The present invention relates to glazing systems at which glass elements meet each other edge to edge without any visible framing. Such glazing is sometimes referred to as structure glazing.
At the above mentioned glazing systems, the glass elements may be in the form of single glass or in the form of sealed glazing units with two or more glass sheets that are stuck to each other with air or gas-filled spaces. At a typical such arrangement with sealed glazing units, the glass elements are constituted by an inner and an outer glass sheet, where the latter shall form the façade surface of the glazing. The two glass sheets are joined together with an intermediate frame, which, at least at the side edges of the glass elements, is indented from these edges, at which a groove from the respective edge thereby is formed. When the glass elements are mounted with the edges of their outer glass sheets adjacent to each other, there shall be slots on the inside between the inner glass elements.
In an assembled condition, the glass elements are supported by the supporting frame of the building, which is situated inside the façade. At the lower edge of the respective glass element, the supporting elements extend from the frame and in under it. At said design with sealed glazing units, the supporting elements extend into said slot, such that the inner glass sheet can rest against the supporting element with its lower edge. In this way, the weight of the glass element supported by the frame via the supporting elements. Besides, it is required that the glass elements are retained that they do not tip and fall outwards or inwards. For retaining the glass elements, attachment elements which are connected with the building frame are provided, which attachment elements extend in over the side edges of the glass elements and grip around these. For the design with double glass sheets, the attachment elements extend in said slot at the side edges of the glass elements and into said groove at these edges, in a position where they grip around the edge of the inner glass sheet. This retaining must resist relatively large forces, especially wind forces, which strive to press the glass elements inwards or pull them outwards.
In order to enable the supporting elements to extend under the respective glass element and to enable the attachment elements to grip around the side edges of the glass elements, it is required that slots are left between the edges of these when the glass elements are made as single glass. For the design with double glasses in the glass elements, slots are required at the edges only for the innermost glass sheets, while the outer may be joined edge to edge.
A typical such a retaining arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,236 (Allen). In a cross section in the patent document (
At the attachment elements, which shall grip around the edge of the glass sheet, there is a risk that the edge is broken if the mounting is too rigid. Should such breakage occur, and the risk is especially large when large wind forces appear, this may result in that the glass element tips outwards and, falls down, which, of course, is a catastrophe. The risk for the occurrence of this increases with the size of the glass element. Large elements are often desired, due to the fact that these have a lesser length for outer joints and due to the fact that the supporting frame on the inside may be made to be more free. The latter is especially interesting with so called outrigged systems, where the frame does not constitute an actual building part, but only has the function to support a glass wall. In order to provide for this wall to stand as freely as possible, the frame is thus made with beams and sometimes also with firmly tightened steel wires at a distance from the inner glass surface and joining the frame and the supporting and attachment elements of the glass elements with supports.
The purpose of the present invention is to achieve a retaining of the glass elements. The device shall thus provide for two functions: Carrying the weight of the glass elements and retaining the elements against tipping movements outwards from the frame and inwards against the frame. This shall be achieved by means of retaining devices comprising attachment elements, which provide for a flexible mounting with respect to the inner glass sheet, such that the attachment elements are provided with such a flexibility against deformations, for example bending and small movements of the glass elements, that a breakage of the glass edge may be avoided. By means of the invention there is also achieved a simple mounting and a possibility to make the joints between the glass elements very thin as no inner parts have to be accessible from the façade during mounting. The system according to the invention also provides good opportunities for outrigging of glass walls from the supporting frame.
These purposes of the invention are achieved by means of a retaining device comprising attachment elements, which are joined with the edge of the glass sheet before the mounting of the glass elements and which provide a certain flexibility between the glass sheet and the attachment element. The attachment element is in turn supported by a device for connection with a building frame, which allows a certain, accurately controlled movement between the supporting frame and the attachment elements and thus also for the glass elements. Both the attachment element and the retaining device are more apparent in the following description of embodiment examples.
