Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a flexible sheath for making thermo-radiant surfaces, which is generally used to make floors and turn them into heat radiating surfaces.

Background art

Floor heating systems are known, which are used for heating building rooms typically intended for residential, office, commercial and storage use.

Particularly, these systems consist of a series of delivery and return pipes connected to a heat source that provides heat to a fluid, typically water, which is circulated in such pipes and heats them by convection.

The latter are laid on the base course of floors, generally in serpentine or helical pattern to increase the overall radiation area, and are subsequently covered with layers of finishing materials.

Thus, the floors with these systems become themselves radiating surfaces that radiate heat into the environment.

A further embodiment of a floor heating system uses radiant bodies in the form of flexible conductive tapes laid on the leveling layer that covers the base course.

Typically, the piping or tape circuits that are designed to form the heating systems shall provide a maximized covering area on the bearing surfaces, such that no portion of these surfaces is excluded from heat control.

This will prevent the creation of differently heated areas in which the temperature difference from other areas might cause drawbacks associated with the different thermal expansions of the materials contacted thereby, and the abilities of maintaining heating temperature substantially constant with time.

For this reason, a circuit like those described above may have pipes or tapes typically arranged over a serpentine or helical winding plane, with no significant superposition of its components.

The above described prior art suffers from certain drawbacks. A first drawback is that these systems must be expressly designed beforehand according to their location and size, as well as the peripheral and geometrical profiles of the surfaces designed to receive them.

These systems are laid in fixed patterns during building construction, because they are designed to lay on the base course and to be covered by the leveling layer and finally by the covering layer.

Therefore, in case of renovation of buildings for modernization purposes, or in case of failure in the original system, the whole floor or the wall masonry must be demolished as deep as to reach the circuit of pipes or tapes that form the system, for removal or replacement, or simply for servicing.

This demolition is particularly labor-intensive and time-consuming, whereby it causes problems to people that live or work in the buildings.

These problems are mainly caused by the high noise and the large amount of rubble and dust generated during demolition and recovery, as well as the need of carrying the rubble out of the working site environments.

A second drawback is that, while prior art systems are generally flat, they still have considerable thicknesses, of the order of a few centimeters, relative to the thicknesses in which they have to be embedded, whereby the masonry structures required for these heating systems shall have proportionally greater thicknesses than in those without such systems, for embedded arrangement of the pipes or thermally conductive tapes therein.

Disclosure of the invention

The object of the invention is to obviate the above drawbacks.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sheath for making radiant surfaces, providing radiant surfaces in the form of floors that maintain a small overall thickness and high temperature control efficiency.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sheath for making radiant surfaces, that allows existing floors to be converted into temperature- controlled radiant floors, although these have not been originally designed for this purpose, while limiting masonry work and simplifying connection to the mains. Yet another object of the invention is to provide a sheath for making thermo-radiant surfaces, that allows application of finishing materials on its surface designed to face upwards after laying, using quick-coupling arrangements, removable as needed.

In one aspect the invention relates to a sheath for making thermo- radiant surfaces as defined in the features of claim 1 .

The invention achieves the following advantages:

- providing a heating floor system also in buildings that originally have none;

- providing heating floor systems for replacement or integration of existing heating systems in buildings, in a short time and at a substantially low cost;

- providing heating floor systems that may be mounted in buildings under construction as original heating systems;

- providing heating systems that improve general comfort for people who live in the buildings in which they are mounted.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Further features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent upon reading of the detailed description of preferred non-exclusive embodiments of a sheath for making thermo-radiant surfaces, which are shown as a non-limiting example in the annexed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a broken schematic view of a first embodiment of a sheath for making thermo-radiant surfaces according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a broken schematic cross-sectional view of the sheath of Figure 1 , as taken along a plane ll-ll;

FIG. 3 is a broken schematic view of a second embodiment of a sheath for making thermo-radiant surfaces according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a broken schematic cross-sectional view of the sheath of Figure 3, as taken along a plane IV-IV;

FIG. 5 is a broken schematic view of a longitudinal sectional portion of a sheath for making thermo-radiant surfaces according to a third embodiment; Fig. 6 is an enlarged top schematic view of a portion of the sheath of Figure 5.

