Sealing System With Retaining Means For Wall Facade Prefabrication
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing sealing systems for wall facades require significant on-site installation and bonding efforts, which contradict the idea of prefabrication and can lead to errors and increased construction time, as they rely on EPDM seals that need to be applied and connected on-site for air and water tightness.
Innovation Solution
A sealing system featuring a compressible and expandable sealing element with a retaining mechanism that prevents expansion until assembly, allowing the sealing element to be pre-attached to wall elements in the factory and only expanded during construction, using a combination of known sealing materials like EPDM with a compressed flexible foam tape to generate contact pressure for sealing profiles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If EPDM seals are pre-installed on wall elements in the factory, then manufacturing precision and productivity are improved, but the sealing element cannot expand to fulfill its sealing function during assembly
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing element is pre-installed and pre-compressed in the factory while restrained by a holding means, allowing manufacturing under controlled conditions. The restraint mechanism is designed to be released during assembly, enabling the sealing element to expand and fulfill its sealing function, thus combining the benefits of prefabrication with functional reliability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If sealing elements are compressed and restrained during transport and storage, then they maintain their shape and prevent deformation, but they cannot expand to create the necessary contact pressure for sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing element transitions from a compressed, restrained state during transport to an expanded, active state during assembly. The holding means is designed to be released under specific conditions (such as temperature changes or mechanical action), allowing the sealing element to dynamically change its state and generate the necessary contact pressure for effective sealing.
3Stability of the object's composition
If holding means is permanently fixed to wall element, then sealing element is securely retained, but sealing element cannot expand to press against further elements
Solution Approach 1:
The holding means is divided into a first holding means that remains fixed to the wall element and a second holding means that can be released. This segmentation allows the sealing element to be securely retained during transport while enabling controlled expansion during assembly when the second holding means is released, thus resolving the contradiction between retention and expansion.
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
This approach allows for extensive prefabrication of sealing systems under controlled conditions, reducing on-site installation work and minimizing errors, while ensuring effective sealing through controlled expansion of the sealing tape after installation, maintaining sealing integrity even with relative movements between wall elements.
Implementation Method 1
at least one sealing element (2) which can be compressed in at least one direction of compression (Z) and also expanded in this direction of compression
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5a~5g
AI summary
Sealing system (1) for a wall system (10) comprising a sealing element (2) that is compressible in at least one compression direction (Z) and also expandable in this compression direction, which can be applied to at least one section of a first wall element (12), and comprising a retaining means (4) that can be applied to this expandable sealing element (2) such that this application of the retaining means to the sealing element (2) prevents expansion of the sealing element, at least in the compression direction (Z). According to the invention, the retaining means (4) has a contact area (42) and can be applied with this contact area (42) to a side surface of the sealing element (2), which side surface is substantially perpendicular to the compression direction (Z), and the retaining means (4) has at least one first fixing means (44) by means of which it can be fixed to the wall element (12), at least temporarily.