REINFORCED POLYSTYRENE SLABS FOR CONSTRUCTION

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/666,684, filed on Jul. 2, 2024, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of construction elements, and more particularly, to reinforced polystyrene slabs for construction.

2. Discussion of Related Art

Various materials are used for construction, e.g., in form of panels or slabs. Polystyrene slabs are used for various construction purposes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following is a simplified summary providing an initial understanding of the invention. The summary does not necessarily identify key elements nor limit the scope of the invention, but merely serves as an introduction to the following description.

One aspect of the present invention provides a reinforced polystyrene slab for construction, the reinforced polystyrene slab comprises a polystyrene slab, and reinforcement elements embedded in the polystyrene slab.

One aspect of the present invention provides a method comprising preparing a reinforced polystyrene slab for construction by embedding reinforcement elements into a polystyrene slab.

These, additional, and/or other aspects and/or advantages of the present invention are set forth in the detailed description which follows, possibly inferable from the detailed description, and/or learnable by practice of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.

For a better understanding of embodiments of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, purely by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals designate corresponding elements or sections throughout. The patent or application file contains at least one drawing, e.g., FIG. 5, executed in color in order to clearly show details of the slabs that are being tested. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee. In the accompanying drawings:

FIGS. 1A-1D and 2A-2D are high-level schematic illustrations of reinforced polystyrene slabs, according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 3A-3C are illustrations of some preparation stages of the reinforced polystyrene slabs, according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are illustrations of reinforced polystyrene slabs having coated reinforcement elements in slits, and with coating, according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates schematically a measurement setting to evaluate the added strength achieved by various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method of preparing reinforced polystyrene slabs for construction, according to some embodiments of the invention.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, various aspects of the present invention are described. For purposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details presented herein. Furthermore, well known features may have been omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention. With specific reference to the drawings, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the present invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.

Before at least one embodiment of the invention is explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is applicable to other embodiments that may be practiced or carried out in various ways as well as to combinations of the disclosed embodiments. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Some embodiments of the present invention provide efficient and economical methods and mechanisms for providing reinforced polystyrene slabs for construction and thereby provide improvements to the technological field of construction elements.

Reinforced polystyrene slabs for construction are provided, along with methods for their production. Polystyrene slabs may be reinforced to produce construction elements that are light and strong, especially with respect to the slab's flexural rigidity. Reinforcement elements such as rods, tubes and/or meshes may be embedded in the polystyrene slab, e.g., as inserts during the production process. Reinforcement elements made of various materials may be set into the mold in which polystyrene is foamed and set—thus incorporating the reinforcement elements within the polystyrene slab. The reinforcement elements may be made of metal, plastic, carbon fibers, glass fibers, basalt fibers, and combinations thereof. The reinforced polystyrene slabs may be coated by various materials for protection and to further increase their strength. The reinforced polystyrene slabs are configured to provide specified flexural rigidity (resistance to flexing), while keeping the slabs light-weight.

FIGS. 1A-1D and 2A-2D are high-level schematic illustrations of reinforced polystyrene slabs 100, according to some embodiments of the invention. Reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 may be used for construction of various elements, such as grave construction elements such as walls and/or covers, ceiling construction elements and/or various types of partitions, as well as any other structural elements that benefit from the weight reduction and increased strength, as provided by the disclosed embodiments.

Reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 comprise polystyrene slabs 90 and reinforcement elements 110 embedded therein, in polystyrene slab 90. Various embodiments include producing reinforced slabs 100 from commercial slabs 90 made of other materials, such as polyurethane or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In various embodiments, reinforced slabs 100 may be made using prepared commercial slabs 90 or disclosed reinforcement elements 110 may be embedded or attached to commercial slabs 90 during the production process thereof, e.g., prior to forming the material from which commercial slabs 90 is made, as disclosed herein.

In various embodiments, reinforcement elements 110 may comprise rods (illustrated schematically, e.g., in FIGS. 1A and 2A) and/or tubes (illustrated schematically, e.g., in FIGS. 1C and 2C). In some embodiments, reinforcement elements 110 may be arranged as meshes or comprise meshes of rods (illustrated schematically, e.g., in FIGS. 1B and 2B) and/or of tubes (e.g., hollow pipes, illustrated schematically, e.g., in FIGS. 1D and 2D). Meshes or networks may be coarse or fine, and made of solid or hollow elements. In some embodiments, reinforcement elements 110 may fibers and/or cables (embedded similarly to the illustrate rods and meshes). In various embodiments, reinforcement elements 110 may be made of metal, plastic, carbon fibers, glass fibers and/or basalt fibers, or combinations thereof (e.g., fibers or cables within or surrounding hollow pipes), possibly included additional materials.

