Guide shoe and climbing system for use in the building sector

The invention relates to a guide shoe and a climbing system for use in the building sector.

In particular for the construction of multi-storey, preferably particularly high buildings, the use of self-climbing systems in the building sector is known. These are provided with the formworks required for the construction of vertical walls of the building. As soon as the newly constructed walls have cured sufficiently, lifting drives are supported on these by means of suitable profiles in order to raise the so-called scaffold units bearing the formworks so that the vertical walls are able to “grow” further in an overlying region. While these walls are constructed, the drives of the scaffold unit “follow” upward in order to raise the scaffold unit from the newly constructed section, as soon as this has cured sufficiently.

A system of this kind is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,828. In this case, the scaffold unit does not necessarily comprise formworks but, for example, a safety net and/or platforms projecting outward from the structure to be constructed for access to the structure to be constructed including to the floor to be constructed therein. The last named elements are applied to the scaffold unit. Further profiles can be attached to individual points of the structure and a switchable drive is provided to raise either the scaffold unit or the profiles provided for fastening to the structure.

The applicant knows of a climbing formwork system designated SKE with which vertical profiles on which the drives for raising the scaffold unit can be supported can be fastened to the structure. In an alternative operating position, the drives are supported on the scaffold unit which at this time is suspended and/or anchored on the structure in order in this way to be able to raise the vertical profiles into a new section.

The invention is based on the object of providing a guide shoe and a climbing system for use in the building sector which has been improved with regard to efficient assembly.

This object is achieved by means of the guide shoe described in claim 1 and the climbing system equipped therewith. Preferred developments are described in the further claims.

The possibility of disengaging a guide from the scaffold unit of a climbing system is achieved in a favourable way in that the guide shoe, which hereinafter will also be referred to as a guide, comprises at least one guide jaw which can be displaced in the horizontal direction and pivoted about a horizontal axis, which encompasses a profile, for example a T-, I- or U-profile, a part or section of a profile. For example, at least one profile provided on the scaffold unit can be a T or I-profile, the horizontal (looking at the letter “T”) limb of which extends parallel to the outer side of the structure and directed toward this. In this case, the guide jaw can grip this limb from behind in the region of the vertical limb of the “T” and be pulled out of engagement by a horizontal displacement and withdrawn by pivoting about an extensively horizontal axis. A further advantage of a pivotable attachment of at least one guide jaw to the guide consists in the fact that discrete stresses can be avoided when the guide can be attached pivotably to a mount on the structure. Namely, as will be described in the following with reference to the drawings, when the scaffold unit is supported on the guide, tilting takes place in such a way that the guide (viewed in cross section) lies discretely or (viewed three-dimensionally) along a line on the profile and high stresses can occur here. This can advantageously be avoided by a guide jaw provided pivotably on the guide.

The guide shoe can be provided on a lifting drive of the climbing system. Furthermore, the guide shoe can be attached to a wall shoe attached to the structure and/or a scaffold unit of the climbing system can be guided on the guide shoe.

It has further been found to be favourable to embody the distance between a swivel axis, about which the guide jaw can be pivoted, and an outer end of the guide jaw smaller than the distance between the swivel axis and a fastening between the guide and the wall shoe. In an advantageous way, this prevents the fastening between the guide and the wall shoe from impeding the swivelling of the guide jaw.

Therefore, a guide shoe of this kind effects in an efficient manner the direct attachment of the lifting drives to the mounts of the structure and/or the guide of the scaffold unit, which is in particular of advantage when this is raised. Furthermore, the following features are advantageous, both in their own right and in combination with further features: the provision of two pawls or bearing bolts with respective guides as described below; the rotatable mounting of the guide shoe to a wall shoe; alignment with the rotatable mounting, by means of a spring or another resilient element such as a rubber buffer for the two-dimensional support of the guide shoe, as described in more detail below; the guidance of guide claws or jaws on the guide shoe, which takes place in some regions, for example by a square or another polygon, in a non-pivotable way, and in some regions pivotably in order to be able to swivel the guide claws, following axial displacement, as will be described below in more detail with reference to FIG. 7.

The climbing system described herein, which is preferably a self-climbing system and hereinafter described as such, comprises at least one scaffold unit, which can be guided and/or suspended in at least one guide on a structure. Attached to the scaffold unit are the work platforms, formworks and the like necessary for the tasks to be performed from the scaffold unit.

It should be stressed with respect to the scaffold unit that, according to the invention, it only has to comprise bearing profiles in one plane. Even though further bearing profiles can be provided, the scaffold unit can be designed particularly simply and easily due to the fact that only one plane with bearing profiles is provided which is in particular provided close to the structure in order to keep the force and torques caused by the introduction of the vertical forces into the structure low. The guides, in which the scaffold unit can be guided and/or suspended, can for example be a wall shoe attached to the structure. In particular, at present, preferably, the scaffold unit should be designed to be suspended in an upper region on the structure. In a lower region, the guide can be provided on a so-called guide shoe, which, for example can be attached to a further wall shoe and which should be considered to be a constituent of the lifting drive described below.

