Thermal insulation element

Abstract

In a thermal insulation element, which is made at least partially from a compression load transferring material and comprises an upper and a lower support area for the vertical connection to the building parts to be constructed from concrete, it is provided that the thermal insulation element comprises at least one penetrating opening extending from the upper to the lower support area which is embodied for passing a compacting device for fresh concrete.

Claims

1. A method for installing a thermal insulation element (1) for thermal decoupling of load-bearing building parts (23, 22) to be constructed from concrete, between a vertical building part and a horizontal building part located thereabove or below, with the thermal insulation element (1) being made at least partially from a compression load transferring material and comprising an upper and a lower support area (2, 3) for the vertical connection to the building parts (23, 22, 21) and with the thermal insulation element (1) comprising at least one penetrating opening (4) extending from the upper to the lower support area, comprising the following steps: filling concrete into a casing for the lower building part (23) and compacting the concrete, inserting the thermal insulation element (1) into the casing for the lower building part (23), and subsequently compacting the concrete via a compacting device for fresh concrete, which is inserted via the penetrating opening (4), wherein the penetrating opening is open for receiving the compacting device prior to compaction and finishing.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sealing the penetrating opening (4) via a closing plug.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a body of the thermal insulation element (1) is made at least partially from light-weight concrete.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal insulation element (1) comprises a body with one or more rod-shaped reinforcement elements (5) penetrating through the body and extending essentially vertically beyond the upper and the lower support area (2, 3) and the method further comprises connecting the reinforcement elements (5) to a reinforcement of said vertical building part or to said horizontal building part before casting of said vertical building part or said horizontal building part.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal insulation element comprises a body formed from the compression load transferring material, and sheaths are embedded in the body and the method comprises inserting rod-shaped reinforcement elements (5) in said sheaths.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising installing the thermal insulation element (1) in the casing (27) for the building part (23) located underneath thereof and sealing said thermal insulation element against said casing (27) using a seal (8) surrounding vertical boundary areas of said thermal insulation element.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal insulation element comprises a body having one or more additional casting openings that have a smaller opening size than the penetrating opening (4), and the method further comprises closing said additional casting openings with removable plugs.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Additional features, advantages, and characteristics of the present invention are explained in the following based on the figures and based on exemplary embodiments. Shown here are:

(2) FIG. 1 an isometric view of a thermal insulation element according to the invention made from a compression load-transferring material, particularly light-weight concrete,

(3) FIG. 2 a top view of the thermal insulation element of FIG. 1,

(4) FIG. 3 a vertical cross-section through the thermal insulation element along the sectional line C-C of FIG. 2,

(5) FIG. 4 a further development of the thermal insulation element of FIG. 1 in a side view,

(6) FIG. 5 a cross-section of a support of a building equipped with a thermal insulation element,

(7) FIG. 6 a cross-section through the support of FIG. 5 and the building parts located above and below thereof along the sectional line B-B,

(8) FIG. 7 the reinforcement of the support of FIG. 6 with the thermal insulation element prior to forming the support from concrete,

(9) FIG. 8 the support provided with a casing after concrete was filled in,

(10) FIG. 9 an enlarged detail of FIG. 8,

(11) FIG. 10 an alternative exemplary embodiment with a thermal insulation element arranged in the base section of a support, and

(12) FIG. 11 a second exemplary embodiment of a thermal insulation element made from a non-load bearing insulation material with individual compression load bearing bodies inserted therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(13) The thermal insulation element 1 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 serves for the monolithic connection and for the load-transferring connection of a support made from concrete in the underground floor of a building to the ceiling of the basement located thereabove. It shows a cuboid base element 1 with a top 2 and a bottom 3, each of which serving as the support area of the basement ceiling and/or the end of the support carrying it. A central penetrating opening 4 is located in the center of the cuboid thermal insulation element 1, which extends from the top 2 to the bottom 3 of the thermal insulation element 1. Four reinforcing rods 5 extend through the thermal insulation element. The bottom 3 of the thermal insulation element 1 has a three-dimensional profiling in the form of a recess 6 extending like a funnel in the direction of the penetrating openings 4. Inside the thermal insulation element 1 additionally another reinforcing means is embedded perpendicular in reference thereto, for example a reinforcing bar 7, which is arranged about the reinforcing rods 5 and provides additional stability to the thermal insulating element.

