REINFORCED CONCRETE FLOOR SLABS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

[0001] The present invention relates to a lattice of hollow bodies and, in particular, to a lattice of hollow bodies for use in the construction of reinforced concrete floor slabs.

Description of the Related Art

[0002] United States Patent No. 5,396,747 which issued on March 14, 1995, to Breuning et al. discloses plane, hollow, reinforced concrete floor slabs with two- dimensional structure and method for their production. Constructions developed by this technique will vary widely and with considerable profit replace conventional floor structures. The technique makes it possible to choose higher strength and stiffness, less volume of materials, greater flexibility, better economy or an arbitrary combination of these gains. The technique makes it possible to create a total balance between bending forces, shear forces and stiffness (deformations) so that all design conditions can be fully optimized at the same time. The technique presents a distinct minimized construction characterized by the ability that concrete can be placed exactly where it yields maximum capacity. The technique offers material and cost savings compared with the conventional compact two-way reinforced slab structure. The technique is suitable for both in situ works and for prefabrication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] There is provided a lattice of hollow bodies. Each of the hollow bodies is coupled to an adjacent one of said hollow bodies by two integral connectors. [0004] The lattice of hollow bodies is manufactured by a process including injection molding a first half of the lattice of hollow bodies, injection molding a second half of the lattice of hollow bodies, and sealing the first half of the lattice of hollow bodies to the second half of the lattice of hollow bodies to form the lattice of hollow bodies. The first half of the lattice of hollow bodies includes a plurality of half hollow bodies. Each of the hollow bodies is coupled to an adjacent one of said hollow bodies by an integral connector. The second half of the lattice of hollow bodies includes a plurality of half hollow bodies. Each of the hollow bodies is coupled to an adj acent one of said hollow bodies by an integral connector. [0005] There is also provided a concrete floor slab comprising a lattice of hollow bodies. Each of the hollow bodies is coupled to an adjacent one of said hollow bodies by two integral connectors. The concrete floor slab may further include a reinforcement mesh.

[0006] The concrete floor slab is manufactured by a process including injection molding a first half of the lattice of hollow bodies, injection molding a second half of the lattice of hollow bodies, and sealing the first half of the lattice of hollow bodies to the second half of the lattice of hollow bodies to form the lattice of hollow bodies. The first half of the lattice of hollow bodies includes a plurality of half hollow bodies. Each of the hollow bodies is coupled to an adjacent one of said hollow bodies by an integral connector. The second half of the lattice of hollow bodies includes a plurality of half hollow bodies. Each of the hollow bodies is coupled to an adj acent one of said hollow bodies by an integral connector. The lattice of hollow bodies is then cast in concrete to form the concrete slab. The lattice of hollow bodies may be retained with a reinforcement mesh prior to casting the lattice of hollow bodies in concrete to form the concrete slab.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF DRAWINGS

[0007] The invention will be more readily understood from the following description of the embodiments thereof given, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [0008] Figure 1 is a top view of a lattice of hollow bodies for use in the construction of reinforced concrete floor slabs;

[0009] Figure 2 is a perspective view of the lattice of hollow bodies of Figure 1;

[0010] Figure 3 is a sectional view of the lattice of hollow bodies taken across line III- III of Figure 2;

[0011] Figure 4 is a perspective view of a first half and a second half of the lattice of hollow bodies of Figure 1;

[0012] Figure 5 is a perspective view of the first half of the lattice of hollow bodies of Figure 1; [0013] Figure 6 is a perspective view of the lattice of hollow bodies of Figure 1 retained between reinforcement meshes;

[0014] Figure 7 is a top plan view of the lattice of hollow bodies of Figure 1, shown in broken lines, in a reinforced concrete floor slab;

[0015] Figure 8 is a side elevation view of the lattice of hollow bodies of Figure 1, shown in broken lines, in a reinforced concrete floor slab;

[0016] Figure 9 is a flow chart showing a method of manufacturing the reinforced concrete floor slab of Figures 7 and 8;

[0017] Figure 10 is a perspective view of another lattice of hollow bodies; and

[0018] Figure 11 is a perspective view of yet another lattice of hollow bodies. DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Figure 1 is a top view of a lattice 10 of hollow bodies which comprises a plurality of hollow bodies, including, a first hollow body 12, a second hollow body 14, and a third hollow body 16. The hollow bodies are each coupled to an adjacent one of said hollow bodies by two integral connectors, as shown in Figure 2, in which the first hollow body 12 is coupled to the second hollow body 14 by integral connectors 18 and 20. The first hollow body 12 is likewise coupled to the third hollow body 16 in a similar manner. Figure 3 shows a hollow interior of the first hollow body 12 and the third hollow body 16. In this example, the lattice of hollow bodies is a lattice of four by six spherical hollow bodies. However, in other examples, the lattice of hollow bodies may be any suitable shape, configuration and number of hollow bodies.

