WALL PANEL

This invention relates to a wall panel, a method of making the wall panel and a wall panel system employing the wall panel. The wall panel and wall panel system have particular, but not exclusive, application to enclosures, such as shower cubicles.

The walls of shower cubicles are conventionally tiled with ceramic tiles and then grout is inserted therebetween to seal between the tiles. At the periphery of the tiled area and, in particular, where the tiled area abuts a further surface, such as a shower tray, silicon based sealant or the like is commonly used to seal the junction therebetween. However, sealant can become mouldy and breakdown over time with exposure to moisture. Tiling grout can also become porous over time. Thus, water can begin to enter between the tiles or at the edge of the tiled area. As can be appreciated, water finding its way behind the tiled area can cause damage to the walls to which the tiles are mounted.

While the above discussion relates to the use of tiles in shower cubicles, it will be appreciate that the same problems are encountered when tiles are placed in different installations such as changing rooms, bathrooms, wet rooms, laboratories, medical theatres or the like.

The present invention has been made from a consideration of the foregoing.

According to a first aspect of the invention, we provide a wall panel comprising an outer surface that surrounds a core, wherein at least a portion of the outer surface on one side of the panel is configured to provide a desired effect or pattern.

The portion of the outer surface of the panel may have formations formed therein, for example moulded into the panel, to create a desired pattern. In one embodiment, the formations are arranged to resemble a tiled surface. In another embodiment, the formations are arranged to resemble a rippled surface. The rippled pattern may be combined with the tiled pattern. Other arrangements of formations that can be employed to create interesting, decorative effects or patterns will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Alternatively or additionally, the portion of the outer surface of the panel may be provided with a desired finish, for example moulded into the panel, to create a desired effect. Examples of suitable effects include natural stone effects, wood effects or the like. Other finishes that can be employed to create interesting, decorative effects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Preferably the outer surface comprises a front surface and a rear surface, wherein the formations are formed in the front surface. The rear surface preferably includes a channel for a seal. The seal channel provides means to seal the wall panel against a further structure such as a shower tray, for example, while not being visible to a user. Preferably the seal channel is located adjacent a lower edge of the panel.

Preferably, the core comprises a stone resin material although other materials may be used including foam plastics materials. In one preferred arrangement, the front and rear surfaces comprise pre-formed members secured to the core. For example, the members forming the front and rear surfaces may be made of sheet plastics material pre-formed to a required shape by any suitable means such as vacuum moulding.

The panel derives its strength primarily from the core and the members forming the front and rear surfaces may be of reduced thickness relative to the core. For example, the core may have a general thickness of up to 10mm and typically not less than 3mm and preferably in the range 3 to 7 mm and more preferably in the range 4 to 5mm while the front and rear surfaces may have a general thickness of up to 2mm and typically not less than 0.5 mm and preferably in the range 0.5 to 1.5mm. The front and rear surfaces may be of the same or different thickness. For example the front surface may be of increased thickness compared to the rear surface. Thus, the front surface may have a thickness in the range 1 to 1.5mm and the rear surface may have a thickness in the range 0.5 to lmm.

Preferably the front surface at least and more preferably both the front surface and rear surface is water-proof or water-resistant for use of the panel in an environment where the panel is exposed to water. For example, the panel may be used to form part of an enclosure for a shower or to line the walls of wet room or the walls surrounding a bath or washbasin in a bathroom or sink in a kitchen.

For applications employing two or more adjacent panels, the panels may be sealed relative one another by any suitable means. For example, the seal may be provided with mastic such as silicone. More preferably, however the seal is provided by a connecting member. The connecting member may secure the edges of the panels and provide a seal on one or both sides of the panels. Where provided, the connecting member may be configured to connect the panels in any desired orientation relative to one another.

According to a second aspect of the invention, we provide a method of manufacturing a composite panel comprising the steps of providing a first member forming a front surface of the panel and a second member

forming a rear surface of the panel, and confining a flowable filler material between the first and second members to form a solid core.

