WO2019035724A1

WO2019035724A1 - An improved cladding panel of exterior building walls, and a method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2019035724A1
Application number: PCT/NO2018/050212
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ole-Jacob HUUSE; Christer KEMI
Original assignee: Bolig Enøk As
Priority date: 2017-08-18
Filing date: 2018-08-17
Publication date: 2019-02-21

Abstract

The present invention is related to a cladding panel that can be mounted onto an existing building wall, or onto a building framework. The cladding panel is specially suited to be used when modernizing older wooden houses. The cladding panel comprises at least an insulation layer, an airing layer and an exterior panel that may be decorated providing a unique architectural impression of a house.

Description

An improved cladding panel of exterior building walls, and a method thereof

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is related to an improved cladding panel of exterior buildings walls, and especially to a cladding panel comprising horizontal and vertical airing channels prefabricated inside the respective cladding panels.

BACKGROUND

Prefabricated cladding panels is simplifying the process of constructing outer building walls. The outer surface can be arranged with different materials like synthetic materials, wooden panels, marble, bricks etc. providing different patterns and/or different architectural expressions.

Cladding panels can be attached onto concrete walls or onto building frameworks constituted by timber, or girders or beams, concrete beams, or a combination of these types of building frameworks.

When closing the interior space of a house with walls it is important to take note of several different physical phenomena and properties of buildings. A major issue is insulation as well as diffusion of moisture from the exterior of a house through respective outer walls as well as from the interior of the house towards the exterior of the house. Therefore, transport of heat and moisture through building walls is a technical design challenge. If the insolation properties of building walls are poor, the cost of heating or cooling a house can be extremely high. It is also important to take into account the increasing need of reducing the overall energy consumption in society. If moisture is left inside building walls several biological process may start, for example development of dry rot and/or fungus. This may affect residents of houses as well as reducing the lifetime of the house. There are also other aspect of building houses that influence both the use and design of cladding panels. Reducing the building time of a house makes houses considerably cheaper, which may benefit house buyers as well as housing developers.

There is known several examples of prior art cladding panels that are

prefabricated providing sets of standardized building elements, which reduces building time and cost. Cladding panels is not only used when constructing new houses. Cladding panels may also be used when modernizing or repairing older houses.

US 5765330 disclose a pre-insuiated prefab wall panel comprising of a rectangular wall frame having top and bottom rail members and a plurality of spaced apart stud members aligned between the top and bottom rail members, A poiystyrene boardstock is affixed to a first side of the rectangular wall frame, thereby defining with the top and bottom rail members and the plurality of stud members a plurality of rectangular cavities, wherein each cavity has a depth of the thickness of a stud member. The prefab wail panel further has a layer of foamed-in-place polyurethane covering a portion of each cavity adjoining the boardstock, and bonding the structural wail frame to the poiystyrene boardstock. The layer of polyurethane foam has a thickness which is substantially less than the depth of each cavity, whereby each cavity has available space for accommodating sub- trade installations.

US 4973506 A disclose a composite plate comprising a core layer with a honeycomb structure between two cover layers, the first cover layer of which carries a decorative panel and the second cover layer of which carries a rear protective plate. The adhesive bonds of the composite plate consist of a layer of a relatively non-flammable adhesive. The protective element, made of a silicate base (but without asbestos) or a non-combustible mineral substance base, is adhesively bonded to the rear side of the composite plate,

US 5280689 disclose a composite cladding panel for application primarily to the exterior of buildings. The panel comprises a core layer of lightweight insulating foam providing a thermal insulation of at least RIO. The insulating foam is encapsulated in a layer of fluid impermeable material inhibiting the passage of vapour and gasses. An outer sheet comprising at least one finishing panel adhering to an outer surface of said core layer, and an inner structural insulating sheet, thermally compatible with the expansion characteristics of said outer sheet, adhering to an inner surface of said core layer to provide structural integrity to said panel and facilitate attachment thereof to a building structure. The panel is of lightweight construction and useful especially in the environmentally efficient finishing of buildings.

It is also known in prior art to combine fagade elements with other types of units or functions of a building, DE 102009057355 A disclose a ventilation unit (10) having a facade connection element (11) with a f!ow-through-able housing which comprises an air opening (17) at one end. The air opening is guided outwardly. The ventilation unit also has a ventilation element (12) with a base housing (14) flow-through-able by air.

