Patent Application
20250207408
The present invention relates to the field of buildings and façade cladding. In particular, the invention relates to the attachment of a decorative or cladding panel to a façade with suspended panels, comprising panels suspended from a structure itself generally attached to a wall, the panels covering the façade when in place.
Suspended façades make it possible to clad a pre-existing wall or façade with panels such as glazing, slithers or slabs of facing stone, etc.
Suspended-panel façades make it possible to improve the aesthetics of building façades, and to modify the optical and thermal properties when glazed panels, using active glazing, are deployed to stop or reflect incident solar or infra-red rays. Façades with suspended panels also make it possible to conceal functional elements, such as insulation, or at least make them less visible.
The panels for these facades are large in size and mass, and the various elements composing the façade are delivered in kits, which professionals then install on site.
The façade generally comprises a supporting structure, that is attached to the wall or building. This supporting structure has regularly distributed attachment points. The panels are then attached to these attachment points by specific attachment devices.
The panels being relatively heavy (tens or even hundreds of kilogrammes in weight) and the façade being able to rise to relatively significant heights (several metres or tens of metres), attaching the panels to the supporting structure is an important safety element.
In addition to the weight of the panels, the attachment of the panels to the supporting structure is subject to significant stresses: expansion in two directions of the panel material during changes in temperature, vibrations and wind pressure, etc. Degrees of freedom and/or elastically deformable fasteners must be provided without the strength, safety and durability of the façade being impacted.
In particular, screw fasteners passing through the panels are known. The panels in these façades have drilled holes. Screws are inserted into these drilled holes and then forcefully engaged with the supporting structure. The supporting structure thus advantageously comprises rails in which the screws can slide within the plane of the panel.
In particular, the drilled holes may comprise a housing for the screw head, which is flush with the outer wall of the panel.
In these façades, however, the screws are always visible, and may affect the desired aesthetic finish, particularly when decorative panels, such as riven or decorated stone panels, are incorporated into the façade.
In addition, the drilled hole in the panel weakens the structure and concentrates potentially strong stresses. The safety of the facade and passers-by underneath may be compromised.
Therefore, there is a need for an attachment device between a supporting structure and panels for façades with suspended panels, that is, at the same time, strong, easy to assemble, discreet once installed and can nevertheless withstand the specific stresses of façades with suspended panels.
In order to meet this need, the invention proposes a device for attaching a panel to a supporting structure of a façade with suspended panels, the panel having a rear face orientated towards the supporting structure, and a front face, the device comprising:
The attachment device according to the invention is simple and quick to assemble. Furthermore, once the panel has been put in place, only the fingers of the clip are still visible on the front face. It is then possible to make the attachment device more discreet, in order to improve the aesthetic finish.
The device according to the invention may furthermore have one or more of the following features.
The corner fitting may be composed of a metallic sheet and in that the snap fasteners comprise snap-fastening tabs cut out in the corner fitting, and the complementary snap fasteners comprise recesses of corresponding shape and arrangement on the bearing surface of the clip.
In particular, the tabs are easy to cut and shape, for example, by stamping.
The device may further comprise an elastic element, arranged, in the assembled state, between the corner fitting and the bearing surface of the clip, and be compressed when the panel is in place.
The elastic element maintains the panel within the clip, under compression.
Again, if the corner fitting is composed of a metallic sheet, the elastic element may also include elastic tabs cut out or stamped into the corner fitting.
The device may include a sheet of adhesive, in an assembled state, with the corner fitting against the panel.
The various elements may thus, in particular, be delivered in the form of a complete kit, not requiring the installer to use any adhesive procured separately.
The clip may be composed of a folded metallic strip, and the fingers are integral with the bearing surface.
The clip may comprise side panels, forming a bearing surface for an edge and an end of the panel, and from which the fingers extend.
Such a clip is easy and quick to produce, by cutting and folding a metal plate.
The means for attaching the panel to the supporting structure may, in particular, comprise brackets, configured to engage in a rail of the supporting structure and to move longitudinally with respect to said rail.
The brackets attached, in the assembled state, at an upper corner of the panel, may also advantageously move along the height.
The brackets attached, in the assembled state, to a lower corner of the panel, may further comprise means for snap-fastening with the rail of the supporting structure, preventing the removal of the panel when snap-fastened with said rail.
These brackets greatly facilitate the installation of the panel onto the supporting structure.
The corner fitting may have fitting fingers engaging an edge or end of the panel.
These fitting fingers form a natural stop, aiding positioning during assembly.
Other features and advantages of the attachment according to the invention will be apparent from reading the following detailed description of the figures, in which:
The following figures are provided as illustrative and non-limiting examples: Other embodiments are directly derivable from these by means of minor modifications and combinations of different embodiments.
