Patent Application
20180238053
The present disclosure relates generally to insulated concrete panels. In particular, the subject matter herein generally relates to an integrated concrete tie for use with an insulated concrete panel.
Insulated concrete panels are used throughout the construction industry and formed with an insulation layer sandwiched between an upper layer and bottom layer of concrete. In order to integrate the insulation layer with the upper and lower concrete layers, connectors (also known as “ties”) can be implemented to form an insulated concrete panel. The connectors can integrate the upper layer of concrete with the lower layer of concrete through the insulation layer. As such, the connector(s) hold the insulated concrete panel(s) together while also providing a mechanism through which loads can be transferred between concrete layers.
Concrete ties for use within insulated concrete panels are known and used throughout the construction industry, but often require a large number of ties installed within the insulation layer at an individual job site, and thus become unwieldly and undesirable during use. In addition, many concrete ties are disposed through holes formed in the insulation layer, such as for example, the concrete ties described in US Publication Nos. 2004/0118067 and 2006/0032166. The holes are generally formed larger than the concrete tie itself to provide room for manipulation of the concrete tie and installation into a final position. The concrete ties presently used in the art can be used with insulation panels having a range of thicknesses, but must be reconfigured and/or redesigned to accommodate insulation panels exceeding the range of thickness.
Concrete ties can also be deployable between an uninstalled position allowing at least a portion of the concrete tie to pass through the hole and an installed position expanding the profile of the concrete tie and maximizing engagement with the concrete layer. The concrete ties can implement a retention housing, dam, two-piece mechanism, or other ancillary pieces to complete installation and secure the concrete tie within a hole of the insulation panel of the insulated concrete panel.
Specifically, Composite Technologies Corporation (“Thermomass”) manufactures pin connectors for use in non-load transfer applications and concrete ties for load transfer applications. The load transfer concrete ties require holes to be formed within the insulation layer allowing portions of the concrete tie to be installed therethrough and extend beyond the insulation panel, and the concrete tie must installed at the job site during construction of the insulated concrete panel. The known concrete ties require extensive pre-processing of the insulation layer and labor intensive installation of the concrete tie at the construction site.
Therefore, it would be desirable for a wall tie to have a unique structure that ensures efficient and accurate placement on an insulation layer without requiring laborious installation. In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide a novel wall tie structure that forms a firmer and more secure bond to concrete and a strong connection between wythes, yet retains enough flexibility to not fail or break the concrete after installation. Moreover, it would be desirable to have an insulation layer for use with a concrete tie that requires minimal processing to accommodate and couple with the concrete tie, thereby ensuring efficient and accurate placement of the device.
Implementations of the present technology will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached figures, wherein:
The present disclosure is directed to a concrete tie for use within an insulated concrete panel. The concrete tie can include a main body having a length, an inner surface, and an outer surface. A protrusion can extend away from the inner surface of the main body and along the length thereof. The concrete tie can further include at least one upper foot extending above a top surface of the main body and at least one lower foot extending below a bottom surface of the main body. The protrusion can engage with a slot formed in an insulation layer or panel, thereby coupling the concrete tie both efficiently and accurately with the insulation panel.
The present disclosure is further drawn to a concrete tie system for forming an insulated concrete panel. The system can include at least one concrete tie having a main body comprising a length, an inner surface, and an outer surface. A protrusion can extend away from the inner surface of the main body and along the length thereof. The concrete tie can further include at least one upper foot extending above a top surface of the main body and at least one lower foot extending below a bottom surface of the main body. The concrete tie can be coupled with an insulation panel having a top surface, a bottom surface, and a plurality of side surfaces. The insulation panel can couple with at least one concrete tie along at least one of the plurality of side surfaces receiving the protrusion extending from the inner surface of the main body in a slot formed along the side surface. The concrete tie system can include an insulation layer formed by one or more abutting insulation panels each having one or more concrete ties disposed therein.
The insulated concrete panel can be formed by having an upper layer of concrete in contact with the top surface of the insulation layer and having the at least one upper foot disposed within the upper layer of concrete. A lower layer of concrete can be in contact with the bottom surface of the insulation layer and having the at least one lower foot disposed within the lower layer of concrete. The upper layer of concrete and the lower layer of concrete sandwich the insulation layer or panel, thereby forming an insulated concrete panel. The concrete tie provides structural rigidity and allows load transfer between the two layers of concrete.
Other aspects and interations of the disclosure are described more thoroughly below.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, where appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the different figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the related relevant feature being described. Also, the description is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and the proportions of certain parts have been exaggerated to better illustrate details and features of the present disclosure.
