GB2394483A

GB2394483A - Building panel

Info

Publication number: GB2394483A
Application number: GB0224854A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andrew King; Andrew Hume
Original assignee: Portakabin Ltd
Current assignee: Portakabin Ltd
Priority date: 2002-10-25
Filing date: 2002-10-25
Publication date: 2004-04-28
Anticipated expiration: 2022-10-25
Also published as: GB0224854D0; GB2394483B

Abstract

A building panel 12 comprises an inner skin 14 and an outer skin 16 separated by a filler material 18. An aperture 24 is provided in the inner skin 14 and filler material 18 and the portion of the outer skin 16 adjacent the aperture 24 includes a plurality of perforations 26. A glazing panel 30 may be retained in the aperture 24 by a frame 28 mounted at or adjacent to the inner skin 14. A portion of the lower edge 25 of the aperture in the filler material 18 adjacent the inner skin 14 may lie upwardly of a portion of the lower edge 25 of the filler material 18 adjacent the outer skin 16. A method of making such a panel 12 is also disclosed in which perforations 26 are formed in the outer skin 16, preferably by punching. The filler material 18 may be an insulating material and may be bonded between the inner 14 and outer 16 skins. The inner 14 and outer 16 skins may be made from metallic sheet.

Description

Title: Building Panel Description of Invention

5 This invention relates to a building panel, particularly to a building panel for use in constructing a prefabricated building unit.

By a prefabricated building unit is meant a prefabricated building unit which is factory assembled for delivery to a prepared site in an assembled condition complete with at least a floor structure, a side wall comprising a wall 10 panel and a roof structure. Where the prefabricated building unit has four side walls and is intended to be capable of being transported to a site and, if desired, re-used by being transported to another site, it is referred to as a portable building unit. Alternatively, where the unit is intended for use at only one location, particularly where the unit is to be assembled with other similar units, 15 it may have one or more side walls omitted and is referred to as a modular building unit.

Typically, building panels used in constructing prefabricated building units comprise an inner skin and an outer skin with a layer of filler material located between the skins. When constructing a prefabricated building unit 20 from such building panels, it is known to provide an opening such as a window by cutting an appropriately sized aperture in one of the building panels, and inserting a window frame and glazing panel into the aperture.

Such buildings are often provided as site offices or storage on locations such as building sites, and are often left unoccupied. Thus, such buildings 25 present tempting targets for burglars and vandals, and were at risk from attack.

In order to protect such a building from forced entry via the windows, it is known to add removable protective covers over the windows on the outside of the building. Whilst the provision of such covers does make it more difficult for anyone to break into the building, the covers themselves are unsightly,

- provide a target for an attacker and require fitting after construction of the building. Further some covers, particularly opaque covers, have to be opened and closed by a user of the building, with the inconvenience and potential security risk when a user forgets to close the cover.

5 An aim of the present invention is to reduce or overcome one or more of the above problems.

According to a first aspect of the invention we provide a building panel comprising an inner skin and an outer skin separated by a filler material, with an aperture provided in the inner skin and filler material, characterized in that 10 the portion of the outer skin adjacent to the aperture includes a plurality of perforations. The aperture and adjacent perforations thus allow light into a building formed from the building panel, whilst the perforated portion of the outer skin provides protection against forced entry without the need for a separate 15 perforated window cover. Thus construction of a building made from such building panels is simplified, and the resulting building is more secure.

Moreover, there is no need for the occupant of the building to mount a cover on all the windows whenever he wishes to leave the building unattended, as the perforated outer skin provided provides permanent protection for the building.

20 The building panel may further include a frame and glazing panel, the frame retaining the glazing panel within the aperture. In this case, the frame is typically mounted at or adjacent to the inner skin.

Preferably the aperture is formed such that a portion of the lower edge of the aperture in the filler material adjacent to the inner skin lies upwardly of a 25 portion of the lower edge adjacent to the outer skin.

Thus any rainwater passing through the perforations of the outer skin will drain out of the aperture rather than collecting on the lower edge of the aperture.

- The filler material may be an insulating material, and the inner skin and outer skin may each be made from metallic sheet.

According to a second aspect of the invention we provide a building including a building panel according to the first aspect of the invention.

5 The building may comprise a prefabricated building.

According to a third aspect of the invention we provide a method of making a building panel comprising an inner skin and an outer skin separated by a filler material, there being an aperture in the inner skin and filler material, the method including the step of creating a plurality of perforations in the outer 10 skin adjacent to the aperture.

Preferably, the plurality of perforations are created by punching holes in the outer skin.

Preferably the method comprises the step of bonding the filter material between the inner and outer skins.

