Watershed Wall System

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/767,972, filed on Jul. 9, 2024, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/582,550, filed on Feb. 20, 2024, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/481,127, filed on Oct. 4, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/300,287, filed on Apr. 13, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/057,747, filed on Nov. 21, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/861,136, filed on Jul. 8, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/683,341, filed on Feb. 28, 2022, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/154,592, filed on Feb. 26, 2021, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, including but not limited to those portions that specifically appear hereinafter, the incorporation by reference being made with the following exception: in the event that any portion of the above-referenced applications is inconsistent with this application, this application supersedes said above-referenced applications.

Not Applicable.

The present disclosure relates generally to portable or fixed buildings, and more particularly, but not necessarily entirely, to buildings used to house electrical components or systems, having moisture removal mechanisms.

It is common practice to provide portable buildings, providing a less expensive and easy set up, than a permanent building. Portably buildings can be cost effective and useful on constructions sites or other locations where a build or shelter is necessary, but perhaps only for a limited amount of time. Additionally, portable buildings typically do not require substantial foundations or rough-in utilities, and can therefore, provide additional square footage for storage or other uses, at a reduced cost.

Portable buildings can also be effective when timing is a premium and a building or storage facility is need very quickly. Most conventional portable building can be set up fairly quickly, especially when compared to permanent-type buildings.

While conventional portable building may have advantages when it comes to setup time, these buildings often still require multiple people to set them up and often require special tool or heavy machinery to help assemble heavy exterior walls, for example.

Another drawback of portable buildings, and even permanent buildings, can be accessibility. Specifically, after the initial erection and establishment of a portable or permanent building, it can often be difficult to provide users with ample accessibility into the building to allow large products and/or equipment to be stored or used within the building. For example, if large server mainframes or other significantly large systems, electrical or mechanical, require storage within a building, typical doors or windows would not provide enough clearance. Because these portable building are often exposed to the environment, moisture and condensation can be a concern, especially removal of this moisture away from any electrical systems. The prior art is thus characterized by several disadvantages that are addressed by the present disclosure. The present disclosure minimizes, and in some aspects eliminates, the above-mentioned failures, and other problems, by utilizing the methods and structural features described herein.

The features and advantages of the present disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the present disclosure without undue experimentation. The features and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base, or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles in accordance with the disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles of the disclosure as illustrated herein, which would normally occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the disclosure claimed.

It must be noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

In describing and claiming the present disclosure, the following terminology will be used in accordance with the definitions set out below.

As used herein, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “containing,” “characterized by,” and grammatical equivalents thereof are inclusive or open-ended terms that do not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.

As used herein, the phrase “consisting of” and grammatical equivalents thereof exclude any element, step, or ingredient not specified in the claim.

As used herein, the phrase “consisting essentially of” and grammatical equivalents thereof limit the scope of a claim to the specified materials or steps and those that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristic or characteristics of the claimed disclosure.

As used herein, the phrase “portable building” and grammatical equivalents thereof is defined as a building or shelter that is not permanent to a specific location and is designed to be moved or transferred to alternate locations without destroying portions of the portable building or foundation.

As used herein, the term “XXX” and grammatical equivalents thereof is defined as element or mechanism that is XXX.

Referring now to, a wall sectionis shown as a structural component of a portable or fixed building or enclosure (not shown), for example an electrical building housing electrical systems and components. The wall sectioncan provide sufficient structural support to the portable building, such that the wall sectioncan support a roof and or ceiling (not shown), without the need for additional structural support beams, frames, or other structural building components. A plurality of wall sectionsmay be secured together to form an interior space.

The wall sectionsmay be formed from a plurality of interlocking exterior wall panelsand a plurality of interior wall panels. Each of the exterior an interior wall panelsandwhich can each be secured to a headerand a floor beam. The exterior and interior wall panelsandmay also span the space between corresponding corner posts.

The exterior wall panelscan be constructed as, self-framing modular walls, although conventional wall construction can also be used, such as, tubular framing and wall sheeting, for example. The self-framing exterior wall panelscan be defined as wall panels that are formed with framing membersintegrated with wall sheetingas a single unitary piece, such that a plurality of self framing exterior wall panelscan be coupled and fastened together to form exterior wall sectionsof the corresponding building or enclosure, without having a separate framing and wall sheeting system.

As shown in, the framing memberscan be formed in a substantially L-shape that enable immediately adjacent framing members to couple or interlocked together to form a joint framing member. Each exterior wall panel may include a first stud componentand a second stud component, which are configured to interlock with the stud components of adjacent wall panels.

