Thermally insulated aluminum door frame

Abstract

A frame construction for a door opening comprises an elongated aluminum extrusion adapted to be secured to a wall defining the door opening. The aluminum extrusion includes first and second elongated spaced apart members each having an L-shaped profile and having first and second longitudinal free edges which form a channel configuration at least partly open-ended towards the door opening between the first free edges. The sides of the channel configuration are parallel to the plane of the door opening whereas the bottom walls thereof extend towards each other without joining one another. An insulating vinyl strip extends between the first free edges in order to close the open end of the channel configuration. The cavity thus defined is filled with an insulating structural filler material generally made of a rigid polyurethane foam. A thermal barrier is therefore provided in the frame construction as the L-shaped members of the aluminum extrusion are separated by the insulating strip and by the insulating filler material with the latter providing rigidity to the aluminum extrusion. The method for producing this frame construction initially has the bottom walls of the channel configuration integrally joining one another, thereby forming a U-shaped channel which is first closed by the insulating strip and then injected with the structural filler material. An elongated strip is then removed from the bottom wall of the U-shaped channel with the integrity of the frame construction being maintained by the rigidified insulating structural filler material.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.