GB2519694A

GB2519694A - Modular building unit seal

Info

Publication number: GB2519694A
Application number: GB1501255.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Douglas Rose
Original assignee: Portakabin Ltd
Current assignee: Portakabin Ltd
Priority date: 2013-10-22
Filing date: 2014-03-26
Publication date: 2015-04-29
Anticipated expiration: 2034-03-26
Also published as: GB2515863B; GB201501255D0; GB201405432D0; GB2519694B; GB2515863A; GB201318690D0

Abstract

A modular building unit seal has a compressible seal configured to seal a surface of a modular building unit against a surface of a further modular building unit in order to substantially prevent liquid from entering an interior of the unit or the further unit. The compressible seal is shaped to form a drainage channel, which directs liquid away from a free edge of the seal, and continues to form a channel when compressed. The seal further comprises a sealing surface which is secured to a building unit in use via a fastener or adhesive and which seals the seal to the modular building unit. The seal may be configured to seal against a further seal on a further unit, or it may have a further sealing surface which seals to the further modular building unit. The seal may be V-shaped or chevron shaped in cross section and may have a hollow sealing portion which may be divided by a wall. The sealing surface may have a sealing lip and may have ribs. The seal may be secured by a retaining strip which may have fastener holes.

Description

Modular building unit seal

FIELD OF TUE INVENTION

The invention relates to a modular building unit seal, particularly a compressible seal for modular building units.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modular building units al-c prefabricated in a factory and transported on lolTies to the installation site where one or more modular building units are assembled into a building. For ease of transportation.

the size of each modular building unit is typically limited to the size of the lorry on which the modular building unit is transported. To construct large, particularly open plan, buildings, several modular building units are fastened together. It is necessary to seal the joins between each of the modular building units to prevent rain penetrating into the interior of the building. as well as to prevent draughts and to prevent heat escaping.

The joins are normally sealed after installation by applying flashing to the joins. This is time-consuming and because the installation of the tiashing requires work at height, safety equipment such as scaffolding or an aerial work platform must be used to ensure the safety of the workers installing the flashing, which increases the cost and time required to install a modular building.

It would, therefore, he advantageous to find a modular building unit which eliminates the need for post-installation weather sealing,

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a modular building unit seal. The modular building unit seal comprises a compressible seal configured to seal a surface of a modular building unit against a surface of a further modular building unit in order to substantially prevent liquid from entering an interior of the unit or the further unit, wherein the compressible seal is shaped to form a drainage channel and continues to form a drainage channel when compressed, wherein the seal is eoiifigured to he fastened to a surface via either a fastener or an adhesive. The modular building unit seal being a compressible seal means that joins between modular building units do not need to be sealed post-installation which reduce the time and cost of constructing buildings from modular building units. The drainage channel helps to drain the liquid away from the seal preventing the liquid from forming a puddle which might cause the seal to leak.

I

The compressible seal may be configured to compress against a further compressible seal on the further unit This means that the compressible seal will seal against either a further building unit or against a seal fastened to a further building unit.

The compressible seal may have a substantially v-shaped cross-section The v-shaped cross-section improves the compressibility of the seal and forms a channel which helps to drain liquid away.

The compressible seal may have a chevron-shaped, The compressible seal may have a hollow sealing portion. The hollow sealing portion improves the compressibility of the seal.

The hollow sealing portion may he divided by a walL The compressible seal may have a sealing surface configured to seal the compressible seal to the modulai-building unit, wherein the sealing surface has a lip on at least one end of the sealing surface, the lip configured to inhibit water ingress between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit The presence of a lip helps the compressible seal to conform to the surface of the modular building unit, which may be rough or uneven, so that the lips improve the contact between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit. Thc lips also have a tapered shape which eiicoutages water to run off the lip and into the diainage channel, which pievents water pooling on the join between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit.

In this way, the lips inhibit water iness between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit The lip may project from the sealing surface in the direction of sealing with the modular building unit.

The sealing surface may have one or more rihs The ribs may he compressihle The presence of ribs helps to improve the quality of the watertight seal between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit, especially when the surface of the modular building unit is rough or uneven.

The compressible seal may have a further sealing surface configured to seal the compressible seal to the further uiodular building unit, wherein the further sealing surface has a lip on at least one end of the further sealing surface, the lip configured to inhibit water ingress between the compressible seal and the surface of the further modular building unit.

The compressible seal may further comprise a retainhig strip configured to allow the retaining strip to he fastened adjacent to the surface.

