WO2008056386A1

WO2008056386A1 - Modular radiant panel with simplified installation

Info

Publication number: WO2008056386A1
Application number: PCT/IT2006/000788
Authority: WO
Inventors: Marco Reposo; Massimo De Monte; Paolo Lorenzini
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-11-10
Filing date: 2006-11-10
Publication date: 2008-05-15
Anticipated expiration: 2009-05-10

Abstract

The modular radiant panel (10) is intended to be associated with a building component of the curtain wall or finishing type, such as a suspended ceiling (36) , a wall lining or dry- flooring. It comprises: a fluid circuit allowing the flow of a diathermal fluid; a sheet metal box structure which delimits an internal cavity (12) and has a base wall (16) whose inner face is associated with the said fluid circuit and whose outer face is intended to come into contact with the building component; and thermal insulation material (34) which fills the portion of the internal cavity (12) left free by the fluid circuit .

Description

Modular radiant panel with simplified installation

The present invention relates to the field of modular radiant panels .

In more detailed terms, these panels are intended to be associated with building components of the curtain wall or finishing type, such as suspended ceilings, wall linings and dry flooring, to provide a thermal conditioning effect (heating and/or cooling) in the environment delimited by the aforesaid building components .

The object of the present invention is to provide a modular radiant panel which can be associated with a building component in a simple way, particularly without requiring the use of fixing means such as screws or adhesives, and which can provide high performance in terms of heat exchange .

According to the present invention, this object is achieved by means of a radiant panel having the characteristics recorded in Claim 1 below. Preferred characteristics of the present invention are recorded in the claims which depend on or refer to Claim 1.

The positioning of the tubes of the fluid circuit on the inner face of the base wall of the sheet metal box structure, which has a very high coefficient of thermal conduction because of its metallic nature, is such that the building component placed in contact with the outer face of this base wall is heated (or cooled) in a uniform way. This provides a mean temperature of the building component which is higher in the case of heating (or lower in the case of cooling) , thus increasing the efficacy of the heat exchange action and making it possible to reduce the number of panels required to obtain the desired thermal effect. In particular, if the panels according to the invention are associated with suspended ceilings, it has been found experimentally that it is sufficient to have a ratio of 1:0.6 between the total surface area and the radiant surface area, as opposed to the values of the order of 1:0.8 found for conventional panels .

The thermal properties of the panels according to the invention are further improved by using a material with a high thermal conductivity, such as copper, for making the tubes of the fluid circuit, and a material with a very low thermal conductivity (of about 0.021 W/m*K) , such as expanded polyurethane, for the insulation.

Typically, the fluid circuit is formed by a delivery manifold, a return manifold and one or more radiant tubes connecting the delivery manifold to the return manifold. The manifolds are preferably connected to the radiant tubes by welding, to ensure the continuity of the fluid circuit. Additionally, all the tubes are advantageously integrated in the panel, with the exception of the two ends of both the delivery manifold and the return manifold, which project outside the box structure.

The dimensions of the panel can be selected substantially at will, and particularly in such a way as to permit its insertion into the spaces left free by the steel beams which typically form the supporting frame of suspended ceilings and wall linings. Advantageously, brackets can be used to secure the projecting ends of the manifolds to the beams of the frame, to avoid the use of more complicated fixing methods requiring the use of screws or adhesives. Because of this and the integrated modular structure of the panel according to the invention, its installation is greatly simplified, yielding considerable savings in terms of time and cost. A single panel according to the invention typically contains from one to four radiant tubes, which are positioned in parallel between the delivery and return manifolds. The parallel connection makes it possible to have substantially the same head in the different radiant tubes. If necessary, a panel according to the invention can be connected to another panel to provide the requisite radiant surface area. Advantageously, this connection is made by means of quick- release connectors which join the projecting ends of the corresponding manifolds. Thus the radiant tubes of different panels are also in parallel with each other in hydraulic terms, thus ensuring a constant head. This constancy is maintained independently of the number of panels connected in parallel to each other, and therefore the panels can be described as "self-balancing" .

Further advantages and characteristics of the present invention will be made clear by the following detailed description, provided by way of example and without restrictive intent, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the principal components of a panel according to the invention,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the panel according to the invention,

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view of part of the panel according to the invention,

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the fluid circuit of the panel according to the invention,

Figure 5 is a schematic perspective view of four panels according to the invention mounted on a frame of steel beams for supporting a suspended ceiling, and

Figure 6 is a perspective view, of a detail of the assembly of one of the panels of Figure 5 to a beam of the suspended ceiling support frame. A modular radiant panel 10 of substantially rectangular shape comprises (Figs. 1-4) a sheet metal box structure which delimits an inner cavity 12 and which is formed by a base element 14 having a base wall 16 and side walls 18 which project transversely from the base wall 16, and a panel 20 which acts as a cover to seal the base element 14. The sheet metal of the base element 14 can be, for example, aluminium, which has a coefficient of thermal conductivity of the order of 200 w/m*K, in other words about four times greater than that of steel. On the other hand, the sheet metal of the panel 20 advantageously has a lower coefficient of thermal conductivity. Advantageously, the base element 14 can be made from a single panel of sheet metal by mechanical cutting and bending operations. The panel 20 is ' attached to the base element 14 when the internal components, described below, have been placed in the cavity 12.

