Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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Mineral fibre insulation board
The invention concerns a mineral fibre board of relatively high density for
heat, sound or fire insulation. The board has at least two resilient minor
side
surfaces in order to prevent any small gaps in the joints between two adja-
cent boards. The purpose of the invention is to improve the effect of the insu-
lation layer and thereby either reducing the heat loss to a minimum in order
to comply with new standards for low energy consumption buildings or to im-
prove the fire properties of a fire protection insulation layer on e.g. steel
con-
structions. The invention also concerns a method for producing the mineral
fibre board and a method for installing the boards.
It is known to manufacture and use mineral wool insulation boards with at
least one resilient edge for e.g. between rafter insulation in buildings. Meth-
ods for manufacturing such a board has been described in DE 32 03 622 and
in US 5,213,885. The purpose has been to make the insulation adjust easily
to differences in the distances between rafters or beams in order to avoid
cutting the board into the correct size at the building site. This will save
time
and reduce the insulation workers exposure to airborne mineral fibres con-
siderably. Mineral wool insulation for this purpose would typically have densi-
ties in the range 20 - 35 kg/m3.
For some purposes e.g. external fagade insulation or fire protection of steel
constructions, higher densities of the insulation boards are used compared to
standard building insulation, e.g. insulation between the rafters. This higher
density gives a higher strength and mechanical stability of the insulation
board, and it is prevented that the insulation could buckle out from the sur-
face to which it is attached in the area between the fasteners.
The increased focus on high energy efficient insulation of buildings due to
the
increased costs for energy and concerns about environmental issues has
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revealed that it is not enough to increase the thickness and the insulation
properties of the insulation layer. It is also necessary to optimise the way
the
insulation is installed. It is essential for an effective insulation to
minimise
cold bridges, e.g. the fasteners for the insulation, and to avoid any gaps be-
tween the insulation boards. According to ISO 6946 (1997) it is necessary to
compensate for possible gaps between the insulation boards by using a
thicker insulation layer. This will obviously increase the use of insulation
ma-
terial thereby increasing the costs of the building without gaining a better
overall heat insulation.
Until now there are only two ways to avoid gaps between the insulation
boards. The first is to have more than one layer of insulation installed so
that
the spaces between the boards in the e.g. two layers of boards do not over-
lap. This method will make the insulation more time consuming to install. The
second method is to give the edges of the boards a shape or profile which
will prevent an open access to the insulated surface along a straight line per-
pendicular to the surface against which the insulation is placed. This shape
or profile could be groove and tongue like. This method will make each insu-
lation board more expensive to produce, primarily because the production will
have a higher waste of mineral wool.
The present invention has solved the above mentioned problems by making
at least two of the minor side surfaces on a high density mineral fibre insula-
tion board resilient, i.e. more elastically compressible than the rest of the
board. This has not been done before for mineral fibre insulation densities
considerably higher than densities used for standard building insulation, e.g.
between rafter insulation below the roof of a building. It has furthermore
been
found that it is possible to manufacture such boards.
It has not been obvious to make resilient minor side surfaces in mineral fibre
insulation boards for e.g. fagade insulation, external roof insulation, fire
and
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heat insulation for marine purposes since it has been essential to have a
hard and non-compressible insulation board for these purposes. The specific
need for a hard, stable and non-compressible insulation board for a number
of purposes has been the main reason for manufacturing these boards at
higher densities and thereby higher costs than what would typically be used
for insulation inside buildings, e.g. between rafter insulation.
By resilient minor side surfaces according to the invention minor side sur-
faces are understood, which are easily compressible by hand, and which are
elastically compressible in such a way that removing the compression will
make the minor side surface of the board regain substantially its original di-
mension, however minor deviations from its original dimension should be ex-
pected. The rest of the board away from the resilient surfaces has a higher
stiffness. The stiffness may be defined according to EN826. Preferably, the
whole minor surface should be substantially equally resilient.
In the manufacturing it is more difficult to make resilient minor side
surfaces
when the density of the mineral fibre insulation board is increased. A higher
force on the rollers compressing the minor side surfaces of the insulation
board is needed. This will make it more difficult to let the board or stack of
boards pass a station for manufacturing of resilient minor side surfaces. This
problem has been solved by the inventive method also claimed. The method
is to let one board or a stack of boards pass two zones i.e. two compression
stations with rollers on one side of the conveyor and a smooth conveyor sur-
face on the opposite side of the rollers for holding the stack of boards in
posi-
tion. Due to the high density of the boards a high compression force by the
rollers is necessary, and therefore the smooth conveyor surface is necessary
for securing a well-defined position of the board or stack of boards on the
main conveyor band on which the board or stack of boards is moved. The
well-defined position of the board or stack of boards is important for
obtaining
a specific depth of the resilient zone.
