Building Unit, Method for Assembling a Building Unit, Method for Transporting a Building Unit
A building unit comprises a building element having a rib structure. The rib structure forms a frame for receiving at least one of a floor, wall, or a ceiling module. The rib structure comprises a corner fitting. The building unit may further comprise at least one additional building element placed offset and an intermediate module that interconnects at least two building elements.
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The invention relates to a building unit and a method for assembling a building unit.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONBuilding units are commonly used to assemble temporary and/or modular buildings. Building units can be used for different purposes, e.g. as a temporary housing for industry, utility, schools, student housing or events, or as an emergency housing after a natural disaster or a fire. Temporary buildings are built up for use during a limited time period and are removed afterwards. A modular building can be a permanent type building.
An advantage of using building units is the flexibility of the thus obtained building. Building units can be easily added or removed in a later stage of the life of the building, so the building can be adapted to changing needs. The possibility of re-using the building units makes the application flexible as well. Another advantage of the building units is that it is possible to construct a complete building in a very short time, and that—after use—the building can be de-assembled and the building units can be re-used for another building project. Since a modular building can be constructed relatively fast, disturbance of the building place and its environment is relatively short. Another advantage of the building unit is that elements of the building unit or the complete building unit can be prefabricated remotely under controlled conditions e.g. in a factory. The prefabricated elements and/or units can then be transported to the building site where—due to well-defined dimensions of the building units—a building can be erected rather fast. The short time period that is needed for erecting a building unit makes the building units suitable for temporary housings.
There are different types of building units known. A commonly used building unit is of a type comprising a rib structure forming a frame for receiving a floor module, a wall module or a ceiling module. The drawback of such a building unit is that the external dimensions of the building unit are such that transport is restricted by national transportation laws. This makes the international transport of the building units difficult and relatively expensive. Especially, the transport of these building units over sea is expensive. Therefore, the building units are mainly used locally. The high transportation costs make re-use geographically restricted and thus limit the possibilities for re-use. Although the building units can be transported by road, water or railway by various transport vehicles, transport is usually limited to road transport because of the high transportation costs.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a building unit comprising a building element having a rib structure forming a frame for receiving at least one floor, wall or ceiling module, wherein the rib structure comprises a corner fitting.
In a preferred embodiment the rib structure comprises a corner fitting on each corner.
Advantageously the rib structure is adapted for international container transport upon a container transport vehicle (e.g., truck, rail car or ship), more particularly the external dimensions of the rib structure meet requirements for ISO-normalized container transport.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the building unit further comprises at least one additional building element placed offset, further comprising an intermediate module interconnecting at least two building elements.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for assembling a building unit, comprising placing at least two building elements having a rib structure forming a frame for receiving at least one floor, wall or ceiling module offset from each other, and interconnecting two building elements by means of an intermediate module.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for transporting a building unit, comprising placing at least one floor, wall, ceiling or intermediate module in a building element having a rib structure forming a frame for receiving the floor, wall or ceiling module, wherein the rib structure comprises a corner fitting, and loading the frame as a transport container on a container transport vehicle.
In order that the invention may be more fully understood, embodiments thereof will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the figures in which:
The figures are merely schematic views of various embodiments disclosed herein. In the figures, the same reference numbers refer to equal or corresponding parts.
In the embodiment shown in
The rib structure 2 may be adapted for international container transport and more preferably, the external dimensions of the rib structure 2 meet ISO-normalized requirements.
A rib structure 2 that is adapted for international container transport is sufficiently stiff and strong so that it can be transported on a container transport vehicle, e.g. a truck, rail car or container ship. For international container transport, the rib structure 2 and its external dimensions will have to comply with ISO-norm numbers—amongst others—ISO 668:1995, ISO 830:1999, ISO 1496-2:1996, ISO 1496-3:1995, ISO 1496-4:1991, ISO 3874:1997 or ISO 6346:1996, the contents of which are incorporated herein. The rib structure 2 is then interchangeable with other ISO-containers, which means that the rib structure 2 can e.g. be placed at the bottom in a container ship with other filled ISO-containers above it.
By adapting the rib structure 2 for international container transport, the building element 1 of a building unit can be manufactured at any place in the world and can thereafter be transported to any place in the world. After use for a particular project, the building unit can be transported to a different location anywhere in the world where it can be re-used. This makes the building unit a flexible and cheap unit for assembling temporary housings and/or modular buildings. Further the re-use is not geographically restricted due to the easy transportation possibilities of the building unit.
