Structure

Abstract

To improve the usability of a structure.SOLUTION: The structure includes a roof 3 and a lighting fixture 34. The roof 3 is formed by connecting a plurality of roofing members 8, 8, ... with their widthwise end portions overlapped, thereby forming protrusions 31 that project upward at overlap portions 29a, 29b. The lighting fixture 34 is attached to at least one of the roofing members 8 and illuminates downward. A cover 41 is mounted across the protrusions 31, 31 on the roofing member 8 to which the lighting fixture 34 is attached, and wiring 36 to the lighting fixture 34 is routed through a space 47 between the roofing member 8 and the cover 41.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to structures such as carports. [Background technology]

[0002] BACKGROUND ART Carports and other structures that are installed on residential land have been known for some time. However, there is a demand for such structures to be easy to use. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, an object of the present invention is to improve the usability of structures. [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] In order to achieve the above object, the structure according to the invention described in claim 1 comprises a roof and lighting fixtures, the roof being made by connecting multiple roofing materials by overlapping their widthwise ends, with a protrusion that protrudes upward at the overlapping portion, the lighting fixtures being attached to at least one of the roofing materials and illuminating downward, a cover being attached to the roofing material on which the lighting fixtures are attached, spanning the protrusion, and wiring to the lighting fixtures being passed through the space between the roofing material and the cover. [Effects of the Invention]

[0005] The structure according to the invention described in claim 1 comprises a roof and lighting fixtures, the roof being made by connecting multiple roofing materials by overlapping their widthwise ends, forming a protrusion that protrudes upward at the overlapping part, the lighting fixtures being attached to at least one of the roofing materials and illuminating the area below, a cover being attached to the roofing material on which the lighting fixtures are attached, straddling the protrusion, and wiring to the lighting fixtures being passed through the space between the roofing material and the cover, so that the light from the lighting fixtures makes it easier to get in and out of a car at night, and the lighting fixtures can be easily attached and wired, which improves ease of construction and improves usability. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0006] [Figure 1] 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a structure of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the structure as seen from diagonally below. [Figure 5] 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 2. [Figure 6] 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 taken along line B-B. [Figure 7] 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along CC in FIG. 5. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the arrangement of wiring to the lighting fixture. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the state in which wiring is passed through the pillars and beams. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the state when a roof material on which a lighting fixture is mounted is being installed. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the state when a cover is attached to a roof material on which a lighting fixture is attached. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the structure of the present invention. [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the structure, showing the state when a wiring housing member is attached. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0007] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Figures 1 to 11 show one embodiment of a structural body of the present invention. This structural body is applied to a carport for one passenger car installed on the site of a house. As shown in Figures 1 to 4, this structure comprises two pillars 1, 1 erected on the left side when viewed from the front, spaced apart in the front-to-rear direction, two beams 2, 2 supported on the upper ends of the pillars 1, 1, respectively, and a roof 3 supported by the beams 2, 2. The roof 3 is sloped so that the left side where the pillar 1 is located is lower. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, this structure has a plurality of lighting fixtures 34 attached to the underside of the roof 3, so that the underside of the roof 3 is illuminated by the light from the lighting fixtures 34 at night.

[0008] The pillar 1 is made of an extruded aluminum alloy material and is hollow and has a roughly rectangular cross section, as shown in Figure 7. The front and rear facing surfaces 1a and 1b of the pillar 1 extend outward beyond the outer (left) facing surface 1c, and a batten 9 is fitted between the edges to form a vertical gutter 10 integral with the pillar 1 for draining rainwater from the roof 3 to the ground. As shown in Figure 1, the bottom of the pillar 1 is inserted into a foundation hole 11 formed in the ground, and concrete 12 is packed around the pillar 1. In order to install this structure near the boundary 13 between the neighboring properties, the foundation hole 11 is provided right next to the boundary 13, and the pillar 1 is positioned eccentrically toward the boundary 13. A predetermined distance A (specifically, approximately 80 mm) is provided between the pillar 1 and the foundation hole 11. As shown in FIG. 6, the beam 2 is also formed from an extruded aluminum alloy member into a hollow shape with a substantially rectangular cross section. As shown in Figure 5, the column 1 and the beam 2 are connected by inserting an L-shaped column-beam connecting bracket 14 into the hollow parts of the column 1 and the beam 2 and fixing them with a bolt 15. The underwater (left side) end of the beam 2 protrudes outward beyond the column 1.

