Floor panels comprising a tile attached to a carrier

Abstract

A set of floor panels includes a first panel and a second panel comprising a ceramic tile attached to a carrier by an adhesive coating. A first and a second edge portion of the first and second panels comprise a locking groove and a strip provided with a locking element configured to cooperate with each other for horizontal locking of the first and second edge portions. The first and second edge portions further comprise a tongue and a tongue groove configured to cooperate with each other for vertical locking of the first and second edge portions. A rear side of the tile or an upper side of the carrier comprises a protruding member.

1 . A set of floor panels comprising a first panel and a second panel, each panel comprising a tile and a carrier, the tile being a rectangular or a square ceramic tile and the carrier comprising a thermoplastic material,
 wherein the tile is attached to the carrier by an adhesive coating arranged between an upper side of the carrier and a rear side of the tile,   wherein a first and a second edge portion of the first and second panels comprise a locking groove and a strip provided with a locking element, the locking groove and the locking element being configured to cooperate with each other for horizontal locking of the first and second edge portions,   wherein the first and second edge portions further comprise a tongue and a tongue groove, the tongue and the tongue groove being configured to cooperate with each other for vertical locking of the first and second edge portions,   wherein one of the rear side of the tile or the upper side of the carrier comprises a protruding member, the protruding member defining a plurality of cavities in the one of rear side of the tile or the upper side of the carrier, and wherein the adhesive coating is arranged at least on an end portion of the protruding member,   wherein the rear side and the upper side are non-complementary, such that the rear side and the upper side are spaced from each other at spacing portions, and   wherein there is a joint gap between the tiles of the first and second panels in a locked state of the panels, the gap being configured to be at least partially filled by a grout element.   
     
     
         2 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the protruding member extends along a peripheral portion of the one of the rear side of the tile or the upper side of the carrier. 
     
     
         3 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein an attachment area between the tile and the carrier via the protruding member is 10-50% of a total tile surface area. 
     
     
         4 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the adhesive coating is further at least partly arranged in the cavities. 
     
     
         5 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the cavities are horizontally enclosed, such that they are entirely surrounded by sidewalls of the protruding member. 
     
     
         6 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the cavities are open, and wherein the cavities are communicating to form a single overall recess. 
     
     
         7 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein an internal horizontal distance of the cavities of the tile and/or the carrier is in the range of 1-10 times a thickness of the tile. 
     
     
         8 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein a maximal depth of the cavities of the tile and/or the carrier is 3-50% of a thickness of the tile. 
     
     
         9 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the protruding member comprises only a single protruding element. 
     
     
         10 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the protruding member comprises a plurality of protruding elements. 
     
     
         11 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the rear side of the tile or the upper side of the carrier is essentially continuously planar. 
     
     
         12 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the rear side and the upper side are spaced from each other by a space at the spacing portions, which corresponds to 3-50% of a thickness of the tile. 
     
     
         13 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein a surface roughness of the tile and/or the carrier, expressed as an Ra value, ranges between 0.25 and 5 mm. 
     
     
         14 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the adhesive coating is arranged in a pattern. 
     
     
         15 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the adhesive coating is arranged along a peripheral portion and in an inner region of the rear side of the tile and/or of the upper side of the carrier, the inner region being spaced from the peripheral portion by a distance, which is at least 0.2 of a length of the tile extending along an edge section of the tile. 
     
     
         16 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the adhesive coating exceeds a rear side height variation of the tile. 
     
     
         17 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the carrier of the first and second panels comprises a first carrier layer and a second carrier layer arranged on the first carrier layer, a thermoplastic material of the first carrier layer comprising a plasticizer to a degree of at least 5 wt % and a thermoplastic material of the second carrier layer comprising less than 3 wt % of a plasticizer. 
     
     
         18 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein upper portions of the carriers of the first and second panels are configured to cooperate with each other in the locked state of the panels, the tile and/or the carrier of the first and/or the second panel comprising a sidewardly open recess. 
     
     
         19 . The set according to  claim 1 , wherein the joint gap between the tiles of the first and second panels in the locked state of the panels does not exceed 2 mm.