WO2004087340A2

WO2004087340A2 - Thermally cut modular metal frame for doors and windows

Info

Publication number: WO2004087340A2
Application number: PCT/IB2004/002470
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giuseppe Esposito
Original assignee: Palladio Trading S.R.L.
Priority date: 2003-03-07
Filing date: 2004-03-05
Publication date: 2004-10-14
Also published as: WO2004087340A3; EP1608835A2; ITTV20030040A1

Abstract

A thermally cut modular metal frame for doors and windows comprising two tubular sections which are coupled at least by means of a removable interconnecting element of an insulating material, wherein each of the two tubular sections, on its side facing the side of the coupled tubular section, is provided with equidistant openings. The corresponding end of a spacing stake is inserted and bayonet joined inside each of said openings, said stake being perpendicular to the surface of the coupled tubular sections.

Description

THERMALLY CUT MODULAR METAL FRAME FOR DOORS AND WINDOWS

The present invention refers to a thermally cut metal modular frame, in particular for doors and windows. Both the building inner partitions and conventional openings along the building walls consist of entry or passage doors and windows for airing and lighting rooms. The characteristics of said doors and windows include good weatherability, in particular good resistance to the action of air and water. Further, doors and windows must permit to acoustically eliminate outer noise, which might disturb the normal working .and recreational activities as well as the stay of people inside the room. As the need to keep certain climatological standards inside the buildings has become more and more urgent, doors and windows have become more and more important . As a matter of fact, they act as filtering elements for the outer actions of the atmospheric agents. Substantially, they must be more and more flexible systems comprising openable and stationary parts to ensure airing, said parts having such thickness that they can be moved without any problem and provide the perfect tightness of the closed system. Due to the present requirements of energy saving connected with new restrictive rules, doors and windows are provided, the frame of which consists of highly thermally insulating sections having high resistance to heat transmission, said sections being thermally cut sections.

Conventionally, prior art doors and windows are made of wood which, as known, is easily formable and is a good thermal insulator. However, due to the larger and larger size of the openings and to the need for thicker and heavier glass sheets to protect from possible housebreaking and also to help insulation, wood is used along with metallic materials, mostly aluminium and steel, as well as plastic materials, e.g. PVC. Metal sections provide good resistance to atmospheric agents and larger doors and windows .

Such materials, especially in cold regions, do not provide exceptional thermal performance as it is now usual with new-generation glass. To this purpose, new systems of doors and windows have been provided in which a low thermal transmission material is positioned between the outward face and the inward face of the section, said material limiting the heat migration. As a matter of fact, said thermally cut system avoids thermal bridges along the periphery of the door and window, said thermal bridges causing, in certain periods, colder areas on the outside wall. Said areas define spots with energy transmission and, consequently, waste of energy, which requires more heat for the building. Moreover, condensate tends to accumulate along the inner periphery of the door and window, said condensate being, as known, the most unhealthy thing inside rooms, forming a very good ground for the proliferation of bacterial colonies. Finally, abundant condensate may migrate from the door or window to the wall, thus damaging plaster with the possible formation of moulds. The frame of prior art doors and windows was formed of two sections either of a different material or of an identical material. The first group includes doors and windows comprising an outer metal section and an inner wood section which alternatively, for less valuable doors and windows, may be replaced by PVC. In some cases, the different materials are longitudinally coupled by means of the particular configuration of the sections which comprise longitudinal, mutually holding male and female means. Due to the reduced effectiveness, both in connection with the section coupling and, in some cases, for the persistence of thermal bridges, a coupling technology of the materials has become consolidated which, beside the configuration of the mutually holding means, provides for the use of resins. The object of said resins, which are injected or poured during assembly to interpose between the longitudinal section, is to help cohesion between the two coupled sections and to form a good barrier to prevent the heat exchange between the two different gradients inside and outside the place where the door or window is .

