CZ200959A3 - Removable and tilting side-board with monolithic panel for hospital bed frame and process for producing such monolithic side-board panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The removable and tilted siderail (20) for the hospital bed frame (100) consists of at least one molded monolithic panel (210) of thermoplastic material with an attachment portion for attachment to the end member (30) of the bed frame (100). This attachment portion has a respective plastic material insert (230) on each side (215, 216) provided with a cavity (232) for at least one of the two cells (231a, 231b), while the frame end (30) (1) ) comprises crossbars (300a, 300b) supporting the sidewall (20), between which a panel connection portion (210) is provided. In the manufacturing process, the monolithic panel (210) of the siderail (20) is produced by a thermoplastic blow molding technology or a rotary molding technique.

Description

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The removable and tiltable siderail (20) for the hospital bed frame (100) consists of at least one molded monolithic panel (210) of thermoplastic material with a connection portion for connection to an end element (30) of the bed frame (100). the attachment portion has on each side (215,216) a respective plastic insert (230) having a cavity (232) on at least one of the two faces (231a, 231b), while the end member (30) of the frame (100) of the bed (1) comprises crossbars (300a, 300b) supporting the sidewall (20) between which a connecting portion of the panel (20) is provided. In the manufacturing method, the monolithic panel (210) of the sidepiece (20) is manufactured by blow molding of thermoplastic material or by rotary molding.

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Removable and tilt siderails with monolithic panel for hospital bed frame and method of manufacturing monolithic siderail panel

Technical field

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a removable folding side panel for a central frame of a hospital bed with an articulated support surface, and to a method of making the side panel for furniture in a public space, particularly in a hospital environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, applicable in the field of technical furniture for the hospital sector, namely in hospitals, clinics and treatment institutions, in the long-term and retirement homes, but also in other areas where equipment is necessary a bed that is comfortable and at the same time serves to treat a patient who spends a longer time on the bed, and which also has the characteristics necessary to achieve a high level of hygiene and modularity.

Traditional hospital beds are well known. Generally, the bed consists of a rigid central frame, mostly of metal to which the siderails are attached, also known at the ends as a headrest and a footrest, cf. for example EP 1 871 985 (Burmeier). Almost all of the beds currently available must meet the technical parameters because they must allow a wide range of patient positions, as mentioned above, that is, they must meet specific hospital standards and requirements. For example, the beds must be of the articulated frame type of the base surface, which is usually made of several parts and hinges connected to the central frame. SE449301 (Bergling) describes a logical solution of a bed base with several sections and joints, each section consisting of a plate which is movable by means of a joint system. Similarly, US4674140 (Boonants et al.) Proposes a segmented treasure surface of a bed consisting of several sections and joints. In order to allow some therapeutic positions of the patient, the articulated support surface frame essentially allows the support surface to be changed from an initially flat configuration to an optionally modified configuration with raised and / or inclined sections.

It is also well known that the bed may be constructed differently to allow movement of the frame of the articulated bed base on which the patient support mattress lies, for example from an initially planar position to a position at a different height * · φ

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By raising one end relative to the other or alternatively both ends according to the patient's needs and the type of treatment undergoing US2006168729 (Weismiller et al.) to which the upper frame of the articulated bed base surface is connected, connected to the articulated foundation structure or the lower base frame formed of a plurality of arms arranged, for example, in the form of a parallelogram articulated to the base, allowing the central frame to move.

The middle frame of a bed usually consists of two parallel brackets, at whose two ends, the front and rear, the end element of the middle frame is connected perpendicularly, see for example www.favero.it. The end member of the central frame consists essentially of an iron or aluminum panel, which comprises a cross member and two end perpendicular segments, into whose receiving seats the corresponding ends of the brackets are inserted. At the end element and at the two ends there are further upwardly open goblet saddles, essentially two on each side, at least one of which serves to fasten and support the perpendicularly arranged siderail, while the other serves to fasten the accessories normally equipped with a hospital bed. , such as an infusion column.

US2006162079 (Menkedick) discloses a hospital bed in which a removable siderail consists of a monolithic panel provided along its lower edge with two end pins which are inserted into two corresponding seats on the end element of the base.

U.S. Pat. they can be opened like doors.

In US3893197 (Ricke) a removable siderail is proposed which consists of a panel with two struts along the sides with respect to which they are adjustable. These struts are inserted into cup-shaped seats located on the sides of the bed frame brackets.