Several definitions that apply throughout this disclosure will now be presented. The term “coupled” is defined as connected, whether directly or indirectly through intervening components, and is not necessarily limited to physical connections. The connection can be such that the objects are permanently connected or releasably connected. The term “substantially” is defined to be essentially conforming to the particular dimension, shape or other word that substantially modifies, such that the component need not be exact. For example, substantially cylindrical means that the object resembles a cylinder, but can have one or more deviations from a true cylinder.
The terms “connector,” “concrete connector” and “tie” are used interchangeably through the specification and each refer to the same element. The use of any one of these terms should be considered interchangeable and indistinguishable from the use of any other of the terms.
The following provides a more detailed discussion of the components herein.
The concrete tie 100 can have a protrusion 108 extending away from the inner surface 104 and along a length 150 of the main body 102. The protrusion 108 can be blade-like, such that the distance of the protrusion 108 that extends away (depth) from the inner surface 108 is greater than the width (thickness) of the protrusion 108. The protrusion 108 can extend a first predetermined distance 130 away from the inner surface 108
The concrete tie 100 can further include at least one upper foot 110 extending above a top surface 114 of the main body 102 and at least one lower foot 112 extending below a bottom surface 116 of the main body 102. The upper foot 110 can extend substantially perpendicular to the top surface 114 and the lower foot 112 can extend substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface 116.
The main body 102 can have an upper width 152 formed at the top surface 114, a middle width 154, and a lower width 156 formed at the bottom surface 116. The upper width 152 and the lower width 156 can be substantially similar and greater than the middle width 154, thus forming a substantially “I”-shaped main body 102. The concrete tie 100 can include two upper feet 110 disposed at opposing ends of the top surface 114 and two lower feet 112 disposed at opposing ends of the bottom surface 116. The two upper feet 110 can be disposed at opposing ends of the upper width 152 and the two lower feet 112 can be disposed at opposing ends of the lower width 156, thus providing for wide spaced feet along the top surface 114 and bottom surface 116 respectively.
The main body 102 can have an upper support rib 118 extending along the middle width 154 and adjacent to the upper width 152 and a lower support rib 120 extending along the middle width 154 and adjacent to the lower width 156. The support ribs 118, 120 can provide lateral structural rigidity of the concrete tie 100. The upper rib 118 and lower rib 120 be formed at any point along the middle width 154 so as to be spaced apart from the upper width 152 and lower width 156 respectively. The concrete tie 100 can have fewer, or additional support ribs disposed across the width of the main body 102 to provide additional lateral support depending on the specific application use of the concrete tie 100. The reduced or added support ribs can allow the concrete connector 100 to have the appropriate stiffness for the particular implementation.
An upper lip 122 can be formed around at least a portion of a perimeter 126 formed around the upper width 152 and the at least one upper foot 110 and a lower lip 124 can be formed around at least a portion of a perimeter 128 formed around the lower width 156 and the at least one lower foot 112. The upper lip 122 and lower lip 124 can provide additional contact area for the concrete tie, while also providing structural integrity of the at least one upper foot 110 and at least one lower foot 112, and also help to align and center the concrete tie 100 in an insulation panel 200.
The length 150 of the main body 102 and the concrete tie 100 can and will vary depending on the project scope, thickness of insulation layer, and structural rigidity for a particular application. Preferably, the concrete tie 100 will have a length that is between about 6 inches and about 12 inches, which length is suitable for use with insulation layers having a thickness of up to about 8 inches. In a preferred embodiment, the length 150 of the main body 102 and concrete tie 100 is about 10 inches, which length is suitable for use with insulation having a thickness of about 6 inches. In other instances, the length of the main body and concrete tie can be increased to accommodate insulation having a thickness greater than 8 inches.
As can be appreciated in
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While the illustrated embodiment shows the concrete tie 100 having two upper feet 110 and two lower feet 112, it is within the scope of the present disclosure to implement a concrete tie with any number of upper feet 110 and lower feet 112, such as one, three, four, or more upper feet 110 and lower feet 112, respectively.
As can further be appreciated in
The concrete tie 100 can be formed from a polymer or other plastic to provide strength and rigidity while minimizing thermal conduction. Any known structural, insulated or non-thermally conductive material can be implemented as a concrete tie 100 to maintain structural rigidity and reducing the heat transfer across the concrete tie 100. In at least one instance, the concrete tie 100 can be a fiber reinforced polymer (FRP).