A fluid circuit for the flow of a diathermal fluid, typically water, is positioned on the inner face of the base wall 16.

The fluid circuit is formed by a delivery manifold 24, a return manifold 26 and a plurality of radiant tubes 28 connecting the delivery manifold 24 to the return manifold 26.

Each of the manifolds 24 and 26 is positioned in a different one of two edge areas adjacent to two opposite sides of the perimeter of the panel 10, with their ends 30 projecting outside the box structure. The tubes 24, 26 are connected by four radiant tubes 28 of zigzag configuration, which are positioned in parallel hydraulically. The radiant tubes 28 are advantageously connected to the manifolds 24, 26 by welding. The tubes 24, 26, 28, which are preferably made of copper, are fixed to the base wall 16, using adhesive metal strip 32. The portion of the internal cavity 12 left free by the fluid circuit is substantially filled with thermally insulating material 34, preferably expanded polyurethane . The material 34 can be injected into the cavity 12, and there is no need for the metal surfaces coming into contact with it to be smooth or to have undergone any special treatment.

Figures 5 and 6 show a possible way of associating a plurality of panels 10 according to the invention with a finishing building component such as a suspended ceiling 36, formed for example from a plurality of juxtaposed plasterboard panels. The suspended ceiling 36 is supported by a frame formed by a first set of beams 38 positioned at intervals and parallel to each other, and a second set of beams 40, also at intervals and parallel to each other and positioned orthogonally with respect to the beams 38 of the first set. The radiant panels 10 are installed in the free spaces between the beams 38 of the first set.

The projecting ends 30 of the manifolds 24, 26 of each panel 10 are connected by quick-release connectors 42 to the identical projecting ends of another adjacent panel (not shown in Figure 6 for reasons of clarity) without requiring any lengthy and costly installation work. The projecting end 30 also acts as an attachment point for an end part 44 of a bracket 46, whose opposite end part 48 engages with one of the beams 38. The panels 10 can thus be associated simply and rapidly with the suspended ceiling 36, without requiring the use of means such as screws or adhesive.

The outer face of the base wall 16 is in contact with the suspended ceiling 36, so as to allow efficient heat exchange by conduction with the latter, which in turn exchanges heat energy with the environment to be conditioned according to the desired heating or cooling action. For its part, the insulating material 34 limits the possibility of heat exchange between the panel 10 and other elements of the suspended ceiling 36, thus increasing the overall efficiency of the heat exchange process.

Clearly, provided that the principle of the invention is retained, the details of construction and the forms of embodiment can be altered considerably from the description which is provided purely by way of example, without departure from the scope of the invention as defined in the attached claims. In particular, a panel according to the invention can comprise any number of radiant tubes 28 positioned in parallel between the manifolds 24 and 26, although in practice this number is typically in -the range from one to four.

Claims

1. Modular radiant panel (10) to be associated with a building component of the curtain wall or finishing type, such as a suspended ceiling (36) , a wall lining or dry flooring, comprising:

- a fluid circuit allowing the flow of a diathermal fluid;

- a sheet metal box structure which delimits an internal cavity (12) and has a base wall (16) whose inner face is associated with the said fluid circuit and whose outer face is intended to come into contact with the said building component; and

- thermal insulation material (34) which substantially fills the portion of the internal cavity (12) left free by the said fluid circuit.

2. Panel (10) according to Claim 1, in which the said box structure is formed by a base element (14) having the said base wall (16) and side walls (18) projecting transversely from the said base wall (16) , and by a panel (20) which acts as a cover to seal the said base element (14) .

3. Panel (10) according to Claim 1 or 2, in which the said fluid circuit is formed by a delivery manifold (24) , a return manifold (26) and at least one radiant tube (28) connecting the delivery manifold (24) to the return manifold (26) .

4. Panel (10) according to Claim 3, in which the ends (30) of both the delivery manifold (24) and the return manifold (26) project outside the said box structure.

5. Panel (10) according to Claim 3 or 4, in which the number of the said radiant tubes (28). is in the range from one to four, and the tubes are positioned so as to connect the delivery (24) and return (26) manifolds in parallel.

6. Panel (10) according to any one of the preceding Claims 3 to 5, in which the said tubes (24, 26, 28) are made to adhere to the said base wall ■ (16) by means of an adhesive metallic strip (32) .

7. Panel (10) according to any one of Claims 3 to 6, in which the radiant tubes (28) have a zigzag configuration.

8. Panel (10) according to any one of Claims 3 to 7, in which the said tubes (24, 26, 28) are made of copper.

9. Panel (10) according to any one_, of Claims 3 to 8, in which the said radiant tubes (28) are connected to the manifolds (24, 26) by welding.

10. Panel (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the said sheet metal box structure is made of aluminium.

11. Panel (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the said thermal insulation material (34) is expanded polyurethane .

12. Panel (10) according to any one of Claims 3 to 11, having a substantially rectangular shape with each of the manifolds (24, 26) positioned in a different one of the edge areas adjacent to two opposite sides of the perimeter of the panel (10) .

13. Use of a modular radiant panel (10) according to any one of the preceding claims in association with a building component of the curtain wall or finishing type, such as a suspended ceiling (36) , a wall lining or dry flooring, in which the outer face of the base wall (16) of the said panel (10) is in contact with the said building component.