Embossed Mineral Panels With Undercuts for Outdoor Durability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing decorative panels, particularly those imitating wood or stone, struggle to achieve a realistic texture and durability, especially for outdoor applications due to the challenges of replicating undercuts and maintaining structural integrity.
Innovation Solution
The use of a decorative panel with a mineral layer featuring an embossed pattern, including undercuts, and a multilayer structure with reinforcement layers and pigments that color throughout the volume, combined with a sealing agent and lacquer layers for enhanced durability and realism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a printed decorative layer with impressions is used to imitate wood texture, then the visual realism is improved, but the durability and structural integrity are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a mold with a negative relief pattern of wood or stone texture to create an embossed pattern directly in the mineral layer. This copying approach replicates the three-dimensional texture including undercuts, providing both visual realism and tactile authenticity without compromising structural integrity, unlike printed layers that add surface complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite mineral layer combining cementitious binder with aggregates (such as quartz, granite, or marble particles) to create a durable surface that maintains structural integrity while achieving realistic texture through embossing. The composite structure provides both the mechanical strength needed for durability and the surface characteristics for visual realism.
2Manufacturing precision
If undercuts are added to the surface pattern to improve realism, then the visual authenticity is enhanced, but the manufacturing complexity and difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates the mold with a negative relief pattern (inversion of the desired positive texture). This inverted mold design allows undercuts and complex three-dimensional features to be formed easily during casting, as the negative space in the mold naturally produces the positive undercut features in the final panel without requiring complex manufacturing processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates the texture pattern directly into the mold before casting the mineral layer. This preliminary action of pre-forming the negative relief pattern in the mold eliminates the need for subsequent complex machining or additive processes to create undercuts, simplifying the overall manufacturing process while achieving high texture authenticity.
3Quantity of substance
If the mineral layer is made thinner to reduce weight and material use, then the resource consumption is reduced, but the durability and resistance to outdoor conditions deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite mineral layer with a cementitious binder combined with hard aggregates (quartz, granite, marble particles) that provides high strength-to-weight ratio. This composite structure enables thinner panels to achieve the required outdoor durability and structural integrity that would otherwise require much thicker solid mineral layers, thereby reducing material consumption while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different aggregate sizes and types at different locations within the mineral layer to optimize performance. Larger, harder aggregates are concentrated in the surface region to provide enhanced durability and wear resistance for outdoor applications, while the overall layer thickness is reduced through optimized material distribution, achieving both material efficiency and structural reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A decorative panel includes a mineral layer, and a decorative surface. The decorative surface has an embossed pattern, wherein the embossed pattern is provided in the mineral layer.