The method may be used to form the wall panel according to the first aspect of the invention.

The core provides the composite panel with the required reinforcement for strength and preferably completely fills the space between the first and second members.

The first and second members are preferably made of sheet material, typically sheet plastics material, capable of pre-forming to the required shape of the front and rear surfaces of the panel by any suitable means such as vacuum forming. As the strength of the panel is derived essentially from the core, the thickness of the sheet plastics material of the members forming the front and rear surfaces can be kept to a minimum that is capable of being formed to and retaining the required shape during manufacture of the panel and meeting the service requirements in use of the panel.

The members forming the front and rear surfaces of the panel essentially form a skin on the outer surface of the core and can be made of the same or different materials. Thus, where the rear surface is not seen in use of the panel, the member forming the rear surface may be made of a lower cost material, for example a lower grade of the same material used for the member forming the front surface or a different, cheaper material. For example, the members may be made of the same or different grades of acrylonitrile butadiene-styrene (ABS) .

The filler material forming the core is preferably a hardenable polymer and more preferably a mixture of a hardenable polymer and a reinforcing

material, for example a resin stone mixture although other filler materials including some foam materials may be employed. The filler material is preferably flowable or spreadable prior to hardening so as to assist distribution of the filler material between the first and second members to fill completely a cavity formed between the members to produce a solid core substantially free from pockets of air or gases trapped within the core.

The method preferably includes the step of controlling the amount (volume) of flowable filler material employed to fill the cavity. For example, in the case of a flowable polymer, a pre-determined weight of polymer sufficient to fill the cavity between the members may be employed. In this way overfilling leading to wastage of filler material and underfilling leading to pockets of air or gases in the core can be avoided. If a foam material is used the amount of the constituent parts may be controlled for the same purpose.

According to a third aspect of the present invention we provide a wall panel system comprising at least two wall panels and at least one connecting member.

The wall panels are preferably in accordance with the first aspect of the invention and may be made by the method according to the second aspect of the invention.

Typically, the at least two wall panels are adapted to be fixed to a wall and joined together by the connecting member.

In one embodiment, the connecting member comprises a front part and a rear part adapted to be connected together by a coupling means with the front part providing a seal against one side of the panels and the rear part

providing a seal against the other side of the panels. Preferably the seals are made of elastomer or similar material suitable for substantially resisting any degradation due to age or moisture.

Preferably the front part and the rear part are constructed and arranged such that they retain and seal the wall panels between the front and rear sealing members. For example, the front and rear parts may define channels in which the side edges of the panels are received.

Preferably the coupling means acts to urge the front and rear parts together and ensures that the front and rear parts equally grip and seal against the wall panels when the coupling means is tightened.

Preferably the coupling means includes at least one fastening member mounted through the front part that engages with the rear part. In this way, the front and rear parts are drawn together when the at least one fastening member is tightened.

Preferably the front part includes a recessed portion in which the at least one fastening member is received. Preferably the connecting member includes a cover member that covers the fastening member within the recessed portion in the front part.

Preferably, the coupling means locates and guides the front and rear parts together when the at least one fastening member is tightened. For example, the front and rear parts may have co-operating means configured to guide the parts. The co-operating means may include engagement means that grip to resist separation of the front and rear parts.

The connecting member may be configured to connect wall panels in a linear arrangement such as may occur if the panels are arranged side-by- side along a wall to form a generally flat surface. In this arrangement, the angle between the panels is approximately 180° . Alternatively, the connecting member may be configured to connect wall panels in a nonlinear arrangement such may occur if the panels are arranged at an external or internal corner of a wall. In this arrangement, the angle between the wall panels may be more than or less than 180° . It will be appreciated that the connecting member can be configured to connect wall panels at any appropriate angle to arrange a plurality of wall panels in a desired configuration.