Detailed description of a preferred embodiment Referring to the above figures, numerals 1 , 30 and 50 designate three possible embodiments of a sheath for making thermo-radiant surfaces, particularly suitable for use in making radiant floors.

More in detail, referring to a first embodiment of the invention, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the sheath 1 is composed by two layers of flexible polymeric materials, which are stably coupled together, namely a base layer 2, which is designed to be laid on a coarse surface 1 0 of the base course "M", and a covering layer 3 that covers the base layer 2.

A layer 4 made of a material known as TNT, which is the Italian acronym for "non woven", is interposed between the base layer 2 and the covering layer 3, and forms a one-piece sheath 1 .

In other words, the sheath 1 , like in the further embodiments of the sheath 30 and the sheath 50, consists of a sandwich structure composed of two layers of polymeric materials and a middle layer 4 of TNT material, having an overall thickness "S".

A continuous groove 5 is formed in the base layer 2 and is only open on the side that faces the covering layer 3, i.e. the layer that is designed to face upwards in a floor, and forms a housing seat for a conductor element, here in the form of a filament 6 having a circular section, as shown in Figure 2.

The filament 6 is made of a moldable electrically conductive material such as, without limitation, copper, and in this first embodiment of the sheath 1 it is formed into a serpentine pattern 7, as shown in Figure 1 .

As a result, the groove 5 has the same serpentine pattern, such that it can receive and hold therein the filament 6.

Furthermore, the groove 5 has such a depth as to prevent the filament 6 from projecting beyond the TNT layer 4 and the covering layer 3, which entirely cover it.

The base layer 2 and the TNT (with the covering layer 3 applied on its surface) are coupled together by direct heating of both layers, which soften and stick to each other and become inseparable after cooling.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, the second embodiment of the sheath 30 also comprises, like the previous embodiment, the base layer 2 and the covering layer 3 joined together with the TNT layer 4 interposed therebetween, and stably joined to the base layer 2 by heat treatment.

Nevertheless, in this embodiment, unlike the previous one, the electrically conductive element comprises a plurality of helical windings 31 made of flat sheet-like wires, which are connected together to form a flat thin radiant surface.

Particularly referring to Figure 4, the turns 32 that form each winding 31 are actually arranged between the layer 4 of TNT and the base layer 2, with their respective larger surfaces 33 and 34 directly contacting the base layer 2 and the layer TNT 4 respectively, which are received in compartments 35 formed therebetween.

Referring to Figures 5 and 6, the third possible embodiment of the sheath 50 for forming thermo-radiant surfaces still comprises the base layer 2 and the covering layer 3 with the TNT layer 4 interposed therebetween.

A thin conductor element in the form of a flat grid 51 is interposed between the layer 2 and the TNT layer 4, and is composed of a pair of parallel longitudinal elements 52 joined together by a plurality of transverse elements 53.

According to the invention, in all the embodiments of the sheath, the surface thereof which is designed to face upwards in a floor, is covered with a known tear-off material, generally known as Velcro®, previously defined as covering layer 3, the other connectable part 21 thereof being typically associated with the surface upon which covering materials, such as tiles or ceramic slabs PC are laid.

The operation is as follows: the sheath 1 or 30 or 50 may be laid on a horizontal laying surface 1 0 and later covered with a finishing surface which hides it from the view, e.g. ceramic tiles PC attached by means of the tear-off covering layer, in removable fashion. Once the laying step is completed, both the plurality of windings 31 and the flat grid 51 are connected to a supply mains, typically the mains of the building.

As soon as power is turned on, the finishing surface that contacts the sheath of the invention, typically the ceramic tiles PC, receives the heat generated as the filament 6 or the windings 31 or the flat grid 51 are heated, by thermal conduction, and radiates it into the building.

It shall be noted that the sheath of the invention is particularly suitable for use also on surfaces having no existing heating system.

Indeed, due to its particularly small thickness "S", it has a substantially light weight and can be easily handled by operators, requires minor and quick installation work, and considerably reduces inconveniences for building occupants.

The invention has been found to fulfill the intended objects.

The invention so conceived is susceptible to changes and variants within the inventive concept.

Also, all the details may be replaced by other technical equivalent elements.

In its practical implementation, any material, shape and size may be used as needed, without departure from the scope as defined by the following claims.