GB2371074A

GB2371074A - Glazing frame

Info

Publication number: GB2371074A
Application number: GB0200371A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gerald Bernado
Original assignee: Sapa Building Systems Ltd
Current assignee: Hydro Building Systems UK Ltd
Priority date: 2001-01-09
Filing date: 2002-01-09
Publication date: 2002-07-17
Anticipated expiration: 2022-01-09
Also published as: GB0200371D0; GB2371074B

Abstract

A glazing frame member comprises inner 4 and outer 6 aluminium sections connected together by a web 8 of thermally insulating material which defines a base portion of a glazing rebate 10. The web 8 is inclined to allow water entering the glazing rebate 10 to drain from inside the frame towards the exterior side of the frame. The web 8 may be an elongate rigid strip having longitudinal edge formations 8', 8'' which engage with retaining formations 9 on the aluminium sections 4, 6, which may be crimped to grip edge portions 8', 8''. There may be drainage means provided to allow water from the glazing rebate 10 to discharge to the outside. A second web 18 may be spaced from the inclined web 8 to further connect the inner 4 and outer 6 aluminium sections. The glazing rebate 10 is formed by a rebate member 12 which can be retained on each of the inner 4 or the outer 6 aluminium sections to provide frame members of opposite hand.

Description

Improvements in or Relating to Glazing Frame Members

This invention relates to glazing frame members and more particularly to thermally broken frame members for glazing applications such as windows, doors, conservatories and other structures.

For certain applications, glazing frames fabricated from extruded aluminium alloy glazing bars remain the preferred choice, having superior strength, stability, durability and other advantages compared with frames of pvcU plastics material.

A recognised disadvantage of window frames or door frames fabricated from aluminium bars is that, in the event of low external temperatures occurring, the good thermal conductivity of aluminium may result in the cooling of the interior-facing surfaces of the frame resulting in heat loss and also condensation, if the interior atmosphere is sufficiently warm and humid.

Many proposals have been made to mitigate this problem by introducing so called'thermally broken'designs in which the inner and outer sections of an extruded frame member

(which may be referred to herein as a'profile') are inter-connected by means of a rigid member of heat insulating material which substantially reduces heat conduction between the inner and outer sections of the profile.

A further problem, which affects glazing frames generally, relates to water penetration around the glazing gasket,

which is generally provided to seal a panel or doubleglazing sealed unit into the window or door frame.

Water, which may enter the frame at any point around the periphery of the glazing, will collect in the lower glazing rebate. In conventional thermally broken designs accumulated water can be slow to drain or perhaps be trapped which is undesirable and increases the risk from frost damage in cold weather conditions.

An object of this invention is to provide means, which enhance the drainage of water from a window or door assembly.

This invention consists in a thermally broken aluminium profile comprising an inner section and an outer section connected together by a web of thermally insulating material which defines a base portion of a glazing rebate, the web member being inclined from a lower outer edge towards higher inner edge whereby in use, water entering the rebate may flow uninterruptedly over the surface of the web towards the exterior side of the frame.

The web may be produced or formed in any suitable way but preferably it is in the form of an elongate extruded rigid member having each longitudinal edge formation adapted to engage with complimentary retaining formation, such as a groove, provided respectively on the inner and outer aluminium sections. Drainage means may also be provided to take any water leaving the rebate to the exterior side of the outer frame for discharge to the outside.

Preferably, a second web is spaced apart from and located beneath the inclined web to further connect together the

inner and the outer aluminium sections in order to increase the strength and rigidity of the assembly.

Preferably, the web-retaining formation provided on each of the inner and outer aluminium sections is in the form of a channel, the opening of which is adapted to be crimped so as to securely grip the retained edge portion of a web.

Generally, each of the inner and outer sections may be in the form of a hollow extrusion and the glazing rebate is formed in part by a rebate profile, which conventionally, has been integrally formed with the inner and/or outer sections as required.

A glazing bar formed in accordance with the present invention has no axial symmetry and therefore cannot simply be inverted so that, for example, an outer glazing frame profile could serve to provide both an externally glazed fixed light and an internally glazed light. Similarly, the configuration of a transom bar will depend on whether the vent and fixed light are internally or externally glazed and whether the vent is above or below the fixed light.

It is, however, desirable to minimise the number of different glazing bar profiles that have to be manufactured in order to help reduce production and bar stocking costs.

Accordingly, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a glazing rebate is formed along an inner or an outer section of the profile by means of an upstanding rebate member which is adapted to be selectively retained by formations provided on each of inner or outer sections to provide profiles of opposite hand.

Preferably, the rebate member is adapted to be retained by sliding fit into complimentary formations provided along the inner and outer sections of the glazing profile.

This allows the glazing rebate to be swapped from one lateral side of an outer glazing profile to the other, thus allowing both inside-glazed fixed lights and outwardly opening vents to be produced using only one basic outer frame member. A Z shaped transom may also provided in which diagonally opposite rebate profiles may be selectively retained in either of the two possible configurations to give transom members of opposite hand.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood an embodiment will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which : Figure 1 is a section of an outer frame member in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a vertical section through a window assembly (at line A-A through the window assembly illustrated in elevation in Figure 3) and generally illustrating an outwardly opening vent disposed above an inside-glazed fixed light.

