Panel

A panel system comprising:

• at least a first panel and a second panel, the first panel and the second panel each having an upper surface, a lower surface, and at least one pair of opposite edges;
• the at least one pair of opposite edges comprising a first edge having a first joint profile and a second edge having a second joint profile, wherein the first and second joint profiles are in one piece from a panel material and define coupling parts allowing that the first panel and the second panel are joinable by a downward movement of the first edge of the first panel with respect to the second edge of the second panel, and wherein the coupling parts, in a coupled condition of the first and second panels, provide a locking in a vertical direction perpendicular to a plane of the first and second panels, as well as in a horizontal direction parallel to the plane of the first and second panels and perpendicular to the first and second edges;
• the first joint profile comprising a first laterally projecting lip with a downward projecting locking part, the downward projecting locking part defining a male part, wherein the second joint profile comprises a second laterally projecting lip with an upward projecting locking part, the upward projecting locking part defining, proximally thereof, a recess that is a female part, wherein the first laterally projecting lip with the downward projecting locking part defines a downward directed hook, wherein the second laterally projecting lip with the upward projecting locking part defines an upward directed hook, and wherein, in the coupled condition of the first and second panels, the downward directed hook and the upward directed hook engage behind each other and comprise horizontal active locking portions which define a first point of contact to prevent the first panel and the second panel from drifting apart in the horizontal direction;
• the coupling parts further comprising vertically active locking portions which at least define a second point of contact and counteract separation in the vertical direction of the first and second panels in the coupled condition of the first and second panels;
• the first and second points of contact being located at opposite sides of the male and female parts;
• the horizontal active locking portions and the vertically active locking portions comprising a first locking portion and a second locking portion at respective opposite sides of the male part and a third locking portion and a fourth locking portion at respective opposite sides of the female part;
• the first and third locking portions defining, in the coupled condition of the first and the second panels, the first point of contact;
• the second and fourth locking portions defining, in the coupled condition of the first and second panels, the second point of contact and each having a contact surface defining an inclined tangent line;
• the first joint profile above the second locking portion comprising a laterally protruding lip, the laterally protruding lip comprising a downward facing support surface at a lower side of the laterally protruding lip that, in the coupled condition of the first and second panels, is configured to cooperate with an upward directed support surface at the second joint profile of a coupled panel, wherein in the coupled condition a third point of contact is formed between the downward facing support surface of the first joint profile and the upward directed support surface of the second joint profile, and wherein the first laterally projecting lip has a distal edge formed by the laterally protruding lip and defining a closing plane of the first and second panels in the coupled condition, the second locking portion of the male part being located at a distal side of the male part at an inwardly offset position in regard to the distal edge;
• wherein in the coupled condition the distal edge formed by the laterally protruding lip of the first joint profile and the second joint profile at the closing plane defines a fourth point of contact;
• wherein, measured according to a direction perpendicular to the plane of the first and second panels, the second point of contact is closer to the plane than the first point of contact;
• wherein, in the coupled condition of the first and second panels, intermediate spaces between the downward directed hook and the upward directed hook are present:
• underneath the male part;
• above the upward projecting locking part;
• and
• between the third point of contact and the fourth point of contact.