EP0562402A1 - Plate for coverings, especially for heavy duty floor coverings, and covering produced with this plate - Google Patents

Abstract

The panels for coverings, in particular heavy duty floor coverings, have a use surface (4) and a bearing surface (6) and border regions with integral connecting members for connecting the panel to further panels. Each border region is designed as a flange-like projection (18, 12, 14). One surface of the projection forms a part either of the use surface (4) or of the bearing surface (6). The projections are intended to engage over or under corresponding projections of further panels. Each use-surface-side projection (18) is intended to be supported on the corresponding bearing-side projection of the further panels. Each projection (18, 12, 14) has guide members (17) on its surface (16) which is located essentially opposite the use surface (4) or the bearing surface (6). These guide members are intended to guide the panel (2), such that its edges are parallel, on corresponding guide members of the further panels. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a plate for coverings, in particular for heavy-duty floor coverings, according to the preamble of claim 1 and a plate covering produced with this plate according to the preamble of claim 7.

Highly resistant floor coverings, for example for industrial use, which are stressed by heavy machinery and vehicles such as forklifts, but also by chemicals or moisture, are required for the construction and renovation, possibly in connection with a change of use, of buildings.

The requirements that the user places on such floor coverings are essentially high mechanical strength, good chemical resistance and simple maintenance options, and no adverse consequences of thermal dilatation when used in large rooms with high temperature fluctuations.

Additional requirements must be met if the flooring is used for the renovation of old buildings. The existing subsoil or old floor, which should be left as possible for reasons of cost, is generally no longer flat due to uneven wear and is also often dirty, e.g. from tar and oil residues and occasionally from adhesive residues from previous floor coverings.

To date, old floors of this type are mainly renovated in two ways:
In the first type, a new floor covering is created by pouring, which also compensates for any unevenness. The main disadvantage of this system is that a drying or curing period of several weeks must then pass before the new covering can be used, which leads to an increase in construction costs.

In the second way of renovating old floors, a new covering is glued on. The disadvantage is that the adhesion is poor when the floors are dirty. In addition, the unevenness is only partially compensated for, especially when using the usual, relatively thin, flexible plastic plates which can be connected to one another by fastening members which are formed by their dovetail-like edge regions in plan view.

The object of the invention is therefore seen in proposing a plate for coverings, in particular heavy-duty floor coverings of the type mentioned at the outset, and a floor covering produced with this plate.

According to the invention, the object is achieved by a plate of the type mentioned at the beginning, which is defined by the characterizing part of patent claim 1, and a plate covering produced with this plate, which is defined by the characterizing part of patent claim 6.

Preferred configurations of the plate and the plate covering are defined by the characterizing parts of the further claims.

Thanks to the formation of the projections on the usable surface, which rest on the projections on the system side, the plates have a pressure-distributing effect. They can therefore be installed on an uneven old floor without fastening, for example by gluing or with additional fixing elements, and form a flat floor covering without the need to level the old floor beforehand. Since the plates are connected to one another or guided together at their edge regions by the projections, they do not move away from the plate assembly forming the base even if they have to absorb forces other than vertical forces.

Particularly advantageous plates and plate coverings are obtained by combining the advantages of the new plate shape with the advantages of a plate material made of highly compressed plastic; As this is largely chemically resistant, the panels can also be laid on a dirty or damp surface, for example in new buildings without drying the sub-floor. Sheets made of highly compressed thermoplastic serve both as underlay and as flooring and have a vapor barrier function. The problems which occur in known floor covering boards as a result of temperature differences within the floor covering do not exist in the inventive boards made of thermoplastic material due to the combination of the boards with the thermoplastic properties.

Panel coverings with the new panels and especially made of highly compressed plastic are therefore suitable thanks to their Design and its material properties for floor coverings that have to meet the highest chemical and mechanical requirements, i.e. for all types of industrial buildings.

Although the new panels have been specially developed for industrial floor coverings, they can also be used for wall and ceiling coverings, both in industrial buildings and in public and private buildings.

Panels in the new form can be produced in a simple manner, as mentioned, without additional fixing elements and, in the event of damage to individual panels or during a later building renovation, they can also be easily removed individually or in their entirety and, if necessary, recycled as recycling material.

Thanks to their pressure-distributing properties, the panels can be used not only on uneven sub-floors, but also on a grid-like surface, e.g. can be laid over cable or pipe ducts and, with a suitable choice of material, also over pipe systems of floor heating or cooling systems as well as outdoors.

In order to obtain a slab covering, the usable area of which is seamless, the overlapping projections on the usable area and the engaging projections on the plant side must be of the same width.