15 The method may further comprise the steps of cutting an opening in the inner skin and the filler material to form the aperture.

The step of cutting out the opening in the filler material may be performed prior to bonding the filler material to the inner and outer skins.

The method may further include the step of mounting a frame and 20 glazing panel in the aperture, the frame retaining the glazing panel to fill the aperture. Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which, FIGURE 1 is an illustration of a building constructed using building 25 panels according to the first aspect of the invention, FIGURE 2 is an illustration of a section through one of the building panels shown in Figure 1 along line 2-2 of Figure 1, FIGURE 3 is an illustration of the front view of a portion of the building panel of Figure 2.

FIGURE 4a is a section through a roof panel along line 4A-4A of figure 1, and FIGURE 4b is a section through a wall panel along line 4B-4B of Figure 1. 5 Referring now to Figure 1 there is shown a prefabricated building 10, the walls 11 and roof 13 of the building 10 constructed from a plurality of building panels 12 12 respectively, each comprising an inner skin 14 and an outer skin 16 separated by a filler material 18, as illustrated in Figure 2.

In this example, the inner 14 and outer skins 16 are made of mild steel 10 sheet, and the filler material 18 is made of an appropriate insulating material such as expanded polystyrene foam, expanded polyurethane foam, rockwool or any other material as appropriate. The mild steel sheet may be galvanised, and an external surface of the outer skin 16 may comprise colour coated steel or a powder coating or many simply be a galvanised steel surface with no additional 15 coating. An interior surface of the inner skin 14 may be provided with a polyester powder coating. The inner 14 and outer 16 skins may each be made from a single piece of steel sheet or from a plurality of sheets. In the latter case, the sheets may be joined by folding adjacent edges of the sheets together, or may alternatively be joined using any other suitable method, such as welding 20 or using fasteners such as rivets.

Alternatively, the inner skin 14 may be made of gypsum wall board, or any other desired material.

The inner and outer skins, where fabricated from steel sheet, may be an appropriate thickness as desired, and in particular in the range 0.5mm to 1.5mm 25 depending on the strength and security required. Generally, mild steel sheet is supplied in standard thicknesses of 0.6mm, O.9mm, l.Omm and 1.2mm. In this example, the mild steel sheet used to form the outer skin is l.Omm thick, and the steel sheet used to form the inner skin is 0. 6mm thick. The filler material 18 may have a thickness in the range 40- lOOmm, in this example 47mm, the

thickness of the filler material being selected to give the required thermal insulation properties.

As shown in Figure 1, a plurality of building panels 12 are joined to form the walls 11 of the building 10 and a plurality of building panels 12 are 5 joined to form the roof 13. A door 20 is provided in at least one of the building panels 12, and others of the building panels 12 comprise a window 22, a section through such a window being illustrated in Figure 2. Legs 19_ are located at each corner of the building 10 and a fascia l9b is provided extending over the upper parts of the walls 11 and the edge of the roof 13. The legs may 10 alternatively or additionally be located alongside the walls of the building.

Each window 12 is formed by means of a generally rectangular aperture 24 in the inner skin 14 and filler material 18, there being a plurality of perforations 26 provided in the outer skin 16 adjacent to the aperture 24. The perforations are of sufficient size and density to allow, in this example, about 15 70% ofthe light falling on the window 12 into the interior ofthe building 10.

In this example, the perforations are generally circular apertures 3.53mm in diameter, close-packed such that each perforation is surrounded by 6 perforations in a generally hexagonal array, as shown in Figure 3, the centres of adjacent perforations being 4.88mm apart. It will be appreciated, however, that 20 any other appropriate size, shape or arrangement of perforations may be used.

The aperture 24 and adjacent perforations 26 thus allow light into a building 10 formed from the building panel 12, whilst the perforated portion of the outer skin 16 provides protection against forced entry without the need for a separate perforated window cover. As the perforated outer skin 16 presents a 25 smooth surface, there are no apparent points of weakness for a potential intruder exploit to force entry to the building 10 via the windows. Thus, construction of a building made from such building panels is simplified, and the resulting building is more secure.

Moreover, there is no need for an occupant of the building to mount a cover on all the windows whenever he wishes to leave the building unattended, as the perforated outer skin provided provides permanent protection for the building. 5 The aperture 24 in the filler material 18 is formed such that a lower edge 25 of the aperture 25 includes a first portion 25a which extends inwardly from the inner skin 14 generally perpendicular to the inner skin 14, and a second portion 25_, which extends downwardly towards the outer skin 16 at approximately 10 to 45 from the perpendicular relative to the inner and outer 10 skins, such that in use, the second portion 25b slopes downwardly towards the outer skin 16. A liner 44 is provided to cover the filler material 18 around the periphery of the aperture 24. The liner 44 may be a continuous plastic moulding or may comprise two or more sections.

