BETTERED, HIGH THERMAL, AND/OR SOUND INSULATING MODULAR ELEMENTS SUITABLE FOR BUILDINGS

Abstract: Bettered, high thermal and/or sound insulating modular elements consisting of a self-extinguishing, foam plastic cube (10), with a main passage, or hole (16), designed to be filled by the concrete cast, with several secondary holes (26), parallel to the main hole (16), dove-tail shaped projections (28) that extend over the entire surface of the opposite faces (32) that serve as a head and over a part of the surface of the opposite faces (30) that serve as a side. The main hole (16) is surrounded by a cavity (18) corresponding to the upper face (12) of the cube and by a projection (20), coherent with the said cavity in correspond­ ence with the lower face (14). The modular element may have multiple dimensions of the elementary cube (10).

Description: BErTERED, HIGH THERMAL AND/OR SOUND INSULATING MODULAR ELEMENTS SUITABLE FOR BUILDINGS. This invention refers to bettered, modular elements having high thermal and/or sound insulating properties, suitable for the erection of mainly reinforced concrete buildings. This invention also refers to building components, in particular internal and/or external walls designed to form the essential, or at least prevailent part of buildings for housing, offices, warehouses, industrial buildings, and other kinds, the said components being obtained using the said single, or multiple modular elements, the multiplicity always referring to a whole multiple of the unit. Concrete buildings, generally reinforced concrete type are known, containing modular elements with expendable insulating forms. This is due to the fact that, in these buildings the forms are buried in the masonry structure and hence are not recoverable. Notoriously, these structures have different advantageous prerogatives, both in view of their thermal and/or sound insulating property and that of the erection of the materials. In the resulting structures, in particular the perimeter and/ or internal walls, the expendable insulating forms are buried and variously arranged and joined with a satisfactory, but incomplete continuity in the concrete mass. Several structures include double walls in which metallic components are present, in particular reinforcing iron bars which, as is known in the art, are buried in the concrete mass poured, or " cast " into the gap existing between the two walls. As is known the walls of the said forms are preferably realised using components which in turn are produced with polymeric materials having high insulating properties and a very low specific weight such as polystyrene foam In addition, in buildings the single walls are kept at the foreseen distance, generally modular, by separation inserts which act as spacers for the reinforcing iron bars. These separation inserts are also metallic and constitute other thermal and sound " bridges " which alter the desirable discontinuity in the heat and sound transmission . Consequently, the known structures do not have the required complete heat, cold, hence thermal and sound insulating properties In addition,the preliminary operations for the erection of the double walls and the preparation of the relative moulds are fairly complex and numerous. In fact, the said operations include introduction of the said inserts, which act as spacers and which form an equal number of " thermal or sound bridges" and require the prior decision regarding the spacing between the double walls associated with the final size of the separation inserts. In addition, the stability of the expendable structure may be faulty and incomplete during the overlaying operation in the waiting phase before filling with concrete. Another limitation in the known structures is due to the fact that in completed buildings, passages to position various lines, such as water pipes, variously insulated electric cabl-es, antenna down lines, for radio and/or television receivers, telephone systems and other users are not foreseen. As a consequence, the absence of longitudinal passages in the gaps between the double walls in the concrete mass necessarily requires a partial demolition and the formation of discontinuities for the passage of the said lines. Furthermore, the internal and/or external plastering of known buildings is achievable with the most desirable positional stability. In fact, since " setting tut of the cement mortar requires a certain waiting time, the said mortar tends to slip down the walls, despite the use of setting accellerators and the pre-arrangement of reliefs andjor grooves on the surfaces of the foam components, the said reliefs and grooves generally being continuous and orientated in a vertical dirsection Other methods to achieve the required thermal and/or sound insulation are known, such as the application of insulating materials inside the gaps of numerous traditional building components, or the use of elements made using insulating material for the realisation of floors and/or walls with rein forced concrete parts cast in loco. However, even these latter methods have several drawbacks, such as the presence of thermal bridges, the non-uniformity of the degree of thermal insulation over the surfaces, the rigidity of the modular