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The high compression force by the rollers will often make boards bend. This
problem may be solved by letting only one board pass the station at a time
and supporting the board on its top major surface while passing the zones
(the same zone could be passed more than once). This support could be in
the form of a conveyor band covering the majority of the top surface. The
support could also be in the form of a smooth surface. This support will pre-
vent the board from bending due to the compression force. Any bending of
the board during the compression will mean that the resilient zone will not
get
the specified depth. Furthermore, bending may cause de-lamination of the
board, especially when the board is a dual density board.
The inventive mineral fibre insulation board will have the advantage that the
resilient minor side surfaces will compensate for the tolerances of the
boards.
These tolerances are often in the millimetre range, and are present in both
the width and length of the board and in the angles of the board resulting in
deviations from a purely rectangular box shape. The tolerances are due to
the fast cutting out the boards from the mineral fibre web moving on the con-
veyor line. The tolerances will often be in the range up to 5 mm and some-
times even up to 8 mm. This means in practice that there might be difference
in the width or length of a board of 5 mm from one end to the other in the
width or length direction. These tolerances will lead to small gaps between a
numbers of the boards on a fagade when traditional boards without resilient
minor side surfaces are used. The resilient minor side surfaces will make it
possible to press the boards together by hand when installing the boards and
by compressing the minor side surfaces slightly the elastically compressible
zone will fill out any gaps between the boards.
Due to these tolerances the resilient zone do not need to extend for a dis-
tance into the insulation board measured perpendicularly to the minor surface
of no more than 50 mm, preferably no more than 30, and even more prefera-
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bly no more than 20 mm, along the entire length, or the major length, of said
minor surface.
Also when installing insulation boards on a non planar surface the resilient
5 minor side surfaces will help to avoid that two boards which are bended rela-
tive to each other (meaning that there is an angle between the planes of the
major surfaces of the two boards larger than 0 degrees) will only touch each
other along one thin line, resulting in a poor insulation along this line. A
non
planar surface could be the case when renovating the facades of old build-
ings.
There are different methods for fastening the type of insulation boards de-
scribed by the invention. One possibility is mechanical fixings like steel
pins
which in the case of external wall insulation may be hammer driven or fas-
tened in drilled holes. In the case of fire insulation of metal constructions
the
steel pins may be stud welded through the insulation board as described in
WO 03/086697. Some kind of head for holding the insulation is placed on the
pin before or after fixation of the pin.
The inventive mineral fibre insulation board will be especially advantages
when fasteners placed between two neighbouring boards are applied. It will
be easy to push the two boards closely together so that the elastically com-
pressible zone will close any gap around the fastener and thereby avoiding
that the fastener may create a small air gap between the two insulation
boards, which otherwise often would be the case, because the boards due to
the fastener cannot be pushed closely together. The same will be the case
when fasteners for the external wall cladding are placed between the insula-
tion boards.
For several purposes it may be advantageous to make the inventive mineral
fibre insulation board from a dual density or triple density mineral fibre
prod-
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uct. A dual density insulation board will have two closely connected layers of
mineral fibres where the density of the one layer is different from the
density
of the other. Typically the layer with the highest density will make up the
smallest fraction of the total thickness of the insulation board. This would
be
beneficial in the case of building faCade insulation where a higher density of
the outer layer of the insulation would make the insulation layer more resis-
tant to mechanical damages during installation of the outer visible surface
layer on the facade. If the outer layer is a render layer applied directly to
the
surface of the mineral fibre insulation layer a high insulation density in the
surface will be preferable.
For especially roof insulation triple density as described in W00073600 is
also relevant for this invention
For manufacturing a mineral fibre board with elastically compressible minor
side surface or edge surfaces it must be realised that mineral fibre
insulation
comprises a large number of individual fibres having different lengths and
diameters. For providing a stable mineral fibre board a binder, e.g. in the
form of drops of a thermosetting resin, is added to the mineral fibres. Said
binder is cured in a curing oven and will thereafter make the fibres stick to
each other at the points where the fibres are in contact with each other. A
method for making one or more minor side surface surfaces of this mineral
fibre insulation board elastically compressible is to compress one or more
rollers a distance into the minor side surface or edge surface. This compres-
sion by the roller will break some of the points of binding in the mineral
fibre
board and thereby make the edge portion of the mineral fibre board softer
and more elastically compressible than the rest of the board. The diameter of
the compression applying roller(s) must be relatively small in order to con-
centrate the compression forces in the desired region. The diameter is usu-
ally 200 - 500 mm. The rollers are pressed a distance of 15 - 50 mm, pref-
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erably 20 - 30 mm into the edge. The numbers of rollers would often be 1 -
7, preferably 2-4.
