Flooring Panel Locking Edge Pre-Compression Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The processing of flexible wear layers in floor panels during machining leads to elastic deformation, resulting in irregular surfaces and difficulty in achieving a smooth, sealed joint when panels are connected, which can allow dirt and moisture to penetrate.
Innovation Solution
Designing the horizontal locking surfaces and joint sealing areas of the floor panels to be pre-pressed together, with the joint sealing areas acting as sealing lips that taper obliquely and are produced using cutting tools that account for elastic deformation, ensuring a tightly pressed joint. Additionally, an adhesive can be applied to the joint sealing areas for enhanced sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If machining processes (sawing or milling) are used to produce locking edges on floor panels with soft elastic wear layer, then the interlocking edges can be created for glue-free installation, but the soft elastic surface layer undergoes elastic deformation resulting in irregular surfaces and open joints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-compressing the joint sealing areas of the soft elastic wear layer before the final locking connection is made. The horizontal locking surfaces are designed to apply compression force to the joint sealing areas during the locking process, pre-compressing the material to eliminate gaps and create a sealed joint surface before the panels are fully interlocked.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by exploiting the elastic properties of the soft elastic wear layer. The material's elasticity allows it to deform during machining and then recover to create a tight seal when compressed between the horizontal locking surfaces. The compression force changes the physical state of the joint sealing areas from uncompressed (with gaps) to compressed (sealed), leveraging the material's elastic recovery characteristics.
2Reliability
If the joint sealing areas are designed as sealing lips that are pre-compressed, then a tightly pressed joint is achieved, but the machining process must account for elastic deformation to produce the correct contour
Solution Approach 1:
The machining process complexity is managed by deliberately designing the joint sealing areas with specific contours that account for elastic deformation. The sealing lips are shaped with oblique surfaces that taper to a point, and the machining parameters are set to create initial deformation that will result in the desired sealed configuration after the panels are locked together. This transforms the complexity from a problem into a controlled design parameter.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of elastic deformation during machining into a beneficial feature. Instead of trying to prevent the material from deforming during cutting, the design embraces the deformation and uses it to create the sealing lip shape. The elastic deformation that initially creates irregular surfaces is later utilized to form the tapered contour of the sealing lips that will compress to create tight seals when the panels are locked.
3Productivity
If open joints occur between connected floor panels, then installation can be completed, but dirt can accumulate and moisture can penetrate between the interlocking edges
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the soft elastic wear layer itself as a flexible sealing film. The joint sealing areas are designed as sealing lips made from this elastic material that can deform and conform to the mating surface. When compressed between the horizontal locking surfaces, these flexible sealing lips create a continuous barrier that prevents dirt and moisture penetration while allowing for installation tolerances and surface irregularities.
Solution Approach 2:
The horizontal locking surfaces pre-compress the joint sealing areas during the locking process, creating a sealed joint before the panels are fully installed. This preliminary compression action ensures that the sealing lips are already in contact and forming a barrier against contaminants before the flooring installation is complete, preventing dirt accumulation and moisture penetration from the outset.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures a tightly sealed joint is achieved, preventing dirt and moisture ingress while maintaining the integrity of the floor surface, with the adhesive providing additional sealing benefits.
Implementation Method 1
During machining, the soft, elastic surface layer is elastically deformed. For example, when a circular saw blade cuts into a soft, elastic surface layer, the feed motion of the blade presses it in. A milling tool also presses into the soft, elastic surface layer. In the area of the cut, the soft, elastic material is stretched in some areas and compressed in others. Once the machining process is complete, the elastic deformation returns.
Implementation Method 2
The horizontal locking surfaces and the joint sealing areas are coordinated with one another in such a way that in the connected state of two floor panels, a pre-compression of the joint sealing areas against one another can be created, thereby generating a tightly pressed joint in the area of the wear layer
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The invention relates to a floor panel (5, 10, 16, 22, 35) comprising a carrier layer (2, 17, 23), a wear layer (3, 14, 18, 24), formed from a soft/resilient material, and at least two mutually opposite pairs (36, 37) of locking edges, wherein at least the locking edges of one pair are designed as form-fitting edges (6, 11, 20, 25) and are configured such that two of the floor panels (5, 10, 16, 22, 35) can be connected by means of these form-fitting edges (6, 11, 20, 25), and wherein the form-fitting edges (6, 11, 20, 25) each have a horizontal locking surface (8a, 13a, 27, 28) which, in the connected state, together counteract the action of the floor panels (5, 10, 16, 22, 35) moving apart from one another in a direction which is located in the floor plane and perpendicularly to the form-fitting edges (6, 11, 20, 25), wherein each form-fitting edge (6, 11, 20, 25) has a joint-sealing region (6a, 11a, 29, 31) in the region of the soft/resilient wear layer (3, 14, 18, 24), the horizontal locking surfaces (8a, 13a, 27, 28) and the joint-sealing regions (6a, 11a, 29, 31) being coordinated with one another such that, with two floor panels (5, 10, 16, 22, 35) in the connected state, it is possible to generate an initial pressing action of the joint-sealing regions (6a, 11a, 29, 31) in relation to one another, and thus to generate a press-sealed joint (F) in the region of the soft/resilient wear layer (3, 14, 18, 24).