HK1120847B

HK1120847B - Building panel and building structure

Info

Publication number: HK1120847B
Application number: HK08112044.3A
Authority: HK
Inventors: Frederick Morello
Original assignee: M.I.C. Industries, Inc.
Priority date: 2004-10-15
Filing date: 2005-10-14
Publication date: 2011-06-03

Description

Building panel and building structure

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a novel building panel and building structure comprising a plurality of interconnected panels. The present invention also relates to a novel method of bending building panels without wrinkling.

Background

In conventional construction, the building is constructed from a combination of columns or rods and beams, which are then covered by laminate sheets or some kind of metal or plastic sheeting. In an effort to reduce construction time and cost, contractors often construct buildings, and particularly the exterior walls of buildings, from prefabricated building panels. Constructing a building from such wall panels increases the productivity of the construction and reduces costs, as the entire wall is manufactured at the site of construction, it can be quickly assembled and the building erected.

These prefabricated wall panels are typically made of sheet steel metal and are configured to conform to the desired shape of the building. However, the flexibility and strength properties of sheet metal combine to limit the shape of buildings that can be built quickly. The common shape is an arcuate shaped building 10, such as that shown in FIG. 1, which includes a plurality of interconnected arcuate shaped wall panels. The wall panels are interconnected by placing them adjacent to each other and forming a sealed joint where the edges of the wall panels overlap.

In addition to constructing curved buildings, the wall panels may be used to construct both gable buildings 20 as well as double radius buildings 20, such as those shown in fig. 2 and 3, respectively. Although not shown, the interconnected wall panels may also be used to construct a straight sided building or a portion thereof. Regardless of whether the building has a curved or straight profile, the cross-section of the wall panels used to construct such buildings is generally similar.

The size of such self-supporting buildings made of steel or other materials is limited due to the ability of the building material to resist the forces acting on it when the material is formed into building panels and combined with other building panels to form the building. Wind, snow, live and static loads create internal stresses in each building panel that cannot exceed the capabilities of the panel. Each of these internal stresses has components including axial positive bending, negative bending, and shear. In the manufacture of larger buildings, external forces cause greater stresses with axial, bending and shear components. For example, as more snow accumulates on the roof of a building, the wind must act on a larger cross-sectional surface area, since the area of snow exposed to the wind increases the area of the building exposed to the wind. In addition, the static load due to the weight of the wallboard itself increases as the length of the wallboard increases. In order to allow the construction of larger self-supporting structures, it is therefore desirable to increase the ability of each panel to resist axial, positive, negative and shear stresses.

The common panel cross-section 100 of the prior art building panel shown in fig. 4 typically has a lower ability to resist negative bending moments (i.e., moments used to cause the panel to bend in a concave direction) as compared to positive bending moments (i.e., moments used to cause the panel to bend in a convex direction). The magnitude of the bending moment is a function of the magnitude of the forces acting on the building panels and the distance between the locations where these forces are applied. Thus, as the force magnitude and distance between the locations where the force is applied increases, the bending moment also increases.

Figure 4 shows a cross-section of a known building panel commonly used to construct such buildings. A typical prior art building panel 100 includes a central portion 102 and two inclined side wall portions 104, 106 extending from opposite ends of the central portion 102. The central portion 102 is straight and, to increase the rigidity of the portion, it may include a conventional notched portion or bead 116. Although the central portion 102 may include a notched reinforcement or stiffener 116 and thus is considered to include two sub-central portions, typical prior art building panels have a substantially continuous or continuous straight central portion 102, although notched portions or stiffeners 116 are included. Although such features are not shown, the inclined side wall portions 104, 106 may also include indentations to strengthen these portions of the building panel.

With continued reference to fig. 4, the building panel 100 further includes two wing portions 108, 110 extending from the inclined side wall portions 104, 106, respectively. The wing portions 108, 110 are generally parallel to the central portion 102 and are shown with optional notch reinforcement. A hook portion 114 extends from one wing portion 110 and a complementary hem portion 112 extends from the other wing portion 108.

The lack of sufficient longitudinal reinforcement in the central portion 102 results in poor resistance to localized wrinkling; thus, the resistance to negative bending is reduced.

In addition to these drawbacks, typical construction methods of building panels formed using corrugation (corrugation) and building constructed using prior art building panels allow for bending in the longitudinal direction. The corrugations further weaken the ability of the wallboard to resist axial compression and negative bending moments.