For boards of a high density the first roller will be pressed a shorter
distance
into the board than the following rollers. Usually there will be an increase
of
the distance by which the roller is pressed into the board from roller to
roller,
also when several rollers are applied. The distances will be dependent on the
density of the board and if it is a dual density or mono density board.
The strength and the mechanical stability of the mineral fibre board are not
only related to the density of the board but also to the binder content. There-
fore, the elasticity of the edge portions should be seen in relation to the
over-
all elasticity of the board. The binder content of the board according to the
invention is at least 2 %, preferably at least 3 %, and even more preferably
at
least 4 %. When the boards are intended for fire protection purposes the
binder content may be down to 0.8 %, preferably down to 1.4 %.
The fibre orientation will usually be substantially parallel to the major
surfaces
of the board when boards of one mono density are applied. If the board is a
dual density the fibre orientation will be more complex.
The invention concerns a mineral fibre insulation board for heat, sound or
fire
insulation comprising mineral fibres and a binder, said board having two ma-
jor surfaces being approximately parallel to each other, and having four minor
surfaces forming the side surfaces of the insulation board, where at least two
of the minor surfaces each represents a surface of a resilient zone of the
board covering substantially the surface of the resilient zone which zone
goes a distance from the minor surface into the insulation board, where said
resilient zone having sufficient elastic properties to prevent substantially
any
gaps to neighbouring boards when compressed against these during installa-
tion and in that the board has a density being sufficiently high to apply the
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board for purposes such as external wall insulation or fire insulation of
steel
constructions. By resilient is basically meant that it is easily compressed by
hands during installation. The inner portion of the board away from any of the
surfaces is substantially stiff and not resilient. The density of the board is
more than 60 kg/m3, preferably at least 70 kg/m3, and even more preferably
at least 80 kg/m3. The resilient zone along at least two of the edges (i.e.
the
minor surfaces) has a depth of at least 5 mm, preferably at least 8 mm over
the majority of the resilient zone measured from the outer surface of the edge
(i.e. the minor surfaces). There may also be a transition zone when going
from the resilient zone to the stiff part of the board, where the flexibility
is
gradually reduced. The resilient zone extending for a distance into the insula-
tion board measured perpendicularly to said minor surface of no more than
50 mm, preferably no more than 30, and even more preferably no more than
mm, along the entire length, or the major length, of said minor surface.
15 For a number of purposes the insulation board may comprise at least two
different layers of mineral fibre having different densities. This is also
known
as a dual density board. Preferably, two minor surfaces with a resilient zone
have one corner in common, i.e. this is two minor surfaces being perpendicu-
lar to each other.
Furthermore the invention concerns an insulating construction comprising an
inner surface against which one layer of insulation boards is installed and
fastened by fastening means and an outer covering layer characterised in
that the insulation layer comprises one layer of the insulation boards de-
scribed above. In this construction there will be no gaps between the insula-
tion boards. The insulation boards for this construction may be fastened by
mechanical means. The fastening means may be placed along parts of the
edges of the insulation boards. The outer covering layer for the construction
is usually selected from the group of: metal foil, render, wood, eternit, com-
pressed mineral fibre boards, paint or fleece, e.g. made from glass fibres.
Other outer coverings may also be applied. An open space where air may
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circulate between the insulation layer and the outer covering layer is often
applied in order to ventilate the construction and remove moisture. The inner
surface of this construction is often the faCade of a building or the inner
sur-
face is a steel construction, e.g. a load carrying steel construction which
needs to be fire protected.
