GB2462000A

GB2462000A - Fire protected security room

Info

Publication number: GB2462000A
Application number: GB0912613A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Carsten Baumer; Jurgen Meyer
Original assignee: Lampertz GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Lampertz GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 2008-07-22
Filing date: 2009-07-21
Publication date: 2010-01-27
Anticipated expiration: 2029-07-21
Also published as: GB0912613D0; GB2462000B; IT1395353B1; DE102008034055B4; DE102008034055A1; ITMI20091290A1

Abstract

A security room 5 for protection against fire, in particular for information technology facilities, comprising a door 3, ceiling 2 and side walls 1 assembled from side wall elements 20 formed of a heat resistant and fire-proof filling material embedded between cover plates and joined by connecting units with an H shaped cross section which defines two receiving portions. Preferably the ends of the wall elements are held in the receiving portions by a clamping force provided by the resilience of the connecting units. The central web of the connecting units may have cut-outs to limit the heat transfer across the connecting units. Preferably the connecting units are produced from flat sheet metal by means of punching/bending. The wall elements may be further secured in the receiving portions by pins, welding or adhesion.

Description

SECURITY ROOM

The invention relates to a security room for protection against fire in particular of information technology facilities, said security room having side walls that are assembled in a modular manner from side wall elements, into which is inserted a door, and having a ceiling, wherein the side wall elements are realized with cover plates that are positioned on their flat outer sides and have heat-resistant, fire-proof filling material embedded therebetween, and adjoining side wail elements are interconnected in the direction of impact by respective connecting means.

A security room of this type is provided in DE 198 52927 B4. In the case of said known security room, the side walls, the ceiling and the floor are assembled in a modular manner from individual fire-proof elements. The individual elements are realized in a modular-like manner with modular plates on their outer sides and fire-proof filling material accommodated therebetween, in the event of fire preventing) for example for more than 90 minutes, the temperatures from rising to a level that is operationally dangerous to the facilities, in particular to the information technology facilities. The individual elements are easily manageable during assembly and make it possible to construct fireproof rooms of different sizes within existing building rooms in a simple manner, in accordance with the users' wishes.

For connecting the individual wall elements, outwardly bent connecting sections that taper upwards are attached, onto which upwardly tapering closing elements are pressed in the manner of a bracket so that the individual elements can be pressed with their impact faces facing one another onto seals connected therebetween As the connecting devices realized in this manner are provided for sturdy connection to the inner side and the outer side, the assembly procedure is difficult if there is a small spacing between the outer side of the side walls and the walls on the building side. The wall elements also have to be specially equipped along their narrow sides to be connected and the connecting elements have to be aligned appropriately in order to ensure reliable coupling of the wall elements one relative to another.

In the case of another security room shown in DE 10 2004 031 824 B4 with wall elements assembled in a modular manner, the modular plates along their one narrow edge are bent at right angles over a small distance in order to form a type of tongue, while the oppositely situated narrow edge forms a groove, into which the tongue of the adjacent wall element can be inserted. For securing the wall elements that are joined to one another by means of the groove/tongue connection, the groove and the tongue are provided over their length, on their sides facing each other, with a plurality of depressions spaced apart in the longitudinal direction on the one hand and a plurality of projections coordinated with said depressions on the other hand, said depressions and projections engaging each other in the connected state. This design also makes it possible to assemble the side walls at a small spacing from the walls of the room, no additional elements being necessary. However, in this case too, the depressions and projections in the tongue and groove region have to be precisely coordinated one with the other in position and form and the relevant edges of the modular plates require prior edge machining.

It is the object of the invention to provide a security room of the aforementioned type that is simple to construct and simple to assemble.

This object is achieved with the features of Claim 1. In this case it is provided that the connecting means are realized in the form of separate connecting units which are H-shaped in cross section and extend over the vertical length of the side wall elements and in their two U-shaped receiving means, which are formed by the central web and the two spaced apart half portions of the H-section, hold the end sections of the side wall elements that face each other and are to be connected together, wherein the half portions engage over the two outer sides of said side wall elements.

With these measures the side wall elements can be developed consistently flat, quick, simple assembly being obtained with the separate H-shaped connecting units even where the space available is awkward.

