Apparatus for fabrication of mineral wool panels

Abstract: A panel comprising at least one covering sheet supporting a mineral wool blanket consisting of a plurality of side-by-side strips (6) having their longitudinal axis parallel to the panel axis and their fibres orientated perpendicular to the surface of the covering sheet, characterised in that the strips are offset in accordance with a pseudo-random arrangement.

Description: This invention relates to a mineral wool panel and a method for its construction. Sandwich panels used for constructing waits and/or roofs of buildings are known. These known panels consist of two flat or fretted metal sheets between which a layer of insulating material, generally mineral wool with orientated fibres, is interposed. The insulating material is introduced between the metal sheets generally in the form of side-by-side strips with their longitudinal axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the panel and with the fibres orientated perpendicular to the sheet surface. In other cases the covering sheets can be of plastics, textile, paper or wooden material, and in further cases only one covering sheet is provided. These known panels have however certain drawbacks, and in particular: a low mechanical bending strength due to the presence of discontinuities in the longitudinal direction of the filling, non-ideal utilisation of the anisotropic characteristics of the material. Again, introducing the insulating material in the form of side-by-side strips with their longitudinal axis parallel to the panel axis has the drawback of longitudinal discontinuity, whether the configuration is one in which they have a common transverse front or one in which they are offset in a stepped arrangement. EP-A-0 396 306 discloses a panel comprising two covering sheets supporting a mineral wool blanket consisting of a plurality of side-by-side strips having their longitudinal axis parallel to the panel axis and their fibres orientated perpendicular to the surface of the covering sheets whereby the strip are offset in accordance with a pseudorandom arrangement. GB-A-2.247.643 relates to manufacturing sandwich panels with a core of binder cured lamellas of mineral wool whose main grain is perpendicular to the main plane of the panel, the individual lamella layers being displaced lengthways in relation to one another so that joints between successive lamella pieces in adjacent lamella layers fall in different lines across the lamella core. An object of the invention is to obviate these drawbacks by providing an apparatus for constructing panels, substantially similar to the aforesaid, which have good transverse rigidity so as to support the tangential forces when subjected to bending stress. A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which can be used continuously or discontinuously, and automatically or non-automatically. These and further objects which will be apparent from the ensuing description are attained according to the invention by an apparatus in accordance with claim 1. The mineral wool panel is constructed by a method as claimed in claim 4. The present invention is further clarified hereinafter with reference to the accompanying darwings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a panel according to the invention partly without its upper metal sheet, Figure 2 is a plan view of a plant for continuously constructing the panel of Figure 1, Figure 3 is an enlarged view thereof taken on the line III-III of Figure 2, Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-section therethrough on the line IV-IV of Figure 2, Figures 5 is an enlarged section therethrough on the line V-V of Figure 2, Figure 6 is an elarged section therethrough on the line VI-VI of Figure 2. Figure 7 is an enlarged section therethrough on the line VII-VII of Figure 2, Figure 8 is a view thereof on the line VIII-VIII of Figure 2, Figure 9 is a partial plan view of a different plant embodiment and Figure 10 is an enlarged cross-section therethrough on the line X-X of Figure 9. As can be seen form the figures, the plant for constructing the panel according to the invention comprises substantially: a feed station 1 for mineral wool blankets, a cutting unit 3, an overturning unit 4, a station 5 for assembling the strips 6 leaving the overturning unit 4, and a station for pseudo-randomly distributing the strips. The station 1 comprises a belt conveyor 7 for transferring piles of blankets to an elevator table 8, at the upper end-of-travel position of which there is provided a pneumatic pusher 9. The cutting unit 3 consists of a multiple circular bladed saw 10 mounted on a shaft of horizontal axis and a roller advancement system 11. In other cases the advancement system can consist of a belt conveyor. Downstream of the cutting unit 3 there is a motorized rubber-coated roller table 12 which can be lowered relative to the cutting plane of the unit 3. Between the rollers 13 of the roller table 12 there are provided belts 14 advancing in a direction perpendicular to the direction of advancement along the rollers 13, and having the overturning unit 4 provided at their discharge end. Said overturning unit 4 consists substantially of a rotating shaft 15 provided with four blades 16 at equal angles apart and a semicircular guide 17. Downstream of said overturning unit there is provided a further conveyor comprising belts 18. which extends into a belt 19 for feeding the assembly station 5. The assembly station 5 comprises a pneumatic pusher 20, an offsetting device 21. a spacer member 22 and an element for achieving rear abutment consisting of a belt conveyour 24 leading to a compactor device 25. Specifically, the offsetting device 21 comprises two guiding side walls 26 and a plurality of intermediate guides'27 inclined upwards in the direction of advancement of the strips. The number of said guides 27 corresponds to the one half the number of side-by-side strips, the distance between their axes equalling the interaxial distance between three adjacent strips. The spacer member 22 consists of a plurality of horizontal guides 29 having their entry end connected to the end of the corresponding intermediate guide 27 and being of diverging extension. Downstream of the compactor device 25 there are provided a gluing press and