Object of the Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved building panel having increased resistance to positive and negative bending moments.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved building panel having an increased moment of inertia of the panel cross-section without significantly affecting the width.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved building panel which has a high resistance to localized wrinkling within the panel.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved building panel which can be bent in the longitudinal direction without wrinkling.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved building panel which allows the size of a building constructed from interconnected building panels to be increased.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is an improved building panel with increased resistance to positive and negative bending moments and localized wrinkling. In addition, the moment of inertia of the cross section is improved without significantly reducing the ratio of finished wallboard width to raw material width. This cross-section is also suitable for a unique method of bending wallboard longitudinally without wrinkling.

The improved building panel features a novel central section comprising a generally radial pattern of alternating segments that project inwardly and outwardly from the nominal radius of the building material. The combination of inwardly and outwardly located sections forms a longitudinal stiffener that resists localized buckling and improves the strength of the central portion of the wallboard. The central section transitions via a radius to a pair of complementary wing portions on either side. The wing portions include elements adapted to join the wall panels side-by-side, typically by a continuous seam.

These improved building panels can be used to construct buildings or portions of buildings when multiple panels are joined or joined side-by-side. Buildings with different shapes can be constructed when the wall panels are bent longitudinally before the seams. The combination of the improved stiffness characteristics of the cross-section and the ability of the wallboard to bend without buckling allows the construction of larger buildings without increasing the thickness or yield strength of the building material.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional end view of a prior art curved building constructed from a plurality of building panels;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional end view of a prior art peaked building constructed from a plurality of building panels;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional end view of a prior art double radius building constructed from a plurality of building panels;

FIG. 4 is an example of a prior art building panel;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of an improved building panel incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a front view of an embodiment of an improved building panel incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a connection between wall panels;

figure 7 is a sectional view of a second embodiment of an improved building panel incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a peaked building constructed of wall panels;

FIG. 9 is a circular building constructed from wall panels;

figure 10 is a double radius building constructed from wall panels.

Detailed Description

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 5 shows a modified building panel 200 formed from a single roll of ASTM A-653 steel plate having dimensions from about 24 (gauge) to 16 (gauge). Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that metal gauge is an industry standard. The wallboard of the present invention may be made of any type of steel, galvalume board, zinalume board, aluminum, or any other building material suitable for construction. The building panels 200 may be formed of other thicknesses and other sheet construction materials, so long as they have the desired engineering properties.

The improved wall panel 200 is characterized by a central portion having segments positioned alternately inwardly and outwardly in a generally radial pattern. For reference purposes, inward refers to closer to the geometric center of the cross-section, and outward refers to farther from the geometric center of the cross-section. Longitudinal ribs that form a reinforced wallboard without locally wrinkling the combination of the inner sections 202, 204, 206, 208, and 210 and the outer sections 212, 214, 216, and 218. The longitudinal ribs are clearly shown in the front view shown in fig. 5A. The preferred embodiment shown in fig. 5 includes five inward segments and four outward segments, but other embodiments of the improved building panel may include different combinations. For example, four inward segments and five outward segments may be used, and such a configuration would increase the ability to resist positive bending moments relative to the embodiment shown in FIG. 5. In contrast, the same building panel having four inward segments and five outward segments has a reduced ability to resist negative bending moments relative to the embodiment shown in fig. 5. Other combinations of sizes and numbers of ribs can be used for this panel, resulting in similar improvements in structural quality.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the alternating segments comprise straight central subsections. Alternatively, the segments may comprise radially curved central subsections, as shown in FIG. 7. In particular, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the inner segments 402, 404, 406, 408, and 410 and the outer segments 412, 414, 416, and 418 comprise arcuate segments. In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, the length of the individual alternating segments may vary. In particular, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the inward segments 402, 404, 406, 408, and 410 each have a length greater than each of the outward segments 412, 414, 416, and 418.

Referring again to fig. 5, the radii 220 and 222 serve as transition sections with respective complementary wing portions 224 and 226 on either side of the central portion of the building panel 200. Wing portion 226 includes a hook 230 and wing portion 224 includes a bead 228 designed to easily and securely engage the wall panels side-by-side.