There now follows by way of example only a detailed description of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which;

Figure 1 shows a shower enclosure employing an embodiment of a wall panel system employing the wall panel of the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the wall panel of Figure 1 showing a section through one side;

Figure 3 shows a first embodiment of a connecting member for connecting the wall panels in the wall panel system of Figurel;

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the connecting member of

Figure 3;

Figure 5 shows a second embodiment of a connecting member for connecting the wall panels in the wall panel system of Figure 1; and

Figure 6 shows the base of the wall panel of Figures 1 and 2.

A shower enclosure 1 is shown in Figure 1 comprising a square shower tray 2 mounted in the corner of a room against two walls 3, 4. Two wall panels 5 and 6 of rectangular shape are affixed to the walls 3, 4 above the shower tray 2 by any suitable means, for example a high strength adhesive. The wall panels 5 and 6 are joined together by a connecting member 7 where they meet in the corner formed by the walls 3, 4. The shower enclosure 1 would include two further walls (not shown) extending adjacent the edges of the shower tray not occupied by the wall panels to thereby form a shower cubicle. Typically, these further walls comprise a fixed panel and a door panel that can be opened and closed to provide access to and from the enclosure. The fixed panel and door panel may be transparent or translucent. The invention will be described in relation to the arrangement of wall panels shown in Figure 1 , however, it will be appreciated that the wall panels need not form a shower cubicle. Thus, the connecting member 7 may be adapted to connect two wall panels that are side by side, for example, or at any other angle as required.

Figure 2 shows one of the wall panels 5, 6 in detail. The wall panel 5 comprises a front surface 10 of water-proof or water-resistant material, for example, acrylic capped acrylonitrile butadiene-styrene (ABS) and a back surface 11 of water-proof or water-resistant material, for example, a reprocessed ABS material. The front and back surfaces define a hollow interior filled with a filling material 12. The filling material 12 is a resin stone material, although any appropriate core material could be used. The front surface 10 is moulded to imitate a plurality of ceramic tiles separated by grouting. Thus, the front surface 10 comprises plurality of rectangular sections 13 representing the tiles defined by grooves 14 therebetween representing the grouting. The edges 15 of the rectangular

sections adjacent the grooves 14 are chamfered, although they may be rounded or bevelled. The back surface 11 includes a sealing groove 16 which will be described in further detail below.

The front and back surfaces 10,11 may be pre-formed, for example vacuum moulded to the required shape from ABS sheet material, and the resin stone filler forms a solid core between the surfaces 10, 11. In a preferred method of manufacture, the vacuum moulded parts forming the front and rear surfaces confine a flowable mixture of stone resin filler sufficient to fill completely a cavity formed between the parts before the filler hardens to form the core. The amount (volume) of flowable stone resin filler required to fill the cavity for a given size and shape of panel can be accurately controlled by weighing the filler thereby minimising waste while ensuring the cavity is completely filled and pockets of air or gases within the core that could weaken the panel are avoided. In this way, a solid core can be obtained having the required strength with economies of thickness and thus weight of the core for a given size and shape of panel that may facilitate handling the panel for installation by one person. For example, by way of non-limiting example, the core may have a general thickness in the region of 4 to 5mm while the sheet material for the front surface may have a thickness of about 1.2mm and the sheet material for the rear surface may have a thickness of about lmm. Panels may be produced in a range of sizes to suit different sizes of shower trays. Again, by way of non-limiting example, panels constructed as described above for use with shower tray sizes 760mm, 800mm and 1200mm having a height of 2010mm and a width approximately 20mm narrower than the tray have a weight of about 16kg for the 760mm tray, about 17kg for the 800mm tray and 25kg for the 1200mm tray. These panels are light enough to be lifted by one person.