The connection is stabilised in that the spaced apart half portions accommodate the end section of the associated side wall element positioned between them by exerting a clamping force on its outer sides facing said half portions between said half portions.

In this case it is advantageous for the clamping force to be generated through the intrinsic resilience of the half portions.

A secure connection is additionally ensured in that the spacing between the two spaced apart portions of the H-section for forming an receiving width in the region of the central web is greater than or at least identical to the wall thickness of the end section of the side wall elements and the spacing between its free edges in the idle state is smaller than the wall thickness of the end sections of the side wall elements in order to form a smaller opening width in respect to the thickness of the wall, and in that the half portions are resilient. It is advantageous to the assembly procedure, in this case, if entering curves or entering inclinations are provided in the opening region between the half portions on their inner sides facing one another on their free edges.

The fact that the outer sides of the side wall elements are consistently flat and parallel to one another contributes to the simplicity of the production of the security room.

Having the filling material exposed along the vertical narrow longitudinal sides of the side wall elements between the cover plates and in a common plane with the adjacent edges of the cover plates is of advantage to the production and sealing procedures.

High temperature damping is supported in that the central web has window-Uke cutouts, which are separated by connecting webs that extend between the portions of the H-section, wherein the area of the cutouts is greater than the area of the connecting webs.

In this case, an advantageous design consists in that the cutouts are defined in the vertical direction by web-like edges of the central web that are oriented in opposition one to another.

A favourable production is achieved in that the H-shaped connecting units are produced in one piece from flat sheet metal by means of punching/bending, wherein a first half portion has an end section, which is bent inwards on its inside and by bending outwards by 180° merges into an outer section of the one H-section, which at its other free end is bent inwards by 180° and then via an approximately right-angled bend inwards merges into the central web, which by repeated approximately right-angled bending merges into an inner section of the other H-portion and by further bending by 180° merges into an outer section of the other H-portion, which at its other free end has another end section which is bent inwards by 180°. For example, to this end, the cutouts in the region of the central web are first of all punched in correspondingly cut to length metal strips, the bending processes following thereafter. In this case, for example, the central web can be the starting point, from which two identically long lateral portions are bent in a U-shaped manner, which are then bent in their turn by 180° in order to obtain the H-section with its half portions. The free edges of the one half portion can then, in their turn, be bent inwards by 180° to the end sections so that the design provided in the claim is produced. The starting point can also be a lateral H portion, for example, to produce a connecting unit, or a bent-in end section. The design leaves the door open for different possibilities in the sequence of bending procedures during production.

The join connections are secured, for example, in that the side wall elements are secured in the respective receiving means of the connecting unit by means of connection pins introduced through at least one associated half portion, by welding or by adhesion.

The invention is described below by way of exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings, in which, in detail: Figure 1 is a perspective representation of a security room, Figure 2 is a perspective, exploded representation of a cutout of a join region between two side wall elements and a connecting unit before assembly, Figure 3 is a top view of a cutout of a join region between a connecting unit and two side wall elements to be assembled together and Figure 4 is a view in the joining direction of a cutout of a connecting unit.

Figure 1 shows a security room 5 for protection against fire as is used, in particular, for information technology facilities, said security room having side walls 1 that are assembled in a modular manner from side wall elements 20 and a ceiling 2 that is assembled from ceiling elements 4, as well as a door 3 that is inserted in a side wall. The side wall elements 20, which extend from the floor to the ceiling, and the ceiling elements 4 each comprise cover plates 21, for example made of steel, that are positioned on their two outer sides (room inside and room outside) and are spaced apart in parallel, and have fireproof filling material 22 accommodated therebetween, such as, for example mineral wool, and where applicable, in combination with other materials. The side wall elements 20 are joined on their narrow vertical longitudinal sides in the direction of impact, connecting units that are H-shaped in cross section being provided for the joining process in each case, as shown in Figure 2.

