TITLE

SELF-SUPPORTING MODULES FOR THE CONSTRUCTING OF LIGHTING

WALLS DESCRIPTION Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the field of the building material and in particular it concerns a self- supporting module for the construction of lighting walls. Background of the invention It is known that interior design or building often requires providing walls capable filtering light through. A typical requirement is that of allowing the light present in an environment (inside or outside a building) to filter into an adjacent environment separated by a dividing wall. In order to allow the light to filter and at the same time hinder the sight of the adjacent environment, concrete-framed glass blocks are used, which consist of a translucent glass parallelepiped structure peripherally provided, on the non-exposed end faces, with a groove for the insertion of concrete or other adhesive material for integrally joining with the adjacent blocks.

Another requirement of interior design, is that of providing lighting walls, or, to be more precise, forming a light source. Such requirement may be due to various factors, ranging from the need to create special atmospheres inside buildings or special light effects on external surfaces of buildings, to the need of creating out-and-out light signals such as, for example, visual paths at night. In these and other cases, a lighting partition is provided by constructing two adjacent walls, at least one of which is made of a material adapted to filter light through, which define a hollow space inside

which light sources and their corresponding power supply cables are arranged. However, as imaginable, providing such kind of a hollow space can be a difficult task, in particular when it comes to realising a partition in which the construction of both separate walls is required. The difficulty increases in case such walls are made of thin panels without the self-supporting characteristic; as a matter of fact, in such case, suitable bracket means are required for the panels, hence increasing the time required for the construction. Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks related to the construction of a lighting wall, simplifying the laying of the wall structure elements.

These and other objects which shall be more apparent hereinafter, are attained through a self-supporting module for the construction of lighting walls, characterised in that it consist of a unitary block body provided with an internal cavity and made of a material suitable for at least partially filtering light through it, said unitary block body being provided with two parallel bases, respectively a lower supporting base and an upper base forming the resting surface of an analogous module to be arranged on the top, two opposite faces of the unitary block body delimitating the cavity being provided with corresponding openings for allowing, during the construction of a lighting wall, the passage of flexible lighting element portions or power supply cables of lighting bodies arrangeable in said cavity.

An embodiment of the self-supporting module according to the invention is characterised in that said

openings are formed in the bases of the unitary block body. At least one lower opening is formed in the lower base and at least one upper opening is formed in the upper base . In particular, a preferred structure of such embodiment is characterised in that the lower base and the upper base are respectively defined by lower and upper end faces of the side walls of the unitary block body which delimit the cavity; one or more lower openings on the lower base and one or more upper openings on the upper base are defined at least partially by the internal edges of the lower and upper end faces of the two bases.

Preferably, a module according to the invention comprises a single lower opening and a single upper opening both defined by the internal edges of the lower and upper end faces, thus allowing greater flexibility when laying cables or flexible lighting elements into the cavity.

Advantageously, preferred embodiments of the self- supporting module according to the invention comprise abutment projections substantially at the upper base for the upper positioning of analogous modules hence facilitating the laying of the modules.

Preferably, the unitary block body can be made of a material comprising a substantially transparent or translucent polymerised resin matrix, embedding a substantially uniform distribution of marble gravel or gravel made from other stones, thus allowing to construct a strong wall which does not allow seeing through but which has lighting characteristics, in that the internal light filters through the interspaces provided between the stones embedded in the transparent matrix.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the self- supporting module for constructing lighting walls according to the present invention will be more apparent from the following description of some embodiments thereof, made as a non-limiting examples, with reference to the appended drawings wherein:

Figure 1 represents an axonometric view of three modules according to the invention, coupled to each other to form a wall portion;

Figure 2 represents a front sectional view of the three modules shown in figure 1, with a dashed line indicating the extension of a cable or of a flexible lighting element; - Figure 3 represents a side sectional view of the modules of figure 1;

Figure 4 represents an axonometric view of a module of the type shown in the previous drawings, having a different external shape; - Figure 5 represents an axonometric view of three modules coupled to each other, according to a different embodiment of the invention with respect to the one shown in the previous drawings. Detailed description of the invention With reference to the above figures, a self- supporting module for constructing lighting walls is identified by the numeral 10. Such self-supporting module 10 is made up of a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped unitary block body 11, provided with an internal cavity 12. The unitary block body 11 is thus provided with four side walls 13 and two parallel bases, a lower base 14 and an upper base 15 respectively.

The cavity 12 passes through in a vertical direction and forms in the opposite faces defining the lower and upper base 14 and 15, a lower opening 16 and an upper opening 17. In particular, the bases 14 and 15 consist respectively of lower 14a and upper end faces 15a of the side walls 13, while the openings 16 and 17 are defined by the internal edges of said lower and upper end faces 14a and 15a. As better described hereinafter, the lower base 14 is the supporting surface for the module 10 itself, while the upper base 15 is the resting surface for an analogous module arrangeable on the top, as shown in figures 1, 2 and 3; on the other hand, the openings 16 and 17 have the function of providing, during the construction of the lighting wall, the entering and exit from the cavity 12 of flexible lighting element portions or power supply cables of lighting devices to be arranged in the same cavity.