dimensions, the presence of joints, or of flanking lines, the difficult seal of linings and of plasters and so forth. The purpose of this invention is that of providing new elements, preferably but not critically modular for the erection of reinforced concrete buildings, having high and practically homogeneous thermal and/or sound insulating properties, which do not have the above mentioned drawbacks. More in particular, the purpose of this invention is to pro vide new elements, preferably modular, having high thermal and sound insulating properties to be used individually, or in combination for the formation of building components, such as internal and/or external walls having the fullest degree of the said thermal and sound insulating propert- ties. Another purpose of this invention is to provide new modular elements which besides having the above detailed properties may be readily inserted so as to ensure their stability when overlaid, aligned and/or placed side by side. A further purpose of this invention is that of providing build- ing components, in particular internal and/or external walls, designed to constitute the essential, or at least prevailant part of buildings for civil and/or industrial use, such as housings, offices, warehouses, industrial buildings, or other structures formed by individual or multiple elements, the multiplicity always referring to a whole multiple of the unit. According to this invention, these and other purposes are achieved by using expendable bettered, modular elements having an essentially cubic configuration and made of plastic, self-extinguishing foam material having high thermal and/ or sound insulating properties, the said bettered element is characterised in that it can be overlaid with other similar elements, it is foreseen with passages contained along at least one of its straight sections perpendicular to the overlying plane and has the heads and sides shaped to present " dove-tail "reliefs which externally occupy at least part of the sufaces of the said heads and sides. The said dove-tail reliefs make it possible to create a structure on the continuous surfaces that is suitable to receive and stabily hold layers of plaster, as well as to form a bond between the elements that are adjacent to one another even when at a right angle, when internal and/or external walls are formed. Any expendable plastic may be used to make this element, even if polystyrene is preferred. The bettered element of this invention has a main through passage, or hole. The holes of each element communicate with one another in the continuity of the overlaid elements and are designed, in the said continuity, to form the spaces inside which is it intended to cast, or pour the cement material which in turn is to form the load-bearing and resistant structure of the building wall. In addition, the bettered element of this invention has secondary holes, or passages substantially parallel to the said main hole to position the electric and/or water lines and other lines in the building structure. The said main passage or hole, which for its primary function may be defined as a 1t casting or pouring hole" may have any geometric cross section, cylindrical, square, polygonal, provided it can be inserted in a circle and preferably is substantially a troncated cone and emerges with a projection, or small collar . The said small collar is repeated for each main passage or hole which the element has in the event that it includes numerous modular components. The said small collar which projects in the lower part of the element is designed to penetrate inside a coherent opening pre-arranged in the overlaid element. The same element has a cavity at the opening of the main hole, or passage capable of receiving the projecting part belonging to the over-laying element. Consequently, each individual element has at least one pro jection and at least one recess on the two upper and lower surfaces respectively, to assure material continuity and stability in the series of overlaid elements. In addition each main passage, or hole near to its opening and adjacent to the said projection, has a further thin projection, directed towards the inside and designed to contribute to the closure of the continuity solution between the overlaying elements and the essential thermal seal between the said elements themselves. The said thin projections, in the case of elements having at least two main casting or pouring holes or passages, are interconnected by projecting segments arranged in the plane that contains all the various holes or passages. The projections are accompanied by co-herent cavities inside which the projections of the overlying element enter. These penetrated projections and cavities also contribute to the thermal and/ or sound continuity and in addition to the stability of the series of overlying and stacked elements in the formation of expendable structures destined to receive the concrete cast. Consequently, each individual element has at least one or more of the said projections and/ or recesses, or cavities contained in the plane of the axis for the said main holes or passages which, as previously said, preferably have a troncated cone shape, but may have other geometric sections