Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – Wall – ceiling – floor – or roof designed for ventilation or...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-24
2004-03-02
Chapman, Jeanette (Department: 3635)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
Wall, ceiling, floor, or roof designed for ventilation or...
C052S329000, C052S335000, C052S338000, C119S450000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06698148
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a demountable modular floor for watertight raised decks. More particularly, this invention relates to a floor structure consisting of a plurality of modularly assemblable composite slabs made of steel sheet and concrete provided with a drainage system for collecting and conveying the rainwater between the slabs. Such floor structure allows a rapid setting up of the raised deck and, at the same time, it affords the total dismantling thereof and prevents any seepage or leakage of water towards the underlying area.
As it is known, constructions of one or more raised floors or decks suited to be set up in a short time and with restricted economic resources are becoming quite interesting particularly for building more or less temporary parking lots, as an alternative to conventional multistorey underground and/or raised car park constructions. If it is desired to maximise the advantages offered by such structures, however, it is necessary that the assembling times and costs be really competitive, without any negative impact on the quality and duration of the resulting work.
A structure that allows the above objects to be achieved is disclosed in the European patent No. 0364414, owned by the instant Applicant. Such patent concerns a modular system that can be easily assembled for setting up in extremely short times a raised floor to be used as a parking place for cars, and that can also be disassembled and recovered for reutilisation, for instance in a different location. The structure substantially consists of modular units each of which comprises a rectangular or square composite floor element, surrounded by four edge beams and held up at its corners by four vertical supporting elements or pillars that bear said edge beams through corresponding node elements or capitals, special bases for resting on the ground being provided under said vertical supporting elements, while a system of ties and/or struts transversely strengthens the structure.
Each of said vertical supporting elements ends, at a level corresponding to the base, in a threaded joint suited to enable the total length of the vertical element to be adjusted. Said base also comprises a hinge device, particularly consisting of a spherical joint, enabling the base plate to lie down according to the slope of the ground surface, while the overlying supporting element may take a perfectly vertical position. This double adjustment system makes it possible to install the modular structure also on not previously levelled, uneven grounds, and with no need to provide any foundation works. Thus, the concerned structure is set up by assembling the modular units beside one another, with adjacent modules sharing in turn the relevant beams and supporting elements, so as to obtain a raised deck suitable for use as a parking lot, taking any desired shape and size.
In the illustrative embodiments disclosed in the European patent No. 0364414, the modular slabs of the floor are made of a double layer consisting of a corrugated steel sheet of suitable thickness as the load-bearing component, covered by a panel of light and strong material as the paving component, preferably made of suitably treated ply-wood. This approach is proposed in order to allow the use of light elements, to be assembled on the same site where the parking structure is to be built, such elements involving relatively reduced transportation costs and being easily moved within the building yard, by hand or by small lifting trucks.
In the practical construction of modular parking lots according to the above patent provided with composite floors of corrugated steel sheet and wood (preferably birch ply-wood, treated with synthetic resins for waterproofing purposes), the wood panel is connected to the underlying steel sheet by means of metal channel sections with a omega(&OHgr;)-shaped cross-section, that are mounted along the edges of two adjacent panels. The omega-shaped channels are perforated in the groove portion of the section in order to enable their connection to the underlying corrugated steel sheet by means of bolts. The corrugated steel sheet, in turn, is correspondingly perforated along the contact area with the omega-shaped section. This method of mounting the wood panels (aimed, as it is apparent, at assuring the full demountability of the composite floor slabs) results in avoiding any need to perforate the treated wood panel, but, on the other hand, it necessarily involves the perforation of the load-bearing corrugated steel sheet on the building yard.
The corrugated steel sheet is also utilised, in the above-mentioned embodiments, to collect the rainwater under the said wood panel. As the floor is laid slightly slanting by acting on the length of the adjustable pillars of the structure, the water can be conveyed, flowing in the channels of the corrugated sheet, toward one or more peripheral edges of the raised deck, to be collected in edge eaves having conduits branching therefrom for drainage on the ground.
The embodiment with composite floor made of corrugated steel sheet and wood is especially advantageous in view of the relative ease of transportation of the construction components, which allows not to increase too much the construction costs in case of installations in sites very far from the factory or only reachable by sea. Furthermore, such approach has been found to be effective in respect of the modular versatility, that results from the possibility of easily cutting the floor component on the building yard in order to accommodate any size variation of the structural module. Actually, it should be noted that the concerned structure, although being commercially proposed with a standard modularity, should also be such as to meet the various requirements that can be put forward in particular cases. By way of example, the modular structure should be adapted to fulfil the various national rules in respect of the standard size of the vehicle parking stalls or of the roadway width for manoeuvring the vehicles.
In spite of the above advantages, however, the floor slab made of metal sheet and wood panels has the drawback of not affording a long durability of the parking surface, firstly, in view of the need to perforate the steel sheet for connecting it with the metal sections holding the wood panels in place. The perforation makes the steel sheet subject to corrosion and, as said operation is necessarily carried out during the assembling stage, it is not possible to perform a new galvanisation process on the metal sheet after perforation. The corrosive attack is remarkably enhanced not only by the rainwater that is collected within the corrugated steel sheet, but also by the condensate forming in a conspicuous amount in the contact area between the steel sheet and the panel. Secondly, the durability of the floor is strongly jeopardised by the scarce wear resistance of the wooden paving surface, notwithstanding any previous treatment of such surface. In strict dependence on the overall utilisation of the parking structure and on their location in the paving area, the wood panels are subject to such a wear deterioration as to make it often necessary to substitute the damaged ones, especially on the aisles and on the manoeuvring areas.
A further critical element is due to the fact that the wood panel mounted on the corrugated metal sheet makes the floor highly noisy at the passage of the vehicles thereupon, because the coupling of the two above elements together acts as a resonance box.
A second approach considered for producing the floor of the structure according to the European patent No. 0364414 involves the use of single precast elements of reinforced concrete, to be manufactured in factory and to be installed in nearly finished condition. In this case, the reinforced concrete slabs or plates forming the modular units of the floor are cast in suitably shaped metal formworks. Holes and further engagement means are provided in the moulding in order to enable the resulting piece to be removed from the metal formwork upon setting
Manna Biagio Carlo
Spellucci Luciano
Chapman Jeanette
Fast Park Sistema, S.r.l.
Samuels Gauthier & Stevens
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