1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to panels which can be used as a lower section of an air supported structure, structures constructed with such panels, and methods for constructing such structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Air supported structures are becoming increasingly common as they can allow for construction of buildings, particularly those requiring a large, clear span of space, at a significantly reduced cost and in a fraction of the installation time. Such buildings need not be temporary and recent improvements in their design and construction have made them capable of operating year round, in a multitude of environments and over extended periods of time which are comparable to conventional construction techniques for brick and mortar or glass and steel buildings.
Previously, an air supported structure has been a structure that essentially only uses a large sheet or membrane as its building material. This material is anchored to the ground and, in its simplest form, is filled with air. The air which is provided to the structure provides it with a positive pressure which is sufficient to result in the structure essentially inflating relative to the ground and therefore providing an enclosed area inside the bubble or dome that is enclosed by the membrane. So long as the air pressure is maintained, the structure will remain upright and can be used in the same way as any other structure. Air supported structures, because they can provide for vast expanses of enclosed space without need for roof support columns or pillars, can provide for particularly useful enclosed areas for buildings which require a large, open expanse such as warehouses, covers for athletic fields, classrooms, auditoriums, schools, gymnasiums and similar structures. Further, by its very nature, the structure of an air structure is often more sturdy than a conventional building of similar size.
Air supported structures, however, can also have downsides. While the structure can include a number of more rigidly designed components to provide for doors, garages, air locks and other components which more conventional structures include, the structure is still necessarily that of a large, inflated membrane. This results in a particular appearance and vulnerability from the exterior which is often undesirable. Further, the structure can be vulnerable to vandalism, breach of the interior through the exterior, breach of the exterior from the interior, or other breach from the exterior or interior from those who may penetrate, cut or otherwise breach the structure seeking to gain access, deface, penetrate or simply cause damage, either accidentally or intentionally. This will generally not result in major damage or collapse of the structure, but can lead to an undesirable appearance, a breach of safety of the structure, or another breach of the space exterior or interior to the structure. Further, many potential consumers, users or others with an interest in the appearance, safety, installation or use of an air supported structure see the potential for vandalism, fire, accident or other destructive occurrences as a likely cause of the building's damage, destruction or collapse. While this is usually only a remote possibility, it can lead to selection of more conventional metal, brick and mortar, glass and steel or other structures instead of air structures due to considerations of safety, protection, appearance, aesthetics, function or in general the impression.
The following is a summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. The sole purpose of this section is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
Described herein, among other things, are wall panels which can be used with an air supported structure to give the structure an improved or architecturally pleasing appearance, and to make it harder for any person, casualty or other event caused by a vandal, an accident (whether by nature or otherwise) itself to be able to deface, breach, damage enter, exit or access the fabric structure of an air supported building. These panels are not intended to completely prevent vandalism, accidents or casualty, or to provided improved appearance, but are intended to provide for a structure which has as its lower section an architecturally improved appearance and/or a safer, secure or more rigid design which raises the fabric membrane higher into the air and ideally more out of breach or reach of accident, a casualty, a human being or any other thing on the ground. Further, the wall panels may be modular and potentially reusable. In this way when the air supported structure is removed, the panels can be removed and reused on alternative structures. Further, if one was to be breached or damaged in any way, the panel can simply be repaired or replaced by another modular panel.
There is described herein, amongst other things, a wall panel for use with an inflatable structure, the wall panel comprising; a frame; two exterior panels attached to the frame and spaced from each other; an insulative inner section located between two of the exterior panels; a first connector, the first connector allowing the wall panel to be connected to the earth; a second connector, the second connector allowing the wall panel to be connected to a membrane; wherein, a plurality of the wall panels are used to form a perimeter wall on the lower portion of an air supported structure, the membrane forming a roof of the air supported structure.
In an embodiment of the panel the first connector is designed to attach to the earth via a foundation either in a hinged fashion which may use a common rod or individual bolts for each panel or in a rigid fashion.
In an embodiment, each of the exterior panels comprises a component panel, the structure may further include exterior cable nets encapsulating the structure.
