Embodiments of the present disclosure find application in the field of modular buildings which can be deployed rapidly comprising in particular a structure covered with a waterproof flexible material and/or components made of rigid material.
Temporary shelters are being used more and more due to their increasingly frequent use on a planetary scale on temporary sites. The current phenomenon of migrants for example requires such deployment in, in principle, temporary camps set up along the border of territories that they are seeking to enter. The world's conflict zones can additionally create a need for the setting up of accommodation facilities as a result of population displacement. The management of people who are homeless can also result from natural disasters such as earthquakes or eruptions, sometimes imposing massive population displacements.
In all these circumstances, just as much as in the case of theaters of humanitarian or military operations there is an emerging need, apart from housing, for provisional functional installations. The corresponding shelters or structures (field hospitals, military installations and the like) are in principle not intended to last, and are there to cater for urgent but specific situations.
One example of an erectable structure is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,475,514, in a configuration provided in particular for accommodating horses for the duration of equestrian events. A lifting bar connected by several wires to the structure is used during erection of the structure and is almost essential to perform these operations, among other disadvantages.
Another example is shown in US patent application 2014/0311053 which discloses a collapsible shelter with a sloping roof having a predetermined fixed slope, that is to say non-adjustable, among other disadvantages.
This background information is included to provide some information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present disclosure. No admission is intended, nor is such an admission to be inferred or construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present disclosure.
In one embodiment, a foldable and unfoldable structure for rapid erection of building in accordance with the present disclosure includes at least two portal frames constituting two generally parallel first sidewalls of the building, each one of two other sidewalls having means for vertical hinging relative, firstly, to uprights of the portal frames that they connect and, secondly, about an axis located centrally between the portal frames. It will be evident that the said articulations are there to allow the structure to be folded about itself, notably for transporting or storing it, and then for deploying it on-site in a few minutes. It is then covered with rigid and/or flexible material secured to at least one frame of the structure, said materials being associated with each one of front, rear and lateral sidewalls, a floor and a roof of the shelter once erected.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure, the portal frames are independent and the uprights of a portal frame each include a telescopically sliding inner profiled member for increasing the height thereof in order to give inclination to the roof, said inner profiled members being connected by an upper spar member and forming an upper secondary portal frame which is slidable within a said portal frame, sliding control means being provided in at least one of the uprights thereof.
Apart from the fact of considerably increasing the useful volume of the shelter coupled with optimization of the interior space, the configuration of disclosed embodiments is particularly suited to cold and rainy climates, since the possibility of deploying a sloping roof ensures good conditions for the evacuation of rainwater. This characteristic has a technical effect on the watertightness of the structure, and consequently on its immediate functional efficiency, giving a better guarantee than that of flat roof structures. The roof, which runs the entire length of the structure, further resists snow and the fact that it is sloping allows it to slide off, providing another substantial technical advantage of embodiments of the present disclosure, that of not having to take account of snow in the calculations.
In some embodiments, the roof is adjustable and can be set flat or be raised. Such flexibility is another advantage of the system.
The shelter according to embodiments of the present disclosure includes three generally parallel portal frames: a central portal frame fitted with a secondary sliding portal frame and two portal frames defining parallel front and rear walls of the shelter, once in an erected position. This symmetrical structure provides maximum useful area for a much reduced erection time.
In some embodiments, each portal frame includes a lower longitudinal member connecting the lower ends of the uprights, transforming the structure into a framework that increases overall rigidity which can facilitate erection/refolding operations. These longitudinal members also support the floor of rigid panels insulating the occupants from the ground. They additionally avoid using supplementary means for chocking up the floor elements from below.
In some embodiments, depending on the number of portal frames, at least one floor can be hinged relative to, firstly, a lower longitudinal member of one of two portal frames connected by said floor and secondly a horizontal axis centrally located between portal frames when the floor is deployed.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the inner profiled member of the upright of the portal frame provided with control means includes a rack gear adapted to cooperate with a pinion. To make for easy operation by the user, the shaft of the pinion can be accessed from outside of said upright directly or via a bevel gear device. The control of the pinion is accessible from outside or from inside the building.