[0009] As shown in Figure 2, the roof 3 has a retaining frame 7 formed by a front frame 4, a rear frame 5, and left and right side frames 6a, 6b in a rectangular shape, and multiple roof materials 8, 8, ... arranged left and right inside the retaining frame 7 and attached in a line in the front and back direction. As shown in Figure 5, the right-side side frame 6a, located above the water, is fixed and attached to the above-water ends of the front and rear beams 2 with L-shaped metal fittings 16. The above-water side frame 6a is made from an extruded aluminum alloy member, and its upper surface has a cross section that is roughly a right-angled triangle with its upper surface sloping downward toward the outer periphery of the roof 3. The above-water side frame 6a has a roof material support portion 23 at the lower end of its inner peripheral side that supports the underside of the roof material 8, and a mounting portion 25 is formed at the top of its inner peripheral side onto which a mounting metal fitting 24 for the roof material 8 is placed and screwed.

[0010] The front frame 4 and rear frame 5 are made of aluminum extrusions with roughly the same right-angled triangular cross section as the above-water side frame 6a. As shown in Figure 2, both longitudinal ends of the above-water side frame 6a and the above-water ends of the front frame 4 and rear frame 5 are cut at a 45° angle, and the diagonally cut ends are butted together and connected.

[0011] As shown in Figure 5, the left side frame 6b, located below the waterline, is fixed to the below-water ends of the front and rear beams 2 with L-shaped metal fittings 17. The below-water side frame 6b is made of extruded aluminum alloy and has a main body 18 with a roughly rectangular cross section that is connected to the beams 2 with metal fittings 17, and a horizontal gutter 19 that is attached by screws to the lower part of the outer side surface of the main body 18. The main body 18 has a mounting portion 25 formed on the upper part of the inner peripheral side surface, on which a mounting bracket 24 for the roof material 8 is placed and screwed. The upper end of the pillar 1, which protrudes beyond the visible surface 1c of the front and rear facing surfaces 1a, 1b, is notched, and the gutter 19 is inserted into the notch 20, with the inner peripheral side abutting the visible surface 1c of the pillar 1. Therefore, the entire underwater side frame 6b, including the main body 18 and the gutter 19, is positioned outside the visible surface 1c of the pillar 1. In this way, the entire underwater side frame 6b is positioned outside the visible surface 1c of the pillar 1, thereby increasing the protrusion dimension B of the roof 3 from the pillar 1 (see Figure 1). Specifically, the protrusion dimension B of the roof 3 from the pillar 1 is approximately the same as or greater than the predetermined dimension A between the pillar 1 and the foundation hole 11. As a result, when this structure is installed near the boundary 13 of the neighboring property, the roof 3 can be easily extended right up to the boundary 13 (see Figure 1).

[0012] As shown in Figure 5, the horizontal gutter 19 has a roof material support portion 26 at the upper inner periphery that supports the underside of the downstream end of the roof material 8, and rainwater that flows down the upper surface of the roof material 8 falls into the horizontal gutter 19 through the gap between the roof material support portion 26 and the main body portion 18. As shown in Figure 5, the horizontal gutter 19 has a drain hole 21 formed in the part where it is swallowed into the notch 20 in the pillar 1, and rainwater that enters the horizontal gutter 19 flows from the drain hole 21 to the vertical gutter 10 provided on the outside of the pillar 1, and is then drained to the ground through a drain outlet 22 (see Figure 1) that opens outward at the lower end of the vertical gutter 10.

