EP3591129A1

EP3591129A1 - An improved cladding panel of exterior building walls

Info

Publication number: EP3591129A1
Application number: EP19181229.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ole-Jacob HUUSE; Christer KEMI; Helge Aschjem
Original assignee: Glavatech As
Current assignee: Glava AS
Priority date: 2018-07-03
Filing date: 2019-06-19
Publication date: 2020-01-08
Also published as: RU2019120513A; NO344327B1; WO2020009586A1

Abstract

The present invention is related to a cladding panel comprising an airing plate (10) comprising a plurality of accumulation cups (12) being configured to collect humidity and/or droplets from an attachable insulating mat being attachable to a backside of the airing plate (10).

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is related to an improved cladding panel of exterior buildings walls, and especially to a cladding panel comprising improved airing channels transporting moisture out from the interior of building walls.

BACKGROUND

Prefabricated cladding panels is simplifying the process of constructing outer building walls. The outer surface can be arranged with different materials like synthetic materials, wooden panels, marble, bricks etc. providing different patterns and/or different architectural expressions.
Cladding panels can be attached onto concrete walls or onto building frameworks constituted by timber or aluminium etc., or girders or beams, concrete or steel beams etc., or a combination of these types of building frameworks.
When closing the interior space of a house with walls it is important to take note of several different physical phenomena and properties of buildings. A major issue is insulation as well as diffusion of moisture (or water) from the exterior of a house through respective outer walls as well as from the interior of the house towards the exterior of the house. Therefore, transport of heat and moisture through building walls is a technical design challenge. If the insolation properties of building walls are poor, the cost of heating or cooling a house can be extremely high. It is also important to take into account the increasing need of reducing the overall energy consumption in society. If moisture is left inside building walls, several biological process may start, for example development of dry rot and/or fungus. This may affect residents of houses as well as reducing the lifetime of the house.
There are also other aspect of building houses that influence both the use and design of cladding panels. Reducing the building time of a house makes houses considerably cheaper, which may benefit house buyers as well as housing developers.
There is known several examples of prior art cladding panels that are prefabricated providing sets of standardized building elements, which reduces building time and cost.
Cladding panels is not only used when constructing new houses. Cladding panels may also be used when modernizing or repairing older houses.
US 5765330 disclose a pre-insulated prefabricated wall panel comprising a rectangular wall frame having top and bottom rail members and a plurality of spaced apart stud members aligned between the top and bottom rail members. A polystyrene board-stock is affixed to a first side of the rectangular wall frame, thereby defining with the top and bottom rail members and the plurality of stud members a plurality of rectangular cavities, wherein each cavity has a depth corresponding to the thickness of a stud member. The prefabricated wall panel further has a layer of foamed-in-place polyurethane covering a portion of each cavity adjoining the board-stock, and bonding the structural wall frame to the polystyrene board-stock. The layer of polyurethane foam has a thickness, which is substantially less than the depth of each cavity, whereby each cavity provides available space for accommodating sub-trade installations.
US 4973506 A disclose a composite plate comprising a core layer with a honeycomb structure between two cover layers, the first cover layer of which carries a decorative panel and the second cover layer of which carries a rear protective plate. The adhesive bonds of the composite plate consist of a layer of a relatively non-flammable adhesive. The protective element, made of a silicate base (but without asbestos) or a non-combustible mineral substance base, is adhesively bonded to the rear side of the composite plate.
US 5280689 disclose a composite cladding panel for application primarily to the exterior of buildings. The panel comprises a core layer of lightweight insulating foam providing a thermal insulation of at least R10. The insulating foam is encapsulated in a layer of fluid impermeable material inhibiting the passage of vapour and gasses. An outer sheet comprising at least one finishing panel adhering to an outer surface of said core layer, and an inner structural insulating sheet, thermally compatible with the expansion characteristics of said outer sheet, adhering to an inner surface of said core layer to provide structural integrity to said panel and facilitate attachment thereof to a building structure. The panel is of lightweight construction and useful especially in the environmentally efficient finishing of buildings.
It is also known in prior art to combine façade elements with other types of units or functions of a building. DE 102009057355 A disclose a ventilation unit (10) having a facade connection element (11) with a flow-through-able housing which comprises an air hole (17) at one end. The air hole is guided outwardly. The ventilation unit also has a ventilation element (12) with a base housing (14) flow-through-able by air.
The problem of moisture inside building walls is usually dealt with by arranging membranes stopping moisture from migrating through for example insulation materials in the wall. However, there may be a huge temperature difference between the exterior of a house and the interior of a house. Therefore, moisture inside walls is also related to condensation of humidity. This may result in forming droplets residing inside the wall. Therefore, airing of the interior space of walls is necessary, not just to transport out humidity in the form of vapour for example, but also to be able to dry out constructional elements inside the wall being humidified through for example condensation. In prior art it is known how to arrange airing channels related to locations of condensation points inside walls.
A common solution, for example when constructing a wooden wall, is to arrange a vapour barrier on interior surface walls, and arranging vertical channels behind the back side of the outer cladding or panel of the wall. It is common to arrange vertical furring strips supporting an outer cladding of the wall. The physical principle is that at the bottom of the wall close to the ground the temperature is normally lower than the temperature at a top end of the wall close to the roof. The temperature difference works as a "motor" creating a vertical airstream flowing from the bottom of the wall up to the roof end of the wall inside spaces defined by the spaced apart furring strips And the backside of the outer cladding or panels.
However, building walls are usually not a homogenous object. Cutouts are made supporting for example windows and doors. With reference to the use of furring strips above, the vertical airing channels are broken or blocked when for example a window is inserted into an adapted cutout.
WO 2013152048 disclose an integrated fibre cement and foam cladding system comprising prefabricated airing channels in between a fibre cement layer and a foam layer.
A problem with airing channels inside insulation materials is that condensation water, i.e. droplets, easily may be flowing in these channels. Therefore, channels as such inside insulation materials may need to be water tight, and at the same time, humidity has to be released from the insulation material into the airing channels. This is a contradiction of function of an airing channel. For example, WO 2013152048 mentioned above teaches using a foam layer as insulation. If an insulation material like Rockwool is used there might be a problem removing condensation droplets from a wall.
The natural airing constituted by a temperature difference between the bottom end of a vertical wall and a top end of the vertical wall is effective if the temperature difference is above a certain level. The contributing factors of maintaining a temperature difference, and hence an airing "motor", is normally not constant. Therefore, the airing effect the motor may provide can therefore vary during day and night conditions and changing weather conditions for example.
Therefore, it is a need of an improved cladding panel of exterior building walls, providing improved airing of moisture and for example water droplets formed inside walls.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

