MX2013015394A - Self adhesive universal inside corner patch for membrane roofing. - Google Patents

Abstract

A universal inside corner patch for patching inside corners formed by protrusions from a commercial low slope roof is disclosed. The universal inside corner patch includes a body having a central portion and a peripheral portion. A cutout is formed in the body extending from the peripheral portion to the central portion thereof. The cutout defines in the body a skirt having an edge on one side of the cutout and a flap having an edge on an opposite side of the cutout. Folding locations such as lines or other indicia on the body correspond to respective angles of an inside corner to be patched. When the skirt portion is overlapped with the flap portion with the edge of the skirt portion registering with one of the folding locations, the inside corner patch is configured to conform to an inside corner with an angle corresponding to the one of the folding locations. An adhesive may be disposed on a back surface of the body for adhering and sealing the corner patch in place.

Description

UNIVERSAL SELF-ADHESIVE INTERIOR CORNER PATCH FOR MEMBRANE ROOFING Field of the Invention The invention described herein generally relates to membrane roofing for low inclination ceilings such as those found in commercial buildings and more specifically to sealing or patching corners formed by protrusions extending upward from commercial roofing platforms when a roof is installed membrane on the platform.

Background of the Invention Polymer membranes are commonly used to seal flat or low-slope roofs of commercial buildings. Such membranes may be made of a variety of thermoplastic materials including, without limitation, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), PVC Alloys or Compound Thermoplastics such as Tripolymer Alloy (TPA), Thermoplastic Olefin (TPO), Chlorinated Polyethylene (CPE), and Ethylene Propylene Diene Terpolymer (EPDM). The most common types of commercial roofing membranes are PVC or TPO roofs. The invention can be described here for the search for clarity mainly Ref. 245847 within the context of TPO membrane roofing. However, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to TPO roofing membranes but applies to any other type of membrane used for roofing and commercial approval of water and other buildings that have low inclination roofs.

When a low-sloping roof is roofed, strips of membrane material are stretched over a roof and adhere or join along their joints to provide a waterproof barrier on the roof deck. Commercial ceilings virtually always have protrusions projecting upwards from the roof platform. Such protuberances include, for example, HVAC ducts, ventilation ducts, rectangular protrusions for skylights and other features, parapets, and others. Non-circular protuberances such as rectangular protrusions define outer corners where the edges of the protrusion meet the roof platform. Other protuberances, such as parapets, form interior corners where two walls of the parapet meet the roof platform. Other protuberances forming inner and outer corners may also be present. In order to seal the roof, these corners must be sealed against water penetration. Traditionally, roofers would make corner patches in the field at Cut, trim, and set up a waste piece of membrane material until it fits a particular corner. This is a slow process, requires skill, and sometimes does not result in a well-fitting filtering approved patch.

More recently, prefabricated exterior corner patches have been developed to seal outer corners of protrusions on a commercial roof. The Patent of E.U.A. Number 8,161,688, owned by the session of the present application, discloses a radially corrugated outer corner patch which, when distributed, adapts to substantially orthogonal outer corners of a protrusion. The patent application of E.U.A. slope number 13 / 454,674, also owned by the session of the present application, discloses a universal outer corner patch that is designed to accommodate non-orthogonal outer corners of a protrusion. The descriptions of these documents are incorporated here by reference in their totalities. Therefore, the convenient sealing of external corners, both orthogonal and non-orthogonal, defined by protuberances of a commercial roof has been attended to.

The inner corners have a different story. For orthogonal interior corners (corners formed by two interior walls that are between yes and the roof platform at 90 degrees angles), corner patches are available and are molded with three orthogonal sides that fit against the orthogonal sides and the roof platform of an interior corner. However, interior corners are often non-orthogonal and traditional interior corner patches that do not fit well. When a corner patch does not fit well, it can lead to leaks in these corners over time. In cases where an interior corner includes a surface at an angle of more than a few degrees of 90 degrees, traditional interior corner patches can not be used at all. There is a need for a universal interior corner patch that can be adapted to non-orthogonal interior corners or interior corners where one or more walls forming the corner meet the other walls or the roof platform at a significantly different angle to 90 degrees . Such a universal inner corner patch should also be equally usable just as pre-molded patches to seal orthogonal inner corners. It is for the arrangement of such a universal inner corner patch and for a method of sealing inner corners that the present invention is primarily directed.