The retaining strip may be configured to bc fastcned by a fastcner placed through the retaining strip.

Alternatively, the retaining strip maybe configured to be fastened using adhesive.

The compressible seal may further comprise first and second sealing portions located either side of the retaining strip.

A modular building unit comprises a surface, the unit being ahuttable against a further unit comprising a surface. The unit further comprises a compressible seal located adjacent to the surface in order to seal the surface of the modular building unit against the surface of the further modular building unit in order to substantially prevent liquid from entering an interior of the unit or the further unit. The fact that the modular building unit has a compressible seal means that the joins between modular building units do not need to be sealed post-installation which reduces the time and cost of constructing buildings from modular building units.

The compressible seal may he configured to compress against a further compressible seal on the further unit. This means that the compressible seal will seal against either a further building unit or against a seal fastened to a further building unit.

The compressible seal may he shaped to form a drainage channel which directs liquid away from a longitudinal free edge of the seal. This helps to drain the liquid away from the seal preventing the liquid from forming a puddle which might otherwise cause the seal to leak.

The compressible seal may have a substantially v-shaped cross-section. The v-shaped cross-section improves the compressibility of the seal and forms the channel which helps to drain liquid away.

The compressible seal may have a chevron-shaped.

The compressible seal may have a hollow scaling portion. The hollow sealing portion improves the compressibility of the seal.

The hollow sealing portion may be divided by a wall.

The compressible seal may further comprise a retaining strip configured to allow the seal to be fastened adjacent to the surface. The retaining strip may be fastened to the surface by a fastener through the i-etaining strip. Alternatively, the retaining strip may he fastened to the surface with adhesive.

The compressible seal may comprise first and second sealing portions located either side of the retaining strip.

The seal may be configured to compress in a substandally honzontal direction.

The seal may he configured so that, when compressed, the seal continues to form a drainage channel.

This ensures water continues to be shed when the seal is in use.

The compressible seal may have a sealing surface adjacent to the modular building unit, wherein the sealing surface has a lip on at least one end of the sealing surface, the lip configured to inhibit water ingress between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit. The presence of a lip helps the compressible seal to conform to the surface of the modular building unit, which may be rough or uneven, so that the lip improves the contact between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit. The lip may also have a tapered shape which encourages water to run off the lip and into the drainage channel, which prevents water pooling on the join between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit. In this way, the lip inhibits water ingress between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit.

The lip may project from the sealing surface in the direction of sealing with the modular building unit.

The sealing surface may have one or more ribs. The ribs may be compressible. The presence of ribs helps to improve the quality of the watertight seal between the compressible seal and the surface of the modular building unit, especially when the surface of the modular building unit is rough or uneven.

The compressible seal may have a türthcr sealing surface adjacent to the further modular building unit, where the further sealing surface has a lip on at least one end of the ifirther scaling surface, the lip configured to inhibit water ingress between the compressible seal and the surface of the further modular building unit.

At least one spacer maybe positioned adjacent to the compressible seal to maintain a desired spacing reladve to the further modular building unit, This assists in the alignment of the building unit and the further building unit Thc spaccr may comprise a fastener further utilised to fasten a portion of a roof to a roof bcam.

The modular building unit may be fastened to a further unit. This provides integrity to the building and improves the quality of the seal.

The surface may be a portion of a ioof structure.

The compressible seal may be configured to direct liquid towards one or more sides of the roof by the compressible seal having a fall towards one or more sides of the roof. This helps the liquid drain away from the i-oof.

The compressible seal may be higher towards the centre of the roof than at the sides of the roof.

The compressible seal may he located on a roof beam.

The surface may be a substantially vertical surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the invention shall now be described with reference to the appended figures, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a modular building unit having a roof, a tloor, two side walls and a rear wall; Figure 2 is a peispective view of a modular building unit having a roof, a floor and two side walls; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the modular building units of Figures I and 2 joined to form a building; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a modular building unit having a roof, a floor, a front wall, a rear wall and one side wall; Figure 5 is a perspective view of a pair of modular building units of the type shown in Figure 4 joined to form a building; Figure 6 is an enlarged isometric view of a section of modular building unit seal, with the modular building unit seal fastened to a roof beam.

