Class-a fire-protected oriented strand board (osb) sheathing, and method of and automated factory for producing the same

A Class-A fire-protected oriented strand board (OSB) sheet comprising:

• a core medium layer made of wood pump, binder and/or adhesive materials;
• OSB layers bonded to the core medium layer;
• a clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) coating on the surface of each OSB layer, made from clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) liquid applied to the surface by dipping said OSB sheet into said CFIC liquid in a dipping tank, allowing shallow surface absorption into said OSB layers and ends of the core medium layer at atmospheric pressure;
• and
• a moisture, fire and UV protection coating spray coated over the said CFIC coating to provide protection against moisture, fire and UV radiation from Sunlight.

A method of producing Class-A fire-protected OSB sheets, comprising the steps of:

• (a) in an automated lumber factory, installing and operating a Class-A fire-protected lumber production line, supporting an edge painting stage, a dip coating stage, a spray tunnel stage and a drying stage, installed between the finishing stage and automated packaging and wrapping stage in the lumber factory;
• (b) forming oriented strand board (OSB) panels and trimming and cutting each said OSB panel to size, and applying edge sealants for moisture resistance;
• (c) applying Class-A fire-protective paint to the edges of the trimmed and cut OSB panels, at said edge painting stage;
• (d) transporting and submerging said OSB panels through a dipping tank at said dip coating stage for coating in a clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) liquid, while being transported on a conveyor mechanism;
• (e) removing the wet dip-coated OSB panels from said dipping tank, and wet stacking said OSB panels and setting aside off the production line to allow the wet CFIC liquid coating to penetrate into said OSB panels and produce Class-A fire-protected OSB panels;
• (f) loading a stack of dip-coated OSB panels to said production line;
• (g) spray-coating the dip-coated OSB panels with a moisture, fire and UV protection coating that supports weather during building construction while protecting the Class-A fire protection properties of said OSB panels;
• (h) transporting spray-coated dipped OSB sheets through a drying tunnel at said drying stage;
• and
• (i) stacking, packaging and wrapping dried spray-coated/dipped-coated OSB panels to produce a bundle of Class-A fire-protected OSB panels, ready for shipping.

In a factory environment, a method of producing Class-A fire-protected oriented strand board (OSB) sheets, comprising the steps of:

• (a) at a dip-coating stage along a production line, filling a dipping tank with a supply of clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) liquid;
• (b) dipping OSB sheets in said dipping tank, and then wet stacking said dip-coated OSB sheets and setting aside from the production line to allow said dip-coated OSB sheets to dry and produce Class-A fire-protected OSB sheets;
• and
• (c) after drying, returning said Class-A fire-protected OSB sheets to said production line, and spraying, as a topcoat, a coating of moisture, fire and UV protective liquid material over all of the surfaces of the Class-A fire-protected OSB sheets to provide protection against moisture, fire and UV radiation from Sunlight.