WO2000029696A1

WO2000029696A1 - Wall element designed to form the enclosure of a sunken swimming pool

Info

Publication number: WO2000029696A1
Application number: PCT/FR1999/002820
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pascal Gonichon; Pierre Goutte
Original assignee: Dom Composit S.A.
Priority date: 1998-11-17
Filing date: 1999-11-17
Publication date: 2000-05-25
Also published as: FR2785928B1; FR2785928A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a wall element, in particular steps, panel or the like, forming part of a sunken swimming pool comprising upper and/or reinforced concrete belts. Said wall element is shaped by rotational casting into a double wall, respectively inner (2) and outer (4), which are braced by supporting projections (6, 8) from the inner wall (2) against the outer wall (4), the outer wall (4) comprising on its external surface a member (18) for receiving an anchoring concrete pillar of the element into the concrete belts bordering the pool, such that the outer wall (4) itself comprises support means countering the thrust exerted by the inner wall (2), means which further constitute anchoring means for the element in the belts.

Description

WALL ELEMENT FOR ESTABLISHING THE ENCLOSURE OF A

UNDERGROUND POOL.

The invention is in the field of manufacturing in-ground swimming pools, and that it relates to a wall element, in particular a staircase, a panel or the like, participating in the enclosure of such a swimming pool.

Elements are known, in particular shaped like panels or an access element such as a staircase or the like, intended to be successively assembled together to form the enclosure of an inground pool. These elements are designed to be anchored in upper and / or lower concrete belts bordering this pool to form a robust enclosure. We can refer to the patents FR2406049 (DESJOYAUX) and FR2729422 (GONICHON). A permanent difficulty for this type of swimming pool element lies in reconciling their robustness with the lowest possible manufacturing cost, as well as in a structure capable of allowing their rapid and easy installation on a site. To simplify their installation, elements for swimming pools have been proposed, stiffened by an arrangement of the element in double wall, the inner one intended to be in contact with the water of the swimming pool and designed to receive the thrust. , the other exterior on which the interior wall bears by means of support reliefs keeping the walls at a distance from each other. We can refer to patents FR2492435 (BAREYRE), FR2710676 (LAPALUD) and AU490003 (DURAS).

The object of the present invention is to propose a wall element for an in-ground swimming pool, the structure of which is of the double-walled type, is robust in itself with nevertheless a competitive manufacturing cost, and also allows easy and rapid anchoring. of the element in the lower or upper belts bordering the swimming pool, in order to finally simplify the operation of placing the element on site and give the swimming pool enclosure effective and lasting robustness, without inducing an unacceptable increase of its overall cost. The inventive step of the present invention consisted in proposing an enclosure element for swimming pool, which is composed of two walls braced by reliefs, in particular of the external wall turned towards the internal wall, to allow the internal wall to bear. on the outer wall kept at a distance from the previous one by the said reliefs, the outer wall comprising on its outer face, therefore in a position on the element furthest from the inner face thereof, members for receiving at least a concrete pillar, the said member at least constituting, on the one hand, means for supporting the external wall itself against the thrust exerted on the latter by the internal wall, and, on the other hand, means anchoring the element in at least one of the lower and / or upper belts bordering the swimming pool.

It follows from these provisions that the resistance of the element of the invention is considerably increased without excessively increasing its manufacturing cost compared to the wall elements of the prior art, and that the installation of the element on site is quick and easy with an anchoring in at least one belt bordering the swimming pool, by means of said concrete pillar at least participating in the stiffening of the element, from which it ultimately results 1 obtaining competitive and durable in-ground pool enclosure.

The concrete pillar is preferably formed in a tubular column attached to the element by hot fitting of the column inside one of said member at least, which is vertically extended, receiving the concrete pillar at least.

