WO2021145846A1

WO2021145846A1 - Air mattress with controllable cell pressure

Info

Publication number: WO2021145846A1
Application number: PCT/TR2021/050026
Authority: WO
Inventors: Omer Faruk BICER; Ufuk Veysel DEDEOĞLU
Original assignee: Bicer Omer Faruk; Dedeoglu Ufuk Veysel
Priority date: 2020-01-17
Filing date: 2021-01-15
Publication date: 2021-07-22

Abstract

The present invention is related to an air mattress comprising a large number of air cells, where said cells can be actively controlled. The primary purpose of the invention is that the whole body can be supported by the air mattress (1) with the same pressure value. Thereby the different amount of loads being exerted on different areas of the mattress by a person lying there-on due to the curves of the body will be prevented. The reason why even healthy people cannot settle in bed is that some of the concave curves do not contact the mattress surface, and the convexly curved body lines are crushed more by the mattress as most mattresses are not fully ergonomic.

Description

AIR MATTRESS WITH CONTROLLABLE CELL PRESSURE

Technical Field The present invention is related to an air mattress comprising a large number of air cells, where said cells can be actively controlled.

Prior Art

Air mattresses are preferred since they do not have sponges and springs and can be stored without taking up space. Such mattresses are generally made suitable for use by filling them with a small number of air cells. All cells swell in proportion to the amount of air pressed in them and these cells support the weight of the person lying thereon. Except for specially developed mattresses, the air pressure of all air mattresses cannot be changed later. In mattresses produced for special purposes, the air pressure of the cells can be controlled in order to adjust the hardness and height desired by the user. Such mattresses are often used in the health sector to increase the comfort of patients.

The patent application numbered EP3329892A1 can be examined as an example of an air mattress used in the health sector. In said application, the load of the user is carried on a large number of compressed air using the air cells that support the user transversely. For the cells to support the ergonomic lying of the person beneath the hip area while lying on their side and the butt area when lying on his/her back, the cells should be at a lower level than other regions. Thereby, with the effect of low pressure, the air cells remain flat and they contact the whole body from every point, providing equal and ergonomic support.

Another example is included in the Korean patent application numbered KR20130061468A. The height of the air cells described in this invention is adjusted by the different physical dimensions of the cells. Air cells, which can support the curved structure of the hip and legs if the user sits, are inflated under equal pressure with the air received from a single source. Mattresses and seats whose shape can be adjusted by means of either pressure adjustment or physically limited inflation height in order to be compatible with the ergonomics of the user, are included in the prior art.

Another patent application known in the art is the Japanese patent application numbered JP2014018670A. In this invention, in order to provide ergonomics, heights and lowness of certain areas can be achieved by controlling separately the common pressure values of the cells having different numbers and distributions.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The air mattress of the invention is shown in the attached figures in order to understand the subject better. These figures are as follows;

Figure 1 - Is the schematic perspective view of the air mattress of the invention in its completely inflated state.

Figure 2 - Is the schematic perspective view of the air mattress of the invention with an example cell.

The components of the air mattress in the figures are numbered and the descriptions of these numbers are given below.

1. Air mattress

2. Cell

3. Pressure path

4. Exhaust path

5. Exhaust outlet

6. Compressor / Compressors

7. Control unit

8. Valve

9. Pressure receiver /Pressure sensor

10. Compressor path /Compressor paths Air mattress (1), in its most basic form, comprises multiple air cells (1), pressure path (3), one for each air cell (2), exhaust path (4), exhaust outlet (5), pressure receiver (9) and a valve (8) and one or more compressors (6) and a control unit.

By adjusting the pressure of the air cells (2) in the air mattress (1), the amount of support to be applied against the person lying on the mattress can be adjusted. If the air is not included in the cells (2), the cells, hence the air mattress (1) will not be able to rise from the floor at all, and it will transfer the full effect of the floor to the person. If the pressure is too high, it will be hard as it will not lose its form while supporting the weight of the person lying thereon.

