Finish-Ready Structural Insulating Panels

Abstract

A reinforced tapered edge cementitious skin for use in a SIP panel provides a recessed edge having an underlying reinforcing web. When panels having the reinforced tapered edges are to be joined together and fastened to underlying shims, the resulting joint has both structural integrity and a recess for receiving joint compound that can be made flush with the skins.

Claims

1. A novel panel comprising: a SIP panel skin having a plurality of underlying reinforcing mesh layers extending a full width and length of the SIP panel skin, wherein opposing edge portions of the SIP panel skin are narrower than a central portion of the SIP panel skin, whereby when panels having said reinforced tapered edges are to be joined together and fastened to underlying shims, the resulting joint has structural integrity and a recess for receiving joint compound that can be made flush with said SIP panel skins.

2. The novel panel of claim 1, wherein said opposing edge portions include the underlying reinforcing mesh beneath the surface of said opposing edge portions to reinforce said opposing edge portions.

3. The novel panel of claim 2, wherein said underlying reinforcing mesh includes a fiberglass mesh.

4. The novel panel of claim 1, wherein said opposing edges provides a recess such that when a joint having opposed recesses is covered over with a tape and joint compound, a joint compound surface can be made flush with a surface of the central portion to provide a finish-ready surface.

5. The novel panel of claim 1, wherein said SIP panel skin further comprises magnesium oxide.

6. The novel panel of claim 1, wherein said SIP panel skin is fastened to an expanded polystyrene insulating core.

7. The novel panel of claim 6, wherein said core includes a notched channel at an edge thereof and further includes a shim in said notched channel.

8. The novel panel of claim 7, wherein said shim comprises magnesium oxide.

9. The novel panel of claim 1, wherein said SIP panel skins are fastened on opposite sides of an insulating core, said insulating core including a recess, a shim mounted in said recess, and a fastener which penetrates said SIP panel skins and each of the underlying reinforcing mesh layers and is fastened to said shim.

10. The novel panel of claim 9, and further including abutting SIPs having abutting SIP panel skins, shims and fasteners going through abutting edges and into underlying shims to provide a structurally secure joint between said abutting SIPs.

11. A SIP panel comprising a structural SIP panel having reinforced tapered edges that provide a recess adapted to receive joint compound to be smoothed flush with the skin of said panel when adjacent SIP panels are to be joined together.

12. The SIP panel of claim 11, wherein said reinforced tapered edges include embedded reinforcing web.

13. A method of producing skins for a SIP panel, with the skins having reinforced tapered recessed edges, comprising the steps of: forming a mold having at least two raised edges; introducing a cementitious slurry onto the mold; embedding a reinforcing mesh web in the slurry; calendaring the slurry to compress the slurry onto the mold such that the top surface of the slurry is flat and such that the slurry is compressed onto the mold with the bottom surface of the slurry conforming to the raised edge mold; curing the slurry on the mold; and removing the cured slurry as a SIP skin having a recessed tapered edge that is reinforced with the reinforcing mesh web.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the cementitious slurry comprises magnesium oxide.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said web comprises fiberglass webbing.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein said reinforcing mesh web exists within the tapered edges of the skin.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] These and other features of the subject invention will be better understood in connection with the Detailed Description in conjunction with the Drawings, of which:

[0024] FIG. 1A is a diagrammatic illustration of a prior art structural insulated panel, illustrating an insulating core and a cementitious skin, with vertically running slots to accommodate shims between adjacent panels;

[0025] FIG. 1B is a diagrammatic illustration of a prior art joining of two adjacent panels of the type described in connection with FIG. 1A, showing the use of shims in associated slots and the screwing of SIP skins into the underlying shims;

[0026] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of the joint between two prior art panels, illustrating the utilization of tape to overlie the joint, and joint compound over the tape that exists proud of the skin surfaces, with the humped joint compound precluding a flush finished surface without significant sanding;

[0027] FIG. 3A is a diagrammatic and cross-sectional illustration of a prior art panel skin having mesh reinforcement to either side of the skin;

[0028] FIG. 3B is a diagrammatic illustration of the joining together of two prior art SIP panels, including screws through the SIP skins and into underlying shims as well as tape and joint compound over the joint that stands proud over the joint, precluding a flush finish-ready surface;

