Vehicle Deck Flooring with Bonded Overlapping Edges
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing and assembly of recreational vehicles (RVs) and manufactured housing units (MHUs) face challenges due to the need for multiple pieces of deck flooring materials, which increase costs, labor, and latency, and result in undesirable noise, vibration, and motion due to seams between adjacent components.
Innovation Solution
A single-piece deck flooring product with planar substrate components and laminated components affixed on both sides, which are cut to accommodate specific lengths, reducing seams and enhancing load-bearing strength, thereby minimizing vertical displacement and associated noise and vibration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If multiple pieces of deck flooring materials are used, then the flooring can cover the required area, but the manufacturing cost, labor, and assembly time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate deck flooring pieces into a single integrated flooring assembly. The substrate components are joined together with overlapping edges that are bonded using adhesive and mechanical fasteners, creating one continuous flooring unit that eliminates the need to stage, move, and align multiple separate pieces during installation, thereby reducing manufacturing complexity and assembly time
2Area of stationary object
If multiple pieces of deck flooring materials are used, then the flooring can cover the required area, but the number of seams increases causing noise and vibration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple substrate components into a unified flooring assembly where the components are bonded together at their overlapping edges. This integration eliminates the audible seams between separate pieces that cause noise and vibration when walked upon, while still allowing the flooring to cover the required area through the coordinated arrangement of multiple substrate pieces
3Strength
If plain wood veneer sheets are used for high load-bearing strength, then the flooring can support heavy loads, but seams between sheets cause vertical displacement and instability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple substrate components into a unified assembly where overlapping edges are bonded together using adhesive and mechanical fasteners. This integration creates continuous load paths across what would otherwise be separate sheets, preventing the vertical displacement and instability that occur at seams between independent wood veneer sheets while maintaining high load-bearing capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite flooring structure by combining multiple substrate components with overlapping edges that are bonded together. This composite construction integrates the strength of individual wood veneer sheets while eliminating the instability caused by seams, as the bonded overlapping regions create a unified load-bearing assembly
Data Source
AI summary
A flooring product has multiple planar single piece substrate components, each with opposing straight longitudinal and lateral edges. A first lateral edge of a second of the substrate components abuts a first lateral edge of a first of the substrate components to form a common seam. The first and second of the substrate components are adjacent relative to a sequential array of multiple substrate components running parallel to the pair of longitudinal edges. The product has a pair of laminate component affixed to each side of each of the substrate components continuously over the sequential array thereof. The laminate components strengthen the product in relation to bearing a load applied to the second surface thereof and each of the common seams. The flooring product may be cut to lengths for accommodating overall lengths of recreational vehicles, trailers or manufactured housing units and thus reduces manufacturing costs associated therewith.