Modular Radiant Panel Layout Without Milling or Thermal Bridges
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing radiant panels for room conditioning face challenges such as complex and costly manufacturing processes due to milling, long installation times, non-radiant passive surfaces, thermal bridges, and limited flexibility in the front surface functions.
Innovation Solution
A modular radiant panel with a sandwich-like structure featuring a thermally insulating rear layer and a mechanically strong front layer, where radiant pipes and headers are housed within preformed grooves in the insulating layer, allowing for easy installation and modular division, and enabling various front surface functions without milling, thus eliminating dust and thermal bridge issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If milling operation is performed on the plasterboard to form coil-pipe-housing channel, then the coil pipes can be housed in the panel, but a large amount of plaster dust is generated and manufacturing becomes complex and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the harmful milling operation from the manufacturing process by providing preformed grooves in the insulating layer. The grooves are created during insulating layer formation rather than by subsequent milling, thereby eliminating plaster dust generation while still providing channels for housing coil pipes and headers.
Solution Approach 2:
The grooves for housing coil pipes and headers are preformed in the insulating layer during its manufacturing process, before the panel assembly is complete. This preliminary action eliminates the need for later milling operations and reduces manufacturing complexity.
2Ease of operation
If individual circuits are independently connected to headers on sides of each panel pair, then hydraulic balancing is facilitated, but installation time increases due to complex header arrangement and insulation requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the header functions by providing integrated headers that extend through the insulating layer and are accessible from the front surface. Multiple circuits can be connected to a single header structure, reducing the number of separate header arrangements needed while maintaining hydraulic balancing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The headers are repositioned from lateral connections between panels to front-surface connections on the same panel. This dimensional change allows easier access and connection while reducing installation complexity and time.
3Ease of operation
If headers are arranged on the sides of panels and independently insulated with shell, then hydraulic connections are achieved, but non-radiant passive surfaces are created and useful radiant surface area is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the headers from the lateral positions that create passive surfaces and repositions them within the insulating layer, accessible only from the front surface. This eliminates the need for lateral insulation shells and removes the non-radiant passive surfaces, maximizing the useful radiant surface area.
4Strength
If fastening profiles are connected directly to the plasterboard layer, then panel fixation is achieved, but thermal bridges are created to the underlying brickwork
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the fastening function from the plasterboard layer and relocates it to the rear surface of the insulating layer. This separation eliminates the thermal bridge pathway through the plasterboard while maintaining secure panel fixation.
5Ease of manufacture
If milling is performed on the rear part of the panel, then coil pipes can be housed, but the front layer certification and quality standards are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the groove formation from the front plasterboard layer and relocates it to the rear insulating layer. This protects the front layer's integrity and certification while still providing the necessary housing for coil pipes and headers.
Solution Approach 2:
The groove formation is moved from the front surface dimension to the rear insulating layer dimension, allowing coil pipe housing without compromising the front layer's quality standards and certification.
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 simplifies manufacturing and installation, enhances flexibility in panel configuration, and removes thermal bridges, allowing for faster and more efficient installation while enabling diverse front surface functions, improving overall performance and compliance with architectural requirements.
Implementation Method 1
a rear, thermally insulating layer
Implementation Method 2
a front layer with mechanical strength and good thermal conductivity
Implementation Method 3
designed to allow fast installation... for the conditioning of inner spaces
Data Source
AI summary
Modular, prefabricated radiant panel, having a sandwich structure including a thermally insulating rear layer (1), a front layer acting as mechanical support and outer surface finish, and two radiant pipes (4) integrated in the panel for the flow of a heat-carrying fluid. The radiant pipes (4) are housed in preformed grooves (2) in the thermally insulating rear layer. In the same layer there are further provided two parallel, longitudinal grooves (3) for the housing of a pair of headers (5) which supply the radiant pipes (4). The headers (5) housed in the grooves (3) cross the entire panel and end in correspondence of the opposite short sides thereof, where they are connected to the radiant pipes (4) via T-junctions (6), a free mouth of which faces outwards for connection via sleeves (7) to T-junctions (6) of other panels, both directly and through connection pipes.