SE2050195A1 - Flooring system - Google Patents

Abstract

There is provided a flooring system configured for providing a floor to be installed on a base floor, the flooring system comprising an upper layer and a lower layer that are not permanently attached to each other, where the underside of the lower layer has a plurality of deformable support members configured to be in contact with the base floor, and to be deformed when a load is placed on the upper surface of the floor, and where the upper layer is provided as a sheet and the lower layer is provided as tiles, where the floor-covering area of the sheet is larger than the floor-covering area of the tiles.

Description

Flooring system Field ofthe invention This invention relates to a flooring system for preventing injuries.

Background ln the following is a general overview of some prior art. The mentioning ofa document doesnot amount to an admission that the mentioned document is relevant to the assessing the patentability of the inventions described herein.

Traumatic brain injury may lead to serious injuries or death. Traumatic brain injury in the elderly is often caused by falling. The incidence is about 140 cases per 100 000 persons per year, causing great stress on the healthcare system. lt would be advantageous to prevent traumatic brain injury caused by falling.

EP1727950 provides a sports floor. Does not provide sufficient flexibility to prevent head injuries.

Floors in hospitals must be compatible with hospital beds. The floor must permit the rolling of movable hospital beds and the beds and other furniture should not leave permeant marks caused by residual indentation on the floors.

Summary of invention ln a first aspect there is provided a flooring system configured for providing a floor to be installed on a base floor, the flooring system comprising an upper layer and a lower layer that are not permanently attached to each other, where the underside of the lower layerhas a plurality of deformable support members configured to be in contact with the basefloor, and to be deformed when a load is placed on the upper surface ofthe floor, and wherethe upper layer is provided as a sheet and the lower layer is provided as tiles, where the floor-covering area of the sheet is larger than the floor-covering area of the tiles.

The flooring system is suitable for use in hospitals and other places for care of the elderlywhere head injuries caused by falling often happens. lf a person falls on the floor, the floor will receive and absorb the shock, which prevents head injury.

The flooring system is modular. This is very useful. For example, floor with a slighter higherhardness can be selected for places where hospital beds are located or where they are fre-quently rolled, such as in the middle of corridors. Higher softness can be selected for other aFeaS.

I\/|oreover, when the use of a room is altered, it is easy to change the hardness at a certainplace of the floor by simply lifting and removing the upper layer, which is preferably notattached to the lower layer, and moving the titles such that the required configuration of the floor is obtained.

The floor provided is resistant to residual indentations, caused by for example heavy furni- ture, such as for example hospital beds.

Preferably there are tiles with at least two different degrees of hardness. This has the ad-vantage that it is possible to configure the floor with different degrees of hardness in differ-ent areas. This makes it possible to have areas where it is easier to roll a hospital bed, for example. ln one embodiment, the floor-covering area of the sheet is at least twice the floor-coveringarea of the tiles. Hence the tiles have a size that can be easily used to obtain a floor with different hardness in different areas.

The hardness of the lower layer is from 40 Shore A to 80 Shore A. This provides for good shock absorption.

The support members preferably has apertures from the upper side to the lower side of the lower layer. This provides for good shock absorption.

The support members may be separated by grooves, said grooves having a conical trans- verse profile. This provides for good shock absorption. ln one embodiment, the tiles are not permanently attached to the base floor. This makes it easy to reconfigure the floor. ln a second aspect ofthe invention there is provided a method of providing a floor on a base floor comprising the steps of a) providing an upper layer and a lower layer, and where the underside of the lowerlayer has a plurality of deformable support members configured to be in contactwith the base floor, and to be deformed when a load is placed on the upper surfaceofthe floor, and where the upper layer is provided as a sheet, and the lower layer isprovided as tiles, where the floor-covering area of the sheet is larger than the floor-covering area of the tiles, b) placing tiles on at least a part to the base floor, c) placing the sheet so that it covers the tiles.