The more detailed design of the connecting units 10 that are H-shaped in cross section can be seen in Figures 3 and 4. With its lateral portions that are interconnected via a central web 12, the connecting unit 10 engages over two side wall elements 20 to be joined together on their flat outer sides in their regions abutting against the narrow vertical longitudinal side edges, holding sections 11, with U-shaped receiving means being formed for the vertical end portions of the side wall elements 20 on both sides of the central web 12 by means of said central web, and in each case, two spaced-apart half portions 11.1 of the H-section. In this case, the extension of the central web 12 between the H-portions (receiving width b) is at least as wide as the spacing between the outer sides of the cover plates 21 of the side wall elements 20 (waU thickness c), whereas the spacing between the free vertical edges of the half portions 11.1 of a respective receiving means (opening width a) is smaller than the wall thickness c. In addition, the half portions 11.1 are resilient and when expanding the receiving means beyond the opening width a, through their resilience exert a clamping force which works on the outer sides of the respectively inserted side wall elements 20 and produces a stabilising clamping force. In this case the dimensioning of the opening width a is designed with respect to the wall thickness c and for obtaining the clamping force in such a manner that a connecting unit 10 can be pressed with a certain amount of force by hand onto the section of a side wall element 20 adjacent a narrow longitudinal side, it then being possible to press another side wall element 20 also by hand into the other receiving means of the connecting unit 10. The narrow longitudinal sides of the side wall elements 20 joined to one another in such a manner, in this case, are as close as possible, preferably directly abutting against the facing sides of the central web 12. If desired, for example, a seal that foams in the event of fire and/or a moisture seal can be added between the central web 12 and the respective narrow longitudinal side of the relevant side wall element. To this end, the connecting unit 10 can already be provided beforehand with such a sealing material on both sides of the central web 12. To simplify insertion of the end sections of the side wall elements 20 into the receiving means of the connecting unit 10, the spaced apart half portions 11.1 are somewhat expanded outwards towards their free ends by a respective curve or inclination, in particular somewhat in excess of the wall thickness c. As an alternative, or in addition, the clamping effect between the half portions 11.1 and the outer side of the side wail elements 20 can be effected such that the side wall elements 20 can be pressed, together with their fitting material 22, in a somewhat resilient manner.

As can be seen further in Figure 3, the connecting unit 10 is produced advantageously in one piece from a blank. To this end, a correspondingly wide strip, in particular made of sheet steel, is cut to length and bent multiple times such that in the region of the one U-shaped receiving means on the inner side of the half portions 11.11 defining it laterally, there are end sections bent inwards by 180°, whilst said half portions on their outer side merge in one piece into the half portion laterally defining the other receiving means and are bent over inwards once again by 180° at their free longitudinal edges and said inner sections 11 2 merge in one piece into the central web 12 through repeated bending.

The sequence of the bending can differ during production, the starting point, for example, being an end section and the bends that can be seen in Figure 3 are then effected first of all twice about 180° at the two free longitudinal edges of the relevant H-portion, the central web 12 then being bent inwards by approximately 90° and by another bend by approximately 90° merging into the inner section 11.2, which at the relevant free edge of the other H-portion is once again bent by 180° and forms the outer side of the other H-portion, which at its other free edge is once again bent by 180° to the inner end section 11.3.

As an alternative, it is possible, for example, to carry out the bending procedures starting with the central web 12, which first of all is bent in a U-shaped manner symmetrically on both sides, the two U-portions then being bent outwards by 180° producing the H-portions with the half portions 11.1 on the other side of the original U, the free edges are then bent inwards by 180° to the end sections 11.3. Another method of operation for producing the H-shaped connecting unit 10 is, for example, starting with an H-portion, which is bent over on one side by 180° to the end section 11.3 and on the other side to the inner section 11.2, the central web 12 and the other H-portion are then bent, as can be seen In Figure 3.

As is also shown in Figure 3, the bends of the H-portions on both sides are not precisely 900 at the central web 12, but are such that the smaller opening width a is produced relative to the receiving width b. In an advantageous manner, in this case, the H-portions are somewhat convexly rounded outwards in cross section, but a somewhat inclined bending of the half portions 11.1 towards both sides is also conceivable. With the side wall elements 20 inserted in the receiving means of the H-shaped connecting unit 10, the end sections 11.3 and the inner sections 11.2 abut with their inner sides flat or almost line-like against the outer sides of the cover plates 21 and hold the side wall elements 20 in a clamping manner.

