Corner patches and methods for TPO roofing
AssigneeBuilding Materials Investment Corporation
InventorSudhir Railkar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An outside corner patch for TPO roofing is formed from a circular piece of TPO membrane material being vacuum formed to define an array of flutes that extend from the center of the piece toward its edges. The flutes form ridges and valleys that generally are shaped as conical sections with the apex of the conical sections located at the center of the patch. The number and size of the flutes is optimized in such a way that, when the flutes are stretched flat, the patch conforms to and fits flat against the surfaces of an outside corner formed by the intersection of a roof deck with an upward protrusion from the roof. The TPO outside corner patch is applied over the corner and thermally welded to surrounding TPO membranes on the roof deck and the protrusion to form a watertight seal at the outside corner.
Claims12
A corner patch for conforming to and covering a corner formed by a protrusion from a roof deck, the protrusion having a first face projection upwardly at an angle δ in radians with respect to the roof deck and a second face contiguous with the first face and projecting upwardly at an angle γ in radians with respect to the roof deck, the corner patch being made of a flexible material and comprising a body formed from a substantially circular blank having a radius rb and a central region, and a number n of substantially conical-section-shaped flutes formed in a radiating outwardly from the central region, the number n and the sizes of the flutes are optimized such that when the corner patch is flattened, it conforms to the corner when the corner patch is applied thereto, each flute has a shape defined by a plunge circle located at a periphery of the corner patch and establishing a flute draw h, and wherein n and h for a given rb substantially satisfy the equation nβrp≈πrb/2+πrb/2+πrb/2+δrb+γrb where:
- β is the flute depth angle, and
- rp is the radius of the plunge circle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.