[0013] As shown in Figures 2 and 5, the roofing material 8 is stretched between the above-water side stringer 6a and the below-water side stringer 6b, and multiple pieces are installed in a line in the front-to-back direction between the front frame 4 and the beam 2, between the beams 2, and between the beam 2 and the rear frame 5. Each roofing material 8 is formed from an extruded aluminum alloy profile, and is a plate-like member without a hollow portion, as shown in Figure 6. Each roofing material 8 has a flat, plate-like flat portion 27, rising portions 28a, 28b rising upward from the vicinity of both widthwise edges of flat portion 27, and overlapping pieces 29a, 29b extending outward from the upper ends of rising portions 28a, 28b, respectively. The multiple roof materials 8, 8, ... are connected to each other by overlapping the overlapping pieces 29a, 29b of adjacent roof materials 8, 8 and screwing them from above with screws 30, and by overlapping and connecting the overlapping pieces 29a, 29b in this manner, a protrusion 31 that protrudes upward at the connection point between the roof materials 8 is formed into a hollow shape with an approximately rectangular cross section.

[0014] The multiple roof materials 8, 8, . . . are attached sequentially from one side to the other in the front-to-rear direction while overlapping and connecting the overlapping pieces 29a, 29b at the widthwise ends as described above (see FIGS. 8 and 10). As shown in Figures 5 and 10, the roof material 8 is installed by placing its longitudinal ends on the roof material support portion 23 of the side frame 6a on the abovewater side (right side) and the roof material support portion 26 of the side frame 6b on the belowwater side (left side), and then overlapping the overlapping piece 29a on top of the overlapping piece 29b of the roof material 8 that was installed earlier. The overlapping pieces 29a and 29b are then screwed from above with screws 30, and the abovewater end is screwed from above to the mounting portion 25 of the abovewater side frame 6a via the mounting bracket 24 with screws 44, and the belowwater end is screwed from above to the mounting portion 25 of the belowwater side frame 6b via the mounting bracket 24 with screws 44.

[0015] As shown in Figure 6, a beam undercover 32 is attached to the underside of the beam 2, and the beam undercover 32 is formed to the same width as the flat plate portion 27 of the roof material 8, and the underside of the beam undercover 32 is flush with the underside of the roof material 8.

[0016] As shown in Figures 4 and 6, in this structure, the undersides of the roof materials 8, 8, ..., the underside of the beam cover 32, the underside of the above-water side frame 6a, and the undersides of the front frame 4 and rear frame 5 are flush with each other, forming a flat ceiling 33 below the roof 3. Meanwhile, on the upper surface of the roof 3, protrusions 31 are formed at intervals in the front-to-rear direction, as shown in Figures 2 and 6.

[0017] As shown in Figures 2 and 4, the lighting fixtures 34 are attached to two roofing materials 8, 8, ..., the front and rear roofing materials 8, which are installed between the front and rear beams 2, 2. The lighting fixtures 34 use commercially available LED downlights, and as shown in Figures 6 and 10, the lighting fixtures 34 are attached by fitting into round holes 35 formed in the roofing materials 8 from below. In addition, the lighting fixture 34 can be attached to any of the multiple roof materials 8, 8, ..., and can also be attached to a roof material 8 located forward of the front beam 2 or a roof material 8 located rearward of the rear beam 2, and multiple lighting fixtures 34 can also be attached to one roof material 8.

[0018] As shown in Figure 9(a), the wiring 36 that supplies power to the lighting fixture 34 is passed through a wiring conduit 37 and then passed from bottom to top into the hollow part of the rear column 1, then passed through the hollow part of the column-beam connecting bracket 14 and the beam 2, and as shown in Figure 9(b), it is passed out of the beam 2 through a hole 38 opened in the side of the tip of the beam 2, and returned along the side of the beam 2 to the base end of the beam 2, and then, as shown in Figures 5 and 8, it is extended along the underwater side frame 6b to above the roof material 8 where the lighting fixture 34 is attached, and is connected to the power cord extending from the lighting fixture 34 on the roof material 8 (symbol 48 in the figure indicates the connection point). The wiring 36 arranged along the side of the beam 2 is covered by a beam horizontal wiring cover 39 (see Figures 5 and 6), and the wiring 36 arranged along the side girder 6b is covered by a side girder horizontal wiring cover 40 (see Figures 5 and 11).

[0019] As shown in FIGS. 6 and 11, a cover 41 is attached to the roof material 8 on which the lighting fixture 34 is attached, and wiring 36 to the lighting fixture 34 is passed through a space 47 between the roof material 8 and the cover 41. The cover 41 is made of an extruded aluminum alloy material, and as shown in Figure 6, the central part in the width direction is curved upward and raised, and legs 42 that protrude downward are formed on both edges in the width direction. The cover 41 is attached by placing legs 42, 42 on the upper surfaces of the protrusions 31, 31 located on both the front and rear sides of the roof material 8 to which the lighting fixtures 34 are attached, and fastening the cover 41 to the protrusions 31 with screws 43 from above. The cover 41 has a curved, raised shape at the center in the width direction, allowing rainwater that falls on the cover 41 to flow toward the front and rear roof materials 8. In addition, the legs 42 are formed on the edges in the width direction, allowing the cover 41 to be placed on the protrusions 31 without the heads of the screws 30 that connect the roof materials 8 to each other to escape. The gap between the peripheral edge of the cover 41 and the roof material 8 is sealed with a packing or sealing material (not shown) to prevent rainwater from entering the space 47 between the cover 41 and the roof material 8.

[0020] In this way, in this structure, the roof 3 is made up of multiple flat roofing materials 8, 8, ... connected by overlapping their widthwise ends, and protrusions 31 that protrude upward are formed at the overlapping parts (overlapping pieces 29a, 29b).This makes it easy to attach lighting fixtures 34 to any roofing material 8, and also makes it easy to wire the wiring 36 to the lighting fixtures 34, making it easy to install. Furthermore, by attaching a cover 41 across adjacent protrusions 31, 31 on the roof material 8 on which the lighting fixture 34 is attached, the cover 41 can cover the upper part of the lighting fixture 34 and hide the wiring 36.

[0021] 12 and 13 show another embodiment of the structure of the present invention. This embodiment differs from the embodiments described so far in the way the wiring 36 is routed to the lighting fixture 34. In this structure, a vertical wiring storage member 45 is attached to the front side of the rear pillar 1 along the longitudinal direction of the pillar 1, and a horizontal wiring storage member 46 is attached to the underside of the roof 3 between the front and rear pillars 1, 1. The vertical wiring storage member 45 is formed from an extruded aluminum alloy profile, and as shown in Figure 12, has a main body 45a with a roughly U-shaped cross section that is open at the front, and a batten 45b that covers the opening of 45a, and the main body 45a is attached to the pillar 1 by screws, and the batten 45b is attached to the main body 45a by engaging with it so that it can be freely attached and detached. Horizontal wiring storage member 46 is formed from an extruded aluminum alloy profile, and as shown in Figure 12, has a main body 46a with a roughly U-shaped cross section that is open on the inner periphery side of roof 3, and a batten 46b that covers the opening of 46a, with main body 46a attached by screws to gutter 19 of side frame 6b on the below-water side, and batten 46b removably engaged and attached to main body 46a. Horizontal wiring storage member 46 can also be attached by screws to the underside of roof material 8.

