The present invention is directed to a construction box comprising an elongated casing (1) defining an inner space wherein a suspension systemfor a functional entity (2) is mounted, and an insert (4,5,6) located at the casing's inward facing side, said insert (4,5,6) comprising a thermally insulating body portion (4). The insert (4,5,6) further comprises a reinforcing skin layer (5) attached to the thermally insulating body portion (4).
The present invention relates to a construction box comprising an elongated casing defining an inner space wherein a suspension system for a functional is mounted and an insert with a thermally insulating body portion.
Further, the present invention relates to a kit of parts for a construction box, comprising an elongated casing defining an inner space wherein a suspension system for a functional entity can be mounted, and insert with a thermally insulating body portion.
Roller shutters have been known for many decades and have proven useful, in particular, for closing off windows. Roller shutters usually have a shaft onto which a curtain, which serves to close off and protecting the window opening, can be wound. The shaft is usually rotatably supported by a suitable suspension system (e.g. bearings) in a construction box i.e. a roller shutter box mounted above the window frame. Such casing typically is an assembly of extruded elongated plastic profiles.
Usually installers or manufacturers install the casing on top of a window frame, subsequently suspend the roller shutter shaft onto the suspension system and stuff the casing with thermal insulation profiles at the inward facing side of the casing.
A generally occurring problem is that, since the window frame is not directly fixed to a construction wall, the window frame is insufficiently reinforced to withstand the static load of its own weight, combined with the static load of the suspension and the roller shutter box. To overcome this problem, the roller shutter box, that serves as an intermediate between window and wall, compensates the lack of rigidity ,Moreover in most cases, the window frame is insufficiently reinforced to withstand the dynamic load of a wind pressure. Hence the roller shutter box casing should have sufficient flexural strength to withstand side forces acting on the window and the roller shutter box due to wind load or pressure differences between inside and outside.
In an attempt to provide more rigidity to the casing,
Another example is
However, a drawback of the above solutions is that additional reinforcing, preferably metal, profiles have to be mounted in the casing in order to reach the rigidity required, and that this requires the casing profiles to have a dedicated design in order to be able to fix the reinforcing profiles in the casing and keep it in place, which increases the complexity of extrusion and manufacturing cost of the casing profiles.
Another known problem of roller shutter boxes is that, since a roller shutter box makes a connection between the inside and the outside of the window and therefore inevitably constitutes a cold bridge which can be only minimized by providing sufficient and well-positioned insulation within the casing, the thermal insulation has to fit everywhere along the casing and kept in the correct position over time. Therefore, fixing, clamping, or supporting means for keeping the thermal insulation in place have to be provided upon installing and have to be mounted in the casing, such resulting in increased installation cost and complexity of installing. Alternatively, such fixing, clamping, or supporting means have to be integrated in the extruded casing profiles which obviously increases the complexity of extrusion and manufacturing cost of the casing profiles.
Considering the above, the present invention aims to provide a roller shutter box combining the advantages of sufficient rigidity, sufficient thermal insulation values, uncomplicated installation, and low manufacturing cost.
More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a roller shutter box having sufficient rigidity, in particular for not bending at its endings, for withstanding the static load of the roller shutter box, combined with the static load of the suspension and the window frame, and for withstanding side forces such as wind load.
Further, another specific object of the present invention is to provide a roller shutter box wherein the thermal insulation profiles serve as a reinforcement and can be kept in correct position over time without using extra fixing means to be provided at the construction site, nor providing complex or high cost casing profiles.
In addition, the present invention aims to provide a roller shutter box having sufficient acoustic damping, not only of noises when (un)winding the roller shutter, but also noises entering the casing from outside.
The present invention is directed to a construction box comprising:
In addition the present invention is also directed to a kit of parts for a construction box, comprising:
In a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a construction box, in this case a roller shutter box is provided comprising:
In the context of the present invention, the thermally insulation body portion is typically one piece of thermally insulating material, preferably made corresponding to the length of the casing, or alternatively cut off from commercially available profiles with standard lengths.
By attaching a reinforcing skin layer to the thermally insulating body portion, the thermally insulating body portion gets more rigidity such that it suffers less from any kind of deformation or damaging upon installing and optimally fits everywhere along the casing.
In addition, the reinforcing skin layer provides increased rigidity not only to the thermal insulating body portion, but much more important to the casing. In other words, by attaching a reinforcing skin layer to the thermally insulating body portion, the insert itself becomes a reinforcing profile giving sufficient rigidity to the roller shutter box such that bending may be avoided and that it may better withstand the static load of the roller shutter box, combined with the static load of the suspension and the window frame, and for withstanding side forces such as wind load.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the insert preferably has a flexural modulus of at least 0.63 GNmm2 thereby reinforcing the construction box in its capacity to withstand forces, due to gravity as schematically illustrated in
In an embodiment of the present invention, the insert preferably has a flexural modulus of at least 2.16 GNmm2 thereby reinforcing the construction box in its capacity to withstand wind forces applied to one side of the construction box as schematically illustrated in
In an embodiment of the present invention, the reinforcing skin layer may be attached to the thermally insulating body portion at least at the body portion's side facing away from the suspension system for the functional entity. At the body portion's side facing away from the suspension system the reinforcing layer is in vertical position. This vertical position is preferred over a horizontal position and results therein that the insert, and so the functional entity, may be capable of resisting higher static loads on its endings than in the case where the reinforcing layer would be attached only at the bottom or top side of the thermal insulating body portion and thus being positioned horizontally, moreover such positioning of the reinforcing layer in a vertical position at one (vertical) side of the construction box also increases the capacity of the construction box to withstand side forces due to eg. wind load.