In particular, it may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a cladding panel providing means of establish airing channels around cut-outs of a building wall supporting windows or doors or similar objects.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an alternative to the prior art.

SUMMARY

Thus, the above-described object and several other objects are intended to be obtained in a first aspect of the invention by providing a cladding panel comprising upwards/downwards and sideways running airing channels.
In particular, it may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a cladding panel comprising:

FIGURES

The cladding panel according to the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying figures. The figure illustrates examples of embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as being limiting to other possible embodiments falling within the scope of the attached claim set. Further, respective examples of embodiments may each be combined with any of the other examples of embodiment.

Figure 1 illustrates an example of embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 illustrate a cross sectional view of the example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 3 illustrate a perspective view of an example of embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4 illustrates details of an example of embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 5 illustrates s cross sectional view of an example of embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 6 illustrates an example of mounting an example of embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 7 illustrates another example of embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 8 illustrates details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.
Figure 9 illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.
Figure 10 illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.
Figure 11 illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.
Figure 1 illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.2
Figure 13 illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.
Figure 14 illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.
Figure 15 illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.
Figure 16 illustrates further details of the example illustrated in Figure 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the specified embodiments, it should not be construed as being in any way limited to the presented examples. The scope of the present invention is set out by the accompanying claim set. In the context of the claims, the terms "comprising" or "comprises" do not exclude other possible elements or steps. The mentioning of references such as "a" or "an" etc. should not be construed as excluding a plurality. The use of reference signs in the claims with respect to elements indicated in the figures shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.
Furthermore, combining individual features mentioned in different claims may be advantageous, and the mentioning of these features in different claims does not exclude that a combination of features is not possible and advantageous.
Figure 1 illustrates an example of an airing plate 10 according to the present invention. Further details of a complete cladding panel of the present invention comprising the airing plate 10 is disclosed for example with reference to Figure 3 and Figure 5.
On a front side 10a of the airing panel 10, an outer panel 20 can be mounted. On a backside 10b of the airing plate 10, an insulating mat 18 is attachable. The outer panel 20 is the outer façade of a wall on which the cladding panel of the present invention will be mounted. Different materials and ornamental details can be used on the outer panel 20.
A plurality of spaced apart accumulation cups 12 are arranged on the airing plate 10 designed to collect humidity and/or droplets from an insulating mat 18 attached on the backside 10b of an airing plate 10. The body of respective accumulation cups 12 have openings on the front side 10a of the airing plate 10, while the closed body of the accumulation cup is protruding outwardly from the backside 10b of the airing plate 10. However, in the bottom of each respective accumulation cup 12, there is an adapted through hole or aperture 13 allowing humidity and/or droplets to migrate from the insulating mats into the inner space of the body of respective accumulation cups 12. A drainage channel 14 arranged in each respective side faces of the body of the plurality of accumulation cups 12 is guiding accumulated droplets and humidity, accumulated inside the body of the accumulation cups, to a backside 10b of the airing plate 10.
