WO1996011315A1

WO1996011315A1 - Floating floor and accompanying vibration-damping support

Info

Publication number: WO1996011315A1
Application number: PCT/BE1995/000088
Authority: WO
Inventors: Patrick Carels
Original assignee: Composite Damping Material 'nv' In Het Kort 'cdm'
Priority date: 1994-09-30
Filing date: 1995-09-25
Publication date: 1996-04-18
Also published as: BE1008695A6

Abstract

The invention concerns a floating floor with a vibration-damping support which is placed on a solid sub-surface, where said support comprises discrete vibration-damping elements (2) with a static and dynamic stiffness suited to the load to be borne and the acoustic requirements, where said discrete elements (2) are preferably fitted at regular distances from each other on said sub-surface (6).

Description

1315 PC17BE95/00088

Floating floor and accompanying vibration-damping support

The invention concerns a floating floor with a vibration-damping support placed on a solid sub-surface.

In existing floating floors, said vibration- damping support is formed by a vibration-damping mat which extends over the full area of the floor underneath said floor.

It is found that, in most cases, such floors dampen low vibration frequencies insufficiently, which has a negative effect on living comfort, especially in apartments. Furthermore, installing such floor is in general relatively time-consuming and labour-intensive, demanding highly-skilled workers, especially if the sub-surface on which the floor is to be fitted is not completely flat or horizontal. The invention has as its main object to avoid these and other disadvantages by proposing a floating floor with high damping performance, both for high and low frequency vibrations, and which is easy and quick to level or fit horizontally, even if the sub-surface is relatively uneven.

To this end, said support comprises discrete vibration-damping elements with a static and dynamic stiffness suited to the load to be borne and the acoustic requirements, where said discrete elements are preferably fitted at regular distances from each other on said sub¬ surface.

Said vibration-damping elements can act effectively together with at least one relatively stif batten or load-bearing section.

Said vibration-damping elements ca advantageously be contained between two relatively stif battens lying one above the other.

According to a particular embodiment of t invention, at least one of said battens has a U-shape section whose upright sides are oriented towards the batte lying opposite, where said vibration-damping elements ar located between said sides, such that there is no direc contact between the two battens.

The invention also concerns a specific vibratio damping support for floating floors, characterised in tha said support essentially comprises at least a relativel stiff load-bearing section on which discrete vibration damping elements are mounted at regular intervals.

Other features and advantages of the inventio will be apparent from the following description of tw specific embodiments of a floating floor according to th invention; this description is given by way of exampl only, and in no way limits the scope of the require protection; the reference figures used below refer to th accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of part o a support unit according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of partial cross-section of a first embodiment of a floatin floor according to the invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of partial cross-section of a second embodiment of a floatin floor according to the invention.

In the different figures, the same referenc figures refer to the same or similar elements.

The floating floor according to the inventio consists of a platform 1 resting on a solid sub-surface through the intermediary of discrete vibration-damping elements 2, and can move more or less freely with respect to the neighbouring walls 13 in order to limit sound transmission through said floor and said walls 13. The elements 2 , which have a static and dynamic stiffness to suit the load to be borne and the acoustic requirements, are mounted at regular distances from each other between battens or bearing sections 3 and 4 lying opposite each other and having a U-shaped section, mounted on the sub- surface 6.

The upright sides 3' of the batten 3 are oriented towards those of the batten 4 lying opposite, such that said upright sides 3' enclose the elements 2. The elements 2 ensure that the battens 3 and 4 do not make contact with each other and that vibrations are not transmitted from one batten to the other. To this end, said elements 2 consist of prism-shaped blocks of a vibration-damping material, for example rubber, cork or a combination of both. Said battens 3 and 4 have a relatively high bending strength and are preferably made of aluminium or galvanised steel.

The elements 2 are further clamped tight between the upright sides 3' and 4' of the load-bearing sections 3 and 4. The whole assembly of two corresponding battens 3 and 4 with the elements 2 clamped between forms a supporting unit 15, as shown in fig. 1, which as such is placed on the sub-surface 6 as a support for the platform 1 of the floor. In this way the platform l is supported by different parallel support units 15 of this kind. The distance between said support units 15 is maximum 60 cm. The distance between the elements 2 of one and the same support unit is mostly of the same order of magnitude than between two successive support units 15. An important advantage of using such support units 15 is that, thanks to the large bending strength of the battens 3 and 4, the sub- surface 6 can even be relatively uneven. In such a case the support units 15 should be positioned horizontally b supporting the battens 3 at the position of the elements 2 by means of shims (not shown) .