GB2252237 (Farrel) proposes a removable siderail, consisting of a metal frame provided with small crossbeams, which at its bottom includes two pins with a rounded surface which are inserted into corresponding seats on the inner faces, at the ends of the two brackets. The interior of the seats is provided with a tooth against which the rounded surface of the pins rests. Partial extension of the siderail, allowing cleaning between the saddle teeth and

φ ·

-3 • · φ φ φφφφ the rounded surface of the studs, may cause the siderail to tilt towards the inside of the bed by the operator.

EP0657155 (Borders et al.) Discloses an additional attachment system for a bed. The receptacle comprises a frame structure with a transverse end element at the ends comprising two associated apertures at these ends. The outer are intended to accommodate accessories, such as an infusion pillar, the inner have a sleeve or insert of a conical-shaped plastic material, each with a respective sider panel pin located at both ends of the lower edge. Partial removal of the siderail from the corresponding dowel seats can cause the siderail to tilt both inside and out of the bed,

In the literature, an article by Polymer processing and structure development by N. Wilkinson and A. Ryan, published by Kluwer, describes the technology of blow molding thermoplastic products. In principle, a wide variety of polymers are used, such as HDPE, PET, U-PVC and PP. In practice, the following steps are needed:

- a tubular blank formed by extrusion or injection molding;

the temperature-controlled semi-finished product is transferred to a temperature-controlled mold;

the blank is, if necessary, sealed and inflated to follow the shape of the mold;

- for forming, internal pressure is required until the product solidifies;

the pressure is then released and the mold opened to remove the final product.

This blow molding technology comes from the glass bottle manufacturing process and is now widely used for the production of plastic bottles, cartridges in general, and also in the automotive sector.

Therefore, it can be considered as standard that hospital beds include:

- rigid frame with side panels attached at each end;

- a frame of the articulated bed base with several sections and hinges attached to the central frame;

a frame of a subdivided bed base with several sections and hinges attached to the central frame, with a substructure, a base or a base frame articulated at the bottom to the central frame;

- removable siderail consisting of a panel, metal or thermoformed material with a lower edge made as an extension of the hips, two joints with a pin inserted in • · *

- the corresponding seats formed on the frame of the sub-base or on the center frame or on the base;

- a middle frame end element with two seats on each side for accommodating siderail pins or other accessories;

- Inflatable forming technology used mainly for the production of plastic bottles, containers and in general in the automotive sector.

In general, according to the applicant, there are drawbacks to the solutions used so far. In particular, these disadvantages relate to the most commonly used solutions and are that the operator has objective difficulties in positioning and removing the siderail, especially in crisis situations where it is necessary to remove the siderail quickly or simply to facilitate compression, and also to relocate the siderail. For this reason, it is obvious that such difficulties usually occur when reinserting the siderail, since it is first of all necessary to determine the position of the holes for insertion of the connecting pins, then arrange the pins to align with the holes from above or at an angle and on the side.

There are also difficulties in removing the siderail, since the tolerance of the saddle-pin connection should be minimal. In addition, it is necessary to apply more force than normal under these conditions. Conversely, greater tolerances could cause siderail instability.

The presence of protruding pins on the lower edge of conventional sidewalls results in this product not being well suited for this sector, since improper handling could cause injury to the patient or operator and therefore does not have sufficiently secure edges as would normally be the case.

From a manufacturing point of view, it is obvious that the siderail of the known type is quite heavy, also because it normally contains metal parts that are used to increase stiffness in conventional manufacturing technologies. In addition, it is not possible to obtain a satisfactory surface or feel of optimum quality with the products formed by traditional molding technologies, i.e. conventional processes and injection molding or rotary molding. Using conventional sidewall manufacturing processes, there may be situations where a small investment cost is needed for the process, but there is a large production cost per product, such as with thermoforming, or a large investment cost is required but low production cost per product, as in the case of injection molding. Finally, not too high investment costs, but definitely higher production costs are associated with • · • ··

Therefore, according to the applicant, the production methods mentioned do not bring a balanced relationship between the investment costs and the cost of the finished product.

Therefore, there is a need to find innovative solutions that are qualitatively better than existing solutions.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This and other objects are solved by the invention, the features of which are described in the appended claims, and are solved by means of a removable and tiltable siderail with a monolithic panel for a hospital bed frame and a method for manufacturing a monolithic siderail panel.

