Patent Grant
11686091
This invention relates to fasteners in particular but not limited to fasteners utilised in deflection situations where it is desirable to provide for deflection between a wall assembly and an associated floor or substrate to which that wall assembly is connected.
There are known arrangements for placement of wall frames utilising tracks or the like with an upper track secured to a roof or ceiling at the head end and a lower track secured to the floor with the wall frame studs between them. This can be between concrete slabs as for example in multi storey buildings where the upper track is positioned in order to take into account vertical deflection of the slab relative to the wall. While these arrangements have been around for many years there have not been any efforts to improve the structural integrity of the connection of the track to the concrete slab particularly in shear across the plane of the wall at the head. The patent literature provides examples of various combinations that have their own advantages and disadvantages, some of course have never actually been used. The following are examples and although these documents have been listed these are from a post invention search and do not constitute an admission of common general knowledge in Australia or anywhere else.
US Patent Application 2006/0032157 (Baryla et al) describes a “Seismic Wall System” where a top track is loosely secured for axial relative movement and studs are floating within the frame. An essential requirement of this system is relative vertical movement between the studs and top track with the studs being positioned by notches in the tracks both top and bottom. Since there is no coupling between the studs and tracks, the stud to track interface is inherently weak. US Patent Applications 2016/0201319 and 2017/0032157 (both to Pilz) describe a fire-rated head of wall joint where an insert or layered insert between a head track and ceiling expands upon heating. The head track is secured by standard concrete screws and is spaced by a gap from the ceiling above by reason of the inserts. Similar is U.S. Pat. No. 3,309,825 (Zinn et al). The present invention does not use inserts to set the gap. GB 461,706 (Fisk) describes a sound absorbing partition wall that permits ventilation and accounts for any vibration in floor or ceiling. The walls are mounted top and bottom using ‘floating” screws where the spacing of the frame is by felt spacers.
It should be clear that walls have been used for many years. The above are non-limiting examples and it should also be appreciated that the art of internal walls and their constructions is a “well developed” or “crowded art”.
It is with this background in mind that the present invention was given birth, the present invention arises through the inventor's desire to provide a useful alternative to the prior art and in response to the inventor's quite unexpected finding that material could be saved and existing walls could be strengthened by simple modification of existing arrangements in track securement and frame coupling to the track. This means for any given BMT (base metal thickness) the present invention yields greater strength.
All of the prior art arrangements have the disadvantages of being either very complex or have structural weaknesses or do not efficiently employ the materials used in an environmentally friendly manner.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a fastening arrangement which improves the structural integrity of the connection of the track and hence the associated wall to the concrete slab above it as well as simplify the construction method and optimise the materials used to save costs and make a sustainable and environmentally friendly system by achieving structural gains with less material.
Outline
In one aspect therefore there is provided a wall frame comprising top and bottom tracks secured to top and bottom surfaces, spaced studs extending between the channels in fixed spaced relation to form with the top and bottom tracks a rigid frame, spaced fasteners used to secure the tracks to the surfaces and to account for surface deflection each fastener comprising a hold section, a head and a deflection guide slideway in axial slidable engagement with the track to account for surface deflection, the fastener having a stop adapted to set the distance of the head from the surface and thereby set the track distance from the surface.
In another aspect there is provided a fastener used to secure a track in fixed spaced relation to a surface to account for surface deflection and for the mounting of a wall in the track, the fastener comprising a hold section, typically a thread, a head and a deflection guide slideway in axial slidable engagement with the track to account for deflection. The deflection guide slideway is typically a shank section of the fastener and having a physical stop to limit penetration of the hold section. Preferably, the physical stop has an associated locating means such that the fastener is able to locate the track in its operative position. In one form the physical stop and locating means has a stop face. Typically, the stop face is an end of the shank adjacent the thread. In a preferred form the deflection guide slide is a cylindrical section of the fastener and the stop face is an annular shoulder proud of the thread with the thread terminating adjacent the stop face. The deflection guide slideway preferably extends from one end of the the hold section to the head, the effect being that when the stop face is hard up against the surface the head is at a predetermined distance from the surface and this distance is substantially the same for all the fasteners along the track. Preferably, the head has a flange adapted to be secured in register with the track at a predetermined distance from the surface and the shank providing a dowel function enabling sliding movement of the fastener relative to the track in order to take account of deflection of the surface relative to the track. The present invention is typically employed at the top or bottom of a vertical wall. The fastener may be unitary or of two parts.