[0020] Referring now to Figure 4, the lattice 10 of hollow bodies is of thermoplastic and is manufactured by injection moulding a first half 30a of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies and injection moulding a second half 30b of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies. The injection molding may be done with various materials like polyethylene, polypropylene, recycled materials, and fillers (up to 80%). Injection molding and plastic welding temperatures may be done between temperatures of 160 degrees Celsius and 280 degrees Celsius.

[0021] The first half 30a of the lattice of hollow bodies is shown in greater detail in Figure 5 and includes a plurality of half spherical hollow bodies, including a first half 32 of the first hollow body 12, a first half 34 of the second hollow body 14, and a first half 36 of the third hollow body 16. The half hollow bodies are each coupled to an adjacent one of said half first hollow bodies by an integral connector. Figure 5 shows the first half 32 of the first hollow body 12 coupled to the first half 34 of the second hollow body 14 by integral connector 20. In this example, the integral connectors are runners which extend between half hollow bodies as the half hollow bodies are injection moulded. The first half 32 of the first hollow body 12 is likewise coupled to the first half 36 of the third hollow body 16 in a similar manner. It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that the second half 30b of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies is substantially identical in structure to the first half 30a of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies. The second half 30b of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies is accordingly not described in detail herein.

[0022] The first half 30a of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies and the second half 30b of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies are sealed to form the lattice 10 of hollow bodies. The first half 30a of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies and the second half 30b of the lattice 10 of hollow bodies may be heat sealed or sealed with an adhesive or other means. The lattice 10 of hollow bodies may be used to manufacture a reinforced concrete slab, as shown in Figure 6, by retaining the lattice 10 of hollow bodies between a first reinforcement mesh 50a and a second reinforcement mesh 50b prior to casting the lattice of hollow bodies in concrete 60, as shown in Figure 7, to form the concrete slab 70. Referring back to Figure 6, in this example, the first reinforcement mesh 50a is a plurality of criss-crossing steel reinforcement bars, for example, steel reinforcement bar 52 and steel reinforcement bar 54. It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that the second reinforcement mesh 50b is substantially identical to the first reinforcement mesh 50a. The second reinforcement mesh 50b is accordingly not described in detail herein. Figure 8 is a side elevation view of the reinforced concrete slab 70 disclosed herein. Figure 9 is a flow chart showing the method of manufacturing the concrete slab 70.

[0023] Figure 10 is a perspective view of another lattice 80 of hollow bodies which comprises a plurality of hollow bodies, including, a first hollow body 82 and a second hollow body 84. The hollow bodies are each coupled to an adjacent one of said hollow bodies by two integral connectors, as shown in Figure 10, in which the first hollow body 82 is coupled to the second hollow body 84 by integral connectors 86 and 88. Adjacent hollow bodies are likewise connected. In this example, the lattice of hollow bodies is a lattice of three by seven spheroid hollow bodies. The lattice 80 of hollow bodies is manufactured employing a similar method as described above for the lattice 10 of hollow bodies shown in Figure 1. The lattice 80 of hollow bodies may also be employed to manufacture a concrete slab as shown in Figure 9. [0024] Figure 11 is a perspective view of yet another lattice 90 of hollow bodies which comprises a plurality of hollow bodies, including, a first hollow body 92 and a second hollow body 94. The hollow bodies are each coupled to an adjacent one of said hollows bodies by two integral connectors, as shown in Figure 11, in which the first hollow body 92 is coupled to the second hollow body 94 by integral connectors 96 and 98. Adjacent hollow bodies are likewise connected. In this example, the lattice of hollow bodies is a lattice of four by four cuboid hollow bodies. The lattice 90 of hollow bodies is manufactured employing a similar method as described above for the lattice 10 of hollow bodies shown in Figure 1. The lattice 90 of hollow bodies may also be employed to manufacture a concrete slab as shown in Figure 9.

[0025] It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that many of the details provided above are by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is to be determined with reference to the following claims.