Support for raised flooring elements, and raised flooring assembly comprising such support

Abstract

 The present invention relates to a support (13) adapted to bear one or more flooring elements having a surface finish (12A), said support (13) comprising a top end (26A) that defines a bearing surface (16) designed to have a substantially horizontal orientation in operation, to support a bottom face (17) of a flooring element (12), The support (13) is characterized by comprising a connection element (26) interposed between said bottom face (17) of said flooring element (12) and said bearing surface (16) of said top end (26A), said connection element (26) comprising first coupling means (14) designed to fit into corresponding seats (18) formed in said bottom face (17) of the flooring element (12) when the latter is supported by the support (13) and second coupling elements (14A) designed to fit into corresponding seats formed in said bearing surface (16) of said support (13).

Description

[0001] The present invention addresses a novel support for flooring elements, as well as a flooring comprising such support element.

[0002] It is known in the art to make raised floorings using panel elements that are designed to be mounted to a plurality of supports laid on the underlying floor.

[0003] This kind of flooring may be employed, for instance, when a bumpy or artistically valuable floor needs to be covered for shows or events to be held thereon, or when a given flooring is desired in a room.

[0004] Patent EP1167652 discloses a flooring of this type, which is composed of supports and flooring panels engaged on such supports. The supports include a bearing surface and cylindrical pins adapted to fit into the panels.

[0005] Nevertheless, this kind of flooring does not afford accurate and firm positioning of the flooring elements. Particularly, slight shape and/or position defects in pins may affect proper assembly of the flooring. Furthermore, when the flooring is only partially assembled, the panels may have poor stability. This causes serious problems during maintenance (for instance of electrical systems beneath the flooring), when partial removal of panels is required.

[0006] A further drawback of prior art raised floorings is that they are not suitable for use as escape routes in case of seismic events.

[0007] Particularly, the rigidity and mechanical strength of prior art raised floorings is not sufficient to withstand a high energy seismic event.

[0008] In the light of the prior art as described above, the object of the present invention is to provide a support that can bear flooring panel elements even in case of seismic events, to ensure a safe escape route.

[0009] A further object of the invention is to provide a support for raised floorings that has a simple and inexpensive structure and can effectively ensure resistance to seismic events.

[0010] A further object of the invention is to provide a support for raised floorings that has a simple and inexpensive structure.

[0011] Another object of the invention is to provide a support that allows quick and easy assembly of the flooring.

[0012] Yet another object of the invention is to provide a flooring assembly that ensures sufficient stability, even when it is only partially assembled.

[0013] A further object of the invention is to provide a support for flooring panels that may replace supports that are used in existing systems.

[0014] According to the present invention, this object is fulfilled by a support adapted to bear one or more flooring elements, as defined in claim 1.

[0015] The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following detailed description of one practical embodiment, which is given as a non limiting example with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:

• Figure 1 is a plan view of a flooring formed using the supports of the present invention,
• Figure 2 is a perspective view of the support of the invention, with the flooring elements, shown in partial section, mounted thereto,
• Figure 3A is a top plan view of the connection element that is part of the support of the present invention,
• Figure 3B is a bottom plan view of the connection element that is part of the support of the present invention,
• Figure 4A is a front view of the connection element of Figures 3A and 3B,
• Figure 4B is a sectional view taken along line C - C of Figure 3A and Figure 3B,
• Figure 4C is a sectional view taken along line B - B of Figure 3A and Figure 3B,
• Figure 4D is a sectional view as taken across line D-D of Figure 2;
• Figure 5 shows the support of the invention with its bearing foot.

[0016] Figure 1 shows a part of a flooring assembly 11, comprising a plurality of flooring elements 12 and a plurality of supports 13 for supporting the flooring elements.

[0017] Preferably, the support 13 is made of metal, particularly steel.

[0018] The support 13 comprises a plate-like top end 26A having, in operation, a horizontal orientation to define a bearing surface 16. Preferably, the top end 26A has a substantially square shape, with a plurality of seats (not shown) formed therein.

[0019] A shaft 24 extends downwards from the plate 26A, for engagement with a foot 40 lying on the ground or an underlying flooring (see Figure 2).

[0020] Advantageously, the shaft 24 may be hollow and have internal threads engaging with the threads of a rod of the foot 40, for adjustment of the height of the bearing surface 16 from the foot.