According to various variants, said member with vertical extension, either is attached or and preferably is formed directly, on the outside face of the outside wall, and is shaped in barrel and / or in several collars superimposed at a distance from each other. According to another aspect of the invention, the said relief reliefs of the inner wall against the outer wall generally have a dihedral profile, the said reliefs thereby constituting both means for limiting the contact surface between the two walls while distributing the forces against the external wall over the widest possible surface, and also means for optimal absorption of the stresses transmitted by the internal wall. It will be understood that these support reliefs with a dihedral profile are either picked up and shaped into bosses, in particular conical or hemispherical or the like, or, alternatively or in combination with the previous ones, are extended prisms shaped as folds of the outer wall; in the latter case and particularly when the enclosure element is a staircase whose steps themselves are in the form of folds of the inner wall, it is remarkable that the edges of the folds of the outer wall and the edges of the folds of the inner wall forming the steps are, on the one hand in contact with one another and on the other hand substantially perpendicular to each other.

According to an advantageous method of manufacturing the element of the invention, it is produced by rotational molding and all of the parts making it up, with the exception where appropriate of the tubular column, that is to say the walls interior and exterior as well as the said relief reliefs and member for receiving the concrete pillar, constitute a one-piece assembly, which allows not only the realization of one element at a lower cost but also promotes the ease of its installation on site.

Another aspect of the invention will thus be noted, according to which an element for a double-walled swimming pool, incorporating relief contours of the inner wall against the outer wall, is produced by rotational molding and constitutes a one-piece assembly, according to a method of 'obtaining consisting in providing, during the rotational molding operation, a space between the inner wall and said relief reliefs, to preserve the inner walls and outside of any untimely and detrimental latent constraint, then to annihilate said space, that is to say to put the two walls in relation to each other by means of the top of said reliefs, by fixing them one to the other especially by ultrasonic welding; preferably also, the volume between the two walls is filled with foam material injected during rotational molding, if not after this operation.

It will be understood that the invention is applicable to any wall element composing the enclosure of a swimming pool, whether this element is shaped as a panel or as an access element inside the swimming pool, such as a staircase or a ramp for example.

The present invention will be better understood and details will become apparent from the description which will be made of preferred embodiments thereof, in relation to the figures of the appended plates, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an element shaped as a panel according to a first embodiment of the invention,

Fig.2 is a partial perspective view of a panel-shaped element according to a second embodiment of the invention, Fig.3 and 4 illustrate a preferred embodiment of a panel of the invention, view respectively in perspective from below and in section, fig.5 and 6 illustrate a preferred embodiment of a staircase of the invention, seen respectively in perspective and in section.

In the figures, an enclosure element of a swimming pool and composed of two walls, one inside 2 intended to be in contact with the water in the swimming pool, either directly or by means of a waterproof cover, called "Liner", and the other 4 outside. The two walls are kept at a distance d. one from the other by reliefs 6 or 8 forming spacers, by means of which reliefs the inner wall 2 is supported on the outer wall 4. The swimming pool being designed to be bordered by lower and / or upper concrete belts, established for example for the latter in an upper part of the element shaped as a gutter 14, the external face of the external wall 4 of the element comprises a member 16 or 18 with vertical extension for the passage of a concrete pillar, so as on the one hand to reinforce said external face 4 of the element and on the other hand to connect element 2, 4 to said concrete belts bordering the swimming pool, more particularly at least on the upper belt.

According to an advantageous embodiment, making it possible to facilitate the anchoring operation on site of the element in the reinforced concrete belts, the element is equipped with a tubular column 20, shown diagrammatically in broken lines in FIGS. 4 to 6, column 20 intended to receive the concrete pillar. It will be understood that, according to various variants, the said member for the passage of the concrete pillar consists for example of a barrel 18, shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, which at least partially houses the column 20, or alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, said member is composed of a set of collars 16 successively superimposed at a distance from each other, the element further comprising in this case, and preferably, areas 22 of support of the outer wall 4 against the column 20, support areas 22 respectively formed between two neighboring collars 16.

Note that the reliefs 6 or 8 are preferably formed by bosses 8 or folds 6, preferably from the outer wall 4 and oriented towards the inner wall 2, said reliefs 6 or 8 having a dihedral profile.

