Lightweight Wall Block Element Using Steel Spacers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional natural stone wall block elements for landscaping are excessively heavy, making them difficult or impossible to handle by manpower, necessitating the use of specialized lifting apparatuses for installation.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight wall block element design featuring a natural stone slab paired with a sheet metal panel and spacer elements, where the sheet metal panel and spacers form a single integral structure with connecting means like glue joints or flanges, allowing for easy assembly and filling with cast concrete, reducing weight and enabling manual handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If massive natural stone blocks are used for wall block elements, then the look of genuine natural stone is achieved, but the elements become heavy and difficult to handle by manpower
Solution Approach 1:
The wall block element is divided into multiple components: a first natural stone panel, a second panel, and multiple spacer elements. This segmentation allows the heavy monolithic stone block to be replaced with a lighter assembled structure where only the first panel is natural stone, reducing overall weight while maintaining the natural stone appearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite structure combining natural stone (first panel) with lighter materials (second panel and spacer elements made of metal or composite materials). This composite approach maintains the aesthetic appearance of natural stone while significantly reducing the weight and handling difficulty of the wall block element.
2Ease of operation
If massive natural stone blocks are used for wall block elements, then the natural stone appearance is maintained, but special lifting apparatus is needed for installation
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the wall block into a first natural stone panel, second panel, and spacer elements, the overall weight is reduced to a level that can be handled by manpower, eliminating the need for special lifting apparatus while maintaining the natural stone appearance through the first panel.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer elements act as intermediaries that connect the first natural stone panel with the second panel, providing structural support and spacing while allowing the assembly to be lightweight enough for manual handling. The connecting means on the spacer elements facilitate easy assembly without requiring heavy lifting equipment.
3Ease of manufacture
If the second panel and spacer elements are formed as an integral structure from a single sheet metal blank, then manufacturing complexity is reduced, but the structural integrity must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The second panel and spacer elements are merged into a single integral structure formed from one sheet metal blank. This merging simplifies manufacturing by eliminating separate production and assembly steps for these components, while the integral nature of the structure ensures structural integrity and strength are maintained.
Solution Approach 2:
The sheet metal blank is transformed through bending and forming operations that change its geometric parameters to create the second panel and spacer elements in a single piece. This parameter transformation during manufacturing achieves both simplification of the manufacturing process and maintenance of structural integrity through the continuous material structure.
Data Source
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AI summary
A wall block element (1, 2, 3) for building and/or landscaping purposes, such as for building a retaining wall (4), masonry wall (5) and/or a curb. The wall block element (1, 2, 3) comprises a first panel (6) and a second panel (7), at least said first panel (6) being a natural stone slab. At least two spacer elements (8, 9) made of steel are arranged at a distance from each other for placing and adjoining the first panel (6) and the second panel (7) together in parallel and at a distance in relation to each other. An inner space (10) is defined by the panels in-between the panels in which inner space a filling material (11), such as cast concrete, can be placed, said spacer elements each having connecting means (12) to attach at least the first panel to the spacer elements.