COMPOSITE FOAM PANEL HOUSING UNIT

A foam panel housing erection method and utility distribution system is disclosed. Metal skin composite foam panels with matching side joint profiles are structurally engaged side by side. A stud running in the transverse direction of the panel span is secured to the wall near the interior panel side joint using a fastener penetrating through the interior female metal skin profile of the panel on the right side and the interior male metal skin profile of the panel on the left side. The hat shaped stud is secured in position to the panel using a fastener. The interior finish panel is fastened to the lower flange of the stud creating continuous utility distribution cavities in the transverse direction to the panel span. Since the spacing of the stud is in the longitudinal direction of the panel span, uniform stud spacing can be maintained regardless of the panel cover-width.

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Description
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/467,016, filed Mar. 24, 2011, currently pending.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to foam panel housing construction. More specifically, the present invention discloses an effective foam panel housing erection method and utility distribution system.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A composite foam panel consists of two structural facing skins with a structural foam core sandwiched in between. The facing skins are structurally bonded to the foam core allowing the two skins to act compositely by way of shear transfer through the foam core. The panels are typically produced in a shop by a laminating process or a foamed-in-place process.

The major advantages for a foam panel include the following items.

    • 1. High strength-to-weight ratio against lateral bending loads due to the composite action between the two skins.
    • 2. Integral foam core with high thermal insulation value.
    • 3. High strength against compressive buckling under axial load due to the bracing effect of the foam core on the structural stability of the skins.
    • 4. High shear diaphragm strength with proper field applied shear connection along the panel side joint.

Utilizing all the above advantages, a housing unit can be constructed exclusively with multiple composite foam panels without the conventional building frame system. This type of structure is known as a “Frameless Housing Unit” and has been continuously gaining popularity in the building industry.

To provide the utility distribution system after the erection of the composite foam panels, conventionally, the wall or ceiling studs are fastened to the interior panel skin spanning in the longitudinal direction of the panel span. After all utility lines such as water pipes, electric cables, telephone cables, and television (TV) cables are secured within the space between the interior panel skin and the top of the studs, interior wall panels such as drywall or wooden panels are then fastened to the studs to form the finished interior wall surface.

In the above installation process, the following difficulties are commonly encountered.

    • 1. Uniform stud spacing is commonly used in the trade without a pre-engineering layout design while the panel width varies greatly among manufacturers and within the same manufacturer. Interference of the panel side joint fasteners with a stud to be placed over the panel side joint can only be prevented by costly pre-engineering layout design and field execution.
    • 2. For utility lines going in the transverse direction of the panel span, the studs must be notched or spaced apart in advance. Notching the studs creates the risk of damaging the interior panel skin. Spacing apart the studs in advance requires costly pre-engineering layout design and field execution.

For better structural strength and preventing oil canning problems, most of the composite foam panels manufactured with the foamed-in-place process have shallow profiles in the interior panel skin. In a case where a stud located at the low point, shims are required and the shimming operation significantly reduces the field productivity.

Therefore, there is need for an improved foam panel erection method that reduces the need for costly pre-engineering layout design and field execution and increases field productivity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To achieve these and other advantages and in order to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional methods in accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention provides an effective foam panel housing erection method and utility distribution system.

An objective of the present invention is to provide a stud erection method with uniform stud spacing free of interference with panel side joint fasteners and is able to accommodate any panel width and profiled interior panel skin.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a design for distributing the utility lines freely from a longitudinal direction to a transverse direction and vice versa without notching the studs.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide design and erection procedures for installing the utility lines without wire-fishing and coordination between different trades.

These and other objectives of the present invention will become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view drawing illustrating an exterior wall system portion according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 illustrating a typical panel side joint according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2a is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 2a-2a of FIG. 2 illustrating a typical interior finished wall with a stud according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1 illustrating a typical exterior wall corner detail according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3a is an alternative partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing of FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1 illustrating a typical corner detail at the juncture of the side wall and the roof panels according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1 illustrating a typical roof panel side joint according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 1 illustrating a typical roof ridge detail according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 1 illustrating a typical detail at the juncture of the end wall and the roof panels according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 1 illustrating a preferred embodiment of the wall base detail according to an embodiment of the present invention.