According to a possible solution, the two sections are coupled by means of little stakes which are perpendicular to the facing sides of said two sections and are welded on the two inner faces of the sections to be coupled and attached according to a lattice pattern. In this case the filling and interposing material acts just like a spacing element to connect the two sections. This is the case, for example, of GB2084230 (Chapman) , which discloses metal sections with a thermal bridge to be used, for instance, to provide frames for doors or windows. In this case two metal bars of the same material, but having different configurations are longitudinally coupled by means of a plastic material. In this case the two metal bars are formed separately. An edge of one of the two parts is attached to a passage by means of clips which are spaced along the passage length and prevent the contact metal-to-metal between the two parts. The passage is then filled with a liquid plastic material which, once solidified, connects the two parts firmly and, at the same time, forms the thermal bridge. Differently from GB2084230 (Chapman), CH0632556 (Gross) discloses two metal sections which are longitudinally and separately coupled by interposing two plastic strips. Therefore, in this case some liquid is not poured, but two separate interconnecting elements are interposed and act as mutually holding means, between two differently shaped metal sections. More in detail, CH0632556 (Gross) discloses a first section which, on the side facing the adjacent section to join, is provided with two first longitudinal seats having an essentially C-shaped cross-section. Similarly, the adjacent section is provided with two second longitudinal seats having an essentially C-shaped cross-section and being specular to said two first sections. Between said first and second longitudinal seats two plastic strips are placed, each of them inserting its straight edge into the corresponding seat. Each strip is continuous, as it occupies the whole corresponding longitudinal seat of the section, and both the longitudinal edges are provided with a tooth which is shaped according to a part of the configuration of a wall of the corresponding seat. Also DE3301906 (Schuco) discloses two metal sections which are coupled by interposing two plastic strips which keep said sections separate. Differently from the previous solution, this solution provides a system which, after being inserted, deforms one of the two metal walls of the seat housing the longitudinal edge of the plastic strip. The wall is thus closed towards the inside of the seat by stapling the plastic strip adjacent to a longitudinal passage which is provided by the shape of one of the two faces of said plastic strip. ES2012681 (Lanciego) describes two sections of the same material or of a different material to be coupled and kept separate. Each section, on the side facing the side of the opposite section to join, has two separate longitudinal seats which are shaped according to the dovetail shape of an element interposed between said two sections to be joined. The interposing element is a H-shaped plastic section which, once joined to the corresponding opposite sections, provides some chambers which may be filled with cellular material as an insulating means .

Finally, also US3925953 (LaBorde) describes a method for providing a thermal bridge in a building element. In this case, a plastic section clamps, on the outside, two separate metal sections between which a layer of a plastic material is interposed.

GB2084229 (Davies) describes an assembled, thermally insulated metal section. More in detail, a window frame or a frame for a continuous face comprise a two-part box-like section. Each part has an opposite, inward- oriented flange and the two parts are joined together by means of spacing elements to provide a thermal bridge. The spacing elements have two slots engaging the two flanges of the box-like section. Said spacing elements are provided with a central opening into which, in the assembly, a pin is inserted, the cross section of which is larger than the central opening, so that, when the pin has been inserted, the slots are deformed to engage by friction the flanges of the two opposite portions of the box-like section. The above mentioned solutions are certainly significant. However, in the applicant's opinion, some restrictions are still possible.

For example, conventional doors and windows, the frame of which is provided by combining an outer metal section and an inner wood or PVC section which are joined by mutually holding means along the inner faces of the section as well as by injected or poured resins, are quite complicated and laborious solutions which, as such, involve quite high production costs. Moreover, when they are integrally coupled, they achieve the bimetal effect. In practice, materials are provided which expand differently one from the other as they are subjected to different stresses which cause permanent stress and make the sections bend.

In solutions like the ones in which the two sections are secured by means of little stakes which are perpendicular to the facing sides of said two sections and are welded on the two inner faces of the sections to be coupled and attached according to a lattice pattern, the system involves greater resistance of the assembled section, but requires that the two faces to be joined be secured by stakes of the same material, thus causing spots with a thermal bridge. Secondly, this kind of securing needs particular attention to provide the assembled section, especially with regard to the need to keep the tubular element linear, thus making the process particularly laborious and economically unfavourable.

