Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a modular prefabricated hybrid wall panel for residential and commercial buildings which collectively performs heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning tasks for both interior and exterior walls and production method thereof.

Background of the Invention

Effective adjustment of ambient temperature in interior spaces of buildings is an important issue for solution of which many methods are proposed since years. Embedding pipes into the floor, ceiling and walls is an approach to support the heating and/or cooling of the rooms with larger heat transfer surfaces. Earlier, the technique has been applied using rigid flow paths including concrete or metal pipelines embedded into walls and covering them with alum or plaster during construction of the building wall. This approach bears the problem of high reparation costs of leakages and moisture occurrence on the wall, which can be fixed only with an expensive destruction. Later, the industry came up with more practical solutions like modular panels with pre-mounted pipelines, or mounting and plastering of heating mats or pipes on existing walls. Examples may be found in AT405429-A and EP 2397322-A2 for such panels. This approach helps with installation of heating/cooling systems on an existing wall, but still does not support the acquisition of flexible and convenient radiant panel montage along with the construction of supporting constructional elements such as ventilating systems at the same time. Furthermore, a solution for preventing/decreasing occurrence of moisture on said panels is not offered with the provided modular panels.

The vital parameters such as insulation type, insulation thickness and distance between pipes, should be considered whilst calculating the heat transfer rates and insulation performance of the panel which is directly affected from any moisture accumulation within the panel, yet the panels in the market are provided in only a few standard types instead of being engineered according to the important variables e.g. several constructional details and climate conditions. This leads to improper adjustment and lack of optimization of energy, cost and comfort between the panels and existing constructional properties of the building.

Prefabricated wall panels are present on the market however, none of them perform heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning tasks in an integrated way and furthermore, occurrence of moisture on and/or within the wall panels is an unaddressed problem in panel wall technology.

The present invention therefore provides a prefabricated hybrid wall which provides a compact structure having a radiant heating/cooling and ventilating systems (HVAC) together with a novel insulation layer having improved insulation capacity decreasing occurrence of moisture on and/or within the proposed wall. Furthermore, disclosed hybrid wall of the present invention makes a quick montage of HVAC system according to different geographical and environmental conditions by enabling time, labor and installation economy, thus low cost.

Objects of the Invention

One of the prominent objects of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated hybrid wall panel supplied with temperature adjustment installations.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hybrid wall panel having an insulation layer that substantially decreases occurrence of moisture on and/or within the wall panels according to the present invention.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hybrid wall panel having a novel insulation layer that exhibits improved insulation capacity.

Another object of the present invention is to minimize the energy consumption of buildings by optimal development, production, adjustment and montage of ventilating and radiant heating and/or cooling systems with supporting elements which are proposed for both interior and exterior walls of buildings in a modular manner.

Another object of the present invention is to minimize the financial and time costs of construction by providing climatic installation, insulation, supporting structural elements and internal and external finishing (i.e., plastering, carving, painting, etc.) in a complete solution.

Another object of the present invention is to minimize the static load of the buildings by supplying wall elements with lower densities.

Another object of the present invention is to eliminate the jacketing requirements in a post constructional phase and eliminating the economic losses and insulation defects caused by difficult workmanship during jacketing. Another object of the present invention is to provide comfortable living spaces via minimizing the factors which harm the thermal comfort; by keeping indoor surfaces at convenient temperatures and maintaining thermal balance conditions between human body and its surroundings. Another object of the present invention is to provide improvement to the energy efficiency as an energy transferring system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing hybrid wall panel which provides a mono-block structure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing the hybrid wall panel which has layers that carries load of its adjacent layers.

Additional objects can be understood even more clearly by scrutinizing the following specifications and detailed descriptions throughout the text.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention provides a hybrid wall panel comprising an inner wall layer, an outer wall layer and a heat exchanger system arranged between said inner and outer wall layers. Said heat exchanger system has a number of pipes serving as conduits for a heating or cooling fluid and said hybrid wall panel further comprises an insulation layer having air voids in its structure.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said insulation layer (40) has at least 70% air voids by its volume.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said insulation layer is made of foam concrete, aerogels or a mixture thereof. Furthermore, said insulation layer is preferably made of foam concrete, air void content of which is between 70 to 80% by volume. Alternatively, said insulation layer may be made of aerogels having air voids. According to another embodiment of the present invention, said outer wall layer and/or said inner wall layer (10) is made of fiber-glass reinforced concrete.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the pipes of said heat exchanger system are made of cross-linked polyethylene.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the disclosed hybrid wall panel further comprises a ventilation system with internal air conduits arranged between said inner wall layer and said outer wall layer. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the disclosed hybrid wall panel further comprises at least one ventilation duct connected with said air passages of the ventilation system and located on the inner wall layer.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the disclosed hybrid wall panel further comprises a supported framework arranged between said inner wall layer and said outer wall layer. Said supported framework is preferably made of load-bearing structural elements . Optionally, said supported framework further comprises anchorage rods for fixing the outer wall layer to the supported framework. Additionally, said supported framework may further comprise side fittings provided on outer sides of the supported framework for fixing the hybrid wall panel to fittings of a building.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the hybrid wall panel of the present invention may further comprise at least one recess and protrusion in horizontal ends thereof extending along horizontal direction (x) for snap fitting of one panel to another so as to form a modular structure.