A frame 28 is mounted on the first portion 25_ in the aperture 24 15 adjacent to the inner skin 14, the frame 28 retaining a glazing panel 30 within the aperture 24. Thus any rainwater penetrating through the perforations 26 in the outer skin 16 will be blocked by the glazing panel 30 and will fall onto the second portion 25b and flow towards the outer skin 16.

The perforations 26 adjacent to the lower edge 25 of the aperture may be 20 larger than the other perforations, in order to assist rainwater in draining from the aperture 24. In this example, the perforations 26 in a row adjacent to the lower edge 25 of the aperture 24 are elongate, their longitudinal axes extending generally normal to the lower edge 25 of the aperture 24, as shown in Figure 3.

To further assist in drainage of water from the aperture 24, the perforations 25 typically extend slightly below the lower edge 25 of the aperture 24.

Alternatively it would be possible to provide an arrangement of perforations 26 such that the lower edge 25 of the aperture 24 always intercepts a row of perforations.

In this example, the glazing panel 30 comprises two generally parallel glazing sheets 31, 31 ', which may be made from glass or a suitable polymeric glazing material such as polycarbonate. It is, of course, not necessary for the glazing panel 30 to comprise two glazing sheets 31, 31', and the glazing panel 5 may instead comprise a single glazing sheet.

The frame 28 is generally rectangular and extends around the entire periphery of the aperture 24, and forms two channels 32, 32' which face inwardly of the aperture 24 and which each receive an edge portion of one of the glazing sheets 31, 31'. Each channel contains a gasket 34, 34' which is 10 adapted to provide a weatherproof seal between the glazing sheet 31, 31' and the frame 28.

The frame 28 further comprises a lip portion 36 which extends outwardly from the edge of the aperture 24 adjacent to the inner skin 14 of the building panel 12, thus covering the edge of the aperture 24 from the view of 15 people inside the building 10. The lip portion 36 also provides means to attach the frame 28 to the building panel 12, there being a plurality of screws 38 passing through a channel 39 of the lip portion 36 into the building panel 12.

To provide an aesthetically pleasing finish, a rubber beading 40 is provided in the channel 39 to hide the heads of the screws 38. A sealing element 42 is 20 compressed between the lip portion 36 and the inner skin 14 to provide a seal between the frame 28 and the building panel 12.

In the present example the building panels 12 are formed by bonding the inner and outer skin 14, 16 to a rib slab of filler material 18. As a first step, when the inner and outer skins 14, 16 are cupped to shape, the array of 25 perforations 27 are formed in the steel sheet to provide the outer skin 16, while the opening in the inner skin 14 to provide the aperture 24 may be marked or otherwise formed when the sheet for he inner skin 14 is cut to shape. In a particular example, the edge of the opening in the inner skin 14 may be marked by disconnected lines or perforations such that the metal within the area of the

opening is held in place, the skins are then bonded to filler material 18, whereupon the steel sheet may be cut to join the perforations or the disconnected lines, removing the area of metal from the inner skin to form the required opening. The filler material 18 may then be cut to form the aperture.

5 Alternatively, it will be possible to pre-cut the filler material to provide the aperture 24.

In the present example as shown in Figures 4_ and 4_, the building panels 12 comprise frameless panels. Figure 4_ shows a panel 12 to form part of a roof 13 of the building 10, whilst Figure 4_ shows a panel 12 suitable for 10 forming a wall of the building 10. In both Figures 4_ and 4_, an end part 14_ of the inner skin 14 is folded around the end of the filler material 18. In Figure 4_, in a panel to form part of a wall, end parts 16a of the outer skin 16 are similarly folded around the end of the filler material 16. In Figure 4a, end parts 16a of the outer skin 16 are folded to define a channel 16_ between the end part 15 16_ and the filler material 18, the channel 16b being of sufficient dimension to receive an edge part of a wall panel as shown in Figure 4_ therein. Thus, the building 10 may be formed by attaching a plurality of wall panels 12 as shown in Figure 4b to one another, for example by bolting the adjacent panels together, and by lowering a panel 12 as shown in Figure 4_ onto the walls 20 panels to form the roof.

