Floor panel for forming a floor covering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11428017-B2
Application number	US-202117140379-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2021
Priority date	Jan 15, 2016
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

A floor panel for forming a floor covering comprises a pair of edges provided with coupling parts allowing to couple two of such floor panels to each other by means of a rotation movement. The coupling parts are realized in the form of a tongue and a groove with locking parts. The groove is bordered by an upper lip and a lower lip which comprises a locking part in the form of an upward-directed locking part. The upward-directed part extends over a height which is more than 0.1 times the thickness of the floor panel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A floor panel for forming a floor covering, the floor panel comprising:
a substrate, and a decorative top layer situated above the substrate;
wherein the top layer comprises a decor and a transparent or translucent wear layer situated above the decor;
wherein the floor panel is rectangular, either oblong or square, and comprises a first pair of opposite edges and a second pair of opposite edges;
wherein the first pair of opposite edges is provided with coupling parts, which allow effecting a coupled condition between two of such floor panels by means of a rotation movement around an axis parallel to a plane of the floor covering and parallel to the edges to be coupled;
wherein the coupling parts at the first pair of opposite edges substantially are manufactured of the material of the substrate;
wherein the coupling parts at the first pair of opposite edges substantially are realized in the form of a tongue and a groove, which are provided with locking parts, which, in the coupled condition of two of such floor panels, counteract the moving apart of the coupled floor panels in a direction perpendicular to the coupled edges and parallel to the plane of the floor covering;
wherein the groove is bordered by an upper lip and a lower lip, which the lower lip, in distal direction, extends beyond a distal end of the upper lip, and, a portion of the lower lip that extends beyond the distal end of the upper lip comprises one of said locking parts in the form of an upward-directed locking part;
wherein the second pair of opposite edges is provided with coupling parts, which allow effecting a coupled condition between two of such floor panels by means of a substantially downward movement according to a direction perpendicular to the plane of the floor covering;
wherein the coupling parts at the first and the second pair of opposite edges allow effecting a coupled condition between a plurality of such floor panels at both the first pair of opposite edges and the second pair of opposite edges by a single turning movement that effects both the rotation movement respectively at the first pair of opposite edges of a first and second of such floor panels and the substantially downward movement respectively at the second pair of opposite edges of the first and a third of such floor panels;
wherein said upward-directed part extends over a height which is more than 0.1 times a thickness of the floor panel;
wherein the substrate includes at least a first layer that is formed of a composition that includes a thermoplastic synthetic material; and
wherein said composition of the first layer is free of plasticizers or includes plasticizers in an amount of less than 20 parts per hundred (phr);
wherein the coupling parts of the first pair of opposite edges are manufactured substantially in said first layer;
wherein said lower lip extends over a horizontal distance beyond the distal end of the upper lip of at least 0.85 times the thickness of the floor panel; wherein said horizontal distance over which the lower lip extends beyond the distal end of the upper lip is maximum 1.5 times the thickness of the floor panel.

2. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein said locking parts include locking surfaces to counter the moving apart of the coupled floor panels, wherein said locking surfaces define a tangent line forming an angle with the plane of the floor covering which is between 60 and 80 degrees.

3. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein said height, over which the upward-directed part extends, is at least 0.15 times the thickness of the floor panel; wherein said height, over which the upward-directed part extends, is maximum 0.33 times the thickness of the floor panel.

4. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the most upward-situated point of said upward-directed part is situated at a height in respect to an underside of the floor panel, which is at least 0.45 times the thickness of the floor panel; wherein said height of the most upward-situated point of the upward-directed part is maximum 0.75 times the thickness of the floor panel.

5. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the floor panel is a maximum of 8 mm.

6. The floor panel of claim 5 , wherein the thickness of the floor panel is at least 4 mm.

7. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the first layer forms at least half of the thickness of the floor panel.

8. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the composition also comprises at least inorganic fillers selected from talc, chalk or limestone, or, wherein the composition comprises organic fillers selected from wood or bamboo particles.

9. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic synthetic material is selected from the following group: polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate or a combination of two or more of the above.

10. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the coupling parts at the first pair of opposite edges are configured such that in coupled condition of the floor panel at its first pair of opposite edges with an other of such floor panel, the distal end of the lower lip of the floor panel is separated from the other such floor panel.

11. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein said locking parts include locking surfaces to counter the moving apart of the coupled floor panels, and a space is present on a lower side of the tongue, said space extending from a contact of said locking surfaces to at least below the distal end of the upper lip.

12. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein in the coupled condition of two of such floor panels a contact (C 1 ) is formed between the locking surfaces of the locking parts; and a space is present on a lower side of the tongue which extends from said contact to beyond the distal end of the upper lip.

13. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein in the coupled condition of two of such floor panels a contact (C 2 ) is formed between an upper side of the tongue and a lower side of the upper lip; and
wherein proximally from the distal end of the upper lip a contact (C 3 ) is formed between a lower side of the tongue and an upper side of the lower lip.

14. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein in the coupled condition of two of such panels a contact (C 1 ) is formed between the locking surfaces of the locking parts and a space is present on a lower side of the tongue which extends from said contact (C 1 ) up to the contact (C 3 ) formed between the lower side of the tongue and the upper side of the lower lip.

15. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the floor panel comprises a counter layer which is situated underneath said substrate.

16. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the second pair of opposite edges also comprises second coupling parts on both of said edges, which allow that two of such floor panels mutually can be coupled to each other, wherein said second coupling parts show the following characteristics:
the second coupling parts comprise a horizontally active locking system, which, in a coupled condition of two of such floor panels, effects a locking in the plane of the floor panels and perpendicular to the respective edges;
the second coupling parts also comprise a second vertically active locking system, which, in a coupled condition of two of such floor panels, effects a locking transverse to the plane of the floor panels;
the horizontally active locking system of the second pair of edges is formed at least of an upward-directed lower hook-shaped part which is situated on one of said two edges, and as a downward-directed upper hook-shaped part, which is situated on the opposite edge

Assignees

• Flooring Ind Ltd Sarl

Inventors

• Devos Pieter

Classifications

• E04F2201/0146

  with snap action of the edge connectors · CPC title

• B32B3/06

  for securing layers together; for attaching the product to another member, e.g. to a support {, or to another product, e.g. groove/tongue, interlocking} · CPC title

• E04F2201/043

  with tongues and grooves being formed by projecting or recessed parts of the panel layers · CPC title

• E04F15/107 Primary

  composed of several layers, e.g. sandwich panels (layered products in general B32B; producing decorative panels or veneers B44C5/04) · CPC title

• E04F15/105

  of organic plastics with or without reinforcements or filling materials · CPC title