US 12,270,209 B2
Panel having fracture-resistant coupling elements
Hans-Jürgen Hannig, Bergisch Gladbach (DE); and Egon Hoff, Mastershausen (DE)
Assigned to Akzenta Paneele + Profile GMBH, Kaisersesch (DE)
Appl. No. 17/917,286
Filed by AKZENTA PANEELE + PROFILE GMBH, Kaisersesch (DE)
PCT Filed Apr. 7, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/059108
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 6, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/204903, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 14, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 20168713 (EP), filed on Apr. 8, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0193636 A1, Jun. 22, 2023
Int. Cl. E04F 15/02 (2006.01); E04F 15/10 (2006.01)
CPC E04F 15/02038 (2013.01) [E04F 15/105 (2013.01); E04F 2201/0146 (2013.01); E04F 2201/042 (2013.01); E04F 2201/043 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A panel for a paneling, in particular floor panel for a floor covering, comprising:
a panel upper surface and a panel lower surface extending parallel thereto, which are mutually spaced from each other by a total thickness (G);
an upper coupling element and a lower coupling element, wherein two panels of this type can be coupled to each other by means of a downward movement of the upper coupling element of the first panel with respect to the lower coupling element of the second panel, wherein
the upper coupling element has at its distal end a wedge-shaped protrusion and the lower coupling element has a mating surface, which, in the coupled state of two panels, form a first locking system,
the upper coupling element has a latching element adjoining the wedge-shaped protrusion and the lower coupling element has a detent receptacle adjoining the mating surface which, in the coupled state of two panels, form a second locking system,
the upper coupling element has a locking receptacle adjoining the latching element, and the lower coupling element has at its distal end a locking element adjoining the detent receptacle, which, in the coupled state of two panels, form a third locking system
wherein
a material thickness (UM) of the lower coupling element between the panel lower surface and the detent receptacle is less than 100 percent of a material thickness (OM) of the upper coupling element between the panel upper surface and the latching receptacle,
a locking element surface of the locking element facing the locking receptacle has essentially a uniform arc shape; a tangent to the center of the arc shape of the locking receptacle surface with respect to the panel upper surface and the panel lower surface includes a respective arc angle (alpha) less than or equal to 45 degrees; the mating surface with respect to the panel upper surface and the panel lower surface includes a respective mating surface angle (beta) of less than or equal to 45 degrees; the arc angle (alpha) and the mating surface angle (beta) deviate by less than or equal to 20 degrees from each other.