Abstract:
A section of the wall has a plurality of interspaced structural members mounted between an upper frame member and a lower frame member, and insulating material generally filling the space between the structural members and upper and lower frame members.

Description:
FIELD 
     The present improvements generally relate to the field of building construction, and more particularly to insulated walls of buildings. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In the construction industry, it is known to build walls by installing factory-made insulated wall sections on the construction site. The wall sections typically include a plurality of vertically extending structural members, or wall studs, an upper frame member, or wall plate, and a lower frame member, or sill. The space between the structural members and frame members being filled with an insulating material. 
     It is also known that providing an high degree of thermal insulation and reducing air infiltration is desirable both in cold climates, to reduce the amount of energy required in heating, and in warm climates, to reduce the amount of energy required in air-conditioning. In highly insulated homes, fresh air is provided via an air exchanger in which cold air from outside is heated with exiting hot air from inside, or vice-versa, to reduce the amount of energy requirement associated with mass transfer. With the increasing awareness of the population concerning energy economy, the increasing costs of energy, and the evolution of insulation technology, these long standing principles have taken an increasing importance in today&#39;s construction industry. Many countries, states or provinces have devised norms that specify minimal insulation requirements of building components such as insulated walls. An example of such a norm is the Novoclimat norm of the Agence de l&#39;efficacité énergétique in Quebec, a province of Canada. 
     While known thermally insulated wall panels have been satisfactory to a certain degree, there is still a need to provide improvements, including improvements to further increase the insulation capacity, or thermal resistance of insulated walls. It is also desired to enhance the ease of assembly, and/or to lower manufacturing costs of insulated wall panels. Walls having increased insulation can typically reduce the amount of energy used in heating a building in winter by reducing energy losses through the walls, or reduce the amount of energy used in air-conditioning during the summer. Easing assembly and lowering manufacturing costs can result in achieving a lower overall initial cost for the building. 
     SUMMARY 
     In accordance with one aspect, there is provided an insulated wall panel having a front face, a back face, and two opposite mating sides, each mating side being shaped to mate with the opposite mating side of an other insulated wall panel for mating assembly in a wall section, the insulated wall panel comprising a structural member extending along one of the mating sides and being offset from the front face, and a self-supporting body of insulating material having a structural member covering extension on the front face to form a continuous facing layer of insulating material covering the structural members when two or more adjacent wall panels are matingly adjoined into a wall section. 
     In accordance with an other aspect, there is provided a wall section comprising: a plurality of adjacent insulated wall panels, each wall panel having a front face, a back face, two opposite mating sides, a structural member, having an upper end and a lower end, extending along one of the mating sides, offset from the front face, and a body of insulating material having a structural member covering extension on the front face, the insulated wall panels being aligned side by side with a mating side of each wall panel engaged with a corresponding mating side of an adjacent one of the wall panels and the structural member covering extensions covering the structural members in a continuous facing layer of insulating material, and an upper frame member secured to the upper end of each structural member and a lower frame member secured to the lower end of each structural member. 
     In accordance with an other aspect, there is provided a wall comprising at least two adjacent insulated wall panels, each insulated wall panel having a body made of a self-supporting insulating material, having a front face, a back face, and a mating side abutting against a mating side of an adjacent one of the insulated wall panels, with a structural member spacing therebetween, and a structural member offset from the front face filling the structural member spacing between the at least two insulated wall panels and covered by a portion of the body on the front face. 
     In accordance with an other aspect, there is provided a wall section comprising a plurality of interspaced structural members mounted between an upper frame member and a lower frame member, and insulating material generally filling the space between the structural members and upper and lower frame members, the wall section being characterized in that a layer of insulating material covers the structural members on a front face of the wall section. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       Further features and advantages of the present improvements will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended figures, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a first embodiment of an insulated wall panel where the structural member has two wood boards; 
         FIG. 2  is a top plan view, fragmented, showing two wall panels from  FIG. 1  adjoined side by side; 
         FIG. 3  is an example of a wall section incorporating several ones of the wall panel of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is an other example of a wall section incorporating several wall panels; 
         FIG. 5  is an isometric view of an example of a construction incorporating improved insulated wall panels; 
         FIG. 6  is an isometric view of an example of an improved insulated wall panel where the structural member has two metal beams; 
         FIG. 7  is a top plan view showing two wall panels from  FIG. 6  adjoined side by side; 
         FIGS. 8A and 8B  are schematic top views showing two alternate embodiments to the metal beams of  FIG. 6 ; and 
         FIG. 9  is an isometric view of an example of an improved insulated wall panel where the structural member has a single wood board. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a first example of an improved insulated wall panel  10 . The insulated wall panel can generally be said to have a front face  12 , a back face  14 , and two opposite mating sides  16 ,  18 . Each one of the mating sides  16 ,  18  is irregularly shaped to mate with the opposite mating side of an other insulated wall panel and the insulated wall panel  10  is thus designed to be assembled, or adjoined, with other insulated wall panels side by side. The irregular shape of the mating sides  16 ,  18  is advantageous in comparison with flat sides because flat sides can have an increased likelihood of presenting a gap extending through assembled wall panels, thus lowering the overall thermal resistance of a wall. However, flat mating sides can nevertheless be useful in certain applications. 