[0021] Other adjusting arrangements between the plate 26 and the foot may be easily designed by the skilled person. These adjusting arrangements can compensate for any unevenness of the floor on which the foot 40 rests, to obtain a perfectly flat flooring.

[0022] The flooring elements 12 consist of walkable panels that are supported, in operation, by the supports 13 at their apices. Advantageously, the panels 12 are of rectangular or square shape, and preferably have a surface finish 12A.

[0023] As used herein, the term walkable flooring elements having a surface finish is intended to designate the surface designed to be walked on by a user (i.e. the so-called walking surface), on which the surface or upper finish, i.e. the aesthetic component of the panel has been already applied.

[0024] The surface finish 12A may be formed from any material as is typically used in flooring, such as marble, ceramics, stoneware or else.

[0025] It shall be noted that each of the flooring elements is supported by four supports 13.

[0026] As shown in Figure, 2, the supports 13 comprise a connection element 26 interposed between the bottom face 17 of the flooring element 12 and the bearing surface 16 of the top end 26A.

[0027] The connection element 26 comprises an upper surface 16A (Figure 3A) and a lower surface 16B (Figure 3B). Both the upper surface 16A and the lower surface 16B have a substantially horizontal orientation in operation, for contacting and bearing a bottom face 17 of the panels 12 and for contacting the surface 16 of the support 13.

[0028] The connection element 26 comprises first coupling elements 14 which are designed to fit into corresponding seats 18 formed in the bottom face 17 of the flooring element 12 when the latter is supported by the support 13.

[0029] Advantageously, there are four coupling elements 14 for one support 13, each designed to engage in a corresponding seat 18 of a flooring element 13.

[0030] Figure 2 shows both a panel 12 (in a broken away view), coupled to the support 13.

[0031] According to the invention, the coupling elements 14 have at least one frustoconical portion adapted to cooperate with a corresponding frustoconical portion of the seat 18 by being coupled thereto.

[0032] This arrangement easily affords both accurate positioning of the panel relative to the connection element 26, and safe fixation of the two elements together.

[0033] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the frustoconical portion of the coupling element 14 is directly adjacent to the bearing surface 16A of the support. Accordingly, the frustoconical portion of the seat 18 in the panel is preferably formed adjacent to the bottom face 17 of the panel.

[0034] This further facilitates proper assembly of the flooring. In fact, all that is needed is to simply form a conical hole 18 of predetermined width on the bottom face 17 of the panel, to ensure proper coupling between the conical surfaces of the element 14 and the seat 18.

[0035] Preferably, the upper portion of the seat 18, i.e. the one away from the bottom face 17, has a cavity that does not contact the coupling element 14 when the flooring is in the assembled state. This more safely ensures firm wedging of the coupling element 14 into the panel, even in case of slight defects in part sizing.

[0036] Advantageously, the frustoconical portion of the coupling element forms at least 70% of the overall surface of the element, so that stable coupling may be obtained with no excessive space requirements and material consumption.

[0037] Advantageously, the generatrix of the frustoconical surfaces of the element 14 and the seat 18 is inclined at an angle of 15° to 40° to a line orthogonal to the bearing surface 16.

[0038] The connection element 26 comprises second coupling elements 14A which are defined to fit into corresponding seats formed in the bearing surface 16.

[0039] The second coupling elements 14A comprise a first portion, adjacent to the lower surface 16B of the connection element 26, having a cylindrical shape, and a top end having a conical shape.

[0040] In other words, the connection element 26 is separate from but adapted to be associated with the top end 26A of the support 13.

[0041] According to a preferred embodiment, the connection element 26 is made of a polymeric material. The combination of a steel support 13 and a polymeric connection element 26 provides an assembly with a ductility class DCH, according to Eurocode 8.

[0042] Advantageously, this design allows the assembly to react to seismic events by cyclic plastic deformations with no resistance loss.

[0043] To confirm this feature, the flooring assembly 11 has undergone seismic resistance tests at the EUCENTRE TREES LAB laboratory (Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy).

[0044] Namely, the test consisted in loading each square meter of the assembly with a 500 kg mass.

[0045] The flooring assembly 11 so loaded resisted to an earthquake over 10 on the Richter scale.

[0046] This allows safe escape routes to be available even with raised flooring assemblies 11.

[0047] Preferably, the lower layer of the panel 12 that forms the seat 18 may be formed of a slightly compliant material, such as chipboard. The compliance of the layer may possibly allow the walls of the seat 18 to slightly yield (i.e. deform) when the coupling element 14 is fitted therein. This ensures that the coupling element can wedge into its seat and provides greater resistance to seismic events.