The grooves and tongues that form the fastening elements can have rectangular cross sections or can be tapered. It is particularly favorable to provide roundings in the base of the groove; the plate part above or below the groove base, which is the thinnest and weakest part of the plate, can be protected against breakage there easily arise due to the notch effects caused by protruding edges.

The new slabs are shaped in such a way that at least their usable areas are straight-lined polygons that can be laid across the entire surface. Although triangular or hexagonal slab shapes are also possible, slabs with rectangular usable areas, in particular with even-numbered ratios of length and width, are particularly simple to manufacture or to lay in various arrangements.

The plates are preferably designed in such a way that they have mutually opposite, parallel edge regions, one of which is arranged on the usable surface side and the other on the plant side, so that the plates are rotationally symmetrical with respect to the parallel plate center axis. Such plates result in an optimal pressure equalization and the possibility to get by with a single plate shape.

The best possible mutual connection of the plates and the best pressure equalization are obtained if not only the projections on the usable surface side but also the plant-side projections extend over the entire length of the corresponding plate edge; the fastening elements run along the entire protrusions, and in the case of a rectangular, rotationally symmetrical plate, they intersect in the corner regions of adjacent protrusions.

In the case of low strength requirements, parts of the system-side projections can be omitted in order to save material and / or to reduce the weight. It is also possible to provide the panels with recesses on the system side.

Joints are occasionally required, for example to reduce the risk of slipping or to facilitate the replacement of damaged panels; for this purpose, the overlapping flange-like projections of the usable areas across the plate edge must be narrower than the under-engaging projections of the contact surfaces, so that joints are created between the usable areas of adjacent panels. Rectangular panels can be laid so that their edges are aligned in both surface dimensions, which makes it easier to replace individual panels. However, you can achieve a higher load-bearing capacity of the slab covering if you move adjacent rows of slabs alongside one another along part of their length.

Depending on the panel material and other requirements, the adaptation of a panel covering to a certain building size is done either by cutting the edge panels or by filling an edge joint, for example with a silicone compound or by covering the edge joint with an edge strip made of a flexible or rigid material.

If different materials such as concrete, ceramic or wood can also be used for the new plate, it has proven, as mentioned earlier, to be particularly favorable to manufacture it from a highly compressed plastic, as described, for example, in EP-A-0 046 526 is described. It is particularly advantageous to use recycled material for the production of the boards, for example edge sections from production, cut goods and old coverings in powder or chip form, made of suitable plastics such as polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polyurethane or epoxy resins. Large batches, possibly also the panels themselves, or strips are continuously produced from these materials by feeding the material via mixing devices and a pelletizer to press molds or press rolls and highly compressed there. Large plates, possibly plates, and strips with a thickness of at least 8 to 10 mm are suitable.

The plates are easily removed from the large plates or strips by thermal cutting or other separation processes. The plate material can also be machined like soft metal or wood.

The highly compressed plastic material can be produced in different colors, so that patterns can be created when laying or transport routes and danger areas can be identified by panels of a different color.

In addition, an additive can be added to the material, which largely prevents a static charge on the plate coverings.

In principle, the surfaces of the plates are smooth and can therefore be easily cleaned. However, in particular to reduce the risk of slipping, you can obtain a structured usable surface during manufacture by using appropriate molds or rollers.

The plates made of this plastic are homogeneous, so that on the material side there is no difference between an upper and a lower plate layer or between the usable and the contact surface. For this reason it is also possible to clean the plates with abrasive agents or to grind them completely.

Panels made from this material are largely chemically resistant and flame-retardant. They can therefore be used in buildings for chemical production facilities and laboratories but also in hospitals and they can be used especially on old floors that are contaminated by residues of chemically aggressive substances.

In addition, the panels made of the high-density plastic are moisture-resistant and can therefore be laid on a damp surface, even without a vapor barrier, for example, as already mentioned, on a non-dried floor of a new building, where the moisture can escape laterally. The plates are also suitable for wet areas and can of course be easily cleaned wet.

Furthermore, the panels made of the material mentioned are frost-proof so that they can be laid outdoors.

The thermal properties of the board material are such that the boards can be laid directly on the pipe systems of heating or cooling systems. As the elasticity of thermoplastic panels is also increased during heating, the panels can also be installed at low temperatures.

Panels made of this material are practically neutral in terms of their strength properties at least and can therefore be laid in any orientation if their shape is selected accordingly.

Adjacent plates made of highly compressed plastic can be thermally welded together in a simple manner. In special cases, when an absolutely liquid-tight floor covering is required, for example to prevent the seepage or rising of water or environmentally harmful substances, there can be a difference between the individual plates are given a small amount of a non-adhesive sealant.