Present invention further discloses a method for producing a hybrid wall panel according to any one of the preceeding claims including the following steps:, a) pouring a fiber-glass reinforced cement mixture in liquid phase into a mould and de-moulding the same after completely hardened, for obtaining an outer wall layer (60), b) placing a supported framework (50) into the obtained outer wall layer (60), c) pouring a liquid mixture both on said outer wall layer (60) and on placed supported framework (50) for proving an insulation layer (40) d) arranging the pipes of the heat exchanger system (30), the internal air conduits (20) and ventilation duct (21) of the ventilation system onto the not fully hardened mixture of the insulation layer (40), e) pouring fiber-glass reinforced cement mixture on the insulation layer (40) for obtaining inner wall layer (10).

Brief Description of the Figure

The figure, whose brief explanation is herewith provided, is solely intended for providing a better understanding of the present invention and is as such not intended to define the scope of protection or the context in which said scope is to be interpreted in the absence of the description.

Fig.l shows an exploded view of an exemplary modular prefabricated hybrid wall panel according to the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Invention The following describes the present invention in combination with the accompanying figure and specific embodiments. It should be understood that the following specific embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention and are not used to limit the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that the term "vertical" used in the following description refers to direction (y) and the term "horizontal" refers to direction (x) which are based on position of outer wall layer (60) shown in the figure 1. Present invention discloses a prefabricated hybrid wall panel (100) integrated with hydronic heating and cooling system. Said hybrid wall panel (100) comprises an inner wall layer (10), an outer wall layer (60) and a heat exchanger system (30) arranged between said inner and outer wall layers. Disclosed heat exchanger system (30) has a number of pipes serving as conduits for a heating or cooling fluid. Furthermore, said hybrid wall panel (100) comprises an insulation layer (40) having air voids in its structure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, said insulation layer (40) has at least 70% air voids by its volume. Optionally, said air voids may be designed as small pockets which inhold trapped air.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in Figure 1, pipes of the heat exchanger system (30) are distributed between insulation layer (40) and the inner wall layer (10) in order to prevent heat flow between the outer wall layer (60) and the pipes, and geometry of the pipes and distances between thereof can be considered as functions of heat load on the building and of properties of several elements used in the hybrid wall panel (100) and also calculated and engineered according to the variables such as constructional details and climate conditions for leading a proper adjustment and optimization of energy. Thus the invented hybrid wall panel (100) is designed to have extreme flexibility according the environmental conditions and desired specifications.

The pipe material of the heat exchanger system (30) is preferably selected from plastic derivatives. More preferably, the pipes of the heat exchanger system (30) are made of crosslinked polyethylene.

The fluid that flows through the pipes of the heat exchanger system (30) may be water or any other hydronic fluid which includes oil and refrigerant fluids.

The inventors of the present invention found that void space of an insulation material serves with extra thermal insulating properties and additionally, prevents/substantially decreases occurrence of moisture in a hybrid wall panel as disclosed herewith and/or enhances humidity optimization of the insulation layer (40). Thus, the insulation layer (40) of the disclosed hybrid wall panel (100) according to the present invention mainly contains air voids in its structure. Thus, said insulation layer (40) may be made of any suitable material having air voids in its structure as disclosed above. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said insulation layer (40) includes air voids which form at least 70% of the insulation layer (40) by its volume.

Optionally, the insulation layer (40) may be made of foam concrete, aerogels or a mixture thereof.

The inventors of the present invention have noted that thermal conductivity coefficient (l) of a material is low in case of density of said material in its solid state is also low. Furthermore, results of their experiments show that an insulation material made of foam concrete, having at least 70% air voids by its volume has a density between 200-350 kg/m ³ with a lambda (l) value of 0,055 - 0,077 W/mK. Thus, for providing an efficient thermal insulation property as well as for preventing/decreasing occurrence of moisture on a proposed wall, said insulation layer is preferably made of foam concrete having at least 70% air voids by its volume. As will be appreciated by skilled person in the art, foam concrete is a lightweight material having Portland cement paste or cement filler mortar with a homogeneous void or pore structure created by introducing air in the form of small bubbles. According to another preferred embodiment, the insulation layer (40) is made of foam concrete, air content of which is between 70 to 80% of the total volume. Furthermore, due to the low density and highly porous structure, foam concrete presents good functional properties such as fire resistance and acoustic performance. Alternatively, the insulation layer (40) may be made of aerogels having air voids.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, said outer wall layer (60) is made of fiberglass reinforced concrete. Furthermore, said inner wall layer (10) may be made of fiber-glass reinforced concrete. Optionally, both the outer wall layer (60) and the inner wall layer (10) are made of fiber-glass reinforced concrete.

