A JOINT OF FLOOR PANELS

Abstract

A floor panel (1) has interlocking means (10, 11) formed on the side of its short edges (5, 5) being joined together. These interlocking means (10, 11) comprise joining parts made as a male joining part (9) and a female joining part (12) and have a vertically active concave locking part (13) and a convex locking part (14), as well as slanted guiding surfaces (15, 16). Furthermore, there is a bendable part (7) formed in the lower surface (2a) of the floor panel (1), comprising a plurality of adjacent recesses (8, 8) formed in the lower surface (2a), next to the male joining part (9), which are inclined relative to the short edge (5) of the side surface (6), allowing the angular deflection of the male joining part (9) to be increased, relative to the horizontal plane, during its interlocking with the female joining part (12) at the short edges (5, 5).

Claims

1. A joint of floor panels, wherein the joined floor panels (1) are in the form of rectangular plates comprising: an upper surface (2) and a lower surface (2a) parallel to it, designed to be laid on the subfloor, two long edges (3, 3) of side surfaces (4, 4), two short edges (5, 5) of side surfaces (6, 6), complementary interlocking means (10, 11) formed on the side of the edges (5, 5) joined to each other, wherein the complementary interlocking means (10, 11) formed on the side of the short edges (5, 5) joining each other comprise joining parts made as a male joining part (9) and a female joining part (12) and have a vertically active concave locking part (13) and a convex locking part (14), as well as slanted guiding surfaces (15, 16), and wherein a bendable part (7) is formed in the lower surface (2a) of the floor panel (1) across its entire width, wherein the bendable part (7) of the floor panel (1) comprises a plurality of adjacent recesses (8, 8) formed in the lower surface (2a), next to the male joining part (9), which are inclined relative to the short edge (5) of the side surface (6), allowing the angular deflection of the male joining part (9) to be increased, relative to the horizontal plane, during its interlocking with the female joining part (12) at the short edges (5, 5), characterized in that the recesses (8, 8) have decreasing heights, with the recesses (8, 8) having the smallest height (h2) on the side of a male coupling element (20) located at the first long edge (3) of the side surface (4) and the largest height (h1) on the side of a female coupling element (21) located at the second long edge (3) of the side surface (4).

2. The joint according to claim 1, characterised in that the bendable part (7) of the floor panel (1) comprises 3 to 20 adjacent recesses (8, 8).

3. The joint according to claim 1, characterised in that the bendable part (7) of the floor panel (1) comprises 4 to 10 adjacent recesses (8, 8).

4. The joint according to claim 1, characterised in that the first recess (8) on the side of the short edge (5) is inclined by an angle (1) greater than the inclination angle (2, 3, 4, 5) of the further recesses (8) with respect to each other.

5. The joint according to claim 1, characterised in that the bendable part (7) of the floor panel (1) comprises the first recess (8) arranged parallel to the short edge (5).

6. (canceled)

7. The joint according to claim 1, characterised in that the recesses (8, 8) have decreasing widths, with the recesses (8, 8) having the smallest width (W2) on the side of the male coupling element (20) located at the first long edge (3) of the side surface (4) and the largest width (W1) on the side of the female coupling element (21) located at the second long edge (3) of the side surface (4).

8. The joint according to claim 1, characterised in that the ratio of the largest height (h1) of the recess (8, 8) to the height (h) of the floor panel (1) is within a range from 0.1 to 0.5, and the ratio of the smallest height (h2) to the largest height (h1) of the recess (8, 8) is within a range from 0.1 to 0.5.

9. The joint according to claim 7, characterised in that the ratio of the smallest width (W2) of the recess (8, 8) to its largest width (W1) is within a range from 0.2 to 0.5, and the ratio of the largest height (h1) of the recess (8, 8) to its largest width (W1) is within a range from 0.8 to 1.2.

10. The joint according to claim 9, characterised in that feet (22) with a width (W3) larger than half of the largest width (W1) of the recess (8, 8) are formed between the recesses (8, 8).