Fig. 1

eine Platte nach der Erfindung in perspektivischer Darstellung;

Fig. 2

die in Fig. 1 dargestellte Platte in einem Vertikalschnitt quer zum Plattenrand, mit einem Teil einer angrenzenden Platte;

Fig. 3

eine weitere Platte nach der Erfindung, in gleicher Darstellung wie die Platte der Fig. 2;

Fig. 4

eine weitere Platte nach der Erfindung, in gleicher Darstellung wie die Platten der Fig. 2 und 3;

Fig. 5

eine weitere Platte nach der Erfindung, in gleicher Darstellung wie die Platten der Fig. 2 bis 4;

Fig. 6

einen Plattenbelag nach der Erfindung, in Draufsicht;

Fig. 7

einen weiteren Plattenbelag nach der Erfindung, in Draufsicht;

Fig. 8

einen weiteren Plattenbelag nach der Erfindung, in Draufsicht; und

Fig. 9

einen Ausschnitt aus einer Platte nach der Erfindung, in perspektivischer Darstellung.

Preferred embodiments of plates according to the invention and plate coverings produced therewith are described in detail below with reference to the drawing. It shows

Fig. 1

a plate according to the invention in perspective;

Fig. 2

the plate shown in Figure 1 in a vertical section transverse to the edge of the plate, with part of an adjacent plate.

Fig. 3

another plate according to the invention, in the same representation as the plate of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4

another plate according to the invention, in the same representation as the plates of Figures 2 and 3;

Fig. 5

another plate according to the invention, in the same representation as the plates of Figures 2 to 4;

Fig. 6

a plate covering according to the invention, in plan view;

Fig. 7

another plate covering according to the invention, in plan view;

Fig. 8

another plate covering according to the invention, in plan view; and

Fig. 9

a section of a plate according to the invention, in perspective.

The plate 2 in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a rectangular usable surface 4 and a congruent contact surface 6 oriented parallel thereto. The upper, that is to say usable, edge regions of the plate 2 on the right and rear in FIG. 1 are designed as flange-like projections 8 and 10, and their surface forms part of the usable surface 4. The lower, on the left and in front in FIG. 1, are accordingly , that is to say the edge regions of the plate 2 on the system side are designed as flange-like projections 12 and 14, and their lower surface forms part of the contact surface 6. The projection 8 has, on its surface opposite the usable surface 4, 16 fastening members 17 which are designed as follows: a groove parallel to the plate edge 18 extends along the entire projection 8. The cross section of this groove 18 is rectangular. As a result, the groove-free edge strip of the surface 16 becomes a rib which extends along the projection 9e and which, as will be described later, acts as a tongue in conjunction with a groove of an adjacent plate and is also referred to as tongue 20. The projections 10, 12 and 14 have corresponding grooves 22, 26 and 30 and corresponding springs 24, 28 and 32. The plate 2 is thus rotationally symmetrical with respect to its plate center axes l and k. Not only the projections 8 and 10 on the usable surface, but also the projections 12 and 14 on the installation side extend over the entire length of the corresponding edge regions of the usable surface 4 or the contact surface 6, and the grooves 18, 22, 26, 30 and the springs 20, 24 , 28, 32 of the upper and lower projections 8, 10, 12, 14 continue up to corner portions 34 and 36 respectively.

When laying such slabs for the production of a slab covering, a first slab 2 is laid. Further panels are laid, to a certain extent, like roof tiles, continuously to the left and front thereof, so that the upper projections 8 and 10 of the further panels are supported on the lower projections 12 and 14 of the panels that have already been installed. As a result, vertical forces acting on a plate are partially transmitted to at least two of the adjacent plates. In a way, this achieves a vertical pressure distribution, i.e. to compensate for uneven stress caused by uneven ground and high loads, for example from heavy machinery.

Since the usable surface-side projections 8 and 10 overlap the system-side projections 12 and 14, the grooves 18 or 22 or 26 or 30 and springs 20 or 24 or 28 or 32 form a novel tongue and groove connection, by means of which Plates arranged next to one another are guided parallel to one another so that a relative movement transverse to their edges is prevented. The result of this is that horizontal forces or force components are transmitted from one plate to a part of the adjacent plates, which to a certain extent results in a horizontal pressure distribution in both directions across the plate edges; this is particularly favorable when there are strong bumps in the ground and on floors that are driven on by vehicles, for example trucks with high accelerations and speeds of rotation.

Fig. 3 shows a similar plate 42 as the plate 2 shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with a different design of the tongue and groove connection, which form fastening members 44. Although such plates 42 are not rotationally symmetrical With regard to their central axes, a covering can be created with plates, which are all of the same shape.