The concrete tie 100 has an upper lip 122 formed around a perimeter 126 of the two upper feet 110 and the upper width 152 and a lower lip 124 formed around a perimeter 128 of the two lower feet 112 and the lower width 156. The upper lip 122 and the lower lip 124 extend away from the inner surface 106 of the main body 102 in similar fashion to that of the protrusion 108.
The lower lip 124 and the second predetermined distance 132 can stiffen the concrete tie while the second predetermined distance 132 extends perpendicular to the inner surface 104 providing an enhanced bonding structure with concrete.
As can be appreciated in
The insulation panel 200 can be couplable with the concrete tie 100 along one or more of the side surfaces 206. Any side surface 206 can have a slot 208 formed therein and configured to receive the protrusion 108 extending from the inner surface 104 of the concrete tie 100. The slot 208 can be formed substantially vertically and extending between the top surface 202 and the bottom 204 of the insulation panel and be formed at a depth equal to or slightly greater than the first predetermined distance 130 of the protrusion 108, thus allowing the inner surface 104 of the concrete tie 100 to abut the side surface 206.
As can be appreciated in
The concrete ties 100 can generally be aligned and coupled along one of the side surface 106 having a longer length, thus allowing the stiff axis of the concrete tie 100 to resist shear forces within an insulated concrete panel.
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The side surfaces 206 of the insulation panel 200 can have a recess 210 surrounding the slot 208. The recess 210 can be equal to or slightly wider than the middle width 154 of the concrete tie 100 and can have a depth sufficient to make the side surface 206 substantially flush with the outer surface 106 of the concrete tie. The recess 210 can allow the concrete tie 100 and insulation panel 200 to be coupled one with the other, such that adjacent insulation panels 200 can be flush and abuttingly engaged along the side surfaces 206 and eliminating gaps between adjacent insulation panels 200. In some instances, the recess 210 can be omitted providing a gap between insulation panels approximately equal to the thickness of the main body 102 of the concrete tie, such as 0.3 inches or 0.5 inches. Other thicknesses for the main body 102, and thus other gaps are within the scope of this disclosure.
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The upper foot 110 and lower foot 112 can allow load transfer between the upper layer of concrete and the lower layer of concrete, thus forming a more homogenous structural system. The upper width 152 and lower width 156 of the concrete tie allow for wide set upper feet 110 and lower feet 112 disposed within, and firmly bonded with, the upper layer of concrete and lower layer of concrete, respectively. The at least one upper foot 110 and at least one lower foot 112 along with the upper lip 122 and lower lip 124 provide the concrete tie with contact area within the respective concrete layer to allow load transfer. The concrete tie 100 can further add structural rigidity to the insulated concrete panel in addition to allowing load transfer between the upper layer of concrete and the lower layer of concrete.
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The removed portion(s) can be stored and re-installed within the insulation panel 200 at various locations where a concrete tie 100 may not be needed. The insulation panel 200 can be cut using a strait wire cut or multiple strait wire cuts. In some instances, the insulation panel 200 can have recesses 210 and slots 208 removed from each of the side surface 206 and the removed portions can be re-installed where needed during construction based on the particular application and job parameters.
In some instances, a plurality of insulation panels 200 can be stacked for storage or transportation having concrete ties 100 coupled therewith. The concrete ties 100 can be coupled along one or more of the plurality of side surfaces 206. In some instances, the insulation panels 200 can be arranged in a staggered or alternating fashion to accommodate the concrete ties 100 installed therein as at least a portion of the concrete tie 100 can extend above and below the insulation panel 200.
The insulation panel(s) for use with a concrete tie of the present disclosure require minimal processing to accommodate and couple with the concrete tie. In some instances, the concrete tie of the present disclosure can be installed within the insulation layer prior to arrival at a job-site. The concrete tie can be installed and coupled with installation layer prior to shipment to the job-site, such that the insulation layer and concrete tie arrive in a “ready to use” condition. In some instances, the insulation layer arrives at the job-site with the appropriate slot and/or recess formed therein and ready for receipt of the concrete tie. In other instances, job-site installation requires only modification of the insulation layer with a slot for coupling with the protrusion of the concrete tie.
While the illustrated examples described above with respect to
Moreover, while the present disclosure generally refers a concrete tie and the related insulated concrete panels, it is within the scope of this disclosure that the tie can be implemented within other building materials or applications requiring structural rigidity and the transfer of loads.
The embodiments shown and described above are only examples. Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present technology have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the present disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in the detail, especially in matters of shape, size and arrangement of the parts within the principles of the present disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms used in the attached claims. It will therefore be appreciated that the embodiments described above may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.