Summary of the Invention Briefly described, a patch of Universal interior corner for sealing interior corners formed by protrusions such as parapets from a commercial low-tilt roof when the roof is covered and sealed with membrane roofing material. Preferably, the body of the corner patch is made of the same material with the membrane used to cover the roof platform. In one embodiment, the universal inner corner patch comprises a body having a central portion and a peripheral portion. A cut is formed in the body extending from the peripheral portion towards the central portion thereof. The cutout defines on the body a skirt portion having an edge on one side of the cutout and a flap portion on an opposite side of the cutout. Bending locations, which may be fold lines or other indicia, on the body correspond to respective angles of an interior corner to be patched.

When the skirt portion is overlapped with the flap portion with the edge of the skirt portion being leveled with one of the fold locations, the inner corner patch is configured to fit an interior corner with an angle corresponding to that location of bending The bending locations may correspond to interior corners with significantly sharp angles such as 70 degrees and significantly obtuse angles such as 120 degrees. Can a self-adhesive coating is provided on the back surface of the body to help retain the corner patch in its folded configuration and in place on the roof. The self-adhesive coating can be covered with a removable protective sheet. These and other aspects, features and advantages of the invention described herein will become more apparent to the person skilled in the art upon review of the detailed description set forth below, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, which are briefly described as follows.

Brief Description of the Figures Figure 1 is a plan view of a universal inner corner patch representing principles of the invention in one embodiment.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the universal inner corner patch of Figure 1 emphasizing a configuration for an inner corner of 110 degrees.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the corner patch of Figure 2 folded and welded to form an interior corner patch for an interior corner of 110 degrees.

Figure 4 is a plan view of a universal inner corner patch representing principles of the invention in another embodiment.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the patch of Universal interior corner of Figure 4 which emphasizes a configuration of an interior corner of 80 degrees.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the universal inner corner patch of Figure 5 folded and sealed to fit an inner corner of 80 degrees.

Figure 7 is a top plan view of a universal inner corner patch configured to fit a valley of arbitrary angle.

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the universal inner corner patch of Figure 7 folded to fit a valley.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the back of a universal inner corner patch showing a backing sheet peeling off a self-adhesive backing in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Detailed description of the invention By referring now in more detail to the figures, where like reference numbers, where appropriate, indicate similar parts through the various views, Figure 1 illustrates a universal inner corner patch representing principles of the invention in a preferred form. The corner patch 11 is cut out from a piece of roofing membrane material such as TPO which is preferably the same as the roofing material. d membrane that is going to be used to cover a roof platform. Most preferably, the material has a flexural modulus of between 10,342.13 kilopascals (1,500 psi) and 137,835.14 kilopascals (20,000 psi). In the illustrated embodiment, the patch is circular in shape, although this is not a limitation of the invention. The patch 11 comprises a body 12 that is divided by fold lines 13 and 14 into four quadrants Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. In the illustrated embodiment, the quadrants are orthogonal as long as the fold lines 13 intersect each other at a 90 degree angle. However, this is not a limitation of the invention and the quadrants may be different from orthogonal in accordance with specific application needs.

The dial Ql is characterized by an angular or pie-shaped cut-out 16 extending from the perimeter of the body 12 to a central portion thereof. A smaller release cut 17 extends from the center of the body 12 radially outward to meet the cut-out 16. The function of the release cut 17 will be described in more detail below. The cutout 16 and the release cut 17 together partially cut out the quadrant material Ql from the body of the patch to form the projection portion or flap 18. Fold lines 19, 21, 22 and 23 are defined that extend radially in the portion of flap 18 and the fold lines correspond to folds that they will be made in the flap portion 18 for various angles of inner corners to be sealed with the corner patch. In the illustrated embodiment, for example, the fold line 19 corresponds to an interior corner angle to be patched 90 degrees, the fold line 21 to an angle of 100 degrees, 22 to 110 degrees, and 23 to 120 degrees.

Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the use of the universal inner corner patch of Figure 1 to seal an inner corner with one of its three walls extending upwardly from a roof platform at an obtuse angle of, in this example, 110 degrees. Referring to Figure 2, the patch 11 is first folded along selected fold lines to form the shape of the patch. More specifically, quadrants Q2, Q3, and Q4 are folded upwards in an off-page direction in Figure 2 along fold lines 13 and 14. Quadrant Ql is folded along the fold line 22 of 110 degrees so that the flap portion 18 moves up off the page in Figure 2. The edge 15 of quadrant Q4 on one side of the cake-shaped cutout 16 moves to the level with the fold line 22 of 110 degrees now bent as indicated by arrow 24 in Figure 2. The portion of quadrant Q4 that overlaps with flap portion 18 is referred to herein as the skirt portion. At this point, the shape of the corner patch is essentially formed.