Figurc 7 is a partial cut-away vicw of thc modular building unit seal of Figure 6; Figure 8 is a cross-section view of the modular building unit seal of Figure 6 butting up against the roof beam of a further modular building unit; Figure 9 is a cross-section view of the modular building unit seal of Figure 6 butting up against a further modular building unit having a furthcr seal; and Figure 10 is a cross-section view of an alternative embodiment of a modular building unit seal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S)

Figure 1 illustrates a modular building unit 100 comprising a roof 102, a floor 108, and two side walls 104 and 106. The modular building unit 100 has a rear wall 110. but no front wall, so that the modular building unit 100 is open from the front. The structure of the unit 100 is formed from four steel box section corner columns 113, joined by four C-section floor beams 111 and four C-section roof beams 114. The roof 102 of the modular building unit 100 is supported by the roof beams 114.

A roof beam 114 and two corner columns 113 are exposed at the front of the modular building unit 100. A seal 1 20 is fastened to the roof beam 114 and a seal 1 20 is fastened to each of the two corner columns 113 that arc exposed. The seals 120 allow the modular building unit 100 to he sealed against a further modular building unit, in order to prevent liquid, such as rainwater, penetrating into the interior of the modular building unit 100. as well as preventing draughts and preventing heat escaping.

Figure 2 illustrates a modular building unit 200 comprising a roof 102, a floor 108, and two side walls 104 and 106 secured to the corner eolunms 113, floor beams 111 and roof beams 114 as appropriate.

However, the modular building unit 200 has neither a front wall nor a rear wall, so that the modular building unit 200 is open from the front and the rear. The roof 102 of the modular building unit 200 is supported by the roof beam 114.

In this embodiment, seals 120 are fastened to the roof beams 114 at both the front and rear of the modular building unit 200. A further seal 120 is fastened to each of the two corner columns 113 that are exposed at both the front and rear of the modular building unit 200 in a substantially vertical orientation. The seals 120 allow the modular building unit 200 to be sealed against two further modular building units at both the front and rear.

Figure 3 shows how two of the modular building units 100. shown in Figure 1. and the modular building unit 200, shown in Figure 2, are combined to form a building 350. The building 350 comprises two modular building units 100 butted up against either side of a modular building unit 200. The modular buildings units 100 are arranged so that the open front face of one of the modular building units 100 butts up against the open front lace of the modular building unit 200, and the open fiont face of the other of the modular building units 100 butts up against the open rear face of the modular building unit 200. Joining the building units together in this fashion results in a building 350 which has a large open-plan interior space.

As each of the modular building units 100 are butted up against the modular building unit 200 to form building 350. the seal 120 (described in more detail below) on one modular building unit forms a seal against the neighbouring modular building unit which substantially prevents liquid, such as rainwater, from penetrating into the inside of the building 350, as well as substantially preventing draughts and inhibiting heat from escaping.

Figure 4 shows another type of modular building unit 400 comprising a roof 102, a floor 108. one side wall 106. arear wall 110 andafront wall 112. In themodular huildingunit 400, one of the side walls is missing so that the modular building unit 400 is open from one side. The modular building unit 400 has a roof beam 114 and two corner colunms 113 on the open side to which seals 120 are fastened.

As shown in Figure 5, a pair of modular building units 400 may be arranged so that their open sides are butted up together to form a building 550. As with building 350, the seals 120 on one modular building unit 400 form a seal against the neighbouring modular building unit 400 which substantially prevents liquid, such as rainwater. from leaking into the inside of the building 550.

Figure 6 shows a close-up view of a section of a seal 120 attached to a roof beam 114. The roof beam 114 is attached to the roof panel 102 by bolts and washers 642. The bolts and washers 642 also acts as a spacer which maintains the correct distance between roof beams 114 from neighbouring building units in order to engage the seal 120.

The seal 1 20 comprises two sealing portions 122 and 124 located on opposite sides of a rigid retaining strip 126. In this embodiment the retaining strip 126 is intermittently along the run of the seal 120, hut may in other embodiments he continuous. By having two sealing portions 122 and 124, the likelihood of water penetrating the seal is reduced as one sealing portion can act as a backup for the other sealing portion. However, the seal 120 need not have two sealing portions 122 and 124 and could have only one sealing portion, or three or more sealing portions.

The retaining strip 126 has holes to permit fasteners to be inserted for fixing the seal 120 to the roof beam, Figure 7 shows the seal 120 where a section of the sealing portions 122 and 124 have been cut away for clarity. Figure 7 shows how fasteners, in this case two screws 127a and 127b, have been secured through the holes in the retaining strip 126 to fix the seal 120 to the roof beam 114.

The sealing portions 122 and 124 have a chevron shape. The chevron shape of the sealing portions 122 and 124 provides respective v-shaped channels 128 and 130 which act as a channel for liquid, such as rainwater, to encourage the liquid to drain away rather than form a puddle on the seal 120.

