Polyurethane Foam Modular Blocks for Affordable Housing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional affordable housing solutions using modular foam components face challenges due to high shipping costs and limitations of expanded polystyrene (EPS) in terms of thermal resistance, moisture permeability, fire resistance, and wind load, as well as the bulkiness and heaviness of machinery required for EPS production, making it difficult to create these components on-site.
Innovation Solution
The use of polyurethane foam blocks with recesses and connective components for interlocking, allowing for on-site stacking and reinforcement, and a portable molding device for forming these blocks, which provides better thermal resistance, moisture resistance, and wind load capacity compared to EPS, and can be easily transported and assembled without bulky machinery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If modular foam components are manufactured and shipped to building sites, then housing structures can be assembled, but shipping costs become prohibitively expensive due to the lightweight nature of foam
Solution Approach 1:
The foam components are manufactured in advance at a centralized facility with proper curing equipment, allowing the building site to receive pre-manufactured blocks ready for immediate assembly without requiring on-site manufacturing equipment
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediate curing process where foam blocks are initially formed and cured in a controlled environment at the manufacturing site, then transported as semi-finished or finished products to the building location for final assembly
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional machinery is used to create EPS modular components, then foam blocks can be produced, but the machinery is bulky and heavy making on-site creation difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex manufacturing and curing equipment from the building site, concentrating all heavy machinery and processing equipment at the manufacturing facility, leaving only simple assembly operations for the building site
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical on-site manufacturing equipment with pre-manufactured foam blocks that require only manual or simple mechanical assembly, eliminating the need for bulky on-site production machinery
3Ease of manufacture
If EPS is used as the base material for modular components, then housing structures can be constructed, but thermal resistance, moisture permeability, fire resistance, and wind load capacity are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters by substituting EPS with polyurethane foam, which has superior thermal resistance (higher R-value per inch), lower moisture permeability, improved fire resistance characteristics, and enhanced structural strength to withstand wind loads
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses polyurethane foam as a composite material that combines multiple desirable properties: thermal insulation, moisture resistance, structural strength, and fire resistance, creating a multi-functional building material that addresses all performance requirements simultaneously
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed technology includes a polyurethane foam block including a base having a plurality of recesses and a top surface having a plurality of connective components protruding outward from the top surface where each connective component of the plurality of connective components can align with a recess of the plurality of recesses. The polyurethane foam block can include a plurality of walls extending upward from the base and defining an interior. The polyurethane foam block can include a plurality of partitions extending from the base to the top surface to divide the block into a plurality of cavities, each cavity traversing a height of the block.