The present invention relates to insulating panels used in buildings, to provide insulating roofs or walls.
In the manufacture of panels for the above indicated use, it is necessary to satisfy simultaneously a number of needs which quite often are indeed in contrast with each other.
Firstly, it is desired that the panel has the requested insulating features along with good characteristics of resistance to mechanical stresses. Secondly, it is desired that the structure of the panel enables a high modularity to be obtained, to be understood both as a possibility of coupling more panels to each other, to obtain continuous insulating surfaces, and as the possibility of providing panels of sizes even very different from each other without causing thereby any relevant variation in the producing cycle, which preferably is a continuous working cycle.
All the above indicated needs must then be agreed with the main need consisting in that the panel must have the simplest possible structure, so that the cost of manufacture may be reasonably reduced.
In its previous Italian Patent Application No. TO91A000698 filed on 16 September 1991 and laid open to public inspection on 16 March 1993, the Applicant has already proposed an insulating panel for buildings, comprising:
The panel previously proposed by the Applicant is able indeed to brilliantly solve all the above indicated needs.
The object of the present invention is that of further improving the panel of the previous proposal, above all from the stand point of the characteristics of heat insulation and the characteristics of mechanical resistance.
In view of achieving this object, the invention provides an insulating panel for buildings, of the type previously proposed by the Applicant, characterized in that:
Due to said features, the panel according to the invention provides a plurality of advantages. Firstly, the provision of the insulating layer by means of a plurality of blocks arranged side by side is advantageous from the manufacture standpoint and from the standpoint of the resistance characteristics of the panel, since said blocks can be obtained from a continuous panel of fibrous material and thereafter arranged with the fibres of the insulating material directed orthogonally to the general plane of the panel which is to be obtained, so that in use said fibres are subject to an axial load exerted by the metal sheets between which the insulating layer is interposed, to the advantage of the resistance of the structure. At the same time, the provision of the insulating layer by means of many blocks arranged side by side assures anyway high characteristics of heat insulation, since the transfer of heat through the interstices between the various blocks is substantially prevented by that these interstices have a labyrinth-like configuration, because of the step-like shape of the end walls and the longitudinal side walls of each block.
Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows with reference to the annexed drawings, given purely by way of non limiting example in which:
With reference to figure 1, numeral 1 generally designates an insulating panel which can be used in buildings to provide walls or roofs, comprising a bottom metal sheet 2. The metal sheet 2 is a corrugated sheet, i.e. it has parallel ribs in a longitudinal direction obtained for example by calendering or rolling a metal sheet having a thickness of about 0,5-1 mm. The face of the metal sheet 2 which is to be inside the panel 1 is coated with a layer of adhesive material 3, preferably fire-proof material, e.g. constituted by an adhesive including polyurethane and/or polyisocyanide resins with thickness for example of about 2 mm. The adhesive material 3 is used to apply the bottom sheet 2 to an insulating layer 4 whose structure will be described more in detail hereinafter.
On the opposite face of the insulating layer 4 there is applied an upper metal sheet 5, which also is corrugated, and which, in the case of the example illustrated in figure 1, has a plurality of longitudinal ribs 5a alternated to higher longitudinal ribs 5b. Also in this case metal sheet 5 is bonded to the insulating layer 4 with the interposition of adhesive material of the above described type, which also forms beads 6 filling the ribs 5b. Alternatively, ribs 5b may be filled with elements of mineral fibres suitably shaped. Ribs 5b have for example a height of about 40-100 mm. They provide the upper metal sheet 5 and the panel in its entirety with characteristics of bending resistance in the longitudinal direction (i.e. in the direction of extension of ribs 5a, 5b) which are particularly high.
In the case of the example of figure 1, the rigidity effect given by ribs 5b is still higher due to the adhesive material filling the ribs.
The two metal sheets 2, 5 can be advantageously shaped at the opposite ends of the panel, as diagrammatically illustrated at 2a, 5c and 2b, 5d, according to a general male and female configuration, so as to enable more panels to be arranged side by side to provide continuous roofs.
The layer of insulating material 4 is constituted by a plurality of blocks 7 arranged side by side in the plane of the panel along many parallel and juxtaposed rows. Each block 7 is obtained by cutting a panel of fibrous insulating material, such as rock wool, glass wool or mineral wool, each block 7 being oriented after cutting so as to have its fibres directed orthogonally to the general plane of the panel, i.e. directed along the direction of double arrow A in figure 1. With reference to figure 2, each panel 7 has an upper surface 7a, a lower surface 7b, two end surfaces 7c and 7d and two side longitudinal surfaces 7e and 7f. As clearly apparent in figure 2, end surfaces 7c, 7d and the longitudinal side surfaces 7e, 7f have complementar steps 8a, 8b and 8c, 8d. With reference to figures 3, 4, blocks 7 are arranged side by side in the plane of the panel along many rows A, B, C which are parallel and juxtaposed to each other, with the blocks of each row A, B, C offset with respect to the blocks of the adjacent row. As clearly apparent from figures 1, 3 and 4, the complementar steps formed at the end surfaces and the longitudinal side surfaces of each block 7 enable the various blocks to be fitted into each other providing thereby at each side of each block a labyrinth-like interstice. The labyrinth-like interstices thus formed provide a high heat insulation even at high temperatures. At the same time, the structure of the panel can be obtained with a relatively simple process, of a continuous type, and at a low cost. At the same time, the panel has high characteristics of mechanical resistance, due to the configuration of the metal sheets, and the arrangement of the block 7 of insulating material with the fibres oriented orthogonally to the plane of the panel.
Figure 5 shows a variant of figure 1, which relates to a panel to be used as a wall, which differs from the panel of figure 1 only because the upper metal sheet 5' is identical to the bottom sheet 2.