Reinforcement elements 110 may be embedded into polystyrene slab 90 using various techniques, such as placing reinforcement elements 110 in a mold and forming polystyrene slab 90 to encompass reinforcement elements 110 (e.g., foaming polystyrene precursors and letting the foamed polystyrene set around reinforcement elements 110), or inserting reinforcement elements 110 into polystyrene slab 90, e.g., by cutting slits into polystyrene slab 90 and inserting corresponding reinforcement elements 110 into polystyrene slab 90, e.g., in addition to adhesives (e.g., glue) or cement to affix reinforcement elements 110 in the slits in polystyrene slab 90 and provide additional strength. For example, FIGS. 2A and 2D illustrate schematically a cement mixture 115 coating embedded reinforcement elements 110 at least partly.

In various embodiments, reinforcement elements 110 may be configured to have a higher flexural rigidity compared with regular polystyrene slabs of the same weight, and/or a decreased weight compared with regular polystyrene slabs with comparable flexural rigidity. For example, in stress load tests disclosed reinforcement elements 110 were shown to increase load support ability by up to 70% (for the same slab weight, including rod weight).

In various embodiments, reinforcement elements 110 may further comprise a coating 120 on one or both sides, as illustrated schematically, e.g., in FIGS. 2A-2D. In various embodiments, coating 120 may comprise a flexible cement coating, a concrete coating and/or a polymeric coating, optionally reinforced by fibers, fabrics and/or meshes (reinforced coatings illustrated schematically in FIGS. 2C, 2D by the different hatching pattern). Coating reinforcement may be implemented by various materials to provide additional rigidity and/or strength. In some embodiments, coating 120 may further comprise one or more protective material (e.g., polymeric such as elastomer). FIGS. 2A and 2D illustrate schematically reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 having coatings 120 on both sides while FIGS. 2B and 2C illustrate schematically reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 having coating 120 on one side.

Non-limiting examples for coatings 120 may comprise flexible fabrics and/or meshes embedded in cement so that coating 120 forms a rollable sheet that may be attached to reinforced polystyrene slabs 100, as taught, e.g., by U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/776,467, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Other examples for coatings 120 include concrete and/or polymeric coatings, which may be reinforced by various types of fibers, fabrics and/or meshes. In non-limiting examples, sandwiching reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 within concrete and/or reinforced coatings 120 may further increase the strength of slabs 100, especially enhancing their flexural rigidity. Coatings may comprise protective materials that protect the polystyrene material and possibly increase the strength of the slabs.

It is noted that elements illustrated in different figures may be combined to form any embodiments. For example, the types of reinforcement elements 110 and their optional surrounding cement mixture 115 and well as the type and position of coatings 120 may be taken from different illustrations and combined into additional embodiments (e.g., a mesh of rods from FIG. 1B, with surrounding cement 115 from FIG. 2A and two sided reinforced coating 120 from FIG. 2D, and so forth concerning other combinations.

FIGS. 3A-3C are illustrations of some preparation stages of reinforced polystyrene slabs 100, according to some embodiments of the invention. FIG. 3A is a photograph illustrating polystyrene foamed to encompass rods 110 positioned in advance. For example, FIG. 3B illustrates in a highly schematic manner, reinforcement elements 110 that are set in a mold 80 (illustrated schematically), into which fluids are introduced 90A to form the foamed polystyrene around reinforcement elements 110 (e.g., polystyrene beads may be set within or introduced into mold 80 and steam 90A may be introduced into mold 80 to melt and foam the polystyrene). FIG. 3C is a photograph illustrating slits 110A cut into polystyrene slab 90, into which mesh 110 is set with or without cement mixture 115 and/or glue (for embedding rods of tubes 110 slits in a single direction may be formed). Following the insertion of mesh 110, coating 120 comprising a cement layer and a fiberglass mesh for further reinforcement—may be applied to form reinforced polystyrene slabs 100.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are illustrations of reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 having coated reinforcement elements 110 in slits 110A and with coating 120, according to some embodiments of the invention. FIG. 4A is a high-level schematic illustration of reinforcement elements 110 in slits 110A on at least one side of polystyrene slab 90, with slits 110A being further filled with a cement mixture 120A coating the embedded reinforcement elements 110 at least partly, and further extending to form coating 120 made of cement, e.g., configured as a thin layer (compared to the thickness of polystyrene slab 90). For example, in some embodiments, slits 110A may be filled with cement mixture 120A, reinforcement elements 110 may be embedded into the cement-filled slits, and additional cement mixture may be spread to cover the embedded reinforcement elements and further form cement coating 120. FIG. 4B provides photographs that illustrate reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 having reinforcement elements 110 within cement-filled (120A) slits 110A and two-sided cement coating 120.

