GB2348269A

GB2348269A - Sound absorption panel

Info

Publication number: GB2348269A
Application number: GB9906915A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Tokeer Hussain
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-03-25
Filing date: 1999-03-25
Publication date: 2000-09-27
Also published as: GB9906915D0

Abstract

A sound absorption panel 1 is formed of an open texture sound absorbent material 2 to which is secured a rigid strip 3, such that the edge of the sound absorbent material is surrounded by lengths of the strip 3. The sound absorption panel 1 also having a surface cover of fabric (4, fig 2) extending over the edges of the panel 1, covering the board 2 and edge strips 3 so that a sharp fold may be achieved at the panel edge. A method of constructing the panel 1 is also provided.

Description

SOUND ABSORPTION PANEL This invention relates to a sound absorption panel. It relates particularly to a method of and means for providing a fabric surface on a panel and achieving a neat edge effect in securing the fabric material to the area of panel.

The sound absorption panels in use at the present time are formed of materials such as woodpulp board or rockwool board. A much favoured material is a high density resin bonded glass fibre board which has been specifically tooled and pressed to achieve a maximum sound absorption effect when in service. The requirement for achieving good sound absorption means that the pressed panel material will necessarily have a somewhat open structure and any cut panel edges will tend not to be sharply defined but will follow a slightly wavy line. More importantly, where the front face of a panel is interrupted by a cut edge, the resulting comer on the front face will have an untidy-looking edge that appears to be badly cut. This phenomenon has the effect that when two panels are butted up against one another, the resulting joint line can fail to be crisply defined and will often appear ragged and untidy. Even a panel that is intended to stand on its own needs to avoid having a badly-shaped comer on its front face where that face meets a cut edge. The appearance of a badly cut comer on the front face of a panel will thus seriously impair the neatness of the overall arrangement of the panels when they are fitted to a wall surface.

There have been attempts to overcome this problem by using a U-shaped frame of an extruded plastics material which is located all round the periphery of the panel area. This gives the appearance of a more precisely defined edge to the soft fibrous material. There is thus some improvement but the frame members need to be cut accurately and given mitred corner profiles in order to make neat comers on the panel area. In addition, it is necessary to use one adhesive to secure the plastics U-frame members to the panel material and then a second adhesive is required to bond the fabric material in position over the panel and frame members at the panel edge. Further, the frame members at the panel edge have the effect of holding the surface of the fabric material a distance of one or two millimetres in front of the panel surface so that the fabric material may become marked or indented if a user carelessly makes the panel surface into a notice board by pinning a piece of paper through the fabric into the board material.

I have now discovered an alternative way of achieving an accurate straight edge on a sound absorption panel so that an applied fabric material will form a good comer fold at the edge.

According to the invention, there is provided a sound absorption panel having a surface cover of a suitable fabric which extends over the edges of the panel, in which the panel is formed of an open texture sound absorbent board material having a panel edge to which is secured a strip of rigid material such that the material edge will be covered with the said strip, the fabric material then being applied over the board and edge strips so that a sharp comer fold is achieved at the panel edge.

The strip of rigid material may be a metal or wood strip. Preferably, the strip is formed of a plastics composition and shaped in a plastics extrusion/moulding process. The strip profile may be of such a height as to correspond to the thickness of the board material to which it is to be fitted. The width of the strip may be of the order of one to three millimetres, preferably two millimetres. The external edge of the strip which is to form the outer edge of the resulting sound absorption panel may be left in the shape of a right angle, or it may be given a particular small radius or bevel shape so as to give a slight modification of the edge appearance of the completed panel.

The invention also comprises a method of constructing a sound absorption panel, the method comprising the steps of cutting the panel material to the required size, fitting lengths of a rigid strip material round all panel sides and securing the material strips, depositing a layer of adhesive over the front surface of the panel and then placing a surface cover of fabric over the panel and edges, folding the fabric over the edges at the rear side of the panel and adhesively securing the fabric at the rear side.

