Interlocking carpet tile
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flat woven carpet tiles struggle to create a seamless and coherent appearance due to misalignments and gaps, especially when not stored under prescribed conditions or affected by temperature and moisture variations, leading to visible lines of joining and potential misorientation during installation.
Innovation Solution
The carpet tiles feature a design with indentations and protrusions along all edges, ensuring stable interlocking in both warp and weft directions, with transversely extending gripping elements and notches for secure joining, and are laser-cut for high precision, preventing misalignment and loose fibers, and allowing patterns like monolithic, ashlar, and brick arrangements without visible seams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If carpet tiles are used to facilitate transportation and handling, then ease of installation and handling is improved, but visible lines of joining and misalignment occur resulting in poor visual appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The carpet is divided into individual tiles with interlocking edges featuring protrusions and indentations. This segmentation allows easy handling and installation while the precise interlocking geometry ensures tight joints that minimize visible seams, resolving the contradiction between ease of installation and visual coherence.
Solution Approach 2:
The interlocking edges use asymmetric protrusion and indentation shapes that are not parallel to the warp or weft directions. This asymmetric design creates tight, precise joints that are difficult to misalign, thereby improving visual appearance while maintaining the modular ease of installation.
2Ease of operation
If carpet tiles are installed without strict storage conditions, then installation process is simplified, but shrinking and gaps occur leading to misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The interlocking edges incorporate gripping elements and notches that create friction and mechanical resistance to sliding. This beforehand cushioning compensates for dimensional variations due to storage conditions or environmental changes, preventing gaps and misalignment even when tiles are not perfectly pre-acclimatized.
Solution Approach 2:
The interlocking mechanism uses friction and normal forces generated by the gripping elements to create a range of acceptable dimensional tolerances. This parameter change approach allows the joint to accommodate thermal expansion, moisture absorption, and storage-induced dimensional changes while maintaining visual coherence.
3Ease of operation
If all carpet tiles are oriented in the same direction, then installation is straightforward, but 180° rotated tiles create visible differences and installation errors go unnoticed
Solution Approach 1:
The interlocking edges have asymmetric geometries that are not symmetric with respect to 180° rotation. This asymmetry makes it immediately visible when a tile is rotated incorrectly, as the pattern of protrusions and indentations will not align properly. This resolves the contradiction by making installation errors obvious while maintaining ease of correct installation.
4Ease of manufacture
If traditional interlocking designs are used, then manufacturing is simpler, but misalignment and gaps still occur during installation and use
Solution Approach 1:
The interlocking edges incorporate curved gripping elements and notches rather than straight linear features. This curvature increases the contact area and friction between mating tiles, providing greater resistance to sliding and misalignment. The curved geometry is manufacturable using standard cutting tools while significantly improving alignment precision during installation and use.
Data Source
Figure 1a~2d
Figure 3a~3c
Figure 4a~5a
AI summary
The invention relates to a flat woven carpet tile (1) with a warp direction and a weft direction. The carpet tile (1) has three or more edges extending along a circumference of the carpet tile. The carpet tile comprises a plurality of indentations (12) and protrusions (13) along all edges. The indentations (12) and protrusions (13) are shaped, dimensioned and located so that the carpet tile (1) is adapted to be joined with abutting identically shaped carpet tiles by mutual interlocking of pairs of mating indentations and protrusions along all the edges in order to form a seamless and coherent carpet. At least some of the protrusions (13) comprise transversely extending gripping elements (14) and the mating indentations (12) comprise corresponding transversely extending notches (15). The gripping elements (14) and notches (15) are dimensioned so that a good interlocking is ensured even if a pulling force is applied in a plane of the carpet tiles in a direction in which the pulling force would otherwise pull the carpet tiles apart. The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a carpet tile, and in particular a method comprising use of laser cutting.