1) a molded monolithic panel made of plastic material by blow molding technology and provided with handles at the top of the panel and including in the lower part a connection portion for connection to the end element of the bed base surface frame;

2) said connecting portion comprising on each side two pins extending perpendicularly to the side of the panel,

3) said perpendicular pins are inserted into corresponding sleeve inserts, which are also of plastic material, with a cavity on at least one of the two faces;

and the end member of the bed base frame frame includes two associated sidebars that support the panel connecting portion, each crossbeam having a vertical U-shaped seat that is open towards the panel connecting portion and into which the respective siderail is clipped down .

In this way, thanks to the considerable creative input that results in immediate technical benefits, various objectives and benefits are achieved.

The first objective is to facilitate and accelerate the removal and reinsertion of the siderail. The presence of the inserts on the sides of the connecting part greatly facilitates and speeds up the alignment process with the U seats of the end frame element of the bed base, the insertion being particularly accelerated. Also, the removal from the saddles is much smoother and better controlled.

The second objective relates to the fact that the siderail can easily be tilted outward from the legs of the bed and from the sides of the bed. This process can be accomplished easily and quickly by simply pulling the siderail from the seats of the end member of the frame, pulling the siderail to tilt at an angle of 45 °. This character is very

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-6 useful because it makes it possible to make a bed without disturbing the patient. In addition, this objective is not described in GB2252237 (Farrel) and EP0657155 (Borders et al.), Where only unstable and inaccurate tilt of the siderail is possible.

A third object relates to the limitation of protruding metal parts, such as in this case and in previous solutions, pins for anchoring to the frame, which in the present solution project along the lower edge of the siderail. In the solution according to the invention, the single metal parts are introduced inside the seat inserts of the frame end element so that they are no longer a difficulty in handling the siderail and thus greater safety is ensured.

A number of objectives are also achieved from a qualitative point of view. In particular, blow molding technology makes it possible to produce a product, the sidebar, which, both visually and to the touch, acts as a solid product and thus has a better appearance and is more pleasant to touch when handled because there are no protruding edges and generally rounded shape, which increases safety and reduces the risk of accidental impact.

In addition, there is a further objective related to the manufacturing process: since manufacturing is based on infusion molding technology, it is possible to ensure that the cost of the product is as low as injection molding but, unlike this conventional technology, also low in terms of investment cost. .

These and other advantages allowing the manufacture of a technologically advanced product will be further apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, the details being not binding, but merely illustrative.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is an overall oblique view of the siderail in a state as commonly used attached to a hospital bed frame; Fig. 2 is an overall oblique view of the sidewall of Fig. 1, but in an inclined position; Fig. 3 is a front view of the side walls of the preceding figures; Fig. 4 is an oblique view of the siderail at the stage of attachment to the hospital bed frame; Fig. 5 is a view of an end element of a hospital bed frame; Fig. 6 is an overall plan view of the siderail itself.

Description of an exemplary embodiment

With reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be appreciated that the hospital bed 1, particularly for the hospital sector, comprises a base surface 10 of the bed 1 to support the mattress on which the patient is lying (Fig. 1). The hospital bed 1 essentially comprises a frame 100 (FIG. 1) with an end element 30 of the frame 100 disposed at least at one end thereof and supporting a respective sidepiece 20 with head or foot functions. The support surface 10, which may consist of a single section or may be segmented, i.e. consisting of several sections of different sizes and several joints, is attached to the frame 10.

The end member 30 of the frame 100 includes two different end cross members 300a. 300b (FIG. 5) aligned and extending perpendicular to the brackets of the frame 100, each supporting at the first end 301 a damping wheel 40 located below. An end member 30 is attached to the side 100, if necessary, by means of a connecting profile 31. The second end 302, opposite to the first end 301 of each end cross member 300a, 300b, is a straight and vertical seat 303 whose cross section is substantially U-shaped and has a closed bottom 305.

