GB2247699A - Composite panel - Google Patents

Abstract

A wall cladding panel 1 has a thermally insulating core 6 and at least one generally planar protective skin 2. The skin 2 is formed with at least one rigidifying channel 8 and the channel 8 is closed over by an elongate cover 12 having engagement means 16 formed and arranged for push-fit captive inter-engagement with anchoring means provided inside 18 said channel 8. Mastic 22 seals between the cover 12 and the channel. The channel may act as ducting. The cover may be coloured. <IMAGE>

Description

COMPOSITE PANEL STRUCTURES The present invention relates to thermally insulating wall panels and the use thereof.

Thermally insulating panels made of expanded polymeric materials such as polyurethane are widely used in the building industry to provide high levels of thermal insulation in a convenient and economic manner. These panels have though a serious disadvantage due to their combustability and the highly toxic nature of their combustion products.

It has recently been proposed to use thermally insulating panels made of fire-resistant materials such as rock fibre or like materials known by various names including rock wool, mineral wool, slag wool etc. In order to provide these with adequate structural strength and rigidity, they are encased with corrugated sheets of metal which are bonded to the faces of the rock wool fibre panels. The corrugated surface however is often not acceptable for aesthetic reasons or indeed for functional reasons where an insulating panel with a conventional flush-face is required.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid or minimise one or more of the above disadvantages.

The present invention provides in a broad aspect a wall cladding panel system comprising a panel in the form of at least one generally planar protective skin, said at least one skin being formed so as to provide at least one rigidifying channel in said skin, said channel being closed over by an elongate section having engagement means formed and arranged for push-fit captive inter-engagement with an anchoring means provided inside said channel.

In a preferred aspect the invention relates to a composite panel including a thermally insulating layer.

Thus the system of the invention provides a wall cladding panel which has enhanced rigidity through the use of channel formations in the skin whilst maintaining an attractive appearance through closing over the channels in a convenient and economic manner.

Various sections may be used for closing over the channel depending on whether a generally flush or raised profile finish is required, and/or on the type of anchoring means and form of inter-engagement therewith used.

Usually the composite panel will have protective skins at both sides, and if desired both of these skins may be provided with rigidifying channels to increase the stiffness and rigidity of said panel, with either of both of the skins having their channels covered over.

The skins will usually be made from metal, preferably steel, desirably galvanised steel to reduce the possibility of corrosion, or of aluminium. As a further protection against corrosion the panel skins may be painted and/or provided with a durable plastic coating.

It will be appreciated that said coating may be of any colour as required.

It will be appreciated that the panels may be formed so that in use the rigidifying channels can run across the panel at any angle including vertically down, horizontally, or diagonally.

Whilst various thermally insulating materials may be used in the insulating core of the panel of the invention, desirably there is used a fire-resistant material such as rock wool fibre, for example, that available under the Trade Name "Icerock" from Steinuller Verksmidjan H.F. of Saudarkrokur, Iceland.

Preferably said elongate section is a generally 'C'-shaped section of one form or another wherein the inwardly cranked edge portions of said 'C' shaped section are formed and arranged captively to inter-engage the anchoring means at their free edges, whilst also abutting, more or less closely, the upper side portions of said channel proximal the principal plane of the skin. If desired a suitable mastic or other sealant may be provided between the interabutting surfaces. Conveniently at least one of said edge portions and/or said upper side portions is provided with sealant material prior to engagement therebetween.

Various anchoring means may be used in accordance with the present invention. Usually the anchoring means will be in the form of a plurality of discrete spaced apart anchor elements, such as spring clip means, having resiliently displacable portions engagable, in their captive engagement positions, by free inwardly cranked edge portions of the elongate sections, so as to be displacable thereby to permit passage of said section edge portions into their captive engagement positions, said clip portions then springing back into their captive engagement positions. Alternatively the anchoring elements may be in the form of perforations in the skin engagable by section engagement means in the form of rearwardly extending spring clips.

In general the anchoring elements will be more or less 'U'-shaped but it will be appreciated that a wide variety of spring clips adapted for engagement with various differently shaped and/or disposed engagement portions on the elongate sections, can be used.

Advantageously said 'U'-shaped spring clip is formed and arranged with extended locking fingers for push fit captive inter-engagement with the free edge portions of said 'C'-shaped elongate section.

It will of course be appreciated that any other suitable method of discrete push-fit captive inter-engagement may be used.

The anchoring elements may be connected to the base of said channel by any suitable fastener means but preferably by rivet means, most conveniently using blind rivetting means.

Further preferred features and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following detailed description given by way of example of some preferred embodiments illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway section of a composite panel of the invention; Fig. 2a is a side elevation of an anchor member and engagement means of a first embodiment of the invention in Fig. 1; Fig. 2b is a side elevation of an anchor member and engagement means of a second embodiment; Figs. 3a and 3b are side elevations of two further elongate sections of the invention; and Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the engagement means.