If the air cells (2) are not filled with air and a partial space is found, the cells (2) will be affected by the movements of the person and they will be squeezed and will not be able to protect their form.

The amount of air to be pumped into the air cells (2) is controlled by the pressure receiver (9) inside the cell (2). While each cell (2) does not have any load, it is inflated to a certain pressure value. This value may vary according to the pressure value of the environment where the air mattress (1) is located and according to the user demands (such as hard-soft). In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a person who likes a hard mattress can bring each cell (2) of the air mattress (1) to a pressure value of 0.85- 0.95 atm in an environment at 15 degrees air temperature at sea level. A person who likes a soft mattress can bring the cells (2) to a pressure value of 0.75-0.85 atm in the same environment. These values can be used as predefined or actively changed according to the user's demands or changing environmental conditions.

In proportion to the flexibility of the material forming the walls of the cells (2), each cell (2) will be able to give a certain hardness feeling to its user as a reaction when pressed thereon. For this purpose, preferably the cells (2) will be produced from a material that is airtight from the inside and highly flexible, and will be covered with a less flexible fabric covering that protects its form from the outside. In this way, the flexible material expanding until the fabric boundaries will counterbalance the loads received by the cell (2) by pushing the other walls out by taking advantage of the fabric being less flexible.

The inflation of each cell (2) to a certain pressure value during the first installation, while there is no load on it, will be provided by the control unit (7) that drives the compressor (6) and the valve (8). Since the cells (2) are not connected, the inflation process for each cell (2) reaching the relevant pressure value will be interrupted by either closing/changing the direction of the valve (8). Meanwhile, if the compressor

(6) is connected to the relevant cell (2) via the valve (8) to inflate a single cell (2), the operation of the compressor (6) will also be stopped. If a compressor (6) feeds more than one cell (2) at the same time, it will be located behind the valve (8) of each cell

(2) so that the pressure value of each can be managed separately.

After closing the valve (8) of a cell (2) that has reached the relevant pressure value, the compressed air supplied by the compressor (6) to inflate another cell (2) sequentially, will be delivered to the other valves (8) through the compressor path (10). The control of the inflation of the cells (2) sequentially or all at the same time will be carried out by means of the control unit (7). Similarly, if there are more than one compressors (6) and more than one compressor path (10), inflation of all cells at the same time or inflation of only one of the cells connected to each compressor (6) can also be managed by the control unit (7).

After the valve (8), the compressed air is delivered to the air cell via the pressure path

(3). In order to control the pressure of each cell (2) separately, the cell shall not only comprise a separate valve (8) and a pressure receiver (9) but it will also comprise as a separate pressure path (3). The length of the pressure path (3) is proportional to the distance to the valve (8). All pressure paths (3) may be formed from pipes drawn between the valve (8) and the cell (2), or may be produced through channels that allow air passage while bonding a double-layered nylon layer to each other.

The air pressure will be at the same values by the cell (2) and the valve (8), by means of the pressure path (3). For this reason, a pressure receiver (9) can be placed inside the cells (2) to sense the pressure value of each cell (2), as well as a pressure receiver (9) that reads the pressure value of the cell (2) that can be located on the valve (8) side. This pressure receiver (9) can be made in an integrated structure with the valve (8). Thus, the electrical connections of the valves (8) controlled by the control unit (7) can transmit the information regarding the pressure value of the cells (2) to the control unit

(7).

The valves (8) enable the compressor (6) to deliver a sufficient amount of pressure to the cells (2) during inflation as disclosed above. In addition, the valves (8) also ensure that the pressure of the cells (2) is reduced in accordance with the body structure of the person lying thereon The reason for this is that the person lying on his/her side, back, or face down should lie such as to be supported by naturally curved body lines. Thereby, the body can be supported ergonomically and by applying equal pressure to the whole body, the formation of the so-called bedsores will be prevented.

