Patent Application
20220251831
The present invention relates to a building assembly, particularly to sealed building assembly for use in the construction of chambers, such as germ-free chambers or chambers in which a slight negative or positive pressure is generally present.
It is known for construction panels to be assembled by a variety of methods and assemblies. U.S. Publication No. 2015/0376899 illustrates one such method and assembly. However, a need exists for an improved assembling system for constructing chambers suitable for medical use, such as germ-free chambers and chambers having slightly negative pressure therein.
The present disclosure aims to provide a building assembly that may be easily and economically manufactured, and also easy to assemble, disassemble, or reassemble, further, the connected walls are air-sealed there between,
The object of the present disclosure is to provide a building assembly for use in the construction of chambers, e.g., germ-free chambers or chambers in which a slight negative or positive pressure is generally present. The chambers can be easily assembled, disassembled and/or reassembled in case of an emergency.
Accordingly, the first aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a building assembly, which includes:
a supporting member comprising a base having a front and rear sides, a channel disposed on the front side of the base at the center thereof, and a pair of rails independently extending parallel and adjacent to the channel at its left and right sides;
a pair of a first sealing members independently comprising a first base portion having a front and rear sides, and two retention tongues independently extending outwardly from the rear side of the first base portion along the entire longitudinal length thereof;
an elastically deformable gasket having a U- or V-shaped space in cross section and two flanges independently extending laterally from one edge of the U- or V-shaped space; and
a second sealing member comprising a second base portion having a front and rear sides, and a rib disposed on the rear side of the second base portion at the center along the longitudinal length thereof;
wherein,
the pair of the first sealing members are configured to engage with the supporting member via press-fitting the two retention tongues of each of the first sealing member into each of the rails of the supporting member;
the elastically deformable gasket is configured to be snap-fitted into the channel of the supporting member;
the second sealing member is configured to engage with the elastically deformable gasket via press-fitting the rib into the U- or V-shaped space of the elastically deformable gasket; and
the engagement of the pair of the sealing members with the supporting member creates a pair of pockets independently for receiving a construction panel therein.
According to preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, the second sealing member further includes first and second extensions respectively extending upwardly away from the rear side of the second base portion along the entire longitudinal length thereof.
According to alternative embodiments of the present disclosure, the supporting member further comprises a rectangular conduit formed on the rear side of the base.
According to preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, the first sealing member, the elastically deformable gasket and the second sealing member are independently made of a resilient material selected from the group consisting of polypropylene (PP), neoprene, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), and a combination thereof.
Examples of the TPE suitable for use in the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, thermoplastic styrene (TPS), thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), thermoplastic polyether ester (TPEE), thermoplastic polyamide (TPA), and the like. Preferably, the first sealing member and the second sealing member are respectively made of TPV, while the elastically deformable gasket is made of PP.
The disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the drawings given herein below for illustration only, and thus does not limit the disclosure, wherein:
Detailed descriptions and technical contents of the present disclosure are illustrated below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that the descriptions and the accompanying drawings disclosed herein are merely illustrative and exemplary and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
1. The Present Building Assembly
Referring more particularly to
The building assembly 100 in this embodiment comprises a supporting member 110, a pair of a first sealing members 120, an elastically deformable gasket 130, and a second sealing member 140. The supporting member 110 includes in its structure, a base 111 having a front side 1111 and a rear side 1112; a channel 112 formed at the center of the front side 1111 and extends longitudinally alone the entire length of the base 111; and two rails 114 respectively running parallel adjacent to the channel 112 at its left and right sides and extends longitudinally along the entire length of the base 111.
A pair of a first sealing members 120 are provided for engaging the two rails 114, respectively. Each sealing member 120 comprises a base portion 121 having a front and rear sides 1211, 1212; and two mirror-image retention tongues 122a, 122b independently extending outwardly from the rear side 1212 of the base portion 121 along the entire longitudinal length thereof. During assembly, each sealing member 120 is press-fitted or snap-fitted into one of the two rails 120 of the supporting member 110 to provide a sealed surface, and also creates a pocket 115 for subsequently holding a construction panel (not depicted in
To help holding the two construction panels 380 in the two pockets 115, an elastically deformable gasket 130 may be subsequently press-fitted or snap-fitted into the channel 112 of the supporting member 110. The elastically deformable gasket 130 has a U- or V-shaped space 132 in cross section, and two flanges 134 independently extending laterally from one edge of the U- or V-shaped space 132. Once the elastically deformable gasket 130 is press-fitted into the channel 112, the two flanges 134 will be pressed against the two construction panels 380 respectively held in the two pockets 115 (
Note that in the present disclosure, the first sealing members 120, the elastically deformable gasket 130, as well as the second sealing member 140 may be independently made of a resilient or elastic material, such as polypropylene (PP), neoprene, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), and the like. Examples of TPE material suitable for use in the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, thermoplastic styrene (TPS), thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), thermoplastic polyether ester (TPEE), thermoplastic polyamide (TPA) and the like. According to preferred embodiment, the first sealing members 120 and the second sealing member 140 are respectively made of TPV, while the elastically deformable gasket 130 is made of PP.
2. Alternative Design of the Present Building Assembly for Use in the Presence of a Construction Beam
Reference is now made to
As most of the components and pars in the building assembly 400 are same as those in the building assembly 100, thus the same components and parts are denoted by the common numbering elements. For example, the supporting member in
The supporting member 410 in this embodiment differs from that in
In order to assemble a germ-free chamber or a chamber having a slight negative pressure, the supporting member 410 may be first threadedly secured to the beam 450 by screws 460 or any suitable nut-bolt structure, then the pair of the first sealing members 420 are snap-fitted into the two rails 414 thereby forming two pockets 415 for respectively receiving two wall panels 480 therein. Note that the two pockets 415 are not visible from
Each of the components discussed above in
It will be understood that the above description of embodiments is given by way of example only and that various modifications may be made by those with ordinary skill in the art. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the structure and use of exemplary embodiments of the invention. Although various embodiments of the invention have been described above with a certain degree of particularity, or with reference to one or more individual embodiments, those with ordinary skill in the art could make numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure.