FIG. 4 shows plates 52 which are shaped in such a way that in the plate assembly, at least on the usable surface side, joints 54 are formed between adjacent plates 52, which are filled with a suitable mass 56. If the expected thermal dilatation is high, you can also provide joints on the system side and choose elastic fillers.

FIG. 5 shows plates 62 in which the cross sections of grooves 64 and springs 66 forming fastening elements are tapered and their edges are rounded. This makes laying easier and reduces the risk of breakage in the area of the protruding edges 68 of the groove base, since the notch effect is reduced by the rounding.

6 shows a preferred laying pattern for rectangular panels 2, with all edges of the usable areas 4 being arranged in alignment. This arrangement proves to be particularly advantageous if individual damaged plates 2 are to be replaced.

FIG. 7 shows another laying pattern in which the edges of the usable areas 4 are only aligned in one dimension. The durability is higher than with a laying pattern according to FIG. 6, but replacing a damaged plate 2 is more difficult.

Fig. 8 shows a plate covering with hexagonal plates 72. Such plate coverings are very durable, but the manufacture of the plates 72 and the laying are more complex in comparison with rectangular plates 2.

FIG. 9 shows a light panel for low loads, in which parts 74 of the edge regions on the system side are omitted and the recesses 76 on the system side have. This saves material and weight, while reducing strength and pressure distribution.

Claims (13)

Plate for coverings, in particular heavy-duty floor coverings, with a usable surface and a contact surface and with edge areas, which form integral connecting elements for connecting the plate to at least one further plate, characterized in that each edge area as a flange-like projection (8, 10, 12, 14) is formed, one surface of which forms part of either the usable surface (4) or the contact surface (6) and which is intended to engage above or below corresponding projections of the further plate (s), each projection on the usable surface side (8, 10) for is supported on the corresponding contact-side projection of the further plate (s), and each projection (8, 10, 12, 14) on its surface (16) essentially opposite the usable surface (4) or the contact surface (6) Guide elements (17; 44; 64, 66), which for guiding the plate (2; 42; 52; 62; 72; 82) parallel to the edge of the plate on corresponding guide elements n of the further plate (s) are determined. Plate according to claim 1, characterized in that the guide members (17) have a plate-parallel groove (18, 22, 26, 30; 64) and a plate-parallel tongue (20, 24, 28, 32; 66), which are intended to to take up a corresponding tongue of the further plate (s) or to engage in a corresponding groove of the further plate (s). Plate according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the projections (8, 10) and the system-side projections (12, 14) are of equal width. Plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the usable area (4) is rectangular and that opposite edge regions are designed to be rotationally symmetrical with respect to the plate center axis (k, l) parallel to them. Plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the guide members (17) of the projections (8, 10 or 12, 14) extending along the entire edges of the useful surfaces (4) or the contact surfaces (6) extend in corner regions ( 34, 36) of the adjacent usable surface-side projections (8, 10) or system-side projections (12, 14). Plate according to claim 1, characterized in that it is made of highly compressed plastic, preferably of polyvinyl chloride. Slab covering, in particular heavy-duty floor covering, which is produced with slabs according to one of the claims 1 to 6, characterized in that each edge region of the slabs (2; 42; 52; 62; 72; 82) as a projection (8, 10, 12, 14 ) is formed, one surface of which forms part of either the usable surface (4) or the contact surface (6) and which engages above or below the corresponding projection of at least one adjacent plate, with each projection (10, 12) on the system side on the system side Supporting projection (14, 16) of the adjacent plate (s), and wherein each projection (8, 10, 12, 14) on its surface (16) substantially opposite the usable surface (4) or the contact surface (6) Guide elements (17; 44; 64, 66), by means of which the plate (2) is guided parallel to the plate edges on corresponding guide elements of the further plate (s). Slab covering according to claim 7, characterized in that the contact surfaces (4) are arranged side by side and without surface coverage. Panel covering according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the panels (2) have rectangular usable surfaces (4) which are arranged such that their edges are aligned in both dimensions. Panel covering according to one of the claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the panels (2; 42; 52; 62; 72; 82) are laid without fastening means. Panel covering according to one of Claims 7 to 10, characterized in that adjoining panels (2; 42; 52; 62; 72; 82) are welded to one another on the usable surface side. Panel covering according to one of the claims 7 to 10, characterized in that a non-adhesive sealing compound is arranged in the contact area of the projections (8, 10, 12, 14) of adjoining panels (2; 42; 52; 62; 72; 82). Use of the plates and the plate covering according to one of the preceding claims for floor, wall and roof coverings.

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