The flap portion may adhere to the back of the skirt portion if it is desired to retain the shape of the corner patch while moving within a corner to be patched. Alternatively, the folded patch can simply be placed in the corner and then rubbed in a good close fit before it is adhered and sealed to surrounding TPO material. In one embodiment, described in more detail below, a self-adhesive coating covered by a removable protective sheet is provided on the back side of the corner patch. In this embodiment, the protective sheet can be peeled off before or during the bending process so that the skirt portion of the quadrant Q4 self-adheres to the flap portion 18 when the patch is bent to retain the folded shape of the patch.

Figure 3 illustrates the shape of an inner corner patch bent as described in the previous paragraph. As can be seen, the flap portion 18 is folded behind the skirt portion of the quadrant Q4 with the edge 15 of the skirt portion defined by the cake-shaped cutout that is at the level of the fold line 22 of 110 degrees. A portion of the quadrant Ql between the 90 degree bend line and the 110 degree bend line forms a quadrant extension Q2 so that the total angular extent of the Q2 quadrant and the extension is 110 degrees. In this way it will be appreciated that the quadrant Q4 forms an angle of 110 degrees with respect to the quadrant Q3. At the same time, the quadrant Q2 forms an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the quadrant Q3. Accordingly, in this configuration, the corner patch 11 fits snugly in an interior corner defined by the intersection of roof platform 8 with vertical walls 7 and 9, where the wall 9 extends upwardly from the platform of the roof. roof 8 at an angle of 110 degrees. The corner patch can then be joined and sealed to the surrounding membrane material in a conventional manner to seal the corner. In that way, the universal inner corner patch of this invention reliably seals an obtuse inner corner.

Figure 4 illustrates a universal inner corner patch very similar to that of Figure 1, except that this inner corner patch can be bent to incorporate both acute and obtuse angle interiors. Similar to Figure 1, the corner patch 28 of Figure 4 is cut away from a piece of roof membrane material such as TPO or other material that is preferably the same as that used to cover a roof deck. The patch 28 comprises a body 29 which is divided by fold lines 31 and 32 into four quadrants Ql, Q2. Q, and Q4. The fold lines 31 and 32 intersect each other in some 90 degrees in this modality.

The dial Ql is characterized by an angular or pie-shaped cutout 33 extending from the perimeter of the body 28 to a central portion thereof. A smaller release cut 34 extends from the center of the body 12 radially outward to meet the cutout 33. The cutout 33 and the release cutout 34 together partially cut the quadrant material Ql from the body of the patch to form a portion of projection or flap 36. They are defined in fold 36, 37, 38, 39 and 41 that extend radially in the flap portion 36 and these fold lines correspond to folds that are to be made in the flap portion 36 for several angles of inner corners, both acute and obtuse, that are going to be sealed with the corner patch. In the illustrated embodiment, for example, the fold line 38 corresponds to an interior corner angle to be patched 90 degrees, the fold line 39 to an obtuse angle of 100 degrees, and 76 to an acute angle of 70 degrees.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate the universal corner patch application of Figure 4 for sealing a sharp inner corner having a wall defining an angle of, in this example, 80 degrees. The process similar to that just described in the previous paragraph for an obtuse angle. When referring to Figure 5, the patch of The corner is folded along the fold lines 31 and 32 in an out-of-page direction in Figure 5 until the quadrant Q2 forms a 90 degree angle with respect to the quadrant Q3 and the quadrant Q3 forms an angle of 90 degrees with respect to quadrant Q4. The projection portion or flap 26 of the quadrant Ql is then folded up off the page along fold line 37 of 80 degrees. The skirt portion of the quadrant Q4 overlaps the flap portion 26 until the edge 30 reaches the level with the fold line of 80 degrees, as illustrated by arrow 50 in Figure 5. The corner patch can then be weld in this configuration if desired; or, where an adhesive backing is present, the skirt portion self-adheres to the flap portion upon contact. As shown in Figure 6, the universal corner patch, when configured as just described, fits snugly within an interior corner where a wall 46 forms a right angle with respect to a roof deck 48 and an adjacent wall forms a sharper angle of, in this case, 80 degrees with respect to the roof deck 48. The corner patch can then be adhered to surrounding membrane material in a conventional manner, or it can self-adhere when it is present an adhesive backing, to seal the corner.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate an alternate modality of the invention for use in sealing valley corners of various angles. In this embodiment, a patch 51 of a membrane material such as TPO is cut into a shape having a semicircular portion on the left in Figure 7. The right side of the patch 51 in Figure 7 comprises a cut-out 56 in the form of cake and a release cutout 57 that separate the patch material in a first leg 58 and a second leg 59. The fold lines 53, 54, and 61 define quadrants Q2 and Q3 in the left semicircular portion of the patch. The fold line 61 corresponds to a 90 degree bend. The patch 51 further comprises fold lines arranged around the fold line 61 of 90 degrees which corresponds to bends of acute and obtuse angles of various degrees. In the illustrated embodiment, for example, there is shown a fold line 63 of 70 degrees, a fold line 62 of 80 degrees, a fold line 64 of 110 degrees, and a fold line 66 of 120 degrees. Although specific angles are indicated in the figure, it will be understood by the person skilled in the art that other angles and different ones are possible within the scope of the invention.