The invention also concerns a method for producing a mineral fibre insulation
board for heat, sound or fire insulation comprising mineral fibres and a
binder, said board having two major surfaces being approximately parallel to
each other, and having four minor surfaces (edges) where at least two minor
surfaces (edges) represents a surface of a resilient zone of the board, this
resilient zone goes a distance into the board where said mineral fibre insula-
tion having a density of at least 60 kg/m3 and the method comprises the fol-
lowing steps: 1) Mixing mineral fibres and a binder into a web 2) Curing the
binder 3) Providing at least two of the four minor surfaces of the board with
a
resilient zone by a mechanical treatment comprising that the boards passes a
zone where rollers compresses the minor surface to make the board more
resilient in that zone. Due to the high density often only one board passes
the
said zone with rollers at a time, and often the board is supported on the ma-
jority of its top and bottom surface while passing the zone with rollers. Typi-
cally, the rollers will extend different distances into the minor surface in
order
to gradually compress the minor surface and thereby forming a more ho-
mogenous resilient zone.
Finally, the invention concerns a method of installing mineral fibre
insulation
for heat, sound or fire insulation where the boards have at least two
resilient
edges and said boards have a density of at least 60 kg/m3 and in that any
gaps between the boards are avoided by pressing the boards together so
that said resilient edges are compressed by hand and therefore closes any
gaps between two boards and in that only one layer of insulation boards are
installed on the surface.
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In a first embodiment of the invention the mineral fibre insulation board is
made for being applied for heat insulation of building facades. The density of
the board is approximately 60 kg/m3, preferably more than 60 kg/m3, and
5 even more preferably more than 70 kg/m3. The board has a length of 400 -
1000 mm, preferably 500 - 700 mm and even more preferably approximately
600 mm. The board has a height of 600 - 2000 mm, preferably 800 - 1500
mm and even more preferably 1000 - 1200 mm. The board has a thickness
of 100 - 400 mm, preferably 150 - 300 mm and even more preferably ap-
10 proximately 200 mm. The board has two edges which are made resilient into
a depth of 5 - 15 mm, preferably 8 - 13 mm and even more preferably 10 -
12 mm. These two resilient edges have one corner in common.
In a further embodiment of the invention a dual density mineral fibre insula-
tion board is used. This board will have an average density and all dimen-
sions as described in the previous embodiment. But this board will have a top
layer where the density is higher than in the lower layer of the board. The
top
layer would typically have a thickness of 8 - 20 mm, preferably 10 - 15 mm.
The density of the top layer will be a factor of 1.5 - 3, preferably a factor
of 2
higher than the density of the lower layer.
In a further embodiment of the invention the mineral fibre insulation board is
made for being applied for fire insulation of metal constructions, e.g. steel
or
aluminium constructions, such as the load-bearing steel constructions in
buildings or ship bulkheads and decks on ships e.g. on the lower side of
decks, including the girders.
With the existing products without resilient edges it is necessary to cut the
bats into the exact size in order to avoid small gaps between the bats. This
will take longer time and, in the case of a fire differences in the thermal ex-
pansions of the materials may form small gaps between the bats. Also sinter-
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ing of the mineral fibre insulation material may cause small gaps. Such gaps
will reduce the time it takes the heat and eventually the fire on a ship to
spread from one deck to another or in a building the time it takes the load
bearing steel construction to reach a temperature where it looses its me-
chanical strength.
A fire insulation board according to the invention will have at least two
resil-
ient edges giving an elastically compressible zone along a region of the
edge, which due to its elasticity will regain its original shape after compres-
sion. The compression of this zone means that the risk of gaps occurring dur-
ing a fire is considerably reduced.
When applying the idea of one or more resilient edges for fire insulation on
metal constructions, the mineral wool would typically have a higher density
compared to heat insulation in a building. The density of the mineral wool
board according to this embodiment would typically be in the range of more
than 60 to 150 kg/m3, preferably in the range of 70 to 140 kg/m3, and even
more preferably in the range of 80 to 130 kg/m3. This range is often used for
fire protection on ships. For fire protection on off-shore installations
densities
up to 165 kg/m3 are used. The product Conlit is a stone wool based product
developed for optimal fire protection characteristics. This product has densi-
ties in the range 150 - 190 kg/m3. The thickness of fire insulation may be
down to the range 20 - 75 mm.
A preferred embodiment for manufacturing the mineral fibre insulation board
according to the invention is to let a stack of 4 - 8 boards pass a first zone
with 2 - 4 rollers on one side of the conveyor and a smooth conveyor surface
on the opposite side of the rollers for holding the stack of boards in
position.
This is necessary due to the high density of the boards. The distance be-
tween the rollers and the opposite smooth surface must be adjusted so that
the rollers will compress the edges of the boards the necessary distance, e.g.