The problem of moisture inside building walls is usually dealt with by arranging membranes stopping moisture to migrate through for example insulation materials in the wall. However, there may be a huge temperature difference between the exterior of a house and the interior of a house. Therefore, moisture inside walls is also related to condensation of humidity. This may result in forming droplets residing inside the wall. Therefore, airing of the interior space of walls is necessary, not just to transport out humidity in the form of vapour for example, but also to be able to dry out constructional elements inside the wall being humidified through for example condensation. In prior art it is known how to arrange airing channels related to locations of condensation points inside walls.

A common solution, for example when constructing a wooden wall, is to arrange a vapour barrier on interior surface walls, and arranging vertical channels behind the outer cladding of the wall. It is common to arrange vertical furring strips supporting an outer cladding of the wall. The physical principle is that at the bottom of the wall close to the ground the temperature is normally lower than the temperature at a top end of the wall close to the roof. The temperature difference works as a "motor" creating a vertical airstream flowing from the bottom of the wall up to the roof end of the wall inside spaces defined by the spaced apart furring strips.

However, building walls are usually not a homogenous object. Cut-outs are made supporting for example windows and doors. With reference to the use of furring strips above, the vertical airing channels are broken or blocked when for example a window is inserted into an adapted cut-out.

These problems are also present even when prefabricated cladding panels are used. It is of course possible to make different sized cladding panels thereby making it possible to mount panels around an opening in the wall arranged to support a window for example. However, this does not solve the problem with possible broken or blocked airing channels. Therefore, it is a need of an improved cladding panel of exterior building walls, wherein the cladding panel is adaptable to different wall surface materials and/or building frameworks, as well as being suitable for rehabilitating existing exterior building walls.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

In particular, it may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a cladding panel providing means of establish airing channels around cut-outs of a building wall supporting windows or doors or similar objects. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an alternative to the prior art.

SUMMARY Thus, the above described object and several other objects are intended to be obtained in a first aspect of the invention by providing a cladding panel comprising upwards/downwards and sideways running airing channels.

In particular, it may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a cladding panel comprising : an insulation layer;

an airing layer;

- an exterior panel plate; wherein the airing layer is constituted by a plurality of distributed spacer elements protruding outwardly from the insulating layer, and is located in between the insulating layer and the exterior panel plate, thereby forming airing channels in between the respective bodies of the spacer elements in sideways and upwards/downwards directions relative to the periphery sides of the cladding panel.

The present invention is further advantageous to provide a method of mounting cladding panels according to the present invention onto a building, comprising : - mounting a support girder horizontally along a defined starting level on a wall surface of the building, wherein the support girder is arranged with a click joint on a surface facing upwards;

starting mounting a first cladding panel onto the click joint of the support girder followed by a second cladder panel being mounted onto the click joint of the girder adjacent to the first cladding panel; shortening the width of the second cladder panel if the horizontal width of the cladding panel extends outside a corner of the wall surface of the building when mounting the second cladder panel;

- adapting one of the two cladding panels mounted around the corner to cover an end surface of the other of the two cladding panels;

FIGURES

The method according to the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying figure. The figure illustrates examples of embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as being limiting to other possible embodiments falling within the scope of the attached claim set. Further, respective examples of embodiments may each be combined with any of the other examples of embodiment. Figure 1 illustrates an example of embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrate an exploded view of the example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 3 illustrate a perspective view of an airing layer of the example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 4 illustrates a perspective side view of an example of embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 illustrates a further perspective side view of the example of embodiment of the example illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 6 illustrates a top view of the example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 7 illustrates an example of embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 8 illustrates another example of embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 illustrates a perspective view of the example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 10 illustrates another example of embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 11 illustrates aspects of mounting examples of embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 11a illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 11. Figure lib illustrates further detail of the example illustrated in Figure 11. Figure 12 illustrates further aspects of using examples of embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the specified embodiments, it should not be construed as being in any way limited to the present examples. The scope of the present invention is set out by the accompanying claim set. In the context of the claims, the terms "comprising" or "comprises" do not exclude other possible elements or steps. Also, the mentioning of references such as "a" or "an" etc. should not be construed as excluding a plurality. The use of reference sign in the claims with respect to elements indicated in the figures shall also not be construed as limiting to the scope of the invention. Furthermore, individual features mentioned in different claims, may possibly be advantageously combined, and the mentioning of these features in different claims does not exclude that a combination of features is not possible and advantageous.

Figure 1 illustrates an example of an assembled cladding panel 10 according to the present invention. The example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 1 comprises three basic elements wherein an outer panel 13 is located on the exterior side of a building wall when a cladding panel is mounted. The outer surface of the panel 13 is therefore the exterior surface of the wall mounted with the example of cladding panel. Figure 10 illustrates that a wooden panel for example can be added onto the outwardly facing surface of the panel 13. Any other architectural features and appearance can be added to the surface of the panel 13.