In a second aspect there is provided a heavy duty wall track space setting fastener being unitary or of two parts having a hold section, a head section and an axially extending deflection guide slideway between the head and hold section and a transversely extending stop face at a hold section end of the deflection guide slideway. The deflection guide slideway is typically a dowel section and the stop face is an outer edge of one end of the dowel section at a juncture between the dowel section and the hold section. The hold section is typically a thread, the deflection guide slideway is a cylinder and the stop face is an outer edge of one end of the cylinder adjacent to a thread termination.
In another aspect there is provided a wall assembly comprising an upper track, a lower track, wall frame elements extending between the tracks, the upper track being spaced from an adjacent surface and being in axial slidable engagement with spaced fasteners, each fastener having a deflection guide slideway passing through the track. Typically, each fastener has a spacer with a stop setting a space between the track and then secured into concrete and having track sections with fasteners according to the above securing the track in the concrete at a distance determined by the length of the shank of the fastener. Typically a gap is formed above the track and a filler or spacer arrangement is employed in the gap. The spacer arrangement may be any suitable infill and one example may be a fire/acoustic rated single sided adhesive layered expandable/compressible tape or foam. This tape may be adhesively applied to the upper outer surface of the channel and its other side compresses against the underside of the surface above the track.
In a still further aspect there is provided a wall frame track having spaced guideways through which deflection guide slideways pass. These guideways are typically spaced holes in a crown section of the track. The spaced holes may be elongated slots. The track preferably has at least one sidewall and cladding is secured to the sidewall either on it inside or outside using suitable fasteners. Typically, there is a top and bottom track supporting a wall and the tracks are each generally in a channel having spaced said side walls and cladding secured to the side walls with spaced fasteners.
In another preferred form there is provided an in situ rigid wall assembly comprising an upper track, a lower track, wall frame elements extending between the tracks and being fixed to the tracks, the wall assembly being secured to concrete surfaces via the tracks, the upper track having axially spaced and axially extending slots and being spaced from an adjacent said concrete surface and being in axial slidable engagement with spaced fasteners passing through each of the slots, each fastener having a deflection guide slideway passing through the track and a stop setting a gap between the track and the concrete determined by the position of the stop, a filler or spacer arrangement employed in the gap and wall cladding secured to the wall frame elements and to the tracks. In case where the frame elements align with the head of a fastener it is preferable to have a gap to accommodate the head. In the case of a channel stud there is a U-shaped cut out to accommodate the head.
In a still further aspect there is provided a method to secure a wall track to a surface comprising:
The method may further comprise using a track connector bracket between sections of track. Preferably, the track connector bracket coincides in use at a location with or without a vertical stud. Typically, the vertical stud is secured to the connected track ends through gaps in the bracket. Preferably, the track ends first over the bracket and the method includes sliding and end of a further track over an already fastened track section and bracket and subsequently securing the further track using said fasteners and also to the bracket.
Preferably, the track ranges in width from 64 mm to 150 mm with a base metal thickness ranging from 0.5 mm-1.5 mm and with guideways comprising axially spaced slots with a slot length ranging from 60 mm-310 mm. The slots may be evenly spaced. More preferably, the slot to wall height may be selected from the following table:
In order that the present invention may be more readily understood and be put into practical effect reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention as applied at the top of a vertical wall but it will be appreciated that the top track may be at the bottom of the wall and wherein:—
Referring to the drawings and initially to
In these arrangements the ceiling 14 has to be arranged in relation to the wall 15 for deflection of the ceiling 14, consequentially, the track 11 is spaced from the underside surface 16 by a distance of typically 20 mm and a suitable compressible spacer arrangement 17 is located between the upper surface 18 of the track 11 and the underside surface 16. The spacer arrangement 17 may be any suitable infill and one example may be a fire/acoustic rated single sided adhesive layered expandable/compressible tape or foam. This tape may be applied adhesively to the upper outer surface of the channel and its other side compresses against the underside of the concrete.
The lower track 12 is secured using concrete screws 19 which are located at spaced intervals along the track 12. In order that the track 11 may be secured in place fasteners 20 according to the present invention secure the track at spaced intervals along the track into the concrete slab 14.
Referring now to
Referring to
It will be appreciated by reason of the shank 25 and the self drilling capability of the thread on the fastener 20 that it is a simple matter to utilise the fastener 20 which is in the form of a heavy duty fastener at stud centers along the length of the track. This provides a very secure arrangement for simply and easily marking out centres and drilling and then securing the track in position while at the same time catering for the shank to enable the deflection allowance as prescribed for this type of assembly.
