Abstract:
Improved apparatus and methods for making, assembling and constructing a standardized wall and floor or ceiling panel made of a cementitious material, or similar material, for walls, ceilings, roofs and foundations. An embodiment of the invention implements both pre-cast and cast in place steel reinforced systems of interconnected panels to form a monolithic building structure. A panel unit is formed with longitudinal cavities and interconnected transverse cavities and when used in a structural system, a panel is connected to adjoining panels using an alignment plug. The interconnected panels thus provide passages or ducts for piping, wires and other conduit to run uninterrupted from panel to panel, wall to wall and wall to floor, which can be accessed through a closable access opening. A continuity alignment pipe or a shear transfer bar may be used in the structure. The panel may be customized by providing a door or window opening for applications calling for such embodiments.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The field of the invention is apparatus and methods for making, assembling and constructing structures such as dwellings or the like. It is expected that the 21 st  century will see a severe shortage of housing, especially low income housing. This shortage is expected to be even more acute for those living in poverty conditions and for persons in need of homeless shelters in urban areas of the industrialized world. There is a need for smaller and more affordable housing, including housing for needy persons seeking shelter or refuge. The positive effect adequate shelter has on a human being is obvious. 
     There is also a need for housing that is less expensive and longer lasting. Most U.S. dwellings are made of wood frame construction. This includes wood beams, wood columns and plywood that is nailed, strapped and bolted together using a series of studs and plates. Standard wood frame construction has many problems and consequently, has spawned a number of industries to cope with pest control, fire control, sound control and energy control, among others. The net effect of this is to increase the cost of home ownership, including homeowners&#39; insurance. These costs can be viewed as wasted funds that could be redirected into income producing efforts. It is estimated that U.S. families spend a tremendous amount of money on this type of home protection compared to their counterparts elsewhere. 
     Insulated concrete forms, or “ICF”, uses foam blocks which are filled with concrete and steel. This process works on walls, not on ceilings, and most importantly, it requires carving passages into the foam material for conduits and the like. Another construction material is pre-cast concrete, which has been in existence for a long time. Some pre-cast concrete designs allow for grout or pipe openings however, no system is known to exist which is designed to encompass the requirements of a dwelling or similar structure. 
     Cast-in-place systems are also used. This process is the most common method of construction in Europe and South America. In this process, all foundations, floors, beams and ceilings are made of poured in place concrete. Walls are added later by using bricks or blocks which are later finished with plaster. The “tilt-up” method of construction casts concrete walls in place using embedded attachments for wooden or metal roofs. When cured, the walls are tilted upward into place. This method is prevalent in industrial building applications. 
     Another well known method uses what is known as hollow core panels having a series of parallel cells. These conventional panels are mostly used as floor planks in high rise buildings. The conventional process to manufacture these uses a long bed, 500 feet or longer typically, which looks like an airport runway. The conventional hollow core panels are cast on the long bed with the equipment, materials and personnel moving along the bed as the hollow core panels are formed in a continuous span. The continuous span of hollow core panels never moves until it is cut up and loaded for transport to the installation site. This procedure includes a significant amount of down time, due to time lost to transportation of personnel and materials. Cavities conventionally have been created in structural panels in a variety of ways, including using inflatable tubes or augers. All these techniques have met with limited success. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a solution to many of the problems associated with conventional apparatus and systems. In one embodiment, the invention combines pre-cast systems with cast-in-place systems creating a structure that is stronger, longer lasting, non-flammable and extremely resistant to bio-degradation. The invention creates both access to, and interconnection of, electrical lines and plumbing throughout an entire structure. It also eliminates most of the drilling necessary by skilled tradesmen, such as electrical work and plumbing work. It provides access to electrical and plumbing circuits and easy access to such systems for repair, maintenance and upgrading. The inventive panel can be made in a production line, allowing personnel, equipment and materials to remain in a specific location while the panel travels through the manufacturing process. 
     Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved apparatus and methods for making a useful panel made of a cementitious material, or other material, for walls, ceilings, roofs and foundations for dwellings or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide improved methods of construction using panels of the type shown and described herein. 