There is further discussed here an inflatable structure which utilizes wall panels of any of the above discussed types to form a lower perimeter wall of the structure, and methods for constructing an inflatable structure which includes such a perimeter wall. In such a structure, the panels may be used as a fire break.
The following detailed description illustrates by way of example and not by way of limitation. The figures provided herewith show a number of wall panels and methods for allowing wall panels to be utilized as the lower portion of an air supported structure. While these embodiments all demonstrate systems and methods for constructing a lower perimeter wall for an air supported structure from a series of panels, they are intended to only provide exemplary embodiments, and are not the only methods and systems which can be used. This disclosure, therefore, should not be taken as being limited to them.
Generally, the embodiments of wall panels shown in the FIGS. are used to form a lower perimeter wall which usually has the appearance of a unitary structure of conventional construction formed from a number of the wall panels which are connected together. The lower perimeter wall serves to form the portion of the air supported structure closest to the ground and provides for a more rigid lower structure and structure of more conventional construction to an otherwise air supported building. The upper portion of the structure comprises a membrane of traditional form of an air supported structure as understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.
Generally, the wall panels forming the lower perimeter wall will be used to provide for a more rigid lower perimeter to the air supported building. This can improve aesthetics of the building by making it appear to be of a more traditional construction when viewed from the ground. Further, in many instances, the lower portion of buildings are often used as a place to post posters or placards, or to otherwise provide a pleasing architectural appearance, and the more rigid structure of the lower perimeter wall can make it more aesthetic for such purpose or posting, and make it easier to change or modify from time to time, or to remove such posters to further improve appearance.
The lower perimeter wall can also provide for safety and piece of mind for those concerned about breach, fire or potential damage to air supported structures resulting in total or partial destruction of the structure or creation of holes in the air supported structure. In particular, a more rigid lower perimeter wall can provide for a structure which is more resilient and resistive to fire or breach, or to being cut or otherwise being damaged by a vandal, any other third party, a force of nature, accident or by a casualty. Further, to meet certain fire codes, or simply for safety or piece of mind, the panels constituting the lower structure may be made of fire proofed, resistive or retardant materials or otherwise be fire proofed to delay or prevent flames from touching the membrane portions in most circumstances. While most air supported structures are manufactured with membranes which do not burn or are otherwise non-combustible, or will only char, this can enhance safety and eliminate concerns of fire spreading into or out of the structure at ground level by acting as a firewall or otherwise serving as a fire break. The lower section may also provide for more traditional insulation in the structure.
There are generally described herein two different types of perimeter walls. In the first type as shown in
In this embodiment, the perimeter wall (103) is formed of a series of wall panels (300) which are modular and interchangeable. Details of these wall panels (300) are shown in
Each wall panel (300) is generally anchored to the ground via an anchorage (201) which is used to connect the panel to the foundation (105). The foundation (105), in its simplest embodiment, is simply packed earth. However, in other embodiments the foundation (105) may be designed to improve the attachment of the structure to the ground and may include cast concrete or similar materials. In the embodiments of
In such a hinged embodiment, if the air structure (100) were to flex toward one side or the other, the wall panels (300) would be able to adjust by rotating about their hinges. Further, the hinged connection allows for the wall panels (300) to be used with a variety of differently sized, dimensioned, or inflated pressure structures as they can adjust their final position depending on the resultant structure (100) shape. Further, hinged wall panels (300) can be raised with the inflation of the fabric portion of the structure (100) as they may be positioned at a variety of different angles during construction and inflation of the air supported structure.
In the embodiment of
In the depicted embodiment of
In the embodiment of
In the embodiment of
The embodiments of
In the embodiment of
In an embodiment there may also be attached toward the upper end of each wall panel (300) or (3000) a containment strip (438) which serves to provide a quick connection to a fabric wall rain flap (207) included with the inflatable membrane (101) of the air supported structure (100) and which is connected to the wall panel's (300) or (3000) upper end. This rain flap (207) can help weatherproof the connection between the wall panel (300) or (3000) and the membrane (101).
