Intumescent Sealing for Electrical Installation Boxes
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Solution Overview
Problem
In post-and-beam construction with double gypsum plasterboard cladding, openings in the planking compromise fire resistance, allowing flames to spread between rooms, particularly through installation boxes like light switches, which are often installed 'back to back' and lack adequate fire protection.
Innovation Solution
An installation box with a layer of electrically insulating plastic and a flexible material containing intumescent components that seals openings and expands to close them during a fire, preventing smoke and flame escape, while maintaining structural integrity and electrical safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If openings are made in the planking for installation sockets, then electrical installation is enabled, but fire resistance is compromised allowing flames to spread between rooms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-installing fire protection material around the installation box openings in the planking before the fire occurs. This material is positioned in advance to seal the openings and prevent flame spread, while still allowing electrical installation to proceed through the openings. The fire protection measure is prepared beforehand rather than reacting after fire starts.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of heat from fire into a beneficial sealing action. The fire protection material is designed to expand or melt when exposed to fire heat, causing it to flow into and seal the openings around the installation boxes. The harmful thermal energy is thus transformed into a useful sealing mechanism that prevents flame spread.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If intumescent material is used to seal openings, then fire resistance is improved, but the structure of the installation box is destroyed by expansion forces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by placing fire protection material specifically in the openings and around the installation boxes where fire spread is most likely to occur, rather than using material throughout the entire planking structure. This localized application provides fire resistance where needed while minimizing the structural impact of material expansion on the installation box.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary substance or layer between the intumescent material and the installation box structure. This intermediary absorbs or distributes the expansion forces, preventing direct damage to the installation box while still allowing the intumescent material to expand and seal the openings effectively.
3Ease of operation
If light switches are installed back to back in neighboring rooms, then standardized positioning is achieved, but fire can easily spread through the hollow wall
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the continuous hollow wall into separate fire compartments using fire protection material around each installation box opening. This segmentation creates fire barriers at each penetration point, preventing flames from traveling continuously through the hollow wall between rooms, while still allowing standardized back-to-back light switch installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful heat from fire into a beneficial sealing action at the installation box openings. The fire protection material expands or flows when heated by fire, automatically sealing the openings and preventing flame spread through the hollow wall, while the standardized back-to-back installation positioning remains intact.
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 solution effectively seals openings in both cavity and flush-mounted installations, preventing smoke and flame spread, ensuring safety by containing smoke gases and allowing for early evacuation without harm, while maintaining the installation box's functionality and space.
Implementation Method 1
The well-known intumescent material consists of expandable graphite. This expandable graphite has the property of expanding when heated. This expansion takes place with such forces that the structure of a conventional cavity wall box is destroyed.
Implementation Method 2
A layer made of a soft elastic material is also attached to the outer surface of the layer. The flexible material covers at least these openings.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The present invention relates to an electrical installation box, wherein the box comprises a layer of an electrically insulating plastic, this layer having openings for the insertion of cables and/or conduits, and wherein a soft elastic material is further applied to the outer surface of the layer, which at least covers these openings. According to the present invention, the soft elastic material is a substance with a material composition comprising at least one intumescent material.