Movable Tongue Panel Connection for Chessboard Laying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional panel connection systems for floor coverings, such as parquet and laminate floors, limit laying patterns due to fixed tongue and groove configurations, restricting flexibility and variety in installation designs.
Innovation Solution
A panel connection system featuring grooves and tongues on all edges, with a movable spring mechanism allowing 90° rotation and horizontal connection, enabling various laying patterns by combining fixed and movable tongues and grooves for flexible alignment and locking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional tongue and groove configurations are used with fixed orientations, then manufacturing and installation are simplified, but laying pattern flexibility is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The panel edges are equipped with universal connecting means that can function in multiple orientations. Each edge has grooves and tongues configured to engage with adjacent panels regardless of their rotational position, allowing the same panel design to support various laying patterns including chessboard, parallel, and diagonal arrangements without requiring different edge configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting means on adjacent edges of a panel are configured asymmetrically with respect to each other, allowing differentiation between edges while maintaining overall versatility. This asymmetry enables the panel to be distinguished in orientation while still permitting multiple laying patterns through the symmetric arrangement of connecting means on all four edges.
2Adaptability or versatility
If panels are arranged in chessboard pattern with intersecting butt joints, then aesthetic variety is improved, but connection reliability becomes more difficult to ensure
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting means are segmented into distinct grooves and tongues on each panel edge, with each segment designed to independently engage with the adjacent panel. This segmentation ensures that each connection point functions reliably regardless of the overall panel arrangement, maintaining connection reliability in chessboard patterns where multiple panels converge at single points.
Solution Approach 2:
The grooves and tongues are configured to engage in reverse orientations on adjacent edges. A groove on one edge corresponds to a tongue on the adjacent edge, and vice versa, allowing panels to interlock reliably regardless of their rotational position in the chessboard pattern, ensuring consistent connection reliability across all joining orientations.
3Stability of the object's composition
If mechanical connecting means are added to tongues and grooves, then panel stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanical connecting means are merged with the tongue and groove structure itself, rather than being added as separate components. The grooves and tongues serve dual functions as both the mechanical interlocking elements and the stability-providing features, eliminating the need for additional fasteners or connectors and maintaining simplicity while ensuring panel assembly stability.
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
This system allows for diverse laying patterns, including chessboard-like arrangements, with panels connected simply and precisely, maintaining alignment and stability through elastic deformation and retaining grooves, suitable for various floor, wall, and ceiling applications.
Implementation Method 1
The movable spring being elastically deformable when being vertically laid down from the adjacent panel
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
Covering of rectangular or square panels (1, 2) laid to form an assembly, wherein the panels (1, 2) are arranged in a chequerboard pattern such that butt joints between the panels (1, 2) cross one another. Each panel has, at its border sides (5, 10), grooves (16) and tongues (6) for horizontal locking and vertical locking with adjacent panels (1, 2). The tongues (6) for vertical locking are arranged on two adjacent border sides (5). The grooves (16) for vertical locking are arranged on the other two adjacent border sides (10). One of the two tongues is fixed and the other tongue (6) is movable. The panel (1) to be laid first engages below the second panel to be laid subsequently for horizontal locking. For vertical locking, a locking edge (8) is arranged on the first panel (1) and a movable tongue (6), which can be displaced behind the locking edge (8), is arranged on the second panel (2), wherein each of the two tongues fits into each of the grooves (16) for the vertical locking of such a panel (1, 2).