Alternatively, the panels 1 may be made of stone, in particular, riven facing stone, laminated glass, solid toughened glass, or even simply metal. The panels 1 may, in particular, be covered with screen printing or other cladding for aesthetic purposes.
The panels 1 are arranged vertically, in this case, parallel to a wall 200 of a building. Gravity, or at least the top-down direction of the panels 1 (orthogonal to the edge of the 20 panel 1), if the façade 100 is inclined, provides a height axis, the length (orthogonal to the end of the panel 1) corresponds to a direction considered as longitudinal, the third direction, corresponding to the thickness of the panels 1 (orthogonal to the flat of the panel 1), is considered as transverse.
The façade 100 comprises a supporting structure 110 which is anchored to the wall 200. Alternatively, the supporting structure 110 may itself be suspended, from a roof or eaves, between neighbouring posts or two walls, etc. Finally, the supporting structure 110 may form the support on its own, without a wall 200 or building, by being directly anchored to the ground.
The supporting structure 110 is, in this case, composed of parallel rails, for example, screwed to the wall 200. The panels 1 are attached to the supporting structure 110 by attachment devices 10, which engage both the panels 1 and the rails.
Alternatively, the supporting structure 110 may have discontinuous attachment points, anchored to the wall 200, for example.
A attachment device 10 is shown in more detail and exploded in
The attachment device 10 comprises:
In particular, the collar 5 may be in the form of a bolt or a rivet, or even simply in the form of a rigid rod.
The corner fitting 7 is, notably, in the form of a triangle or trapezium cut from a metallic sheet, in particular, made of stainless steel or spring steel. However, other forms may be envisaged without deviating from the concept of the invention.
The corner fitting 7 is bonded against the corner of the panel 1 by means of a sheet of adhesive 8. These two elements have an identical shape, which allows them to overlap. The shapes of the triangle, in particular, the right-hand triangle, and of the trapezium, with two sides at right angles, make it possible to form the corner fitting 7 to the corner of the panel 1, and, in particular, to have sides of the corner fitting 7 which are parallel to or coincide with the segments of the edges of the corner of the panel 1 while optimising the bonding surface.
On the side opposite to the panel 1 in an assembled state, the corner fitting 7 has snap fasteners 11, in this case, in the form of snap-fastening tabs cut out from the corner fitting 7.
The corner fitting 7 also has cut-out elastic tabs on this same side opposite the panel 1, which form, in the assembled state, an elastic element 13 arranged between the corner fitting 7 and the clip 9.
The clip 9 comprises fingers 15 starting from a bearing surface 17, which engage with the edges of the panel 1, and recesses on the bearing surface 17 of a shape and arrangement corresponding to the elastic tabs forming complementary snap fasteners 19 to the snap fasteners 11 of the corner fitting 7.
The snap-fastening and/or elastic tabs have the advantage of being able to be obtained during a single stamping step, that is quick and inexpensive, the tabs being cut by shearing, at the same time, as the out-of-plane deformation of the sheet of said tabs.
Similarly, the recesses of the clip 9 may be obtained by drilling or milling, rapid and controlled machining methods.
According to particular embodiments, the same tabs may combine the function of a snap fastener 11 and an elastic element 13.
However, other snap fasteners 11 and elastic elements 13 can be envisaged: attached and bonded parts, assembled or riveted to the corner fitting 7, conical stamping, spring washers, etc.
The snap fasteners 11 and the elastic elements 13, hold the panel 1 hyperstatically by means of the compression between the bearing surface 17 and the fingers 15. The strength of panel 1 is reinforced, particularly with respect to vibrations and transverse forces (accidental pressure, wind, earthquakes, etc.).
In the case of an attachment device 10 for an upper corner of the panel 1, the corner fitting 7 also has fitting fingers 21, with a fitting finger 21 bearing, in the assembled state, against the upper edge of the panel 1, and a fitting finger 21 bearing against the end of the panel 1.
These application fingers 21 form, on the one hand, an aid to the positioning of the fitting 7 during assembly, and on the other hand, provide a stop against the movement of the fitting 7 downwards and towards the inside of the panel 1.
The clip 9 is, in this case, composed, in particular, of a single piece, particularly a folded metallic strip, having two folded side panels 23 and forming a bearing surface for the edge and the end of the panel 1, and from which the fingers 15 extend. The bearing surface 17, the side panels 23, and the fingers 15 are made in one piece, the fingers 15 extending the side panels 23 when the strip forming the clip 9 is considered as flat.
The side panels 23 are, in particular, in the plane containing the transverse and longitudinal directions, the fingers 15 are in the plane containing the height and longitudinal directions.
