Translucent building material comprising corrugated cardboard

• US 8,597,455 B1
• Filed: 10/01/2010
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ammunition Operations, LLC (Vista Outdoor Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Metacomb, Inc.
• Inventors: Tsodokov, Vsevolod
• Primary Examiner(s): Tucker, Philip
• Assistant Examiner(s): WU, VICKI H
• Application Number:
  US12/896,334
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• Field of Search: 156/245
• US Class Current: 156/245
• 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 is disclosed. 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 process for manufacturing a translucent building material comprising corrugated cardboard, the process comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a plurality of corrugated cardboard pieces, each of the cardboard pieces comprising (i) a corrugated sheet defining flutes and (ii) at least one linerboard;

(b) thereafter, holding together the corrugated cardboard pieces to define a rough block having the flutes of at least two adjacent cardboard pieces aligned in a common direction;

(c) thereafter, saturating the rough block with an impregnating agent to form a working block;

(d) thereafter, machining the working block to define a finished block having a cross-section with a precise geometric shape; and

(e) thereafter, slicing the finished block at a predetermined angle to the direction of the flutes into slices having a consistent thickness to define a plurality of tile components.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the holding step comprises adhering the corrugated cardboard pieces together with an adhesive.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the impregnating agent comprises a material selected from the group consisting of a two-part epoxy, polyaspartic polyurea, silicates, siliconates, plant-based resins, and combinations thereof.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein providing the plurality of corrugated cardboard pieces comprises cutting corrugated cardboard sheets into uniform strips.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the saturating step is performed under a partial vacuum.

6. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

adhering a rigidifying component to at least one of the plurality of corrugated cardboard pieces.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein the direction of the flutes defines a light path through each tile component.

8. The process of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing a coating material in a mold;

placing a corrugated component into the coating material, the corrugated component comprising at least one of the plurality of tile components; and

curing the coating material to create an outer layer component having a texture.

9. The process of claim 8, further comprising forming the corrugated component by adhering at least a portion of the plurality of tile components together to define a geometric pattern.

10. The process of claim 8, wherein the curing step comprises:

removing the corrugated component with the cured coating material from the mold, thereby creating a translucent tile.

11. The process of claim 8, wherein the coating material is selected from the group consisting of thermosetting acrylics, thermosetting epoxies, polyamides, photocurable acrylics, polyaspartic polyurea and combinations thereof.

12. The process of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

forming a plurality of translucent tiles; and

arranging the plurality of translucent tiles to define a surface.

15. The process of claim 2, wherein the adhesive and the impregnating agent comprise a common material, the common material comprising a plasticizer.

16. The process of claim 8, wherein the corrugated component comprises a single tile component.

13. A process for manufacturing a translucent building material comprising corrugated cardboard, the process comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a plurality of uniform corrugated cardboard strips, the cardboard strips comprising flutes and at least one linerboard;

(b) thereafter, holding together the cardboard strips to define a surface intersected by the flutes, wherein the flutes of at least two adjacent cardboard strips are aligned in a common direction;

(c) thereafter, placing the cardboard strips into a mold such that the surface is proximate the mold;

(d) thereafter, saturating the cardboard strips with an impregnating agent; and

(e) thereafter, curing the impregnating agent to create an outer layer component disposed proximate the surface.

14. A process for manufacturing a translucent building material comprising corrugated cardboard, the process comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a plurality of corrugated cardboard pieces, the cardboard pieces comprising flutes and at least one linerboard;

(b) thereafter, holding together the cardboard pieces to define a rough block having the flutes of at least two adjacent cardboard pieces aligned in a common direction;

(c) thereafter, saturating the rough block with an impregnating agent to form a working block; and

(d) thereafter, slicing the working block at a predetermined angle to a direction of the flutes into slices having a consistent thickness to define a plurality of tile components.