Patent Description:
In the construction industry, wall forms or panels are generally used as supporting components to form structures, such as columns and walls. Such panels are usually made of wood having a metal frame or made entirely of metal. Based on dimensions and shape of a structure to be formed, multiple panels are installed at a construction site to form a hollow space which would correspond to the dimensions and shape of the structure. In order to form the hollow space, the panels are basically connected to each other by using various connecting mechanisms, such as pins and latches. For example, in case of forming a column, multiple panels may be connected to each other to form a hollow space in between. Thereafter, concrete or any other material may be poured from the top in the hollow space, which would then settle in to take a targeted shape of the column, by the virtue of the dimensions of the hollow space. Over a period of time, the concrete dries out and the panels are then removed to obtain the column so formed.

In case of construction of larger structures, multiple panels are to be connected to each other. Any error in the connection of these panels may lead to falling of the panels causing damage at the construction site. The alignment of these panels with each other is equally critical and any error in the connection would directly hamper the alignment and consequently an overall quality of the structure to be formed. <CIT> discloses an apparatus for fastening the mold plate.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts, in a simplified format, that are further described in the detailed description of the invention. This summary is neither intended to identify key or essential inventive concepts of the invention and nor is it intended for determining the scope of the invention.

According to the invention, a connector assembly for connecting a pair of formwork panels with each other is disclosed in claim <NUM>.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a connector assembly for connecting a pair of formwork panels with each other is disclosed. The connector assembly includes a base component having an arm, a first opening formed on the arm, and a locking portion formed at an end of the arm. The locking portion is adapted to be removably inserted in a second opening formed by alignment of respective slots of the pair of formwork panels. The connector assembly further includes a handle component adapted to be partially disposed in the base component through the first opening formed on the arm. The handle component is adapted to be operated to rotate the arm such that the locking portion is rotated within the second opening to partially lock the base component in the second opening. The handle component is adapted to be further pushed downwards through the first opening such that the handle component comes in contact with a panel joint formed by the pair of formwork panels to completely lock the connector assembly with the pair of formwork panels.

To further clarify the advantages and features of the present invention, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which is illustrated in the appended drawings. The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying drawings.

Further, skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and may not have been necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the flow charts illustrate the method in terms of the most prominent steps involved to help to improve understanding of aspects of the present invention. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the drawings by conventional symbols, and the drawings may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the drawings with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skilled in the art to which this invention belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

For example, the term "some" as used herein may be understood as "none" or "one" or "more than one" or "all. " Therefore, the terms "none," "one," "more than one," "more than one, but not all" or "all" would fall under the definition of "some. " It should be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the terminology and structure employed herein is for describing, teaching and illuminating some embodiments and their specific features and elements and therefore, should not be construed to limit, restrict or reduce the spirit and scope of the claims or their equivalents in any way.

For example, any terms used herein such as, "includes," "comprises," "has," "consists," and similar grammatical variants do not specify an exact limitation or restriction, and certainly do not exclude the possible addition of one or more features or elements, unless otherwise stated. Further, such terms must not be taken to exclude the possible removal of one or more of the listed features and elements, unless otherwise stated, for example, by using the limiting language including, but not limited to, "must comprise" or "needs to include.

Whether or not a certain feature or element was limited to being used only once, it may still be referred to as "one or more features" or "one or more elements" or "at least one feature" or "at least one element. " Furthermore, the use of the terms "one or more" or "at least one" feature or element do not preclude there being none of that feature or element, unless otherwise specified by limiting language including, but not limited to, "there needs to be one or more. " or "one or more element is required.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms and especially any technical and/or scientific terms, used herein may be taken to have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person ordinarily skilled in the art.

Reference is made herein to some "embodiments. " It should be understood that an embodiment is an example of a possible implementation of any features and/or elements presented in the attached claims. Some embodiments have been described for the purpose of explaining one or more of the potential ways in which the specific features and/or elements of the attached claims fulfil the requirements of uniqueness, utility, and non-obviousness.

Use of the phrases and/or terms including, but not limited to, "a first embodiment," "a further embodiment," "an alternate embodiment," "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "multiple embodiments," "some embodiments," "other embodiments," "further embodiment", "furthermore embodiment", "additional embodiment" or other variants thereof do not necessarily refer to the same embodiments. Unless otherwise specified, one or more particular features and/or elements described in connection with one or more embodiments may be found in one embodiment, or may be found in more than one embodiment, or may be found in all embodiments, or may be found in no embodiments. Although one or more features and/or elements may be described herein in the context of only a single embodiment, or in the context of more than one embodiment, or in the context of all embodiments, the features and/or elements may instead be provided separately or in any appropriate combination or not at all. Conversely, any features and/or elements described in the context of separate embodiments may alternatively be realized as existing together in the context of a single embodiment.