Lips 125 are provided on the top and bottom edges of thc face of the scaling portions 122 and 124 which seals against the further modular building unit, The lips 125 are relatively thin, taper to a point and are flexible, being designed to follow any undulations in the sealing surface of the further modular building unit in order to improve the quality of the seal.

The sealing portions 122 and 124 are made from a flexible material, such as synthetic rubber, for example, EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber. Each sealing portion 122 or 1 24 has two hollow voids 132 and 134 which are separated by a wall 136 which connects the top and bottom of the sealing portion 122 or 124 along the length of the sealing porhon 122 and 124.

The chevron shape of the sealing portions 122 and 124, the voids 132 and 134, and the flexible material from which the sealing portions 122 and 124 are manufactured each have the effect of improving the compressibility of the sealing portions 122 and 124 to help the sealing portions 122 and 124 to form a good seal with the neighbouring modular building unit.

As shown in Figure 7, in gaps between adjacent the retaining strips 126, holes 140 are provided in the seal, which allows fasteners to be inserted, such as the nut and bolt 855 shown in Figure 8, at suitable spacings to secure the modular building units together.

In Figure 8, the roof beam 114 which has a seal 120 has been butted up against a further roof beam 114 until the spacers 642 touch. The seal 120 spans the gap between the roof beam 114 and further roof beam 114 and the sealing portions 122 and 124 are pushed up against the further roof beam 114 forming a liquid resistant seal. The nuts and bolts 855 fasten the roof beam 114 to the further roof beam 114 to maintain the seal and the integrity of the building.

Figure 9 shows a situation where a roof beam 114 is butted up against a further roof beam 114 where the further roof beam 114 also has a seal 120 attached. In this ease, the configuration and material of the seals 120 allows the seals 120 to compress sufficiently to allow the roof beam 114 and further roof beam 114 to be butted up against spacers 642. The contact between the two seals 120 provides a liquid resistant seal in the same way as the seal between the seal 120 and the roof beam 114 described in relation to Figure 8 above. Again, nuts and bolts 855 fasten through the holes 140 in the seals 120 to enable the roof beam 114 to be fixed to the further roof beam 114 to maintain the seal and the integi-ity of the building.

To improve the way that water is shed, in addition to the v-shaped channel formed by the chevron shape, the seal 120 may befitted to the roof beam 114 so that there is a fall so that liquid is channelled towards the walls of the building. The fall may be arranged such that there is a fall to one side of the building. or both sidcs of the building.

The seal 120 in Figures 6 to 9 has been desci-ihed as being fixed to a roof beam 114. However, as shown in Figures 1. 2 and 4, the seal 120 may equally he fixed to a corner column 113 to form a substantially vertical seal between the side walls of adjacent modular building units to prevent liquid.

such as rainwater, penetrating into the interior of the building via the side join between adjacent modular building units, as well as substantially prevent draughts and inhibiting heat escaping through the sidejoin.

The modular building units are installed on site as follows. A first modular building unit is placed in position, for example. by lowering the modular building unit 100 into place with a crane. An open side of a second modular building unit is moved towards an open side of the first modular building unit. The second modular building unit is moved substantially horizontally towards the first modular building unit until the spacers make contact and the seal 120 on the first modular building unit butts up and seals against the second modular building unit. Once in place, the first modular building unit is bolted to the second modular building unit using the bolts 855 which pass through the seal 120 at

suitable spacings.

Figure 10 shows an alternative seal 220 which can be used instead of seal 120. The alternative seal 220 is identical to the seal 120 except that the alternative seal 220 has lips 225 provided on the top and bottom ends of the surface 262 of the alteniative seal 220 which is attached to the modular building unit, and the alternative seal 220 has a number of ribs 265 distributed along part of the surface 262.

The lips 225 arc relatively thin, and flexible, and taper to a point. It can be seen from Figure 10 that in a relaxed state the lips 225 project beyond the surface 262 and are therefore designed to follow undulations or unevenness in the sealing surface of the modular building unit. Consequently, the lips 225 help the alternative seal 220 to conform to the surface of the modular building unit in order to improve the quality of the seal and substantially prevent water seeping between the alternative seal 220 and the modular building unit. -10-

The tapered shape of the lips 225 encourages water to run off the lip 225 and prevents water pooling on the join between the alternative seal 220 and the modular building unit which again reduces the likelihood that water will seep between the alternative seal 220 and the modular building unit.

