PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF RADIATING PANELS MADE OF COMPOSITE MATERIAL

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for the production on industrial scale of panels, slabs or tiles (10) made of composite material constituted by products comprising powders of marble and/or granite and/or sands and/or quartz and resin binders, eventually including elements made of metal, glass, ceramic, wood, precious stones. Said process comprises the following working steps: (a) crushing of the products constituting said panels or slabs (10); (b) mixing of said constitutive products; (c) pressing and compacting into a die said products to obtain a predetermined shape and predetermined dimensions of said panels, slabs or tiles. During step (c) a pipe (11), suitable for being connected to a heating system and having a development according to a predetermined pattern, is positioned in the pressing die of the products which have been mixed in step (b), the ends (12, 13) of said pipe (11) being at the same level or projecting outside of the surface of the pressed panel or slab or tile (10) so that they can be connected with a heating system or with other similar panels, slabs or tiles.

Description: PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF RADIAΗNG PANELS MADE OF COMPOSITE MATERIAL TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a process for the production on industrial scale of radiating panels, slabs or tiles made of composite material, particularly of a material generally constituted by mixtures of marble and/or quartz and/or sands and/or resin binders an d /or granite, besides eventually comprising any kind of intrusions such a s metallic elements, glass, wood, etc., said radiating panels, slabs or tiles comprising a pipe buried inside of them and suitable to be connected to a heating circuit. Moreover, the invention relates to radiating panels, slabs or tiles obtained by said process. The invention is particularly suitable to be applied to th e industry of working of marble, stone, granite and the like, as well a s the thermal-mechanical industry. BACKGROUND ART A process is known in the art for the production of panels o r slabs made of composite material, e.g. constituted by marble and /or sands and/or quartz and/or any kind of intrusions (metals, glass, ceramic, wood, precious stones, etc.), or by granites, quartzs or s ands mixed with predetermined amounts of resin binders. Such a process comprises different working steps and, more particularly: a first step of crashing the different materials constituting th e composite material; a second step of mixing the crushed materials in order to obtain a product as much homogeneous as possible, the resin binders being added during said step; a third step including pressing and compacting the composite material, the desired shape being achieved during said step; a fourth step of hardening the panel at a predetermined temperature ; a fifth step of smoothing and polishing the two panel faces; a sixth step of cutting to size, of chamfering, sizing, flaring of th e panel, followed by the discharge of the final products. Such a process as described above allows panels, slabs or tiles made of composite material to be obtained having carefully predetermined lenghts, widths and thicknesses, and it is continuously carried out in a suitable plant. The process described above is generally carried out for th e production of slabs to be used for internally or externally covering or tiling walls and/or floors. In the field of heating of rooms, the use of metallic radiating panels is well known and these panels usually comprise a pipe inside of which flows a fluid coming from a heat production system; s aid panels are normally vertically placed against a wall. Floor heating systems are also known, said systems being generally realized according to two different methods. According to a first technical solution, a metallic pipe, inside of which flows a heating fluid, is arranged on the floor to be heated an d then buried in a concrete casting. Successively, the concrete casting surface is smoothed and a suitable tile covering is glued to the floor, said tiles being of any kind of material (e.g. marble, stone, granite , ceramic, brickwork, wood, etc.). This solution involves drawbacks and disadvantages due to a complex and difficult laying operation of the floor. Besides, in case of leakages it is necessary to take off the whole floor to locate a n d remove the damages. According to another solution known in the art, a set of synthetic elements is laid on the floor, said elements being internally provided with a pipe coil; the ends of such a pipe coil are provided with suitable pipe fittings suitable for connecting in series th e different parts of the pipe coil when said synthetic elements are placed adjacent to each other. Followinf to the laying of said elements, the floor obtained b y means of this method is then covered by a concrete casting on which the ultimate floor constituted by tiles made of any material is finally laid. The laying of such a kind of floor heating system requires a very long working time. Moreover, also in this case, to remove an y eventual leakage it is necessary to take off all the floor tiles, and to destroy the concrete covering (what normally causes damages to th e underlying heating elements). Thus, a leakage problem in the floor heating systems known i n the art, can inevitably be solved by a complete removal an d substitution of the heating system, operations which are v ery expensive. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims to obviate to the drawbacks an d disadvantages of the prior art by providing a process for th e production of radiating panels, slabs or tiles suitable for being advantageously used either as elements for the heat radiation in thermal plants or as elements of heated floors and/or of heated coverings for internal buildings walls. This is achieved by means of the features described in the main claim. The dependent claims outline forms of embodiment particularly advantageous of the process according to the present invention. Moreover, claims 5 and 6 describe a radiating panel or slab o r tile made of composite material advantageously obtained by means of the process according to the invention. According to an essential feature of the invention, during th e pressing and compacting step of the process for the production of panels, slabs or tiles a pipe is buried inside of the composite material , said pipe being generally a pipe coil the ends of which, in use, project outside of the panel surface. The other process steps are identical to the ones of the processes known in art for the production of slabs or panels made of composite material. At last, the final result is a panel, a slab or a tile inside of which is arranged a pipe, the ends of which project outside of the surface of the tile, slab or panel. These panels or slabs can individually be used with the s ame purposes of the traditional cast iron radiators. In fact, the composite material presents excellent thermal conductivity properties. Moreover, each panel obtained by means of such a process can be provided on its external surface with particular figures, inlays, bas-relieves, any kind of intrusion, thus creating a sophisticated domestic furniture component. In this case the heating system can present particular aesthetic features which may even be very different from those which are usually present in domestic rooms. In fact, the panels or slabs can b e decorated on both sides and placed in positions even very different from the traditional ones, i.e. the panels or slabs can be placed in th e center of domestic rooms and not only leant against the walls, thus becoming aestetically attractive and very important furniture components while still carrying out their heating function. In this case the tiles according to the present invention are u sed for a floor heating system, said tiles have only to be placed and glued to the base block, by connecting the pipes in series so as to obtain th e whole heating system. Thus, the laying costs and time are remarkably reduced a s regards the traditional methods; besides, if a leakage appears only th e damaged tile is removed and there is no need to take off the whole floor. ILLUSTRATION OF THE DRAWINGS Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent while reading the following description, which has bee n given as a non-limiting example, with the help of the figure illustrated in the attached drawing, which shows a schematical frontal view of a radiating panel according to the invention. DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED FORM OF EMBODIMENT In the figure, reference sign 10 generally indicates a radiating panel made of composite material produced by means of the process according to the present invention. The materials used to produce on industrial scale said panels c an usually be mixtures of: marbles, of any kind and colour, combined with resin binders; marbles combined with a predeterminated percentage of quartz; - marbles combined with a predeterminated percentage of sands; sands combined with resin binders; quartzs combined with resin binders; granites combined with resin binders; marbles in which metal, glass, ceramic, wood, precious stones , etc. are introduced during the process. According to a per se known technique, the process for th e production of panels or slabs 10 can be carried out in an auotmatic plant in which one or more computers control and govern e very working step. The first process step relates to the crashing into small scabblings of the various products constituting the composite material to be produced. This is true in case where marble or granite is present; on th e other hand sands are generally available in any shape or dimension. During a second step the crashed products are mixed together i n a suitable mixing device wherein the resin binder is added. In a third step, the mixed product is poured into a die of a pressing device which gives to the panel or slab or tile a predetermined shape, generally a quadrangular shape, a predetermined thickness and a predetermined density by means of the application of a pressing force applied to the product and b y means of the working of a vibrator device and of a device suitable to create a vacuum. According to the invention pipe 11 , generally a metallic pipe an d with a pipe coil configuration, as shown in the figure, or with an y other desired configuration, e.g. a spiral, is arranged inside of th e pressing die before the pouring in said die of the mixed product to b e pressed. Possible support elements can be arranged on the base of the die so as to avoid any eventual bending in the central portion of pipe coil 1 1 . Pipe coil ends 12, 13 are provided with a closing plug and placed next to each other so that they can be connected to the pipelines