Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F13/00—Coverings or linings, e.g. for walls or ceilings
  • E04F13/07—Coverings or linings, e.g. for walls or ceilings composed of covering or lining elements; Sub-structures therefor; Fastening means therefor
  • E04F13/08—Coverings or linings, e.g. for walls or ceilings composed of covering or lining elements; Sub-structures therefor; Fastening means therefor composed of a plurality of similar covering or lining elements
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F15/00—Flooring
  • E04F15/02—Flooring or floor layers composed of a number of similar elements
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F15/00—Flooring
  • E04F15/02—Flooring or floor layers composed of a number of similar elements
  • E04F15/04—Flooring or floor layers composed of a number of similar elements only of wood or with a top layer of wood, e.g. with wooden or metal connecting members
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F2201/00—Joining sheets or plates or panels
  • E04F2201/01—Joining sheets, plates or panels with edges in abutting relationship
  • E04F2201/0107—Joining sheets, plates or panels with edges in abutting relationship by moving the sheets, plates or panels substantially in their own plane, perpendicular to the abutting edges
  • E04F2201/0115—Joining sheets, plates or panels with edges in abutting relationship by moving the sheets, plates or panels substantially in their own plane, perpendicular to the abutting edges with snap action of the edge connectors
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F2201/00—Joining sheets or plates or panels
  • E04F2201/04—Other details of tongues or grooves
  • E04F2201/041—Tongues or grooves with slits or cuts for expansion or flexibility

Definitions

• the invention relates to a panel, in particular a floor panel, with two spring arms on one side and a groove on the opposite side, which are designed in such a way that a plurality of panels can be connected to one another by joining the spring arms and grooves, the tongue and groove connection is provided with locking means that prevent separation of two panels.
• Such a panel is known from DE 100 08 108 Cl.
• a wedge-shaped projection projects from the groove base between the spring arms, this projection supporting the free ends of the spring arms on the wedge surfaces.
• WO 01/48331 AI describes a panel connection for e.g. Floor panels with a tongue and groove connection that passes through a parting plane between adjacent panels, a so-called bottom-side locking pin being provided with latching means and this locking pin being functionally separated from the tongue and groove connection.
• the German utility model 200 18 760 shows a tongue and groove connection for panels in which a double tongue is used with a locking contour on the top of the panel.
• the invention has for its object to provide a panel in which a reliable connection between adjacent panels can be produced with simple means.
• simple means means in particular simple tools, tolerances that are as uncritical as possible during manufacture and also the lowest possible demands on the material of the panels.
• a reliable connection in the sense of the invention means in particular a high long-term stability did the connection against the panels drifting apart and also a simple assembly and a relatively risk-free disassembly of the assembled panels.
• the groove base of the groove is rounded. This promotes the elasticity of the entire tongue and groove connection and also reduces the risk of cracks, i.e. promoted the stability of the connection.
• a further preferred embodiment of the invention provides that a free incision with a depth of at least 1 mm, preferably 1.5 mm, is provided between the spring arms in the assembled state.
• This exemplary embodiment of the invention can also be developed in such a way that the depth of the free incision mentioned is at least 2 mm or at least 2.5 mm.
• the depth of this incision largely determines the spring elasticity of the spring arms.
• This spring elasticity in turn determines the stability of the locking and on the other hand the resistance both when assembling and disassembling two panels.
• a particularly simple disassembly of the panels results when the latching means are arranged on the upper spring arm according to a preferred further embodiment of the invention.
• a projection on the upper spring arm projects upwards and engages in a recess which is formed in the upper boundary of the groove (ie the upper groove cheek) of the adjacent panel.
• the lower spring arm is shorter than the upper spring arm. This in particular makes it easier to disassemble two panels and reduces the risk of breakage.
• top and bottom are used in connection with this invention, this information relates to the usual use of the panels as a floor covering, “top” thus means vertically against the direction of gravity and “bottom” means vertically in reverse Direction of gravity, ie lying directly on the ground. If, on the other hand, the panels are not used on the floor, for example on a wall, the terms are understood analogously to mean that “below” means: facing the wall.
• a cut perpendicular to the surface of the panels in or near the parting plane cuts solid material everywhere at least over a certain width (i.e. measured in the horizontal direction, i.e. in the direction parallel to the surface of the panels), i.e. no significant voids (air spaces or Spaces filled with glue or the like).
