Abstract
A mounting rail for mounting tiles to a backing system of a building wall structure comprises a tile support linked with a back-fixing rail via a tile-support carrier. The tile-support carrier comprises an acoustic damper between the tile support and the back-fixing rail. This impedes the transmission of acoustic energy from the tiles to the backing system, and so improves the acoustic insolation while the mechanical stiffness of the tile-support carrying arm is maintained. The acoustic damper may be provided in the form of one or more angled bends, apertures, an obtusely angled connection of the tile-support carrier to the back-fixing rail or a connection of the tile-support carrier at an upper or lower end of the back-fixing rail, or combinations of two or more of these features.
Claims
1. A mounting rail for mounting tiles to be provided to a backing system of a building wall structure, wherein the mounting rail comprises a tile support and a back-fixing rail, the tile support being linked to the back-fixing rail via a tile-support carrier, wherein the tile-support carrier comprises an acoustic damper between the tile support and the back-fixing rail.
2. The mounting rail according to claim 1, wherein the acoustic damper comprises an angled bend between the tile support and the back-fixing rail.
3. The mounting rail according to claim 1, wherein the tile-support carrier extends from the back-fixing rail at one of an acute angle and an obtuse angle.
4. The mounting rail according to claim 1, wherein the tile support is connected to the tile-support carrier at one of an acute angle and an obtuse angle.
5. The mounting rail according to claim 1, wherein the tile support extends from one of an upper end and a lower end of the back-fixing rail.
6. The mounting rail according to claim 1, comprising a tile-biasing element biasing a tile away from the backing system, wherein the tile-biasing element comprises an acoustic damper.
7. The mounting rail according to claim 6, wherein the acoustic damper comprises an angled bend on the tile-biasing element between a tile-contacting surface and the back-fixing rail.
8. The mounting rail according to claim 6, wherein the tile-biasing element is carried on the tile-support carrier spaced apart from a backing-system contacting plane of the back-fixing rail.
9. The mounting rail according to claim 1, wherein the acoustic damper comprises at least one aperture.
10. The mounting rail according to claim 9, comprising more than one aperture, and wherein the apertures are spaced apart in a longitudinal extension of the mounting rail.
11. The mounting rail according to claim 9, wherein the at least one aperture is constituted by a slot with an elongate extent in a longitudinal extension of the mounting rail.
12. The mounting rail according to claim 9, comprising more than one aperture, wherein the apertures are constituted by an array of slots arranged sequentially in a longitudinal extension of the mounting rail.
13. The mounting rail according to claim 9 further including a second aperture, wherein two adjacent apertures are spaced apart by a bridge distance less than a length of at least one of the two adjacent apertures.
14. The mounting rail according to claim 9 further including a second aperture, wherein two or more adjacent apertures have different shapes, the two or more adjacent apertures are arranged in a sequence of apertures, and the sequence of apertures is repeated along the longitudinal extent of the mounting rail.
15. The mounting rail according to claim 14, wherein alternating apertures have the same shape.
16-17. (canceled)
18. The mounting rail according to claim 9, comprising a plurality of rows of apertures, wherein the apertures of a first row are longitudinally offset from the apertures of a second row.
19. The mounting rail according to claim 1, wherein the mounting rail is formed from extruded metal.
20. The mounting rail according to claim 1, wherein the mounting rail is formed from sheet metal.
21. The mounting rail according to claim 1, wherein the mounting rail is formed from aluminium.
22. A walling structure comprising at least one mounting rail according to claim 1.
Description
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0058] Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the Figures, in which:
[0059] FIG. 1 shows a section of a prior art mounting rail;
[0060] FIG. 2 shows a section of a brick tile structure mounted to a backing system using the FIG. 1 mounting rail design;
[0061] FIG. 3 shows a schematic section of an embodiment;
[0062] FIG. 4 shows an isometric view of a variant of the FIG. 3 embodiment;
[0063] FIG. 5 shows a schematic section of another embodiment;
[0064] FIG. 6 shows an isometric view of the FIG. 5 embodiment;
[0065] FIG. 7 shows an isometric view of a variant of the FIG. 5 embodiment;
[0066] FIG. 8 shows an isometric view of a variant of the FIG. 5 embodiment;
[0067] FIG. 9 shows an isometric view of a variant of the FIG. 5 embodiment;
[0068] FIG. 10 shows an isometric view of a variant of the FIG. 5 embodiment; and
[0069] FIG. 11 shows a schematic section of another embodiment.
