GB2388625A

GB2388625A - Flood barrier with inflatable seal

Info

Publication number: GB2388625A
Application number: GB0211196A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alan Roger Zebedee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-05-16
Filing date: 2002-05-16
Publication date: 2003-11-19
Also published as: GB0211196D0

Abstract

A flood defence system 6 comprising a barrier panel 24 adapted to be mounted across and within at least the lower part of an opening in a building, preferably for a door or a window, said barrier panel 24 being provided with means 14 for fixing the panel 24 to external surfaces of the building adjacent the opening and with pneumatically expandable means 17 adjacent the periphery 16 of the panel 24 at least along its lower and side edges, the pneumatically expandable means 17 being adapted to be expanded to form a seal with the opening. The periphery 16 of the panel 24 preferably comprises channels for engaging the pneumatically expandable means 17.

Description

FLOOD DEFENCE

This invention relates to flood defence devices.

5 The year 2000 proved unusually wet over much of Northwest Europe. It is thought probable that with global warming there will increasingly be periods when the rainfall is significantly higher, over a short period, than has been the case in the recent past. As a result properties, particularly those built on low lying land may be repeatedly subject to flood.

Flood water need only reach a height just exceeding that of the door sill for damage to a householder's carpets and furniture to prove substantial. For many householders it is sufficient to block air bricks, where these exist, and to place a barrier across the lower half of all doorways, for the great majority of floods to have 15 little effect within a house. With a more serious flood of greater depth, the greatest danger to the householder is likely to be the back pressure caused in the drains with consequent back-flushing of sewage in lavatory cisterns. No barier-type flood defence system can protect against this eventuality, but until any flood reaches this level of danger, barrier-type defences present the best option for a householder.

2Q The present invention is directed primarily to flood defence devices adapted to form a barrier across the lower portion of a doorway, although, as explained in more detail below, the invention can be adapted to provide full height protection for a doorway or for a window or other site.

Sandbags can provide a reasonable temporary barrier, but need to be distributed to households in danger. Householders need a defence sytem they can readily erect themselves.

30 Flood barriers for openings such as windows or doors in a house have previously been proposed in the patent literature. Thus, Buck in GB2360813A proposes a barrier panel fixed across an opening to sockets mounted in the wall of a

( house by screw fixings passing through the barrier panel and an intervening elastic seal which is compressed between the barrier and the wall. Farrell in GB2346405A proposes a barrier adapted to be fitted to a frame permanently mounted around the lower part of the door opening, the barrier being sealed to the frame by an 5 intervening tubular sealing means. The barrier, sealing means and frame all have openings for bolting the bamer to the frame and thus to the doorway with the seal compressed. Holes or openings in a barrier, particularly when aligned with holes in a sealing means present points of potential weakness for flood water.

lO The present invention aims to provide a flood defence system which is relatively easy to manufacture and relatively easy for a householder to fit to his doorway when flood is threatened, and which provides an adequate seal against the ingress of flood water.

15 In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a flood defence system comprising a barrier panel adapted to be mounted across and within at least the lower part of an opening in a building, preferably for a door or a window; the barrier panel being provided with means for fixing the panel to external surfaces of the building adjacent the opening and with pneumatically expandable means 20 adjacent the periphery of the panel at least along its lower and side edges, the pneumatically expandable means being adapted to be expanded to form a seal within the opening.

Preferably, the barrier panel is provided with channel means adjacent at least 25 lower and side portions thereof, the channel means mounting at least one expandable tubular member therein, the tubular member being provided with valve means enabling the tubular member to be pneumatically expanded to form a seal against confronting surfaces of the opening. This seal is adapted to prevent the ingress of water past the bamer panel and into the opening at least around its lower and side 30 portions.

( The invention is described in more detail hereinbelow by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. I schematically illustrates the use of an embodiment of flood defence system in accordance with the present invention to hold back a flood from entering a 5 doorway; Fig. is a sectional view taken along the line [I-I1 in Fig, 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a barrier panel of the flood defence system of Figs I and 2; Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in Fig. 3 with the 10 pneumatically expandable means omitted for clarity; Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V in Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the top portion of a barrier panel in an alternative embodiment and taken along the same section line V-V; and Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig 2 for another alternative embodiment.

