Hard floor panel for floating installation with the formation of a flooring panel network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12385261-B2
Application number	US-202418442151-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2024
Priority date	Mar 12, 2019
Publication date	Aug 12, 2025
Grant date	Aug 12, 2025

Abstract

Provided is a hard floor panel having a top side and a bottom side and having side edges along the panel sides for floating installation to form a floor panel composite. At least two floor panels are joined together in each case, the opposite side edges being provided with tongue-and-groove profiles, a tongue and a joining surface is provided in a first side edge and a groove and a joining surface is provided in a second opposite side edge. The tongue of the first side edge has an upper side and a lower side. A projection with a contact surface is provided on the lower side of the tongue. The joining surface of the first side edge extends from the upper side of the floor panel towards the upper tongue side and the joining surface is beveled.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hard floor panel with a core made of a wood-based panel, a wood-based plastic panel or a plastic panel with a top side and a bottom side and with side edges along the panel sides for floating installation to form a floor panel composite,
wherein at least two floor panels are joined together,
wherein the opposite side edges are provided with tongue and groove profiles,
wherein a tongue and a joining surface are provided in a first side edge and a groove and a joining surface are provided in a second opposite side edge,
wherein the tongue of the first side edge has an upper side and a lower side;
wherein a projection with a contact surface is provided on the lower side of the tongue;
wherein the joining surface of the first side edge extends from the upper side of the floor panel towards the upper side of the tongue,
wherein the groove in the second side edge has an upper side and a lower side,
wherein the upper side of the groove is bounded by an upper lip and the lower side of the groove is bounded by a lower lip;
wherein a recess with a contact surface is provided in the lower lip of the groove;
wherein the joining surface of the second side edge extends from the upper side of the floor panel along the upper lip,
wherein, in the joined state of at least two floor panels, the projection of the tongue engages in the recess of the lower lip of the groove so that the contact surfaces of the protrusion of the tongue and the recess of the lower lip of the groove exert a clamping force on each other; and
wherein the joining surface of the first side edge is formed to extend at right angles to the upper side of the floor panel, and
the joining surface of the second side edge is beveled and inclined inwards from the upper side of the floor panel, away from the vertical towards the groove, or
the joining surface of the first side edge is beveled and is inclined inwardly from the upper side of the floor panel, away from the vertical and away from the tongue, and
the joining surface of the second side edge is designed to run at right angles to the top of the floor panel,
so that the angle between the top of the panel and the respective joining surface of the side edges is no longer right-angled, but forms an acute angle of between 85° and 89°, and that the right-angled and beveled joining surfaces of the first side edge of a tongue profiling and the joining surface of the second side edge of a groove profiling are in contact with each other in the joined state of at least two floor panels, a line pressure occurs along the joining surfaces of the side edges of the tongue profiling and the groove profiling.

2. The floor panel according to claim 1 , wherein the bevel of the joining surface of the first side edge of the tongue profiling from the upper side of the floor panel towards the upper side of the tongue is between 1 and 5°.

3. The floor panel according to claim 1 , wherein the bevel of the joining surface of the second side edge of the groove profiling from the upper side of the floor panel along the upper lip of the groove is between 1 and 5°.

4. The floor panel according to claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the tongue corresponds to a width of the groove.

5. The floor panel according to claim 1 , wherein the recess is provided in the lower lip of the groove in a portion located in the lower lip of the groove extending beyond the upper lip of the groove.

6. The floor panel according to claim 1 , wherein at least one saddle is provided in the recess of the lower lip of the groove.

7. The floor panel according to claim 1 , wherein the tongue-and-groove profiles comprise at least one of:
rounding at corners of the tongue and groove profiles;
dust chambers between all sides of the interlocking floor panels;
ramp surface at a free end of the lower lip of the groove; and
contact surfaces formed by the upper surface of the tongue and the lower surface of the upper lip, wherein the contact surfaces formed by the upper surface of the tongue and the lower surface of the upper lip are substantially parallel to the plane defined by the floor panels.

8. The floor panel according to claim 1 , wherein the tongue-and-groove profiles enable at least two floor panels to be joined together by placing a first floor panel at an angle against a horizontally arranged second floor panel, followed by pivoting the first floor panel downwards in the direction of the laying plane.

9. The floor panel according to claim 1 , comprising a rectangular shape, the tongue-and-groove profiles being provided on the longitudinal side edges and on transverse side edges.

10. The floor panel according to claim 9 , wherein the tongue and groove profiles are the same or different from each other in the longitudinal side edges and in the transverse side edges.

11. The floor panel according to claim 1 , wherein the panels have a core of a high-density fiberboard (HDF) or medium-density fiberboard (MDF), or a wood plastic composite (WPC), or a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) carrier board.

12. A method for floatingly laying floor panels according to claim 1 , forming a floor panel composite comprising the following steps:
laying the first floor panel,
attaching a second floor panel to the first floor panel, wherein the tongue of the second floor panel is inserted into the groove of the first floor panel, and wherein the lower lip of the groove profiling is bent outwards in the assembled state, so that the lower lip provides a force such that the panels are permanently forced towards each other.

13. A floor panel network obtainable by a method according to claim 12 .

Assignees

• Flooring Technologies Ltd

Inventors

• Zorn Marcel

Classifications

• E04F2201/043

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

• E04F2201/0161

  with snap action of the edge connectors · CPC title

• E04F15/107

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

• E04F15/102 Primary

  of fibrous or chipped materials, e.g. bonded with synthetic resins · CPC title

• E04F15/105

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