Advantageously, each individual panel 12 is formed from stock steel strip and so will have a standard width, and a plurality of such panels 12 may be joined together in adjacent orientation as shown in Figure 1, for example by welding or otherwise. Alternatively, the inner 14 and outer skin 16 may be 25 made from a plurality of pieces of metal sheet to, for example, permit an entire wall 11 of a building 10 to be manufactured at once. In this case, adjacent pieces of metal sheet may be joined together by folding together adjacent free edges of the metal sheets, or may be joined by welding or fastenings as desired.

l Alternatively, a panel 12 may be manufactured by disposing the inner skin 14 and outer skin in a spaced configuration, preferably including a peripheral frame, and then introducing a polyurethane foam in a fluid state into a chamber formed between the inner skin 14, outer skin 16 and peripheral S frame, and allowing the polyurethane foam to set. In this manner, the inner and outer skins 14, 16 are bonded together by means of the polyurethane foam forming the filler material 18. To ensure that the aperture 24 is not filled by polyurethane foam, it will be apparent that the liner 44 may be located in the space between the inner and outer skins 14, 16 prior to introduction of the

10 foam. Alternatively, an insert of the shape and size of the aperture 24 may be located between the inner skins and outer skins and removed when the foam has set. Further alternatively of course the filler material 18 may be removed by cutting once the foam forming the filler material 18 has set. The material from which the insert is made is selected so that it is not adhere to the 15 polyurethane foam and may thus easily be removed. In order to provide the angled portion 25b of the lower edge 25 of the aperture 24 whilst still permitting removal of the insert from the aperture 24, it may be necessary to use a two part insert. Where no insert is provided, it will be apparent that it will be necessary to cover the perforations 26 to prevent foam leaking through the 20 perforations, for example by covering the inner surface of the outer skin 16 adjacent the perforations with a film which may then be removed when the filler material 18 is cut away.

A method of forming building panels comprising spaced inner and outer skins where an expanding foam plastics material is injected in a fluid state 25 between the skin is described in our earlier UK patent no. GB 2291376 B. When forming the perforations 26, the perforation may be punched individually, or a number may be punched simultaneously using a multi punch head. The punching may be performed by a linear punch, or a rotating drum having a plurality of punch heads, or otherwise as desired. Advantageously

( when the outer skin comprises a relatively thick steel sheet and a plurality of perforations are punched simultaneously, deformation or rippling in the steel sheet providing the outer skin 16 may be reduced.

If necessary, the perforations 26 may be treated after punching to reduce 5 the risk of corrosion due to un-galvanised parts of the steel sheet being exposed, but this may not be necessary.

The filler material 18 may be bonded to the inner and outer skins 14, 16 using any appropriate glue or adhesive or otherwise as desired.

Preferably the frame 28 and glazing panel 30 are mounted in the aperture 10 once the building panel 12 is part of an erected building.

In the present specification "comprises" means "includes or consists of"

and "comprising" means "including or consisting oft'.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following

claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in 15 terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately, or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims

1. A building panel comprising an inner skin and an outer skin separated by a filler material, with an aperture provided in the inner skin and filler material, 5 characterised in that the portion of the outer skin adjacent to the aperture includes a plurality of perforations.

2. A building panel according to claim 1 further comprising a frame and glazing panel, the frame retaining the glazing panel within the aperture.

3. A building panel according to claim 2 wherein the frame is mounted at or adjacent to the inner skin.

4. A building panel according to any preceding claim wherein the aperture 15 is formed such that a portion of a lower edge of the aperture in the filler material adjacent to the inner skin lies upwardly of a portion of the lower edge adjacent to the outer skin.

5. A building panel according to any preceding claim wherein the filler 20 material is an insulating material.

6. A building panel according to any preceding claim wherein the inner skin and outer skin are each made from metallic sheet.

25

7. A building panel substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to andlor as shown in the accompanying drawings.

8. A building including a building panel according to any preceding claim.

9. A building according to claim 8 wherein the building comprises a prefabricated building.

5

10. A building substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or as shown in the accompanying drawings.

11. A method of making a building panel comprising an inner skin and an outer skin separated by a filler material, there being an aperture in the inner skin 10 and filler material, the method including the step of creating a plurality of perforations in the outer skin adjacent to the aperture.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of perforations are created by punching holes in the outer skin.

13. A method according to claim I 1 or 12 wherein the method comprises the step of bonding the filler material between the inner and outer skins.

14. A method according to claim 13 wherein the method comprises the steps 20 of cutting an opening in the inner skin and the filler material to form the aperture. -

15. A method according to claim 14 wherein the method comprises the step of cutting the opening in the filler material prior to bonding the filler material to 25 the inner and outer skins.

16. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 15 wherein the method further includes the step of mounting a frame and glazing panel in the aperture, the frame retaining the glazing panel to fill the aperture.

17. A method of making a building panel substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5

18. Any novel feature or novel combination of features described herein and/or in the accompanying drawings.