Preferably tiles with at least two different hardnesses is placed on the base floor. This makes it possible to configure a floor with different areas of hardness. ln one embodiment the upper layer and lower layer are not permanently attached to the lower layer. This makes it easy to reconfigure the floor. ln one embodiment the floor is not permanently attached to the base floor. This makes it easy to reconfigure the floor. ln a third aspect of the invention there is provided a floor comprising an upper layer and alower layer, where the upper layer is configured to receive and distribute a load, and wherethe underside of the lower layer has a plurality of deformable support members configuredto be in contact with a base floor, and to be deformed when a load is placed on the uppersurface of the floor, where the hardness of the lower layer is from 40 Shore A to 80 ShoreA, where the support members has apertures from the upper side to the lower side of the lower layer. The floor has excellent shock absorbing properties.

The support members are preferably separated by grooves, said grooves having a conical transverse profile.

Drawings The accompanying drawings form a part of the specification and schematically illustratepreferred embodiments of the invention, and serve to illustrate the principles of the inven- tion.

Fig. 1 shows a floor.

Fig. 2 is a schematic drawing of a floor installed on a base floor.

Fig. 3 is a schematic drawing of a lower layer.

Fig. 4 shows a lower layer as viewed from the underside.

Fig. 5 is a cross section of a lower layer along lines a-a of Fig. 4 Fig. 6 is a cross section of a lower layer along lines b-b of Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 and 8 are cross sections of a floor that shows how it behaves during impact.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a sheet and tiles.

Fig. 10 is a schematic drawing of a configuration of a lower layer of a floor seen from above.

Fig. 11 shows a method.

Detailed description With reference to Figs 1-2, the floor 100 comprises or consists of an upper layer 1 and alower layer 2. The floor 100 is intended to be installed on a base floor 3, which does notform a part of the invention. The base floor 3 has an upper surface 4, which preferably iseven. The upper surface 4 of base floor 3 may for example be a concrete surface or other similar surface.

The upper layer 1 and the lower layer 2 are preferably not permanently attached to eachother. Hence, they may provided separately. The upper layer 1 provides upper surface 5 ofthe floor 100 and may be configured to receive and distribute a load. The upper layer 1 mayfor example be provided as a sheet 15 (see below) for example a sheet 15 that can be rolled.The width of the roll may for example be from 1.5 m to 4 meters. An example a suitableupper layer 1 may be differently forms of available polymer flooring materials with a thick-ness of from 0.75 to 3 mm. An example of a useful flooring materials are vinyl floorings. Theupper surface 5 of the upper layer 1 may be even, in particular in hospitals and elderly careenvironments, to allow rolling of hospital beds and walkers. Upper layer 1 is preferable du- rable and provides wear resistance, non-slip and possibly also some chock resistance. lt should be noted that, in some embodiments, it may be useful to attach upper and lower layers to each other in a permanent or a non-permanent manner, for example with glue.

The lower layer 2 may is preferably thicker than the upper layer 1. The thickness of thelower layer 2 is preferably from 5 to 20 mm, more preferably 8-15 mm, even more prefera- bly 8-12 mm.

With reference to Figs 3 to 6, the lower layer 2 has an underside 6 with a plurality of de-formable support members 7 that are configured to be in contact with the upper surface 4 of the base floor 3. The support members 7 are configured to be deformed when a load is placed on the upper surface 5 of the floor 100 (see below with reference to Figs. 7 and 8),such as for example at impact of shock. The main purpose of lower layer 2 is to provideshock absorption, that is to absorb the energy of an impact. This is achieved by the selectionof the material of lower layer 2 and the deformable supports members 7. The height ofthesupport members 7 in relation to the total thickness of the lower layer 2 may be 25% -75 %, more preferably 30-60% of the total thickness of the lower layer 2.

Figs. 3-6 shows one preferred embodiment of the support members 7 where the supportmembers have a square configuration (grooves meet at 90° angles), however the support members can have any suitable shape such as oval, circular etc.

The support members 7 may for example have the shape of members separated by grooves8 in a criss-cross pattern as seen in Figs 4-6. The grooves 8 may have a depth which is 25 %to 75 %, more preferably 30-60%, ofthe thickness of the lower layer 2. The grooves 8 mayfor example have a depth of for example 4-6 mm. The grooves 8 may have a width of 3-8mm, preferably 4-6 mm. The walls 9 of the grooves may be slanted as shown in Figs 4-6,such that the profile of the grooves 8 is conical. The grooves 8 may have a flat or a pointed top 10 (where a pointed top is shown in Figs 4-6).