(14) The thermal insulation element 1 is made from light-weight concrete, which on the one side has high compression load stability and on the other side has good thermal insulating features. Compared to concrete with a thermal conductivity of approx. 1.6 W/(m.Math.K), when using suitable light-weight concrete the thermal conductivity amounts to approx. 0.5 W/(m.Math.K), which is equivalent to an improvement by approx. 70%. The light-weight concrete used essentially comprises expanded clay, fine sand, preferably light-weight sand, flux agents, as well as stabilizers, preventing any separating or floating of the grain and improving the processing features.

(15) The compressive strength of the thermal insulation element is here sufficiently high to allow the statically planned utilization of the underlying support made from cast-in-place concrete, for example according to the compressive strength classification C25/30. Preferably the compressive strength of the thermal insulation element is at least equivalent to 1.5 times the value required by statics. This achieves that even in case of potential faulty sections at the connection area of the thermal insulation element to the support, here safety reserves are given so that the thermal insulation element remains statically stable even in case of punctually higher stress.

(16) The reinforcement rods 5 crossing the basic body of the thermal insulation element 1 in the vertical direction serve primarily as tensile rods for transferring potentially arising tensile forces. The reinforcing rods 5 may be encased in concrete during the production of the thermal insulation element in the light-weight concrete of the cuboid basic body 1. Alternatively, it is possible for an easier production of the thermal insulation element during the production to install sheaths as a type of dead casing, through which the reinforcement rods 5 are inserted after the curing of the light-weight concrete element 1.

(17) In the exemplary embodiment, the reinforcement rods 5 themselves are made from a fibrous composite, such as the proven reinforcement rod ComBAR of Schck, which comprises fiberglass aligned in the direction of force or a synthetic resin matrix. Such a fiberglass reinforcement rod shows an extremely low thermal conductivity, which is up to 100 times lower than the one of concrete steel, and thus it is ideally suitable for the application in the thermal insulation element. Alternatively, reinforcement rods of conventional types comprising stainless steel or construction steel may be used as well, though.

(18) Primarily when using reinforcement rods made from fiber composites the above-described use of sheaths as dead casings is advantageous for the subsequent insertion of reinforcement rods. Reinforcement rods made from fiber composites may transfer very strong tensile forces, however even much lower compression loads can already lead to the destruction of the reinforcement rods. By using sheaths, here a form-fitting embedding of the reinforcement rods in the surrounding concrete is avoided, which normally in case of concrete reinforcements is intended and almost unavoidable. If now a compression load is applied, for example by the building settling, the reinforcement rods can elastically deform inside their sheaths until the compression loads are completely transferred by the compression load stable insulation body 1 such that any damaging compression loads applied upon the reinforcement rods are avoided.

(19) The reinforcement in the thermal insulation element is only designed as tensile reinforcement because the connection between the support and the building ceiling located thereabove can anyway be considered a joint connection with regards to statics. This way, by the use of sheaths for the connection-free penetration of a fiber composite reinforcement, here a connection is yielded between the support and the building ceiling in case of a continuous reinforcement meeting the static requirements of a stable and lasting and/or monolithic connection.

(20) The use of sheaths as dead casings for the subsequent installation of reinforcement rods shows additional considerable advantages for the production. When producing under factory conditions, it is easier to insert sheaths in a casing for the thermal insulation element than the reinforcement rods, which shall penetrate the thermal insulation element at both sides and which must be sealed in reference to the casing. The support is also considerably facilitated when prefabricated thermal insulation elements are embodied without any cumbersome reinforcement rods and the latter are inserted only at the construction site when installing the thermal insulation element in the sheaths of the thermal insulation element.

(21) Without limiting the invention thereto, the dimensions of the reinforcement rods 5 amount in the exemplary embodiment to a diameter of 16 mm with a length of 930 mm. The arrangement of the reinforcement rods 5 in reference to the base area of the basic body 1 is selected slightly outside the primary diagonal. The reason for this is given here in that in a support, in which the reinforcement rods 5 of the thermal insulation element 1 are installed, the reinforcement of the support is already located in the corners.