of a heating system. Following to the pressing step, pipe 11 is buried into the compacted composite material, while said ends 12, 13 project outside of panel surface 10. Then the process is carried out according to traditional an d known production steps. Therefore, first of all panel 10 is conveyed inside of a oven wherein, thanks to the action of chemical coadjuvants, the panel is hardened according to carefully predetermined temperature and oven stay time values. Then panel 10 comes out from the oven and is conveyed towards further working stations for the successive treatments of smoothing and polishing of one or both of the major sides, of cutting to size according to the desired working shape, of chamfering, sizing, flaring, of possible decoration of the external panel faces, and then it is conveyed to possible waxing, drying, packaging stations. From the foregoing, it appears that the process according to th e present invention allows radiating panels or slabs to be produced, on one hand, substantially carry out the traditional functions of cast iron radiators, and, on the other hand, constitute sophisticated furniture components thanks to the materials used in said process. Instead, in the case where the process according to the invention is used to produce tile elements for a floor heating system (or for a wall heating system), the tiles produced by means of said process need only to be glued to the base block or to the wall, and the ends of each pipe portion need only to be connected in series to realize th e heating system. This is very advantageous in the terms of reducing the costs of laying such elements and of removal of any eventual fault mentioned above . The invention has previously been described with reference to a particularly advantageously form of embodiment thereof. However, it appears to be clear that the invention is not limited to this form of embodiment, and that it comprises several equivalent forms of embodiment. For instance, according to a further form of embodiment of th e production method the pipe is not introduced inside of the pressing die before the filling of the material to be compacted. In this case, the process is characterized by a first introduction and distribution of a predetermined amount of material, then by th e laying of the pipe and, finally, by the filling of the die with a further amount of composite material. In this case there is no need of support elements for keeping th e pipe in a central portion of the panel.

Claims: CLAIMS 1 . Process for the production on industrial scale of panels, slabs or tiles (10) made of composite material constituted by products comprising powders of marble and/or granite and/or s ands and/or quartz and resin binders, eventually including elements made of metal, glass, ceramic, wood, precious stones, comprising the following working steps: a ) crushing of the products constituting said panels or slabs ( 10); b ) mixing of said constitutive products; c) pressing and compacting into a die said products to obtain a predetermined shape and predetermined dimensions of said panels, slabs or tiles; process characterized in that during said step c) a pipe ( 1 1 ) suitable for being connected to a heating system and having a development according to a predetermined pattern is positioned in the pressing die of the products which have been mixed in step b), the ends (12, 13) of said pipe (11) being at the s ame level or projecting outside of the surface of the pressed panel o r slab or tile (10) so that they can be connected with a heating system or with other similar panels, slabs or tiles. 2 . Process according to claim 1, characterized in that said process is carried out by means of an automatic plant comprising a set of automatic machines the operation of which is controlled b y means of a suitable computer, said machines being suitable to carry out said working steps. 3 . Process according to anyone of the preceding claims , characterized in that said pipe (11) is supported by suitable support elements placed on the base of the pressing die. 4 . Process according to claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said pipe (11) is introduced in the die after the distribution on th e surface thereof of a predetermined quantity of material to b e pressed, and in that the pipe (11 ) is successively covered with a further quantity of material before pressing the die. 5 . Panel or slab or tile (10) suitable to be used as radiating element connected with a heating system and comprising a pipe (11) to be connected to such heating system, characterized in that s aid pipe is buried inside of a manufactured article made of a composite material constituted by products comprising powders of marble and/or granite and/or sands and/or quartz and resin binders, eventually including elements made of metal, glass , ceramic, wood, precious stones, and in that the ends (12, 13) of the pipe (11) are placed at the same level or project outside of the surface of said panel, slab or tile (10). 6 . Panel or slab or tile (10) suitable to be used as radiating element connected with a heating system, characterized in that it is produced by means of a process according to anyone of th e preceding claims from 1 to 4.

Inventors: DALLA VALLE ROBERTO, DALLA VALLE, ROBERTO
Applicants: DALLA VALLE ROBERTO, STONE ITALIANA S R L, DALLA VALLE, ROBERTO, STONE ITALIANA S.R.L.
Application year: 1997
Main classification: F24D3
IPC codes: F24D3, F24D13