When a cladding panel is mounted onto a wall, for example onto a framework, respective drainage channels 14 in fluid communication with the interior of an accumulation cup 12 is oriented downwards thereby allowing humidity and/or water droplets to drain out of the drainage channel 14. The drainage channel 14 guides humidity and/or droplets onto the backside 10b of an airing plate 10. Gravity will force any droplets or humidity forming droplets on the backside of the airing plate 10 to fall downwards in between the outwardly protruding backsides of respective accumulation cups 12. The humidity and/or water droplets can collected by a collecting channel at a bottom of a wall constituted by cladding panels of the present invention. Refer for example Figure 6.
When an outer panel 20 is mounted onto the front side 10a of respective airing plates 10, the outer panels 20 are glued onto the airing plate surface 10a.
As illustrated in Figure 2, the edge around respective accumulation cups 12 are protruding out from the front side 10a of an airing plate 10 with a defined height. In addition, there are some protruding surfaces 15 in between respective accumulation cups 12. When an outer panel 20 is mounted, the outer panel 20 is glued to the protruding edges of respective accumulation cups 12. The protruding surfaces are mechanically supporting outer panels 20, which not necessarily has to be glued to the outer panels 20.
In this manner, respective accumulation cups 20 constitute a closed space accumulating humidity and/or droplets from insulating mats
In Figure 1, a horizontal oriented sealing lip 16 and a vertical oriented sealing lip 16 is arranged orthogonal to each other. When forming a wall, several airing plates 10 of cladding panels of the present invention has to be connected together from a bottom of a wall to the top of the wall, and from a left hand side of the wall to the right hand side of the wall. The sealing lips 16 represents an interface covering edges of adjacent assembled airing plates 10. For example, the vertical oriented sealing lip 16 on the left hand side of the airing plate 10 illustrated in Figure 1 can cover a corresponding edge of a next adjacent airing plate 10 without a sealing lip 16.
A first cladding panel can for example be mounted in a lower left hand corner of a wall. The left hand vertical sealing lip 16 of a second cladding panel mounted on a right hand side of the first cladding panel will then cover the right hand side of the first cladding panel having no sealing lip 16. The same system follows when mounting cladding panels upwards to the top of the wall.
It is also within the scope of the present invention that sealing lips 16 can be mounted after mounting cladding panels onto a wall.
As illustrated in Figure 1 and Figure 2, there are multiple bolt guides 11 distributed around edges of an airing plate 10. The bolt guides 11 guides bolts used to attach respective airing plates 10, and thereby an assembled cladding panel, onto for example a building framework.
Figure 3 illustrate an exploded view of an example of a cladding panel of the present invention. An insulating mat 18 is attached to a backside 10b of an airing plate 10 by quick lock bolts 17 being inserted through the material of the insulating mat 18. With reference to Figure 4 and Figure 5, an end 23 constituting the locking mechanism is guided through the hole 13 in the bottom of an accumulation cup 12. On the front side 10a of the airing plate 10, a locking plate 19 is inserted into the opening of the accumulation cup 12 from the front side 10a, of which the end 23 of the quick lock bolt 17 is protruding out from the bottom of the accumulation cup 12. The locking plate 19 has a central located cavity 22 in which the quick lock bolt end 23 is inserted. The cavity 22 is arranged on a surface 21 of locking plate 19 that will face the quick lock bolt 17 when mounted. Protruding out from the bottom of the cavity 22 there is a protruding pin 26 that is pushed inside the end 23 thereby pushing aside locking fingers being engaged with corresponding edges arranged inside the cavity 22.
Opposite the end 23 of the quick lock bolt 17, there is a plate 24 being arranged to keep an attached insulating mat 18 in a locked position.
The number of locking bolts 17 that are used is a limited number of bolts. Therefore, the majority of through holes 13 in bottoms of accumulation cups 12 will serve the purpose of draining humidity and/or water droplets from the insulating mats 18 as discussed above.
In figure 5, it is illustrated how an insulating mat 18 can have a protruding tongue 25 that can be inserted into a corresponding groove (not illustrated) of a cladding panel when mounted on for example a framework of a building.
Figure 6 illustrate how a cladding panel as illustrated for example in Figure 5 is attached onto walls of a house. At the bottom of the wall above the ground there is attached a girder 28 supporting respective cladding panels when assembling the wall before respective elements has been attached to the wall surface with bolts through respective bolt guides 11 as discussed above. The girder may also comprise an open collecting drainage channel 27 collecting droplets guided downwards by gravity on the backside 10b of respective airing plates 10.
When assembling a wall, outer panels 20 may be added to the front side 10a of respective airing plates 10 after an assembly of elements comprising insulating mats 18 attached to the backside 10b of respective airing plates 10, which are attached to for example a building framework.