In order to limit heat transfer via the central web 12 as extensively as possible, cutouts 12.2 are provided in said central web, as shown in Figure 4, between which there are simply narrow connecting webs 12.1, by means of which the H-portions are interconnected. The vertical cutout length d and the horizontal cutout width e of the cutouts 12.2, in this case, produce a much larger area than the connecting webs 12.1, with their relatively small web width s. The cutouts 12.2 are defined laterally by narrow sections of the central web 12. In an advantageous manner, the sum of the cutout areas is greater than the remaining material area of the central web 12. The relatively small wall thickness of the central web produced from only one material layer also contributes to reducing a heat transfer here. The fire protection filling material 12 of the oppositely situated side wall elements 20 on both sides in the region of the central web 12 can come into contact via the cutouts 12.2; there is, however, at least an air gap which isolates the temperature transfer and which is closed by expansion in the event of fire.

The side wall elements 20 inserted into the receiving means on both sides of the connecting unit 10 can be secured by means of retaining pins 30 preferably inserted on the inner side of the security room, for example turned screws. In addition or as an alternative, securing using adhesive or also by welding s also conceivable Studies conducted by the inventors have shown that the side walls constructed with the connecting units 10 according to the invention meet high levels of fire protection requirements.

Claims

Claims 1. Security room for protection against fire, in particular, of information technology facilities, said security room having side walls (1) that are assembled in a modular manner from side wall elements (20), into which is inserted a door (3), and having a ceiling (2), wherein the side wall elements (20) are realized with cover plates (21) that are positioned on their flat outer sides and have heat-resistant, fire-proof filling material (22) embedded therebetween, and adjoining side wall elements (20) are interconnected in the direction of impact by respective connecting means, characterized in that the connecting means are realized in the form of separate connecting units, which are H-shaped in cross-section and extend over the vertical length of the side wall elements (20) and in their two U-shaped receiving means, which are formed by the central web (12) and the two spaced apart half portions (1.11) of the H-section, hold the end sections of the side wall elements (20) that face each other and are to be connected together, wherein the half portions (11.1) engage over the two outer sides of said side wall elements.
2. Security room according to Claim 1, characterized in that the spaced apart half portions (11.1) accommodate the end section of the associated side wall element (20) positioned between them by exerting a clamping force on its outer sides facing said half portions between said half portions.
3. Security room according to Claim 1, characterized in that the clamping force is generated through the intrinsic resilience of the half portions (11.1).
4. Security room according to one of Claims I to 3, characterized in that the spacing between the two spaced apart portions of the H-section for forming an receiving width (b) in the region of the central web (12) is greater than or at least identical to the wall thickness (c) of the end sections of the side wall elements (20) and the spacing between its free edges in the idle state is smaller than the wall thickness (c) of the end sections of the side wall elements (20) in order to form a smaller opening width (2) with respect to the wall thickness (2), and in that the half portions (11. 1) are resilient.
5. Security room according to one of the preceding Claims, characterized in that the outer sides of the side wall elements (20) are consistently flat and parallel to one another.
6. Security room according to one of the preceding Claims, characterized in that the filling material (22) is exposed along the narrow vertical longitudinal sides of the side wall elements (20) between the cover plates (21) and is in a common plane with the adjacent edges of the cover plates (21).
7. Security room according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the central web (12) has window-like cutouts (12.2), which are separated by connecting webs (12.1) that extend between the portions of the H-section, wherein the area of the cutouts is greater than the area of the connecting webs (121).
8. Security room according to Claim 7, characterized in that the cutouts (12.2) are defined in the vertical direction by web-like edges of the central web (12) that are oriented in opposition one to another.
9. Security room according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the H-shaped connecting units are produced in one piece from flat sheet metal by means of punching/bending, wherein a first half portion has an end section (11.3), which is bent inwards on its inside and by bending outwards by 1800 merges into an outer section of the one H-section, which at its other free end is bent inwards by 1800 and then via an approximately right-angled bend inwards merges into the central web (12), which by repeated approximately right-angled bending merges into an inner section of the other H-portion and by further bending by 1800 merges into an outer section of the other H-portion, which at its other free end has another end section (11.3) which is bent inwards by 180°.
10. Security room according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the side wall elements (20) are secured in the respective receMng means of the connecting unit (10) by means of connection pins introduced through at least one associated half portion (11.1), by welding or by adhesion.