Process and system for sub-dividing a laminated flooring substrate

Abstract

A process for sub-dividing a laminated flooring substrate into a plurality of laminated flooring planks and a system therefore are described. The process can include providing a laminated flooring substrate having a decorative pattern on a core wherein the decorative pattern can include a plurality of indicators, and independently detecting the indicators with a plurality of detecting devices, each assigned a respective indicator. The detecting devices can individually obtain the position of the detected indicators and a control unit can align a separate saw blade per each position detected. The system includes a cutting unit with individually adjustable saws or an alignment device configured to align the laminated flooring substrate with the saws, to cut the laminated flooring substrate along positions relative to the detected indicators, for example, in the center thereof or off-set therefrom.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The skilled artisan will understand that the drawings, described below, are for illustration purposes only. The drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a laminated flooring substrate and the system for sub-dividing the laminated flooring substrate into a plurality of laminated flooring planks, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a device for guiding and centering the laminated flooring planks in preparation for cutting a tongue profile and a groove profile on respective side edges of the laminated flooring planks, according to various embodiments.

Claims

1. A process for sub-dividing a laminated flooring substrate into a plurality of laminated flooring planks, the process comprising: providing a laminated flooring substrate comprising a decorative pattern on a top surface of a core, wherein the decorative pattern comprises a plurality of indicators, comprising at least a left side indicator, a right side indicator, and at least two intermediate feature-position indicators between the left side indicator and the right side indicator;detecting the positions of the plurality of indicators with a plurality of detecting devices, each detecting device assigned to a respective indicator;aligning a plurality of saw blades, each with a respective one of the detected positions; andcutting the laminated flooring substrate along lines positioned at or off-set from each detected position, to form a plurality of laminated flooring planks.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the cutting comprises cutting the laminated flooring substrate along lines centered with each detected position, to form a plurality of laminated flooring planks.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the cutting comprises cutting the laminated flooring substrate along lines off-set from the centers of each detected position, to form a plurality of laminated flooring planks.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the plurality of detecting devices comprises a plurality of cameras.

5. The process of claim 4, wherein the plurality of indicators comprises at least four feature-position indicators, and the detecting comprises detecting each indicator with a separate respective one of the plurality of cameras.

6. The process of claim 1, further comprising: providing at least one additional detecting device that is positioned upstream from the plurality of detecting devices with respect to the machine direction to detect a straight-square alignment of the laminated flooring substrate; andaligning the laminated flooring substrate to be straight-square prior to the cutting.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein the at least two intermediate feature-position indicators comprises at least four intermediate feature-position indicators and the detecting comprises detecting at least four positions of the at least four feature-position indicators, respectively.

8. The process of claim 1, further comprising cutting the leading edge and the trailing edge of one or more of the plurality of laminated flooring planks to form one or more planks cut on four sides.

9. The process of claim 8, further comprising centering one or more of the one or more planks cut on four sides and profiling at least one tongue on one of the four cut sides and at least one groove on at least one opposite side.

10. The process of claim 9, further comprising: providing one upstream pair of wheels and at least one downstream pair of wheels with respect to the machine direction as part of a plurality of pair of wheels in order to guide and center one of the on or more planks cut on four sides in the machine direction.

11. The process of claim 10, further comprising: providing a larger distance between each wheel of the upstream pair of wheels as compared to the distance between each wheel of the at least one downstream pair of wheels in order to guide and center the laminated flooring planks in the machine direction.

12. The process of claim 10, further comprising: providing an initial distance between each wheel of the pair of wheels that is smaller than the width of the laminated flooring planks, wherein edges of the laminated flooring planks push out the pair of wheels equal distantly in order to guide and center the laminated flooring panels in the machine direction.

13. The process of claim 10, further comprising: providing a hydraulic system to control the position of the plurality of pair of wheels, wherein each wheel of a pair of wheels moves in the opposite direction and equal distance as when the other wheel of the pair of wheels moves.

14. The process of claim 10, wherein the centering is based on the center of the bottom surface that does not have the decorative pattern, of the laminated flooring planks.