The lower layer 2 is preferably provided with trough holes or apertures, hereafter referredto as apertures 11. The apertures 11 go from the lower side 6 of the lower layer 2 to theupper surface 13 of the lower layer 2. Apertures 11 are preferably perpendicular to theupper surface 13. The apertures 11 may have diameter of from 4-7 mm and may be spacedfor example 10-20 mm (c/c), preferably 13-18 mm apart. The shortest distance between theholes may be 6-10 mm. The apertures 11 may be placed in the centre of the support mem- bers 7, as shown in Figs 4-6.

Figs. 7 and 8 show how the floor 100 behaves upon receiving an oblique shock (Fig 7) or atranslational shock (fig 8). The arrows indicate the direction of impact on the upper surface5 of the floor 100. Figs 7 and 8 show one example of how support members 7 with holes 11 behave on impact.

The hardness of the lower layer 2 is preferably from 40 Shore A to 80 Shore A. The lowerlayer 2 may be made from rubber or other suitable elastomer. The elastomer may be apolymer. Suitable elastomers for the lower layer include various rubber materials for exam-ple: styrene butyric rubber, butyric rubber, isoprene rubber, butylic rubber, eten propenrubber, nitrilic butadiene rubber, chloroprene rubber, polyurethane rubber, acryl eten rub- ber and propene oxide rubber.

The tiles 14 may be designed to be locked to each other, but this is not necessary since theupper layer 1 protects them. Upper surface 13 of lower layer 2 does not have provide no slip or evenness.

The floor 100, in particular the lower layer 2, is preferably not permanently attached to thebase floor 3, so that the tiles 14 can be moved when necessary. Tiles may be non-perma-nently attached to the base floor 3 with some kind of attachment means such as screws, hooks or similar that makes it easy to reconfigure the floor 100.

The floor 100 is preferably resistance against residual indentation as provided in ISO 24343.The floor 100 should preferably fulfil standards for sound isolation and fi reproofness.

With reference to Figs 1, 2 and 9 the lower layer 2 is preferably provided as tiles 14 whichmay have any suitable shape for example, quadratic or rectangular. The area of the basefloor 3 which is covered by sheet 15 is larger than the area covered by each of the tiles 14.Hence, for a sheet 15 a number of tiles 14 is used to cover the same area. However, this isnot necessary and various embodiment the upper layer 1 and the lower layer 2 are provided in any suitable size.

Fig. 9 shows example of a sheet 15 intended to cover the same area as twelve tiles 14.Preferably the area covered by the sheet 15 is at least twice, more preferably at least four times and even more preferably at least 10 times the area covered a tile 14. ln one embodiment the sheet 15 has a predetermined width w1 and the width w2 or lengthof a tile 14 is the width ofthe sheet divided by a whole number which is 2 or larger (2, 3, 4,5, 6.....). ln Fig. 9 the ti|es 14 are quadratic with a width w2 which is a third of the width w1of the sheet. The width w2 of the ti|es may be for example 30 cm - 100 cm where 40-60 cm is preferred.

A flooring system may comprise ti|es 14a, 14b with different hardness for the lower layer 2.Preferably the system comprises ti|es 14a,14b with at least two different degrees of ha rd-ness. For example, the flooring system may comprise ti|es 14 with a hardness of Shore 50and shore 80; or shore 40 and shore 70; or shore 40, 60 and 80. This makes it easy to con- figure floor 100 such that it has zones with some harder areas and some softer areas. ln one embodiment at least two different hardness ti|es 14 are used. For example the harderti|es 14a (grey color in Fig. 10) are used to form a track for a hospital bed, whereas softer ti|es 14b are used for the other parts of the floor 100. lt is preferred that the upper layer 1 is not permanently attached to the lower layer 15, andit is preferred that the floor 100 in particular the lower layer 2 is not permanently attached to the base floor. This makes it easy to reconfigure the floor 100.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing a method. ln step 200 there is provided an upper layer 1 anda lower layer 2. The upper layer 1 is provided as a sheet 15, and the lower layer 2 is providedas a plurality of ti|es 14, where the floor-covering area of the sheet 15 is larger than thefloor-covering area of each of the ti|es 14. ln step 201 the ti|es 14 are placed on the basefloor 3. ln one embodiment ti|es 14 with at least two different degrees of hardness is placedon the base floor 3. ln step 203, the sheet 15 is placed on top of the ti|es 14 so that the ti|es 14 are covered by the sheet 14.