     It is an object of the invention to utilize a novel combination of pre-cast and cast-in-place concrete with a series of interconnected reinforced posts and beams to provide a stronger structure. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a monolithic structure so that in the case of terrain slippage, the structure would move as a complete unit, minimizing or eliminating breakage into pieces. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide permanent access to wiring and pipes through a removable plate on the wall of a structure. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a novel system of permanent passages in a structure to permit the placement of, and later access to, plumbing, electrical, telephone, television, heating ducts and other circuits and services without the need to tear down walls or drill conduit passage holes. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide methods to access plumbing and electrical circuits in a structure to construct, maintain or upgrade them. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a method for transferring shear forces across ceiling and floors in a structure to create a diaphragm. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a novel structure for dwellings and the like that is non-flammable, not attacked by pests, is bullet proof and flood resistant. 
     Other and further objects will appear to those skilled in the art from the specification and drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an end view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention showing a wall panel; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a wall panel; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line  3 — 3  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a ceiling panel; 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line  5 — 5  of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is an end view of the ceiling panel; 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a wall panel with a window opening; 
     FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a wall panel with a door opening; 
     FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the junction of two side-by-side ceiling panels and a shear transfer bar; 
     FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an alignment plug for aligning joined panels; 
     FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a wall panel with typical plumbing, wiring and fixtures installed; 
     FIG. 12 is a perspective view of an expandable liner tube; 
     FIG. 13 is a perspective view of an expander unit; 
     FIG. 14 is an end view of the expander unit, showing the collapsed and expanded positions; 
     FIG. 15 shows a typical panel joint using an alignment plug; 
     FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the ends of multiple interconnected liner tubes in an expanded configuration; and 
     FIG. 17 is a perspective view illustrating a cast-in-place system of interconnected wall panels and ceiling panels in a monolithic structural embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In a preferred embodiment, FIGS. 1 and 2 show the novel panel  10  in a wall configuration. The panel  10  is preferably made of concrete, a cementitious material or other materials known to skilled persons to have similar properties. The concrete or other material is preferably reinforced with steel reinforcing bars or fibers with similar properties. The panels  10  can be manufactured in various widths, heights and thicknesses as requirements may dictate and the panel  10  can be custom molded in place, or made remotely and transported to an installation site. 
     Preferably, the wall panel  10  has a plurality of cell cavities  12  as shown in FIG.  1 . The cell cavities  12 , which preferably span the longitudinal length of the panel  10 , will be vertically oriented when the panel  10  is used as a wall in a dwelling or other structure. The cell cavities  12  are surrounded by top  13   a , bottom  13   b  and ribs  14  as shown in FIG. 1, which are designed to sustain the applied loads. The concrete material making up the panel  10  is preferably reinforced with reinforcing steel bars  16  and wire mesh  17  to strengthen the panel  10  and allow it to sustain the different loads and forces that the structure may be subjected to. In the preferred embodiment, the panel  10  is made with end ribs  15  angled slightly, creating v-groove 15v as illustrated in FIG. 15 for demonstrative purposes. 
     The preferred embodiment includes transverse interconnection openings  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21 ,  22  and  23  as labeled and shown in FIG.  2 . In this embodiment, the openings  19 - 23  provide transverse pathways between cell cavities  12  and as can be appreciated by skilled persons, providing pathways for conduit used in dwellings and other structures. In this embodiment, interconnection openings  18  and  19  shown in FIG. 2 may be designated for plumbing pipes, openings  20  and  21  for electrical circuit wiring, opening  22  for alignment of and access to door and window openings and opening  23  for general purposes. Continuity alignment pipe  27  is preferably used to link wall panels  10  together and maintain conduit access across cell cavities  12  that may have to be filled with concrete or other cementitious material. In the preferred embodiment, the panel  10  includes baseboard access  28  (shown in FIGS. 7,  8  and  11 ) with removable cover  28   a  permitting access to interconnection openings  18 ,  19  and  20  shown in FIG.  2 . Access to interconnection opening  23  is facilitated too in the case of a lower wall panel  10 . 
