US-20260125857-A1 - PCM COATING ON THE FILLER MATERIAL

US20260125857A1US 20260125857 A1US20260125857 A1US 20260125857A1US-20260125857-A1

Abstract

A floor pavement structure exhibiting resistance to overheating, the floor pavement structure comprising at least one layer containing a phase change material. The floor pavement structure may further comprise a heat conductive sub-layer including graphite, graphene or combinations thereof, the heat conductive sub-layer being disposed between the phase change material containing layer and a substrate.

Inventors

James Michael TRITT
Robert CORBO
Sumeet LUDDU

Assignees

APT Asia pacific Pty. Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20240430
Priority Date: 20230504

Claims (15)

1 . A floor pavement structure comprising: at least one PCM layer comprising at least one phase change material in an effective amount to prevent overheating of the floor pavement structure.
2 . The floor pavement structure of claim 1 wherein the at least one PCM layer comprises a first and a second PCM layers, the second PCM layer being disposed on the first PCM layer; wherein the first PCM layer comprises at least one first PCM, wherein the second PCM layer comprises at least one second PCM, and wherein the second PCM layer is the top layer of the floor pavement structure.
3 . The floor pavement structure of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first and second PCMs are dispersed within first and second acrylic materials, respectively, wherein the heat conductive material is dispersed within a polyurethane (PU) or acrylic resin material.
4 . The floor pavement structure of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of sub-layers comprising at least one heat conductive sub-layer comprising a heat conductive material, wherein the plurality of sub-layers are disposed between the at least one PCM and a substrate, and wherein the heat conductive material comprises graphite, graphene or a combination thereof.
5 . The floor pavement structure of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first and second PCMs are the same or different and have a melting point from 15° C. to 45° C., preferably 25° C. to 40° C., and more preferably 25° C. to 37° C., and the amount of the PCM in the first PCM layer is at least 5.0%, in particular 10 to 30%, and more in particular 10 to 25% less than the amount of the PCM in the second PCM layer.
6 . The floor pavement structure of claim 4 , wherein the at least one heat conductive sub-layer includes a primer layer or a filler layer or a combination thereof, wherein the amount of the graphene or the graphite or of the combination of graphene and graphite is from 6.0 to 24% by weight in particular from 7.0 to 17.0% by weight, and more in particular from 10.0 to 14.0% based on the total weight of the heat conductive sub-layer, wherein the at least one PCM layer comprises from 5.0 to 12.5% by weight, in particular from 6.0 to 10.0% by weight, and more in particular from 7.0 to 9.0% by weight based on a total weight of the at least one PCM layer, wherein the at least one top layer has a height of 200 μm to 800 μm, in particular 400 μm to 600 μm, and more in particular 450 μm to 550 μm, and wherein the heat conductive sub-layer has a height of 5 μm-500 μm, 50 μm-300 μm, preferably 100 μm-150 μm.
7 . The floor pavement structure of claim 4 , wherein the graphene or graphite or the combination of graphene and graphite in the at least one heat conductive sub-layer is from 9.5 to 10.5% by weight based on the total weight of the heat conductive sub-layer, and wherein the PCM in the at least one PCM layer is from 6.5 to 7.5% by weight based on the total weight of the at least one PCM layer and wherein each of the at least one first PCM and the at least one second PCM is the same PCM and are used in the same amount.
8 . The floor pavement structure of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of sub-layers further comprises a PU gel layer, a barrier layer, and optionally a structure layer, the PU gel layer comprises a solid polyurethane polymer matrix and a liquid plasticizer, the liquid plasticizer being a vegetable oil or a derivative of vegetable oil or a mixture of a vegetable oil and a derivative of vegetable oil, wherein the barrier layer is disposed between the PU gel layer and the at least one PCM layer, wherein the structure layer is disposed between the at least one heat conductive sub-layer and the at least one PCM layer, and wherein the PU gel layer is disposed between the at least one heat conductive sub-layer and the at least one PCM.
9 . The floor pavement structure of claim 4 , wherein there is no PCM in any of the plurality of sub-layers, wherein the substrate comprises concrete, asphalt, sand, stone, wood, or clay, preferably concrete or asphalt, wherein the barrier layer has a height of 5 μm-300 μm, preferably a height of 20 μm-200 μm, more preferably a height of 50 μm-100 μm; and the gel layer has a height of 1 mm-4 mm, preferably 1.5-3.5 mm, and more preferably about 2 mm.
10 . The floor pavement structure of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first PCM and the at least one second PCM are paraffin-based materials comprising 50-65 wt % paraffin wax, and are preferably encapsulated inside microcapsules or macrocapsules, each macrocapsule containing a plurality of microcapsules, and/or the at least one first PCM and the at least one second PCM contain a PCM material within a secondary supporting structure of hydrophilic silica powder that keeps the PCM solid in its macroscopic form, wherein the macrocapsules have a particle size of 200 to 800 micrometers, preferably 200 to 400 micrometers, and more preferably 200 to 400 micrometers, and wherein the microcapsules have a particle size of 15 to 30 micrometers.
11 . The floor pavement structure of claim 1 , wherein the graphite is a nano-graphite composite with the content of nano-graphite ranging from 5.0 to 15.0% by weight, in particular 8.0 to 12.0% by weight, and more in particular 9.0 to 11.0% by weight based on the total weight of the heat conductive sub-layer PCM composition, and wherein the thermal conductivity increases gradually with the content of the nano-graphite.
12 . A method of constructing a floor pavement structure, the method comprising: forming at least one PCM layer containing at least one PCM over at least one sub-layer in an effective amount to prevent overheating of the floor pavement structure.
