Non-continuous Slot Floor Panel Edge Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for producing and integrating locking mechanisms in floor panels are costly, complex, and inefficient due to the use of separate production processes for wood and plastic materials, requiring specialized equipment and high-quality plastics, which results in high production costs and potential errors during DIY installations.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a tool guided on a circular path to produce non-continuous slots in the panel core, allowing for flexible vertical locking and reducing space requirements, enabling the use of conventional milling units and minimizing the need for additional processing stations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate production processes are used for wood and plastic locking elements, then specialized equipment and high-quality plastics are required, but production costs increase and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the wood core and plastic locking elements into a single integrated panel production process. The plastic locking elements are injected directly into the wood core during panel manufacturing, eliminating the need for separate production processes for wood and plastic components. This integration reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining reliable locking strength through precise positioning and bonding of the plastic elements within the wood matrix.
2Ease of manufacture
If continuous slots are used to expose the tongue element, then the locking mechanism is simple to produce, but the structural strength of the panel is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the continuous slot into multiple discrete, spaced-apart slots along the panel edge. This segmentation allows the tongue element to be exposed in controlled sections while maintaining solid wood structure between the slots. The discontinuous slot configuration preserves panel structural strength by retaining more intact wood material, while still providing sufficient exposure of the plastic locking elements for proper engagement with adjacent panels.
3Device complexity
If conventional milling units are used, then production equipment is simplified, but the ability to produce flexible locking mechanisms is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic positioning capabilities to conventional milling units, allowing the mill to move along a circular path and adjust its position dynamically during panel production. This enables the creation of non-continuous slots with varying patterns and configurations, providing flexible locking mechanisms that can adapt to different panel designs and joining requirements while still using relatively simple conventional milling equipment rather than specialized machinery.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for processing a side edge of a panel (2), in particular a floor panel, with a top (18) and a bottom (19), which on at least two side edges lying opposite one another has profiles corresponding to one another such that two identically embodied panels (2) can be joined and locked to one another in the horizontal and vertical direction by an essentially vertical joining movement, wherein the locking in the vertical direction can be produced by at least one tongue element formed in one piece from the core and moveable in the horizontal direction, which tongue element during the joining movement snaps in behind a locking edge extending essentially in the horizontal direction and the tongue element is exposed by means of at least one essentially vertical slot with respect to the core, and at least one of the slots is not embodied in a continuous manner over the entire length of the side edge, wherein the at least one non-continuous slot is produced by at least one guided tool (41) such that the panel (2) is conveyed in a transport direction (x) under the tool (41), the tool (41) dips into the core of the panel (2) by means of a swivel motion and is lifted out again in the opposite direction before the panel (2) has been completely conveyed past under the tool (41).