Polyurethane Roll-Up Floor Covering With Barrier-Sealed Fiber Mat
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elastic floor coverings face issues with unsatisfactory adhesion to substrates, poor footstep sound insulation, and limited elasticity, despite attempts to improve these properties through grinding or surface structuring.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a fiber mat with glass, PET, PP, or renewable fibers on the back of the floor covering, sealed by a barrier layer, allows for better adhesive penetration and retention, enhancing the bonding process while maintaining elasticity and improving sound insulation and force transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the back of the floor covering is ground or embossed to improve adhesion, then the bonding surface area increases, but the adhesion strength remains unsatisfactory
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a fiber mat with inherent porous structure on the back of the floor covering. This porous fiber mat allows adhesive to penetrate deeply into the material, creating strong mechanical interlocking and significantly improving adhesion strength compared to merely ground or embossed surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite structure combining a fiber mat with a barrier layer. The fiber mat provides adhesion through adhesive penetration, while the barrier layer prevents excessive penetration and maintains the integrity of the core material, creating a synergistic composite system that solves the adhesion problem.
2Reliability
If a fiber mat is added to improve adhesion, then bonding reliability increases, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a composite material system where a fiber mat is combined with a barrier layer. This composite structure achieves superior bonding reliability by allowing controlled adhesive penetration into the fiber mat while the barrier layer prevents excessive penetration, solving the adhesion problem without requiring overly complex multi-layer constructions.
Solution Approach 2:
The barrier layer is strategically positioned only on the side of the fiber mat facing the core, creating local differentiation in properties. This allows the fiber mat to provide adhesion enhancement where needed while the barrier layer provides selective penetration resistance, optimizing the overall structure without unnecessary complexity.
3Reliability
If the fiber mat is left open without sealing to allow adhesive penetration, then adhesion improves, but adhesive may penetrate into the core affecting use properties
Solution Approach 1:
The barrier layer is positioned locally on the side of the fiber mat that faces the core, creating a selective permeability structure. This allows adhesive to penetrate the fiber mat for strong bonding while the barrier layer blocks excessive penetration into the core, preventing contamination and preserving the core's use properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The barrier layer acts as an intermediary between the fiber mat and the core. It mediates the adhesive penetration process by allowing controlled passage through the fiber mat while blocking further penetration into the core, thus protecting the core from adhesive contamination while maintaining effective bonding.
4Stability of the object's composition
If the floor covering is made more rigid to improve dimensional stability, then stability improves, but elasticity and footstep sound insulation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite structure where a fiber mat is combined with a flexible core and sealed with a barrier layer. This composite construction maintains dimensional stability through the structured fiber mat while preserving elasticity and sound insulation properties through the flexible core material and the air-trapping capability of the fiber mat structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The porous fiber mat structure creates air pockets that provide sound insulation while maintaining flexibility. The interconnected pores allow the material to compress and rebound, preserving elasticity and footstep sound insulation even as the overall structure gains dimensional stability from the layered construction.
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 reliable, permanent bond with improved sound insulation and elasticity, allowing for better athletic functionality and enhanced dimensional stability without compromising the roll-up and installation properties of the floor covering.
Implementation Method 1
the barrier layer ensures that, during the process of manufacturing the floor covering, the fiber mat can be laminated or glued to the back of the floor covering, without filling the interstices between the fibers with an adhesive
Implementation Method 2
A liquid adhesive, which is applied on the screed, can penetrate between the fibers of the mat, so that the adhesive and the fiber mat and, accordingly, the whole of the floor covering are connected uniformly with one another
Data Source
AI summary
An elastic floor covering (10) in the form of sheets, which can be rolled up, includes a soft core (18) of polyurethane and a layered compound structure (24) disposed on the core (18), and the back of the floor covering (10) is formed by a fiber mat, the fibers of which consist of glass, PET, PP, polyester or renewable raw materials, and which is sealed by a barrier layer on its side facing the core.