Pressure reduction does not require the determination of the person’s lying pattern with accessories such as cameras. Instead of this, since the entire weight of the person currently using the mattress will be carried by the air cells (2) and as the pressure value of each cell (2) will increase in different amounts, the person’s lying pattern can be determined by the increasing pressure values of the cells (2) and the positions of the cells (2). Even the total weight of the person on the mattress can be measured through the increase of the total amount of pressure exerted on the cells (2).

The primary purpose of the invention is that the whole body of the person lying can be carried by the air mattress (1) with the same pressure value. Thereby the different amount of loads being exerted on different areas of a mattress by a person lying there on due to the curves of the body will be prevented. The reason why even healthy people cannot settle in bed is that some of the concave curves do not contact the mattress surface, and the convexly curved body lines are crushed more by the mattress as most mattresses are not fully ergonomic.

By reducing the pressures of the cells (2) to a predefined value, the size of the cell (2) will be reduced and lowered by the pressure of the body curve thereon. As a result, its contact-pressure against the other cells (2) in the surrounding lines of the relevant body curvature will increase and the whole body will be in contact with the cells (2) in a vertical direction. Thus, the whole body weight of the person lying on an air mattress (1) can be equally supported by all the cells (2) with which it comes into contact.

For the air to be removed from the cells (2) to balance the pressure, the valves (8) will direct the air to the exhaust line (4) for discharging air. Exhaust outlets (5), which are the exit of the exhaust lines (4), are located next to the cells (2) in the preferred embodiment of the invention. As a result, while the air of the cell (2) decreases, this air will also provide air injection to the heaviest parts of the person lying down.

Another purpose of the air mattress (1) of the invention is that it can massage the body of the person lying thereon. Massaging basically provides acceleration of blood flow, cellular regeneration and body fatigue, and subsequent relaxation. By increasing and decreasing the pressure on each cell (2), it can impact the body locally, compress the skin and push the blood with a wave movement in a certain direction, or the blood can be mobilized locally with circular-spiral movements. For this purpose, the control unit (7) can regularly change the pressure of the cell (2) independently or in proportion to the weight exerted on each cell (2). During each pressure change, the air ejected by decreasing the pressure will also accelerate the air movements in the exhaust outlet (5) area.

By adjusting the direction of the valve (8), it is also possible for some cells to spray only the air coming from the compressor (6) to the person lying on the mattress from the exhaust outlet (5) instead of massaging. Similarly, before the massage function is started, the pressure of the cell (2) is kept constant and the air fed by the compressor (6) is delivered to the person lying down, via the valves (8), which will increase the feeling of coolness. As the cross-sectional area of the cells (2) of the air mattress (1) is reduced, the total number of cells on the mattress will increase. However, this increase will enable the mattress user to be supported at a higher comfort level. If desired, more cells (2) can be provided to the unit area, where body parts such as hips, waist, shoulders, and feet will be supported.

Claims

1. An air mattress (1), comprising the following, in order to keep the air pressure value constant regardless of the pressure exerted thereon; multiple air cells (2) filled with air at a certain pressure value, a pressure receiver (9) inside the cell (2), a compressor (6) by which the compressed air is produced, a valve (8) that directs the air received from the compressor (6) into the cell

(2); characterized by

-a control unit (7) that directs the air in the cell (2) via the valve (8) to the exhaust line (4) in order to reduce the size of the cell (2) and equalize the pressure value by transferring the load to the neighboring cells (2) if a load is exerted on the inflated cells (2).

2. An air mattress (1) according to Claim 1, characterized by an exhaust line (4) that creates air flow around the cell (2) by bringing the exhausted air that has been discharged by the compression of the cells (2), to the exhaust outlet (5) located next to the same cell (2).

3. An air mattress (1) according to any one of the Claims 1-2, characterized by a control unit (7) that massages by regularly changing the pressures of the cells (2) at a certain order so that the cells (2) that are in contact with the body of the person lying down, can provide effects such as impact or wave movement at a certain direction.