Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F15/00—Flooring
  • E04F15/02—Flooring or floor layers composed of a number of similar elements
  • E04F15/024—Sectional false floors, e.g. computer floors
  • E04F15/02405—Floor panels
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04B—GENERAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS; WALLS, e.g. PARTITIONS; ROOFS; FLOORS; CEILINGS; INSULATION OR OTHER PROTECTION OF BUILDINGS
  • E04B5/00—Floors; Floor construction with regard to insulation; Connections specially adapted therefor
  • E04B5/02—Load-carrying floor structures formed substantially of prefabricated units
  • E04B5/04—Load-carrying floor structures formed substantially of prefabricated units with beams or slabs of concrete or other stone-like material, e.g. asbestos cement
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04B—GENERAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS; WALLS, e.g. PARTITIONS; ROOFS; FLOORS; CEILINGS; INSULATION OR OTHER PROTECTION OF BUILDINGS
  • E04B5/00—Floors; Floor construction with regard to insulation; Connections specially adapted therefor
  • E04B5/48—Special adaptations of floors for incorporating ducts, e.g. for heating or ventilating
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04C—STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS; BUILDING MATERIALS
  • E04C2/00—Building elements of relatively thin form for the construction of parts of buildings, e.g. sheet materials, slabs, or panels
  • E04C2/30—Building elements of relatively thin form for the construction of parts of buildings, e.g. sheet materials, slabs, or panels characterised by the shape or structure
  • E04C2/40—Building elements of relatively thin form for the construction of parts of buildings, e.g. sheet materials, slabs, or panels characterised by the shape or structure composed of a number of smaller components rigidly or movably connected together, e.g. interlocking, hingedly connected of particular shape, e.g. not rectangular of variable shape or size, e.g. flexible or telescopic panels