[0029] FIG. 4A is a diagrammatic illustration of a prior art SIP skin, illustrating a recessed edge in which underlying reinforcing mesh has been cut away and removed to provide the recess;

[0030] FIG. 4B is a diagrammatic illustration of the joining together of two prior art adjacent SIPs having chamfered skin edges, illustrating the screwing of the tapered edges to an underlying shim without the benefit of fiber mesh reinforcement, thus offering only limited structural integrity;

[0031] FIG. 4C is a diagrammatic illustration of the joining together of the prior art SIPs of 4B, illustrating that while a flush joint can be achieved with the chamfered edges described in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the structural integrity of such a joint is lacking;

[0032] FIG. 5A is a diagrammatic illustration of a reinforced tapered edge cementitious skin for use in a SIP in which a recessed edge is provided with a number of layers of underlying reinforcing mesh to provide structural integrity for SIP joining;

[0033] FIG. 5B is a diagrammatic illustration of a pair of adjoining SIPs provided with cementitious skins having reinforced tapered edges, illustrating the penetration of screws through the reinforced tapered edges and reinforcing mesh into an underlying shim in a recess in the SIP insulating material;

[0034] FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of a production line for the fabrication of the subject reinforced tapered edge cementitious skins showing the utilization of an acrylic mold into which slurry is deposited followed by calendaring, showing the introduction of mesh into the skin;

[0035] FIGS. 7A-7 M show the process steps in the manufacture of a SIP skin utilizing the subject molding technique to provide a reinforced tapered edge SIP skin;

[0036] FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of an extruder for extruding an acrylic insert having raised end portions to provide for the recesses in the edges of a cementitious skin; and,

[0037] FIG. 9 is an exploded view of a molded acrylic insert having raised edges.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] Referring now to FIG. 5A, a SIP skin 50 is provided with a reinforced taper 52 in which the SIP skin is provided with a recess 54. The recess 54 is defined by forming at least opposing edges of the SIP skin 50 more narrowly than a central portion of the SIP skin 50 between the edges. As can be seen, SIP skin 50 is provided with a plurality of layers of reinforcing mesh 56 at both the front side and back side of the SIPs skin 50. More specifically, each reinforcing mesh 56 provided in the SIP skin 50 extends completely from one edge of the SIP skin 50 to the opposite edge of the SIP skin 50 while supporting a recess 54 formed along the edge. The reinforcing mesh 56 is not truncated to form the recess 54. It is the provision of this recess 54 by the molding of the cementitious material used to form the SIP skin and the reinforcement with the multiple layers of mesh web that provides structural integrity to the joint between SIPs.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 5B, what is illustrated is the joining together of two SIPs 10 in which an insulating core 14 is sandwiched by the specialized skins 50. Each of these skins has edges that are tapered as illustrated to provide a recess 54. This recess 54 is overlain with tape 26 and joint compound 28 to provide a surface 57 which is flush with surface 58 of SIP skin 50. Here it can be seen that screws 22 penetrate the SIP skin 50 through multiple reinforcing meshes 56 and into shims 20 to join the SIP panels in an exceptionally rugged structurally secure manner. The heads of the screws 22 sit within reinforcing meshes 56. While the FIG. 5B embodiment is shown with skins having four mesh layers, two each at opposing skin surfaces, it will be appreciated that the number of reinforcing mesh layers is a matter of structural design and the design strength of the panels.

[0040] The result is that adjacent SIP panels can be joined together securely with SIP skins having mesh reinforced tapered edges to accommodate tape and joint compound to provide flush finishing for the panels.

[0041] It will be noted that the subject invention is described in terms of the use of magnesium oxide for the skin material, although other moldable skins having reinforced mesh 56 are within the scope of this invention. Moreover, the shims that are utilized may also be made of magnesium oxide.

[0042] Referring now to FIG. 6, a production line 70 is composed of racks of caged rollers 72 used as a conveyor to transport molds 74 thereon. Each of these molds has a mold surface 76 having raised edges 78 and onto which MgO slurry is deposited from slurry injection funnels 80. Calibrating or calendaring rolls, diagrammatically shown at 82, are used to contact the top surface of the wet slurry on the molds to compress the slurry into the mold as the molds pass beneath these calendaring rolls. Fiberglass mesh rolls 84 at various intervals dispense fiberglass mesh over the slurry carried by the molds as the molds pass underneath so as to provide the resulting skins with the appropriate fiberglass reinforcement.