     In a preferred embodiment, FIG. 4 shows a floor/ceiling panel  30 . This panel  30  is preferably made of concrete, a cementitious material or other materials known to skilled persons to have similar properties. The concrete or other material is preferably reinforced with steel reinforcing bars or fibers with similar properties. The panels  30  can be manufactured in various widths, heights and thicknesses as requirements may dictate and to accommodate longer spans. The panels  30  can also be custom molded in place or made at a remote manufacturing facility and transported to an installation site. 
     This floor/ceiling panel  30  has cell cavities  32  as shown in FIGS. 4,  5  and  6  forming a hollow core panel. The cell cavities  32  will vary in height since thicker panels  30  may be required and are within the scope of the invention. Preferably, the cell cavities  32  span the longitudinal length of the panel  30  as shown in FIG.  4 . In a preferred embodiment, the width of cell cavities  32  is the same as the width of cell cavities  12  (for wall panel  10 ) to allow for proper alignment of conduit that spans between a wall panel  10  and floor/ceiling panel  30 . The cell cavities  32  are surrounded by faces  33   a ,  33   b  and ribs  34  which are designed to sustain the applied loads. The concrete material of the panel  30  is reinforced with reinforcing steel bars  36  and wire mesh  37  as is known to skilled persons. Additional reinforcing steel bars  46  for shear strengthening is preferably placed as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The panel  30  is preferably made with end ribs  35  angled slightly, creating a v-groove 35v as demonstrated in FIG.  9 . 
     The preferred embodiment includes transverse interconnection openings  40  and  41  as shown in FIG. 4 to provide transverse pathways running between cell cavities  32 . Interconnection openings  40  are preferably designated for general purpose and act in a similar fashion as transverse openings  18 - 23  described previously. Continuity alignment pipe  27  shown in FIG. 2 is also used to link floor/ceiling panels  30  together in a similar fashion as for wall panels  10 , using interconnection openings  40 , and maintain conduit access across cell cavities  32  that may have to be filled with concrete or other cementitious material. Top/bottom access hole  39  allows for the continuation of cell cavities  12  from lower wall panel  10 , through floor/ceiling panel  30  and to the next upper wall panel  10 . Preferably, the panel  30  is provided with openings  38  as shown in FIG. 4 so that appropriate shear transfer reinforcing and concrete can be inserted into the cell cavities  32  to create a structural link between adjacent floor/ceiling panels  30 . As shown in FIG. 9, shear transfer bar  44  is preferably used to hook together steel reinforcing bars  45  continuing from wall panel  10  into floor/ceiling panel  30 . The shear transfer bar  44  lessens or eliminates the need to spot tie or weld shear transfer bar  44  to steel reinforcing bars  45 . Preferably, the floor/ceiling panel  30  includes a rebar passage  43  as shown in FIGS. 4 and 9 to facilitate placement of the reinforcing bars  45 . As shown in FIG. 9, side hole  41  permits placement of the shear transfer bar  44  between panels  30  to form an integral structural unit. 
     A preferred embodiment of a wall panel  10  with door opening  50  is shown in FIG.  8 . The wall panel  10  can be molded in place or manufactured at a manufacturing plant and then transported to a construction site for installation. Wall panels  10  can be manufactured with different sized door openings  50 . FIG. 7 shows a preferred embodiment of wall panel  10  with window opening  52 . The window opening  52  can also be manufactured in different sizes and shapes as requested by the builder or building developer. 