The plasterboard is secured with screws. An open cell compressible backing rod 42 is secured and located in the 20 mm gap 43 and then a sealant 44 is applied to fill the gap between the top of the plasterboard and the underside of the slab. The plasterboard may typically be fire rated as is the sealant. This is repeated as illustrated in
Referring now to
Referring now to
In each of the embodiments the track material may be made from lesser or thicker and stronger metals as may be desired by the application. In some cases it may be desirable to make the track self holding from thicker material one example being 0.75 mm Zincalume (registered trade mark of Bluescope Steel) or similar may be used and in this case it is possible to omit the straps 51 altogether. In this case the fastener spacing may be further apart but of course the fastener spacing may be selected according to need.
In order for track sections to be joined a connector bracket illustrated in
It will be appreciated that once the bracket 53 and the track section 54 is secured then the end 59 of a second track section 60 may be manually located above the bracket 53 to abut with the end of track section 54 and before securing the track 60 to the bracket 53, the track section 60 may be secured at its far end using a fastener 56. Further fasteners 56 may be added. The stud 58 may be added later. It will be appreciated that the installation of the track sections in this case can then be a single man operation. A bracket similar to bracket 53 may be employed with curved track sections.
The bracket 53 has a crown 61, corner flanges 62 used to secure the track sections and stud openings 63 used to enable the tracks to be secured directly to the stud 58. There are also cut outs 64 in the bracket and U-shaped cut out 65 (shown in phantom in
Referring now to
The below is what has been tested at the testing facilities to date with all (BMT) Base Metal Thickness of the tracks. Track length is typically 2400 mm upwards, stud spacing, and fastener spacing and plasterboard applied according to industry norms.
All elongated slots are 10 mm wide in all track widths (64 mm, 76 mm, 92 mm, 150 mm). All setup passed the AS 1170.4-2007 as set out below. Applicant is confident of compliance with other standards. Present commonly used arrangements do not comply.
With the present invention one can cut elongated slots up to 309 mm long. In the present examples these specific lengths in testing (110 mm, 235 mm 309 mm slots) were testing the strengths for the most commonly use track width (64 mm, 76 mm, 92 mm, 150 mm) and (“BMT”) Base Metal Thickness, 0.55 mm, 0.75 mm, 1.15 mm in the field taking into account the inter-story drift limits required to be satisfied with typical government legislation, to gauge the strength of the system. It was found that the present invention produced greater strength in sheer than present systems (which do not satisfy current standards) but with lower base metal thickness, thus providing overall long term savings in metal used while at the same time meeting safety standard for floor and roof deflection.
In the examples a 110 mm slot will cover walls up to 3.0 m in height, a 235 mm slot will cover walls up to 7.2 m in height and a 309 mm slot will cover walls up to 10.0 m in height.
Of course other options are possible, for example one could produce a 150 mm slot as this will cover most commonly used height walls of up to 4.5 m. This may cover approximately 80% of walls being built in the market.
Typically, slots from 80 mm in length through to 309 mm in length (as per the table below) will cover all wall systems that can be constructed as per typical legislation, for example Australian Standard AS 1170.4-2007, that walls must cater for a inter-story drift of up to 1.5% of the storey height for each level.
The table below sets out approximate slot lengths for wall height using 9 mm fasteners through the slots at nominal 600 mm centres as described above with standard stud and fastener locations and 13 mm plasterboard fitted to each side of the wall. Foam sealant was applied in the 20 mm gap between the top track and the underside of the concrete. The tests were repeated with foam strips.
Sheer load testing of the various track, stud and fastener combinations in the above BMTs for the tracks demonstrated stud to track failure, at displacement of 6 mm-10 mm and ranging from applied loads of 2.5 kN for the thinner tracks to 7 kN for thicker tracks. These tests employed a 600 mm test rig with tracks of the type shown in
Graph 1. Shown in
The next test involved testing straight track sections to determine the deformation of the slots about the fastener connections. A small test rig was used to apply sheer to a section of track until the track deformed about the fastener.
The test results are shown in Tables 2 and 3 using a track and 9 mm fastener of the type illustrated in
Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative example many variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broad ambit and scope of the invention as set out in the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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| 2017901181 | Mar 2017 | AU | national |
| 2017902893 | Jul 2017 | AU | national |
| 2017903164 | Aug 2017 | AU | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/AU2018/000047 | 3/29/2018 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2018/176077 | 10/4/2018 | WO | A |
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| 20210108410 A1 | Apr 2021 | US |