Abutment projections 18 for the referral of analogous modules project from the upper base 15. Such projections 18 are integral with the internal surface of the side walls 13, being substantially arranged at the internal edges of the upper end faces 15a. In particular, in this embodiment, two opposite rows formed by four projections 18 are arranged at an equal distance from each other along two side walls 13 parallel and oppositely positioned (in this case the "long" walls of the unitary block body); the projections 18 at the end of each row are in correspondence with the cross areas of the edges of the upper end faces 15a. The abutment part of each projection 18 is substantially cylindrically shaped.

In order to ensure the lighting function of the wall formed by the modules 10, the unitary block bodies 11 must

be made of a material of the type allowing at least partial filtering of light. In the preferred embodiment, the unitary block body 11 is made of substantially transparent or translucent polymerised resin matrix, embedding a substantially uniform distribution of stone gravels, as schematised by the surface texture of the modules of figure 1. Use of such material hinders the visualisation of the cavity 12 (with the lighting devices and the related cables held therein) , as well as the seeing through the wall, hence allowing filtering of light from the cavity outside the external through the interspaces between the stones embedded in the transparent (or translucent) matrix.

Wall construction can be performed in various ways, depending on the specific structural and use requirements. Generally, modules according to the invention shall be arranged longitudinally adjacent to each other on a floor surface and other modules shall be placed on the top of them. During the wall construction, flexible lighting elements, such as for example electrically insulated flexible transparent pipes containing LEDs are arranged inside the cavities. An example of a flexible element is sketched by a dashed-line indicated with the letter C in figure 2. Shown in this example are two modules 10 arranged adjacent to each other and a third module arranged on the top, astride the first two, so as to increase stability of the structure. In practice, the part formed by such modules forms an internal grid through which flexible lighting elements or lighting device cables arranged on the same wall can be passed.

The mutual positioning of the modules is facilitated by the abutment projections 18, which ensure that the

surfaces can be accurately referred to each other. It can be clearly observed that adhesive material, such as for example transparent silicone, can also be used as a binding material (this is however not necessary given the self-supporting characteristic of the structure) or for the watertight sealing of the whole structure.

Regarding the openings formed in the lower and upper base, it is clear that, in other embodiments, they can be more than one per each base. For example, a module (not shown in the drawings) can have two adjacent upper openings on the upper base, for the presence of a cross portion connecting two opposite side walls on the upper end faces (an analogous example can be given for the lower base) . Furthermore, it is clear that the shape of the module is not limited only to the rectangular parallelepiped one. For example, a module 10a (shown in figure 4) can be made of a unitary block body 11a provided with bases forming a curved shape in order to realise curved portions in the wall, or can be made of a unitary block shaped as other architectonic elements.

Additionally, it is clear that such module can comprise other supplementary elements for finishing the wall. Therefore, it is possible to provide elements similar to the module described above but closed at the upper base and without the abutment projections, to perform a finishing of the upper portion of the wall, such as for example in the case of counter walls, tank walls, dividing walls etc. A further embodiment of a module according to the invention is for example shown in figure 5. In this case, the self-supporting module according to the invention is

indicated by the numeral 100 and comprises a unitary block body 111 with a substantially overturned U-shaped cross section. The lower base 114 is defined by the end faces 114a, while the upper base 115 is formed by the central portion of the U-shape; the space within the U-shape forms a cavity 112. In this case, the openings 116 and 117 for the passage into the cavity 112 are formed by oppositely positioned side portions of the unitary block body 111. Analogously to the previous examples, provided on the upper base 115 are abutment projections 118 for the upper positioning of analogous modules 100 (indicated by dashed- lines in figure 5) . In this case too, the extension of the flexible lighting element is schematised by a dashed line and indicated with the letter C. It should be observed that such module can be arranged vertically with the concavity facing the other modules to form for example a wall jamb; in such configuration, the module is indicated by the numeral 100a.

In this example too, the material forming the unitary block body must be capable of allowing, even partially, light to filter through. In this case, such module is made of translucent material, without elements embedded therein.

In practice, it has been proven that the invention attains its objects. As a matter of fact, according to the self-supporting module according to the invention, it is possible to construct transparent and translucent walls or walls capable of letting light filter through, with lighting means arranged inside the wall. The fact that such wall is formed by a single vertical portion and not by two parallel portions, defining a hollow space for housing lighting means, makes the building of the same a

very simple and quick operation. The short times of construction required are thanks to the reference projections ensuring an easy and accurate positioning. Such projections also ensure resistance against horizontal stress. Furthermore, a wall with a cavity within it instead of two walls delimited by a hollow space, reduces the overall dimensions.

Variants and/or changes may be made to the module according to the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims .

Where any of the characteristics and techniques described in any of the claims are followed by reference signs, these have been included for the purpose of providing examples simply to increase the clarity of the claims and consequently, they have no limiting effect on the interpretation of each element they identify