BUILDING COMPONENTS OF LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION

Description

The invention relates on the one hand to a method primarily for interconnecting modular building components of lightweight construction, where prefabricated building components are fitted together according to the structural layout required for the building, connecting means are associated with the building components either before their being fitted together or in their fitted position, and the building components fitted together are interconnected by associated connecting means temporarily or preferably definitively. The invention relates on the other hand to a connecting system for performing the method.

Assembling buildings from modules is a practice long known and applied in construction. Modular building components can be prefabricated and delivered on site and interconnected or fixed to each other depending on the properties of the modules by many implementation methods well-known in practice.

Building components of so-called lightweight construction made of wood or having a wooden structure represent a special group. In addition to their relatively cheap manufacture and transportability, the relatively fast assembly of the building components and the consequent soonest possible completion, assembly of the building parts plays an important role in their case. An example is displayed e.g. on the website of Syma Maisons Bois company, France, de picting in detail, with narrative description and photos, how the prefabricated building com ponents are interconnected, fixed to each other on site. The most typical aspect of this tech nique is that the individual wooden components are interconnected in the traditional way, by connecting means, e.g. screws, or by tongue-and-groove joints. This solution has the advan tage that labour-intensive on-site assembly can eliminate any manufacturing deviation or inac curacy, and the layout and dimensions of specific building components can be adjusted to the requirements and thus converted to the right size for installing doors and windows, but the same is also its drawback: in addition to being labour-intensive, it requires professional skills, so the necessary works must be done by professionals to produce adequate, acceptable, re sults.

EP 0606633 B1 disclosing a construction kit made of wooden building components proposes another solution. The essence of this solution is that the components making up the specific building components and actually even the prefabricated building components themselves are fastened to each other by tongue-and-groove joints or dovetailed joints which provides for the swelling or shrinking of components made of wood without distortion in the known way, but this solution is highly labour-intensive and expensive and requires craftsmanship to have a technically and aesthetically satisfactory end-product.

EP 1960611 B1 discloses a similar technique which, as a matter of course, has similar draw backs.

EP 2149645 A1 discloses sandwich panels suitable for lightweight construction, assembled by the aid of a separate wooden structure, where the building is realised through the combined effect of material-, form- and force-fit connections. However, fixing the prefabricated building components to each other quickly, by only a few unskilled workers, is not feasible in this solu tion either.

A partly analogous technical solution is disclosed under EP 2694745 Bl, proposing a modular system of a different aesthetic appearance than the generally known solutions, but requiring considerable time and expertise to create.

US 8,171,688 B2 also discloses wooden prefabricated building components for making the walls of buildings, where the individual boards serving as boundary elements of the building components are interconnected by shaped connecting means that are not visible and accessi ble from the outside. According to the proposal and the presented possible embodiments, the connecting means and the boundary wall components are interconnected by dovetail joints.

This short review of the known solutions has shown that no method or structural design is known that could provide for the interconnection of the individual prefabricated building components on site by only one or two persons without relevant professional skills, and the consequent assembly of the building within or in less than the usual time required for it, de spite the great demand for this. What is needed is a new method and a connecting system for making any detached house or other building in single- or multi-storey version. With the pre fabricated components, the building can be completed structurally in a much shorter time than with any previous technologies. The components allow also high thermal insulation, that is, they do not exclude building a passive house; the components comprise the support means as well as the insulation.

The present invention is based on the recognition that if we do not insist on the traditional in terconnection technique, whether it is visible from outside or not, of components made of wood or having a wooden structure, but apply a joining technique fulfilling a function similar to the connecting elements, but regarding the wooden material with different properties, both the problem of lack of professional skills and the requirement of reliable, perfect and fast fit can be solved and met. Non-destructively releasable connection to mount the fitted elements at the wall or ceiling components from the internal or external plane is a key element of the connecting system. The components are fixed to each other by at least one tapered bolt that is basically self-closing, but it is tightened by a screw to prevent the unintentional release of the connection, for safety reasons. Another, detached, bolt either fits into the seat of a connecting means fixed onto the support means, or the seat is designed in the support means itself.

Given the drawbacks of the known solutions, in accordance with realisation outlined above and the objective, the task set has been solved by methods comprising features of claim 1 or claim 2, and a connecting system for the execution of the methods concerned according to the features of claim 10. Some particularly advantageous embodiments of the methods and the connecting system are disclosed in the dependent claims.

In the following, the invention is presented in more detail through an exemplary embodiments of the method and the connecting system, with reference to the attached drawings, where

Figure 1 shows an exploded view of the disassembled parts of the connecting system according to the invention,

Figure 2 shows a second phase of the preparation of the connecting system according to Figure 1,

Figure 3 shows a subsequent phase of the implementation of the connecting system according to Figure 1,

Figure 4 shows the first phase of the assembly of the connecting system according to

Figure 1,

Figure 5 shows the second phase of the assembly of the connecting system according to Figure 1, Figure 6 shows the first step of interconnecting the already interlocked building com ponents,

Figure 7 shows a second step of interconnecting,

Figure 8 shows a final layout and position of the connecting system according to Figure

1 fixing the building components to each other, Figure 9 is a perspective view of a possible embodiment of the connecting means ap plied in the connecting system,

Figure 10 is a perspective view of latch means receiving the connecting means according to Figure 9, and

Figure 11 shows a schematic drawing of the interconnection of a building wall compo nent and ceiling component with the help of the connecting system according to the invention.