(22) The reinforcement rod 7 comprises a stainless steel bent to form a ring which is welded to the connection site. The reinforcement rod 7 shows a diameter of approx. 200 mm with a material thickness of 8 mm or 10 mm.

(23) In the exemplary embodiment the basic body of the thermal insulation element 1 has a length of 250250 mm at the edges. The height amounts to 100 mm and thus it is equivalent to the common thickness of a subsequently applied thermal insulation layer. As discernible primarily in FIG. 3, the penetrating opening extends in a slightly conical fashion, with here the penetrating opening 4 having an opening size diameter of at least 50 mm, and preferably tapering from an upper dimension of 70 mm to a lower dimension of 65 mm. The penetrating opening can also be easily closed via an appropriate, also slightly conical plug (not shown).

(24) FIG. 4 shows the thermal insulation element in a side view, with additional circumferential seals 8 being applied at the basic body 1. The seals 8 may be embodied as rubber lips or conventional sealing tape, for example. They serve to seal the basic body of the thermal insulation element 1 with tight edges towards a casing for the support to be constructed underneath thereof, in order to prevent any rising of concrete or the penetration of air.

(25) FIG. 5 shows an installation situation of the thermal insulation element in reference to a support 23. The cross-section shown here extends underneath the basic body of the thermal insulation element 1. The support 23 made from cast-in-place concrete shows reinforcements with four vertical reinforcing rods 25 arranged in the corners of the support 23 and a plurality of reinforcement bars 26 arranged horizontally about the reinforcement rods 25 extending in approximately square embodied reinforcement bars 26. The reinforcing rods 5 of the thermal insulation element are each located slightly offset next to the reinforcing rods 25 of the support 23. The sectional line B-B indicated in FIG. 5 is equivalent to the progression of the line of the longitudinal cross-section through the support reinforcement shown in FIG. 7.

(26) FIG. 6 is shown initially as a longitudinal cross-section through the support 23 and the connected building parts. The support 23 is placed upon a bottom plate 21 and carries a ceiling 22 arranged thereabove. This may represent for example the ceiling of the basement or the underground level of a building. The bottom plate 21, the support 23, and the ceiling 22 are connected to each other in a static fashion. The compression load transferring thermal insulation element 1 is arranged between the support 23 and the ceiling 22, with its reinforcement rods 5 being monolithically cast in the support 23 as well as in the ceiling 22 located thereabove. At the bottom of the ceiling 22, a thermal insulation layer 24 is applied with its strength essentially being equivalent at least to the height of the basic body of the thermal insulation element 1. The thermal insulation layer 24 comprises a highly insulating material, such as mineral insulation plates or cellulose multilayer composites.

(27) FIG. 7 shows the reinforcement of the support 23 together with the thermal insulation element 1 in a longitudinal cross-section. The progression of the section is here equivalent to the sectional line B-B of FIG. 5. The reinforcement of the support 23 comprises four vertical reinforcement rods 25 arranged in the corners of the support, which for example may be embodied from construction steel with the rods showing a diameter of 28 mm at a length of 2000 mm, as well as a plurality of reinforcement bars arranged circumferential about the reinforcement rods 25 showing an approximately square base. The thermal insulation element 1 is located above the reinforcement of the support, with its reinforcement rods 5 projecting downwards into the support reinforcement.

(28) The reinforcement content of the support 23 amounts to approximately 3-4%. At a typical thermal conductivity value of construction steel of approx. 50 W/(m.Math.K) in reference to concrete with 1.6 W/(m.Math.K) it contributes approximately to half the total thermal conductivity of the support. By the use of the combination of light-weight concrete and fiberglass reinforcement in the area of the thermal insulation element 1 the thermal conductivity between the support 23 and the ceiling 22 can therefore be reduced by approx. 90% in reference to a direct monolithic connection.