     FIG. 17 shows a monolithic structural system  54  assembled from the wall panels  10  and floor/ceiling panels  30 . In a preferred assembly method, floor/ceiling panels  30  are used as a floor and the wall panels  10  are placed in a vertical orientation rising from floor panels  30  with another set of floor/ceiling panels  30  forming a ceiling or base for the next higher floor. Preferably, alignment plug  58  shown in FIG. 10 is utilized. In this embodiment, one end of the alignment plug  58  is sized to snugly fit onto the opening of cell cavity  12  of a wall panel  10  and the opposite end of the alignment plug  58  fits snugly onto the top/bottom access hole  39  of the floor/ceiling panel  30  as shown in FIG.  15 . This allows the wall panel  10  to remain aligned with the floor/ceiling panels  30  as shown in FIG. 15, by aligning the cell cavities  12  at the lower end of wall panel  10  with the top/bottom access holes  39  of the floor panel  30  and for the next higher floor, aligning the cell cavities  12  at the upper end of wall panel  10  with the holes  39  of the ceiling panel  30 . The alignment plug  58  can be made of a solid material such as concrete and left in the structure after competed as in FIG. 15, or alignment plug  58  can be made of conventional pliant materials so it can be folded and then removed through the baseboard access  28 . Wall panels  10  are placed next to each other as shown in FIG.  17  and alignment maintained by the use of continuity alignment pipes  27  shown in FIG. 2, to link wall panels  10 . Preferably, corner wall  10  connections use modified continuity alignment pipes  27  which are bent in a 90 degree configuration known to skilled persons, to allow passage of pipes and wiring around corners. 
     In the preferred method, once walls  10  have been assembled on one level, say the first floor of a dwelling, alignment plugs  58  are placed on top of the walls in the manner described above, to facilitate placement of the ceiling panels  30 . Thereafter, reinforcing steel  45  is placed as needed and preferably hooked together using shear transfer bars  44  where appropriate. End cell cavities  12  and  32  are then filled with a cementitious material, such as concrete creating a continuous post/beam/post configuration as shown in FIG.  17 . The assembled structure  54  in FIG. 17 shows one embodiment of this configuration with the filled cavities  60  shown interconnecting the panels  10  and  30 . 
     In FIG. 11 a typical wall panel  10  is shown with utilities in place including parts of the electrical circuit including light switch  63  and electrical wiring  64  to control light fixture  66 . The wiring  64  passes through the transverse interconnection opening  20  and cell cavities  12 . Another circuit passes wiring  64  through opening  20 , connects to AC plug  68  though cell cavity  12  and continues out of the panel  10  though opening  20  at the opposite end of panel  10  to an AC circuit of an adjacent wall panel  10 . This demonstrates one advantage of both transverse and longitudinal conduit passages. FIG. 11 also shows plumbing pipes  70  and  72  running through the wall panel  10  through openings  18  and  19  respectively. 
     FIG. 16 illustrates a preferred method of making a panel through the use of an expander unit  80  and liner  81 . As shown in FIG. 13, expander unit  80  is preferably comprised of four members  80   a-d  linked together as shown in FIGS. 13-14. Members  80   a-d  can be spread apart or brought closer together manually or by pneumatically operated or electrically operated devices known to skilled persons. As shown in FIG. 16, liner  81  is placed on the collapsible structure  80  to form the cavities. Once the concrete or similar material has been poured and adequately set or cured, the expander unit  80  is collapsed and removed. The liner  81  is then preferably removed a few hours later. 
     Another preferred method is shown in FIG. 16, where cross-sectional bar  83  is inserted in each location where openings are required. This cross-sectional bars  83  passes through holes  81   h  in liner  81 , shown in 
     FIG. 12, and through passages in expander unit  80 . Once the concrete or similar material has adequately set or cured, bars  83  are removed prior to collapsing the expander unit  80 . Alternatively, liner  81  is made without any holes and a transverse interconnection opening can be made by suspending and compressing a polystyrene or similar compressible material shown as plug  85  in FIG. 16 between fully expanded cells. This alternative preferred method inhibits the seepage of watery concrete into the openings and cavities. This method is preferably used to create openings for top/bottom access holes  39 , AC plug  68 , light fixture  66  and light switch  63 . 
     While embodiments of the present invention and modifications thereto have been shown and disclosed in the drawings and specification, alternate embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art and this application is intended to include those embodiments within the full breadth and scope of the claims. The present invention is not limited by any parameters described herein and the present invention need not include all of the features disclosed in the single embodiment, but rather one or more features may be included.