Prefabricated building panel assembly

Claim 1

A prefabricated building panel assembly for facilitating placement of utility lines, said assembly comprising: a pair of rectangular outer panels disposed in spaced parallel relationship, said panels each having peripheral edges including opposed parallel horizontal edges and opposed parallel vertical edges; a plurality of generally parallel spaced apart studs connected to and extending between said panels aligned vertically and generally parallel to said vertical edges and including side studs which are spaced inwardly by a predetermined spacing from the respective vertical edges of said outer panels, said studs having a vertical length between its opposed ends such that the ends thereof are aligned in parallel and spaced inwardly by a predetermined spacing from the respective horizontal edges of said outer panels; and a plurality of connecting members, each said connecting member comprising a pair of spaced apart substantially parallel flanges and a web connected to and extending between said flanges so as to form a hollow channel defined between said flanges spaced apart by said web, each said connecting member being slidably inserted between the opposed peripheral edges of said outer panels of said prefabricated panel assembly and being dimensioned in correspondence to said predetermined spacings of said studs from the horizontal and vertical edges of said outer panels such that the flanges thereof are in face to face contact with the respective outer panels and are in abutting contact with said studs, including horizontal connecting members being positioned horizontally with respect to said studs with said flanges in abutting contact with the ends of said studs, and vertical connecting members having a vertical length substantially equal to the vertical length of said studs and being positioned vertically in parallel to said studs, wherein said horizontal and vertical connecting members are disposed such that the webs thereof are spaced from said studs with the respective channels thereof communicating into each other for directing utility lines between said outer panels in directions both parallel and orthogonal to the studs along the horizontal and vertical edges of said panel assembly, and wherein the vertical length of said second connecting member being substantially equal to that of said studs allows the channel of the horizontal connecting members to communicate into other horizontal connecting members of an adjacent panel assembly.