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20 mm giving a resilient depth of the surface of approximately 10 - 12 mm.
As the two resilient edges on the inventive insulation board preferably should
have a common corner to facilitate easy installation, the stack of boards is
turned 90 degrees after the first compression. Then the stack will pass a
second zone with 2 - 4 rollers on one side of the conveyor and a smooth
conveyor surface on the opposite side of the rollers. A third and a fourth
zone
could also be applied if more than two resilient edges on the boards are
needed. Instead of the 2 - 4 different zones, the stack of boards could pass
the same zone more than one time after being rotated. This would reduce the
necessary equipment on the factory line.
Another preferred embodiment for manufacturing the mineral fibre insulation
board according to the invention is to let one board pass a first zone with 2 -
4 rollers on one side of the conveyor and a smooth conveyor surface on the
opposite side of the rollers. Then the board is turned 90 degrees and follow-
ing this the board will pass a second zone with 2 - 4 rollers on one side of
the conveyor and a smooth conveyor surface on the opposite side of the roll-
ers. While passing the first zone and the second zone the board is being
supported on its top major surface. This support could be in the form of a
conveyor band covering the majority of the top surface preventing the board
from bending due to the compression force. Also in this embodiment the
more than two zones may be needed, and the board could pass the same
zone more than one time.
Another way to provide the insulation board with resilient zones along edges
is to cut a pattern with knifes or saws in the edge, or to enter a number of
needles or nails a certain distance into the edge. The resiliency will be de-
termined by how close and how deep the cuts are made or how close and
how deep the needles are entered.
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A further method for improving the resiliency of the insulation board is to
pro-
duce this according to the folding method described in EP 741 827 B1. The
folding technique is illustrated in figure 1 and 3 of EP 741 827 B1 and de-
scribed in claim 1 step f). This folding will arrange the fibres predominantly
perpendicular to the major surfaces of the fibre web being produced. The
folding will therefore also increase the resiliency of the web in the
production
conveyor direction. When this web is cut into insulating boards, these boards
will be more resilient in one direction when pressing on two opposite edges
than in the direction perpendicular to this when pressing on the two other
edges. Thereby the demands for the resiliency of the edges are reduced.
In the following the invention is described further with reference to the fig-
ures.
Figure 1 An insulation board with two resilient edges marked.
Figure 2 Four boards without resilient edges mounted on a facade
Figure 3 Four boards without resilient edges mounted on a non-planar
facade
Figure 4 Four boards with resilient edges mounted on a facade
Figure 5 A stack of boards passing a compression station seen from top.
Figure 6 A stack of boards passing a compression station seen from the
side.
The mineral fibre insulation board 1 in figure 1 has two resilient edges 2
meeting in the upper left corner 3. This makes it possible to install the
insula-
tion in an easy way so that all connections between boards can be made in-
volving at least one resilient edge.
Figure 2 illustrates the result of installing boards 1 without resilient
edges.
Due to the inaccuracy of cutting out the boards different gaps between the
installed boards will occur. If the edge are not strictly perpendicular to the
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major surfaces, a V-shaped gap 4 may be the result. The open side of the V
may be on both sides of the insulation 4, 5. If the board shape deviates from
a rectangular box shape several open gaps may occur between the boards 6.
Figure 3 illustrates the result of installing boards 1 without resilient edges
when the wall surface is non planar. V-shaped gaps 7 will be the result even
if the shape of the boards is perfect.
Figure 4 illustrates equivalent situations as in figure 2 and 3, but with use
of
the new board with resilient edges. In this case there are no gaps between
the boards.
Figure 5 shows the compression station from above and figure 6 shows it
from a side view. The stack of boards 22, which also could be one single
board 1, is moved on the conveyor (not shown) along the factory line. The
rollers 20 will compress one edge slightly in a local zone. The opposite con-
veyor 21 formed by a moving band 23 and at least two rollers 24, keeps the
stack of boards 22 in the right position. The first roller 20 which is being
passed will often extend a shorter distance into the stack of boards 22 than
the following rollers 20' and 20". It is important that the whole minor
surface
is compressed in this process.
In an example of the invention the mineral fibre insulation board is made for
being applied for heat insulation of building facades. The density of the
board
is approximately 60 kg/m3, preferably more than 60 kg/m3, it has a length of
600 mm a height of 1000 mm and a thickness of 200 mm. The board has two
edges which are made resilient into a depth 10 - 12 mm. These two resilient
edges have one corner in common.