[0043] While the subject invention is described in terms of fiberglass as the mesh utilized for the reinforcement, other reinforcing webs are within the scope of this invention.

[0044] After the MgO slurry has been compressed onto the molds by the calendaring rolls, the molds exit the production line as illustrated at 88. Thereafter, the slurry is air cured and the skins with the tapered edges are pulled off of the molds.

[0045] From a process perspective, in one embodiment MgO slurry is deposited, then a layer of fiberglass, then another layer of slurry, then anther of fiberglass, etc. The minimum number of fiberglass mesh layers is 2, but there can be up to 4 layers normally, depending on the thickness of the board. The layers are normally toward the surface and the back. That is to say, they are not evenly distributed in the board. Specifically, they are located more toward the surface areas as they are most useful there.

[0046] Some of the slurry does drip off of the edges of the mold. However, the MgO slurry has a very high viscosity, so it maintains the desired thickness for all but the last 1-2 centimeters from the edge.

[0047] The edge trimming is 3-5 cm. from each edge, so the last bit that is irregular is sawn away. That sawing is done in one embodiment with a double ended trim saw. 5-10 boards are stacked on top of each other and they are run through on a carrousel, between two saws separated at the width the panel is to have, usually 1220 mm. Then another set of saws is set at a 90 degree angle to that of the first trim saws. The second set of saws trim the boards top and bottom.

[0048] It will be appreciated that the mold surface provides a raised edge platten onto which the slurry is deposited. As mentioned above, the slurry has sufficient viscosity that, properly metered, does not roll off the mold. After the multiple deposits of slurry along with the fiberglass mesh reinforcement, the skin has a ragged edge. In one embodiment, these ragged edges are trimmed by the above-mentioned double ended trim saws, with the tops and bottoms of the skins being trimmed with trim saws oriented at 90 degrees to the double ended trim saws.

[0049] Note that the acrylic sheet is placed directly on the conveyor and is sufficiently rigid, such that it supports the wet MgO skin at the end of the line when it is removed and is placed on racks for drying and curing. The acrylic mold is made approximately 5 cm wider than the final board width, since there are no vertical sides to the molds. Thus, the very ends of the boards are irregular but, because of the high viscosity of the slurry, it holds its shape well enough not to need vertical mold sides. After the board is cured, the edges are cut to remove the irregularity, giving the board its final exact width, and ensuring the edges are perfectly parallel.

[0050] As to the processing, in one embodiment and as illustrated in FIGS. 7A-7L, an acrylic mold 92 is loaded onto a conveyor 90. Thereafter, MgO slurry 94 is deposited over acrylic mold 92. A fiberglass reinforcing mesh layer 96 is then placed over the slurry and further slurry 98 is deposited over top of fiberglass mesh 96. Thereafter, a second fiberglass reinforcing layer 100 is laid down over slurry 98 and further slurry is added as illustrated at 102 on top of the second fiberglass reinforcing layer.

[0051] As can be seen in FIG. 7G, an additional fiber glass reinforcing layer is added as illustrated at 104, followed by an additional slurry layer 106. Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 71, an additional fiberglass reinforcing layer 108 is added, followed by adding the last slurry layer 110 as shown in FIG. 7J.

[0052] As illustrated at FIG. 7K, the slurry built up on mold 92 is calendared by calendar rolls 114 so as to compress the slurry and the reinforcing meshes onto mold 92 to arrive at an MgO skin 120 having mesh reinforced tapered ends. As illustrated in FIG. 7L, after curing, the MgO skin is separated from mold 92, and as illustrated in FIG. 7M the finished skin 120 has its edges trimmed to final dimensions.

[0053] Referring to FIG. 8, in order to provide the acrylic mold, an extruder 130 is provided with acrylic melt 132 and through the molding provided by the extruder at the exit port 134, an extruded product 136 exits, which constitutes the extruded acrylic article. This is an exceedingly cost-effective way of providing a large number of acrylic molds 136 as illustrated in FIG. 9 having raised edges 138.

[0054] While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications or additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited to any single embodiment, but rather construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the recitation of the appended claims.