DESCRIPTION
[0070] FIG. 3 shows a cross section of a cladding rail 10a constituting a mounting rail of the invention. The cladding rail 10a is an extruded profile. The cladding rail 10a is to be mounted to a series of laterally spaced apart vertical mullions indicated in FIG. 3 by a back-fixing plane 120. Starting from the back-fixing plane 120, the cladding rail 10a comprises a back-fixing rail 15 with a mullion-facing flat, that, when mounted to a mullion, faces in the direction of the back-fixing plane 120. The back-fixing rail 15 comprises, in the reading orientation of FIG. 3, a top end 18 and a lower end 19. About half-way between the top end 18 and the lower end 19 there is indicated a groove 11b on the face opposite the mullion-facing flat. Fixtures such as screws (not shown in FIG. 3) may be mounted approximately at the level of the groove 11b.
[0071] From the back-fixing rail 15 extends towards the distal side (ie, towards the left in FIG. 3) a carrier arm 16. The carrier arm 16 constitutes a tile-carrier support. The carrier arm 16 extends from the lower end 19 and is inclined down at an obtuse angle (ie the included angle between the carrier arm 16 and the back-fixing rail 15 is obtuse). Moving along the carrier arm 16 in a distal direction, the carrier arm 16 comprises a Y-branch 20 from which two branches extend, one of the branches is an upward bend of the carrier arm 16 and the other branch is a down-facing tail 17. The description of the carrier arm 16 will follow first before turning to the tail 17. At the Y-branch 20 the carrier arm 16 bends upward from its downward incline so as to extend practically horizontally in the distal direction. The upward bend constitutes an angled bend. The Y-branch 20 thus separates the carrier arm 16 into a proximal arm portion 16a between the back-fixing rail 15 and the Y-branch 20, and a distal arm portion 16b extending distally from the Y-branch. The distal arm portion 16b is practically perpendicular to the plane of the back-fixing rail 15 and, thus, to the back-fixing plane 120 when mounted to a mullion.
[0072] At the distal (left in FIG. 3) end of the distal arm portion 16b, the carrier arm 16 carries an upper (upward-extending) lip 13 and a lower (downward-facing) lip 14. The upper lip 13 and lower lip 14 extend from the distal arm portion 16b at an approximately right angle so that the distal arm portion 16, the upper lip 13 and the lower lip 14 together provide a flanged section, or sideway “T” section (the “T” lying on its left side), and the side-ways T provides a tile support 12. The upper side of the distal arm portion 16b provides a horizontal seating surface for a first (upper) tile to be provided and the upper lip 14 can slot into a groove of the first tile to be provided.
[0073] Turning now to the tail 17 extending down from the Y-branch 20, the tail 17 extends generally downward (in the reading orientation of FIG. 3). The tail 17 comprises a bend 17c partway, about half of its length. Above the bend 17c, the tail 17 comprises an upper tail portion 17a between the Y-branch 20 and the bend 17c. Below the bend 17c, the tail 17 comprises a lower tail portion 17b. The tail 17 constitutes a tile-biasing element. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the tail is not connected straight to the back-fixing rail 15, but to the carrier arm 16 at the Y-branch 20. From the Y-branch 20, the upper tail portion 17a inclines towards the back-fixing plane 120, and the lower tail portion 17b is inclined away from the back-fixing plane such that the bend 17c is not in contact with the back-fixing plane 120. For instance, the bend 17c may be spaced from the back-fixing plane by about 1 mm. As such, the tail 17 is spaced apart from the plane of the mullion-facing side (ie the backing-system facing plane) of the back-fixing rail 15.
[0074] At its lower end, the lower tail portion 17b of the tail 17 comprises a back-folded lip 17d to provide a smooth contact line with a tile to be provided. An upper groove of a second tile may be slotted onto the lower lip 14 and is biased distally by the tail 17.
[0075] By way of the Y-branch 20, the obtusely angled connection of the carrier arm 16 to the back-fixing rail 15, and the connection at the lower end 19 rather than at the centre of the back-fixing rail 15, vibrations picked up at the tile support 12 are not transmitted directly to the back-fixing rail 15. Instead, the angled bends provided by the Y-branch 20 and by the obtusely angled connection at the lower end 19 prevent a straight sound path and therefore provide a de-coupling effect to allow sound energy (vibrations in the micrometre region) to dissipate. As such, the Y-branch 20, the angled connection and the connection at the lower end 19, each individually and in combination, constitute sound dampers of the invention. Furthermore, sound dampers are provided by the tail 17 constituting a tile-biasing element. The tail 17 is in contact with a tile to be provided, yet not connected straight to the back-fixing rail 15. As such, the proximal arm portion 16a is the only part immediately connected to the back-fixing rail 15. The tail 17 is spaced from the back-fixing plane 120 of the back-fixing rail 15. Also, the tail 17 comprises a bend 17c between the tile-contacting end and the Y-branch 20 providing an additional de-coupling. It will be understood that one or more of these features can be combined to optimise a sound-dampening effect for a particular cladding configuration.