In the following, a preferred embodiment of the glazing system according to the invention is described, which relates to a design with the glass elements made as sealed glazing units with double glass sheets. In the following, it is referred to the appended drawings, where
The glazing system according to the invention for mounting building façades or glazings and roofs to spaces are primarily assembled by sheet-shaped module elements, in the illustrated figures designated with 1. Each module element comprises an outer sheet 2 and an inner sheet 3. They have thus the form of a sealed glazing unit. Preferably, the surface of the module elements 1 is rectangular or square and mounted on a building frame with a horizontal lower and upper edge and with vertical side edges. The elements are mounted with their edges beside each other, such that the larger surface that is required in order to form a façade or a glazing part, is formed. Even if it is assumed here that the elements are perpendicular, when building glazing systems according to the invention, it is not excluded that elements of other forms may be used, for example triangular or polygonal, either solely or in combination with perpendicular elements. In a façade or a glazing there may also be elements such as doors, openable windows or wall-parts made in different building materials.
It is here also assumed that the module elements are joined by glass sheets, which does not exclude that instead of sheets of glass, sheets of another material may be used, for example plastic. As mentioned in the introduction, the elements may be made as single glass or as sealed glazing units with two or more glass sheets with spaces intermediate. All such deviations from which is described here as a preferred embodiment, fall within the scope Glazing System of the invention. Since glass is the dominating material in the present context, the terms Glazing System, Glazing and Glass Element, Glass sheets are used in the following in this description.
Each glass element 1 is at this described embodiment composed by an outer glass sheet 2 and an inner glass sheet 3, which are joined by means of a framework 4, which extends along the edges of the element. As shown in
For supporting the glass elements, these have to be connected with the frame of the building. At façade glazings this is usually a building frame that is arranged with floor levels between which spaces are formed. The façade may thus closely attach to the building frame. At glazings, where a space completely or partly is to be confined by glass walls shall be done, the main task of the frame is to support these glass walls made by glass elements. Usually, the frame thus consists of an open beam system. In order to give the glazing a character that is as open as possible, it occurs that this beam system is positioned at a distance from the glass walls, preferably on the inside. Thus, distance organs are required for support of the glass elements, which distance organs extend between the frame and the glass elements, while, at the façades that have been mentioned, the glass elements may be firmly established close to the building frame. The glazing system according to the present invention is arranged to be adapted to both the mentioned cases and provides extraordinary possibilities to build glazings with a distance between the glass wall and the frame, so called outrigged systems.
In the following, the specifics of the invention will now be described, which mainly relate to the device for connecting the glass elements with the building frame. As mentioned, the device shall provide for two functions: Absorbing gravitational forces due to the glass element's own weight, and retaining the elements from tipping movements outwards from the frame and inwards against the frame. The connection shall thus allow certain movements between the glass elements and the frame; with a too rigid connection, breakage in the glass elements is risked. A rod-shaped distance element 18 shown in
The supporting element 22 emanates from the edge of the supporting unit 20 and in the design shown in the figures it has the shape of a plate, which is cut into the edge surface of supporting unit 20. According to
The retaining device 23 extends between the connection unit 20 and respective attachment element 12, which grips over the side edge 9 of the inner glass sheet 3. The attachment element is shown more in detail in the section 7 in
The attachment element 12 shall be connected with the frame via the attachment handle 38 via the connection unit 20 by means of the retaining device 23. As apparent from especially
For the design that has been described, it is assumed that each glass element is equipped with two attachment elements 12 on each side edge 9 of the glass sheet 3 (
By in this way collecting all the organs, which are required for support and retaining of the glass elements, to the points where the corners of the four glass elements meet, the least possible number of connections between the glass elements and the building frame is required over continuous surfaces. This is very advantageous, especially at outrigged systems where one desires to have the glass wall as free from the requisite beam frame as possible.
When building a glass wall of the kind that has been described with sealed glazing units, one starts with glass elements 1, which have been produced by means of joining of the two glass sheets 2 and 3 via the frame work 4 and the uniting compound 6. The interspace, that is formed between the glass sheets, provides heat and noise isolating properties to the wall. These may be enhanced by inserting a suitable gas in the interspace and/or by coating the glass surfaces with a heat regulating layer. Preferably each glass element is provided with four attachment elements 12 on its inner glass sheets 3 at the example shown. As mentioned, every glass element may, however, by change attachment devices with several attachment elements, which may be required for very large glass elements. Attachment takes place by means of the compound 37 that has been inserted in the play between the groove 33. If the attachment elements are mounted before transport to the building site, they form a certain protection for the edges of the glass surfaces at transport and handling.