It is further within the scope of the present invention to use embodiments of the present invention when modernizing older houses.
Figure 7 illustrates another example of embodiment of the present invention. The illustration is an exploded view of the example of embodiment. A cladding panel comprises the elements of the cladding panel disclosed for example in Figure 3. The additional feature of the example of embodiment illustrated in Figure 7 is the manner an outer panel is mounted onto the airing plate 10, i.e. onto the front surface 10a of the airing plate 10. An attachment profile 30 that, made of aluminum or composite materials or plastics etc., is attached onto the outer surface 10a of the airing plate 10 in a horizontal orientation relative to a wall being assembled with the cladding panels according to the present invention. An attachment element 29 arranged with receiving locking elements 32 on a surface facing towards the attachment profile 30 is adapted to receive protruding locking elements 31 arranged on a surface of the attachment profile 30 facing towards the receiving locking elements 32 arranged on the attachment element 29.
The attachment element 29 is circular shaped and is adapted to be glued onto an opening of an accumulation cup 12 located on the front face 10a of the airing plate 10. An example is illustrated in Figure 8. Another example of embodiment of the attachment element is illustrated in Figure 9. A locking plate 19 as illustrated in for example Figure 3 and Figure 4 may be adapted to also functioning as the attachment element 29. In Figure 8 the adapted locking plate is denoted 19a. On a first side, the locking plate 19a is arranged with the cavity 22 and a central protruding pin 26 as discussed in connection with Figure 3. On a second side opposite the first side of the locking plate 19a there is arranged receiving locking elements 32. The receiving locking element is in this example illustrated having a ramp shaped surface 34. As discussed further below the ramp shaped surface enables the protruding locking elements 31 of the attachment profile 30 to glide upwards the ramp, and at the end of the ramp an adapted part of the protruding locking elements 31 can snap in place behind the steep end surface of the ramp shaped surface of the receiving locking element 32.
Figure 10 depict a perspective backside view of an example of an attachment profile 30 and the protruding locking elements 31. Figure 11 depict the attachment profile 30 in a perspective view from the front side. A corresponding inversed ramp shaped surface 33 is illustrated. The inversed ramp shaped surface 33 of the protruding locking element 31 of the attachment profile 30 is correspondingly adapted to the ramp shaped surface 34 of the receiving locking element 32 of the attachment element 29. Figure 15 illustrates an example of locking between the two elements. Figure 15 illustrate how the surface 33 of the protruding locking element 33 is adapted to the surface 34 of the receiving locking element 32. The protruding end of the protruding locking element 31 is for example rounded as illustrated by the reference numeral 33a in Figure 15. This simplifies the snap operation of the protruding part of the protruding locking element 32 when the protruding part of the protruding locking element 32 snaps behind the straight surface 34a of the ramp shaped surface 34 of the receiving locking element 32.
Figure 11 illustrates an assembled cladding panel according to the present invention wherein a plurality of attachment elements 29 and similar adapted locking plates 19a are glued over a selected number of accumulation cup openings 12 on the front side 10a of a plurality of adjacent located airing plates 10.
As can be seen in Figure 12, the respective receiving locking elements of the receiving locking elements 29, 19a are elongated and are oriented horizontally relative to the orientation of an assembled wall of a house constituted by the cladding panels of the present invention. Refer also Figure 13 for more details.
With this orientation, the attachment profiles 30 will also run horizontally relative to the orientation of the wall. This is illustrated in Figure 14.
Figure 16 illustrate how an outer panel 20 can be attached to the outer surface of the respective attachment profiles 30. The example in Figure 20 illustrate the attachment of wooden panel boards, which are attached with self-tapping screws.
With reference to Figure 12 it is also possible to arrange the orientation of the attachment elements 29 such that the receiving locking elements 32 on the surface of the attachment elements 29 are oriented vertically relative to a wall of a house the respective cladding panels according to the present invention is used. In this scenario, the attachment profiles will also be oriented vertically. With reference to Figure 16, in such a case the wooden panel boards would be oriented horizontally on the wall of the house.