Alternatively, the clip 9 may be assembled from different foundry or metallurgical elements: a plate forming the bearing surface, and corners or brackets forming the fingers 15 which are welded or attached to the plate forming the bearing surface 17.
According to other alternatives, the clip 9 may be moulded directly into shape.
The bearing surface 17 has a hole 25 forming a passage for the collar 5.
The bracket 3 comprises a bracket body 27 made of solid metal, for example, aluminium or stainless steel with chromium, machined by milling, drilling and cutting in the solid metal.
The body of the bracket 27 is integral with a bracket finger 29, of a shape and dimensions corresponding to the rails of the supporting structure 110, with which it engages, in the assembled state of the panel 1, with the façade 100.
The body of the bracket 29 comprises a hole 31, configured to engage with the collar 5.
The collar 5, in this case, comprises a washer 33, in particular, made of a vibration-absorbing material, such as plastic (for example, HDPE high-density polyethylene) or cross-linked rubber. However, this washer 33 is optional.
The hole 25 and the head of the collar 5 are, in particular, shaped to fit together, by milling or stamping, so that the head of the collar 5 is flush with the bearing surface 17 in the assembled state of the attachment device 10, while engaging with the clip 9.
The bracket 3 further comprises a blind hole 35, opening at right angles from one of its sides into the drilled hole 31, and into which a trunnion 37 is inserted to hold the collar 5 in place.
The collar 5, during assembly, is therefore inserted into the hole 25 in the clip 9, then into the drilled hole 31 in the bracket 3.
The panel 1, to which the corner fitting 7 is bonded, in particular, by means of the adhesive sheet 8, is then inserted into the clips 9, and the snap fastener between the corner fittings 7, and the clips 9 secures the attachment devices 10 and the panel 1 in an assembly that can be handled as a whole.
The collar 5 is then locked in position by means of the trunnion 37.
The panel 1, together with the attachment devices 10, is then inserted into the supporting structure 110 by engaging the bracket fingers 29 with the rails.
Other variants of the invention may, in particular, make use of known alternatives of the means of attachment to the supporting structure 110. As an example, the collar 5 may extend and engage directly with an anchor or an attachment point of the supporting structure 110.
The assembly formed by the corner fitting 9 and the clip 9 is adaptable to numerous means of attachment to the supporting structure 110, said attachment means being able to vary according to the nature of the supporting structure 110 (suspended, anchored in a wall 200, etc.).
The bracket 3, intended for an attachment device 10 for the lower corner of the panel 1, further comprises snap fasteners for connecting to the rail 39. These snap fasteners for connecting to the rail 39 are, in this case, in the form of a Z-shaped arm, articulated at one end to the body of the bracket 27 with an elastic stress that tends to return said Z-shaped arm towards the bracket finger 29. The Z-shaped arm engages with the lower face of the rail and prevents, when snap-fastened with said rail, any removal via the top of the bracket 3 and therefore the panel becoming disconnected 1 from the façade 100.
The Z-shaped arm is, in this case, obtained by deformation of a U-shaped metallic rod, and the free ends of the U-shaped rod are folded and inserted into corresponding housings of the body of the bracket 27, and form an axis of rotation.
The attachment devices 10 all comprise elements which are identical or symmetrical two-by-two: identical except for one rotation for the diagonally-opposite attachment devices 10, symmetrical for the attachment devices 10 on the same edge.
It follows that economies of scale may be achieved during the production of the attachment devices 10.
In this embodiment, the corner fitting 7 has a trapezoidal shape, and therefore a recess is observed between the very corner of the panel 1 and the edge of the corner fitting 7. This recess is, in particular, imposed by the standards and legislations of many countries. In particular, the thickness of the trapezoidal corner fitting 7 and the thickness of the metallic strip used to obtain the clip 9 of the preceding figures may correspond to one another.
The corner fitting 7 is then made more discreet by being covered by the clip 9.
The clip 9 has a square U-shaped profile, with two perpendicular arms, the panel 1 being inserted into this U-shaped profile, the two arms resting against the edge and the end of the panel 1. The clip 9 therefore has, towards the front, on the visible side of the panel 1 in the façade 100, a continuous lip 41 instead of clearly separated fingers 15.
The continuous lip 41 is, however, an obvious alternative to the fingers 15 for the person skilled in the art.
The attachment device 10 according to the invention, with a corner fitting 7 and clip 9, is quick and simple to assemble, and makes it simpler to attach the panels 1 to the supporting structure 110.
Furthermore, unlike through-screw attachment devices, only the end of the fingers 15 of the clip 9 appears on the visible face of panel 1.
The attachment device 10 is then potentially more discreet in the façade, or at the very least makes it possible to provide a visual alternative to the through-screws and visible screws.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| FR2202700 | Mar 2022 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2023/057594 | 3/24/2023 | WO |
