One-Piece Floor Panel Couplings for Stable, Easy Fold-Down Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing floor panels with one-piece coupling parts often provide unstable connections that are either too tight or too loose, requiring expensive separate elastic locking strips or compromising on strength and ease of installation.
Innovation Solution
The use of one-piece coupling parts with horizontally and vertically active locking systems, integrated into the panel material, allowing panels to be coupled through turning or downward movements, with specific structural features and material characteristics to ensure stable and smooth engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If one-piece coupling parts are used to eliminate separate elastic locking strips, then production costs are reduced, but the connection stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling part is divided into functionally independent segments: a horizontally active locking system with hook-shaped parts for horizontal locking, and a vertically active locking system with locking elements for vertical locking. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function optimally while remaining integrated in one piece, resolving the contradiction between cost reduction and connection stability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the coupling part are designed with locally optimized properties: the hook-shaped parts provide horizontal locking through their geometry, while the locking elements provide vertical locking through their engagement with corresponding structures. This local differentiation of function within the one-piece structure achieves stable connections without requiring separate elastic components.
2Reliability
If the coupling provides strong vertical locking, then connection stability improves, but the ease of installation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The vertically active locking system is designed to engage dynamically during the installation process. The locking elements can move or flex as the floor panels are joined, allowing smooth installation, and then settle into their locking position to provide strong vertical locking. This dynamic behavior resolves the contradiction between ease of installation and locking strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism utilizes changes in geometric parameters during installation. As the floor panels are brought together, the locking elements transition from a retracted or flexible state to an engaged state, changing their position and orientation to provide vertical locking. This parameter change enables both easy installation and strong locking.
3Ease of operation
If the coupling is designed for easy installation, then ease of operation improves, but the connection strength deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling part segments horizontal and vertical locking functions into distinct components: hook-shaped parts for horizontal locking and locking elements for vertical locking. This segmentation allows each system to be optimized independently - the horizontal locking provides connection strength while the vertical locking ensures stability during installation, resolving the contradiction between ease of installation and connection strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling part integrates multiple functional elements (hook-shaped parts and locking elements) into a single composite structure made from the same material as the floor panel. This composite design combines the advantages of different locking mechanisms while maintaining ease of installation through the unified structure, achieving both strong connections and easy installation.
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 provides a stable, secure, and easy-to-install floor covering with sufficient vertical locking, suitable for various materials, including those that expand significantly with temperature changes, while maintaining production cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
the contact surfaces, which, in the coupled condition, also define at least one inclined tangent line; said male part has a distal side and a proximal side, wherein the second locking part is situated at the distal side; and said two tangent lines are upwardly inclined towards each other from their respective contact zones
Implementation Method 2
the first and third locking part, in the coupled condition of two of such floor panels, define said first contact zone, while having contact surfaces which, in coupled condition, define at least one inclined tangent line
Implementation Method 3
the horizontally active locking system of the second pair of edges is formed at least of an upward-directed lower hook-shaped part which is situated on one of said two edges, as well as a downward-directed upper hook-shaped part, which is situated on the opposite edge
Data Source
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Figure 6
AI summary
Floor panel for forming a floor covering, characterized in that the floor covering consists of floor panels, which, on at least one pair of edges, are provided with coupling parts, that these coupling parts substantially are manufactured from the material of the floor panel, and that these coupling parts are configured such that two such floor panels, at said pair of edges, can be installed and locked to each other by means of a downward movement and/or by means of the fold-down principle.