Fig. 6 shows an embodiment of the joint of two building panels 200 joined at a hook 230 and a bead 228 by a continuous seam. In the embodiment shown in fig. 6, the seaming process includes crimping the end of hook 230 onto bead 228 to provide a secure seam. Other configurations may be used to join the panels, such as different types of seams, joints, fasteners, or snap-together joints, any of which may be used in the improved building panels of the present invention.

The improved building panel shown in the embodiment of fig. 5 and 6 can be used to construct buildings having different shapes, including pinnacle buildings (fig. 8), round buildings (fig. 9), and double radius buildings (fig. 10). In the building embodiment shown in fig. 8-10, curved wall panels are used to form the roof sections and straight wall panels are used to construct the flat end walls. Other shapes may be configured, for example, "leaning" onto a building and other combinations of curved and straight portions having different radii to form a building structure.

The curved roof panels may be formed without corrugations by using a novel bending method that is particularly suited for modifying the cross-section of the building panels 200. The bending is achieved by novel measures. In the novel bending method, the radius of curvature is about the lower half of the wallboard panel, i.e., the portion without the seam edge. In embodiments of building panels formed by the novel bending method of the present invention, the radius of curvature may range from infinite (straight line) to a minimum of six feet. In the novel bending method applicable to the improved building panel of the present invention, the overall depth of the shape determines the actual radius of curvature limit. Various embodiments of the bending device include a combination of "forced and controlled buckling" and stretching as well as "forced and controlled buckling" alone.

Claims

1. A building panel formed from a sheet of building material, the building panel comprising:

a curved central portion having a curved shape in cross section, the curved central portion including a plurality of reinforcing bars formed in the sheet of building material, the reinforcing bars being oriented longitudinally along the length of the building panel and being located in the region of the curved shape, the reinforcing bars projecting in cross section relative to the curved shape;

a pair of side portions extending from the curved central portion, the curved central portion being located between the side portions; and

a pair of complementary wing portions extending from the side portions, each side portion being located between the curved central portion and one of the complementary wing portions;

the building panel is curved longitudinally along the length of the building panel without lateral corrugations therein;

said curved central portion being concave in cross section from a perspective between said side portions;

each of said side portions being convex in cross-section from a perspective between said side portions;

one of the ribs is located midway between the side portions along the curved shape of the curved central portion.

2. The building panel of claim 1, wherein said building material comprises sheet metal.

3. The building panel of claim 1, wherein at least one of said ribs projects in cross section outwardly from said sheet of building material from a perspective between said side portions.

4. The building panel of claim 1, wherein at least one of said ribs projects in cross section inwardly from said sheet of building material from a perspective between said side portions.

5. The building panel of claim 2, wherein the sheet metal has a thickness between 24 and 16 dimensions.

6. The building panel of claim 5, wherein the sheet metal has a thickness within 10% of the nominal thickness dimension.

7. The building panel of claim 1, wherein a width of one of said ribs differs in cross section from a distance between adjacent ribs.

8. A building panel formed from a sheet of building material, the building panel comprising:

a pair of side portions extending from the curved central portion, the curved central portion being located between the side portions;

a hook portion extending from a first of said complementary wing portions; and

a hem portion extending from a second of the complementary wing portions;

9. The building panel of claim 8, wherein said hook portion includes a complementary shape to said hem portion for joining said building panel to a second of said building panels.

10. The building panel of claim 8, wherein one of said ribs has a width in cross section that is different from the width of the other of said ribs in cross section.

11. The building panel of claim 8, wherein each of said ribs has an arcuate shape that is continuous in cross section.

12. The building panel of claim 11, wherein said arc has a radius of curvature between 10 feet and infinity.

13. The building panel of claim 8, wherein said reinforcing ribs comprise in cross-section:

a central rib portion; and

a pair of side rib portions.

14. The building panel of claim 13, wherein said central rib portion is straight.

15. A building structure comprising building panels formed from a sheet of building material, each said building panel comprising:

a hook portion extending from a first of said complementary wing portions; and

a hem portion extending from a second of the complementary wing portions;

each building panel is curved longitudinally along the length of the building panel without being corrugated transversely therein;

16. The building structure of claim 15 wherein each pair of adjacent building panels is joined by the hem portion of a first panel of said pair of panels joining the hook portion of a second panel of said pair of panels.

17. The building structure according to claim 15 wherein one of said ribs has a width in cross section that is different from the width in cross section of the other of said ribs.