Apparatus for supporting formwork panels in wall construction

An apparatus for supporting formwork panels in wall construction comprises a pair of rails for supporting the lower edges of a pair of formwork panels. Spacers fixed to the floor engage the rails to maintain them parallel to one another a predetermined distance apart.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application related to and claims priority to Irish Patent Application Serial Number S2008/0091, filed Feb. 5, 2008 and Irish Patent Application Serial Number S2008/0752, filed Sep. 18, 2008, the entirety of all which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting formwork panels in wall construction, a method of constructing a wall using such apparatus, and a wall so constructed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A type of wall construction is known in which formwork panels are mounted vertically upright and parallel to one another on a solid concrete floor, and the gap between the two filled with concrete. When the concrete is set the formwork panels can be left in place to form an integral part of the wall. These panels are known as permanent formwork panels and are typically made of cement—see, for example, WO 2004/091903.

It is therefore desirable to provide an apparatus and method to facilitate the construction of such walls.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention advantageously provides a method and system for supporting formwork panels in wall construction.

In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for supporting formwork panels in wall construction in which at least one pair of rails each supports the lower edge of a respective formwork panel. At least one spacer engages the rails and maintaining them substantially parallel to one another a predetermined distance apart. A fixing means fixes the spacer to a solid floor.

In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides a method of constructing a wall in which at least one pair of rails is laid on a solid floor with at least one spacer fixed to the floor engaging the rails and maintaining the rails substantially parallel to one another a predetermined distance apart. A pair of substantially parallel vertical formwork panels are located on the rails. Each panel is supported by its lower edge on a respective rail. The gap between the panels is filled.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the drawings the same reference numerals have been used for the same or equivalent components in the various embodiments.

Referring toFIGS. 1 to 3, a wall is constructed on a solid concrete floor10by laying a pair of panel support rails12parallel to one another on the floor. A plurality of identical transverse spacers14engage the rails12at spaced points along their length and maintain the rails12parallel to one another and a predetermined distance apart defined by the length of the spacers. Each rail12comprises a flat, highly elongated support plate16for supporting the lower edge of a respective formwork panel18(FIG. 3), an inwardly inclined wall20extending upwardly from the inside longitudinal edge of the support plate (in the present context “inwardly” means towards the longitudinal centerline between the two rails), and a flange24which extends downwardly from the top of the inclined wall20on the opposite side to the support plate16. The rails12have a substantially constant cross-section and are made by extrusion of a plastics material, such as poly vinyl chloride, polypropylene or high density polyethylene.

The spacers14are fixed to the floor10by bolts or HILTI gun nails22, and the rails12engage and are held in place at opposite outer ends respectively of the spacers14by inserting the flanges24into respective upwardly opening slots26in the ends of the spacers (FIG. 2), the flanges24fitting snugly into the slots26. Since the slots26run the entire length of the rails12, the spacers14can, prior to fixing, be slid along the rails for positioning at any desired point. In particular, they can be positioned to avoid wall reinforcing bars28extending upwardly from the solid floor10.

When the rails12and spacers14are fixed in position on the solid floor10, a pair of permanent formwork panels18is lowered onto the rails12so that the lower edge of each panel rests on a respective elongated support plate16,FIG. 3. The panels18are substantially parallel to one another and spaced apart by substantially the same distance as the distance between the inside longitudinal edges of the support plates16. They are held together by suitable ties (not shown), and when resting on the rails12extend vertically upwards. The inclined walls20assist in accurate location of the lower edges of the panels18.

Next, if the concrete floor10is uneven, any gaps between the rails14and the underlying floor10are sealed; following which concrete (not shown) is poured into the gap30between the formwork panels18to complete the wall. The ends of the gap30are closed off either by extending the rails and formwork up to an existing transverse wall, or by forming a T-join between walls as shown inFIG. 4. InFIG. 4, further rails12′ have been laid at right angles to the rails14, and further panels18′ at right angles to the panels18, to define a T-join between walls (the panels engaging the near rails12′ are omitted for clarity).

If necessary, for long walls two or more rails12may be laid end-to-end. Furthermore, different length spacers14may be provided for constructing different thickness walls. Although only two spacers14are shown inFIG. 1, the number of spacers used in any particular case, and their positioning along the rails, may be freely chosen according to requirements.

As well as enabling an engineer to accurately lay out where walls are to be placed and to effectively seal the bottom of the formwork before concrete is poured between the panels to ensure that there is no grout loss post pouring, barcodes (or other machine-readable identifiers) are also applied to the rails as they are produced and the rails are shipped with the associated permanent formwork panels which are also bar-coded.

When a rail is scanned on site with a handheld scanner attached to a PDA on which a model of the building is either stored or accessible across a network, the PDA can display where the rail is to be fixed on the ground. Similarly before being placed in position, the formwork panel and rail can be scanned to ensure they are properly located and also to update the progress of the construction through the PDA. To further assist in this regard, an alignment line can be defined on the formwork panel, as well as on the or each rail, to allow for perfect alignment of the panel vis-à-vis the track.

FIGS. 5 and 6show alternative forms of spacer and support rail for use in a second embodiment of the invention, shown in plan view inFIG. 7. Both the spacer and support rail are made of rigid PVC.

In this embodiment the spacer14retains the same overall “butterfly” shape as the spacer in the first embodiment. However, where the triangular “wings” of the butterfly are open in the first embodiment, here they are reinforced with three ribs32on each side of the center section34parallel to the respective end of the spacer, and by a vertical spine (not visible in the drawings) extending centrally within each wing normal to the ribs32(i.e., vertically below the mould mold line36). In addition, the hole38in the center section34which receives the HILTI gun nail22(FIGS. 1 and 2) is reinforced by radial ribs40which resist cracking at fixing time.

The spacer and rails have cooperating detent means which resist removal of the spacer from the rails in a direction normal to the length of the rails, while still permitting sliding movement of the spacer along the rails. In particular, in this embodiment the detent means comprises a longitudinally extending rib42on the flange and a corresponding longitudinally extending depression44inside the slot, the rib42becoming located in and sliding along the depression44when the spacer slidably engages the rails.

The advantage of the detent is that a pair of rails can be snap fitted to opposite ends of a set of spacers in a factory to produce a self-supporting ladder-like arrangement,FIG. 7, which can be transported to a building site as a single self-supporting unit rather than transporting the parts separately as a kit with attendant risk of loss. If desired, the spacers in the self-supporting ladder assembly could be pre-loaded with HILTI gun nails, so that when the assembly is located on site, an operator can simply walk along the assembly and fix it in place.