     The insulated wall panel  10  generally has a body  22  and a structural member  24 . The body  22  represents the greatest portion of the insulated wall panel  10 . A body  22  made of a self-supporting insulating material having satisfactory insulating characteristics can be used. In the illustrated example, Type 1 polystyrene is used, but other insulating materials can also be used such as polyisocyanurate, polyurethane, or mineral wool. A structural member  24  extends along one side  18  of the body  22 . The structural member  24  is offset relative to the plane of the front face  12  of the insulated wall panel  10 , i.e. it is separated therefrom by an insulation spacing  26 . In this case, the structural member  24  advantageously includes two structural columns  27 ,  29  in an overlapping staggered configuration. Having a structural member  24  in two structural columns  27 ,  29 , typically results in heat being conducted more poorly through the structural member  24  due to the discontinuity, and can thus yield a greater thermal resistance. 
     In  FIG. 2 , two insulated wall panels  10 ,  10 ′ are shown assembled to form a wall  20 , and opposite the mating sides  16 ,  18  of the two insulated wall panels  10 ,  10 ′ are shown engaged with one another. It has been found advantageous to provide the two structural columns  27 ,  29  in an overlapping staggered configuration, i.e. laterally offset and overlapping, rather than in an end-to-end configuration. In the illustrated example, the two structural columns overlap along an overlap distance  31 . In the illustrated embodiment, the structural columns  27 ,  29  shown are 2×4 wood boards  28 ,  30  having a depth  37  of 8.9 cm (3.5 inches) each, and an overlap distance  31  of 3.8 cm (1.5 inches), for a total depth  39  of 13.97 cm (5.5 inches) for the structural member  24 . Increasing the overlap distance can result in providing a thinner wall, thus reducing the overall insulation, whereas reducing the overlap distance can increase the probability of a gap being present between the two wood boards  28 ,  30 . This specified configuration is also advantageous because it makes use of standard building materials. 
     The two structural columns  27 ,  29  can advantageously be separated by a thermal separator  33  which further impedes heat transfer by conduction between the two structural columns  27 ,  29 . In the example, the thermal separator  33  extends on the complete overlap distance  31 , along the full height of the structural columns,  27 ,  29 . In this case, the thermal separator  33  is a layer of insulating material  32  which can be provided either as part of the body  22 , or as a separate component. 
     The body  22  also includes a structural member covering extension  34  which occupies the depth of the insulation spacing  26 . Thereby, when two or more wall panels  10 ,  10 ′ are adjoined, a continuous facing  35  of insulating material is provided, covering the structural member  24 . This increases the thermal resistance of a wall when compared to a wall in which the structural members are not covered by insulating material. 
     The thickness  26  of the structural member covering extension  34 , or the difference between the thickness of the insulating body  22  and the depth occupied by the structural member  24  influences the amount of thermal insulation added to a resulting wall by the continuous facing  35  of insulating material. For illustrative purposes, adding a continuous facing  35  of insulating material of 2.5 cm (one inch) can yield an additional R 3.7 of insulation to the wall. The continuous facing  35  can advantageously be provided on the outside, or front face, of the wall panels, but it can alternately be provided on the inside, or back face as well. 
       FIG. 3  shows a wall section  70  having a plurality of the wall panels  10 ,  10 ′,  10 ″ matingly adjoined side by side between an upper frame member  72  and a lower frame member  73 . A plurality of such wall sections can be factory-assembled with independent and specific design criteria corresponding to a particular house design, such as with windows, or in differing widths, for example, and be sold as a kit to construct the walls of a house. To maintain maneuverability of the wall section by workers, a maximum width of 2.4 m (8 feet) is preferred. However, in constructions where materials are handled by a crane, greater widths, such as 9.1 m (30 feet), and even more, can advantageously be used to reduce the crane operating time for the assembly. 
     In the illustrated wall section  70 , three wall panels have 61 cm (24 inches) in width, and an end panel  10 ′ has a smaller width to adapt to a predetermined total width for the wall section  70 . The structural members are not visible on the front face, due to the continuous facing  35  of insulating material which covers them. Only one of the structural members  24 ′ is exposed, one one side  75  of the wall section  70 . The exposed structural member  24 ′ is designed to be covered when the wall section  70  is assembled with an adjacent wall section. 