(29) In order to prepare the support 23, as shown in FIG. 8 in the upper half, a casing 27 is installed about the support reinforcement 25, 26 and filled with cast-in-place concrete. It is compacted in a conventional fashion with an internal vibrator. Subsequently the thermal insulation element 1 is inserted into the casing 27 from above and its reinforcement rods 5 are pressed into the still liquid cast-in-place concrete. The basic body 1 is compressed to the fresh cast-in-place concrete until the liquid concrete slightly rises upwards in the penetrating opening 4 such that it is ensured that no more air gap is given between the concrete of the support 23 and the thermal insulation element 1. Subsequently the vibration head of a concrete vibrator is inserted through the penetrating opening 4 into the fresh cast-in-place concrete located underneath in order to compact it once more. When inserting the vibration head the thermal insulation element can be slightly raised by the volume of the concrete displaced by the vibration head. When pulling out the vibration head it must therefore be ensured that the thermal insulation element 1 lowers again by said volume by the thermal insulation element 1 being pushed down accordingly when pulling out the vibrator. Here, the circumferential seal 8 prevents that air can penetrate between the casing 27 and the thermal insulation element 1 or the thermal insulation element 1 can tilt inside the casing 27. FIG. 9 displays the section marked detail D around one of the seals 8 once more in an enlarged fashion.

(30) The subsequent compacting of the still liquid fresh concrete via the penetrating opening of the thermal insulation element 1 leads to a close connection of the thermal insulation element 1 with the cast-in-place concrete located underneath. In particular, elevations due to the formation of bubbles or sedimentation in the fresh concrete are prevented between the thermal insulation element 1 and the support. This is promoted primarily also by the conically extending profiling at the bottom of the basic body 1, based on which the rising air bubbles and/or the surface of the separated cement water can collect primarily in the central area of the penetrating opening 4.

(31) After the support was formed from concrete and the subsequent compacting via the penetrating opening 4 any remnants of concrete remaining in the penetrating opening 4 are removed. Subsequently the penetrating opening 4 is closed via a conical plug (not shown). The closing plug may comprise an insulating material, such as polystyrene or the like, and serves to prevent the penetration of cast-in-place concrete into the penetration opening 4 when subsequently the ceiling 22 is produced. This way potential heat bridges are avoided due to a concrete filling in the penetrating opening 4. Subsequently, above the thermal insulation element 1 the ceiling 22 located thereabove is produced in a common fashion.

(32) Except for the purpose of compacting and/or subsequent compacting the penetrating opening 4 can also be used as an inlet for filling the casing for the support 23 with cast-in-place concrete. In this case, the thermal insulation element is inserted into the still empty casing of the support 23 and perhaps the reinforcement rods 5 are connected to the support reinforcement. Subsequently fresh concrete is filled via the penetrating opening 4 of the thermal insulation element into the casing and then compacted by a vibration head of an internal vibrator being inserted through the penetrating opening 4, as illustrated schematically by the compacting device 30 shown in FIG. 3. Here, too the compacting of fresh concrete against the bottom of the thermal insulation element occurs from the top through the penetrating opening 4. Alternatively the support 23 can also be prepared from self-compacting concrete or the compacting of the support can occur by an external vibrator, of course. Therefore In the latter two cases the penetrating opening 4 serves only as an inlet opening.

(33) In addition to the installation in the upper area of a support, an installation in the base of a support is possible as well. Such an arrangement is shown in FIG. 10 in an alternative exemplary embodiment. The support 23 is here arranged between the bottom plate 21 and the upper ceiling 22. In the base area of the support 23 a thermal insulation element 1 according to the invention is installed, with its reinforcement rods 5 projecting from the base plate 21 to the upper area of the support 1, and here being connected to the reinforcement 25 of the support 1. A thermal insulation layer 24 made from insulation plates of prior art is applied in this case on the top of the bottom plate 21.

(34) The production can occur such that the thermal insulation element 1 is connected to its reinforcement 21 before the base plate 21 is cast from concrete. The base plate 21 is then cast from cast-in-place concrete such that the concrete rises from the bottom towards the thermal insulation element 1. In order to yield a good connection free from clear space the cast-in-place concrete can in turn be compacted with a vibration tool passed through the central penetrating opening 4. After curing the reinforcement 25 of the support is produced and connected to the reinforcement rods 5 of the thermal insulation element. Subsequently the casing 27 for the support 23 is constructed around the thermal insulation element 1 and then the support 23 is cast and compacted from cast-in-place concrete in a conventional fashion.