To adapt the universal valley patch 51 to seal a valley 71 (Figure 8) of a particular angle, the patch 51 is bent up off the page in Figure 7 along fold lines 53 and 54. The patch then it is folded along a fold line that corresponds to the angle of a valley to be sealed with the patch. In Figure 8, for example, a valley is shown having an angle 71 that is equal to + ß. The edge 72 of the patch is folded over as shown by arrow 67 until it is level with the fold line corresponding to the valley angle, after which the patch can be welded in this configuration or it can self-adhere when an adhesive backing is present. The patch is then placed in the valley, where it adapts to the angle of the valley and can adhere to the surrounding membrane material to seal the valley, as illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 9 illustrates an embodiment of the inner corner patch of this disclosure that includes a self-adhering feature for retaining the corner patch in its bent configuration and adhering the corner patch in place at a corner. The corner patch 61 comprises a body 62, a cutout 63 as described in detail above. The back surface of the body 62 is coated with a self-adhering coating 66 that can be covered with a removable protective release layer 64. The adhesive can be in the form of a hot melt adhesive or tape made with more than about 50. % butyl polymer or a mixture of butyl polymers and styrene copolymers such as styrene butadiene (SBS), styrene ethylene butylenes styrene (SEBS), styrene ethylene-propylene (SEP), or styrene ethylene-propylene styrene (SEPS). The adhesive may further comprise less than about 30% of a resin promoting aromatic hydrocarbon tack, less than about 10% fillers such as clay, talc, CaCO3, MgO, Mg (OH) 2, less than about 5% stabilizers. thermal, antioxidants, and processing aids. A functional coating hot melt adhesive meeting the AFERA 5001 standard is an example of an adhesive suitable for use in the present invention. The thickness of the adhesive coating may be in the range of 0.01 to 0.10 cm (5 to 40 mils and preferably 0.2 to 0.5 cm (10 to 20 mils.) The adhesive may be reinforced with an appropriate material such as a wake. of porous, thin, settled polyester fiber having a preferred thickness of less than 0.03 cm (15 mils) to add strength.

To fold and then apply the corner patch of Figure 9, the release layer 64 is peeled off and the patch body 62 is bent as described above to coincide with the angle of the inner corner to be sealed. When folded in this manner, the flap portion 18 (Figure 2) adheres to the adhesive now exposed on the back of the skirt portion to retain the patch in its folded configuration. The patch can then be applied to an interior corner defined on a roof and pressed to adhere the patch partially in place. Heat may be applied if desired to seal the patch additionally in the corner by liquefying the hot melt adhesive so that it attaches to the surfaces in the inner corner.

The invention has been described herein in terms of preferred embodiments and methodologies considered by the inventors to represent the best mode for carrying out the invention. The expert will be understood as the art; however, that a great variety of additions, deletions, and modifications, both subtle and serious, can be made to the illustrated and illustrative embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, although several different materials have been mentioned as roof membrane materials, the term "membrane" should be construed as including any web material that can be used to seal the roof of a commercial or residential building where corners are located if needed. seal The inner corner patches in the illustrated embodiments are generally circular. However, other shapes such as, for example, square, rectangular, oval, and other shapes can be substituted. within the scope of the invention. Pastel cutouts have been illustrated and described above; however, this is not a limitation of the invention and cutouts of other shapes such as curved may be used, for example.