15. A system for sub-dividing a laminated flooring substrate comprising a decorative pattern on a top surface of a core wherein the decorative pattern comprises a plurality of indicators, comprising at least a left side indicator, a right side indicator, and at least two intermediate feature-position indicator between the left side indicator and the right side indicator, into a plurality of laminated flooring planks, the system comprising: a transporting device configured to transport in a machine direction the laminated flooring substrate;a plurality of detecting devices, each assigned to a respective indicator, to detect the positions of the indicators;a plurality of saw blades, each positionable relative to a respective position of a respective one of the detected indicators; andan aligning device configured to align a separate saw blade per each position or off-set from each position of the detected indicator to cut the laminated flooring substrate to form a plurality of laminated flooring planks.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one saw blade is configured to cut the laminated flooring substrate along lines centered with each detected position, to form a plurality of laminated flooring planks.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one saw blade is configured to cut the laminated flooring substrate along lines off-set from the centers of each detected position, to form a plurality of laminated flooring planks.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of detecting device comprises a plurality of cameras.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of indicators comprises at least four feature-position indicators, and the detecting comprises detecting each indicator with a separate respective one of the plurality of cameras.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising: at least one additional detecting device that is positioned directly upstream from one of the detecting devices with respect to the machine direction and is configured to detect a straight-square alignment of the laminated flooring substrate; anda device configured to align the laminated flooring substrate to be straight-square prior to the cutting.

21. The system of claim 15, further comprising: at least one additional saw blade located between two saw blades that are positioned by respective detecting devices;a device configured to determine a distance between the two positioned saw blades and to determine a middle position equally distant between the two positioned saw blades; anda device configured to align the at least one additional saw blade to the middle position.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least two intermediate feature-position indicators comprises at least four intermediate feature-position indicators and the detect devices are configured to detecting at least four positions of the at least four feature-position indicators, respectively.

23. The system of claim 15, further comprising providing saws to cut a leading edge and a trailing edge of one or more of the plurality of laminated flooring planks to form one or more planks cut on four sides.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising: a centering device configured to center the laminated flooring planks cut on four sides to prepare cutting a tongue profile and groove profile on respective edges of the laminated flooring planks.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the centering device comprises: a transporting device configured to transport the laminated flooring planks in a machine direction; anda plurality of a pair of wheels, wherein each wheel of a pair of wheels is in communication with the other wheel of the pair of wheels and each wheel of a pair of wheels is disposed opposite the other wheel of the pair of wheels;wherein the transporting device that is configured to transport the laminated flooring planks and the plurality of pair of wheels, are configured to guide and center the laminated flooring planks in the machine direction.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the plurality of a pair of wheels comprises one upstream pair of wheels and at least one downstream pair of wheels with respect to the machine direction, are configured to guide and center the laminated flooring planks in the machine direction.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein a larger distance exists between each wheel of the upstream pair of wheels as compared to the distance between each wheel of the at least one downstream pair of wheels in order to guide and center the laminated flooring planks in the machine direction.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein an initial distance between each wheel of the pair of wheels is smaller than the width of the laminated flooring planks, wherein edges of the laminated flooring planks push out the pair of wheels equal distantly in order to guide and center the laminated flooring planks in the machine direction.

29. The system of claim 25, further comprising: a hydraulic system configured to control the position of the plurality of pair of wheels, wherein each wheel of the pair of wheels moves in the opposite direction and equal distance as when the other wheel of the pair of wheels moves.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the centering is based on the center of a bottom surface that does not have the decorative pattern, of the laminated flooring planks.

31. The system of claim 30, further comprising saw blades configured to cut a tongue profile and groove profile on the respective edges of the laminated flooring planks.

32. The system of claim 25, further comprising saw blades configured to cut a tongue profile and groove profile on the respective edges of the laminated flooring planks.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein the at least one downstream pair of wheels comprises three pairs of wheels.

34. The system of claim 15, further comprising an embossing in register device configured to emboss a texture in register with the decorative pattern on the laminated flooring substrate.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the embossing in register device comprises: a transporting device configured to transport the laminated flooring substrate to a pressing plate;a plurality of detecting devices, each assigned to a respective indicator, to detect the positions of the indicators; andan aligning device configured to align the pressing plate according to the positions of the detected indicators to emboss a texture in register with the decorative pattern on the laminated flooring substrate.

36. The process of claim 1, further comprising embossing a texture in register with the decorative pattern on the laminated flooring substrate prior to cutting the laminated flooring substrate into a plurality of laminated flooring planks.

37. The process of claim 36, wherein the embossing a texture in register comprises: transporting the laminated flooring substrate to a pressing plate;providing a plurality of detecting devices, each assigned to a respective indicator, to detect the positions of the indicators;detecting the indicators and the determining the positions of the detected indicators; andaligning the pressing plate according to the positions of the detected indicators to emboss a texture in register with the decorative pattern on the laminated flooring substrate.