By way of example, some particular embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Figure 1 depicts a sound absorption panel prepared for a fabric surface layer to be fitted in place, Figure 2 shows the same panel after a fabric surface layer has been fitted, and, Figure 3 shows, in end views, some profiles of an edge strip material used for constructing the panel. # Figure 1 depicts the sound absorption panel 1 before the fabric cover has been fitted in place. This shows a rectangular cut area 2 of a sound absorption material which in this example is a high density resin bonded glass fibre board. The material from which the board is made is specifically tooled and pressed for a maximum sound absorption effect. According to the invention, the cut area 2 of board is provided with a surrounding fillet 3 comprising a thin strip of a plastics composition which is secured by use of a hot melt adhesive along all four edges of the board material. In this embodiment, the board is twentyfive millimetres in thickness and the fillet 3 thus has a cross-section measuring twentyfive millimetres by two millimetres.

When the length of fillet 3 has thus been secured along one peripheral edge of the board the fillet acts to strengthen that edge, to protect the edge from being crushed if the edge happens to receive a light blow, and the fillet additionally provides an accurately defined comer over which the cover fabric may later be folded.

Figure 2 shows the board assembly of Figure 1 after a fabric surface layer 4 has been fitted.

The acoustic fabric has been adhesively secured by use of the hot melt adhesive to the face and all edges of the board and the periphery of the fabric layer is folded over and returned to the rear face of the panel 1 where it is attached thereto.

Figure 3 shows different alternative profiles for the plastics fillet 3 strip. They depict respectively a fillet profile with a square edge, a bevelled edge and a rounded edge. It is clear that if one of these fillet profiles is used to form a surround for an area of the board material, they will each give a slightly different type of edge to the board when it has been covered with the fabric. This arrangement will then give a variation in the appearance of the panels when they are installed side-by-side on a wall. In a different embodiment, it would be possible for all three of the corner shapes to be included in one single profile of the fillet 3 material and then the variation in the panel edge appearance could be adjusted by the orientation chosen when the fillet material was secured to the board edge.

In use of the invention, the provision of a fillet strip for giving an accurately defined edge to the panel construction has been found to be inexpensive in manufacturing cost and it can lead to a more attractive appearance when panels are assembled side-by-side or on their own on a wall surface. The plastics fillet strip gives a strong edge to the panel which will resist some crushing forces so that it makes the handling of the sound absorption panels very much easier and safer before they are installed on a wall or ceiling. The fillet strip thus gives edge reinforcement of the pressed fibre material and its use promotes an optimum service life for the panel.

The foregoing description of embodiments of the invention has been given by way of example only and a number of modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For instance, it is not essential that the fillet strip should be of a moulded plastics composition and in different embodiments this could be made of alternative materials such as wood or metal. The fillet strip could also be provided with alternative cross-sectional profiles to those shown in the drawing.

The use of the fillet strip is not restricted to panels of any particular shape and these panels could be rectangular, triangular, circular or other geometrical shapes as required.

Claims

CLAIMS 1 A sound absorption panel having a surface cover of a suitable fabric which extends over the edges of the panel, in which the panel is formed of an open texture sound absorbent board material having a panel edge to which is secured a strip of rigid character such that the material edge is surrounded by the said strip, the fabric covering over the board and the edge strips so that a sharp corner fold is achieved at the panel edge.
2 A panel as claimed in Claim 1, in which the panel material is a high density resin bonded glass fibre board, a woodpulp or a rockwool board.
3 A panel as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, in which the rigid strip is formed of a plastics composition.
4 A panel as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, in which the rigid strip has a crosssection a major dimension of which corresponds to the board material thickness.
5 A panel as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4, in which the rigid strip in crosssection has one corner with a bevel or quadrant shape.
6 A panel as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, in which the rigid strip has a thickness between one and three millimetres.
7 A method of constructing a sound absorption panel, the method comprising the steps of cutting a board of the panel material to the required size, fitting lengths of a rigid edge strip round all panel sides, securing said edge strips such that a front edge of each edge strip is aligned with a front surface of said panel, depositing a layer of adhesive over the front surface of the panel, placing a surface cover of fabric over the panel and edge strips, folding the fabric over the edge strips at the rear side of the panel and securing the fabric at the panel rear side.
8 A method as claimed in Claim 7, in which the step of securing the fabric at the panel rear side is effected by the use of an adhesive.
9 A method of constructing a sound absorption panel substantially as hereinbefore described.
10 A sound absorption panel substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawing.