Modular Building Panel With Interlocking Sawtooth Ridges
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional building construction methods require expensive materials and skilled labor, resulting in high costs and long construction times, making it difficult to quickly and affordably build shelters for refugees, displaced persons, and other needs.
Innovation Solution
A modular building panel system with opposing surfaces and parallel ridges that can be easily assembled and locked together without additional fastening mechanisms, allowing for rapid construction of walls using demountable components that can be flat-packed for transport and assembly on-site.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional building construction methods are used, then structural strength and durability are achieved, but construction time and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The building structure is divided into modular panels that can be manufactured separately and assembled quickly on-site. Each panel is a self-contained unit with integrated structural properties, allowing parallel manufacturing and rapid assembly, thus reducing overall construction time while maintaining structural strength through standardized design.
Solution Approach 2:
Panels are pre-manufactured with integrated ridges and locking features before delivery to the construction site. The ridges are pre-formed to engage with corresponding features on adjacent panels, eliminating the need for on-site fastening operations and significantly reducing assembly time while ensuring consistent structural quality.
2Strength
If conventional building materials and methods are used, then structural integrity is achieved, but the complexity of assembly and labor requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The panels are designed with self-aligning and self-locking features where the ridges automatically engage with corresponding grooves or ridges on adjacent panels during assembly. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex fastening operations, specialized tools, or highly skilled labor, while maintaining structural integrity through the inherent mechanical interlocking design.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple functions are merged into the panel design: the ridges serve both as structural reinforcement elements and as interlocking fastening mechanisms. The panel edges incorporate both alignment features and locking features in a single integrated structure, simplifying the assembly process while ensuring structural integrity without requiring separate fastening components.
3Productivity
If panels are designed with interlocking ridges for rapid assembly, then construction speed increases, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ridge profile is designed with asymmetric geometry where one side features a protruding element and the corresponding panel features a recessed groove. This asymmetric design provides inherent alignment guidance during assembly, with the protrusion naturally guiding into the groove, tolerating greater manufacturing variations while ensuring precise final positioning and rapid engagement.
Data Source
AI summary
A panel is disclosed for use in construction. The panel comprises opposing surfaces that extend between first and second opposite ends. The panel also comprises a plurality of parallel (e.g. sawtooth) ridges. The ridges are provided on at least one of the opposing surfaces. The ridges extend along and adjacent to a first of the opposite ends of the panel for at least a part length thereof. The ridges are arranged to engage with and move past corresponding ridges of an adjacent panel when the panels move relative to each other in opposite directions. The ridges are further arranged so as to interfere with the ridges of the adjacent panel to resist relative movement in a reverse of the opposite direction.