• the lower spring arm is somewhat rounded at its tip on the underside. This facilitates in particular the disassembly of the panels, but also the assembly.
• the lower spring arm is preferably designed asymmetrically at its tip with a rounding on the underside.
• Another preferred embodiment of the invention provides that a lower base projection, which delimits the groove at the bottom, protrudes at least 1.5 mm above the tip of the lower spring arm in the assembled state (distance 36).
• Figure 1 shows schematically a section through a first embodiment of a connection between two floor panels
• Figure 2 shows a schematic section through a second embodiment of a connection of two floor panels.
• the floor panels 10, 12 are shown only in the area of their tongue and groove connection. It goes without saying that the panel 10 on its left side (not shown) has a groove like the panel 12 and that accordingly the panel 12 on its right side (not shown) has a double spring like the panel 10.
• the tongue and groove connection has two spring arms 14a, 14b which are formed integrally (in one piece) with the panel 10 and protrude from it in the horizontal direction.
• the terms “horizontal” and “vertical” are used here with reference to the use of the panels as a floor covering.
• the lower spring arm 14b is shown in the figure at its tip with a hatched area 14c. This hatching indicates that the horizontal length of the spring arm 14b can be varied approximately by the distance of the hatched area, which is explained in more detail below.
• the groove 16 has no projection on the groove base 16a, which comes into engagement with both spring arms 14a, 14b in the assembled state.
• the groove 16 has a rounded groove base 16a. This has several advantages: In contrast to a groove that has corners in the area of the groove base, the risk of cracks or even breakage is largely reduced. Furthermore, the round design of the groove with high elasticity enables a reduction in the cavity formed and thus an improvement in the stability of the panel connection. At the The illustrated embodiment of the groove base 16a is approximately semicircular and merges tangentially into the parallel side surfaces of the groove 16.
• the upper spring arm 14a has on its upper side a projection 18 which engages in a recess 20 in the upper arm 12b of the panel 12 in order to prevent the panels 10, 12 from separating in the horizontal direction.
• the connection therefore does not necessarily require glue. As shown, a free space remains in the recess 20 in the assembled state.
• This configuration of the latching means enables the connection to be easily released without the risk of breakage.
• the simple release and also the simple assembly are further promoted by the fact that the two spring arms 14a, 14b engage freely in the groove 16, that is to say in the assembled state a certain elastic relative movement of the two spring arms towards one another is possible. It has been shown that despite this elasticity, the structure of the tongue and groove connection shown achieves a very good strength of the connection against separation in the horizontal direction.
• the locking mechanism on the top enables the panels to fit cleanly and tightly together over their entire side edges.
• the drawing also shows the parting plane 24 between the two connected panels 10, 12. Directly below the upper butt line between the two panels there is a free space 22 which can possibly hold glue and also otherwise the exact contact of the two panels in the area promotes their upper bump line.
• an area 26 is shown to the right of the parting plane 24, in which a force vector acting vertically from above is completely absorbed by solid material over the entire connection from top to bottom.
• the areas hatched in the figure are important for this:
• the figure shows a hatched area 10a, which can be referred to as a spring arm support.
• the area 10a is an integral (one-piece) component of the panel 10, ie the material of the panel 10 extends fully into the hatched area 10a.
• the incision 32 then remains only as free space between the spring arms 14a, 14b.
• the hatched area 10a can be varied in a modification of the exemplary embodiment shown in the figure, ie the right-hand limitation of the loading empire 10a can be changed to the left or to the right in the sense of the double arrow shown.
• the spring elasticity of spring arms 14a, 14b can be changed.
• the dimension of the area 10a defines the area 26, over which, from top to bottom, a force acting vertically in the area of the parting plane is intercepted by solid material without cavities.
• the bottom projection 12a of the right panel 12 shown in the figure below is also important for this.
• the material of the base projection 12a is formed integrally (in one piece) with the material of the right panel 12 and the horizontal length of the base projection 12a can be varied over the hatched area, two possible extreme positions being shown in the figure:
• the hatched bottom projection 12a of the panel 12 extends to the parting plane 24, in the other extreme position the bottom projection 12a is significantly shorter and only extends by the distance 36 below the lower spring arm 14b, i.e. the lower bottom projection 12a is just long enough that it comes into plane-parallel contact with good, stable support with the lower surface of the spring arm 14b.