Any particular and all details set forth herein are used in the context of some embodiments and therefore should not necessarily be taken as limiting factors to the attached claims. The attached claims and their legal equivalents can be realized in the context of embodiments other than the ones used as illustrative examples in the description below.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<FIG> illustrates a perspective view of a frame <NUM> of a formwork panel, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the ease of readability, the formwork panel may hereinafter be referred to as the panel. <FIG> illustrates a perspective back view of the panel <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. <FIG> illustrates a perspective front view of the panel <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. <FIG> may hereinafter collectively be referred to as <FIG>. In order to avoid duplicity of information, <FIG> and <FIG> are explained in conjunction with each other. In an embodiment, the panel <NUM> may be adapted to be used for construction of structures, such as walls and columns.

Although the present disclosure is explained with respect to application of the panel <NUM> in the field of construction, the application of the panel <NUM> should not be construed to be limited to the construction industry only. In fact, the panel <NUM> can be used in any other application, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment, the panel <NUM> may include, but is not limited to, the frame <NUM> and a flat portion <NUM> fixed to the frame <NUM>. The flat portion <NUM> may come in contact with concrete or any other variant during the construction of the structure. Therefore, the shape or profile of the flat portion <NUM> may depend on the profile of the structure to be formed. In an embodiment, the flat portion <NUM> may be formed of at least one of composite ply-board, Birch ply-board, a polypropylene board, and local ply-board. In an embodiment, the flat portion <NUM> may interchangeably be referred to as form-lining, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In an example, the flat portion <NUM> may have a thickness of <NUM>-<NUM>. Further, the flat portion <NUM> may be conveniently replaced at the construction site.

In an embodiment, the frame <NUM> may include a plurality of slots <NUM> for accommodating one or more connector assemblies. The slots <NUM> may be adapted to accommodate a connector assembly to form a connection between two adjoining panels <NUM>. Constructional and operational details of the connector assembly are explained in detail in the description of subsequent Figures.

<FIG> illustrates another perspective back view of the panel <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. <FIG> illustrates a back view of the panel <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. <FIG> illustrates another perspective back view of the panel <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. <FIG> may hereinafter collectively be referred to as <FIG>.

<FIG> illustrates a perspective view of a pair of panels <NUM> connected by the connector assembly <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the connector assembly <NUM> may interchangeably be referred to as the wedge clip connector assembly <NUM>, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The connector assembly <NUM> is adapted to connect and partially align the adjoining pair of panels <NUM> with each other. <FIG> illustrates a schematic view depicting installation of the connector assembly <NUM> for connecting the pair of panels <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, the connector assembly <NUM> may include, but is not limited to, a base component <NUM> and a handle component <NUM> adapted to be partially disposed in the base component <NUM> through a first opening <NUM> (shown in <FIG>). In an embodiment, the base component <NUM> and the handle component <NUM> can interchangeably be referred to as the lock bolt <NUM> and the wedge <NUM>, respectively, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

The base component <NUM> may include, but is not limited to, an arm <NUM>, the first opening <NUM> formed on the arm <NUM>, and a locking portion <NUM> formed at an end of the arm <NUM>. The locking portion <NUM> may be adapted to removably inserted in a second opening <NUM> formed by alignment of respective slots <NUM> of the pair of panels <NUM>. In an embodiment, a profile of the locking portion <NUM> is triangular. Therefore, the profile of the locking portion <NUM> may vary based on constructional and operational parameters of the panels to be connected, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Further, the second opening <NUM> is formed by alignment of the respective slots <NUM> of the pair of formwork panels <NUM>, when the pair of formwork panels <NUM> is positioned adjacent to each other.