For the embodiment of the connecting system according to the invention shown here merely as an advantageous and possible embodiment, Figure 1 shows the parts of the connecting sys tem in disassembled, exploded view, in the first, initial, phase of the preparation of the con necting system according to Figure 1. In the example shown, two connecting means 2 are pro vided to fix two prefabricated building components 1 to each other, said connecting means 2 fit into through openings 3, rectangular in the present case, formed in the building compo nents 1. One sheet-like latch means 5 is used in the range of each of two external sections 4 of the connecting means 2 to fix them. Each latch means 5 comprises one or more shaped seats 6 identical in number with the number of the applied connecting means 2. After the assembly of the above-mentioned components, seats 6 coincide at least partly with through openings 3, thus the inserted connecting means 2 can be placed unhindered in the through openings 3 of the assembly and in seats 6. In the present example, connecting means 2 are designed sym metrically to their perpendicular longitudinal median plane as shown in the Figure, but this is not a precondition of the fixing. Each connecting means 2 has a central part 7 connecting its two external sections 4, of a shape and size chosen so as to be complementary with through opening 3, in the present case shaped partly like a truncated cone, but other appropriate shapes such as a pyramid or wedge shape may also be used. Seats 6 on the latch means 5 have an asymmetrical, shaped design so that the slight pushing of latch means 4 in the direction parallel with the plane of building component 1 establishes form-fit connection between the delimiting wall 8 of seat 6 of the latch means 4 and external delimiting surface 9 of the exter nal section 4 of the connecting means 2 that prevents the movement of the connecting means 2 out of the latch means 5.

In order to maintain the form-fit connection, the pushed, biased position of the latch means 5 in form-fit connection with the connecting means 2 is secured by a fixing means 10, where the fixing means 10 can be a fixing means 10 arranged in the latch means 5, operable from out- side, or a fixing means 10 associated with the seat 6 of the latch means 5, operable from out side.

Figure 2 depicts a second phase of the preparation of the connecting system according to Fig ure 1, where fixing means 10 are inserted into a channel 11 providing access to the seat 6 de signed in the latch means 5 from the side of the lateral edge of the latch means 5.

Figure 3 depicts a subsequent phase of the preparation of the connecting system according to Figure 1, where the latch means 5 are fitted to, advantageously fixed onto, the outer boundary surfaces 12 of the building components 1.

Figure 4 shows the first phase of the assembly of the connecting system according to Figure 1, where the connecting means 2 are inserted into through opening 3 of one of the building components 1 and through it into the seat 6 of appropriate size of the latch means 5 fixed to the external boundary surface 12 of the building component 1, then the connecting means 2 are pushed in the seats 6 to lock as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 6 shows the second phase of assembling the connecting system according to Figure 1, where the latch means 5 receiving the building component 1 and with it the connecting means 2 fixed on it are laterally moved so that the shaped external section 4 of the connecting means 2 fit into the shaped part of the seats 6 of the latch means 5. Since the sections 4 are basically shaped like a truncated cone increasing towards the end of the latch means 5, in the attained position they cannot slip out of the seats 6. Although that could be executed also in a later phase of the assembly, the slip-out from the shaped seats 6 of the connecting means 2 in stalled at their place - that could occur due to the lateral movement of building component 1 - is prevented by the fixing means 10 placed in channels 11 of the latch means 5, i.e. screw means 13 operable from outside in the present example. Screw means 13 can be designed also as internally operable means.

Figure 7 represents building components 1 fitted already, moved laterally along the boundary surface 12 of the other building component 1, at their final place, where the screw means 13 are not in their position fixing the connecting means 2 yet; in Figure 8, the screw means 13 do not extend from the fixing means 10 beyond the lateral edge of the latch means 5.

In the possible embodiment presented here, latch means 5 are fastened together with their respective building components 1 prior to being installed at in their final place. Under specific circumstances, it may be advantageous if it is not one of building components 1 that has to be pushed relative to the other to fasten building components 1 together to establish the form-fit connection; in such cases, it may also be a complete solution if at least one building compo nent 1 is not pre-connected to its latch means 5, but building components 1 are first brought into their final position, and the second latch means 5 is pushed in the necessary direction only after that. The result is the establishment of the desired connection also in this case, without e.g. the person doing the mounting having to move a heavy building component 1.

Figure 9 shows the design of connecting means 2 applied in the connecting system, shown in a perspective view, showing a central part 7 with external sections 4 extending laterally from it and having a truncated conical shape increasing towards their end, in the present case with splicing to promote mounting.

Figure 10 shows latch means 5 receiving connecting means 2 according to Figure 9, where the design of the seat 6 fitting to the external section 4 of the connecting means 2 as well as the channel 11 receiving the fixing means 10 and providing for its operation are clearly observable.

Figure 11 shows schematically the interconnection of a building wall component 14 and a ceil ing component 15 realised with the help of the connecting system according to the invention, where it is possible to recognise a dowel pin 16, a coupling wedge 17 coupling the components and a fixing and supporting chock 18.

The connecting system according to the invention provides for varying the individual compo nents. External coating of the components is feasible by any external coatings normal in light weight construction. The roof can be a flat or a sloped roof connected to structural connec tions prepared on the joists and, as an unknown and novel feature, it is possible to add even a new storey to these connections. Internal coating is also feasible with the coating system nor mal for lightweight construction. The flooring or the structural coating fixed onto the structure can be e.g. OSB panel or directly mounted plank flooring or Swedish flooring. It is also possible to mount flooring with high or low heat absorption on the structural coating. Wooden compo nents can be coated also with the coatings considered usual in traditional lightweight con struction. The wall components can be prepared both for mounting mechanical installations (water, electricity, heating) and for receiving coating (without joists). The ceiling can also be provided with usual coatings.

List of References

1 building component

2 connecting means

3 through opening 4 section

5 latch means

6 seat

7 central part 8 delimiting wall

9 delimiting surface

10 fixing means

11 channel

12 boundary surface 13 screw element

14 wall component

15 ceiling component

16 dowel pin

17 coupling wedge 18 chock