Patent attributes
A tough, water-proof building panel, made of fiber-reinforced polymer, is useful in making structural walls, ceilings, and floors of buildings. Upstanding such walls can have vertical and horizontal strengths sufficient to be used in place of concrete, as an engineered solution, both above grade and below-grade, including in severe weather conditions. Panels effectively have inner and outer layers, and structurally reinforcing members. Structurally-reinforcing members extend, typically as layer and/or stud, the full height of the wall panel, at spaced locations along the length of the panel. Spaces between the structurally reinforcing members are optionally filled with rigid thermally insulating foam. Optional reinforcing studs are attached to, or overlaid by, the inner layer, and extend inwardly into the building from what is otherwise the inner surface of the building panel. Panels can be made by e.g. assembling pre-fabricated blocks and/or webs, by evacuating a mold, and by pultrusion.
