Floor panel
AssigneeUnilin BV
InventorsLaurent Meersseman, Martin Segaert, Mark Cappelle
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A floor panel has a rectangular and oblong shape, and includes a substrate and a top layer provided on the substrate and forming a decorative side of the floor panel. The top layer is composed of a print provided on a carrier sheet and a transparent thermoplastic layer situated above the print. The substrate has a thickness from 2 to 10 millimeter and forms at least half of the thickness of the floor panel. The substrate is a polyurethane-based substrate and the transparent thermoplastic layer is polyurethane-based. The floor panel has a length of more than 1.1 meters and has a plurality of reinforcing layers situated outside the center line of the substrate. A reinforcing layer may be provided in combination with the substrate and the top layer.
Claims18
A floor panel, wherein the floor panel is made rectangular and oblong and comprises a substrate and a top layer provided on this substrate;
- wherein the substrate substantially consists of a thermoplastic material;
- wherein the substrate is a vinyl-based substrate;
- wherein the substrate has a thickness of 2 to 10 millimeters;
- wherein the substrate forms at least half of the thickness of the floor panel;
- wherein the top layer is at least composed of a print and a transparent thermoplastic layer situated above said print, the print being provided on a carrier sheet, which carrier sheet, together with the print, forms a printed synthetic film;
- wherein the floor panel, at least at two opposite edges, is provided with mechanical coupling means allowing that two of such floor panels can be coupled to each other, such that a locking is obtained in a vertical direction perpendicular to the plane of the coupled panels, and in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the coupled edge and in the plane of the floor panels;
- wherein the coupling means are formed as a tongue and groove bordered by an upper lip and a lower lip;
- wherein the tongue and groove substantially are responsible for the locking in said vertical direction;
- wherein the tongue and groove are provided with locking parts, substantially responsible for the locking in said horizontal direction;
- and
- wherein the coupling means are substantially realized in said substrate;
- wherein at least one layer of the floor panel has a density of more than 750 kilograms per cubic meter, said layer comprising hard PVC.
A floor panel or wall panel, wherein the panel is made rectangular and oblong having a length of more than 110 cm and comprises a substrate and a top layer provided on this substrate;
- wherein the substrate substantially consists of a thermoplastic material;
- wherein the substrate is a vinyl containing substrate;
- wherein the substrate has a thickness of 2 to 10 millimeters;
- wherein the substrate is a single-layered substrate and said substrate forms at least half of the thickness of the panel;
- wherein the top layer is at least composed of a print and a transparent PVC-based layer situated above said print, the print being provided on a carrier sheet, which carrier sheet, together with the print, forms a printed PVC-based film;
- wherein the panel, at least at two opposite edges, is provided with mechanical coupling means allowing that two of such floor panels can be coupled to each other, such that a locking is obtained in a vertical direction perpendicular to the plane of the coupled panels, and in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the coupled edge and in the plane of the panels;
- wherein the coupling means are formed as a tongue and groove bordered by an upper lip and a lower lip;
- wherein the tongue and groove substantially are responsible for the locking in said vertical direction;
- wherein the tongue and groove are provided with locking parts, substantially responsible for the locking in said horizontal direction;
- and
- wherein the coupling means are substantially realized in said substrate;
- wherein at least one layer of the floor panel has a density of more than 750 kilograms per cubic meter, said layer comprising hard PVC.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.