Before mounting of the glass elements takes place, the supporting frame is completed by supplying it with the prescribed connection units 20, which either are mounted directly on the building frame or via distance elements such as the elements 18. After this completion, the connection units shall be equipped with the supporting elements 22 and the arms 42 of the retaining devices 23. When the glass elements shall be mounted on the prepared frame, the attachment handles 38 are first mounted on the pre-mounted attachment elements 12 and are fixed to these. Letting the attachment elements 12 be equipped with attachment handles previously than immediately before mounting should make the glass elements unnecessarily bulky at transport and bring risks for breakage in the glass edge due to strokes against the protruding attachment handles. The glass elements are now ready to be lifted up to placement on each supporting element 22 and turning, such that the arms 42 are fitted between the attachment handles 38 and the axes 43 may be inserted into respective attachment handle 38 and through the arms 42, and also fixing in the same. By enabling movement in a vertical direction between the retaining device 23 and the attachment element 12, mounting tolerances between the position for the attachment handles 38 and the attachment element 12 may be absorbed. This may be achieved by means of displaceability in the joint with the dovetail slot 39.
As stated, the described embodiment example relates to the use of glass elements with two glass sheets, an inner and an outer, at a distance from each other. The glass element is then provided with an enhanced heat and noise absorption ability in relation to single glass. This may be further enhanced by means of sheets or isolation material between the inner and outer sheet. As space for support and attachment elements only is needed between the edges of the inner glass sheets, one may, by making the outer glass sheets larger, obtain very thin slots between them. This is advantageous if the glass wall shall be sealed in the way described. Therefore, the shape that has been described is the most advantageous for façades, glazings and roofs, when a wall between exterior and interior is needed.
In other cases, such as when one wishes to separate different indoor spaces from each other, a design with a single glass may be sufficient. Such a design, that also is comprised by the invention, is based on the same principle for support and retaining as for the embodiment that has been described. The glass sheet at single glass design shall thus function in the same way as the inner sheet at the multi-glass design, in other words to be supported and retained by the connections with the building frame.
The slots between the edges of the elements have to be adapted to provide space for the support and retaining elements, and cannot be reduced in the way described which is possible for glass elements that also are provided with an outer sheet. On the other hand, for interior walls sealing of the slots may be dispensed with in many cases.
When mounting the glass elements, no mechanical work has thus to be made from the outside of the glass wall. After lifting up the glass elements on their supports and turning them to the decided position, only mounting of the axes 43 from the inside is required for performing retaining. Thus, an important object of the invention is fulfilled, namely to make the glazing system easy to mount. For finishing the glazing work, the outer joints are sealed between the glass elements by inserting the joint compound 13.
An important object of the invention is, as stated in the introduction, to make the retaining of the glass elements so flexible that the occurrence of breakage in the glass edge at movements between the glass elements and the supporting frame is not risked. This is especially important with outrigged systems, where one has to take movements, of not only of the glass elements and frame into account, but also of the protruding distance elements. This flexibility is obtained partly by the fact that the attachment elements 12 have the describe design which allows certain angular movements between the attachment element and the glass edge, and partly by the design of the retaining device 23 in which the different included elements may be designed partly with the possibility to move in relation to each other, such as described, and partly in such a way that they have a certain springing ability, such as at the joint between the attachment handles 38 and the axes 43.
It should further be noted, that the placing of the attachment elements along the edges of the module units is of importance for the risk for breakage at the mounting to the glass. At the embodiment shown with said arms, the attachment elements may be provided with the most advantageous placement. As mentioned, it is also possible to let each arm be connected with several attachment elements along the respective edge or arrange several arms, each for one of the occurring attachment elements.
It is also important that the tolerances are kept small between the supporting surface of the supporting element 22 and for the position of the hole in the arm 42 for the axes 43 as well as for the distance between the lower resting surface of the glass element and the position for the attachment elements 12. The keeping of tight tolerances is facilitated by the fact that the organs for support and retaining emanates from the same unit, at the embodiment according to
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0200141 | Jan 2002 | SE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/SE03/00070 | 1/17/2003 | WO | 00 | 7/20/2004 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO03/062579 | 7/31/2003 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20050126090 A1 | Jun 2005 | US |