Building panels
A tough, water-proof building panel, made of fiber-reinforced polymer, is useful in making structural walls, ceilings, and floors of buildings. Upstanding such walls can have vertical and horizontal strengths sufficient to be used in place of concrete, as an engineered solution, both above grade and below-grade, including in severe weather conditions. Panels effectively have inner and outer layers, and structurally reinforcing members. Structurally-reinforcing members extend, typically as layer and/or stud, the full height of the wall panel, at spaced locations along the length of the panel. Spaces between the structurally reinforcing members are optionally filled with rigid thermally insulating foam. Optional reinforcing studs are attached to, or overlaid by, the inner layer, and extend inwardly into the building from what is otherwise the inner surface of the building panel. Panels can be made by e.g. assembling pre-fabricated blocks and/or webs, by evacuating a mold, and by pultrusion.
1. A resin-based fiber-reinforced composite structural building panel, having a height defined when said building panel is in an upright use orientation, a length, and a thickness, said structural building panel comprising:
(a) a first outermost fiber-reinforced polymeric layer, said first outermost layer defining an outwardly-facing surface of said building panel;
(b) a second innermost fiber-reinforced polymeric layer, said second innermost layer defining at least a first portion of an inwardly-facing surface, and a first thickness, of said building panel;
(c) foam elements in said structural building panel,
(i) a first set of elongate said foam elements having lengths thereof extending along the height of said building panel, widths thereof extending along the length of said building panel, and thicknesses thereof, extending along the thickness of said building panel,
(ii) a second set of elongate said foam elements having lengths thereof extending along the height of said building panel, widths thereof extending along the thickness of said building panel, and thicknesses thereof, extending along the length of said building panel, the widths of the second set of said foam elements being greater than the thickness of the first set of said foam elements,
ones of said second set of said foam elements being spaced from each other by ones of said first set of said foam elements, and wherein ones of said second set of foam elements protrude from the first portion of the inwardly-facing surface thereby defining a second portion of the inwardly-facing surface, and a second thickness in said building panel, greater than the first thickness.
2. A resin-based, fiber-reinforced composite structural building panel as in claim 1 wherein said first innermost layer extends over inner surfaces of said first set of said foam elements and over inner surfaces of said second set of foam elements and wherein-both the first set of foam elements and the second set of foam elements are disposed between said first innermost layer and said second outermost layer.
3. A resin-based, fiber-reinforced composite structural building panel as in claim 1 wherein said first innermost layer overlies said second set of said foam elements and thus extends inwardly into such building, from adjacent a foam element of the first set to an inner-most portion of a foam element of the second set.
4. A resin-based, fiber-reinforced composite structural building panel as in claim 1 , further comprising resin-impregnated fibrous layers extending about at least first and second sides of ones of at least one of said first and second sets of foam elements.
5. A resin-based, fiber-reinforced composite structural building panel as in claim 4 wherein said fibrous layers, extending about ones of said sets of foam elements, have nominal thicknesses of between about 0.03 inch thick and about 0.15 inch thick.
6. A resin-based, fiber-reinforced composite structural building panel as in claim 1 wherein said foam elements comprise closed cell foam having densities of about 1 pound per cubic foot to about 12 pounds per cubic foot.
7. A resin-based, fiber-reinforced polymeric composite structural building panel, said building panel having a height defined between a top and a bottom of said building panel when said building panel is in an upright use orientation, a length, and a thickness, said structural building panel comprising:
(a) a first set of fiber-reinforced pre-fabricated elongate blocks having lengths thereof extending along the height of said building panel, widths of said first set of blocks extending along the length of said building panel, and thicknesses of said first set of blocks extending along the thickness of said building panel;
(b) a second set of fiber-reinforced pre-fabricated elongate blocks having outer end walls ( 126 ) and inner end walls ( 130 ), and legs ( 128 ) extending between said end walls, and lengths of said pre-fabricated elongate blocks extending along the height of said building panel, widths of said second set of elongate blocks extending along the thickness of said building panel, and thicknesses of said second set of elongate blocks extending along the length of said building panel,
the widths of the second set of said prefabricated elongate blocks being greater than the thicknesses of said first set of said prefabricated elongate blocks, ones of said second set of said elongate blocks being spaced from each other by ones of said first set of elongate blocks, said elongate blocks of said first and second sets of blocks defining a generally continuous outer surface ( 56 ) of such assemblage of such elongate blocks, and a generally continuous inner surface ( 57 ) of such assemblage of such elongate blocks; and
(c) a first outermost fiber-reinforced polymeric layer ( 36 ) being mounted to said first and second sets of elongate blocks at or adjacent the generally continuous outer surface, so as to bridge between respective ones of said elongate blocks at said outer end walls.
8. A structural building panel as in claim 7 wherein said building panel, in an upright use orientation, has a vertical crush resistance capacity of at least about 4000 pounds per lineal foot length of said building panel.
9. A structural building panel as in claim 7 , further comprising a top plate assembled to said building panel at the top of said building panel and a bottom plate assembled to said building panel at the bottom of said building panel.
10. A structural building panel as in claim 7 , said pre-fabricated elongate blocks of said second set comprising a reinforcing web ( 238 ) displaced from both of said end walls ( 126 , 130 ) and extending between said first and second legs.
11. A structural building panel as in claim 8 , further comprising a second innermost fiber-reinforced polymeric layer mounted to said first and second sets of pre-fabricated elongate blocks at the generally continuous inner surface so as to bridge between respective ones of said elongate blocks at said inner end walls ( 130 ).
12. A structural building panel as in claim 11 wherein at least one of said first and second sets of said elongate blocks comprises elongate pultruded blocks which extend an entirety of the height of said panel.
13. A structural building panel as in claim 12 , further comprising cavities inside said elongate pultruded blocks.
14. A structural building panel as in claim 13 , further comprising thermally insulating foam inside the cavities.
15. A structural building panel as in claim 11 wherein at least one of said first and second sets of said blocks comprises elongate foam blocks, wrapped along a length thereof, with at least one layer of fiberglass.