11. The joint according to claim 8, characterised in that the ratio of the smallest width (W2) of the recess (8, 8) to its largest width (W1) is within a range from 0.2 to 0.5, and the ratio of the largest height (h1) of the recess (8, 8) to its largest width (W1) is within a range from 0.8 to 1.2

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0029] The subject of the invention is shown in embodiments in a drawing, in which:

[0030] FIG. 1 shows the floor panel in top view,

[0031] FIG. 2 shows the floor panel in bottom view,

[0032] FIG. 3 shows the floor panel in cross-section,

[0033] FIG. 4 shows a male part of the floor panel before joining to a female part of the same floor panel,

[0034] FIG. 5 shows the male part of the floor panel in the process of joining to the female part of the same floor panel,

[0035] FIG. 6 shows the male part of the floor panel in the process of joining to the female part of the same floor panel in axonometric view,

[0036] FIG. 7 shows the joined floor panels,

[0037] FIG. 8 shows a cross-section of the floor panel along its recess.

[0038] FIG. 9 shows an enlarged view of the section of the floor panel as seen in the direction of the recess axis.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0039] The floor panel 1 shown in FIG. 1 is in the form of a rectangular plate, with a core made of a conglomerate of polyvinyl chloride and chalk, with its upper surface 2 delimited by two long edges 3, 3 of side surfaces 4, 4 and by two short edges 5, 5 of side surfaces 6, 6.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 2, in the lower surface 2a of the floor panel 1, across its entire width, a bendable part 7 comprising five adjacent recesses 8, 8 in the form of grooves, located next to a male joining part 9, is formed. Therefore, the recesses 8, 8 extend from the side surface 4 to the side surface 4. The first of these recesses 8 on the side of the short edge 5 is made at an angle 1 with respect to this short edge 5. The further four recesses 8 are inclined relative to each other at angles 2, 3, 4, 5. In this embodiment, the angle 1=15, and the angles 2=3=4=5=7.5, which means that the last recess 8 on the side of the short edge 5 is inclined at an angle of 45 with respect to this short edge 5. Depending on the bending characteristics required for the bendable part 7 for the proper positioning of the male joining part 9 when joining the floor panels 1, the inclination angle 1 of the first recess 8 and the inclination angles 2, 3, 4 and 5 between adjacent recesses can assume different values. If more than one obliquely arranged recess 8, 8 is used, the inclination angles between adjacent recesses should be reduced accordingly, so that the last recess 8 on the side of the short edge 5 is inclined preferably by the angle not exceeding 45.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 3, complementary interlocking means 10, 11 are formed on the side of the short edges 5, 5 being joined to each other during assembly. These complementary interlocking means 10, 11, after joining the male joining part 9 to the female joining part 12, lock the joined floor panels 1 in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface 2 and in a direction parallel to this upper surface 2 and to the lower surface 2a. In order to lock the floor panels 1 in the perpendicular direction, the male joining part 9 has a vertically active concave locking part 13 and the female joining part 12 has a vertically active convex locking part 14. Furthermore, the male joining part 9 has a slanted guiding surface 15 formed below the concave locking part 13, while the female joining part 12 has a slanted guiding surface 16 transitioning into an inner bearing surface 17 formed on a protruding coupling element 18. This slanted guiding surface 16 is intended for sliding interfacing with an inner side surface 19 of the male joining part 9. The bendable part 7 is notched in the lower surface 2a of the floor panel 1 on the side of the male joining part 9 and is in the form of recesses 8, 8, wherein both the first recess 8 on the side of the short edge 5 and the further recesses 8 are diagonally arranged with respect to it.

[0042] FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show the arrangement of the joined elements during the process of interlocking the adjacent floor panels 1. FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of the inner side surface 19 of the male joining part 9 over the slanted guiding surface 16 of the protruding coupling element 18.

[0043] As shown in FIG. 5, after exerting a pressing force F on the upper surface 2 of the floor panel 1, the resulting bending moment bends the bendable part 7, thereby deforming the recesses 8, 8 and thus adapting the position of the male joining part 9 to the shape of the female joining part 12, whereby the inner side surface 19 of the male joining part 9 is moved without collision along the slanted guiding surface 16 of the protruding coupling element 18 and the convex locking part 14 is seated in the concave locking part 13.

[0044] FIG. 6 shows the step of partial joining of the floor panels also in axonometric view. The floor panels 1 are first joined at their long edges 3, 3. During the angular inclination of the floor panel 1 being joined, under the pressing force F, the adjacent recesses 8, 8 of the bendable part 7 deform elastically and the male joining part 9 gradually fits into the space of the female joining part 12. In this step, the inner side surface 19 slides over the slanted guiding surface 16 of the protruding coupling element 18. The moment the convex locking part 14 of the female joining part 12 is near the level of the concave locking part 13 of the male joining part 9, the step of engaging the short edges 5, 5 located near the long edges 3, 3 occurs. Through the use of the widening recesses 8, 8, the joining of the floor panels in the region where the recesses 8, 8 have a small dimension is achieved under an increased pressing force F, but in the further area where the recesses 8, 8 are correspondingly larger, the necessary pressing force F decreases significantly.