a belt saw for the continuous panel formed. It should be noted that the pusher 20, the offsetting device 21, the spacer member 22, the belt conveyor 24 and the compactor device are interposed between the continuous superposed webs representing the upper metal sheet and lower metal sheet 32, 32' with which the panels are formed. The invention also provides for the use of a plurality of control members, sensors, limit switches and other devices appropriate for the correct functioning of the operating cycle. All these fall within the normal knowledge of the expert of the art and have therefore not been described or represented, however reference will be made to them during the course of the description of operation. During the operation of the plant for constructing the panel according to the invention, the piles of mineral wool blankets 2 with their fibres arranged transversely to their longitudinal axis are withdrawn from the store by fork lift trucks and positioned on the conveyour belt 7. Here the blanket piles are fed one at a time onto the elevator table 8 which rises stepwise through a distance equal to the thickness of a single binket and for a time sufficient to allow the pusher 9 to push the blanket occupying the upper postion onto the roller advancement system provided in the cutting unit. During this stage the underlying blanket is prevented from advancing as it rests against a stop member provided in the cutting unit 3. By passage between the circular saw blades 10 the blanket is divided into strips (ten in the illustrated example) the length and thickness of which correspond to the length and thickness of the starting blanket, their width corresponding to the thickness of the panel to be formed. The cut strips lying side by side are advanced along the motorized rubber coated roller table 12, at the end of which there is provided an end-of-travel sensor which, when the strips have become positioned on it, causes the roller table 12 to lower so that the strips rest on the belts 14 for their transfer in a direction perpendicular to the preceding towards the overturning unit 4. The strips 6 are brought in succession between the blades 16 of said overturning unit 4 by the advancement of the belts 14 and following 90° rotations become arranged on the conveyor 19 with their fibres orientated upwards. It should be noted that the peripheral velocity of the conveyor belt 19 is equal to the peripheral velocity of the blades of the overturning unit to ensure operational synchronization between the two. The strips 6 are then transferred to the assembly station 5, where they are consolidated in the number corresponding to the width of the panel to be formed, before the pusher 20 inserts them into the offsetting device 21. Here, because of the presence of the inclined intermediate guides 27, each strip is offset vertically relative to the adjacent strips (see Figure 6) and is then made to diverge from these (see Figure 7). Then as a result of the thrust of the strips of the next series of consolidated strips, the strips of the first series are thrust into the spacer 22 along which not only do they maintain their vertical offset but are spaced axially from each other. At the exit of the spacer 22, the strips are made to advance along the conveyor belt 24 towards the compactor device and during this advancement the strips of the first series are offset longitudinally, either automatically for example by interposing vertically movable stops, or manually for example by means of a suitably shaped template, to hence assume a pseudo-random distribution which is also preserved during passage through the compactor device, before their positioning on the sheet metal web 32'. As the velocity of the conveyor belt 24 is about double the velocity of advancement of the continuous sheet metal webs, it is apparent that the strips originating from the next blanket move to abut against the rear of the offset strips of the blanket which precedes them, so preserving this pseudo-random distribution. After this movement to the rear, the pair of lateral compactors 25 bring the spaced and longitudinally offset strips into transverse contact. The continuous blanket which gradually forms is then glued, inserted between the metal sheets 32, 32' and subjected to the action of the press to form a continuous panel, in accordance with traditional methods which do not form part of the invention. From the aforegoing it is apparent that because of the pseudo-random arrangement of the strips and hence the lack of preferential transverse fracture lines, the panel obtained in accordance with the invention has a greater capacity for supporting the tangential forces arising in flexural stress, hence enabling a structure of greater rigidity to be formed. The aforedescribed apparatus enables any arrangement of longitudinal strips to be formed, in that once the initial strip configuration has been set, all the subsequent strips abut against the rear without ever losing the initial configuration. In the embodiment shown in Figures 9 and 10 downstream of the cutting unit 3 there is a conveyor belt 33 divided into two sections, the first of which receives the strips 6 leaving the cutting unit, and the second being positioned below a transfer pusher 34. The transfer pusher is mounted above the discharge belt 33 and consists of a pair of chains 35 provided with pusher blades 36 and retaining blades 36'. The distance between the pusher blades 36 of two successive pairs represents the stroke of the pusher and is such as to enable all the strips 6 originating from one and the same blanket to be transferred. Downstream of the discharge belt there is provided a conveyor/accumulator 36 provided laterally with adjustable guides 50 and positioned slightly inclined upwards with reference to the direction of advancement so as to enable the height necessary for loading an overturning unit 38 to be reached. The velocity of the conveyor 37 is less than that of the chain 35 to prevent undesirable acceleration of the strips. The overturning unit 38 comprises substantially a sheet metal guide 39 concentric with the conveyor drive roller 40, a presser unit 41 electronically or mechanically synchronized with a pusher unit 42 driven with reciprocating motion by a connecting rod-crank system 43 or tube