Claims

An airing plate (10) comprising:
- a plurality of spaced apart accumulation cups (12), wherein respective openings of the accumulation cups are arranged on a front side (10a) of the airing plate (10),

- wherein the body of respective accumulation cups (12) are protruding out from a backside (10b) of the airing plate (10),

- in respective bottoms of the plurality of airing cups (12) there are arranged through holes (13),

- on respective side surfaces of the body of the plurality of accumulation cups (12), there is arranged a drainage channel 14 providing fluid communication from an inside space of respective accumulation cups (12) to the backside (10b) of the airing plate (10).
The airing plate (10) of claim 1, wherein a circumference of respective openings of the plurality of accumulation cups (12) are protruding up from the front side (10a) of the airing plate (10) with a defined height.
The airing plate of claim 2, wherein a plurality of supporting surfaces (15) are arranged in between the plurality of accumulation cups (12), wherein the supporting surfaces (15) are flush with the defined protruding height of respective circumferences of the openings of the plurality of accumulation cups (12).
The airing plate (10) of claim 1, wherein a first edge of the airing plate (10) is covered with a first sealing lip (16), and a second edge of the airing plate (10) is covered with a second sealing lip (16), wherein the first sealing lip (16) and the second sealing lip (16) are arranged mutual orthogonal to each other.
The airing plate of claim 1, wherein a plurality of bolt guides (11) are arranged close to edges of the front side (10a) of the airing plate (10).
The airing plate of claim 1, wherein an insulating mat (18) is attachable to the backside (10b) of the airing plate (10).
The airing plate (10) of claim 6, wherein the attachable insulating mat (18) is attachable with click lock bolts (17).
The airing plate (10) of claim 7, wherein an end (23) of the quick lock bolt (17) is attachable in a through hole (13) in the bottom of an accumulation cup (12).
The airing plate of claim 7, wherein a plate (24) on an opposite end of the end (23) of the quick lock bolt (17) is arranged to support and hold the insulating mat (18).
The airing plate (10) of claim 6, wherein the attachable quick lock bolts (17) are attachable in through holes (13) in bottoms of respective accumulating cups (12).
The airing plate of claim 1, wherein an outer panel (20) of a façade of a house is attachable to the front side (10a) of the airing plate (10).
The airing plate (10) of claim 11, wherein the outer panel (20) is attachable to the front side (10a) of the airing plate (10) by gluing the outer panel (20) onto the protruding periphery of the openings of respective accumulation cups (12).
A cladding panel comprising an airing plate (10) according to any claim 1-12.
The cladding panel of claim 13, comprising the insulating mat (18) and the airing plate (10), wherein the insulating mat (18) is attached to the backside (10b) of the airing plate (10).
The cladding panel of claim 13, comprising the insulating mat (18), and the airing plate (10), and the outer panel (20), wherein the insulating mat (18) is attached to the backside (10b) of the airing plate (10), and the outer panel (20) is attached to the front side (10a) of the airing plate (10).
The cladding panel of claim 13, wherein a selected number of attachment profiles (30) supporting outer panels (20) are arranged on the front side (10a) of the airing plate (10).
The cladding panel of claim 16, wherein respective attachment profiles (30) are attached to a selected number of attachment elements (29, 19a) located over openings of respective accumulation cup openings (12) on the front side 10a of the airing panel (10).
The cladding panel of claim 17, wherein respective attachment profiles (30) is arranged with protruding locking elements (31) adapted to engage in a locking manner with adapted receiving locking elements 32 arranged on the attachment elements (29) on a surface facing towards the respective protruding locking elements (31).
The cladding panel of claim 18, wherein respective receiving locking elements has a ramp shaped surface (34), and the protruding locking elements (31) is arranged with a correspondingly adapted revers ramp shaped surface (33).
The cladding panel of claim 19, wherein a protruding part of a protruding locking element (31) is arranged with a curved surface (33a) facilitating a snap locking of the protruding part of the protruding locking element (31) behind straight end surface (34a) of the ramp shaped receiving locking element (32).