The ribs help the alternative seal 220 to follow an uneven surface of the modular building unit and also are compressible to improve the quality of the seal with the modular building unit, to therefore act as a back-up to the lips 225.

Although the above embodiments of the invention have been described with certain preferred features, the skilled person would appreciate that various modifications could he made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the attached claims, as described below.

Although the seal 120, 220 is described as being chevron shaped, the seal 120, 220 could he any shape which allows the seal 120. 220 to compress and perform the function of channelling water, for example, the seal 120, 220 could be U-shaped, or V-shaped, or W-shaped. The alternadve seal 220 may be modified to omit the lower lip 225 and/or change the number of, and/or omit, the ribs 265.

Although Figure 7 shows the each retaining strip 126 having two fasteners I27a and I27h secured through holes (not shown), the retaining strip 126 may have any number of holes to accommodate any number of fasteners as necessary to firnily attach the sealing sftip 126 to the roof beam 114.

Although the spacers 642 have been illustrated as a bolt and washer, the spacers 642 could he any item, such as a custom-machined spacer, which defines a gap between neighbouring modular building units that is sufficient to ensure that the seal 120, 220 engages to form a seal with the neighbouring building unit.

Although the seal 120, 220 has been described as being fixed to a roof beam 114 and a corner column 113, the seal 120, 220 could he fixed to any structure adjacent to the roof 120 or side walls of the modular building unit where the scal 120, 220 is ahlc to seal between the modular building unit and a neighbouring modular building unit to substantially prevent liquid leaking into the interior of the building. A single continuous strip of seal may extend up a corner column and along the roof beam with a curve or mitred connection at the junction of the two.

In Figures 1, 2 and 4. various examples of modular building unit are illustrated having various configuradons of side, front and rear walls, however, other configurations are possible, for example, a modular building unit could have a roof 102, a rear wall 110 and a front wall 112, hut no side walls 106 or 104 so that the modular building unit is open from both sides and could be combined with modular building units 300 to fotm a long, thin building.

Figures 3 and 5 show various examples of building constructed from modular building units.

However, any combination or number of modular building units other than those illustrated could be constructed. In addition, the modular building units could be stacked to form multiple storey buildings. Further, the seals 120, 220 may extend across multiple modular building units, if, for exainple,abuildingoftwounitswideandtwounitsdeepisncedcd -12-

Claims

CLAIMSL A modular building unit seal comprising a compressible seal configured to seal a surface of a modular building unit against a surface of a further modular building unit in order to substantially prevent liquid from entering an interior of the unit or the further unit, wherein the compressible seal is shaped to form a drainage channel which directs liquid away from a longitudinal free edge of the seal and continues to form a drainage channel when compressed. andwherein the seal further comprises a sealing surface configured to be secured to a surface of the modular building unit via a fastener or an adhesive and configured to seal the compressible seal to the modular building unit.
2. The modular building unit seal of claim 1, wherein the compressible seal is configured to compress against a further compressible seal on the further unit.
3. The modular building unit seal of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the compressible seal has a substantially v-shaped cross-section.
4. The modular building unit seal of claim 3, wherein the compressible seal is chevron-shaped.
5. The modular building unit seal of any preceding claim, wherein the compressible seal has a hollow sealing porti on -
6. The modular building unit seal of claim 5, wherein the hollow sealing portion is divided by a wall.
7. The modular building unit seal of any preceding claim, wherein the sealing surface has a lip on at least one end of the sealing surface, the lip configured to inhibit water ingress between the seal and the surface of the modular building unit.
8. The modular building unit seal of claim 7, wherein the lip projects from the sealing surface in the direction of sealing with the modular building unit.
9. The modular building unit seal of any preceding claim, wherein the sealing surface has one or uiore ribs. -13-10. The modular building unit seal of any preceding claim, wherein the compressible seal has a further sealing surface configured to seal the compressible seal to the further modular building unit, wherein the further sealing surface has a lip on at least one end of the further sealing surface, the lip configured to inhibit water ingress between the seal and the surface of the further modular building unit.11. The modular building unit seal of any preceding claims, wherein the compressible seal further comprises a retaining strip configured to allow the retaining strip to be fastened adjacent to the surface.12. The modular building unit seal of claim 11, wherein the compressible seal further comprises first and second sealing portions located either side of the retaining strip.13. The modular building unit seal of claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the retaining strip comprises at least one hole therein.14, The modular building unit according to claim 13, where the at least one hole is configured to receive at least one fastener therethrough to fasten the compressible seal to the modular building unit.