Flooring system with enhanced flexibility
AssigneeXylo Technologies AG
InventorGerhard Dürnberger
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flooring system is provided comprising a plurality of (identical) floor panels, which are mechanically connectable to each other along at least one pair of adjacent first and second opposite joint edges. The panels comprise locking elements for connecting said panels in both horizontal and vertical direction. In order to consider the often occurring situation that in panels—especially when stored under changing external conditions, especially changing humidity—might warp, the (vertical) locking element in the panels is constructed with a (slight) play, so that in the event that two panels have slightly different warp nevertheless can easily and reliably be mechanically connected with each other omitting the need to exert an excess of force to fit the panels.
Claims16
A flooring system comprising:
- a plurality of floor panels which are mechanically connectable to each other along at least one pair of adjacent first and second opposite joint edges, said panels being provided with
- a locking strip provided at said first joint edge, said locking strip extending beyond the first joint edge and being provided with a locking element extending in direction of a principal plane (PP) of the panels,
- a locking groove at said second opposite joint edge configured to receive said locking element and thus mechanically locking together said adjacent joint edges parallel to a principal plane (PP), the locking groove being open towards a rear side (RS) of the panel, wherein
- a) said locking element comprises an external edge with a recess with an upper locking surface, and said locking groove comprises an internal edge with a protrusion with an upper locking surface, or
- b) said locking element comprises an external edge with a protrusion with an upper locking surface, and said locking groove comprises an internal edge with a recess with an upper locking surface,
- wherein said protrusion is configured to engage said recess when two panels are mechanically connected to each other, so that in projection on the principal plane (PP) the upper locking surface of the recess and the upper locking surface of the protrusion overlap (OL) at least in parts,
- wherein
- at any given position of the overlap (OL) in any sectional plane of each panel which is perpendicular to the adjacent first and second opposite joint edges the upper locking surface of the recess is distanced further from the rear side (RS) than the upper locking surface of the protrusion to form a gap (G).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.