Non-Rectangular Laminate Panels With Mechanical Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current laminate flooring technologies struggle to produce and install advanced patterns, especially those mimicking stone and tile designs, due to difficulties in controlling swelling and shrinking of printed paper, leading to unnatural appearances and high production costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
The development of a flooring system comprising floor panels with a core and discontinuous surface layers, where panels are pre-assembled in a factory using mechanical locking systems that allow for non-rectangular shapes and easy installation, reducing waste and enabling complex patterns that would be difficult to achieve with traditional printing and pressing methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If traditional printing and pressing methods are used to create advanced patterns, then the flooring can mimic stone and tile designs, but the swelling and shrinking of printed paper leads to unnatural appearances and high production costs
Solution Approach 1:
The flooring system is divided into separate modular components: rigid floor panels with mechanical locking systems and separate printed paper layers. This segmentation allows the rigid structure to maintain pattern alignment while the printed layers can expand and contract independently, preventing the unnatural appearance caused by differential swelling and shrinking.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite construction combining rigid floor panels (HDF or MDF) with separate printed paper or plastic layers. This composite structure allows each material to perform its optimal function: the rigid core provides dimensional stability while the printed layers provide aesthetic patterns, resolving the contradiction between pattern design capability and appearance quality.
2Shape
If traditional printing and pressing methods are used to create advanced patterns, then decorative designs can be achieved, but production costs and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The floor panels are pre-assembled in the factory with mechanical locking systems and patterns configured before installation. This preliminary action simplifies the on-site installation process and reduces the complexity of production equipment needed, as the complex pattern assembly is done once during manufacturing rather than requiring complex real-time alignment systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces complex printing and pressing mechanical systems with simpler mechanical locking systems. Instead of using elaborate equipment to press printed patterns into the floor surface, the system uses interlocking mechanical joints to assemble pre-patterned panels, significantly reducing production device complexity while maintaining advanced pattern capability.
3Ease of operation
If mechanical locking systems are used for easy installation, then floating floors can be easily assembled and disassembled, but achieving advanced patterns becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The flooring system segments the pattern design into modular panel units, each with standardized mechanical locking interfaces. This allows complex overall patterns to be achieved through simple repetition and arrangement of basic modular units, maintaining installation ease while enabling advanced patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention resolves the pattern limitation by transitioning from two-dimensional pattern printing to three-dimensional modular assembly. Advanced patterns are achieved not through complex printing but through the spatial arrangement and orientation of modular panels with mechanical locks, adding a dimensional aspect to pattern creation that simplifies both manufacturing and installation.
Data Source
AI summary
Floor panels are shown with discontinuous surface layers, which are mechanically connectable to each other along one pair of adjacent edges, said floor panels comprising at least two floor elements whereof at least one of the floor elements is non rectangular.