Fig. 1 shows a composite panel of the invention generally indicated by reference number 1. The panel 1 comprises an outer skin 2 and an inner skin 4 bonded to either side of a core 6 in the form of a thermally insulating layer. The outer skin 2 of a panel 1 has three parallel rigidifying channels 8 and the inner skin 4 a series of grooves 10. The combination of two skins 2, 4, a core 6 and the channels 8 and grooves 10 provides for a relatively stiff and rigid panel 1 having good insulating properties.

In order to improve the aesthetic attraction of the panel 1, the channels 8 on the outer skin 2 are closed over with elongate sections of channel capping 12. The channel capping 12 provides a flush finish with adjacent portions 14 of the outer skin in the principal plane thereof. The flush capping 12 is held in place by spring clips 16 engaging the folded over edges 15 of the capping 12, the spring clips being blind pop rivetted 17 to the channel base 18. A bead 20 of mastic 22 runs along each of the upper edges 24, 25 of the channel 8 so as to seal the capping 12 in position and prevent moisture from entering and becoming trapped in the channel and corroding the capping.

In greater detail and with reference to Fig. 2a, the capping section 12 has a flat central longitudinally extending portion 26 and two inwardly cranked edge portions 15. The clip 16 is more or less 'U'-shaped with upwardly extending resilient legs 28 engaging the capping section edge portions 15 and causing said legs 28 to displace inwardly, until said edge portions 15 abut the upper sides 30 of the channel 8, the legs 28 then springing back and captively engaging said capping section 12 in said channel 8.

Fig. 2b shows a second embodiment of the clip 16 shown in Fig. 2a and like parts will be described by like reference numbers. The capping section 12 has two inwardly cranked edge portions 15 which abut the upper edges 30 of the channel 8 with mastic 22 therebetween.

Depending from the central portion 30 of the capping section 12 is a thickened-edge rib 32, formed and arranged captively to engage in a generally 52 (omega)-shaped spring clip 16 mounted on the base 18 of the channel 8.

Figs. 3a and 3b show two other forms of capping section 12a and 12b, which provide raised profiles above the principal plane of the outer skin 14. The first capping section 12a shown in Fig. 3a provides a trapezoidal section rib 34 and the second capping section 12b shown in Fig. 3b provides a segment-shaped section rib 36. It ..

will of course be'appreciated that the capping sections 12, 12a, 12b may be mixed and matched and may come in a variety of colours, thus enabling, for instance, a user to customise a building in their corporate colours.

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of invention in which a capping section 12 generally similar to that of Figs. 1 and 2 has a generally bulb-shaped spring clip engagement means 38 having two resilient fork portions 40, compressible towards each other to allow it to be pushed through a perforation 42 in the base 18 of the channel 8, and spring out again behind the perforation 42 for captive engagement therewith thereby anchoring the capping section 12 in the channel 8.

It will also be appreciated that various other modifications may be made to the above described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thus for instance additional insulation material may be placed into the channel prior to the fitting of the capping sections thereby achieving a more uniform insulation levbel across a panel. The enclosed channels may also act as ducting for pipework or cabling.

Claims (12)

1. A wall cladding panel system comprising a panel in the form of at least one generally planar protective skin, said at least one skin being formed so as to provide at least ' rigidifying channel in said skin, said channel being closed over by an elongate section having engagement means formed and arranged for push-fit captive inter-engagement with anchoring means provided inside said channel.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said panel is in the form of a composite panel including a thermally insulating layer.

3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said elongate section is a generally 'C'-shaped section with inwardly cranked edge portions formed and arranged for nesting engagement with the upper side portions of said channel proximal the principal plane of the skin.

4. A system according to claim 3 wherein the central longitudinally extending portion of said section is substantially flat so as to provide a substantially flush closure to said channel.

5. A system according to claim 3 wherein the central longitudinally extending portion of said section is generally convex so as to provide a raised profile closure to said channel.

6. A system according to any one of claims 3 to 5 wherein sealant is orovided between the inter-abutting surfaces of the section and the side portions of the channel.

7. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein said anchoring means comprises a plurality of discrete spaced-apart anchor elements.

8. A system according to claim 7 wherein said anchor elements are in the form of spring clips.

9. A system according to claim 8 wherein the engagement means comprise inwardly cranked edge portions of said 'C'-shaped section formed and arranged captively to inter-engage the anchoring elements at their free edges.

10. A system according to claim 7 wherein said anchoring elements comprise perforations in said at least one skin inside the channel, and the engagement means are in the form of rearwardly projecting spring clips.

11. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein said at least one skin is of steel.

12. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 11 therein said thermally insulating core is of rock wool {fibre.