In an embodiment, the handle component <NUM> may be adapted to be disposed through the first opening <NUM> in the base component <NUM>. The handle component <NUM> may be adapted to be operated to rotate the arm <NUM> such that the locking portion <NUM> is rotated within the second opening <NUM> to partially lock the base component <NUM> in the second opening <NUM> for securing the partially aligned position of the pair of formwork panels <NUM>.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the locking portion <NUM> may have triangular profile. The lock portion <NUM> may be inserted in the second opening <NUM>, and then the handle component <NUM> may be operated to rotate the base component <NUM> while being inside the second opening <NUM>. Consequently, the connector assembly <NUM> may be partially locked resulting into coupling of both the panels <NUM>. In an embodiment, when the profile of the locking portion <NUM> is triangular, the locking portion <NUM> may maintain a three-point contact with the pair of panels <NUM> in a locked state. In an embodiment, when the profile of the locking portion <NUM> is rectangular, the locking portion <NUM> may maintain a four-point contact with the pair of panels <NUM> in a locked state.

Once the connector assembly <NUM> is partially locked, the handle component <NUM> may be adapted to be pushed downwards through the first opening <NUM> such that the handle component <NUM> comes in contact with a panel joint <NUM> formed by the pair of panels <NUM>. In particular, the handle component <NUM> may include a stopper <NUM>, which may come in contact with the panel joint <NUM>, when the handle component <NUM> is pushed downwards. Further, the handle component <NUM> may be pushed such that the stopper <NUM> as well as an end <NUM> of the handle component <NUM> may come in contact with the panel joint <NUM>. Due to this, the handle component <NUM> provides two-face support in order to prevent any unwanted rotation. Owing to the contact of the handle component <NUM> with the panel joint <NUM>, the connector assembly <NUM> is completely locked with the pair of panels <NUM>.

In an embodiment, the handle component <NUM> comes in contact with the panel joint <NUM> by virtue of a profile of a portion of the handle component <NUM> sliding within the first opening <NUM> of the base component <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrate mounting of the connector assembly <NUM> for connecting the pair of panels <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, <FIG> illustrates insertion of the locking portion <NUM> in the second opening <NUM> formed by the panels <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. <FIG> illustrates operating the handle component <NUM> to rotate the locking portion <NUM> while being within the second opening <NUM> for locking. Further, <FIG> illustrates pushing the handle component <NUM> in a downward direction sliding through the first opening <NUM> of the base component <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The profile of the portion of the handle component <NUM> sliding through the first opening <NUM> is such that when the handle component <NUM> is pushed downwards, the handle component <NUM> would come in contact with a panel joint <NUM> of the panels <NUM> resulting into restricting the movement of the connector assembly <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrate mounting of the connector assembly <NUM> for connecting the pair of panels <NUM>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the sake of brevity, constructional and operational features of the present disclosure that are already explained in the description of previous figures are not explained in the description of <FIG>.

As would be gathered, the panel <NUM> and the connector assembly <NUM> of the present disclosure offer a comprehensive approach for construction of the structures, such as walls and columns. Firstly, owing to the use of high-grade steel for the frame <NUM> and corresponding supporting stiffeners, the panels <NUM> so formed are robust. Further, the form-lining or the flat portion <NUM> of the panel <NUM> ensures best form finish of the structure formed.

Considering the convenience of assembling and disassembling the panels <NUM>, time taken for forming the structure is also significantly reduced. In addition, the panel <NUM> can be connected to other panels <NUM> in any alignment. This would ensure flexibility in terms of applications of the panels <NUM>. Moreover, the connector assembly <NUM> has less number of components and is therefore, cost-effective as well. Therefore, the panel <NUM> and the connector assembly <NUM> of the present disclosure are safe, risk-free, flexible in implementation, cost-effective, convenient, and have a wide range of applications.

Claim 1:
A connector assembly (<NUM>) for connecting a pair of formwork panels (<NUM>) with each other, the connector assembly (<NUM>) comprising:
a base component (<NUM>) comprising:
an arm (<NUM>);
a first opening (<NUM>) formed on the arm (<NUM>); and
a locking portion (<NUM>) formed at an end of the arm (<NUM>) and adapted to be removably inserted in a second opening (<NUM>) formed by alignment of respective slots (<NUM>) of the pair of formwork panels (<NUM>); and
a handle component (<NUM>) adapted to be partially disposed in the base component (<NUM>) through the first opening (<NUM>) formed on the arm,
characterized in that
the handle component (<NUM>) is adapted to be operated to rotate the arm such that the locking portion (<NUM>) is rotated within the second opening (<NUM>) and such that said locking portion (<NUM>) partially locks the base component (<NUM>) in the second opening (<NUM>) for connecting the pair of formwork panels (<NUM>).