system operated by a chain 44 rigid with a roller 45 driving a cradle-type introduction unit 46. The overturning unit 38 also comprises hinged plate 47 interacting with the upper surface of the strips when these are already inserted between the cradles, so as to position them in the correct position even if they have not fallen properly. The presser unit and plates are mounted rigidly on a support which can be adjusted in height depending on the thickness of the panel to be produced. Above the cradle-type introduction unit 46 there is provided a transfer pusher 48 movable parallel to the longitudinal axis of the strips 6. Said pusher consists of a pair of chains provided with a profiled blade 49 able to penetrate between the cradles of the introdution unit. During the operation of this second embodiment of the plant, the strips 6 cut by the circular sawblades are urged by the pusher blades 36 into the conveyor/accumulator 37, and following their introduction into the overturning unit 38 the strips become arranged in the seats in the conveyor with their fibres pointing upwards. During this stage the presser unit retains the second strip of the series of strips accumulated on the belt 37, while the first is inserted into the cradle of the introduction unit. When all the cradles have been filled, the profiled blade 49 of the pusher 48 transfers the strips onto a belt where, as in the preceding example, the strips of the first series are longitudinally offset automatically or manually to assume a pseudo-random distribution. For this purpose the conveyor belt of the rear abutment member is surmouted by a series of parallel guides, the purpose of which is to maintain the strips separated from each other during the abutment stage. This embodiment has the following advantages over the preceding plant: a smaller overall size in that the particular shape of the cradle-type conveyor, the purpose of which is to space the strips apart, enables the offsetting device and the spacer member 22 to be eliminated, greater operational reliability of the overturning member, lesser constructional complexity.

Claims: An apparatus for constructing a mineral wool panel in continuous manner, said panel consisting of covering sheets and a plurality of side-by-side strips (6) having their longitudinally axis parallel to the panel axis and their fibres orientated perpendicular to surface of the covering sheets, the strips being offset in accordance with a pseudo-random arrangement, said apparatus comprising in succession: - a feed station (1) for mineral wool blankets (2) having the fibres arranged along a horizontal axis perpendicular to a direction of advancement of the blankets, - a cutting unit (3) for a single blanket for dividing it into strips (6) having width corresponding to the thickness of the panel to be formed, the cutting axis being parallel to the advancing direction of the blanket (2), - a conveying element (14,33) for advancing the strips in a direction transverse to the cutting axis, - an overturning unit (4,38) for shifting each strip (6) of 90° around its longitudinal axis, - an assembling station (5) of the overturned strips so as to select a suitable number of strips to form the panel of the desired width, - an offset member placed longitudinal to the strips so that the front ends of strips are staggered in a pseudo-random fashion the one with respect to the other, - a transverse compactor device (25) for the staggered strips to form a continuous panel, - a gluing and press station of the panel for formation of a continuous covering sheet (32,32'), - a cutting unit of the panel in the desired length, characterized in that in the assembling 9 station, a spacer member (22,46) is foreseen spacing each strip from the adjacent one transversely with respect to their longitudinal axis. An apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that the feed station (1) comprises a belt conveyor (7) for transferring the blankets (2) to an elevator table (8) at the upper end-of-travel position of which there is provided a pusher (9) towards the cutting unit. An apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that the cutting unit consists of a multiple circular bladed saw (10). An apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that the overturning unit (4) consists substantially of a rotating shaft (15) provided with four blades (16) at 90° spaced apart. An apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in 5 that the spacer member (22) consists of a plurality of guides (27) inclined upwards in the advancing direction of the strips, the number of said guides corresponding to the one half the number of side-by-side strips, the distance between their axis equaling the interaxial distance between three adjacent strips" and of a corresponding plurality of horizontal guides (29) having their entry end connected to the exit end of the corresponding guides (27) and being of diverging extension. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the offset member consists of a movable stop interacting pseudo-randomly with the front ends of the strips during their advancing toward the compactor (25). An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the conveyor element (33) is divide into two sections, a first of which receives the strips 86) leaving the cutting unit a second section being positioned below a transfer pusher (34) mounted above the conveyor element (33) and provided with pusher blades (36) having their distance corresponding to the complete width of the side-by-side strips. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the overturning unit (38) comprises a conveyor (37) to an exit end of which a sheet metal guide (39) is provided concentric to the drive roller (40) of the conveyor and which forms a curved channel, the spacer element (46) being provided in a position underlying an exit of such a channel. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8 characterised in that the spacer consists of a cradle-type introduction unit (46) for the strips on which a transfer pusher (48) acts parallel to the longitudinal axis of the strips.

Inventors: TOGNELLI GIORGIO, TOGNELLI, GIORGIO
Applicants: METECNO SPA, METECNO S.P.A.
Application year: 1995
Main classification: B32B5
IPC codes: B32B5, B29C63, E04B1, E04C2