Thin Synthetic Floor Panels With Tongue-and-Groove Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing floor panels require significant installation height and may suffer from instability and dimensional deformations, especially when made of synthetic materials.
Innovation Solution
The development of floor panels with a thickness of 4.5 millimeters or less, utilizing synthetic materials and specific coupling mechanisms, including tongue and groove systems with reinforcement layers and locking surfaces, to ensure stability and minimize deformations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of stationary object
If floor panels are made thinner to reduce installation height, then installation height requirement is reduced, but stability and resistance to dimensional deformations deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The floor panel is divided into multiple functional layers including a wear layer, decorative layer, core layer, and balancing layer. This segmentation allows each layer to contribute specific properties that collectively enhance stability while maintaining thin overall dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The floor panel utilizes composite material construction with different layers made from distinct materials (PVC, wood fiber, balancing layer materials) that work together to provide structural stability, dimensional resistance, and mechanical strength despite reduced thickness.
2Length of stationary object
If floor panels are made thinner to reduce installation height, then installation height requirement is reduced, but resistance to dimensional deformations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The floor panel is divided into multiple functional layers including a wear layer, decorative layer, core layer, and balancing layer. This segmentation allows each layer to contribute specific properties that collectively enhance stability while maintaining thin overall dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The floor panel utilizes composite material construction with different layers made from distinct materials (PVC, wood fiber, balancing layer materials) that work together to provide structural stability, dimensional resistance, and mechanical strength despite reduced thickness.
3Stability of the object's composition
If coupling parts are made more complex to improve locking stability, then locking stability is improved, but ease of installation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling mechanism incorporates a resilient tongue that can elastically deform during the locking process. This dynamic property allows the tongue to flex into the groove and then spring back to create a secure locking connection, maintaining both ease of installation and locking stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling parts utilize changes in material properties, specifically the resilience and elasticity of the tongue, to achieve effective locking. The tongue's ability to change its physical state from flexible during insertion to rigid in the locked position enables simple installation with stable locking.
Data Source
AI summary
A floor panel for forming a floor covering wherein the floor panel is substantially realized on the basis of synthetic material. The floor panel is rectangular and comprises a first pair of opposite edges and a second pair of opposite edges such that both pairs of opposite edges comprise coupling parts allowing for mutually coupling a plurality of such floor panels to each other. The coupling parts of at least the first pair of opposite edges are configured such that two of such panels can be coupled to each other at these edges by means of a turning movement and the coupling parts to this aim consist of a tongue and a groove as well as locking parts, which, in the coupled condition, prevent the shifting apart of the tongue and groove. The floor panel has a global thickness which is smaller than or equal to 4.5 millimeters.