13 . The method of claim 12 further comprising forming a second PCM layer over the first PCM layer, wherein the second PCM layer is a top layer of the floor pavement structure.
14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising: before forming the first PCM layer forming the sub-layer over a substrate by applying a first reaction mixture preferably comprising a heat conductive material dispersed therein on top of the substrate and letting the applied reaction mixture to form the sub-layer; wherein the heat conductive material comprises graphite, graphene or a combination thereof, wherein preferably the first reaction mixture is a PU reaction mixture and the sub-layer is a primer or a filler layer; wherein the forming of the first PCM layer includes applying a first acrylic emulsion containing the at least one first PCM and letting the applied first acrylic emulsion to form the first PCM layer over the primer layer; and wherein the forming of the second PCM layer includes applying a second acrylic emulsion containing the at least one second PCM and letting the applied second acrylic emulsion to form the second PCM layer over the first PCM layer.
15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising, after the sub-layer is formed and before forming the first PCM layer, applying a reaction mixture of a PU matrix and a liquid plasticizer on the heat conductive sub-layer and letting a PU gel layer form with the plasticizer within the PU gel layer, and after the forming of the PU gel layer is completed, applying a barrier layer on top of the PU gel layer; wherein the application of the first PCM layer is applied on the barrier layer.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates generally to synthetic sport surfaces such as, for example, tennis courts, and, more particularly, to a multi-layer sport surface with passive temperature control. BACKGROUND AND RELATED ART Many outdoor sport surfaces, e.g., tennis courts, are comprised of asphalt or concrete pavement. Such surfaces can rapidly overheat during sunny and warm days. The general concept of using a phase change material (“PCM”) to cool various surfaces is known. For example, patent document WO2019004827A1 describes a system for manufacturing a floor structure which comprising a plurality of PCM panels connected to each other to form a hard floor surface. Patent publication US20092231100A1 describes a tile structure comprising a PCM component for athletic training centers. US20130199755A1 describes an infill for artificial turf comprising PCM components to reduce the heat buildup on or near the artificial turf. KR102149423B1 describes a filler for an artificial turf comprising PCM components to reduce the heat buildup on or near the artificial turf. It also discloses sandblasting layer comprising silica sand in the turf system. Despite the above and other rather limited attempts to use PCMs for cooling sport surfaces, up to now there has not been a solution that has gained wide acceptance in the market place. Hence, further improvements are needed for providing a cooling solution for hard sport surfaces made of asphalt or concrete with satisfactory performance characteristics in varying weather conditions over an extended period of time. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a floor pavement structure with passive temperature control. In accordance with the invention, a phase change material is mixed into the floor pavement structure to cool the floor pavement structure when exposed to intensive sunshine during a game. The ground serves as a heat sink such that the phase transition is reversed for another usage cycle. The phase transitions are hysteresis like. More specifically, the present invention provides a floor pavement structure employing a PCM containing structure, and methods of forming the floor pavement structure for a sport surface as defined in the independent claims. Various embodiments of the present invention are given in the dependent claims. Embodiments of the present invention can be freely combined with each other if they are not mutually exclusive. Embodiments of the present invention provide new, improved solutions to the above problems associated with the prior art. According to a first aspect of the present invention a floor pavement structure for a sport playing surface is provided, the floor pavement structure comprising a PCM containing top layer (hereinafter a PCM layer) over at least one sub-layer disposed between the PCM layer and a substrate. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention a floor pavement structure for a sport playing surface is provided, the floor pavement structure comprising at least one PCM layer, preferably at least two PCM layers. The amount of the at least one PCM in each of the at least two PCM layers may be the same or different. The melting point of the at least one PCM in each of the at least two PCM layers may be the same or different. The PCM structure can be applied on a hard floor sport surface such as a tennis court with the heat conductive sub-layer applied over the hard floor surface layer and the at least two PCM layers applied over the heat conductive sub-layer. The at least two PCM layers may be identical or may be different in the type and amount of the at least one PCM used. In an embodiment, a PCM layer with a higher amount of PCM may be formed above the PCM layer with a lower amount of PCM, and may be a top layer of the floor pavement structure. Higher amount of PCM as the term is used here means higher percentage by weight of PCM based of the total weight of the PCM layer. It has been unexpectedly found that employing at least two PCM layers with different PCM amounts by weight and or melting points is advantageous because it allows a more effective utilization of the PCM and more effective cooling by absorbing the heat generated during hot sunny days. For example, use of different PCMs by type (different melting point) or amount may allow the floor surface to be tuned to have better performance depending upon the anticipated surface temperature reduction requirement. For example, for floor surfaces with darker colour, PCMs with higher melting point may be used to achieve similar cooling effect compared to floor surfaces with lighter colours. In some embodiments, at least one sub-layer may be a heat conductive sub-layer containing a heat conductive material. The heat conductive materials may include graphite, or graphene or a combination thereof for improved heat conductivity between the substrate and the top layer. The combination of the heat conductive sub-layer and the PCM o