By considering the environmental conditions and desired specifications, the hybrid wall panel (100) of the present invention may optionally comprise a ventilation system with internal air conduits (20) arranged between said inner wall layer (10) and said outer wall layer (60). Said internal air conduits (20) are preferably arranged between the inner wall layer (10) and the pipes of the heat exchanger system (30). Moreover, the ventilation system, and thus the hybrid wall panel (100), comprises at least one ventilation duct (21) connected with said air passages of the ventilation system (20) for suitably providing fresh air to indoor.

The proposed hybrid wall panel (100) of the invention has a major surface in a plane of the x direction and y direction, and a thickness in the z direction, as shown in exploded view given in Figure 1. The inner wall layer (10) of the hybrid wall panel (100) which mainly overlays in the plane of the x direction and y direction further embodies said at least one ventilation duct (21), but preferably plural ventilation ducts (21).

The hybrid wall panel (100) of the present invention further comprises a supported framework (50) arranged between said inner wall layer (10) and said outer wall layer (60). Said supported framework (50) is preferably arranged between the insulation layer (40) and the outer wall layer (60) as to mainly overlay in the plane of the x direction and y direction. According to a preferred embodiment said supported framework (50) is made of load-bearing structural elemens i.e. steel, iron, aluminum, composites, alloys, etc. and optionally has anchorage rods (51) for fixing the outer wall layer (60) to the supported framework (50) and/or side fittings provided on outer sides of the supported framework (50) for fixing the hybrid wall panel (100) to fittings of a building.

For constructional purposes, the hybrid wall panel (100) according to the present invention may further comprise at least one recess and protrusion (not shown) on horizontal ends thereof, extending along horizontal direction (x direction) for snap fitting of one panel to another for forming a modular structure. This advantageous structure of the hybrid wall panel (100) enables easy-to-fit connection between thereof.

The height (y direction) and width (x direction) of hybrid wall panel (100) vary according to the floor height and room dimensions on the architectural project. The thicknesses of the inner wall layer (10), the outer wall layer (60) and the insulation layer (40) also vary according to the architectural project requirements and can be considered as functions of heat load on the building and of the properties of several materials used in the hybrid wall panel (100). In addition to heat insulation capacity of the insulation layer (40), it is also utilized as an impervious layer to moisture accumulation for providing a more even temperature distribution throughout the wall surface and further occurrence of bad odor and view on said panel.

The materials to be used in the invented hybrid wall panel (100), their positioning and thicknesses, distances between pipes, dimensions of the wall panels and embodiments may vary according to the constructional, thermal and economical optimization necessities of related projects. By means of the invented hybrid wall panel (100) addressed above, the separation of indoor spaces and construction of external walls is obtained along with an efficient hydronic heating / cooling system. This hybrid wall panel presents a complete solution for technical problems including occurrence of moisture, climatization, construction and insulation as well as robust fitting in between separate wall panels (100).

The present invention further discloses a method for producing the hybrid wall panel according to the present invention wherein said method includes the following -I Q- method steps:, a) pouring a fiber-glass reinforced cement mixture in liquid phase into a mould and demoulding the same after it is completely hardened, for obtaining an outer wall layer (60), b) placing a supported framework (50) into the obtained outer wall layer (60), c) pouring a liquid mixture both on said outer wall layer (60) and on placed supported framework (50) for proving an insulation layer (40), d) arranging the pipes of the heat exchanger system (30), and/or the internal air conduits (20) and ventilation duct (21) of the ventilation system onto the not fully hardened mixture of the insulation layer (40), e) pouring fiber-glass reinforced cement mixture on the insulation layer (40) for obtaining inner wall layer (10). The production method submitted by the present invention is advantageous since the hybrid wall panel produced by disclosed method steps would have a compact but layered inner structure where said layers are completely contiguous to each other since the layers are substantially associated with each other while at least one of them are also placed into the wall panel in liquid or semi-liquid phase. Thus, the obtained hybrid wall panel has a structure in the form of a "closed mono-block box" while the disclosed layers carry the load of its adjacent layers. This technical effect may be called as "block effect".

According to an embodiment of the present invention, instead of implementing the step a) of the disclosed method, a pre-moulded layer may be used as the outer wall layer (60) according to the present invention. Furthermore, the above disclosed embodiments of the layers and/or the systems may be implemented into the above disclosed method steps.