 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

Refer to FIG. 1, which is an isometric view of an exterior wall system portion according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the entire housing unit 100 is enclosed with composite foam panels. The openings (not shown) for windows and doors are cut out after the panel erection and installed in various conventional methods know in the art.

Refer to FIG. 2, which is a drawing illustrating a typical fragmentary cross-section of one embodiment of a typical wall panel side joint taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, two metal skin composite foam panels 1 with matching side joint profiles are structurally engaged side by side. A stud 2 of the present invention running in the transverse direction of the panel span is secured in position to the wall at the location near the interior panel side joint using a fastener 4, for example a screw, penetrating through the interior female metal skin profile 50 of the panel 1 on the right side and the interior male metal skin profile 51 of the panel 1 on the left side.

The interior finish panel 3, for example a dry wall or wooden panel, is secured in position using fastener 5. In the above arrangement, fastener 4 is utilized both to secure the stud 2 in position and to structurally connect the two adjacent panels 1 along the side joint to transfer the shear in the shear diaphragm action, therefore, the interference problem between the side joint fasteners and the stud is prevented. Due to the fact that the stud 2 is running in the transverse direction to the panel span, the locations of fasteners 4 are visually identifiable by the side joint locations in the field regardless of the panel cover-width, therefore, no pre-engineering is required.

In addition, in case of a profiled interior panel skin, the stud 2 will be sit on the high points and bridge over the low gap of the profile, therefore, no shim is required in installing the stud 2.

Refer to FIG. 2a, which is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 2a-2a of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

One of the spaced apart studs 2 has the preferable hat shape of the present invention and is secured in position to the panel 1 using fastener 4. The interior finish panel 3 is fastened to the lower flange of the stud 2 using fastener 5 creating continuous utility distribution cavities 6 and 7 in the transverse direction to the panel span. Since the spacing of the stud 2 is in the longitudinal direction of the panel span, uniform stud spacing can be maintained regardless of the panel cover-width.

Combining the achievements explained for FIG. 2, the first inventive objective is accomplished and the present invention provides a stud erection method with uniform stud spacing free of interference with panel side joint fasteners and is able to accommodate any panel width and profiled interior panel skin.

Refer to FIG. 3, which is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The two wall panels 1 with the side joint profiles being cut off are butted together to form an exterior wall corner. The corner insulation 14 is installed in the field and the interior corner trim 10 is installed to structurally connect the two corner panels 1 using spaced apart fasteners 12. The exterior corner trim 9 with weather seal 13 is secured to the panels 1 using spaced apart fasteners 11. The studs 2 are secured to the panels with fasteners 4a and ended at the location adjacent to the interior trim 10. The interior finish panels 3 are secured to the studs 2 and butted at the corner to form the interior finished corner. In this arrangement, a continuous utility distribution cavity 8 in the longitudinal direction of the panel span is formed.

Reviewing FIG. 3 and FIG. 2a simultaneously, it becomes apparent that the longitudinal utility distribution cavity 8 is naturally interconnected with all continuous transverse utility distribution cavities 6 and 7 shown in FIG. 2a.

As a result, the second inventive objective is accomplished and the present invention provides a design for distributing the utility lines freely from a longitudinal direction to a transverse direction and vice versa without notching the studs.

When the preferred hat-shaped stud 2 as shown in FIG. 2a is used, the following erection procedures are preferred. After all studs 2 have been installed by the building trade, all utility distribution cavities are openly accessible. At this stage, all utility trades (water, electric, and communication) can come in to do their work independently without wire-fishing. After the completion of the work by all utility trades, the building trade will come back to install the interior finish panels 3.

To accommodate the utility outlet boxes, the stud 2 as shown in FIG. 2a can be designed to have an adequate cavity 6 to house the outlet box or the outstanding stud flanges and legs can be notched at the outlet locations.

The third inventive objective is accomplished by the above simple erection procedures and the present invention provides design and erection procedures for installing the utility lines without wire-fishing and coordination between different trades.

Refer to FIG. 3a, which is an alternative partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing of FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the building length and width are designed to fit the panel cover-width module, it is possible to fabricate a corner panel without an exterior corner trim. The corner panel is fabricated by V-notching the interior skin and the entire depth of the foam core without cutting into the exterior panel skin and bending the exterior panel skin along the notched line. The other details remain the same as explained in FIG. 3.