EXAl\/IPLE 1 A material with the design of Figs 4-6 was formed from natural rubber with various degrees of hardness. The hardness was measured using Shore A methodology. The results are shown in Table 1.Shore A value Standard deviation Sample 1 Sh40 +/- 2-3%Sample 2 Sh50 +/- 2-3%Sample 3 Sh60 +/- 2-3%Sample 4 Sh70 +/- 2-3% Table 1 EXAMPLE 2 A material wasformed by using the material from Example 1 covered by 2 mm vinyl flooring.The impact energy/acceleration was measured using a 3.9 kg dummy head that was allowedto fall 55 cm on a surface covered by the material with 50 Shore or a naked surface without the material. The impact was reduced with 55 % compared to no dampening material.

EXAl\/l PLE 3 A 6.5 kg steel body was allowed to fall onto the 50 Shore A material from 60cm. The energy was reduced with 30% compared to control.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments,the description is in general only intended to illustrate the inventive concept and should notbe taken as limiting the scope of the invention. The invention is generally defined by the claims.

Claims (13)

1. A flooring system configured for providing a floor to be installed on a base floor, theflooring system comprising an upper layer and a lower layer that are not perma-nently attached to each other, where the underside ofthe lower layer has a pluralityof deformable support members configured to be in contact with the base floor, andto be deformed when a load is placed on the upper surface of the floor, and wherethe upper layer is provided as a sheet and the lower layer is provided as tiles, where the floor-covering area ofthe sheet is larger than the floor-covering area ofthe tiles.

2. The flooring system of claim 1 comprising tiles with at least two different degrees of hardness.

3. The flooring system of claim 1 or 2 where the floor-covering area of the sheet is at least twice the floor-covering area of the tiles.

4. The flooring system of any of claims 1 to 3 where the hardness ofthe lower layer is from 40 Shore A to 80 Shore A.

5. The flooring system of any one of claims 1 to 4 where the support members has apertures from the upper side to the lower side of the lower layer.

6. The flooring system of any one of claims 1 to 5 where the support members are separated by grooves, said grooves having a conical transverse profile.

7. The flooring system of any one of claims 1 to 6 where the tiles are not permanently attached to the base floor.

8. A method of providing a floor on a base floor comprising the steps of a) providing an upper layer and a lower layer, and where the underside of the lowerlayer has a plurality of deformable support members configured to be in contactwith the base floor, and to be deformed when a load is placed on the upper surfaceof the floor, and where the upper layer is provided as a sheet, and the lower layer isprovided as tiles, where the floor-covering area of the sheet is larger than the floor-covering area of the tiles, placing tiles on at least a part to the base floor, placing the sheet so that it covers the tiles.

9. The method of claim 8 where tiles with at least two different hardnesses is placed on the base floor.

10. The method of claim 8 or 9 where the upper layer and lower layer are not perma- nently attached to the lower layer.

11. 1. The method of any one of claims 8-10 where the floor is not permanently attached to the base floor.

12. A floor comprising an upper layer and a lower layer where the upper layer is config-ured to receive and distribute a load, and where the underside of the lower layerhas a plurality of deformable support members configured to be in contact with abase floor, and to be deformed when a load is placed on the upper surface of thefloor, where the hardness ofthe lower layer is from 40 Shore A to 80 Shore A, wherethe support members has apertures from the upper side to the lower side of the lower layer.

13. The flooring system of claim 12 where the support members are separated by grooves, said grooves having a conical transverse profile.