Wall Panel Bracket Assembly for Expansion-Tolerant Cladding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing decorative panel attachment systems for exterior walls are costly, complex, and restrictive, with hangers causing stress buildup and cracking due to temperature changes, and require precise installation, limiting reusability and airflow.
Innovation Solution
An attachment system using L-shaped support profiles and brackets with grooves and half-closed spaces allows panels to be mounted with vertical support profiles, enabling easy installation, reducing material costs, and allowing panel expansion, while maintaining airflow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hangers are fixed to the back surface of panels using bolt connections or clamping into grooves, then the panel can be mounted on vertical and horizontal support profiles, but the re-use of the panel becomes difficult or impossible and additional processing is required
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment system is divided into separate components: support profiles fixed to the wall and detachable hangers attached to the panel. This segmentation allows the panel to be easily detached and reused without permanent modifications, while maintaining reliable attachment during installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The hanger acts as an intermediary element between the panel and the support profiles. It provides a removable connection mechanism that ensures reliable attachment during mounting while allowing easy detachment for reuse, eliminating the need for permanent bolt connections or groove processing.
2Reliability
If hangers are used to attach panels to vertical and horizontal support profiles, then the panel can be securely mounted, but the hangers represent fixation points that do not allow for expansion of the panel in the height direction, causing excessive stress build-up and crack formation
Solution Approach 1:
The hanger design incorporates dynamic characteristics that allow it to move or flex in response to thermal expansion. This dynamic capability enables the panel to expand and contract in the height direction during temperature changes, preventing excessive stress build-up and crack formation while maintaining secure fixation.
3Ease of operation
If only horizontal support profiles are used directly fixed to the wall, then the installation procedure is simplified, but very accurate attachment of profiles to the wall is required and the dimensions of the cavity behind panels are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The support system is segmented into vertical support profiles fixed to the wall and horizontal hangers attached to the panel. This segmentation simplifies installation by allowing vertical profiles to be easily mounted on the wall without requiring precise horizontal alignment, while the horizontal hangers provide the necessary attachment points for the panel.
4Reliability
If vertical and horizontal support profiles are used to mount panels, then the panel can be securely attached with no outward trace, but material costs increase and installation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The horizontal support profiles are extracted from the system, leaving only vertical support profiles fixed to the wall. The hangers serve as the sole attachment mechanism, simplifying the overall system while maintaining secure panel attachment with no outward trace. This reduction in components directly lowers material costs and installation complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention is related to an attachment system comprising one or more panels provided with pairs of mutually parallel grooves through the back surface of the panels, a plurality of support profiles and a plurality of support brackets. The support profiles comprise a portion having an L-shaped section comprising a first leg portion and a second leg portion, so that the support profiles may be attached vertically to a wall with the second leg portion oriented at a distance from the wall and parallel thereto. The support brackets are formed of a first and second bracket profile configured to be assembled by inserting respective leg portions of the bracket profiles into the grooves, and securing wall portions of the bracket profiles to each other, thereby assembling the bracket and simultaneously clamping the bracket in said grooves.