The end member 30 of the frame 100 is intended to support the sidepiece 20. Specifically, the sidepiece 20 (FIG. 3) consists of three elements, panel 210, pins 220 and sleeve inserts 230. Panel 210 is molded, made by blow molding of thermoplastic material and monolithic. Alternatively, the same panel 210 may be formed by rotary molding technology. The higher portion of the panel 210 is designed to include three side-by-side openings as a handle for ease of handling, openings 211,212 are disposed on the sides, and a third opening 213 is intermediate between the openings 211 and 212. The lower portion of panel 210 includes a hinged portion defined by the lower edge 214 and two sides, the right side 215 and the left side 216, which are substantially vertical and perpendicular to the lower horizontal edge 214 that is attached to the top of the panel 210. Cylindrical pins 220 project from the right side 215 and the left side 216. perpendicular, rectilinear, parallel to each other and spaced apart, two on each side (215,216), each pair being rigidly housed in a respective insert 230. Each insert 230 is a monolithic panel of plastic material, with two faces 231a, 231b, of which the first face 231a is facing out of the bed and the second face 231b is facing the bed. Specifically (see FIG. 6), at least at the face 231a, a cavity 231 is formed, the periphery of which is defined by a C-shaped edge which encloses it on three sides, edges 233 and 235, shaped and parallel to form a lead-in surface. The third edge 234 is formed on the side of the joint with the sidepiece 20, is vertical and connects the other two edges to each other.

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The sidepiece 20 is connected to the end element 30 of the frame 100 from top to bottom (FIG.

4), wherein the two inserts 230 are aligned in the horizontal and vertical planes relative to the corresponding vertical seats 303 of each end cross member 300a, 300b. By applying light pressure to the siderail from top to bottom, the inserts 230 are inserted into the vertical seats 303 (FIG. 1). In this state A (FIG. 1), the siderail 20 is stably and substantially perpendicular to the frame 100 of the bed 1. To reverse the siderail 20, it is sufficient to perform the opposite procedure.

In state B of FIG. 2, the siderail 20 is shown in a position tilted outward to the operator side. To put this in position, the siderail 20 must first be lifted slightly vertically and then, when at least at the height of the inlet edge 235 of each saddle 232 of the two inserts 230, the operator has to pull it towards each other. (FIG. 1), which defines the vertical seats 303 of the end cross member 300a, 300b abutting the seat 232. In this state, the siderail 20 remains temporarily inclined until the operator restores it to its original state A.

List of reference marks

1 hospital bed 210 panel 10 bed base area 230 inserts 100 ALIGN! middle frame 211,212, 213 holes 20 May siderails 214 lower edge 30 end element 215,216 parties 31 connecting element 220 cylindrical pins 300a, 300b end cross member 231a, 231b cell 301 first end 232 cavity 40 damping wheel 233, 235 input edges 302 the other end 234 vertical edge 303 saddle with U-shaped cut

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Claims (5)

PATENT CLAIMS Removable and tiltable siderail for a hospital bed frame (100), characterized in that the siderail (20) consists of at least one molded monolithic panel (210) of thermoplastic material with a connection portion for connection to an end member (30) a frame (100) of the bed (1), the connecting portion having on each side (215, 216) a respective plastic insert (230) provided with a cavity (232) on at least one of the two faces (231a, 231b), while the element (30) of the frame (100) of the bed (1) comprises cross members (300a, 300b) supporting the sidewall (20) between which a connecting portion of the panel (210) is secured. A removable and tiltable siderail for a hospital bed frame (100) according to claim 1, wherein the lower portion of the panel (210) is provided with an attachment portion defined by a lower edge (214) and a right side (215). and a left side (216) of which perpendicular pins (220) attached to the corresponding insert (230); the insert (230) comprises two faces (231a, 231b) in which, at least in the outwardly facing face (231a), a cavity (232) is formed which is circumferentially defined by a C-shaped edge such that the cavity is closed from three The edge (233,235) is parallel to the leading edge and the third edge (234) is vertical and connects the leading edge (233,235) to each other. A removable and tiltable siderail for a hospital bed frame (1) according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the end element (30) is connected to the frame (100) and comprises two different end cross members (300a, 300b) which they are mutually associated and arranged perpendicular to the brackets of the frame (100), each having at the other end (302) opposite to the first end (301) of each end cross member (300a, 300b) a rectilinear vertical seat (303) whose cross section has substantially U-shaped, closed by the bottom (305) and open towards the attachment portion of the monolithic panel (210). Method for producing a monolithic panel (210) of the sill (20) according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it is produced by blow molding a thermoplastic material. Method for producing a monolithic panel (210) of the sill (20) according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it is produced by a rotary forming technology.