AU2010224470A1

AU2010224470A1 - A wall assembly

Info

Publication number: AU2010224470A1
Application number: AU2010224470A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Chris Vassallo
Original assignee: LUMP SCULPTURE STUDIO Pty Ltd
Current assignee: LUMP SCULPTURE STUDIO Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2009-10-01
Filing date: 2010-09-29
Publication date: 2011-04-21

Description

P/00/0 11 Regulation 32 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: A wall assembly The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 2 A wall assembly Field of the invention The invention relates to wall assemblies and panel members for forming them. Such an assembly may be used as external cladding for buildings or other structures, or may be 5 used internally, and is not limited in its use, which may extend to internal or external screening. Background of the invention Wall cladding systems are known and are often constructed from a plurality of sheets of material, such as metal, that are abutted against one another and fixed to the wall or 10 supporting structure with fasteners such as rivets. Other systems have been developed that have complicated interlocking elements to ensure it meets the weather requirements for external cladding to protect the internal structure. Such cladding systems are usually quite industrial looking and provide little aesthetic appeal or flexibility. 15 It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an alternative wall assembly that has improved aesthetic appeal and can provide flexibility to be adapted to internal or external uses. Reference to any prior art in the specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this prior art forms part of the common 20 general knowledge in Australia or any other jurisdiction or that this prior art could reasonably be expected to be ascertained, understood and regarded as relevant by a person skilled in the art. 6310021_i.DOC 3 Summary of the invention According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a longitudinal panel member having a crimped surface with crests and troughs alternating along the length and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced notches between said crests and troughs in 5 upper and/or lower edges to engage with corresponding notches on adjacent panel members, whereby a plurality of panel members may be positioned one above the other to create a wall assembly, whereby the crests and troughs alternate with each panel member along the height of the wall assembly such that corresponding notches interconnect at overlapping sections of the adjacent panel members. 10 According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a wall assembly, including a plurality of longitudinal panel members positioned adjacent one another, said panel members having a crimped surface with crests and troughs alternating along the length and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced notches between said crests and troughs in upper and/or lower edges, whereby panel members are positioned such that adjacent 15 panel members have alternating crests and troughs and the notches of adjacent panel members interconnect at overlapping sections of adjacent panel members. The longitudinal panel members may be positioned either vertically or horizontally, i.e. side by side or one above the other, to form the wall assembly. The longitudinal panel members may have a uniform width between the upper and 20 lower edges. Alternatively, the upper and lower edges may be undulating, such that the width of the panel is greater at the crests than at the troughs. In the latter circumstance, there is preferably provided two different types of panel members, a first that has ends which finish at the narrower troughs and a second that has ends which finish at the wider crests. This allows the thinner ended panel members to be alternated with the 25 wider ended panel members, so that in front view the ends of the wall cladding assembly are even. The longitudinal panel members are preferably laser cut from a flat sheet of material, such as metal, plastic, timber, alloys etc and are then bent or curved, by pressing or forming, at the crests and troughs to create the crimped surface. The crests and troughs 30 could be described as pleats, whereby they could be pressed pleats, with a sharp 6310021_.DOC 4 crease, or unpressed pleats, with a rounded fold to create more of a wave-like surface. When bent, the troughs and crests are preferably bent at a 450 angle, however it will be appreciated that other angles may be appropriate, and would typically be in the range of 50 to 600. 5 The notches are preferably laser cut into the upper and/or lower edges of the panel members. Typically both the upper and lower edges would include notches, however it will be appreciated that the uppermost and lowermost panels may not include notches on one edge to provide a more visually appealing form. The notches are preferably located at the mid point between the troughs and crests. 10 The notches may be a simple rectangular cut-out section. In a preferred embodiment, the notches are shaped to include tongue portions that are able to flex. This allows adjacent panels members to interconnect more easily without having to exactly line up the corresponding notches, as required with inflexible rectangular cut-outs. According to a third embodiment, the present invention provides a kit for a wall 15 assembly, including a plurality of longitudinal panel members according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The wall assembly may be attached to a supporting structure. The supporting structure may be a building wall, or a free standing wall or frame. The panel members may be flexible, such that they can bend to create curved walls. Additionally, the panel 20 members may be flexible enough to form a circle, thus forming a self supporting wall assembly. Brief description of the drawings / figures The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 25 Figure 1 is a front view of a flattened panel, prior to folding, according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is plan, front and side views of the panel of Figure 1, after folding; 6310021_.DOC 5 Figure 3 is front and side views of a panel similar to Figure 2, with wide end pieces; Figure 4 is a close-up front view of the section W shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 is an isometric view of the panel of Figure 2; Figure 6 is a perspective view of an assembled wall utilising a plurality of panels as 5 shown in Figures 2 and 3; Figure 7 is a front view of a flattened panel, prior to folding, according to a second embodiment of the present invention; Figure 8 is plan, front and side views of the panel of Figure 7, after folding; Figure 9 is a