[0045] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the bendable part 7 of the floor panel 1 has the first recess 8 arranged parallel with respect to the short edge 5, and the further recesses 8 are inclined with respect to this short edge 5 and with respect to each other.

[0046] After the floor panels 1 are completely joined together, as shown in FIG. 7, when the convex locking part 14 is inserted into the concave locking part 13, the bendable part 7 of the lower surface 2a returns to a flat shape corresponding to the floor plane.

[0047] FIG. 8 shows the decreasing dimension of the recess 8. In the embodiment shown, this changing dimension also applies to the further recesses 8. The recesses 8, 8 have a continuously decreasing height h1, h2, with the smallest height h2 of the recess 8, 8 being on the side of the male coupling element 20 located at the first long edge 3 of the side surface 4, as shown in FIG. 7, the largest height h1 of the recess 8 being reached on the side of the female coupling element 21 located at the second long edge 3 of the side surface 4.

[0048] FIG. 9 shows a part of the floor panel 1 with the recesses 8, 8. The floor panel 1 has the bendable part 7 formed by the recesses 8, 8. The largest height hl of the recesses in this embodiment is 0.2 of the height h of the floor panel 1. In the case of using the floor panel 1 made of SPC conglomerate comprising 65% of chalk, with the height h of the floor panel 1 equal to 6 mm, the largest height h1 of the groove is equal to 3 mm, and the smallest height h2 is equal to 0.5 mm. The largest width W1 of the recesses 8, 8 is the same as the largest height h1 and is equal to 3 mm, and the smallest width W2 is equal to 1 mm. In preferred embodiments, the ratio of the smallest height h2 to the largest height h1 may be within the range from 0.1 to 0.5, the ratio of the smallest width W2 to the largest width W1 may be within the range from 0.2 to 0.5, and the ratio of the largest height h1 to the largest width W1 of the recesses 8, 8 may be within the range from 0.8 to 1.2.

[0049] The recesses 8, 8 are separated by feet 22 of width W3. With the largest width W1 of 3 mm, the width W3 of the foot 22 is 2 mm.

[0050] With most of materials used, the width W3 of the foot 22 being lower than 0.5 mm results in a failure to meet the strength requirements associated with the need to carry the vertical loads arising from the use of the laid floor in the location of the recesses 8, 8. The parameters of the bendable part 7, such as the number of recesses 8, 8, the inclination angles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, width W1, width W2, width W3, height h1 and h2 may differ from the given preferred values and should be selected depending on the strength properties of the materials used and on the shape of the male joining part 9 and the female joining part 12, so that the proper shape of the bend of the bendable part 7 can be achieved, allowing the sliding interfacing of the surfaces to be joined and the assumed dosage of the pressure force F required for joining the floor panels 1.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0051] 1 Floor panel; [0052] 2 Upper surface; [0053] 2a Lower surface; [0054] 3, 3 Long edges; [0055] 4, 4 Side surfaces; [0056] 5, 5 Short edges; [0057] 6, 6 Side surfaces; [0058] 7 Bendable part; [0059] 8, 8 Recesses; [0060] 9 Male joining part; [0061] 10 Interlocking means; [0062] 11 Interlocking means; [0063] 12 Female joining part; [0064] 13 Concave locking part; [0065] 14 Convex locking part; [0066] 15 Slanted guiding surface of the male joining part 9; [0067] 16 Slanted guiding surface of the female joining part 12; [0068] 17 Inner bearing surface; [0069] 18 Protruding coupling element; [0070] 19 Inner side surface; [0071] 20 Male coupling element at the long edge; [0072] 21 Female coupling element at the long edge; [0073] 22 Foot; [0074] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 inclination angles; [0075] h Height of the floor panel; [0076] h1 Largest height of the recess; [0077] h2 Smallest height of the recess; [0078] W1 Largest width of the recess; [0079] W2 Smallest width of the recess; [0080] W3 Width of the foot.