In some embodiments, one end of said shaft or a coupling of the bevel gear device can be configured to be hollow, the shape of the recess then being adapted to accommodate one end of a manual or automated rotating tool. This can typically be a crank handle or a rotary tool such as a heavy duty drill with an end piece adapted to fit into the recess.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, one of the walls of the profiled member that slides in an upright can be provided with aligned apertures forming the steps of the rack. Other conventional rack designs are of course possible. Alternatively, the control can of course be motorized.
In some embodiments, rigid and flexible coverings are used with the unfoldable and foldable structures of the present disclosure. The sidewalls and the floor are provided with solid panels, so that the roof can be made of a flexible material such as a canvas-like material. The material in question can be put into position even before the secondary portal frame is deployed, the soft texture thereof allowing it to adapt to the process of erection. According to one possibility, the canvas-like material is advantageously watertight.
In some embodiments, the coverings of the walls, notably external but also the internal walls, for example to divide a shelter into two spaces, comprise at least one skin, ideally up to three skins, giving them properties of far greater insulation compared to those of a flexible material like fabric. The fact of having more layers or skins allows air gaps to be established therebetween, which increases and improves very substantially the building's insulation. Here, the term skin means a flexible or rigid material which is fixed to the structure and which provides, firstly, protection in the form of a covering, and, secondly, protection against the elements, so that objects and people who are inside the building are adequately protected, for instance against bad weather.
In some embodiments, the structural elements of the structure are of aluminum. The portal frame sidewalls can, in the structure of disclosed embodiments, be fully open, that is to say devoid of reinforcement in the form of posts, said portal frame providing sufficient stability to the structure. The lightness provided by this material provides in addition a considerable advantage during erection/folding up of the shelter, simple manual operations performed by a single individual being sufficient in this respect. According to an additional characteristic, the structural members include at least one longitudinal slot, often several, which allow simple and weathertight securing of certain coverings, such as soft coverings.
To make the structure easily transportable, provision is further advantageously made for the length of the portal frames assembled in the folded position to be less than the length of standard containers, notably 20 foot sea containers in disclosed embodiments. Other lengths are possible, depending on the type of packaging.
This ensures that a certain number of structures in the folded state can be placed in a single container, the standardized width of which is much greater than that of said folded structure.
Embodiments of the present disclosure concern buildings for housing and provisional functional installations such as field hospitals, military installations, dining rooms, kitchens, washrooms etc.
Embodiments of the present disclosure allow for speedy mounting/taking down during the erection of functional shelters in the shortest possible time. In other words, disclosed embodiments are especially adaptable to constraints which could possibly be found on a site where they are being installed, such as climatic conditions.
Referring to
Semi-sidewalls 10, 10′, 11, 11′ arranged symmetrically relative to central portal frame 3, are foldable relative to said portal frame 3, to one of the portal frames 2, 2′ and finally to a hinging axis A which is central with respect to them. These semi-sidewalls 10, 10′ are in practice each constituted by two frame structures 12, 13 (only one side carries reference numerals but they are present on both sides completely symmetrically) that can be hinged relative to one another about a vertical axis A, hinged with respect to portal frame 2 about a vertical axis B and with respect to portal frame 2′ about an axis C.
A secondary portal frame 15, visible as deployed in
Thus, as is apparent in
The recess 22 of prismatic shape of bevel gear system 19 is in addition accessible from outside of upright 7, and is used to control the rotation of pinion 20, in turn driving the profiled member 16 and the secondary portal frame 15 as described above.
The rapid erection and folding of the structure, including its floor and its roof, result in particular from the overall design discussed above. This original design adapts in every case to all applications requiring the erection of a temporary structure, not only where it is a matter of emergency as discussed above, but also for example in the world of entertainment (marquees and the like).
The present disclosure is not limited to the examples described and explained with reference to the drawings, but encompasses variants and versions notably of shape and materials which fall within the scope of the claims, such as regarding the steps in the rack or the driving pinion.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1655265 | Jun 2016 | FR | national |
This patent application is a U.S. nationalization under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2017/063720, filed Jun. 6, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This application also claims priority to French Patent Application No. 1655265, filed Jun. 8, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2017/063720 | 6/6/2017 | WO | 00 |