if desired, for example, square, regular polygon, or others. The structural and functional characteristics of the better ed, modular element,according to the invention,will be understood better in the following detailed description in which reference is made to the figures in the attached drawings which illustrate several embodiment examples of different expendable, modular types of element, data of an exemplificative, but non-limitative nature for this invention where : figure 1, represents the perspective view of a bettered modular element of this invention; figure 2, represents the perspective view from below of the modular element of fig. 1; figures 3 and 4 represent the schematic views of the crosssection of the modular element of figures 1 and 2, obtained with a plane and in the direction indicated by TH - III and IV-IV respectively in figure l; figure 5 represents the plan view of numerous similar single elements linked to one another by dove-tail joints; figure 6 represents the plan view of a multiple element that may be produced in a single parallelepipedon piece and that materialises a combination of four single elements; figure 7 is a perspective view of a multiple element which materialises a combination of only two single elements; figure 8 represents the plan view of an expendable angular structure formed by the linking of three single elements arranged linearly and joined at a right angle to a further single element; figure 9 represents the perspective view of another combination including in different planes, a single element link ed to numerous pairs, each formed by two elements, conforming to that of figure 7, in particular for the erection of an internal and/or external wall; figures 10 and 11 represent the plan view of single elements according to an embodiment variant when the main holes or passages have a square and hexagonal cross-section respectively; figure 12 represents the sectional view, with a through plane for the axis of the main holes, of numerous overlying single elements in a position of mutual insertion, one¯of which is spaced, in the insertion phase; figure 13 represents the sectional view of the two lower elements inserted in figure 12, with a through plane for the axis of one of the secondary holes, and figures 14 and 15 represent the section views of the projections inserted in the said main holes before casting the concrete and after the said casting operation respectively, the inserted modular elements being arranged in an expendable manner in a reinforced concrete structure using iron bars inserted in the main holes. With particular reference to figures 1 and 2 the bettered modular element 10 subject of this invention has the form of a cube obviously made up of six equal faces which for the sake of simplicity will be called upper face 12, lower face 14, a pair of opposite side faces 30 as the sides and a pair of opposite side faces 32 as the head. The modular element 10 has a main through hole or passage 16 designed to be filled and saturated by the concrete cast. The said upper face 12 of element 10 has a cavity 18 which substantially defines the said main hole 16, a cavity which is coherent with the projection 20 included in the lower face 14 of the element 10 itself. To contribute to the best joint between the overlying elements 1O,the said cavity 18 is diametrally interrupted by lengths of cavity 22 which in turn are coherent with the projection lengths 24 on the lower face 14. The element cube 10, also has secondary holes 24 designed if necessary,to accommodate electric and/or water lines, or other services. Projections 24 with a dove-tail section are formed on at least part of the remaining side faces of the cube which makesup the element 10. The said projections do not completely occupy all the surfaces of the face on the pair of opposite faces 30 which serve as sides, but terminate with a given inclination on them. The said projections 28 serve to retain the plastering of the masonry wall to be erected, as well as to permit both the joint between the elements mutually arranged at a right angle ( as illustrated in figure 8) and linking between elements placed side by side. The said dove-tail projections 28 in the remaining opposite faces 32 that serve as heads extend without discontinuity on the surfaces of the faces themselves, assisting the linear linkage between the adjacent elements ( as illustrated in figure 5). For this purpose, the dove-tail projections 28 on each of the opposite faces 32 are displaced so that the projections of one face correspond to the hollows of the said dove-tail shape on the opposite face. As may be observed in figures 3 and 4 the main hole, or passage 16 which completely passes through the element 10 is preferably a truncated cone ( in the case of a hole with a circular cross-section), but may also have a different crosssection, for example square and/or polygonal, but always preferably inscribable in a circle ( as represented in figures 10 and 11). At the small end of the said main passage 16 a relatively thin internal projection 34 is arranged but which is sufficient to ensure the continuity of the overlying elements. The said thin projections 34, by deforming as a result of the concrete cast 