Segmented Strip Locking System for Floor Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mechanical locking systems for floor and building panels are inefficient due to high material content, complex installation processes, and limited material savings, particularly in high-speed production environments where separate strips are not adapted to handle rapid insertion of multiple strip parts.
Innovation Solution
The development of a locking system using strip parts with a strip body and locking protrusions that can be attached to panel edges via horizontal snapping, allowing for efficient vertical and horizontal locking, and a method for high-speed connection of these strip parts to panel edges using hammers and guiding rails, reducing material waste and installation complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If separate strips are used for locking system, then material savings are limited, but device complexity increases due to need for multiple strip parts and high-speed connection mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The locking system is divided into multiple separate strip parts (first strip part, second strip part, etc.) that are connected to the panel edge at different positions. This segmentation allows for optimized material usage in each strip part while maintaining overall locking functionality, resolving the contradiction between material savings and device complexity by making the complexity necessary rather than excessive.
Solution Approach 2:
The strip parts are pre-connected to the panel edge during the manufacturing process using high-speed connection mechanisms (hammers, guiding rails) before the final installation. This preliminary action reduces material waste by ensuring precise placement and connection, while the automation of the connection process manages the complexity through standardized procedures.
2Strength
If multiple strip parts are connected to panel edges, then locking strength is improved, but installation process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The locking system uses multiple segmented strip parts distributed at different positions on the panel edge. Each strip part contributes to the overall locking strength, and the segmentation allows for easier handling and installation of individual parts compared to a single large locking component, thus improving both strength and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple strip parts are pre-connected to the panel edge during manufacturing using automated high-speed connection mechanisms. This preliminary action ensures that the complex task of connecting multiple strips is performed efficiently under controlled conditions, reducing the complexity for the end-user installer while maintaining high locking strength through proper positioning and connection of all strip parts.
3Productivity
If high-speed production methods are used for connecting strip parts, then productivity increases, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The strip parts are pre-positioned and pre-connected to the panel edge during the manufacturing process using high-speed automated connection mechanisms (hammers, guiding rails). This preliminary action allows for high-speed production while maintaining manufacturing precision through automated positioning systems and standardized connection procedures that ensure consistent placement accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
Guiding rails and positioning mechanisms serve as intermediaries between the high-speed connection mechanism and the strip parts. These intermediaries ensure that even at high production speeds, the strip parts are positioned with the required precision by providing physical guidance and alignment during the connection process, thus reconciling the contradiction between speed and precision.
4Ease of operation
If strip parts are connected via horizontal snapping, then ease of operation is improved, but locking strength may be reduced compared to vertical locking
Solution Approach 1:
The locking system uses multiple horizontal snapping strip parts distributed at different positions on the panel edge. While each individual horizontal snap connection may be easier to operate than vertical locking, the cumulative effect of multiple distributed strip parts compensates for the potentially reduced strength of individual horizontal connections, achieving both ease of operation and sufficient overall locking strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines multiple horizontal snapping connections into a unified locking system. By merging the functionality of several strip parts that each provide horizontal snapping, the overall locking strength is enhanced to compensate for the easier operation characteristic of individual horizontal snaps, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and locking strength.
Data Source
AI summary
Building panels, especially floor panels, which are provided with a locking system including several separate strip parts connected to the panel edge. A strip part, configured to lock panels horizontally and to be fixed to a panel edge, including a strip body with an inner part configured to be fixed under the panel edge and an outer part configured to extend outside the panel edge, wherein the inner part comprises a fixing element configured to lock the strip part to the panel edge in a horizontal direction, wherein the outer part including a locking protrusion, located above the strip body and configured to lock the strip part to the panel edge vertically and a locking element configured to lock the panels in a horizontal direction, and wherein the inner part includes a cavity formed in the strip body and located between the fixing element and the locking protrusion.