[0048] Advantageously, when the panel 12 is mounted to the connection element 26, the bottom face 17 only contacts the bearing surface 16A when the frustoconical surface 15 of the coupling element has already engaged with the frustoconical surface of the seat 18 almost throughout its length (or at least not before such engagement).

[0049] Preferably, at least before mounting the panels 12 for the first time, the width of the seat 18 may be slightly smaller than the maximum width of the coupling element.

[0050] Preferably, the coupling element 14 and the seat 18 have an axis substantially perpendicular to the bearing surface 16A.

[0051] The adjacent supports 13 may be connected together by joists 35 (as shown in Figure 1) to add further stability to the flooring assembly, by ensuring proper mutual positioning of the coupling elements 14 operating on the same panel.

[0052] The joists 35 may be connected together by their opposite ends at the seats 23 formed in the supports 13, possibly by screw coupling or another known fastening arrangement. In each support 13, the seats 23 for fixing the joists 35 are interposed between two adjacent coupling elements 14. The seats 23 are at a lower level than the bearing surfaces 16A.

[0053] Advantageously, also referring to Figure 5, the joists 35 have a C shape, with the opening at the bottom when in operation. Preferably, the joists 35 have a flange 35a that extends from a top face to abut on the support 13 and create the connection. The side faces of the joists 35 have a longitudinal slit for the body 26 of the support to fit therein when assembly is completed (Figure 1).

[0054] Those skilled in the art will obviously appreciate that a number of changes and variants may be made to the arrangements as described hereinbefore to meet incidental and specific needs, without departure from the scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims.

[0055] For instance, the substantially frustoconical portion of the seat might also have discontinuities or slits, while still operating as described above to provide firm and proper positioning of the flooring element. It shall be understood that the shape of the coupling element might also be slightly different from a full cone, while still operating as described above.

Claims

1. A support (13) adapted to bear one or more flooring elements having a surface finish (12A), said support (13) comprising a top end (26A) that defines a bearing surface (16) designed to have a substantially horizontal orientation in operation, to support a bottom face (17) of a flooring element (12), characterized by comprising a connection element (26) interposed between said bottom face (17) of said flooring element (12) and said bearing surface (16) of said top end (26A), said connection element (26) comprising first coupling means (14) designed to fit into corresponding seats (18) formed in said bottom face (17) of the flooring element (12) when the latter is supported by the support (13) and second coupling elements (14A) designed to fit into corresponding seats formed in said bearing surface (16) of said support (13).

2. A support (13) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first coupling elements (14) have at least one substantially frustoconical portion adapted to cooperate, in operation, with a corresponding substantially frustoconical portion formed in said seat (18) of the flooring element.

3. A support (13) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the surface of the frustoconical portion of said coupling element (14) is inclined at an angle of 15° to 40° to a line orthogonal to the bearing surface (16) of the support.

4. A support (13) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the frustoconical portion of said first coupling element (14) forms at least 70% of the overall surface of the coupling element.

5. A support (13) as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said second coupling elements (14A) have a first cylindrical portion with a conical portion projecting therefrom, the plan section of said first cylindrical portion having substantially the same diameter as said seats defined in said top end (26A).

6. A support (13) as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said connection element (26) is made of a polymeric material.

7. A flooring assembly comprising a plurality of supports as claimed in any claim from 1 to 6 and a plurality of flooring elements (12), characterized in that it comprises connection joists (35) between adjacent supports (13) of the assembly, for the flooring assembly (11) to have a ductility class DCH according to Eurocode 8.

8. A flooring assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein each flooring element (12) of said plurality of flooring elements (12) has at least one seat (18) adapted to receive the first coupling means (14) of the connection element (26), the flooring element (12) comprising a bottom face (17) adapted to lie, in operation, on said bearing surface (16A) of the connection element (26), said seat (18) having at least one substantially frustoconical portion adapted to provide a mating form fit with the frustoconical portion of the first coupling means (14), when the bottom face (17) lies on the bearing surface (16A) of the connection element (26).

9. A flooring assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein said flooring element (12) is of substantially rectangular or square shape, has a surface finish (12A) and has a seat (18) formed therein at each apex, the flooring element engaging in operation with four support elements (13).

10. A flooring assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein said support (13) is engaged with a foot lying on the ground (40) in adjustable fashion, to change its height above the bearing surface (16).

Drawing