It will thus be understood that, according to various variants, these dihedral reliefs are either extended so as to be shaped into elongated prisms, such as 6, or are relatively short so as to be shaped into a boss, cone in particular such as 8, aligned and / or equally distributed on the surface of the outer wall 4. It will also be understood that, depending on the conformation of the element either as a panel or as an access element for example, and more particularly depending on the forces that the element is brought to bear, the relief reliefs can be formed by an association of short bosses 8 and extended prisms 6, as illustrated in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6. For example, and with particular reference to Figures 2 and 6, the element being shaped like a staircase with steps and risers are formed by the inner wall 2, the so-called support reliefs include extended dihedral prisms 6, the stop 10 of which constitute a support for the low stop 12 of the riser. These edges 10 and 12 respectively of the prisms 6 and the risers, are arranged in perpendicular orientations. The steps of the inner wall 2, for their part, are supported 8 ′ on short bosses 8, which are in particular formed at the top of the prisms 6.

Preferably and with particular reference to FIGS. 3 and 5, the element comprises lateral wings 24 which constitute parts of the element for its connection to a neighboring element, thanks to holes 26 for passage of organs of fixing (not shown in the figures). Note also the preferred presence of cooperating side members 28 and 30 for assembly by interlocking the element with a neighboring enclosure element, said interlocking members 28 and 30 being for example of the tenon and mortise type , as illustrated in the example of embodiment in fig. 3. It will be noted that the element is preferably monobloc and produced by rotational molding; however, according to a variant in which the two walls 2 and 4 are separate and assembled one and the other, the lateral wings 24 are advantageously used to link together the said walls 2 and 4.

Claims

1.- wall element participating in an inground swimming pool comprising upper and / or lower belts of reinforced concrete, characterized: in that being shaped as a double wall, called respectively inner wall (2) for the wall intended to be in contact with the pool water and external wall (4) for the other wall, the said two walls (2,4) being braced by support reliefs (6,8) of the internal wall (2) against the outer wall (4), the outer wall (4) has on its outer face at least one member (16,18) for receiving at least one concrete pillar for anchoring the element in at least one of the said concrete belts bordering the swimming pool, so that the external wall (4) itself includes support means for

1 against the thrust exerted by the inner wall (2), means which further constitute means for anchoring the element in said belt at least.

2.- element according to claim 1, characterized: in that said member (16,18) receiving the concrete pillar is a vertically extending member for the introduction of a tubular column (20) in which is formed the concrete pillar.

3.- element according to claim 2, characterized: in that said member with vertical extension is shaped in barrel (18).

4.- Element according to claim 2, characterized: in that said vertically extending member is shaped as collars (16) superimposed at a distance from each other, support zones (22) of the outer wall (4) against the column (20) being formed between two neighboring collars (16).

5.- Element according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized: in that the said relief reliefs (6,8) of the inner wall (2) against the outer wall (4) generally have a dihedral profile for limit the contact surface between the two walls (2,4) while distributing the forces against the external wall (4) over as wide a surface as possible, and to absorb the stresses transmitted by the internal wall (2).

6.- Element according to claim 5, characterized: in that the said relief reliefs

(6,8) consist of at least any one of the relief reliefs of the group of reliefs shaped as a short boss (8) and of reliefs shaped as extended prisms (6).

7.- element according to claim 6, characterized: said element being a staircase, the steps of which are in the form of a fold of the inner wall (2), the edges (10) of the folds of the outer wall (4) and the stops (12) of the folds of the inner wall (2) forming the steps are, on the one hand in contact with one another and on the other hand substantially perpendicular to each other.

8.- Element according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized: in that, being produced by rotational molding, the interior (2) and exterior (4) walls as well as the said relief reliefs (6,8) and member (16,18) vertically extending to receive the concrete pillar constituting a monobloc assembly, a space between the interior wall (2) and the said relief reliefs (6,8), formed during the rotational molding operation, is annihilated by bringing the two walls (2,4) into contact with one another by means of the top of the said reliefs (6,8).

9.- Element according to claim 8, characterized: in that said space is annihilated by fixing the inner (2) and outer (4) walls 1 'to 1' another.

10.- Element according to claim 8, characterized: in that said space is annihilated by filling of said space with filling material of the volume between the two walls (2,4).