close-up front view of the section X shown in Figure 7; 10 Figure 10 is an isometric view of the panel of Figure 8; Figure 11 is a perspective view of an assembled wall utilising a plurality of panels as shown in Figure 7; Figure 12 is a front view of a flattened panel, prior to folding, according to a third embodiment of the present invention; 15 Figure 13 is plan, front and side views of the panel of Figure 12, after folding; Figure 14 is front and side views of a panel similar to Figure 13, with wide end pieces; Figure 15 is a close-up front view of the section Y shown in Figure 12; Figure 16 is an isometric view of the panel of Figure 13; Figure 17 is a perspective view of an assembled wall utilising a plurality of panels as 20 shown in Figure 14; 6310021_1.DOC 6 Figure 18 is a front view of a flattened panel, prior to folding, according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; Figure 19 is plan, front and side views of the panel of Figure 18, after folding; Figure 20 is a close-up front view of the section Z shown in Figure 18; 5 Figure 21 is an isometric view of the panel of Figure 19; Figure 22 is a perspective view of an assembled wall utilising a plurality of panels as shown in Figure 19; and Figure 23 is a top perspective view of the assembled wall shown in Figure 22. Detailed description of the embodiments 10 Four different embodiments are illustrated in the attached Figures. Figures 1 to 6 and 12 to 17 show embodiments with panel member with wave-like edges, whilst Figures 7 to 11 and 18 to 23 show embodiments with panel members with straight edges. Like reference numerals will be used to described each of the embodiments. It will be appreciated that while dimensions are given for description purposes, the invention is in 15 no way limited in this regard. A wall assembly 10, shown in Figures 6, 11, 17 and 22, is constructed from a plurality of longitudinal panel members 12, 14, which are positioned on top of each other alternating up the height of the wall assembly 10. It will be appreciated that the longitudinal panel members 12, 14 may be placed side by side to create the wall 20 assembly 10. In the straight edged embodiment shown in Figures 11 and 22, panel members 12 and 14 are identical, with widths h=100mm and h'=200mm. However, in the wave-like edged embodiment shown in Figures 6 and 17, panel members 12 and 14 have upper and lower edges 30, 32 that are undulating, such that the width of the panel e, e' differs to the width of the panel f, f'. The two panels 12 and 14 also differ in the way 25 the ends are finished. Panel members 12 finish in narrower width f, f, as shown in Figure 2, whilst panel members 14 finish in wider width e, e', as shown in Figure 3. In the embodiment illustrated e=100mm, e'=200mm, f=65mm, f=130mm. The difference in 6310021_DOC 7 the alternating panel members means that when viewed from the front, the end edges create a straight vertical line, which can best be seen in Figure 6. However, the same shaped panel members 14 could be used to construct the entire wall assembly 10, as shown in Figure 17, or with the ends of the panel members being staggered. The 5 flexibility of the shape of the panel members 12, 14 means that they can be assembled in a number of different ways using any desired number of panel members to create a wall assembly 10. For example, the panel members could be continually staggered to create a diagonal wall assembly (not shown) that could be used as cladding or a screen by attaching to a supporting structure. 10 Each of the panel members 12, 14 have a crimped surface 16 with crests 18 and troughs 20 alternating along the length of the longitudinal panel members 12, 14. As shown in Figures 1, 7, 12 and 18, the panel members 12, 14 are constructed from flat plates of metal, typically of thickness around 1.6mm, and which is generally laser cut to shape and length, being designated by L (L1, L2, L3 and L4, respectively). Figures 2, 8, 15 13 and 19 show that the flat plates are bent at evenly spaced points backward and forward at approximately 450 to create the crests 18 and troughs 20 and shortening the overall length of the panel members from L to 1 (11, 12, 13 and 14, respectively). The crimped surface is created by pressing, folding or bending the panel members after cutting. The bends in the embodiments illustrated are located at distances a=100mm, 20 a'=200mm, k=100mm and k'=200mm. The bends 19, 21 that create the crests 18 and troughs 20, respectively, result in the thickness of the panel members being g=40mm, g'=78mm, j=40mm, j'=78mm. Each panel member 12, 14 has a plurality of notches 34 cut into the upper and lower edges 30, 32 and being longitudinally spaced along the length of the panel members 25 between the crests 18 and the troughs 20. When panel members are placed on top of each other they are positioned so that the crests 18 and troughs 20 alternate. This is best shown in Figure 23, which shows that a gap 50 is created between alternating panel members. Adjacent panel members interconnect by the plurality of corresponding notches 34 slotting into each other at the overlapping sections of the panel members. 30 This is best shown in Figures 17, 22 and 23. 6310021_1.DOC 8 Whilst the notches 34 could be any shape, such as rectangular cut outs, the embodiment illustrated is optimal as it allows some flexibility in positioning the panel members without requiring them to be in the exact position and orientation before being able to interlock with the adjacent notches. Each notch 34 has a base 36 with two side 5 walls. The side walls are created with cut outs 38 near the base 36 and cut outs 40, 42 near the opening 39 to form tongues 44, 46. The upper 40, 42 and base 38 cut outs allow the tongues 44, 46 to flex when adjacent panel members 12, 14 are being slotted together. As can be seen in Figure 9, when the panels 12 have straights edges 30, 32 the two upper cut outs are the same diagonal cut 40. Whereas, when the edges 30, 32 10 are wave-like, as in Figure 4, the lower upper cut out 40 is diagonal, while the higher upper cut out 42 has a vertical slice before the diagonal cut such that the size of the two opposing tongues 44, 46 are the same. The shape and construction of the panel members provide an effective and flexible way to create a wall assembly that is easy to assemble, can be produced in various sizes 15 and is visually appealing. The construction of the wall assembly using a plurality of panel members allows creativity by the user, where different colours and textures of panels such as plastics, metal, alloys and timber can be used together to create visually different wall assemblies. It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification 20 extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention. 6310021_.DOC