Refer to FIG. 4, which is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1 showing a typical detail at the juncture of roof panel and side wall panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The corner member 16 is profiled to inter-connect the roof panel 15 and the wall panel 1 as well as support the ends of the interior finishing panels 3. The wall panel 1 is fastened to the member 16 using spaced apart fasteners 17. The roof panel 15 is fastened to the member 16 using spaced apart fasteners 18 with a clip 19. The interior finishing panels 3 are then fastened to the extended flanges of member 16 using spaced apart fasteners 5. In this construction, the shear diaphragm load from the roof will be transferred to the top of the side wall.

Refer to FIG. 5, which is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1 showing a typical roof panel side joint according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The roof panels 15 are designed to have over-lapping ribbed side joints. At each panel side joint location, the over-lapped panels 15 are secured to member 16 at the eave location as shown in FIG. 4 and to member 28 at the ridge location as shown in FIG. 6 using through fasteners 18 with clips 19. Between the eave and the ridge, spaced apart fasteners 20 are used with clips 19 to connect the over-lapped exterior skins along the roof panel side joint. A cover trim 21 is then snapped onto the clips 19 to cover the exposed fastener heads along the panel side joint.

The underside studs 2 are secured to the roof panels 15 by the spaced apart fastener 20 penetrating through the engaged interior panel skins near the side joint location to form the roof shear diaphragm. The interior finishing panel 3 is then fastened to the stud 2 with spaced apart fastener 5.

Refer to FIG. 6, which is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 1 showing a typical roof ridge detail according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A ridge member 28 is profiled to secure the roof panels 15 on both sides of the ridge using through fasteners 18 with clips 19 and to secure the ends of the interior finishing panels 3 on both sides of the ridge. The ridge member 28 is fastened to a ridge beam or interior partition wall 26 using spaced apart fasteners 53 on both sides of 26. A Z-shaped seal trim 22 with seal 24 is secured to each valley of the exterior roof panel skin between two adjacent panel ribs to provide an end dam to stop water infiltration into the ridge area using spaced apart fasteners 23. The ridge gap insulation 27 is field applied and a ridge cover trim 25 is fastened and sealed to the top of the panel ribs and the seal trims 22 using spaced apart fasteners 29.

As previously explained, the interior finishing panels 3 are fastened to the extended flanges of ridge member 28 with spaced apart fasteners 5. In this construction, the shear loads on the roof diaphragm can be transferred into the two side wall diaphragms.

Refer to FIG. 7, which is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 1 showing a typical detail at the juncture of the end wall panel 1 and the roof panel 15 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The corner connection member 33 is designed to connect to the end wall panels 1 using spaced apart fasteners 34 and to connect to the roof panel 15 along the longitudinal panel direction using spaced apart fasteners 35 and at the same time, to secure the interior finishing panels 3 using spaced apart fasteners 5. The corner insulation 36 is field applied and a corner trim 30 with seal 31 is fastened to both wall panels 1 and the edge roof panel 15 using spaced apart fasteners 32.

Refer to FIG. 8, which is a partial fragmentary cross-sectional view drawing taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 1 showing a preferred embodiment of the wall base detail of the present invention.

A thermally broken aluminum extrusion 37 is fastened to the concrete floor 40 using spaced apart concrete anchors 39. The exterior contacting point is caulked to provide water seal 54 and the interior contacting point is also caulked to provide air seal 38. The wall panels 1 are structurally captured within the base extrusion profile. At the panel side joint location along the base extrusion (not shown), fastener 4 is used as shown in FIG. 2 to form the side joint connection. Spaced apart fasteners 55 connecting between the base extrusion 37 and the wall panels 1 are used to transfer the shear diaphragm load along the wall base into the concrete anchors 39.

Continuous air seal 56 must be provided between the panel end and the base extrusion 37. At the butt joint of the segmented base extrusions (not shown), the interior butt joint must be caulked to ensure continuous air seal while the exterior butt joint should be left open to drain the water infiltrated into the joint and to pressure-equalize the water seal 54.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the invention and its equivalent.

Claims

1. A foam panel housing erection method comprising:

engaging a first metal skin composite foam panel and a second metal skin composite foam panel with matching side joint profiles side by side;
positioning a stud running in a transverse direction of a panel span of the first metal skin composite foam panel and the second metal skin composite foam panel;
securing the stud in a position near an interior panel side joint using a fastener, the fastener penetrating through an interior female metal skin profile of the first metal skin composite foam panel and an interior male metal skin profile of the second metal skin composite foam panel; and
securing an interior finish panel in position.

2. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 1, where the stud is hat shaped.

3. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 1, where the fastener is a screw.

4. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 1, where the interior finish panel is secured using a screw.

5. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 1, where the interior finish panel is fastened to a lower flange of the stud to create a continuous utility distribution cavity in a transverse direction of the panel span.

6. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 1, further comprising:

forming a wall panel by engaging additional metal skin composite foam panels to the first metal skin composite foam panel and the second metal skin composite foam panel and positioning and securing another stud for each additional metal skin composite foam panel.

7. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 6, further comprising:

forming a wall corner by butting two wall panels together and fastening the two wall panels together with interior corner trim on an interior surface of the wall corner.

8. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 7, further comprising:

fastening exterior corner trim with weather seal to an exterior surface of the wall corner.

9. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 8, where the interior corner trim and the exterior corner trim are fastened using space apart fasteners.

10. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 1, where, prior to securing the interior finish panel in position, utility wires, cables, and pipes are installed.

11. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 6, further comprising:

forming a roof panel and a wall panel junction by inter-connecting the roof panel and the wall panel with a corner member.

12. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 11, where the wall panel is fastened to the corner member using spaced apart fasteners and the roof panel is fastened to the corner member using spaced apart fasteners and clips.

13. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 11, where the interior finishing panel is fastened to extended flanges of the corner member.

14. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 11, where roof panels have over-lapping ribbed side joints secured to the corner member.

15. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 1, further comprising:

forming a roof ridge by securing roof panels and interior finishing panels on both sides of the roof ridge to a ridge member.

16. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 6, further comprising:

forming a wall base by fastening a thermally broken aluminum extrusion to a concrete floor; and
fastening wall panels to the wall base.

17. A foam panel housing erection method comprising:

engaging a first metal skin composite foam panel and a second metal skin composite foam panel with matching side joint profiles side by side;
positioning a stud running in a transverse direction of a panel span of the first metal skin composite foam panel and the second metal skin composite foam panel;
securing the stud in a position near an interior panel side joint using a fastener, the fastener penetrating through an interior female metal skin profile of the first metal skin composite foam panel and an interior male metal skin profile of the second metal skin composite foam panel;
forming a wall panel by engaging additional metal skin composite foam panels to the first metal skin composite foam panel and the second metal skin composite foam panel and positioning and securing another stud for each additional metal skin composite foam panel; and
securing an interior finish panel to the wall panel.

18. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 17, further comprising:

forming a roof panel and a wall panel junction by inter-connecting the roof panel and the wall panel with a corner member.

19. The foam panel housing erection method of claim 17, further comprising:

forming a roof ridge by securing roof panels on both sides of the roof ridge to a ridge member.

20. A foam panel housing erection method comprising:

engaging a first metal skin composite foam panel and a second metal skin composite foam panel with matching side joint profiles side by side;
positioning a stud running in a transverse direction of a panel span of the first metal skin composite foam panel and the second metal skin composite foam panel;
securing the stud in a position near an interior panel side joint using a fastener, the fastener penetrating through an interior female metal skin profile of the first metal skin composite foam panel and an interior male metal skin profile of the second metal skin composite foam panel;
forming a wall panel by engaging additional metal skin composite foam panels to the first metal skin composite foam panel and the second metal skin composite foam panel and positioning and securing another stud for each additional metal skin composite foam panel;
forming a wall base by fastening a thermally broken aluminum extrusion to a concrete floor;
fastening the wall panel to the wall base;
forming a roof panel and a wall panel junction by inter-connecting the roof panel and the wall panel with a corner member;
forming a roof ridge by securing roof panels on both sides of the roof ridge to a ridge member; and
securing an interior finish panel to the wall panel and roof panel.
Patent History
Publication number: 20120240512
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 20, 2012
Publication Date: Sep 27, 2012
Inventor: RAYMOND M.L. TING (PITTSBURGH, PA)
Application Number: 13/424,565
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: Using Prefabricated Unit (52/745.13); Anchor, Bond, Etc. (52/745.21); And Moving Into Position (52/745.2)
International Classification: E04B 2/72 (20060101); E04B 2/00 (20060101); E04B 1/38 (20060101);