Behind the panel 13 there is arranged an airing layer 12 followed by an insulating element 11. The airing layer is in fluid (air) contact with periphery sides 10a, 10b of the cladding panel.

Figure 2 illustrates an exploded view of the example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 1. In between the insulating layer 11 and the outer panel 13 there is an airing layer 12. In the example illustrated in Figure 2, the airing layer 12 is constituted by a plurality of spacer elements attached and protruding outwardly form a surface of the insulation layer 11 facing towards the outer panel 13, i.e. the spacer elements are located in between the insulating layer 11 and the panel 13.

The arrangement provides open spaces around respective bodies of the spacer elements. These spaces provides sideways running and upwards/downwards running airing channels 12a, 12b relative to the periphery side surfaces 10a, 10b of the cladding panel 10. The openings of the airing channels 12a, 12b are fluid contact with the side surfaces 10a, 10b of the cladding panel 10. Thereby respective airing channels will extend from one cladding panel located adjacent to a second cladding panel.

Figure 3 illustrates another example of embodiment wherein the insulating layer 11 is constituted by a first insulating layer 11a glued onto a second insulating layer lib. In some embodiments, the first layer 11a is offset from the second layer lib when glued together. Then the first insulating layer 11a and the second insulating layer lib will constitute a respective tongue and groove on opposite located sides 10a, 10b of the cladding panel 10. This is useful when placing a first cladding panel adjacent to a second cladding panel.

Figure 4 illustrates a perspective side view of the example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 3. Figure 5 illustrates another example of embodiment of the present invention, wherein a panel 14 is added to the backside of the insulating layer lib facing towards the interior of the building. Figure 6 illustrates the example illustrated in Figure 5 from another view angle. Figure 7 illustrates a section of a building wall assembled with a plurality of cladding panels 10. The panel 13 of the cladding panel 10 is illustrated to be in place on the left hand side while on the right hand side, the panel 13 is lifted away to illustrate the spacer elements 12 and the respective airing channels 12a, 12b in between the bodies of the spacer elements. Figure 7 illustrates further a cut-out 15 made in the wall. The cutout can be made by sawing through an assembled wall, i.e. sawing through the cladding panels 10. The cut-out size may be adapted to support a window or other objects like doors and ventilation inlet/outlets or similar objects. The dimensions of the cladding panel 10 may be adapted to standard sizes of for example windows. Then the cutout can be made by avoiding mounting one or two cladding panels 10 onto the wall. If the mounting is directly onto a building framework, the building framework is adapted to support a window on a specific location. If the wall is made of other materials, or the cladding panel 10 is used in a building restauration process, a further hole 15 can be made as known to a person skilled in the art.

The inner corner 19 of the opening 15 in the wall illustrates how the sideways running channels and the upwards/downwards running channels 12a, 12b constitute an airing channel around the corner 19. In fact, all sideway channels in the vicinity of the bottom of the window (i. e. the cut-out 15) as well at the top of the window is in fluid communication with upwards/downwards running channels on each side of the opening 15. Then none of the airing channels located below the window is broken or blocked. Figure 7 illustrates the normal flow of air through the airing channels. The arrow 18 illustrates flow of air into respective airing channels 12a, 12b at the bottom of the wall while the arrow 17 illustrates the exit flow of air at the top end of the wall. Figure 8 illustrates another example of embodiment of the present invention. Vertical pipes 21 are arranged inside some of the upwards/downwards running airing channels 12a, 12b constituted between the bodies of the spacer elements 12. On a top end of the pipes 21, there is arranged a sideways running pipe 20 in fluid communication with respective pipes 21. This arrangement can be

prefabricated. The pipes 21 can be used in several types of applications. For example, openings can be made between a pip and the interior space of a room behind the wall. Then used air inside the room may be extracted from the room through some dedicated pipes while other pipes supply fresh air from the outside. The sideways running pipe 20 can have several internal pipes dedicated to respective used air or fresh air transport. It is also possible to connect the pipe system constituted by the pipes 21 and 20 to an air conditioning system and/or a heating system. Further, if a wall is exposed to extreme humidity problems, i.e. the natural airing provided by the airing channels as such is insufficient, it is possible to arrange openings on the sides of the pipes 21 that is in fluid communication with sideways oriented airing channels 12a, 12b. Then a pump can increase the flow of air through the airing channels 12a, 12b. The flow direction can be arranged to be an unidirectional flow, i.e. for example from the interior of the wall out to the exterior of the wall, or as a bidirectional flow wherein some pipes 21 deliver air to the inside of the wall while others are transporting air out of the interior of the wall. For example, if the condensation problem is sever due to extreme temperature differences between the exterior and the interior side of the wall, this solution may be used to move the condensation point out of the interior space of the wall.

