Plastic Ground Beams for Moisture Protection and Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Light buildings with wooden walls face issues due to humidity and water infiltration through ground beams in contact with raft foundations, leading to rot and structural instability, while concrete and metal beams present manufacturing challenges and high costs.
Innovation Solution
A system using lightweight, cost-effective plastic ground beams with reinforcing inserts and ventilation holes, combined with metal connecting elements and adjustable anchoring systems, ensures precise alignment and insulation against humidity and water infiltration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If wooden ground beams are used, then the building structure is lightweight and easy to assemble, but the beams are exposed to humidity and water infiltration causing rot and structural deterioration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediate protective layer (bituminous membrane or plastic sheet) between the wooden ground beam and the raft foundation. This intermediary prevents direct contact with moisture while allowing the wooden beam to maintain its structural function, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of assembly and structural stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a sacrificial protective layer (bituminous membrane or plastic sheet) that can be easily replaced if damaged. This disposable protective element shields the permanent wooden structure from moisture, allowing the main structural component to remain lightweight and easy to assemble while maintaining long-term reliability.
2Reliability
If concrete ground beams are used, then the walls are protected from humidity and water infiltration, but the manufacturing is difficult and dimensional tolerances make assembly problematic
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the permanent concrete ground beam with a combination of a simple wooden beam and a sacrificial protective membrane. The wooden beam can be easily manufactured with consistent dimensions, while the flexible membrane provides the moisture protection that concrete would provide, eliminating the manufacturing precision problems associated with concrete beams.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the material parameter from rigid concrete to flexible plastic/bituminous membrane for the protective function. This allows the protective layer to adapt to surface irregularities and maintain effective moisture barrier performance without requiring high manufacturing precision, thus resolving the contradiction between protection reliability and manufacturing precision.
3Manufacturing precision
If metal ground beams are used, then the walls can be assembled easily and precisely, but the cost of the building is significantly increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses inexpensive wooden beams combined with a simple protective membrane instead of expensive metal beams. The wooden beams are sufficient for the structural support function, while the membrane provides the necessary moisture protection, achieving the same overall performance at significantly lower cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite system combining wood (for structural support) with plastic or bituminous membrane (for moisture protection). This composite approach replaces the need for expensive metal beams while achieving both structural integrity and moisture protection, thus resolving the contradiction between assembly precision and building cost.
4Manufacturing precision
If the raft foundation surface is irregular, then the ground beams cannot be assembled with precision and alignment, but using corrective measures increases complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the rigidity parameter of the protective layer from rigid to flexible. The flexible plastic or bituminous membrane can conform to irregular raft foundation surfaces, allowing precise alignment and horizontal positioning of ground beams without requiring complex corrective measures or additional adjustment mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs flexible thin film membranes (plastic or bituminous) as the protective layer between ground beams and the raft foundation. These flexible films can adapt to surface irregularities, enabling precise beam alignment and horizontal positioning without increasing assembly complexity, thus resolving the contradiction between alignment precision and device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
System for fixing to the ground walls of a building includes a plurality of supporting elements interposed between a concrete foundation of the building and the walls, connecting elements for connecting at least two supporting elements that are aligned on one another, adjusting elements for adjusting a distance of the supporting elements from the foundation and for correcting a possible tilt of the supporting elements with respect to a horizontal reference plane, anchoring elements for anchoring the supporting elements to the foundation, the supporting elements being made of plastics.