The solutions of CH0632556 (Gross), DE3301906 (Schuco) or ES2012681 (Lanciego), which consist of a body, as an element of thermal cut, generally made of a plastic material, to be interposed between the two metal sections to be coupled, are not always effective. The first solution, i.e. CH0632556 (Gross), does not allow to hold the two coupled sections firmly, so that removal is not unlikely to occur because of greater thermal expansions than usual. DE3301906 (Schuco) and ES2012681 (Lanciego) solve the problem of joining the two^' sections firmly, but the first of the two solutions needs further axial working with respect to the tubular element, said further working being performed with difficulty and being unrestorable in the original condition. The second solution is certainly more resolutive than the previous ones, but it makes the assembling of the frame of the door or window particularly complicated, besides making the frame heavy and burdensome. GB2084229 (Davies) seems to be a more manageable and effective system than the other ones in that the modular portion of the section which is used to provide the frame of the door or window has interconnecting elements which 'are interposed between the two metal sections to be coupled. Anyway, also in this case the holding capacity of the sections seems to be uncertain, since a pin needs to be inserted which deforms each interconnecting element. As it can be guessed, this solution is still laborious both with regard to the assembly and with regard to the production of the elements.

Consequently, the need is felt to improve prior art systems. The object of the present invention is also to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks .

These and other objects are achieved by the present invention according to the characteristics mentioned in the attached claims, by means of a thermally cut modular metal frame in particular for doors and windows, said frame comprising two tubular sections which are coupled at least by means of a removable interconnecting element made of an insulating material, wherein each of the two tubular sections, on the side facing the side of the coupled tubular section, is provided with equidistant slots, each of them receiving the corresponding bayonet joined end of a spacing little stake which is perpendicular to the surface of the coupled tubular sections. This way, through the considerable creative contribution the effect of which is an immediate technical improvement, the following objects are achieved, all of them being intended to improve the functionality of doors and windows. A first object is to optimize objects already achieved by other previous solutions, by considerably reducing thermal bridges in a modular section for frames for doors and windows. This has been possible by providing interconnecting and spacing little stakes made of a good insulating and, at the same time, strong material, e.g. bakelite.

Especially with respect to GB2084229 (Davies) a second object is to provide a particularly robust door or window which, though being little heavy, permits to keep extraordinary resistance to bad weather and housebreaking. As a matter of fact, in this case both coupled sections are only longitudinally drilled by means of said slots, thus allowing both sections to keep a certain stiffness to bending and torsion, whereas in GB2084229 (Davies) the section stoutness is endangered since a continuous longitudinal slot is provided.

A third object is to provide a composite modular and flexible section which can be easily assembled and disassembled and to reduce the number of codes of the stocked components, thus making a rational use of the spaces and significantly facilitating the overall management of the storehouse. Besides providing quick assembly, this system makes it possible to use recycled material or polymers to obtain the interconnecting little stakes, thus providing a cheap product. Finally, the problems connected with stocking goods in the storehouses are avoided and the production of discards is limited, permitting each user to create rapidly one's section system without any problem. Finally, a fourth object is to provide a section for the frame of a door or window which is not particularly complicated, at the same time being valuable and having a good technological content, thus considerably improving the supply on the market and limiting production costs.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred e bodiment and from the accompanying drawings, taken by way of explanatory, non restrictive example.

Figure 1 is a plan view of one of the two larger sides of a tubular section according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of a little stake as an interconnecting and spacing element for coupling two tubular sections. Figure 3 is a plan view of the little stake of Figure

2.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of an assembled modular section.

Figure 5 is a plan view of one of the two larger sides of a second tubular section according to the present invention.

Figure 6 is a side view of a second embodiment of the little stake of Figure 2 as an interconnecting and spacing element for coupling two tubular sections . Figure 7 is a front-end view of two tubular sections coupled by interposing the little stake of Figure 2 as an interconnecting and spacing element .