[0076] FIG. 4 shows an isometric view of a cladding rail 10b that shares many features with the cladding rail 10a depicted in FIG. 3. The same numerals are used for corresponding elements. In addition to the illustration of FIG. 3, FIG. 4 shows screw holes 11a in the back-fixing rail 15, about half-way between the lower end 19 and the upper end 18, that allow the cladding rail 10b to be mounted to a backing structure such as a mullion. The screw holes 11a are spaced apart along the longitudinal extension of the cladding rail 10b and positioned on a longitudinally extending groove 11b. The groove 11b facilities inserting the screws into the screw holes 11a during assembly by acting as a guide means towards the holes 11a.
[0077] The cladding rail 10b comprises a carrier arm 16 with a Y-branch 20, and a proximal arm portion 16a of the carrier arm 16 extends from the lower end 19 at an incline towards the Y-branch 20. Along the longitudinal extent of the proximal arm portion 16a there is provided a plurality of elongate slots 22 constituting sound dampening apertures. The slots 22 are spaced apart by bridges 24. Each bridge 24 is about half as long as a slot 22 and so, on average, there is only about one third of material along the array of slots 22 in the cross section of the proximal arm portion 16a compared to an arm portion without apertures. As the proximal arm portion 16a carries all components that come into contact with the bricks to be provided, the apertures reduce the amount of material capable of relaying vibrations from the tile support 12 onto the back-fixing rail 15.
[0078] FIG. 5 shows a cross section of a cladding rail 30a constituting a mounting rail of the invention. FIG. 6 shows an isometric view of the FIG. 5 cladding rail 30a. The cladding rail 30a is an extruded profile. The cladding rail 30a comprises, from the right to the left (right in the reading orientation of FIG. 5, and the right side being the side to be mounted to a mullion), a back-fixing rail 35 with an upper end 38 and a lower end 39. The back-fixing rail 35 is provided to mount the cladding rail 30a to a mullion with fixtures such as screws (no screws shown in FIGS. 5 and 6).
[0079] The cladding rail 30a comprises a carrier arm 36 that extends from the upper end 38 of the back-fixing rail 35. The carrier arm 36 constitutes a tile-carrier support and comprises at its distal end a tile carrier 32, with an upper lip 33 and a lower lip 34. The carrier arm 36 comprises a kink 40 partway (about halfway) between the upper end 38 and the tile carrier 32. Between the kink 40 and the upper end 38, the carrier arm 36 comprises a proximal arm portion 36a that is inclined upward at an obtuse angle and, thus, connected to the back-fixing rail 35 at an obtuse angle. Distally of the kink 40 the carrier arm 36 bends down such that a portion of the carrier arm 36 beyond the kink 40, ie a distal arm portion 36b, extends practically horizontally between the kink 40 and the tile carrier 32. The distal arm portion 36b is practically perpendicular to the vertical plane of the back-fixing rail 35. The kink 40 constitutes an angled bend.
[0080] At the lower end 39 the cladding rail comprises a tail 37 constituting a tile-biasing element. The tail 37 extends away from the back-fixing rail 35 at an incline and comprises a back-folded lip 37d to provide a smooth contact line with a tile to be provided.
[0081] FIG. 7 shows an isometric view of a cladding rail 30b that corresponds in profile to the cladding rail 30a. The same numerals are used for corresponding elements to facilitate the understanding of the present disclosure. The cladding rail 30b comprises a back-fixing rail 35 from whose upper end 38 extends upwardly a carrier arm 36 constituting a tile-support carrier. A proximal arm portion 36a is inclined relative to the plane of the back-fixing rail 35 and the carrier arm 36 comprises a bend 40 from where a distal arm portion 36b extends horizontally. The distal arm 36b portion carries a tile support 32. The upper side of the distal arm 36b provides a practically horizontal seating surface for a tile to be provided. From a lower end 39 of the back-fixing rail 35 there extends a tail 37 that constitutes a tile-biasing element. The cladding rail 30b corresponds to the cladding rail 30a and in addition comprises a plurality of slots 46 arranged longitudinally along the tail 37. The slots 46 are spaced apart by bridges 48. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the bridges 48 have about half the width of the slots 46 and so, compared to the cladding rail 30a of FIGS. 5 and 6, there is on average only about a third of material along the array of slots 46 in the cross section of the tail 37. The slots 46 constitute apertures that contribute the acoustic dampening by reducing the amount of material capable of relaying vibrations from the tile support 32 to the back-fixing rail 35.
