Panel Hook-Joint Sealing Structure for Water Ingress Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing panels experience water penetration through joins, leading to mold formation due to inadequate sealing integrity at transverse and longitudinal edges.
Innovation Solution
The panel design incorporates a butting surface orthogonal to the panel top side, a sealing nose extending parallel to the panel edge, and edge breaks with varying sizes to enhance sealing integrity, along with a locking mechanism that includes a holding groove for a separate locking element to prevent horizontal and vertical movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If panels are connected with hook profiles at the second edge pair, then longitudinal and transverse joins are formed to create surface coverage, but water can penetrate through the joins leading to mold formation
Solution Approach 1:
The panel edge is segmented into multiple functional zones: the hook profile for mechanical connection, the butting surface for vertical alignment, and the sealing nose for water sealing. This segmentation allows each element to perform its specific function optimally without interfering with others.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing nose extends in a direction perpendicular to the panel surface, adding a third dimension to the sealing mechanism. This protruding sealing element creates an overlapping seal between adjacent panels, preventing water penetration through the join by blocking the water path in the vertical dimension.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a tongue profile and groove profile are used at the first edge pair for pivotal movement locking, then horizontal movement is opposed, but vertical locking action requires a separate locking element
Solution Approach 1:
The holding groove acts as an intermediary structure that receives and secures the separate locking element. This groove provides a dedicated receptacle for the locking element, ensuring proper positioning and engagement while simplifying the overall locking mechanism design.
3Reliability
If the sealing nose extends parallel to the panel edge over the entire length, then sealing coverage is maximized, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing nose is merged with the butting surface and hook profile as integral components of the panel edge structure. This integration ensures that the sealing nose is automatically positioned relative to other features, reducing the need for separate alignment operations and minimizing manufacturing precision requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A panel including a core, a top side, an underside, a first edge pair and a second edge pair. The first edge pair has a groove profile at a panel edge and a complementary tongue profile at the opposite panel edge, which are lockable by a pivotal movement and positively lock so that movement of locked panels away from each other in the plane of the panels is opposed. At its opposite panel edges the second edge pair has a complementary receiving hook and an arresting hook. The arresting hook is assembled to the receiving hook by a joining movement in a plane perpendicular to the panel plane by the pivotal movement for the first edge pair. The receiving hook or the arresting hook has a holding groove for a separate locking element that provides vertical locking. A butting surface is arranged at the receiving hook substantially orthogonal to the top side. The arresting hook has a counterpart butting surface substantially orthogonal to the top side. The second edge pair has at least one sealing nose at a lower end of the counterpart butting surface of the arresting hook or at a lower end of the butting surface of the receiving hook. The sealing nose extends parallel to the respective panel edge over the entire length of the counterpart butting surface or the butting surface.