Figure 8 is a front-end view of two second tubular sections coupled by interposing the little stake of Figure 6 as an interconnecting and spacing element. Figure 9 is an exploded view of a further embodiment of the little stake as an interconnecting and spacing element for coupling two tubular sections. Finally, figure 10 is a side, partially sectional view of two tubular sections coupled by interposing a little stake as an interconnecting and spacing element. With reference to the drawings, a thermally cut modular metal frame 1, particularly for doors and windows, is provided by longitudinally coupling two tubular metal sections 2, 3 of steel.

In a first embodiment, each metal tubular section 2, 3 is provided, at least on one of its sides, in the present case on one of its larger faces 20, 30, with coincident or specular, symmetric openings, e.g. slots 4, which are longitudinally aligned and arranged along the median axis of each of said two larger faces 20, 30. Each slot 4 is oriented longitudinally and, at the middle thereof, has a circular enlarged portion forming the seat 40.

One of the larger faces 20, 30 of the metal tubular sections 2, 3 is engaged with some interconnecting spacing elements consisting of little stakes 5 made of an insulating material, in the present case a thermosetting resin, e.g. bakelite. Alternatively, bakelite can be replaced by ceramics. More particularly, each little stake 5 (see Figure 2) consists of a monolithic body having a round cross- section, the shape of which recollects cylindrical portions of different diameter being approached, wherein between two cylindrical portions 50, 51 having the same diameter or a different diameter a portion 52 of a lesser diameter is interposed. More particularly, at the two ends of each little stake 5 a round, flat head 50 is provided, each head being separated from an adjacent cylindrical portion 51 by a first cylindrical connecting portion 52 having a lesser diameter than the diameter of the two adjacent portions 50, 51. The little stake 5 is thus provided with two central cylindrical portions 51 being joined by a second connecting cylindrical portion 53 having a lesser diameter than the two adjacent portions 51 between which it is interposed. Each of the little stakes 5 is bayonet joined with the faces 20, 30 of the tubular sections 2, 3 by first inserting into each seat 40 the corresponding head 50 of the little stake 5 until said head 50 projects beyond the side opposite the coupling side of the faces 20, 30, to move the stake 5, by a longitudinal motion either of the stake 5 or of the tubular sections 2 and 3, from a central position corresponding to the seat 40 to one of the two ends 41 of the slot 4. In this case, the height of the connecting cylindrical portion 52 cannot be lower than the thickness of the side of the face 20, 30 of the tubular section 2, 3. In this way, the dimensions of seat 40 are just sufficient to let the head 50 of the stake 5 pass through, whereas the width of the guiding slot 4 is a little larger than the diameter of the first connecting cylindrical portion 52.

In a second embodiment (see Figures 5 and 6) the two tubular sections to be coupled are of the type 6 with a flat face 60 having along its length aligned equidistant holes 61 positioned along the median and longitudinal axes. Said two tubular sections 6 can be longitudinally coupled by means of expanding stakes 7. Said expanding stakes 7 have a main body configured with alternate diameters, substantially like the stakes 5. Further, the flat head 70 is centrally provided with a dead hole 71 axially stretching forward relative to said stake 7 to interest at least the adjacent connecting cylindrical portion 72 of a lesser diameter. The conic end 701 of a pin 700 is inserted into the dead hole 71, said pin 700 being pushed deeply at least μntil the annular flange 702 is positioned on the upper side of the head 70. This way, the connecting cylindrical portion 72 of the stake 7 is deformed, as it expands radially thus engaging the flat face 60 and, thence, the corresponding section 6. In order to facilitate the insertion of the pin 700 into the main body of the stake 7, a perpendicular stem with a cylindrical section 704 is interposed between the annular flange 702 and the head of the pin 703. Finally, some strips of an insulating filling material 8 are inserted into the hollow space between the two coupled metal tubular sections, e.g. the tubular sections 2 and 3.