Definitions

• This invention relates to a panel assembly and a method of installing same and more particularly although not exclusively to such structures which are used for forming a floor, wall or ceiling in which electric cables, telephone wires, central heating pipes, etc. , are located of the floor therebehind.
• each floor comprises a rough concrete base which is permitted to set and is subsequently substantially levelled by laying over it a sand and cement screed in which cable trays are embedded on a 1.8 m grid, for example.
• the flooring is then finished by laying down flooring tiles of a plastics material, for example.
• a computer flooring which consists of a plurality of wood or metal panels of sides usually of 600 mm with adjustable legs on a lower side to define a space between the panels and the usual flooring.
• VDU cables and telephone wires are located in the cable trays*embedded in the concrete screed, VDU cables of a computer are normally randomly placed in the space between the wood or metal panels and the usual flooring.
• the disadvantage of such an arrangement is that the concrete screed in which the cable trays are embedded takes a long time to lay and must be left to dry. out for some time, perhaps a week or even longer. During this time no installation of mains services in the cable trays is permitted resulting in difficulties in allocating manpower and causing considerable inconvenience to the engineers who are to install the services. Moreover, the services must be laid within the cable tray grid resulting in high costs of materials and labour, and lack of flexibility. Furthermore, it is time consuming to adjust the height of the computer flooring to minimise any irregularities in levels of the flooring.
• a panel assembly comprising two panels each having a substantially planar surface on one side and on the obverse side a plurality of
• bosses projecting therefrom the two panels being arranged to overlie one another with the distal ends of the bosses of one panel in abutting relationship with the distal ends of respective bosses of the other panel and at least two locking means each engageable with an abutting pair of bosses arranged to prevent lateral movement of one panel relative to the other panel.
• the panel assembly will be used as a flooring, although it will be realised that it may, with advantage, be used as a double skin as well for constructing a wall or ceiling.
• the bosses of each panel are arranged on a regular matrix.
• the locking means each comprise a plurality of tubular elements each one of which is arranged to receive one of said pairs of abutting bosses.
• the locking means includes a plurality of locking pins each one of which is mountable in a bore extending through each boss of each pair of abutting bosses.
• Each locking pin preferably comprises a shank having a screw head at one end and a cross-pin at the opposite end therefrom, each bore t>eing shaped to allow passage of the cross-pin therethrough.
• Ribs may be located on the obverse side of each panel for strengthening the panel. Conveniently, the ribs interlink the bosses. The height of each rib is 25% of the height of each boss.
• the locking means engage abutting pairs of bosses located at each corner of the panels which may be of glass reinforced plastics material.
• each panel is rectangular which includes square, with the length of each side being 900 mm, the thickness of each panel being 3.5 mm, the bosses being spaced by 108 mm and each boss having a height of 46.5 mm tapering from its base of 17 mm diameter to 10 mm diameter at the distal end thereof.
• a seal can be provided around the outer peripheral edge of each panel.
• the present invention is preferably applied to a floor or wall or ceiling comprising a plurality of panel assemblies each having the features referred to above.
• a method of installing a panel assembly comprising providing a substrate and securing thereto a panel assembly comprising two panels each having a substantially planar surface on one side and on the obverse side a plurality of bosses projecting therefrom, the two panels being arranged to overlie one another with the distal ends of the bosses of one panel in abutting relationship with the distal ends of respective bosses of the other panel and at least two locking means each engageable with an abutting pair of bosses arranged to prevent lateral movement of one panel relative to the other panel.
• the method includes laying a concrete base with a substantially level surface as the substrate surface, laying over the concrete base an adhesive bedding compound and mounting the panel assembly on the bedding compound.
• Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a part of two panels mounted one upon the other to form a building structure;
• Figure 2 is a partial plan view illustrating the array of bosses;
• Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of an alternative*form of one of the bosses used for locking the panels together.
• each panel 1, 2 each having an outer planar surface 3, 4 and opposed planar surfaces 5 and 6 from which project a plurality of bosses 7 and 8 arranged in a regular matrix configuration.
• the panels 1, 2 abut each other at corresponding contacting distal surfaces 9, 10 of the bosses 7, 8.
• the panels 1, 2 have along each edge a flange 11 extending substantially perpendicularly to the panels in the direction of the bosses on each respective panel.
• the flanges may slant outwardly by approximately 1° because of the moulding process.
• One edge of each panel is provided with a cut-out (not shown) for lifting the panel in use.
• the bosses 7, 8 are each of a frusto conical configuration extending from the opposed planar surfaces 5, 6.
• a plastics ferrule 18 having an internal diameter substantially equal to the external diameter of the bosses at their junction with ribs 20 as hereinafter described, and a length equal to the combined length of the two bosses 7, 8 between the ribs.
• the ferrules 18 prevent lateral movement between the two panels 1, 2. Referring to Figure 2, there is illustrated only five bosses, although each panel 1, 2 has 81 bosses arranged on a 9 bore x 9 bore -4- Only four to six of these bosses have ferrules 18 to prevent the lateral movement between the panels.
• the ferrules can be located at the corner bosses or at any other selected combination of bosses.
• the mains services such as electrical wiring and telephone may be located as well as cables for computers in the spaces between the bosses 7,8.
• Each panel is also provided with ribs 20 for strengthening the panels.
• the ribs interlink the bosses, and have a height which approximates to 25% of the height of each boss.