Referring to Figure 1, a thermally broken outer fixed frame member shown generally as 2 has an inner aluminium section 4 and an outer aluminium section 6 connected together by an upper thermally insulating web 8 in the form of a polyamide extrusion, which defines the base of glazing rebate 10.

Each of the longitudinal edge portions of the web 8 has an edge formation 8'and 8" which are adapted to slide into

complimentarily shaped grooves 9 provided on the adjacent sides of sections 2 and 4 respectively.

The upper sidewalls 9', 911 of the grooves 9 are each formed with an inwardly directed V shaped tooth which is pressed into engagement with a complementary formation on each edge formations 8', 811 by crimping the sidewalls 9', gif.

The upper surface of the web 8 slopes downwardly from the inner section 4 towards the outer section 6 so that, in use, any water penetrating the glazing rebate 10 may flow uninterruptedly over the upper surface of the web 8 towards the outer frame and discharged to the outside by drainage means, not shown.

The upstanding side of the glazing rebate 10 is formed by a rebate profile 12 which may be selectively retained to the upper side of either the inner section 4 or the outer section 6 by the inter engagement of complimentary formations 14,16 provided on the base of the rebate profile and on the upper portion of sections 4 and 6, respectively.

The arrangement enables (for example) either a left-handed or a right-handed outer frame to be assembled from the same two components as will be more particularly described with reference to Figure 3. The innermost of each of the inter engaging complimentary formations is adapted to be crimped to firmly secure the rebate profile in the selected left or right-handed position. The crimping operation to secure the rebate profile and the web may be accomplished in a single step. A second, lower web 18 in generally similar

form to the upper web 8 is provided for the purpose of providing increased mechanical strength and stability. It will be understood that the terms'inner'and'outer'in relation to a profile section are used herein to indicate the sections of the profile which, in use, are disposed on the inside and on the outside of the window, respectively.

The term'outer frame'refers to the outer frame of a window assembly, shown generally as 2 in Figures 2 and 3, which in use is fixed to the building structure, usually to the edge of the window reveal.

Referring to Figure 2, a window assembly is shown having a lower fixed, internally glazed light shown generally as 20 and an upper outwardly opening, externally glazed vent shown generally as 22.

The fixed outer frame 2 at the top and bottom of the assembly are of different hand in that the top outer frame 2 corresponds to the configuration shown in Figure 1 whereas the lower outer frame 2'is formed with the rebate profile fitted to the laterally opposite side of the frame, that is to the outer frame section.

The transom bar 24 of the fixed light 20 is a Z shaped profile, which carries two rebate profiles 12 which may be selectively attached to a core profile to provide a pair of handed transom frame members. The core profile has an inner section 28 an outer section 30 which are connected together by an insulating web 32 that slopes downwardly from the inner section 28 towards the outer section 30. Web 32 forms the base of a glazing rebate the other side of the rebate being formed by the upstanding rebate profile 34.

It will be noted that the'glazing rebate'thus defined in

the transom 24 does not retain the edge of the glazing and the term'glazing rebate'is generally not to be construed as requiring the presence of glazing material therein. In use water may collect in the glazing rebate of transom 24, in which case it will be similarly caused to flow towards the outer side of the frame from whence it may be discharged by drainage means, not shown.

The Z shaped transom 36 which forms the lower edge of the opening vent 22 has inner and outer sections 38,40 having an insulating web 42 which slopes downwardly from inner section 38 to outer section 40 in the same form and having the same function as the webs described above in relation the outer frame 2, 2'. In this case however the rebate profiles are formed integrally with the inner and outer sections of the profile.

In use, water may penetrate the sealing gasket provided around the externally glazed opening vent 22 or around the internally glazed fixed light 20; in either case any

penetrating water will enter glazing rebate 10'of transom 36 or rebate 10 the lower fixed outer frame 2'The downwardly and outwardly sloping webs forming the base of the rebates assist the drainage of water to outer side.

Figure 3 shows the front elevation of the window assembly described with reference to Figure 2.

Claims

Claims 1. A thermally broken aluminium frame member comprising an inner section and an outer section connected together by a web of thermally insulating material which defines a base portion of a glazing rebate, the web member being inclined from a lower outer edge towards higher inner edge whereby in use water entering the rebate may flow uninterruptedly over the surface of the web towards the exterior side of the frame.
2. A member according to Claim 1 in which the web may is in the form of an elongate extruded rigid member having each longitudinal edge formation adapted to engage with complimentary retaining formation, provided respectively on the inner and outer aluminium sections.
3. A member according to Claim 1 or 2 in which drainage means are provided to take any water leaving the rebate to the exterior side of the outer frame for discharge to the outside.
4. A member according to Claims 1-3 in which a second web is spaced apart from and located in use beneath the inclined web to further connect together the inner and the outer aluminium sections in order to increase the strength and rigidity of the assembly.
5. A member in accordance with Claims 1-4 in which the webretaining formation provided on each of the inner and outer aluminium sections is in the form of a channel, the opening of which is adapted to be crimped so as to securely grip the retained edge portion of a web.
6. A member according to any preceding Claim in which a glazing rebate is formed along either an inner or an outer section of the profile by means of an upstanding rebate member which is adapted to be selectively retained by formations provided on each of inner or outer sections to provide profiles of opposite hand.
7. A member according to Claim 6 in which the rebate member is adapted to be retained by sliding fit into complimentary formations provided along either the inner or outer sections of the glazing profile to provide frame members of opposite hand.
8. A frame member substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.