The connecting member 7 is shown in detail in Figures 3 and 4 and comprises a front part 20 and a rear part 21 adapted to be connected together by a coupling means shown generally as 22. The front and rear parts 20,21 are formed by extrusion and cut to the required length of the wall panels 5,6. The rear part 21 includes a first portion 23 of the coupling means 22 and two rear sealing members 24, 25. The sealing member 24 is adapted to seal against the rear of one of the wall panels 5 and the sealing member 25 is adapted to seal against the rear of the other wall panel 6. The front part 20 of the connecting member 7 includes a second portion 26 of the coupling means 22 complementary to said first portion 23. The front part 20 includes two front sealing members 27, 28, one to seal against the wall panel 5 and one to seal against the other wall panel 6.

The rear part 21 comprises an elongate body 30 having a central section 31 from which the first portion 23 of the coupling means 22 extends and two arm sections 32, 33 that extend from opposed sides of the central section 31 and carry the rear sealing members 24, 25. The rear sealing members 24, 25 are mounted in longitudinal grooves 34, 35 formed in the two arm sections 32, 33. The first portion 23 of the coupling means 22 comprises a pair of parallel longitudinal flanges 36, 37 that define a channel 38. The inwardly facing surfaces 40, 41 of the flanges each have a plurality of longitudinal ridges 42 that are spaced and arranged such that they form a screw thread.

The front part 20 comprises a longitudinal body 45 having a central section 46 which forms the second portion 26 of the coupling means 22. The front part 20 also includes two arm sections 47, 48 that depend from opposed sides of the central section 46. The arm sections 47, 48 each include a longitudinal groove 50 and 51 distal from the central section 46. The grooves 50 and 51 carry the front sealing members 27 and 28

respectively. The second portion 26 of the coupling means 22 comprises a longitudinal locating finger 52 and a plurality of fastening members, such as screws 53, that extend through corresponding apertures 54 provided at spaced locations along the length of the front part 20. The locating finger 52 is locally removed where the apertures 54 are formed in the central section, for example by drilling through the central section.

The central section 46 has a substantially U-shaped cross-section and the heads of the screws 53 are arranged to fit within the U-shaped profile. The central section 46 includes longitudinal serrations 55. The serrations 55 are adapted to interengage with complementary serrations 57 of a cover member 56 (only part of which is shown in Figure 4) , thus fixing the cover member 56 to the central section 46. The cover member 56 fits flush with the remainder of the front part 20 and covers the screws 53. In some applications, an end cap (not shown) may be provided that clips into place on the top end of the extruded front and rear parts of the connecting member 7. An end cap may be fitted if the height of the wall panels 5,6 is less than the height of the walls 3,4.

In use, the rear part 21 is affixed to a wall, or in the case of the embodiment of Figure 3, the corner of two walls. The wall panels 5, 6 are placed such that they abut the rear part 21 and the rear sealing members 24, 25 engage the rear surface of the panels 5, 6. The front part 20 is then positioned such that the locating finger 52 locates in the channel 38 between the longitudinal flanges 36 and 37 and the front sealing members 27 and 28 abut the front surface of the panels 5, 6. The screws 53 are then inserted through their respective apertures to engage within the channel 38 and tightened thereby drawing the front part 20 and the rear part 21 together. The front and rear sealing members 24, 25 and 27, 28 deform into sealing contact with the panels 5, 6. The arrangement of the sealing members 24, 25, 27, 28 on the

arms 32, 33, 45, 48 provides a reliable seal with the wall panels 5, 6. In particular, the resilient deformation of the seals can take up any local variations in the surface of the panels 5,6 such as may be provided, for example by the decorative effect or pattern applied to the surface of the panels. The front and rear sealing members are formed of a material that is resistant to moisture and is hard-wearing. Thus, the connecting member 7 of the invention does not require sealant to be added and securely retains the panels 5, 6 and provides a reliable water-tight seal between the adjacent longitudinal edges of the panels 5, 6.