• the panel assembly When the panel assembly is used as flooring, the usual concrete base 25 is laid with its surface being substantially level. This base is allowed to dry, whereupon an adhesive bedding compound 26 of 3 to 5 mm thick is laid over the surface of the concrete base.
• the panel assembly comprising panels 1, 2 is laid on the bedding compound with the surface 4 of panel 2 in contact with the bedding compound and its bosses 8 projecting upwardly.
• the whole flooring is laid in this manner.
• various service engineers wish to lay cables, for example, they determine the locations between which the cables are to extend, lift the top panels 1 lying between these points % and lay the cables in a substantially straight line or along any other path as desired.
• the panels 1 When the cable laying is completed, the panels 1 are replaced and locked onto the panels 2.
• Each panel 1, 2 is a one piece moulding of glass reinforced plastics material.
• the moulding takes place at high temperature 140 to 150°C and at a pressure of 500 to 1000 psi (351.5 to 703.7 Mg/m 2 ) for 3 minutes.
• the planar side 3, 4 of the panels cool more rapidly than the opposite side from which the bosses project because of the thick mass of material forming the bosses. Accordingly, the panels may be slightly concave on their planar side 3, 4. Consequently, when two panels are placed together as described, not all opposed contacting surfaces 9, 10 of the bosses contact each other.
• a number of the bosses namely, the central bosses along each side of the 9 x 9 matrix, the boss in each corner, and each alternate boss along the diagonal between opposed corners, are provided with a central bore with diametrically oppositely extending grooves running the whole length of the bore.
• the bore receives a plastics locking pin 12 which has an elongate shank, having a screw head at one end and a cross-pin at the opposite end-.
• the grooves are shaped to allow passage of the cross-pin -5- therethrough so that when the locking pin is passed through the bore it is rotated to move the cross-pin out of alignment with the grooves and lock the two panels together.
• the locking pin has a spring beneath the screw head for holding the locking pin in position.
• the panel surface 3, 4 is provided with a recess at the bosses having the bores so that the locking pins do not project beyond these surfaces.
• top panel 1 can be quickly removed by releasing the locking pins.
• Each panel is symmetrically formed and therefore the removed panel can be replaced on the bottom panel 2 with correctly interengaging bosses even though the panel may have been rotated through 90° prior to replacement.
• the panels can be cut easily anywhere either for insertion of an electrical socket or alternatively to fill in a gap between the last laid panel and a wall. Where the cut occurs between adjacent bosses an elongate support, of wood for example, can be inserted between the panels parallel to the cut edges.
• the panels are designed to withstand pressures between the bosses of 200 kg/25 ra ⁇ r but nevertheless should ideally be supported as indicated above when cut.
• the flooring structure described above is made of glass reinforced plastics material such as SY19/25/L sheet moulding compound by BTR Permali RP Limited, which when moulded produces a low profile surface.
• the glass content is normally 25% glass reinforcement.
• the flame spread is below class 2.
• Each panel preferably has sides of 900 mm, is 3.5 mm thick and the bosses spaced by 108 mm have a height of approximately 46.5 mm. Each boss is 17 mm in diameter at its base and tapers to 10 mm diameter. Panels of this size are intended for use in buildings to be used as offices or for light industrial use. The panels can be utilized for heavy industrial applications, but for this use are generally thicker and bigger than those just described.
• the flooring structure may be provided with grills for use as ducting to extract air.
• the panel assembly could also be used for ducting in an air conditioning system, but it would then be necessary to adequately seal the joints between each panel assembly.
• the ferrules may be omitted from the assembly described so that the locking pins are effective to both remove the dishing effect from the panels and prevent lateral movement between the panel pairs.
• boss 8 is shown to have a central bore 30 with an enlarged diameter portion 31 in the region of the planar surface 4 for receiving the head of a locking pin (not shown) .
• the bore 30 has a restricted portion 32 defined by two spaced substantially semi-circular portions 33 of which only one is shown in Figure 3. Each portion 33 is provided with a cam surface 34 having a recessed portion 35 for receiving a locking pin.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Electromagnetism (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Floor Finish (AREA)
• Finishing Walls (AREA)
• Body Structure For Vehicles (AREA)
• Patch Boards (AREA)
• Joining Of Building Structures In Genera (AREA)
• Panels For Use In Building Construction (AREA)
• Building Environments (AREA)
• Electrical Discharge Machining, Electrochemical Machining, And Combined Machining (AREA)
• Battery Mounting, Suspending (AREA)
• Diaphragms For Electromechanical Transducers (AREA)
• Laminated Bodies (AREA)
• Load-Bearing And Curtain Walls (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=10535919

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (13)

Cited By (2)

Families Citing this family (5)

Citations (3)

• 1983
  • 1983-01-05 GB GB838300180A patent/GB8300180D0/en active Pending
  • 1983-12-29 ZA ZA839700A patent/ZA839700B/xx unknown
• 1984
  • 1984-01-03 CA CA000444602A patent/CA1215811A/en not_active Expired
  • 1984-01-04 ES ES1984285907U patent/ES285907Y/es not_active Expired
  • 1984-01-05 DE DE198484300072T patent/DE116395T1/de active Pending
  • 1984-01-05 AU AU24165/84A patent/AU577038B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1984-01-05 DE DE8484300072T patent/DE3482047D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1984-01-05 NZ NZ206739A patent/NZ206739A/xx unknown
  • 1984-01-05 EP EP84300072A patent/EP0116395B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1984-01-05 WO PCT/GB1984/000002 patent/WO1984002730A1/en unknown
  • 1984-01-05 JP JP59500460A patent/JPS60500299A/ja active Pending
  • 1984-01-05 AT AT84300072T patent/ATE52295T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1984-08-30 NO NO843451A patent/NO843451L/no unknown
  • 1984-09-04 DK DK421984A patent/DK421984A/da not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (3)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events