[0022] With the battens 45b and 46b removed, the wiring 36 to the lighting fixture 34 is stored in the main body 45a of the vertical wiring storage member 45 and the main body 46a of the horizontal wiring storage member 46. Thereafter, the battens 45b and 46b are attached to the main bodies 45a and 45b to close the openings of the main bodies 45a and 46a. The wiring 36 is passed from the horizontal wiring storage member 46 to the lighting fixture 34 attached to the roof material 8 by drilling holes (not shown) in the upper surface of the main body 46a of the horizontal wiring storage member 46 and the lower surface of the roof material 8, and passing the wiring 36 through the holes to the upper surface of the roof material 8.

[0023] According to this embodiment, there is no need to pass the wiring 36 through the pillar 1 and the beam 2 as in the previous embodiment, and by appropriately providing the wiring storage members 45, 46 according to the arrangement of the lighting fixtures 34, the wiring work of the wiring 36 to the lighting fixtures 34 can be easily performed, thereby further improving workability.

[0024] As described above, this structure comprises a roof 3 and lighting fixtures 34. The roof 3 is made up of a number of roofing materials 8, 8, ... joined together by overlapping their widthwise ends, with the overlapping portions (overlapping pieces 29a, 29b) forming protrusions 31 that protrude upward. The lighting fixtures 34 are attached to at least one of the roofing materials 8 and illuminate the area below. A cover 41 is attached to the roofing material 8 on which the lighting fixtures 34 are attached, spanning the protrusions 31, 31, and wiring 36 to the lighting fixtures 34 is passed through the space 47 between the roofing material 8 and the cover 41 (see Figures 6 and 11). The light from the lighting fixtures 34 makes it easier to get in and out of the car at night. Furthermore, the lighting fixtures 34 can be easily attached and wired, and the ease of construction improves usability. The cover 41 has a shape in which the central part in the width direction is raised upward (see FIG. 6), so that rainwater that falls on the cover 41 flows toward the roof material 8 and does not accumulate on the cover 41. The cover 41 is placed on the protrusions 31 with its widthwise edges clear of the heads of the screws 30 that connect the roof materials 8 together (see Figure 6), so even if the heads of the screws 30 protrude above the protrusions 31, the edges of the cover 41 can be placed and fixed tightly on the protrusions 31, making it easy to attach the cover 41.

[0025] This structure (the embodiment shown in Figures 12 and 13) comprises a roof 3 and a wiring storage member (horizontal wiring storage member) 46, the roof 3 having lighting fixtures 34 that illuminate downward, the wiring storage member 46 storing the wiring 36 of the lighting fixtures 34, and having a main body 46a that is open on the inner periphery of the roof 3 and a batten 46b that covers the opening of the main body 46a (see Figure 12), making it easy to wire the wiring 36 of the lighting fixtures 34 and further improving workability.

[0026] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. The cross-sectional shape and materials of the roofing material and cover material can be modified as appropriate. The lighting fixture can be attached to any of a plurality of roofing materials, and the wiring to the lighting fixture can be routed as appropriate. The lighting fixture may illuminate the front or sides of the roof from under the roof. In the embodiments, the front, back, left, and right are specified for convenience, but the structure does not necessarily have to be installed in this orientation. For example, the roof may be long in the left-right direction and sloped so that the rear is lower. The present invention is not limited to carports, but can be applied to any structure with a roof, such as a cycle port, a walkway shelter, or a terrace roof. [Explanation of symbols]

[0027] 1 pillar 2 beams 3. Roof 8. Roofing materials 31 protrusion 34 Lighting equipment 36 Wiring 41 Cover

Claims

[Claim 1] A structure comprising a roof and lighting fixtures, the roof being made by connecting a number of roofing materials by overlapping their widthwise ends, with protrusions projecting upward at the overlapping portions, the lighting fixtures being attached to at least one of the roofing materials and illuminating downward, a cover being attached to the roofing material on which the lighting fixtures are attached, straddling the protrusions, and wiring to the lighting fixtures being passed through the space between the roofing material and the cover.

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