According to the invention, the self-climbing system comprises at least one lifting drive which may be attached directly to discrete mounts on the structure. In an advantageous way, the drive forms a single further, second, vertical plane in addition to the vertical plane of the scaffold unit bearing profiles. In particular, the drive has no elements extending parallel to each other in the lifting direction. When the drive may be attached directly to the structure, for example by means of one or more guide shoes, which may be attached, for example, to wall shoes of the building, no additional vertical profiles are required as was always the case with the prior art. The self-climbing system according to the invention can have a particularly simple design. Only discrete mounts, such as, for example, wall shoes, are to be provided on the structure. The only thing located between these discrete mounts and the scaffold unit is the drive, including optionally provided guide shoes without a further vertical plane being required. This enables the self-climbing system to be constructed with particularly little effort.

In addition, the lifting drive which can be attached releasably to the structure can be switched between a first operating mode, in which the scaffold unit can be raised, and a second operating mode, in which the lifting drive can be raised. As a result, the desired climbing can be achieved in an efficient manner with, for example, no crane being required to raise either the scaffold unit or the drives provided. In this context, it is in principle conceivable that the lifting drive only operates in the first operating mode between the mounts provided on the structure and the scaffold unit, while in a second operating mode it is dismantled and raised by being taken by workers into a higher region. In this case, the advantage according to the invention is manifested in the fact that the drive can be kept small and light enough for this process to be performed by workers with a reasonable amount of effort.

It is noted with respect to the climbing system that it also displays advantages without the guide shoe and correspondingly should be considered to be a subject matter of the application in its own right. This applies to any embodiments of the climbing system with one or more of the features described above and/or below.

For the engagement between the lifting drive and the scaffold unit, it has been found to be advantageous to use protruding climbing cams. With a simple construction, climbing cams of this kind offer the necessary areas required for support during the respective lifting action. However, it should be mentioned that the invention can also be implemented with engaging sections which are embodied as recesses, as openings, for example in a perforated profile, as projections, for example on a gear rack, or in another way.

Furthermore, it is currently preferable that at least one guide can be disengaged from the scaffold unit. This has advantages in that the lifting drive as a whole can be separated from the scaffold unit and hence can for example be brought manually into a higher region. This facilitates a so-called partially hydraulic operating mode, in which the lifting drives are only operational when the scaffold unit is raised. Furthermore, due to removable lifting drives, a favourable combination with an operation in which the raising of the scaffold unit is performed at least partially by a crane is conceivable. In this context, it is mentioned that the disengagement of the guide from the scaffold unit in particular permits the removal of the drive from the scaffold unit when this extends with one or more profiles in the region of the guide. The measure described also means it is also conceivable that the drive could be removed at such a time while otherwise it would be necessary to wait for a time at which the scaffold unit has climbed up high enough so as to no longer be in the region of the guide, which can then be removed from the mount on the structure, for example the wall shoe.

For those elements of the lifting drives which transfer the lifting forces to the scaffold unit, it has been found to be favourable to use at least one pawl and/or at least one bearing bolt. Preferably, the pawl or the bearing bolt is subject to gravitational force in the first operating mode and is subject to spring force in the second operating mode. Obviously, this may also be implemented the opposite way round so that the pawl or the bearing bolt is subject to spring force in the first operating mode and subject to gravitational force in the second operating mode or subject to gravitational force in both operating modes or subject to spring force in both operating modes.

In this context, it further advantageous for at least two pawls or bearing bolts to be disposed one on top of the other in the lifting direction on a drive. This enables in an advantageous way a further subdivision of the “stages” during the lifting movement of the scaffold unit or the drives. This graduation is first defined by the engagement elements on the scaffold unit, for example the distances between the climbing cams. If, however, two or more pawls or bearing bolts are disposed on the guides, optionally the one or the other pawl or the one or the other bearing bolt can engage with a specific climbing cam in that the “division” is finer. For example, the distance between the climbing cams 22 can be 300 mm in each case, while the two bearing bolts 80 are provided with a distance of 150 mm so that an overall division of 150 mm results. Moreover, separate pawls and/or bearing bolts can be provided for the first or second operating mode.

In the case of bearing bolts, it has been found to be advantageous to provide at least one guide contour comprising one lower flat and/or one upper steep section. The upper steep section permits the use of a bearing bolt subject to gravitational force, which in this region falls rapidly downward due to the steep embodiment of the guide contour. In an advantageous way, a lower flat region enables the easy deflection of the bearing bolt, which is necessary if, as will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings, the climbing cams of the scaffold unit have to pass by the bearing bolts, which is achieved by the latter being deflected at least temporarily.