[0082] FIG. 8 illustrates a cladding rail 30c that constitutes another embodiment of a mounting rail and comprises the features described in relation to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, and the same numerals are used for equivalent features. FIG. 8 shows a plurality of screw holes 31a on the back-fixing rail 35. The screw holes 31a are provided to mount the cladding rail 30c to a mullion. In addition, the cladding rail 30c comprises in the proximal arm portion 36a, ie between the upper end of the back-fixing rail 35 and the kink 40, a plurality of slots 42 arranged longitudinally along the proximal arm portion 36a. The slots 42 constitute apertures that provide a sound-dampening effect. The slots are spaced apart by bridges 44 and the amount of material required to connect the carrier arm 36 to the back-fixing rail 35 is reduced, correspondingly, relative to a cladding rail without slots. It will be understood that the slots 42 and 46 (described with reference to the FIG. 7 embodiment above) are distinguished from the screw holes 31a in that the slots 42 and 46 are not intended to come into abutment with a mullion.
[0083] FIG. 9 shows a cladding rail 30d constituting another embodiment of a mounting rail. The cladding rail 30d comprises features described in FIGS. 5 and 6. The tail 37, between the lower end 39 of the back-fixing rail 35 and the back-folded lip 37d, comprises apertures 46 and 47 arranged in a plurality (here: two) rows extending longitudinally in the direction of the cladding rail 30d, the apertures 46 arranged in a first row and spaced apart by bridges 48, and the apertures 47 arranged in another row, offset relative to the first row and spaced apart by bridges 49. As the rows of apertures are longitudinally offset, there is no section perpendicular to the longitudinal extension that provides a direct pathway for sound to travel from a tile in contact with the back-folded lip 37 to the backing system.
[0084] FIG. 10 shows a cladding rail 30e constituting another embodiment of a mounting rail. The cladding rail 30e comprises features described in FIGS. 5, 6 and 9. In addition, FIG. 10 illustrates an arrangement with a plurality (here: two) rows of apertures extending longitudinally in the direction of the cladding rail 30e on the proximal arm portion 36 (between the upper end 38 and the kink 40). Apertures 42 are arranged in a first row and spaced apart by bridges 44. Apertures 43 are arranged in a second row and spaced apart by bridged 45. As the rows of apertures are longitudinally offset, there is no section perpendicular to the longitudinal extension that provides a direct pathway for sound to travel from the tile support to the back-fixing rail.
[0085] FIG. 11 shows a cladding rail 50a constituting another embodiment of a mounting rail. The cladding rail 50a corresponds to the cladding rail 30a but is made from sheet metal. The cladding rail 50a comprises features corresponding to those described with reference to FIG. 5. From the right to the left (right in the reading orientation of FIG. 11, and the right side being the side to be mounted to a mullion), the cladding rail 50a comprises a back-fixing rail 55 with an upper end 58 and a lower end 59. From the upper end 58 extends a carrier arm 56 constituting a tile-carrier support, carrying at its distal end a tile carrier 52. The carrier arm 56 is folded and comprises a bend 60 partway (about halfway) between the upper end 58 and the tile carrier 52. Between the bend 60 and the upper end 58, the carrier arm 56 comprises a proximal arm portion 56a that is inclined upward at an obtuse angle and, thus, connected to the back-fixing rail 55 at an obtuse angle. Distally of the bend 60 the carrier arm 56 bends down such that a portion of the carrier arm 56 beyond the kink 40, ie a distal arm portion 56b, extends practically horizontally between the bend 60 and the tile carrier 52. The distal arm portion 56b is practically perpendicular to the plane of the back-fixing rail 55. The bend 60 constitutes an angled bend. At the lower end 59 the cladding rail 50a comprises a tail 57 constituting a tile-biasing element. The tail 57 extends away from the back-fixing rail 55 at an incline and comprises a back-folded lip 57d to provide a smooth contacting line with a tile to be provided. The tile carrier 52 comprises an upper lip 53 and a lower lip 54. In contrast to the extruded variant, such as the cladding rail 30a, the sheet metal variant provides the lower lip 54 by a first back-fold 54a and the upper lip 53 by a second back-fold 53a. The back-folds 53a and 54a provide a smooth contact line with the groove of a tile to be provided.
[0086] It will be understood that the cladding rail 50a corresponds in principle to the cladding rail 30a and so any features described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10 may be combined with the FIG. 11 embodiment.
[0087] The cladding rail embodiments of FIGS. 3 to 11 may be used on a walling structure such as that shown in FIG. 2 instead of conventional mounting rails such as the mounting rail 1 described in FIG. 2. The mounting rail of the invention provides an improved de-coupling of acoustic energy, and as such an improved sound attenuation, while maintaining sufficient structural rigidity.
[0088] To provide an illustration of the magnitudes involved, a brick tile may be in the region of 10 cm high and so there may be in the region of 10 metres of cladding rail per square metre. Thus, a purposeful de-coupling of acoustic energy can have a noticeable effect on sound attenuation.
