Translucent building material

• US 10,434,743 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2016
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Metacomb, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Metacomb, Inc.
• Inventors: Tsodokov, Vsevolod
• Primary Examiner(s): Cajilig, Christine T
• Application Number:
  US15/358,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20170163207A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,050 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 29/08 Corrugated paper or cardboard
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 3/28 characterised by a layer comprising a deformed thin sheet , i.e. the layer having its entire thickness deformed out of the plane, e.g. corrugated, crumpled B32B29/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E04B 9/04 comprising slabs, panels, sheets or the like
• CPC Class Codes: E04C 2/322 with parallel corrugations
• CPC Class Codes: E04F 13/0871 having an ornamental or specially shaped visible surface E04F13/0867 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E04F 15/10 of other materials, e.g. fibrous or chipped materials, organic plastics, magnesite tiles, hardboard , or with a top layer of other materials
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/0481 characterised by the composition of the encapsulation material
• CPC Class Codes: H02S 20/26 Building materials integrated with PV modules, e.g. façade elements H02S20/25 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/10 Photovoltaic [PV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/50 Photovoltaic [PV] energy

Abstract

A manufacturing process, and related products, for fabricating translucent articles in the form of tiles. The manufacturing process includes holding together a stack of corrugated cardboard pieces and saturating the cardboard pieces with an impregnating agent. Additional steps may include machining the cardboard pieces to define a block of a desired shape, slicing the block into tile components, and/or coating one or more tile components with a coating material to produce the article. Articles include translucent tiles made of corrugated cardboard pieces saturated with an impregnating agent. The tiles may be arranged to define a surface, such as a floor, a wall, a roof, a lighting installation, an architectural construction element, an architectural aesthetic element, or a solar panel.

Claims

1. A translucent tile comprising:

a tile component comprising;

a plurality of pieces of tubing at least partially coated by an impregnating agent,

wherein (i) ends of the pieces of tubing define a surface, and (ii) cross-sections of the tubing pieces intersect the surface such that the tile component is translucent; and

a second tile component comprising;

a plurality of pieces of corrugated cardboard at least partially saturated by the impregnating agent, ends of the corrugated cardboard pieces defining a surface of the second tile component, and cross-sections of flutes disposed in the corrugated cardboard pieces intersecting the surface of the second tile component such that the second tile component is translucent; and

a transparent outer layer component disposed proximate the surface of the second tile component.

2. The translucent tile of claim 1, wherein at least two of the pieces of tubing have different radii.

3. The translucent tile of claim 1, wherein at least two of the pieces of tubing have the same radii.

4. The translucent tile of claim 1, wherein one or more of the pieces of tubing are held together with their central axes parallel inside a tube sized to contain the one or more pieces of tubing.

5. The translucent tile of claim 1, wherein the tubing comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of drinking straws, plastic tubing, metallic tubing, and cardboard tubing.

6. The translucent tile of claim 1, wherein the surface is substantially planar.

7. The translucent tile of claim 1, further comprising a rigidifying component disposed perpendicularly to the surface of the tile.

8. The translucent tile of claim 7, wherein the rigidifying component comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of a photovoltaic material, a light source, metal, plastic, rubber, wood, carbon fiber, glass, cardboard, and a portion of a mold.

9. The translucent tile of claim 1, further comprising a photovoltaic component.

10. The translucent tile of claim 1, wherein the transparent outer layer component is selected from the group consisting of a coating material, glass, a photovoltaic film, a scratch-resistant film, a filter for particular wavelengths of light, a mesh material, a portion of a mold, and quartz.

11. The translucent tile of claim 1, wherein the outer layer component comprises more than one layer.

12. The translucent tile of claim 1, further comprising a second outer layer component and a solar panel, the solar panel disposed between the outer layer component and the second outer layer component.

13. The translucent tile of claim 1, further comprising a second outer layer component comprising at least one of a photovoltaic nanopolymer and nanoparticles.