36 ( see figure is) ensures the filling of possible gaps that may form between the overlaid elements 10 and hence integrates the continuity of the thermal and/or sound insulation in the building. The concrete cast 36 is commonly reinforced with "iron bars t 38 that are inserted inside the said holes 16 in the erection of generally load-bearing masonry. As may be observed in figures 12 and 13, the penetration of the overlaid elements 10 is complete in the material continuity of the structure and in addition, both the main holes 16 and the secondary holes 26 are coaxially aligned, ensuring both the continuity of the concrete cast 36 and the positioning and arrangement of the water, electric lines and other services. Figures 6 and 7 illustrate how numerous elements that are individually cubic may be associated to obtain a combined and homogeneous structure inscribable in a variously elongated parnllelepipedon that, in the case of the composite element 40 ( figure 6) circumscribes four elementary and aligned cubes, whereas in the case of the composite element 42 (figure 7) it circumscribes only two elementary, adjacent cubes. Each one of the composite structures 40 and 42 has a number of main 16 and secondary 26 holes corresponding to each elementary cubic part of which it is formed, as well as dove-tails 28 which do not fully occupy the surfaces of the opposite faces 30, serving as a side and dove-tails 28 that extend over the entire surface of the respective opposite faces 32, serving as a head. Figure 9 illustrates how an expendable composite structure 50 may be realised, suitable for the erection of an external or internal wall, for example with elements 10 and 42. The said elements are made using self-extinguishing foam material and hence very light and with sound and heat insulating properties. The building structure obtained with the modular elements of this invention may be readily plastered and in a stable manner using cement mixes,by operations that are in themselves known. While the invention has herein been described and illustrated by way of some detailed embodiments, it will be appreciat )ed that various modifications, variations and substitutions of equivalents may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims: CLAIMS 1) Bettered, expendable, high thermal and/or sound insulating modular element, suitable for the formation of buildings by the overlying and flanking of several modular elements and made using self-extinguishing foam plastic material, wherein it has an essentially cubic configuration and has passages, or holes contained in at least one straight section, perpendicular to the overlying plane and dove-tail reliefs, or projections along at least a part of the surfaces of the heads and the sides. 2. Bettered,modular element, according to claim 1, wherein it has a main passage, or hole and several secondary passages or holes which fully pass through it; the said main and secondary holes being orientated virtually in parallel to one another. 3. Bettered, modular element, according to claim 1, or 2, therein the dove-tail projections extend over the entire surface of the opposite side faces, that serve as a head, whereas they do not fully occupy the surfaces of the opposite side faces, that serve as sides. 4. Bettered, modular element, according to any one of the previous claims wherein the upper face has a cavity that circumscribes the main hole and correspondingly, the lower face has a projection coherent with the said cavity. 5. Bettered, modular element according to claim 4, wherein the cavity is diametrally interrupted by lengths of cavity segments and correspondingly the projection is completed by lengths of projections diametraily coherent with the cavity lengths. 6. Bettered, modular element according to any one of the previous claims, wherein the main hole has a circular crosssection, or is inscribable in a circle, such as a square, or regular polygon and has an essentially convergent internal configuration. 7. Bettered, modular element, according to claim 6, wherein the main hole has a truncated cone cross-section. 8. Bettered, modular element, according to anyone of the previous claims, wherein the main hole has a relatively thin and deformable internal projection in proximity to the smaller cross-section, which after casting of the concrete deforms so as to overlay any possible gap between the overlaid elements. 9. Bettered, modular element, according to claim 3, wherein the dove-tail projections, which do not completely occupy the surfaces of the faces that serve as sides, terminate with a sloping plane with respect to the side surfaces to form a retention surface for the plaster. 10. Bettered, modular element, according to anyone of the previous claims, wherein it has the dimensions of at least two elementary cubes positioned side by side and has main and secondary holes corresponding to the equivalent number of elementary cubes and with dove-tail shaped projections along at least part of the surfaces of the heads and the sides.

Inventors: BARBIERI, GIUSEPPE, BARBIERI, LUIGI
Applicants: G.P.E. GENERALE POLISTIROLO ESPANSO DI BARBIERI LUIGI, GIUSEPPE E SILVIO S.N.C.
Application year: 1985
Main classification: E04B2
IPC codes: E04B2, E04C1