Figure 11 illustrates how cladding panels according to the present invention can be mounted onto the outside of a wall. The illustration depicts an existing wall surface, but it is the same method used when mounting cladding panels onto building frame works of any material or material combination (i.e. steel rods, wooden beams, concrete beams yet.).

The starting point is to attach a horizontal girder 23 onto a lower part of the wall cladding panels are to be used. Figure 11a illustrates how the girder may run all the way around a building. The girder in this example is an L shaped object.

Figure lib illustrates further details of the example of girder 23 according to the present invention. The backside of the girder rest against the wall or a building framework and may be attached to the wall or framework by screws 23a. At the bottom of the L shaped girder a first roe of cladding panels are assembled. The surface of the girder the cladding panels are resting on is arranged with a plurality of openings 23b that is in contact with respective upwards/downwards airing channels of the airing layer 11 of the cladding panel for example illustrated in Figure 7. Figure 12 illustrates how further cladding panels may be mounted onto the girder around corners. One of the two cladding panels being joined around a building corner is adjusted such that the exterior panel 13 of the cladding panel covers the end of the other of the two cladding panels.

On the surface of the girder the cladding panels are resting may also comprise a part of click joint 24 adapted to a corresponding opening arranged on the periphery of the cladding panels. The same click joint may be used to join adjacent panels when they are mounted around the wall, and further upwards on the wall.

Claims

Claims:

A cladding panel (10) comprising :

- an insulation layer (11);

- an airing layer (12);

- an exterior panel plate (13); wherein the airing layer (12) is constituted by a plurality of distributed spacer elements (12a) protruding outwardly from the insulating layer (11), and is located in between the insulating layer (11) and the exterior panel plate (13), thereby forming airing channels (12b, 12c) in between the respective bodies of the spacer elements (12a) in sideways and upwards/downwards directions relative to the periphery sides (10a, 10b) of the cladding panel (10).

The cladding panel of claim 1, wherein the spacer elements (12a) are constituted by rectangular shaped elements made out of an insulating material used in the insulating layer (11).

The cladding panel of claim 1, wherein the insluating layer (11) is arra with a panel plate on an outer backside of the insulating layer.

The cladding panel of claim 1, wherein cutouts passing through the cladding panel is beaking flowpaths of respective airing channels, wherein new flow paths around the cutouts are constitued by the sideways channels and the upwards/downwrads channels constituted by the spacer elements in the viscinity of the periphery around the cutout.

5. The cladding panel according to claim 4, wherein a cutout is adapted to support a window frame.

The cladding panel according to claim 4, wherein a cutout is adapted to support a door frame.

The cladding panel according to claim 1, wherein periphery side faces of the cladding panel is arranged with click joints facilitating connecting adjacent cladding pannels together.

The cladding panel according to claim 3, wherein spacer elements are arranged inbetween the panel plate and an extrior surface of the building wall when mounting the cladding panel on an exterior surface of a building wall.

9. The cladding panel according to claim 1, wherein the insulation layer is facing towards a framwork of a building wall surface when mounting the cladding panel.

10. The cladding panel according to claim 3, wherein the plate on the outer backside of the insulating layer is facing towards a framework of a building wall when mounting the cladding panel.

11. The cladding panel according to claim 1, wherein the insulation layer is constituted by a first sublayer of insulating material glued onto a second sublayer of insulating material.

12. The cladding panel according to claim 11, wherein the first sublayer is glued onto the second sublayer with an offset realtive to the second sublayer.

13. The cladding panel according to claim 1, wherein a subsett of

upwards/downwards airing channels of the insulation layer is arranged with air conducts distributing external air to/from rooms on the inside of the walls of the building.

14. A method of mounting cladding panels according to any claims 1 to 10 onto a building, comprising : mounting a support girder (23) horizontally along a defined starting level on a wall surface of the building, wherein the support girder (23) is arranged with a click joint (24) on a surface facing upwards;

starting mounting a first cladding panel onto the click joint of the support girder followed by a second cladder panel being mounted onto the click joint of the girder adjacent to the first cladding panel;

- shortening the width of the second cladder panel if the horizontal width of the cladding panel extends outside a corner of the wall surface of the building when mounting the second cladder panel;

- continuing mounting cladding panels onto the wall surface.

15. The method according to claim 15, further comprising removing existing old cladding panels or wall covers on a wall surface of a building before adding new cladding panels.