differences in structure do, however, appear in a vertical section as shown in Figure 5 which corresponds to Figure 3. Thus, as can be seen clearly in the vertical section of Figure 5, the C-shaped slot-forming tube 504 is closed at the bottom and open at the top. A pin can thus only be inserted from above. However, such an arrangement also makes it possible for the slot to support the panel at a desired height relative to the risers 406. In other words, the head 502 of the pin rests on the closed bottom of the tube 504 thereby holding the panel at a suitable level determined by both the position of the pin and of the slot. Since it is no longer possible to insert the panel from below, the top and bottom portions 507 and 508 of the front edge of the riser 406 as received in the rabbet 501 of the panel 404 are separated by a step which is located flush with the bottom of the tube 504. The slot thus rests on the step, thereby increasing the overall strength of the assembly. In the variant shown in Figure 5, the rod 503 is welded to the bottom of the head 502 so that both the rod and the head of the pin rest on the bottom of the tube 504, thereby increasing the load-bearing area. This arrangement is not essential, and whether it is adopted to not, it is the bottom edge of the head 502 which ensures proper positioning of the panel. Similarly, the anchor rod 505 for the tube 504 is turned downwards, which is a variant due to the small transverse size of the riser, but which does not make any substantial difference to the overall result. Thus, once the framework of the building has been completed and has been fitted with slots as described above, panels may readily be laid thereon without requiring any special equipment, and the panels will automatically take up their proper places vertically, on the level, and at the right height. Another implementation of the invention is shown in Figures 6 and 7. It is intended for fully prefabricated construction, but is also applicable to fixing vertical or facade panels to a previously built frame structure. The fittings comprise a hollow socket on one side for receiving a male peg on the other. Figure 6 shows this variant as applied to fully prefabricated construction. In this figure, facade panels 604 and 609 are intended to be connected to a partition panel 606. Only those portions of the panels on which the fittings are mounted are shown, as seen from in front, and before assembly, for ease of comprehension. The partition panel 606 has a stepped back portion 610 near the top of its leading edge in which the facade panels are rested. The facade panels 604 and 609 include respective rabbets 611 annd 612 which end before the tops of the panels to form a kind of lap joint with the stepped back portion 610. While the partition panel 606 is being prefabricated, the curved bottom of a metal U-shaped rod 613 is embedded therein to leave two upstanding pegs projecting up into the stepped back portion 610 from the bottom thereof. The two pegs emerge from the panel through a plate 614 whose function is described below. Likewise, during prefabrication of the panels 604 and 609, hollow socket members 615 and 616 are embedded in the overlapping portions remaining at the ends of the rabbets. The sockets are made from lengths of metal tube which are closed at the embedded end by metal plates to prevent the sockets from filling up with the concrete from which the panels are made. The sockets are arranged vertically and they open out downwards into the ends of the rabbets 611 and 612. Thus, when the panels are laid in position, the pegs 613 are received in the sockets 615 and 616, thereby holding the panels in place. Figure 7 is a plan view looking down on the panels 604, 606 and 609 when assembled. The two pegs 613 can be seen received in the sockets 615 and 616. This figure shows two different structures of tube suitable for making the sockets 615 and 616. The tube 615 is circular with a diameter that is slightly larger than the diameter of a peg, thereby enabling the panel 604 to be aligned relative to the panel 606. In contrast, the tube 616 is oblong, with its width extending across the thickness of the panel 609 and being substantially equal to the diameter of the tube 615, while its length extends in the plane of the panel and is substantially greater than the diameter of the peg engaged therein. This ensures that the panel 609 is held substantially at the same distance from the end of the panel 606 as is the panel 604, thereby maintaining a substantially plane facade. However, there needs to be room to accommodate more slack sideways since the partition panels 609 may not be laid at exactly equal intervals, and the position of the other end of the panel 609 is fixed by a round socket like the socket 615. The peg 613 therefore takes a position somewhere along the socket 616 in order to take up such slack as may be necessary. As in the previously described version of the invention, construction operations are finished off by pouring a liquid filler mortar into the space 617 remaining between the panels, in particular to protect the fittings from rusting. The recess 614 in the step of the panel 610 and through which the pegs 613 project serves to enable the mortar to flow completely round the bottom ends of the pegs and to enter into the spaces between the pegs and their sockets, thereby fully protecting the metalwork and blocking any play that may have remained. In some special cases, for example when connecting a facade panel to an end wall panel, there need only be a single peg 613, in which case one end of a peg-forming rod is embedded in the end panel leaving its other end projecting to constitute a single peg for engaging in a single socket. This system may also be fitted 1/3 of the way up the panels, either unchanged, or in conjunctions with a neoprene sole sheet to act as a silent block if the building is in a seismic zone.

Claims

1. A method of constructing a building, the method consisting in assembling prefabricated building panels, wherein the panels are assembled by means of fittings which are embedded in the edges of the panels during panel fabrication.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the panels are assembled at right angles and constitute the structure of the building.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the panels are assembled as cladding on a previously constructed framework.

4. A panel for performing the method according to any preceding claim, wherein the panel includes at least one pin comprising a flat head on the end of a rod which is anchored in the panel.

5. A panel according to claim 4, wherein the head of the pin is parallel to the plane of the panel and projects into a rabbet along the side of the panel.

6. A panel for performing the method of claim 2, including at least one slot comprising a vertical length of tube which is of rectangular section and open at both ends, said tube being fixed to a rod which is embedded in the panel and being placed with one of its sides against the edge of the panel and with its opposite, outwardly directed side having a vertical opening running the length thereof.

7. A panel for performing the method of claim 3, including at least one slot comprising a vertical length of tube which is of rectangular section, closed at its bottom end and open at its top end, said tube being fixed to a rod which is embedded in the panel and being placed with one of its sides against the edge of the panel and with its opposite, outwardly directed side having a vertical opening running the length thereof.

8. A panel for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 3, including an overlapping portion at the top of a rabbet along the side of the panel, said overlapping portion having a socket in the form of a vertically disposed tube embedded therein with the top of the tube being closed and the bottom of the tube opening out into the end of the rabbet.

9. A panel according to claim 8, wherein the tube constituting the socket is of circular cross section.

10. A panel according to claim 8, wherein the tube constituting the socket is oblong in section, with its long axis running parallel to the plane of the panel.

11. A panel for performing the method of claim 2, comprising a stepped back portion with a U-shaped member of circular section having its curved portion embedded in the bottom of the stepped back portion to leave two upstanding pegs projecting into the stepped back portion through a recess made in said bottom.

12. A panel for performing the method of claim 2, comprising a stepped back portion with a rod member of circular section having one end embedded in the bottom of the stepped back portion to leave its other end as an upstanding peg projecting into the stepped back portion through a recess made in said bottom.

13. A method of constructing a building substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A panel for performing the method according to claim 13 and substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the accompanying drawings.