Claims

1. A longitudinal panel member having a crimped surface with crests and troughs alternating along the length and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced notches between said crests and troughs in upper and/or lower edges to engage with 5 corresponding notches on adjacent panel members, whereby a plurality of panel members may be positioned one above the other to create a wall assembly, whereby the crests and troughs alternate with each panel member along the height of the wall assembly such that corresponding notches interconnect at overlapping sections of the adjacent panel members. 10

2. A longitudinal member according to claim 1 having a uniform width between the upper and lower edges.

3. A longitudinal member according to claim 1, wherein the upper and lower edges are undulating, such that the width of the panel is greater at the crests than at the troughs. 15

4. A longitudinal member according to claim 1, 2 or 3, being laser cut from a flat sheet of material and are then being bent or curved, by pressing or forming, at the crests and troughs to create the crimped surface.

5. A longitudinal member according to claim 4, wherein the crests and troughs are pressed pleats, with a sharp crease. 20

6. A longitudinal member according to claim 5, wherein the troughs and crests are bent at an angle in the range of 5' to 60'.

7. A longitudinal member according to claim 6, wherein the troughs and crests are bent at a 450 angle.

8. A longitudinal member according to claim 4, wherein the crests and troughs are 25 unpressed pleats, with a rounded fold to create a wave-like surface. 6310021l.DOC 10

9. A longitudinal member according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the notches are laser cut into the upper and/or lower edges of the panel members.

10. A longitudinal member according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the notches are located at the mid point between the troughs and crests. 5

11. A longitudinal member according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the notches are shaped to include tongue portions that are able to flex.

12. A kit for a wall assembly, including a plurality of longitudinal panel members according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. A wall assembly, including a plurality of longitudinal panel members positioned 10 adjacent one another, said panel members having a crimped surface with crests and troughs alternating along the length and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced notches between said crests and troughs in upper and/or lower edges, whereby panel members are positioned such that adjacent panel members have alternating crests and troughs and the notches of adjacent panel members interconnect at overlapping 15 sections of adjacent panel members.

14. A wall assembly according to claim 13, wherein there is provided two different types of panel members, a first that has ends which finish at the narrower troughs and a second that has ends which finish at wider crests.

15. A wall assembly according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the wall assembly is 20 attachable to a supporting structure.

16. A wall assembly according to claim 15, wherein the support structure is a building wall, or a free standing wall or frame.

17. A wall assembly according to claim 13, wherein the panel members are flexible, such that they bend to create a curved wall. 25

18. A wall assembly according to claim 17, wherein the panel members are flexible enough to form a circle to form a self supporting wall assembly. 6310021_2.DOC