The space underneath the platform between tw successive support units 15 is filled by a continuous laye

7 of a usually flexible, vibration-damping material, suc as glass wool with a thickness of 25 to 40 mm and a densit of 20 kg/m³.

Panels 5 rest above the batten 4 of the support units 15, where said panels form the underside of th platform l of the floating floor. Said panels can fo example, in a first embodiment as shown in fig. 2, consist of multiplex or chipboard sheets approximately 16 mm thick. The joints between the different panels 5 should b positioned above the topmost battens 4 of the support units 15, in the longitudinal direction of the latter.

On top of the panels 5 is a mat 14 made of a relatively heavy material, such as a lead or rubber mat o plasterboard. On top of said mat 14 lies a second layer of panels 5 with on top of that a flexible floor covering 11, such as a carpet or vinyl floor covering.

A self-adhesive, vibration-damping strip 9 i applied to the walls 13 at the position of the panels 5 such that the floor does not make direct contact with sai walls 13. Baseboards 12 are fastened against the walls 13 above the platform 1. Between the baseboards 12 and th floor is a flexible joint, made of for instance acryl.

In a second embodiment, shown in fig. 3, panel 5, for example made of multiplex, are placed on the support units 15. A water-sealing sheet 8 (for example visqueen) is spread on said panels 5. This sheet should be folded u against the walls 13 to a certain extent. On top of thi sheet a layer of reinforced concrete is laid, and on top of that a floor covering 11. A self-adhesive insulating stri 9 is applied between the floor 1 and the wall 13, where said self-adhesive strip prevents vibrations travelling from the floor to the walls 13 or vice-versa. An insulating joint as in the previous embodiment is fitted above the floor against the walls 13 and baseboards 12. In another embodiment, a supporting unit 15 only has a bottom batten 3 on which vibration-damping elements 2 are mounted at regular intervals. Accordingly, when such units are used, the panels 5 lie directly on the elements 2. The invention is of course in no way limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the accompanying drawings. For instance, the vibration-damping elements can have different shapes, such as cube, cylinder or beam shaped. The section of the batten 3 and 4 can also be altered.

Claims

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1. Floating floor lying on a vibration-damping support which is placed on a solid sub-surface (6) , characterised in that said support comprises discrete vibration-damping elements (2) with a static and dynamic stiffness suited to the load to be borne and the acoustic requirements, where said discrete elements (2) are preferably. fitted at regular distances from each other on said sub-surface (6) .

2. Floating floor according to claim 1, characterised in that said vibration-damping elements (2) act together with at least one relatively stiff batten or load-bearing section (3, 4) .

3. Floating floor according to claim 2, characterised in that said stiff batten (3, 4) has a U- shaped section with two upright sides (3', 4') between which the vibration-damping elements (2) are positioned.

4. Floating floor according to claim 2 or 3, characterised in that said elements (2) are contained between two relatively stiff battens lying one above the other.

5. Floating floor according to claim 4, characterised in that at least one of said battens (3, 4) has a U-shaped section whose upright sides (3', 4') are oriented towards the opposite batten (4, 3) , where said vibration-damping elements (2) are located between said upright sides (3', 4'), such that there is no direct contact between the two battens (3, 4) .

6. Floating floor according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterised in that said vibration-damping elements

(2) are mounted at regular distances on said batten (3, 4) .

7. Floating floor according to one of claims 2 to 6, characterised in that said battens (3, 4) are each placed parallel underneath the floor (l) , and that a vibration-damping material (7) is fitted in the space under the floor (1) between two successive battens (3, 4) with the elements (2), where the floor (1) only rests on said vibration-damping elements (2) through the intermediary of said battens (3, 4) .

8. Floating floor according to one of claims l to 7, characterised in that said vibration-damping element (2) consists of an elastic block.

9. Floating floor according to one of claims 2 to 8, characterised in that said battens (3, 4) have relatively large bending strength and are made of for example aluminium or galvanised steel.

10. Floating floor according to one of claims 2 to 9, characterised in that said battens (3, 4) are separated from each other by a distance of maximum 70 cm, for example maximum 60 cm.

11. Vibration-damping support for floating floors (1) , characterised in that it essentially comprises at least one relatively stiff load-bearing section (3, 4) on which discrete vibration-damping elements (2) are mounted at regular intervals.

12. Vibration-damping support according to claim 11, characterised in that said load-bearing section (3, 4) has a U-shaped cross-section, where the vibration-damping elements (2) are mounted between the upright sides (3', 4') of said section.

13. Vibration-damping support according to claim 11 or 12, characterised in that the vibration-damping elements (2) are mounted between two stiff load-bearing sections (3, 4) which are parallel to each other.