For example, stud componentmay interlock with stud componentto form a framing member. Stud componentmay also includes holesandwhich may receive boltsand. Stud componentis configured to abut stud componentsuch that holesandalign with embedded nutsandformed in the stud component. The embedded nutsandare formed by a protruding metal piece that is internally threaded to engage boltsand.

Many buildings and enclosures are formed from standard tubular frame systems, with wall sheeting (often sheet metal) attached to the tubular frame. However, in contrast to the tubular framing systems, the self-framing wall panelsincrease the ease of building construction and assembly because there are fewer interconnecting pieces, and the self-framing exterior wall panelsare often stronger because the framing and wall sheeting are integrated.

The portable building may also include a plurality of floor beamswhich may run substantially horizontally below a floor panel, with the floor beamsbeing positioned flush onto a foundation (not shown) or ground, thereby providing foundational support to the floor paneland the exterior and interior wall panelsand.

The floor panelmay be planar or generally planar. The floor panelmay also include a perimeter portionthat is turned upward, or turned-up portions, extending vertically or substantially vertically from the planar portion of the floor panelthat is substantially horizontal. These turned-up portionsmay extend over the entire perimeter of the floor panelor just a partial perimeter of the panel.

The turned-up portionsmay extend substantially vertically from the planar portion of the floor panela length of 1″, 2″, 3″ or 1″-5″ or 2″-4″ of more, or less depending on the desires or need of the user. The turned-up portionsare therefore, integral with the planar portion of the floor panel, creating a single unitary piece. The transition between the turned-up portionand the planar portion of the floor panel.

The turned-up portionsmay be secured and fastened to adjacent exterior wall panelsvia fasteners, such as screws or bolts, but may also be secured via welding or adhesive or any other known fastener.

The turned-up portioncreates a troughbetween the turned-up portion and the wall sheetingof the exterior wall panels. The troughis configured to direct water, condensation or other moisture that may accumulate on the exterior wall panels, and direct it into the troughwhich can keep the moisture sealed way from the floor paneland specifically away from the interior space.

The moisture in the troughcan then be directed by the troughtoward the exterior wall panelswall sheeting. The wall sheetingmay then include a plurality of weep holeslocated near the bottom of the wall sheeting. The weep holesmay be of any desired size, but are configured to permit the evacuation of liquid and moisture way from the interior space, without compromising the interior spaceto the exterior environment. The weep holes may be flush with the bottom of the troughto provide advantageous flow of liquid through the weep holes.

Additionally, the number of weep holesmay include a single weep holeper exterior panel, or two weep holesper exterior panel, or any other desired number of weep holes. The weep holesmay be of any desired diameter including 1/16″, ⅛″, ¼″ or 1/16″ to ½″ or ⅛″ to ¼″. Each weep holemay extend all the way through the wall sheetingof the exterior wall panel.

In another embodiment, an entire wall space of a portable building can consist of only the disclosed wall sections.

The exterior and interior wall panels wall panelsandmay be made of metal, such as steel, galvanized steel, or aluminum, for example, or composite material or another desired material.

The additional beams and supports along with the headerand the floor beams, may also be formed of metal, for example, steel, to provide need structural strength of the corresponding portable building The additional beams and supports along with the headerand the floor beams, may also be formed of composite material or another desired material.

Each exterior and interior wallandmay be 12″ across the exterior surface in the horizontal direction, and may be 10′-12′ tall in the vertical direction, although the wall panelsandcan be formed having smaller or larger dimensions, depending on specific needs and desires of a user. Each wall panelandmay also be independently insulated, using foam insulation, fiberglass or other desired insulation material. Insulation may be positioned within the wall panelsand, or may be affixed to an interior surface of the wall panels. The independently insulated wall panelscan provide a continuous R, or insulation, rating, particularly due to the absence of windows or doors in the wall sections.

Those having ordinary skill in the relevant art will appreciate the advantages provide by the features of the present disclosure. For example, it is a feature of the present disclosure to provide a portable building having removable wall panels that can be installed and/or removed by a single worker, without the need to tools or equipment. Another feature of the present disclosure to provide such a removable wall panel system while also sealing and protecting against outside elements, including rain and precipitation. It is a further feature of the present disclosure, in accordance with one aspect thereof, to provide a watershed wall system that can provide removal of moisture from the building, while maintaining the structural integrity of the surrounding building.

In the foregoing Detailed Description, various features of the present disclosure are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed disclosure requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description of the Disclosure by this reference, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of the present disclosure.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are only illustrative of the application of the principles of the present disclosure. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims are intended to cover such modifications and arrangements. Thus, while the present disclosure has been shown in the drawings and described above with particularity and detail, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to, variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use may be made without departing from the principles and concepts set forth herein.