Explosion-Resistant Curtain Wall Panel Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current explosion-resistant curtain wall panels are excessively heavy, leading to high production, transport, and installation costs, as well as increased mechanical stresses on building structures, which can result in damage during explosions.
Innovation Solution
A panel design featuring metallic uprights with male-female interlocking grooves and T-shaped seats, reinforced with plastic sheets and deformable cross-members, allowing for permanent deformation during explosions to absorb energy and maintain structural integrity, along with adjustable brackets for easy installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If panels are sized to withstand explosion stresses without permanent deformation, then explosion resistance is improved, but weight and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of structural response from 'no permanent deformation' to 'controlled permanent deformation'. The frame is designed to yield plastically under explosion loads, absorbing energy through deformation while maintaining overall structural integrity and protecting the building's load-bearing structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite construction combining a metallic frame with glass panes of varying thicknesses. The frame uses different metal thicknesses (first thickness for vertical members, second thickness for horizontal members) to optimize the balance between explosion resistance and weight reduction.
2Reliability
If frame and glass pane thicknesses are increased to reduce deformation, then explosion resistance is improved, but production and installation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the design parameter from maximizing thickness to optimizing thickness distribution. The frame uses different metal thicknesses for different members, and the glass panes have varying thicknesses, allowing cost-effective production while maintaining explosion resistance through controlled deformation design.
3Weight of moving object
If panel weight is reduced, then transport and installation costs decrease, but explosion resistance may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent fundamentally changes the approach from preventing deformation to utilizing controlled deformation for energy absorption. This allows significant weight reduction in the frame and glass panes while maintaining or improving explosion resistance through the energy-dissipating deformation mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of deformation (which traditionally indicates structural failure) into a beneficial energy absorption mechanism. The controlled permanent deformation of the frame and glass panes dissipates explosion energy, protecting the building while allowing lighter panel construction.
4Stability of the object's composition
If panels are designed to deform elastically under explosion stress, then structural integrity is maintained, but energy is transferred to the load-bearing structure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the deformation regime from purely elastic to controlled plastic deformation. The frame and glass panes are designed to yield permanently under explosion loads, converting kinetic energy into plastic work and heat, thereby reducing energy transfer to the building's load-bearing structure while maintaining overall structural stability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The panel reduces mechanical stresses on building structures, minimizes damage from explosions, and lowers production and installation costs while maintaining curtain wall continuity, protecting the internal environment.
Implementation Method 1
The innermost glass pane (4b) is reinforced with one or more sheets of plastic material (35), so as to prevent, in the event of breaking, the said innermost glass pane (4b) from fragmenting
Implementation Method 2
sizing said uprights (5a, 5b) and cross-members (24) so as to allow, in the event of an explosion, said uprights (5a, 5b) and cross-members (24) to undergo a permanent deformation
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A panel, particularly for providing explosion-resistant curtain walls, comprising one or more glass panes (4), so as to form a glazing unit, which are associated with a supporting frame (3) constituted by at least two uprights (5a, 5b) which are connected, at their upper (14) and lower (15) ends, by at least two cross-members (24). The panel (1) comprises first means (25) for strengthening and interconnecting the uprights (5a, 5b) and the cross-members (24), and second means (32, 37) for strengthening and guiding the mutual position of two contiguous uprights (5a, 5b) of two panels (1) arranged one above the other are associated with the uprights (5a, 5b). The panel further has third means (44) for limiting the mutual rotation of two contiguous uprights (5a, 5b) of two panels (1) arranged side by side.