An air seal flap (501) may also be attached toward the base and generally on the interior of each wall panel (300) or (3000), as shown in
As shown in
The exterior cable nets (601) may encapsulate the entire upper membranous envelope roof and walls (101) and the lower perimeter wall (103) allowing the stresses in the total structure to transfer their loads to the cable anchorage (603). Each of the panels (300) and (3000) can allow the lift load caused by inflation and wind loading on the resultant structure (100) to carry directly down to the anchorage (201) in the foundation (105) as well.
To assemble an air supported structure (100) that uses hinged wall panels (300) or (3000), the panels (300) or (3000) will generally be laid out and assembled in a flat position on the foundation (105) for the air supported structure (100). Attaching the wall panels (300) both to the membrane (101) and the foundation (105) will occur with the structure (100) deflated. The structure (100) may then be inflated which will naturally lift the wall panels (300) to their raised position as shown in
The wall panels (300) forming the corner (300A) of the perimeter walls may be difficult to have lifted during inflation of the structure as their shape does not allow them to rise from a flat position to their final assembled position without interaction with other wall panels (300B). In an embodiment, the corners (300A) may therefore be placed flat and not connected to the remaining perimeter wall (103) until the other perimeter wall panels (300B) have been raised to their final position by a crane or other lift device. The remaining panels (300B) then may be held in position while the coiner panels (300A) are connected. Then the membrane (101) can be inflated. This, however, can be difficult, particularly on large structures, due to the weight of the combined wall panel structures (300B).
Instead, as shown in
Once the structure is inflated and erect, any of the wall panels (300) or (3000) can be removed and the space between the wall panels (300) or (3000) can be spaced to meet the door entrances as required for the resultant structure. Alternatively, special panels may have been originally included which include doors or similar structures. The fabric connecting the doors to the wall panels (300) or (3000) may be similar to that of the wall panel (300) containment strips (717).
The resultant air supported structure (100) therefore provides an upper flexible membrane (101) roof and walls to be assembled to a lower rigid perimeter wall (103). Once the inflation air system pumps air into the structure, the total fabric envelope and lower wall panels (300) or (3000) will automatically lift in place under the cable nets (601) and once fully inflated, the lift loads will be transferred from both the air supported membranous envelope (100) and wall panels (300) or (3000) into the safety cable nets (601). The wall panels (300) or (3000) provide the security and resistance to vandalism and damage caused by intentional vandalism by providing for a more rigid and stronger design to the lower portion of the structure (100).
The embodiment of
In all embodiments, but specifically those embodiments of
In another embodiment, the perimeter wall panels may be combined with a series of structural constructs such as, but not limited to, I-beam or tubing poles with cables, rope, or fabric straps spanning between the poles and around the perimeter. These constructs can be attached to the perimeter wall panels to provide for a larger emergency safety space than would be permitted by the perimeter wall panels themselves. Such constructs may be on top of the perimeter wall panels, or may be inside the perimeter wall panels allowing for the creation of a “walkway” around the interior perimeter in the event of deflation.
While the invention has been disclosed in connection with certain preferred embodiments, this should not be taken as a limitation to all of the provided details. Modifications and variations of the described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and other embodiments should be understood to be encompassed in the present disclosure as would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006143779 | Dec 2006 | RU | national |
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional Application Ser. No. 60/826,760, filed Sep. 25, 2006 and currently pending and claims priority to Russian Application 2006143779 filed Dec. 11, 2006 and currently pending. The entire disclosure of both the above documents is herein incorporated by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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2024056 | Morison | Dec 1935 | A |
2751635 | Donnahue | Jun 1956 | A |
3189949 | Hurkamp | Jun 1965 | A |
3389510 | Stock | Jun 1968 | A |
4305235 | Roston | Dec 1981 | A |
4633626 | Freeman et al. | Jan 1987 | A |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20080072501 A1 | Mar 2008 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60826760 | Sep 2006 | US |