(35) FIG. 11 shows another exemplary embodiment of a thermal insulation element. Unlike the previous exemplary embodiment, here the basic body 10 of the thermal insulation element is not made from light-weight concrete but from a thermal insulation material not transferring any compression loads, such as cellular glass or rigid foamed polystyrene. For compression load transfer here a total of four individual compression load bearing bodies 11a to 11d are used, which are inserted in the insulating body 10.

(36) The individual compression load bearing elements 11a to 11d are made from a high-strength concrete in order to allow transferring the load from the building part 22 located thereabove. Reinforcement rods 15 are cast inside the individual compression load bearing elements 11a to 11d and project in the vertical direction beyond the top 12 and the bottom 13 of the thermal insulation element 15.

(37) Approximately in the center, similar to the previous exemplary embodiment, a penetrating opening 14 is provided which serves as an inlet and/or compacting opening.

(38) The installation of the thermal insulation element 10 occurs like in the previous exemplary embodiment. In this exemplary embodiment the thermal insulation feature is primarily yielded by the reduction of the area of heat bridges to the few individual compression load bearing elements 11a to 11d. The present invention is here not limited to the shape and number of individual compression load bearing elements shown in the exemplary embodiment. Rather, the portion of compression load-transferring material provided inside the insulating body 10 can be embodied in many other geometries, such as in the form of a compression load transferring cylindrical ring. It is not necessary either to guide the reinforcement rods 15 through the compression load transferring areas 11a to 11d in the insulation body 10, but they may be placed separated therefrom through areas of the thermal insulation element 10 that are not compression load transferring.

(39) The thermal insulation element itself may be adjusted in its dimensions to the construction part located underneath and/or above. In particular, thermal insulation elements may be adjusted to the typical cross-sections of supports with round, square, or rectangular cross-sections. Typical dimensions of round supports are diameters of 24 and 30 cm, and/or supports with rectangular cross-sections of 2525 cm and 3030 cm. Thermal insulation elements with such a geometry may also be combined arbitrarily to form greater supports or load-bearing walls.

(40) The thermal insulation elements described here are particularly suited for the use in connecting links, such as wall supports with low fixing moments. Additionally, the use of load-bearing exterior walls is also possible by installing thermal insulation elements at a suitable distance from each other and any perhaps remaining gaps between the individual thermal insulation elements can be filled with insulation material that is not load bearing.

(41) The geometric design of the profiled bottom of the thermal insulation element may also be realized in many other ways, in addition to the conical shape shown here, for example a stepped form, a radial gearing, an annular bead, and so forth.

(42) In addition to optimizing the geometry of the bottom of the thermal insulation element more and/or alternatively smaller openings may be provided for subsequently casting potentially remaining cavities between the thermal insulation element and the concrete area located underneath. Such openings may be closed with plugs and opened when needed in order to subsequently fill any potentially remaining cavities via a casting mass, such as casting mortar or a synthetic resin, and thus to generate a secure static connection, although in the individual case a faulty embodiment during the preparation of the support and/or the installation of the thermal insulation element had resulted in a flawed connection. Additionally, indicators may be provided at the thermal insulation element which can be pressed upwards like a float and here indicate that the thermal insulation element with its bottom is in contact with the cast-in-place concrete located underneath thereof.

(43) During the installation of the thermal insulation element into already compacted, fresh concrete of the support located underneath, during the subsequent re-compacting, and when the compacting tool being pulled out of the penetrating opening of the thermal insulation element it may be advantageous if a defined compression is applied upon the thermal insulation element.

(44) In addition to the reinforcement rods, within the scope of the present invention other rod-shaped reinforcing means may be used for connecting the thermal insulation elements to the building parts located above and below, for example threaded rods, dowels, and the like, because as explained above the connection between a support and a ceiling located thereabove can be considered a link with regards to statics and the reinforcement at this point must therefore fulfill a constructive function.