According to a preferred embodiment, two reinforcing skin layers are provided on the thermally insulating body portion, one at the body portion's side facing away from the functional entity and one at the body portion's opposed side facing the functional entity, such that the thermally insulating body portion is sandwiched between the two reinforcing skin layers. In the case the thermally insulating body portion is curved at one of its sides whereon a reinforcing skin layer is provided, the concerned reinforcing skin layer is preferably profiled such at to follow the curvature of the thermally insulating body portion.
According to another embodiment, the reinforcing skin layer may be attached to the thermally insulating body portion at the body portion's side facing away from the functional entity and either at its top side, or at its bottom side. Even more preferred, the reinforcing skin layer may be attached to the thermally insulating body portion at the body portion's side facing away from the functional entity and at both its top and bottom side.
In accordance with the present invention, the reinforcing skin layer may be attached to the thermally insulating body portion by any suitable means such as for example glue, screws or by snap fittings, or by being clamped onto the thermally insulating body portion.
In an embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a construction box may be provided wherein the insert is fixed in the casing at the casing's inward facing side by means of any suitable means. Obviously, these means may be selected based (i) on having the possibility to remove and replace the insert in case the suspension system has to be reached for maintenance or repair, and (ii) on not penetrating the casing.
In a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a construction box may be provided wherein the insert's shape corresponds to at least part of the inner space at the casing's inward facing side, such that it is clamped in the inner space. The dimensions of the insert could be chosen such that it fits tightly in the casing with only very restricted possibilities for varying the position.
The advantage of the above preferred embodiment is that thermal insulating inserts can be kept in correct position over time without using extra fixing means to be provided at the construction site, nor providing complex or high cost casing profiles onto which provisions for clamping the insert have to be present. It is therefore clear that the present invention allows providing a construction box combining the advantages of sufficient rigidity, sufficient thermal insulation values, uncomplicated installation, and low manufacturing cost.
In a particular embodiment, the dimensions of the thermal insulating body portion and the reinforcing skin layer may be chosen such that body portion is tightly clamped within the reinforcing skin layer, and that the resulting insert is tightly clamped in the casing.
In the context of the present invention, the reinforcing skin layer may be made of any material suitable for attaching to the thermal insulating body portion, acting as reinforcing layer, and preferably having a Young's Modulus of at least 35.000N/mm2 Particular examples are steel, stainless steel, aluminum or fiber reinforced plastics.
In the context of the present invention, the thermally insulating body portion may be made of any thermal insulating material suitable for being shaped in a profiled body portion and for being attached to, and preferably clamped into a reinforcing skin layer. Examples are polystyrene based foams, polyurethane based or urea based foams.
In an embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a construction box may be provided wherein the insert additionally comprises an acoustically insulating material layer. As such, the present invention aims to provide a construction box having sufficient acoustic damping, not only of noises when the functional entity is put on or moving, but also noises entering the casing from outside.
In the context of the present invention, the acoustically insulating layer may be made of any material suitable for attaching to the thermal insulating body portion, acting as acoustic layer, and having sufficient acoustic damping characteristics. Particular examples are polymer foam composites such polyurethane foam, bitumen, or (perforated) metals, or layers of different materials.
According to an alternative embodiment, the reinforcing skin layer comprises clamping means enabling attaching the insert to opposed side walls of the construction box, in which case, the insert can be made unified with one of the side walls are can replace one of the side walls of the construction box as illustrated in figure 4.
In addition, the present invention provides a kit of parts for a construction box, comprising:
In an embodiment of a kit of parts in accordance with the present invention, the reinforcing skin layer may be attached to the thermally insulating body portion, such that the installer can directly install the insert without having to assemble it himself.
The kit of parts may further comprising means for attaching the reinforcing skin layer to the thermally insulating body portion and/or means for fixing the insert into the casing. Preferably, as discussed earlier, the dimensions of the thermal insulating body portion and the reinforcing skin layer may be chosen such that body portion can be tightly clamped within the reinforcing skin layer, and that the resulting insert can be tightly clamped in the casing.
Further, a kit of parts in accordance with the present invention may further comprise a functional entity and its suspension system for being installing in the casing.
Preferably and as illustrated in
It is clear the construction box is not limited to a roller shutter box but can be any type of construction box, in particular construction boxes to be installed in a wall and carrying a functional entity. Examples of such construction boxes include boxes encasing an air-conditioning unit or boxes encasing lighting as shown in
This list of references cited by the applicant is for the reader's convenience only. It does not form part of the European patent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot be excluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.