FIG. 5 illustrates schematically a measurement setting to evaluate the added strength achieved by various embodiments of the invention. Supports and one or more piston(s) may be used to apply specific forces at specific locations to compare the weight bearing capability and the flexural rigidity (strength with respect to bending) of reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 compared to commercial polystyrene slabs 90. For example, for 30 cm×60 cm×2 cm slabs, one sided reinforcement and two-sided coating illustrated in FIG. 4B was found to double the weight bearing capability of the slab by a factor of 2-4, e.g., quadrupling the weight bearing capability from ca. 70 kg for commercial polystyrene slabs 90 to ca. 300 kg for reinforced polystyrene slabs 100. In another example, for thicker slabs measuring 30 cm×60 cm×4 cm, one sided reinforcement and two-sided coating illustrated in FIG. 4B was found to quadruple the weight bearing capability from ca. 120 kg for commercial polystyrene slabs 90 to ca. 500 kg for reinforced polystyrene slabs 100. The factor in which the strength of reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 is increased compared to commercial polystyrene slabs 90 depends on the specific configuration of reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 and may be adjusted according to given requirements, as being between 2-4 or larger, e.g., between 5-10. This factor also depends on the dimensions of the slabs and the measuring techniques, yet in any case it is at least two and may be adjusted to be higher, e.g., 3, 4, 5, 6 or even larger factors, as well as intermediate values.

Disclosed reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 may be configured according to given specifications to have dimensions, weight and strength with respect to various strains and stresses (e.g., resisting several hundred kg without deformation such as buckling). The configuration of the reinforcing elements 110 and/or of coating 120 may be adjusted with respect to the given requirements. For example, the density of reinforcing elements 110, their material and structure, spatial configuration, element thickness etc. may be adjusted according to given requirements.

FIG. 6 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method 200, according to some embodiments of the invention. The method stages may be carried out to produce reinforced polystyrene slabs 100 described herein. Method 200 may comprise the following stages, irrespective of their order.

Method 200 comprises preparing a reinforced polystyrene slab for construction (stage 205) by embedding reinforcement elements into a polystyrene slab (stage 210). In various embodiments, method 200 may comprise embedding rods and/or tubes by insertion into the polystyrene slab (stage 220), e.g., by cutting slits into the polystyrene slab (stage 222), placing the reinforcement elements (e.g., rods, tubes and/or mesh) and optionally adhesives and/or cement into the slits (stage 224). In some embodiments, method 200 may further comprise coating the embedded reinforcement elements at least partly by a cement mixture (stage 226). In some embodiments, slits may be filled with a cement mixture, and the reinforcement elements may be embedded into the cement-filled slits in the polystyrene slab. Further cement mixture may be spread to cover the embedded reinforcement elements and further expanded to form a thin cement coating.

In some embodiments, method 200 may comprise embedding a mesh, rods and/or tubes by producing the polystyrene slab to encompass the mesh, rods and/or tubes (stage 230). Method 200 may further comprise embedding fibers and/or cables into the polystyrene slab during production thereof (stage 235).

In various embodiments, method 200 may further comprise coating the reinforced polystyrene slab on one or both sides (stage 240). For example, the coating may comprise a flexible cement coating, a concrete coating and/or a polymeric coating. In some embodiments, method 200 may further comprise reinforcing the coating by fibers, fabrics and/or meshes (stage 242). In some embodiments, method 200 may further comprise applying a protective material onto the coating (stage 244).

In various embodiments, method 200 may comprise configuring the reinforced polystyrene slab to have specified flexural rigidity and weight (stage 250). It is noted that reinforcement elements 110 may be configured to have a higher flexural rigidity compared with regular polystyrene slabs of the same weight, and/or a decreased weight compared with regular polystyrene slabs with comparable flexural rigidity. For example, in stress load tests disclosed reinforcement elements 110 were shown to increase load support ability by up to 70% (for the same slab weight, including rod weight).

In some embodiments, method 200 may further comprise configuring the reinforced polystyrene slab as a grave construction element comprising wall and/or cover, a ceiling construction element and/or a partition and so forth (stage 255).

Elements from FIGS. 1A-6 may be combined in any operable combination, and the illustration of certain elements in certain figures and not in others merely serves an explanatory purpose and is non-limiting.

In the above description, an embodiment is an example or implementation of the invention. The various appearances of “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “certain embodiments” or “some embodiments” do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiments. Although various features of the invention may be described in the context of a single embodiment, the features may also be provided separately or in any suitable combination. Conversely, although the invention may be described herein in the context of separate embodiments for clarity, the invention may also be implemented in a single embodiment. Certain embodiments of the invention may include features from different embodiments disclosed above, and certain embodiments may incorporate elements from other embodiments disclosed above. The disclosure of elements of the invention in the context of a specific embodiment is not to be taken as limiting their use in the specific embodiment alone. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out or practiced in various ways and that the invention can be implemented in certain embodiments other than the ones outlined in the description above.

The invention is not limited to those diagrams or to the corresponding descriptions. For example, flow need not move through each illustrated box or state, or in exactly the same order as illustrated and described. Meanings of technical and scientific terms used herein are to be commonly understood as by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs, unless otherwise defined. While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as exemplifications of some of the preferred embodiments. Other possible variations, modifications, and applications are also within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be limited by what has thus far been described, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.