Referring first to Fig. 1, an embodiment of flood defence system 1 is shown mounted across the lower portion of a doorway 2 in a building 3 subject to flood.

As shown in Fig. I, the level 4 of flood water is well above the level of the door sill 5 so that in the absence of a flood defence system, the whole of the ground floor of 20 building 3 would be flooded with major damage to flooring, furniture and decoration for the householder concerned.

As shown in Figs. l and 2, flood defence system l comprises a barrier panel 6 which extends across and sits within the doorway 2 so that its bottom edge 7 sits 25 on the door sill 5 while side portions 8 confront the Iusually wooden) door jambs 9 which are mounted on to the brick or stonework 10 on either side of the door opening and on which the door proper 11 is mounted by hinges 12. The barrier panel 6 is mounted in position by fixings 13 that pass through openings 14 in the side portions 8. The fixings 13 may be permanently mounted in the door jambs, but 30 in the preferred arrangement blind threaded sockets 15 are fitted in the door jamb and the fixings 13, most preferably wing bolts, pass through the openings 14 and are threaded]y received in the sockets 15. Wing bolts are preferred because they can

( readily be tightened by a householder by hand alone, and without the need for any tools - even in the dark and in inclement weather.

Where a flood defence system in accordance with the present invention 5 represents a significant advantage over the prior proposals referred to above is in the way in which a seal is provided against the ingress of flood water past the barrier and into the building This is best shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. On the side of the barrier panel 10 adjacent the door proper, and therefore away from direct exposure to the flood water (referred to hereinafter as the "inner side" of the bamer panel) is a channel 16, which may be generally U-shaped in cross section as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 and which extends adjacent the lower or bottom edge 7 of panel 6 and adjacent side portions 8. Within channel 16 sits an expandable tubular member 17. It will be seen 15 from l;igs. 4 and 5 that while channel 16 and tubular member 17 extend to the bottom edge 7, they are positioned inboard of side portions 8 Thus, they do not interfere with the facially confronting relation between the side portions 8 and the surfaces of the door jambs which effectively form part of the outwardly facing or exterior surface of the building, and the fixings are entirely separate from and do not 20 interfere with the seal effectively provided by tubular member 17.

The barrier panel may be manufactured from a flat metal plate preferably made of material which will not corrode when exposed to flood water, to which three extruded sections are welded to form channel portions 16 along the bottom 25 edge region of the barrier panel and adjacent but inboard of the side regions No channel member Is required across the top. However, the provision of channel members or the like has a strengthening effect on the barrier panel as a whole and in the preferred arrangement a channel 18 is also effectively provided across the top region of the barrier panel but whereas the channel portions 16 along the bottom and 30 adjacent the sides are open towards the bottom and side edges respectively, channel 18 along the top is open on the side awayffom the top edge.

( As shown in Figs. 3 and 5, the tubular member 17 is provided with a valve 19 connectable to a pump so that the tubular member can be expanded pneumatically Expansion of tubular member 17 will cause it to seal against the door sill along the bottom edge of the barrier panel 6 and against inner sides 20 of 5 the door jambs 9 (see Fig. 2) Expansion of tubular member 17 in its channel 18 along the top edge of the barrier panel is unnecessary and expansion in this region may be curtailed by bending a side 21 of the channel section inwardly after inserting the tubular member in position, as indicated in Fig. 6. If expansion of the tubular member by inflation along the top run is curtailed or prevented, this will enhance the 10 inflation along the bottom and side portions. Fig. 7 shows an alternative and less preferred arrangement for the channel members adjacent the side portions of the bamer panel. With the configuration shown in Fig. 7, expansion of the tubular member by inflation through valve 19 will form a seal against the confronting surface of the door proper rather than against the side 20 of the door jamb. This will 15 only work satisfactorily if there is no danger of the door bursting open.

