Veneered Element Pressing with Selective Crack and Knot Filling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing veneer layers in flooring and building panels face issues with defects such as holes, cracks, and knots, which are not effectively filled or hidden, leading to aesthetic and structural challenges, and the design control of veneer layers after pressing is limited.
Innovation Solution
A method involving applying a first layer with different properties on a substrate, followed by a second layer on a veneer layer, and pressing them together, allowing material from the second layer to permeate into the veneer layer to fill defects while preventing the first layer from affecting the dense parts, thereby controlling the veneer's design and enhancing its aesthetic appeal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a wood veneer layer is used to reduce production cost, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but defects such as holes, cracks, and knots cannot be effectively filled or hidden
Solution Approach 1:
A sub-layer comprising wood fibres and a binder is introduced as an intermediary between the veneer layer and the core. This sub-layer acts as a mediator that fills defects in the veneer layer during pressing, allowing the use of thinner, lower-cost veneer while maintaining aesthetic quality by hiding defects.
Solution Approach 2:
The sub-layer provides localized filling capability specifically at defect locations (holes, cracks, knots) in the veneer layer, while leaving the rest of the veneer surface intact. This allows selective defect remediation without affecting the overall veneer quality or requiring expensive high-grade veneer throughout.
2Manufacturing precision
If a thick veneer layer is used to ensure quality appearance, then aesthetic quality is improved, but production cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sub-layer serves as a cost-effective intermediary that compensates for the use of thinner veneer by filling defects during pressing. This allows achieving acceptable aesthetic quality with thinner, lower-cost veneer by masking defects rather than relying on thick veneer to naturally hide them.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the thickness parameter of the veneer layer to be thinner (reducing cost) while compensating for the aesthetic quality through the sub-layer's defect-filling mechanism during pressing, thereby achieving the desired appearance at lower cost.
3Manufacturing precision
If material from the first layer permeates into the veneer layer during pressing, then defects are filled, but the dense parts of the veneer layer are also affected
Solution Approach 1:
The pressing process is designed to enable selective permeation where material from the first layer fills only the defect areas (holes, cracks, knots) in the veneer layer, while the dense, defect-free portions of the veneer remain unaffected and maintain their original properties and appearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The sub-layer acts as an intermediary reservoir that supplies filling material specifically to defect locations during pressing, preventing unwanted permeation into dense areas while ensuring adequate filling of defects through controlled material flow.
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 method effectively fills defects in the veneer layer with the first layer's material, making them visible and contrasting in color, while maintaining the dense parts unaffected, resulting in an aesthetically appealing veneer layer with enhanced impact resistance and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
material from the second layer permeates into the veneer layer
Implementation Method 2
When heat and pressure are applied, the result is the formation of a panel
Implementation Method 3
When heat and pressure are applied, the result is the formation of a panel
Data Source
Figure 1A~1C
Figure 2~3
AI summary
A method to produce a veneered element, the method including applying a first layer on a substrate, applying a second layer on a veneer layer, applying the veneer layer with the second layer applied thereto on the first layer,such that the second layer is facing the first layer, pressing the first layer, the second layer and the veneer layer together to form a veneered element, thereby material originating from the second layer permeates into the veneer layer, and wherein, after pressing, the first layer is visible through a crack, cavity, hole and/or knot of the veneer layer. Also,a veneered element.