In the embodiment as shown in
Also
An easy way the building unit can be arranged for transport is shown in
In one embodiment, the intermediate module 8 can be easily connected to the rib structure 2 by hooking the intermediate module over a rib of the rib structure 2. In another embodiment, the intermediate module 8 can be connected to the rib structure 2 by locking the intermediate module 8 into a corner fitting 5 of the rib structure 2.
During transport, the intermediate modules 8 can also be placed in the rib structure 2, which facilitates the transport of the intermediate modules 8 in the same way as the wall/floor/ceiling modules 3, 4, 6 can be transported, as shown in
Due to the possibility to transport and re-use the building elements 1, a building can be erected e.g. for a sports event in one country and can be de-assembled and put on transport to another country where it can be used for other purposes, e.g. as a house.
On a container ship and/or during storage, containers can be stapled upon each other, as shown in
It is noted that containers can also be placed adjacent to each other. The containers can then be secured with respect to each other, e.g. by using a side hole 20 of a corner fitting 5 in a manner comparable with a locking operation as described above.
While the various embodiments have been particularly shown and described herein, it would be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in the form and details may be made to the various embodiments disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and that the various embodiments disclosed herein are not intended to act as limitations on the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A building unit comprising a building element having a rib structure forming a frame for receiving at least one floor, wall, or ceiling module, wherein the rib structure comprises a corner fitting.
2. The building unit according to claim 1, wherein the rib structure comprises a corner fitting on each corner.
3. The building unit according to claim 1, wherein the rib structure is adapted for international container transport.
4. The building unit according to claim 2, wherein the rib structure is adapted for international container transport.
5. The building unit according to claim 1, wherein the external dimensions of the rib structure meet ISO-normalized requirements.
6. The building unit according to claim 1, further comprising at least one additional building element placed offset, further comprising an intermediate module interconnecting at least two building elements.
7. The building unit according to claim 6 wherein the intermediate module comprises a planar surface between the at least two building elements.
8. The building unit according to claim 6, wherein the intermediate module is adapted for engagement with a corner fitting of the building elements.
9. The building unit according to claim 6, wherein the building unit has at least one of a curved shape, a wave-like or cylindrical shape.
10. The building unit of claim 1 further comprising a locking mechanism operatively associated with the corner fitting.
11. The building unit of claim 8 further comprising a locking mechanism between the intermediate module and the corner fitting, the locking mechanism having a first orientation permitting separation of the intermediate module and the corner fitting and a second orientation preventing separation of the intermediate module and the corner fitting.
12. The building unit of claim 1 further comprising a second building element having a rib structure forming a frame for receiving at least one floor, wall or ceiling module, wherein the rib structure comprises a second corner fitting, the building element and the second building element being positioned with the corner fitting and the second corner fitting in abutment and a locking mechanism operatively associated with each of the abutting corner fittings.
13. A method for assembling a building unit, comprising:
- placing at least two building elements having a rib structure forming a frame for receiving at least one floor, wall, or ceiling module offset from each other; and
- interconnecting two building elements by means of an intermediate module.
14. The building unit of claim 13 further comprising:
- providing at least one cooperating corner fitting on each of the building elements and the intermediate module;
- aligning a cooperating corner fitting on each building element with a cooperating corner fitting of the intermediate module;
- providing a locking mechanism between each aligned building element cooperating corner fitting and each intermediate module cooperating corner fitting, each locking mechanism having a first orientation permitting separation of the cooperating corner fitting and a second orientation preventing separation between the cooperating corner fittings;
- engaging the locking mechanism in the first orientation with even aligned building element cooperating corner fitting and each intermediate module cooperating corner fitting; and
- moving the locking mechanism between the first orientation and the second orientation.
15. A method for transporting a building unit, comprising:
- placing at least one of a floor module, a wall module, a ceiling module or an intermediate module in a building element having a rib structure forming a frame for receiving a floor, wall, or ceiling module, wherein the rib structure comprises a corner fitting; and
- loading the frame as a transport container on a container transport vehicle.
16. The building unit of claim 14 further comprising a locking mechanism operatively associated between the container transport vehicle and the corner fitting, the locking mechanism having a first orientation permitting separation of the intermediate module and the corner fitting and a second orientation preventing separation of the intermediate module and the corner fitting and moving the locking mechanism between the first orientation and the second orientation.
Type: Application
Filed: May 17, 2007
Publication Date: Nov 20, 2008
Applicants: (Rotterdam), JAN SNEL B.V. (Monfoort)
Inventor: Anna Joke Breimer (Rotterdam)
Application Number: 11/750,151
International Classification: E04B 1/19 (20060101); E04B 1/343 (20060101); E04G 21/14 (20060101);