• the base projection 12a is preferably designed such that it projects into the area 26 by more than 1 mm, preferably more than 1.5 mm, in order to ensure that a force vector acting vertically (vertically) in the area 26 is absorbed by material everywhere ,
• the dimensions are important when designing the panel connection.
• the figure shows the panel connection on a scale of 10: 1.
• the total height (in the vertical direction) of both panels is 7 mm in the illustrated embodiment.
• the horizontal length of the lower spring arm 14b can also be varied within the shaded area 14c. As shown in the exemplary embodiment, the maximum horizontal length of the lower spring arm 14b is less than the horizontal length of the upper spring arm 14a, ie the tip 30 of the lower spring arm 14b is closer to the parting plane 24 than the tip 28 of the upper spring arm 14a.
• the distance 34 is decisive for the elasticity of the lower spring arm 14b, which is particularly important when the connection is notched, ie the depth of the free incision 32 with respect to the front end of the spring arm 14b. When notching, a panel is regularly raised a little. The lower spring arm 14b must deflect somewhat elastically. To avoid this possibility promote and reduce the forces on the spring arm 14b, this is rounded, as shown in the figure, on its underside.
• the horizontal length of the lower base projection 12a which can also be referred to as the groove cheek in FIG. 5 with respect to the groove 16, is matched to the length of the lower spring arm 14b.
• An extreme combination is shown in the figure by the hatched areas of the base projection 12a and spring arm 14b.
• Another extreme combination is shown in the figure by the double (checkered) hatched areas of these elements.
• the horizontal length of the spring arm 14b is at least halfway into the region 26.
• the structure of the panel connection shown enables the use of cheaper materials than the comparable (and structurally complex) state of the art.
• lower-quality HDF can also be used as material or even MDF.
• the spring arms 14a, 14b can be dimensioned relatively strongly 0 compared to the prior art, i.e. their dimensions in the vertical direction can be relatively large.
• the upper spring arm 14a has a vertical height of approximately 1.3 mm (not in the region of the projection 18), while the lower spring arm 14b has a vertical dimension of 1.2 mm.
• dimensions of 1 to 1.4 mm are considered for the upper spring arm with a thickness of the floor panel of 7 mm and dimensions of 1 to 1.3 mm for the lower spring arm.
• the latching means can also be arranged on the lower arm 14b, that is to say analogously a nose pointing downward and a corresponding recess can be provided in the lower base projection 12a.
• This variant is particularly advantageous when there is no unlocking of the panels.
• FIG. 2 shows a modification of the exemplary embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 1.
• the corresponding features result directly from FIG. 2.
• the lower spring arm 14b projects less into the groove 16 than the upper spring arm 14a.
• “lower” or “upper” means that the former is closer to the floor on which the floor panel is arranged.
• the incision 32 between the two spring arms 14a, 14b is designed differently in the exemplary embodiment according to FIG.
• the upper spring arm 14a has an approximately sinusoidal shape on its inside (see FIG. 2) from its tip 28 to the connection point to the lower spring arm 14b. This curved, sharp-angle avoiding curve is designated in FIG. 2 by the reference numeral 32.
• This design of the underside of the upper spring arm 14a leads to an increased stability of the same and to the avoidance of cracks when dismantling panels.
• the front tip 28 of the upper spring arm 14a abuts a point on the base of the groove 16.
• the upper arm (12b) of the panels is rounded off in a bead shape. This configuration also promotes both the assembly and the disassembly of the panels.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Floor Finish (AREA)
• Steam Or Hot-Water Central Heating Systems (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=29719300

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (23)

• 2002
  • 2002-06-20 DE DE10227607A patent/DE10227607A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2003
  • 2003-06-17 DE DE50309643T patent/DE50309643D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-06-17 WO PCT/EP2003/006385 patent/WO2004001156A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2003-06-17 EP EP03760634A patent/EP1513995B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-06-17 CA CA2466614A patent/CA2466614C/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-06-17 AT AT03760634T patent/ATE392519T1/de active
  • 2003-06-17 US US10/504,485 patent/US20050115184A1/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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