     An upper wall plate  72   a  can be fastened to the upper end of each one of the wood boards  28 ,  30 , by nails  74 . Similarly, a lower wall plate  73   a,  or sill, can be fastened to the lower end of each one of the wood boards by nails (not shown). In a preferred mode, the factory-assembly of the wall section  70  is done by adding the components onto a compression table, and then compressing the components such that the insulating body of the wall panels  10  become laterally compressed between the structural members. Optionally, the upper and lower wall plates  72   a,    73   a  can be compressed against the upper ends and the lower ends of the wall panels as well. The upper and lower wall plates  72   a,    73   a  are then nailed with the structural members  24  while the components are in the compressed state. Then, the external compression is removed, but the insulating body  22  of the wall panels  10  tend to remain in an at least partially compressed state between the structural member due to the structural members being secured to the upper and lower wall plates  72   a,    73   a  an maintaining the compression. The diagonals of the wall section  70  can then be measured to determine if the structural members  24  are perpendicular to the upper and lower wall plates  72   a,    73   a.  Lack of perpendicularity can then be corrected, and a veneer can then be assembled to the front face, and nailed through the continuous facing  35  of insulating material, into the structural members  24 , to lock the perpendicularity into position. This preferred mode of assembly takes advantage of the natural resilience, or elasticity, of the polystyrene which the insulating bodies  22  are made of in this particular case. 
     To offer greater maneuverability to the wall sections  70 , an extra structural member  71  can additionally be installed during assembly of the upper and lower wall plates  72   a,    73   a  on the side  76  of the wall section which does not have a structural member. The the extra structural member  71  can be nailed into upper wall plate  72   a  and the lower wall plate  73   a.  The secured structural member can then mimic the other structural members and help hold the body of the last wall panel  10 ″ in place by maintaining it in a compressed state during shipping and handling, and can be removed prior to assembly of the wall section  70  on the construction site. 
     In alternate configurations, the two structural columns of a structural member can be provided on opposite sides of a wall section. 
       FIG. 4  shows an other example of a wall section  80 . In this example, the wall section also includes a plurality of wall sections  10 , but the wall sections  10  have differing lengths and widths, to adapt to the predetermined particulars of the wall section  80 , including a window aperture  82  and a door aperture  84  in this case. In this example, the upper frame member  72  and the lower frame member  73  cover the entire thickness of the wall section  80 , including the continuous facing of insulating material. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary wall construction  60 . On the construction site, the lower wall plate  73   a  is affixed to a structure such as a subfloor. A second wall plate  78 , or top wall plate can then be added onto the upper wall plates  72  of two adjacent wall sections, to link the two adjacent wall sections together. The second wall plate  78  can alternately be preassembled with a wall section. Extra components can be added to the wall section thereafter, or some can be manufactured with the wall. Such as the veneer  62  illustrated in this example. 
       FIGS. 6 and 7  show a second example of an insulated wall panel  110  in accordance with the improvements. This second example will be described by way of comparison with the example of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , for simplicity. Hence, parts associated with corresponding parts of the previous example are given corresponding reference numerals in the one-hundred series. This insulated wall panel  110  differs from the insulated wall panel  10  of  FIGS. 1 and 2  in that the structural columns  127 ,  129 , of the structural member  124 , are beams  130 ,  132 , and more particularly a rear C-shaped beam  128 , and a front C-shaped beam  130 , in an engaged configuration. The C-shaped beams  128 ,  130  are in an overlapping and staggered configuration because they are offset from one another and slightly overlap. 
       FIG. 7  shows a front flange  136  of the rear C-shaped beam  128  engaged within the front C-shaped beam  130  and extending against a back flange  138  of the front C-shaped beam  130 . A thermal separator  133  is also used in this case. The thermal separator is an insulating component  132  sandwiched between the front flange  136  of the rear C-shaped beam  128  and the back flange  138  of the front C-shaped beam  130  and prevents contact between the front flange  136  of first C-shaped beam  128  and the back flange  136  of the second C-shaped beam  130 . The insulating component  132  advantageously also has optional L-shaped ends  142 ,  144  to prevent contact of the flange tips with the other C-shaped beam and further increase thermal resistance. In this case, the insulating component  132  is made of an elongated strip of rubber, although many other materials having insulating characteristics can also be used, such as polystyrene or polyisocyanurate, for example. The front flange  146  of the second C-shaped beam penetrates within the body. 
     A metal structure is common in buildings. Metal beams offer a greater resistance to fire than wood. When metal beams are used instead of wood boards as the structural member of a wall panel, an upper metal beam and a lower metal beam can be used as an upper frame member, and a lower frame member, instead of the upper wall plate and a lower wall plate made of wood illustrated in the previous example. The upper metal beam and the lower metal beam can be secured to the structural members by welding or by fastening with nuts and bolts. In the illustrated example, the C-shaped beams are made of steel. However, other materials having satisfactory structural characteristics such as some other metals or some plastics can alternatively be used, for example. 
       FIGS. 8A and 8B  show alternate configurations of beam cross sections which can be used instead of the C-shape cross-sections of the illustrated example.  FIG. 6A  shows beams having a L-shape cross-section, whereas  FIG. 6B  shows beams having an I-shape cross-section. 
       FIG. 9  shows a third example of an insulated wall panel  210  in accordance with the improvements. In this case, reference numerals in the two-hundred series are used. This insulated wall panel  210  differs from the ones described above in that the structural member  224  includes a single wood board  228 . 
     It will be noted that various additional alternatives to the structural members described above are also possible. 
     As can be seen therefore, the examples described above and illustrated are intended to be exemplary only. The scope of the invention(s) is intended to be determined solely by the appended claims.