Corner patches with fold lines corresponding to angles such as 80 degrees or 110 degrees have been described. These angles are shown and described for clarity of explanation, but do not represent limitations of the invention. In fact, the corner patches of this invention can incorporate internal corners at an obtuse and acute angle of virtually any angle within the physical constraints of the material from which the part is made and its geometry. The patch can be placed in a corner of unknown angle, for example, and rubbed and formed in its place to adapt itself to the corner without the installer actually measuring or knowing the angle of the corner. These and other modifications and substitutions may suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and should be construed to be within the scope of the invention described herein.

It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention.

Claims (20)

CLAIMS Having described the invention as above, the content of the following claims is claimed as property:

1. - A universal interior corner patch, characterized in that it comprises: a body having a central portion and a peripheral portion; a cutout in the body that extends from the peripheral portion of the body to the central portion of the body; the cutout that forms on the body a skirt portion having an edge on one side of the cutout and a flap portion on an opposite side of the cutout; a first group of fold lines on the body along which the body can be bent; a second group of fold lines on the body, the second group of fold lines includes a plurality of optional fold lines each corresponding to an angle of an interior corner to be patched; the corner patch that adapts to the shape of an angled interior corner when the corner patch is folded along the first group of fold lines and to along one selected from the second group of fold lines and the skirt portion overlaps the flap portion so that the edge of the skirt portion is aligned with one selected from the second group of fold lines.

2. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 1, characterized in that the body has a front surface and a rear surface and further comprises an adhesive on the back surface of the body.

3. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 2, characterized in that it also comprises a release layer covering the adhesive.

4. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 1, characterized in that it has a flexural modulus of 10,342.13 kilopascals (1,500 psi) to 137,895.14 kilopascals (20,000 psi).

5. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 1, characterized in that it can be heat welded to a roof membrane.

6. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 1, characterized in that the body has a substantially round shape.

7. - The universal interior corner patch of according to claim 6, characterized in that the first group of fold lines divides the body into quadrants and wherein the cut is formed into a selected one of the quadrants.

8. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 7, characterized in that the second group of fold lines is grouped around one of the first group of fold lines at an edge of one selected from the quadrants.

9. - The universal inner corner patch according to claim 8, characterized in that at least one of the second group of fold lines is on one side of one of the first group of fold lines and at least one of the second group of fold lines it is on the opposite side of one of the first group of fold lines.

10. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 1, characterized in that the first group of fold lines are mutually orthogonal.

11. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 1, characterized in that the body is made of a thermoplastic material.

12. - A universal inner corner patch according to claim 11, characterized in that the thermoplastic material is selected from the group consisting essentially of PVC, PVC, TPA, TPO, CPE, and EPDM.

13. - An interior corner patch selectively configurable to adapt to the shape of an interior corner defined by a platform, a first wall projecting up from the platform at a first angle, and a second wall projecting upward from the platform in a second angle, characterized in that it comprises a body having a peripheral portion and a central portion, a cutout in the body extending from the peripheral portion towards the central portion, the cutout defines a first body portion on one side of the cutout and a second portion of the body on the other side of the cutout, the patch adapts in shape to the shape of the inner corner when the first and second portions of the body overlap each other by a selected amount corresponding to the first and second angles.

14. - An interior corner patch according to claim 13, characterized in that the first angle is a right angle and the second angle is an obtuse angle.

15. - An interior corner patch according to claim 13, characterized in that the first angle is a right angle and the second angle is an acute angle.

16. - An interior corner patch according to claim 13, characterized in that in addition It comprises a first group of fold lines extending from the peripheral portion of the body towards the central portion and dividing the body into four portions, the cutout being formed into a selected one of the four portions.

17. - An interior corner patch according to claim 16, characterized in that it also comprises a second group of fold lines grouped around one of the fold lines that extends a selected one of the four portions, each of the second group of lines of fold indicates an amount of overlap of the first and second body portions corresponding to a corresponding second angle.

18. - An interior corner patch according to claim 13, characterized in that the body has a disc shape.

19. - An inner corner patch, characterized in that it comprises a body made of a thermoplastic material and having a peripheral portion and a central portion, a generally pastel-shaped cutout in the body that is taken from the peripheral portion towards the central portion that defines a flap on one side of the cutout and a skirt on the other side of the cutout, and an array of indicia spaced on one side of the cutout, the body adapts to the shape of a selected inner corner when the skirt and the flap overlap each other so that one edge of the cut is aligned with one of the indicia.

20. - An interior corner patch according to claim 19, characterized in that the spaced indicia comprise a bend line arrangement extending from the peripheral portion of the body towards the central portions of the body.