Interlocking Panel Edge Profiles for Versatile Herringbone Layouts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing decorative panels require multiple types and complex manufacturing processes to achieve complex installation patterns like herringbone, necessitating special equipment and operations.
Innovation Solution
Panels with continuous profiles along the edges, featuring three types of profiles (first, second, and third) with constant cross-sections, allowing for various installation patterns using a single type of panel, and facilitating easy manufacturing without complex machinery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If panels are designed with complex profiles to enable herringbone installation patterns, then installation pattern versatility is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing a single panel type with multiple profile variants (first profile with single groove, second profile with double groove, third profile with segmented groove) that can all be produced using the same basic profiling operation. This allows one panel design to achieve multiple installation patterns including herringbone, block, and diagonal patterns without requiring different panel types or complex manufacturing equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by varying the groove configuration parameters (number of grooves, groove positions, groove depths) within the same panel edge design framework. The first, second, and third profiles differ only in these parameters rather than in fundamental structure, allowing flexible installation patterns while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through consistent production methods.
2Adaptability or versatility
If special equipment is used to manufacture panels for herringbone patterns, then installation pattern versatility is improved, but manufacturing complexity and equipment requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The profiling operation is designed to be universal, capable of producing first, second, and third profiles using the same basic equipment. The profiles differ only in groove configuration parameters that can be adjusted during a single profiling pass, eliminating the need for special manufacturing equipment while maintaining the ability to create complex installation patterns.
3Strength
If panel edges are designed with multiple grooves and tongues for secure locking, then locking strength is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves varying locking strengths through parameter changes in groove configuration rather than fundamentally different profile structures. The first profile with single groove, second profile with double groove, and third profile with segmented groove all use the same basic profiling operation with adjusted parameters, providing secure locking adapted to different installation requirements without increasing manufacturing complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A rectangular panel (101) comprises at each of its four edges a profile selected from a first profile (108), a second profile (109) and a third profile (110). The first profile (108) comprises a first tongue (111), a first groove (152) and a second groove (153). The first tongue is provided between the first groove and the second groove. The second profile (109) comprises two tongues (112, 113) and a groove (114). The groove (114) is provided between the two tongues (112, 113). The third profile (110) comprises a groove (116), Each of the first profile, the second profile and the third profile extend continuously and along the full length of the edge(s) where they are provided. Two opposite edges of the panel comprise the same profile. The tongues (111, 112, 113) and grooves (152, 153, 114, 116) of the three profiles are configured such that the panel edge or edges provided with the first profile (108) can be coupled onto the panel edge or panel edges provided with the second profile (109) of another such panel as well as onto the panel edge or panel edges provided with the third profile (110) of another such panel; and such that the panel edge or edges provided with the second profile (109) can be coupled onto the panel edge or panel edges provided with the third profile (110) of another such panel, wherein in each of these coupled configurations a locking is provided of the coupled edges in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the coupled panels.