Modern doors are generally provided in a standard width to fit a standard size of doorway and so a single size of barrier panel will suffice to provide an adequate defence against flood for most doorways. Although the accompanying 20 drawings show an embodiment of the flood defence system protecting the bottom region of a doorway, so that a householder within the building can still escape by opening the door and climbing over the barrier, use of the invention is not so restricted. The barrier panel may be of full doorway size having a channel effectively running around its entire periphery so as to seal within the doorway at its 25 bottom, top and along both vertical sides. Similar constructions may be used to seal windows or other openings in buildings.

Although the preferred material for the barrier panel is metal, the barrier panel could also be manufactured of heavy-duty plastics material. Although 30 preferably in one part, the barrier panel could be formed as two sections, one sliding telescopically within the other. Thus, referring to Fig. 3, if the dotted line 22 represents the left-hand side edge of a right-hand panel 23 with leR-hand panel 24

being just slightly smaller in dimension so that it will slide telescopically within right-hand portion 23, the barrier panel can be expanded at least over a short distance to accommodate doorways of different sizes. Because the tubular member is expandable, provided that the telescopic adjustment is no more than a few 5 centimetres, the expandable tubular member will stretch to accommodate this.

Because the two telescoping sections overlie each other to a significant extent, when the system is exposed to flood, confronting surfaces of the two telescoping sections tend to be pressed against each other but an additional seal can be provided along the edges of the telescoping sections by fitting a rubber lip (not illustrated), for example 10 along the edge 22.

Claims

Claims

1. A flood defence system comprising a barrier panel adapted to be mounted across and within at least the lower part of an opening in a building, preferably for a 5 door or a window; the barrier panel being provided with means for fixing the panel to external surfaces of the building adjacent the opening and with pneumatically expandable means adjacent the periphery of the panel at least along its lower and side edges, the pneumatically expandable means being adapted to be expanded to form a seal within the opening.

2. A flood defence system according to Claim 1, wherein the fixing means comprise openings in side portions of the panel adapted to confront external surfaces of the building adjacent the opening, and wing bolts tumable by hand and adapted to be received through the said openings into blind threaded sockets formed in said 15 external surfaces.

3. A flood defence system according to Claims 1 or 2, wherein the barrier panel is provided with channel means adjacent at least lower and side portions thereof, the channel means being open towards the said lower and side portions and mounting at 20 least one expandable tubular member therein, the tubular member being provided with valve means enabling the tubular member to be pneumatically expanded to form a seal against confronting surfaces of the opening.

4. A flood defence system according to Claim 3, wherein the barrier panel has 25 an exposed side adapted for direct exposure to flood water in use and an inner side on the opposite side of the barrier panel from the exposed side, the channel means being provided on the said inner side of the panel.

5. A flood defence system according to Claim 4, wherein the channel means 30 comprise channel members integrally formed with the barrier panel or welded thereto, the channel members extending along the bottom edge of the panel and

( 8 adjacent to but inboard of side portions of the panel, and being open towards the bottom edge and towards the side portions.

6. A flood defence system according to Claim 5, wherein a further channel 5 member Is provided joining the upper ends of the channel members extending adjacent the said side portions, whereby the four panel members together define a continuous channel, the pneumatically expandable means comprising an endless tube mounted in the said continuous channel.

10 7. A flood defence system according to Claim 6, wherein the further channel member is open on its side away from the top edge of the panel to allow the tube to be inserted therein.

8. A flood defence system according to Claim 7, wherein the open side of the 15 channel defined by the further channel member is substantially closed after insertion of the tube therein, whereby expansion of the tube in the said defined channel is restricted, thereby enhancing expansion in other regions of the tube.

9. A flood defence system according to any preceding claim, adapted to co 20 operate with building openings over a range of widths of such openings, the panel being formed in hVO sections, one being telescopically slidable over the other, with a seal optionally being provided between the two panel sections.

10. A method of providing a measure of flood defence to a building by forming a 25 barrier across at least the lower part of an opening therein, preferably a window or door, by means of a panel fixed to external portions of the building adjacent the opening and expanding a pneumatically expandable means within the opening to seal bottom and side edges thereof adjacent the panel.

30 11. A method of providing a measure of flood defence to a building substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

( 9 12. A flood defence system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings