(19)
(11) EP 3 688 241 B1

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION

(45) Mention of the grant of the patent:
28.07.2021 Bulletin 2021/30

(21) Application number: 19707127.7

(22) Date of filing: 13.02.2019
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC): 
E04B 1/76(2006.01)
E04C 2/38(2006.01)
E04C 2/296(2006.01)
(86) International application number:
PCT/IB2019/051148
(87) International publication number:
WO 2019/162804 (29.08.2019 Gazette 2019/35)

(54)

A WALL ELEMENT

WANDELEMENT

ELÉMENT POUR MURS


(84) Designated Contracting States:
AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR

(30) Priority: 22.02.2018 LT 2018506

(43) Date of publication of application:
05.08.2020 Bulletin 2020/32

(73) Proprietor: UAB "Progresyvus Namai"
03155 Vilnius (LT)

(72) Inventor:
  • MAZENIS, Rimantas
    38130 Liudynes k., Velzio sen., Panevezio r. sav. (LT)

(74) Representative: Pranevicius, Gediminas 
Law firm IP Forma Uzupio g. 30
01203 Vilnius
01203 Vilnius (LT)


(56) References cited: : 
EP-A2- 1 624 121
JP-A- H07 150 647
US-A- 1 969 621
GB-A- 546 540
SK-U1- 501 162 011
US-A- 4 421 203
   
       
    Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to the European patent granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in a written reasoned statement. It shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention).


    Description

    FIELD OF THE INVENTION



    [0001] The invention relates to construction industry, namely, to structural element of building walls and other partition structures. More specifically, the invention relates to an exterior wall element with excellent thermal insulation properties.

    BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION



    [0002] Requirements for energy efficiency of buildings are becoming ever stricter, creating a need for new structural solutions for exterior walls of buildings. A wide range of materials and solutions are available for installing walls and other partition structures, which are characterised with increased thermal insulation properties and are also easy to manufacture without requiring any complex equipment for installation. US9163397 describes a wall element made of several rectangular cross-section wooden bars with insulating cavities between them, sheathing panels fixed to the bars on the outer wall side, and insulation material filling the cavities between the bars; these insulation materials are directed to the inside of the wall element over the entire width of the bars. An inner side of the wall element is covered with plasterboard, which is used for interior wall decoration. A vapour barrier creating metal foil or film is installed between the thermal insulation and the inner side of the plasterboard.

    [0003] The closest prior art is described in Slovakian Patent No. 6285. The invention relates to a wooden wall panel, which is made of two side bars and one central bar with attached oriented strand boards (OSB) on both sides, covered with vapour barrier film on the inner side. The internal cavity between OSB sheets is filled with thermal insulation made of extruded polystyrene (EPS).

    SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION



    [0004] The goal of the present invention is to expand the range of products intended for this purpose by offering an alternative structural version for wall or other partition structural elements, characterised by excellent thermal insulation properties; such product shall be easy to manufacture in advance or in situ without any complex construction equipment. According to the invention, the wall element is made of plurality rectangular cross-section glued timber vertical bars of 2000-3500 mm in height, which are arranged in a single line at a distance of 600-700 mm apart, interconnected by horizontal beams of the same cross-section, which are attached to the top and bottom of vertical bars and together with the bars form the frame of the wall element; this frame is covered on both sides with OSB sheets and contains many thermal insulating air chambers between those sheets formed by rolling continuous metallised oriented polypropylene (OPP) film multiple times up and down parallel to the OSB sheets through the entire height and width of the vertical bars, by maintaining a gap of 10-15 mm between the adjacent films; spacing between the adjacent films is formed by interconnected polystyrene strips of 10-15 mm in width and 30-40 mm in height, which are fixed at the top and bottom of the frame. A vapour barrier is additionally installed between the inner OSB sheet and the metallised film.

    [0005] It has been unexpectedly discovered that such wall element has excellent thermal insulation properties. The calculated value of heat transfer coefficient U of such structural wall element is 0.10-0.14 W/(m2K), depending on films used as well as number of air chambers inside the wall element. A current valid passive house standard is granted to products with the U value not higher than 0.15 W/(m2K).

    BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES



    [0006] Further, the invention is described with reference to the following figures:

    Fig. 1 presents a perspective view of the wall element frame;

    Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the wall element with unrolled OPP film in the partial cut between the adjacent vertical bars of the frame;

    Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view through the line A-A of Fig. 2;

    Fig. 4 - Fig. 15 present steps of assembly of the wall element.


    DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION



    [0007] As shown in Fig. 1, the frame of this wall element is made of plurality of glued timber vertical bars 1 of 2000-3500 mm in height, with preferable cross-section of 45x300 mm; bars are arranged in one line with a gap of 600-700 mm between the adjacent bars 1. Height and number of vertical bars 1 depend on dimensions of the designed wall. Vertical bars 1 are interconnected with the top and bottom horizontal beams 2 and 3 of the same cross-section; these beams are attached to the top and bottom ends of vertical bars 1.

    [0008] As further shown in Fig. 2 and 3, cavities between adjacent vertical bars 1 are filled with continuous oriented metallized (OPP) film 4 which is rolled up and down multiple times over the entire height and width of vertical bars 1, by maintaining a 10-15 mm gap between adjacent OPP films 4, thus forming many thermal-insulating air chambers 5. Gaps between adjacent OPP films 4 are formed using 10-15 mm in width and 30-40 mm in height polystyrene strips 6, which are inserted into grooves 7 between the adjacent bars 1 and their side surfaces are interconnected with metal clamps 8. OPP films are stretched in a way so that these OPP films would not touch each other under their own gravity when the wall element is in a horizontal position.

    [0009] Both sides of the frame are covered with oriented strand boards (OSB) 9, fixed to the bars 1 and beams 2 and 3. On every side of the wall element, between the inner side of the OSB sheet 9 and the first OPP film 4, an additional vapour barrier 10 is installed.

    [0010] This structural wall element is assembled as follows: first of all, bars 1 are fixed to the inner side of the first OSB panel 9, which is covered with a vapour barrier 10, by maintaining 600-700 mm gaps between the bars (Fig. 4). The height of the OSB panel is estimated to cover the top and bottom beams 2 and 3, which will be fixed to the bars 1 later.

    [0011] The first polystyrene strips 6 are inserted into the each groove 7 at the top and bottom ends of the adjacent bars 1 and attached to the OSB panel 9 using metal clamps (Fig. 5).

    [0012] The first end of the unrolled OPP film 4 is fixed to the first polystyrene strip 6 inserted into the first end of the bar 1 using clamps 8; then OPP film 4 is unrolled over the entire length of the bars 1; stretched film is attached to the second polystyrene strip 6 located in grooves 7 on the opposite ends 7 of the adjacent bars 1 using clamps 8 (Fig. 6).

    [0013] Yet other polystyrene strips 6 are inserted into each groove 7 at the opposite ends of the adjacent bars 1 on top of previously unrolled and stretched OPP film 4; both strips are attached to the first polystyrene strips 6 with metal clamps (Fig. 7).

    [0014] The OPP film 4 is rolled to the opposite end of the bars 1 thus covering both of previously attached and fixed polystyrene strips 6 (Fig. 8).

    [0015] Yet other polystyrene strips 6 are inserted into each groove 7 of the adjacent bars 1 on the opposite sides; both strips are attached to the previously installed polystyrene strips 6 with metal clamps (Fig. 9).

    [0016] The OPP film 4 is rolled to the opposite end of the bars 1 by covering both of the previously attached and fixed polystyrene strips 6 (Fig. 10).

    [0017] The process is repeated until the entire cavity between the adjacent bars 1 is filled with OPP films 4 (Fig. 11). When the width of the bars is 300 mm, the optimum amount of OPP films is 20-24 units.

    [0018] The process is repeated until all cavities between the adjacent bars 1 are packed with OPP films 4 (Fig. 12). The excess film 4 is cut along the sides of polystyrene strips 6 (Fig. 13).

    [0019] Then beams 2 and 3 are fixed to the top and bottom ends of the bars 1 (Fig. 14).

    [0020] Finally, the frame filled with OPP films 4, is covered with the second OSB sheet 9 (the inner side of which is coated with vapour barrier 10); this results in the final wall element depicted in Fig. 15.

