Rigid foam building component
A rigid foam building component includes a rigid foam body with at least one reinforcing stud insert. The rigid foam body has a first planar portion, which intersects a second planar portion. The reinforcing stud insert has a first side, a second side and a connecting web connecting the first side and the second side. The connecting web consists of at least two conjoined intersecting planar portions. The reinforcing stud insert is positioned at an intersection between the first planar portion and the second planar portion, with a first of the at least two conjoined intersecting planar portions reinforcing the first planar portion and a second of the at least two conjoined intersection planar portions reinforcing the second planar portion.
The present invention relates to a rigid foam building component for use in a building system that utilizes panels made from rigid foam, which are reinforced by studs inserts.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe following patents disclose the use of rigid foam with reinforcing stud inserts: U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,634 (Nemmer et al from 1987), U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,198 (Bader from 1998) and CA 2,363,216 (Ritchie from 2001). The systems disclosed use parallel-piped panels, which are only suitable for making box-like structures. They are not capable of being adapted to suit more demanding applications, in which architectural plans call for walls with angles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONWhat is required is a rigid foam building component for use with a building system using rigid foam panels, which is sufficiently versatile to be adapted for use in constructing architecturally designed structures having walls with angles.
According to the present invention there is provided a rigid foam building component which includes a rigid foam body with at least one reinforcing stud insert. The rigid foam body has a first planar portion which intersects a second planar portion. The reinforcing stud insert has a first side, a second side and a connecting web connecting the first side and the second side. The connecting web consists of at least two conjoined intersecting planar portions. The reinforcing stud insert is positioned at an intersection between the first planar portion and the second planar portion, with a first of the at least two conjoined intersecting planar portions reinforcing the first planar portion and a second of the at least two conjoined intersection planar portions reinforcing the second planar portion.
The rigid foam building components, as described above, enable unique building structures to be made, as the rigid foam building components can be made in unique shapes and still be connected to other components in the building system due to the unique shape and positioning of the reinforcing stud inserts.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
The preferred embodiment, a rigid foam building component generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to
Structure and Relationship of Parts:
Referring now to
Referring to
Operation:
The use of rigid foam building components 10 will now be described with reference to
Referring to
In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in the claims.
Claims
1. A rigid foam building component, comprising:
- a rigid foam body with at least one reinforcing stud insert, the rigid foam body having a first planar portion which intersects a second planar portion, the reinforcing stud insert having a first side, a second side and a connecting web connecting the first side and the second side, the connecting web consisting of at least two conjoined intersecting planar portions, the reinforcing stud insert being positioned at an intersection between the first planar portion and the second planar portion with a first of the at least two conjoined intersecting planar portions reinforcing the first planar portion and a second of the at least two conjoined intersection planar portions reinforcing the second planar portion.
2. The rigid foam building component as defined in claim 1, wherein the rigid foam body is an elongate member.
3. The rigid foam building component as defined in claim 2, wherein the elongate member, when viewed in cross-section, is an irregular polygon.
4. The rigid foam building component as defined in claim 1, wherein the rigid foam body is a panel having a bend, the at least one reinforcing stud insert being positioned on one of the inside of the bend or the outside of the bend.
5. The rigid foam building component as defined in claim 1, wherein the first side and the second side of the at least one reinforcing stud insert are non-parallel.
6. The rigid foam building component as defined in claim 4, wherein an “L” shaped top channel is used to mount the panel.
7. The rigid foam building component as defined in claim 4, wherein an “L” shaped bottom channel is used to mount the panel.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 23, 2005
Publication Date: Dec 29, 2005
Inventor: Gordon Ritchie (Edmonton)
Application Number: 11/165,752