Figures 9 and 10 show another embodiment 9 of the interconnecting spacing stake for coupling two tubular sections 6. More in detail, the stake 9 comprises an essentially cylindrical deformable body 90 at one end of which a threaded hole 91 is provided. On the walls surrounding said hole 91, having a conical opening 92, and radially in relation with said hole 91, a longitudinal split 10 is provided which permits the corresponding end portion to get progressively deformed by coaxially inserting a screw-like pin 95. At the opening of the hole 91 a collar 94 is provided, the height of which corresponds approximately to the thickness of the metal adjacent to the hole 61 on the side 60 of the tubular section 6 which, in the present case, has a square cross-section.

The pin 95, which can be inserted into the hole 91, consists of a monolithic body with a threaded male end 96 and a female end, the diameter of which is bigger than the diameter of the middle portion of the body having a threaded hole 97. One threaded male end 98 of the spacing body 99, which consists of a cylindrical element with a round uniform cross-section, is screwed into said threaded hole 97. Similarly, on the opposite side the spacing body 99 must be provided with a pin 95 engaging a corresponding deformable body 90 in order to permit the engagement of a tubular section 6 with a, square cross-section and a hole 61. Finally, in one possible embodiment the body 90 is provided, along its periphery, with a continuous groove 93 having an essentially U-shaped cross-section.

Claims

1. A thermally cut metal modular frame, in particular for doors and windows, comprising two sections which are longitudinally coupled at least by means of a removable interconnecting element of an insulating material, characterized in that each of the two sections, on its side facing the side of the coupled section, is provided with equidistant openings receiving the corresponding end of a spacing stake which is perpendicular to the surface of the coupled sections.

2. A metal modular frame as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the two sections being longitudinally coupled by interposing a stake are metal tubular sections.

3. A metal modular frame as claimed in claims 1 and 2, characterized in that each of the two sections, on the side facing the side of the coupled section, is provided with openings consisting of slots which, in a middle area thereof, has an enlarged portion forming a receiving seat.

4. A metal modular frame as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the stake is a monolithic body with a round cross-section, wherein, between two cylindrical portions having an identical or a different diameter, a portion with a lesser diameter is provided.

5. A metal modular frame as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that each end of the stake is provided with a round flat head which is separated from an adjacent cylindrical portion by a first connecting cylindrical portion having a lesser diameter than the diameter of the two contiguous portions, so that the stake has two central cylindrical portions being joined by a second connecting cylindrical portion having a lesser diameter than the diameter of the two contiguous portions between which it is interposed.

6. A metal modular frame as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the height of the first connecting cylindrical portion is slightly bigger than the thickness of the face side of the corresponding section to be joined and the diameter is slightly lesser than the width of the slot in its guiding portion.

7. A metal modular frame as claimed in claims 1 and 2, characterized in that each section to be coupled has a flat face on which some aligned equidistant holes are positioned along the middle and longitudinal axis .

8. A metal modular frame as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the stake is an expanding stake, since at least one of the heads is provided with an axial dead hole extending at least to the whole first connecting cylindrical portion, wherein a pin is inserted into said hole.

9. A metal modular frame as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the stake is made of a thermosetting resin.

10. A metal modular frame as claimed in claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the stake is made of ceramics.

11. A metal modular frame for doors and windows as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that some insulating filling material is inserted into the hollow space between the two coupled metal sections.

12. A metal modular frame for doors and windows as claimed in claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the stake for coupling two tubular sections comprises a spacing body, each end of which is connected with a pin and a deformable body, respectively.

13. A metal modular frame for doors and windows as claimed in claims 1, 2 and 12, characterized in that the deformable body of the stake is cylindrical and, at least at one end, is provided with a threaded hole, wherein on the walls surrounding said hole having a conical opening and radially in relation with said hole a longitudinal split is provided.

14. A metal modular frame for doors and windows as claimed in claims 1, 2, 12 and 13, characterized in that the pin consists of a monolithic body with a threaded male end and a female end having a threaded hole.

15. A metal modular frame for doors and windows as claimed in claims 1, 2, 12, 13 and 14, characterized in that the spacing body consists of a cylindrical element with a round uniform cross-section, the ends of said cylindrical element engaging, at each end, the corresponding pin.