    [0021] As shown in Fig. 3, which is a cross-sectional view through the line A-A of Fig. 2, the thermal insulation layer of the wall element contains plurality of air chambers 5, which are formed by unrolling the OPP film multiple times up and down over the entire length and width of vertical bars 1, maintaining 10-15 mm gaps between the adjacent OPP films 4. The thermal insulation assessment performed in the laboratory showed that the calculated value of heat transfer coefficient U of such structural wall element is 0.10-0.14 W/(m2K), depending on used films 4 as well as number of air chambers 5 inside the wall element.


    Claims

    1. A wall element consisting of plurality of vertical bars (1) arranged in a single line with gaps between them, closed from both sides with oriented strand boards (OSB) (9) coated with vapour barrier film (10) on the inner surface, where gaps between the vertical bars and OSB sheets are packed with thermal insulation, characterized in that the thermal insulation is made of continuous oriented metallized polypropylene (OPP) film (4), which is rolled up and down multiple times through the entire height and width of the bars (1) by maintaining a 10-15 mm gap between the adjacent metallized OPP films (4) thus forming a plurality of thermal insulating chambers (5), where the gaps between the adjacent metallized OPP films (4) are formed by polystyrene strips (6) of 10-15 mm in width and 30-40 mm in height, which are interconnected and fixed at the top and bottom of the bars (1).
     
    2. The wall element according to claim 1, characterized in that the polystyrene strips (6) are inserted into grooves (7) between the adjacent bars (1) and are connected to each other with their external surfaces with metal clamps (8).
     


    Ansprüche

    1. Wandelement bestehend aus einer Vielzahl von senkrechten Stäben (1), die in einer einzigen Reihe mit Zwischenräumen dazwischen angeordnet sind und von beiden Seiten mit Oriented Strand Boards (OSB) (9) geschlossen sind, die auf der Innenoberfläche mit Dampfsperrfolie (10) beschichtet sind, wobei Zwischenräume zwischen den vertikalen Stäben und OSB-Platten mit Wärmedämmung gefüllt sind, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Wärmedämmung aus kontinuierlicher orientierter metallisierter Polypropylenfolie (OPP) (4) gefertigt ist, die über die gesamte Höhe und Breite der Stäbe (1) durch Aufrechterhalten eines Abstands von 10 bis 15 mm zwischen den benachbarten metallisierten OPP-Folien (4) mehrfach auf- und abgerollt wird, wodurch eine Vielzahl von wärmeisolierenden Kammern (5) gebildet wird, wobei die Zwischenräume zwischen den benachbarten metallisierten OPP-Folien (4) durch Polystyrolstreifen (6) von 10 bis 15 mm Breite und 30 bis 40 mm Höhe gebildet werden, die miteinander verbunden und an der Ober- und Unterseite an den Stäben (1) befestigt sind.
     
    2. Wandelement nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Polystyrolstreifen (6) in Rillen (7) zwischen den benachbarten Stäben (1) eingefügt und mit ihren Außenoberflächen mit Metallklammern (8) miteinander verbunden sind.
     


    Revendications

    1. Élément mural consistant en une pluralité de barres verticales (1) agencées en une seule ligne avec des espaces entre elles, fermées des deux côtés avec des panneaux à copeaux orientés (OSB) (9) recouverts d'un film pare-vapeur (10) sur la surface intérieure, où des espaces entre les barres verticales et des feuilles OSB sont comblés par une isolation thermique, caractérisé en ce que l'isolation thermique est constituée d'un film continu orienté de polypropylène métallisé (OPP) (4), lequel est roulé vers le haut et vers le bas plusieurs fois sur toute la hauteur et la largeur des barres (1) en maintenant un espace de 10 à 15 mm entre les films OPP métallisés (4) adjacents, formant ainsi une pluralité de chambres d'isolation thermique (5), où les espaces entre les films OPP métallisés (4) adjacents sont formés par des bandes de polystyrène (6) de 10 à 15 mm de largeur et de 30 à 40 mm de hauteur, lesquelles sont interconnectées et fixées sur le haut et sur le bas des barres (1).
     
    2. Élément mural selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que les bandes de polystyrène (6) sont insérées dans des rainures (7) entre les barres adjacentes (1) et sont reliées entre elles par leurs surfaces extérieures à l'aide de fixations métalliques (8).
     




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    Cited references

    REFERENCES CITED IN THE DESCRIPTION



    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.

    Patent documents cited in the description