Figure 5 shows a modification to the first portion 23 and second portion 26 of the coupling means 22. The remaining parts of the connecting member 7 shown in Figure 5 correspond to the embodiment described above and therefore like reference numerals have been applied to like parts. In this modification, the locating finger 52 has been replaced with two locating members 60, 61 that, instead of engaging the channel 38, are adapted to engage the outer facing surfaces 62, 63 of the longitudinal flanges 36, 37. The locating members 60, 61 depend from the central section 46 and include serrated tips 64, 65. The longitudinal flanges 36, 37 also include serrations 66, 67 complimentary to the tips 64, 65 on their outer surfaces 62, 63. Thus, in use the serrated tips 64, 65 of the front part 20 ride over and interengage with the serrations 66, 67 of the second part 26. The fastening screws 53 can then be tightened to bring the sealing members 24, 25, 27, 28 into sealing engagement with the wall panels 5, 6 while further engaging the tips 64, 65 with the serrations 66, 67. In this modification, the security of the coupling means 22 is improved as the tips 64, 65 provide an engagement in addition to screws 53 between the front part 20 and rear part 21.

Figure 6 shows the base 70 of a wall panel 5, 6 in abutment with the shower tray 2. The tray 2 includes an upstanding lip 71 around its upper edge and the wall panel includes a seal 72 that is carried in the sealing groove 16 that extends along the rear face 11 of the base 70. The connecting members 7 that retain the panels 5, 6 together will also act to urge the seal 72 into sealing contact with the lip 71 to provide a watertight seal. As the seal 72 is mounted on the rear face 11 of the panel, it is hidden from view resulting in an attractive appearance. The seal 72 may be provided by a bead of sealant such as silicone or any other suitable material providing a water-tight seal. As shown the base includes a rebated portion 73 along the bottom edge that locates on the top surface of the shower tray 2 and acts as a spacer rib or lip to form a gap 74 between the top surface of the shower tray 2 and the bottom edge of the front surface of the wall panel 5,6. Typically this gap is only a few millimetres, say 3mm, and can be used to apply a bead of sealant such as silicone if an additional seal is required. Where sealant is not used, the size and location of the rebated portion 73 is such that it is not visible to the user when showering.

The wall panels 5, 6 may be constructed in a range of sizes to suit different applications. The wall panels 5, 6 may also be trimmed to size where intermediate sizes or irregular shapes are required. The panels 5, 6 may be provided with tile patterns to simulate different sizes of tiles in common use. This is advantageous as the wall panel has the attractive appearance of a tiled surface but is easy to produce and quick to install. In a preferred arrangement, the tile pattern is based on a standard 200mm x 250 mm tile size. The tiles are preferably, symmetrically positioned on the front surface and where panels are trimmed down, this is preferably done on one vertical edge and/or the horizontal bottom edge of the panel. The panels 5, 6 may have any

pattern or effect applied to the front surface of the panels 5, 6 to create interesting, decorative finishes as desired.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment above-described. For example, in the above-described embodiments, the connecting member is configured to connect the wall panels at an angle of 90° to each other and it will be understood that the connecting member could be configured to connect the panels at any desired angle. Thus, the connecting member could be configured for linear connections between adjacent panels to span a wall area greater than the width of a single panel or angular connections between adjacent panels at a corner of a wall, both internal corners as described above and external corners both right angle or any other angle. This would allow panels to be installed in any configuration in all or part of a room or area for any purpose. The connecting member could also be modified to connect a panel to the ceiling of an installation. This would enable a panel to be fitted to the full height of a wall and be sealed against the ceiling. In the above-described embodiment, the connecting member has front and rear parts releasably secured together and the side edges of the wall panels are received in channels defined between the front and rear parts. It will be understood that this is not essential and that alternative connector members and/or other means for connecting and/or sealing between the side edges of the wall panels may be employed,

While the invention has been described with particular reference to a wall panel system for a shower enclosure, it will be understood that the wall panel system has use in other applications where it is desirable to provide a water resistant barrier. For example the wall panels and system can be used with a shower tray as described or in other situations such as with a bath or wash basin, sink or a worktop where the wall panels could be used to provide a splash back. The wall panels and system could also be

used to construct a wet room. Other applications and uses will be apparent to those skilled in the art.