EP1762211B1 - Ventilation mattress - Google Patents

Abstract

The mattress has an upper layer (1) and a lower layer (3) made of viscous foam and polyether foam, respectively. A three-dimensional spacer fabric (4) is arranged between the upper layer and lower layer, and each of the upper and lower side of the fabric has a mesh (5). Spring distance threads (61) are aligned perpendicular to the meshes, and run between the meshes. Flange strips (2) made of foam material such as polyether foam and/or frigid foam are pasted on all four front sides over the entire height of the mattress. An independent claim is also included for a method for using a ventilation mattress.

Description

The invention relates to a ventilation mattress consisting of a top layer of viscose foam and a bottom layer of polyether foam between which a three-dimensional spacer fabric is arranged, the top and bottom of each consisting of a network between which approximately perpendicular to the nets aligned, resilient spacer Threads are lost.

Since the person spends about a third of his life sleeping, the mattress is a very long-discussed topic. Especially in the industrial society with its lack of physical activity and resulting sleep problems, the execution of the mattress has been given special meaning in the last hundred years. Until the beginning of the 20th century, straw, hay, horsehair, and other natural materials were fillers for textile bags used as a sleeping pad. With the increasing mechanization of the production of spiral springs made of metal, the production of mattresses in the form of a flat cuboid, which is slightly longer than a human high and occupies about twice the width of a man was common. These mattresses contained a lower layer of juxtaposed metal springs and layers arranged above them from the hitherto customary natural materials and were often produced because of their high weight instead of the ergonomically meaningful, one-piece construction of three juxtaposed elements. The gap between the elements reduces the comfort for the sleeping person.

In the mid-20th century, a major step in innovation came with the introduction of one-piece foam mattresses, consisting of a large number of adjacent air bubbles surrounded by a thin plastic skin are. Depending on the material and manufacturing process, an opening forms between adjacent bubbles when the plastic material hardens. As a result, the entire material is permeable to air and the total weight is lowered. Its air permeability enables the material to absorb moisture secreted by humans as air saturated with water vapor and / or fine mist and / or in minute droplets and to be released through the individual bubbles on other surfaces. These properties are characterized according to the prior art as moisture-absorbing, moisture-transporting, breathable and / or breathable.

Mattresses according to this prior art, however, do not affect the air flow and the air distribution, but leave it to the temperature profile produced by the sleeping human and the resulting air currents. In addition to their microstructure with numerous bubbles, mattresses that consist solely of foams do not provide a mechanism of action for the distribution of air and / or moisture.

The state of the art corresponds to the ergonomically favorable behavior of some foams. Thus, viscose foam is known to increase its elasticity when heated by humans, ie at temperatures in the range between about 30 and 40 degrees. As a result, he gives more in areas of increased pressure than in the adjacent areas, so it will reduce the contact pressure in these areas and thus increase the comfort of a person in a lateral position by yielding in the area of pelvis and shoulder.

As current state of the art describes DE 20 2004 004 701 a three-layered mattress in which between a top layer and a bottom layer of a foam material, a three-dimensional Abstandsgewirke is arranged, the top and bottom of each consists of a network between which are aligned approximately perpendicular to the networks, resilient spacer threads.

A thus constructed mattress with a top layer of viscose foam combines the above-described, ergonomic advantage of increasing elasticity by increasing temperature with improved air and moisture transport in the underlying spacer fabric together with the elastic effect of the lower layer of foam. The particularly high air permeability of the intermediate layer of three-dimensional spacer fabric improves the transport of air compared with a one-piece foam mattress.

Another advantage is the "pumping effect" known for a pitch-stable spacer fabric, which occurs when the spacer fabric is sandwiched between two layers that allow much less air flow than the spacer fabric itself. Then, as the sleeper moves, the spacer fabric becomes very strong in some zones much more compacted than in others and it moved according to the rolling movements of the people on the mattress surface air areas within the spacer knit. As a result, air at the edge of a three-layered mattress according to the invention continuously and come out. In this case, the moisture contained in warm air is transported into the outside air and cooled there, whereby a part of the moisture condenses. At the same time, cooler air is drawn in at another point on the mattress, which penetrates into the mattress, where it cools body areas that rest on or press into the mattress, which reduces the tendency to sweat in these areas of the body.

A major disadvantage, however, is that the air layer in the spacer fabric is exchanged directly with the outside air only. humidity and gases which secrete the person on top of the mattress upper layer, however, must first penetrate the upper layer to get into the air layer of the spacer knit.
So far, it is not described how such a mattress from a spacer fabric between two foam layers, the removal of gases and moisture through the upper layer is actively supported in the intermediate layer of spacer fabric.

The invention presents a solution to this problem and has set itself the task, generally in three-layer mattresses with a top layer of viscose foam, a sublayer of polyether foam and between a spacer knitted fabric to provide improvements in ventilation and moisture transport.

As a solution, the invention provides a mattress in which on each of the four end faces over the entire height of the mattress away an edge strip of foam is glued and each resulting material properties and material thickness, total air permeability of the upper layer is higher than the sum of the air permeability of all edge strips and the lower layer

The essential features of a mattress according to the invention are that it is glued all around with edge strips and that the resulting respectively material property and material thickness, total air permeability of the upper layer is higher than the sum of the air permeability of all edge strips and the lower layer together. Together with the pumping effect described above is achieved so that displaced by movements of the horizontal air volumes in the areas of overpressure through the upper layer to escape to the outside, possibly take along with him invading moisture, at the same time in the areas with negative pressure air from the vicinity of the Aspirate patients and thereby transport sweat and / or other secreted moisture away from the patient.

The decisive advantage is therefore that an air movement is generated by the lateral blocking of the air space in the spacer fabric by means of the edge strips and together with the movement of this air space through the person lying on the mattress, which not only runs parallel to the upper layer, but through the air layer goes.

A variant of a ventilation mattress according to the invention is the gluing of edge strips made of foam, which have a higher hardness than the upper layer and sink less strongly under load from humans than the central region of the mattress. As a result, they counteract the rolling down of the sleeping person from the mattress and serve as support when users sit on the edge of the mattress.

The advantages of the ventilation mattress described in the invention through improved ventilation are the greater, the further and the longer the intermediate layer of spacer fabric maintains a distance between the upper and lower mesh even under load. For this purpose, it is of crucial advantage if the spacer threads between the nets feather in themselves, that are reversible elastic, and are also attached to the nets stable against tipping. This effect can be achieved in that the spacer threads form at their two ends U-shaped, dimensionally stable loops, with which they are fixed in the nets, the other end of these loops merges into a concertina-like sequence in the next spacer thread. An enhancement of the tilt stability can be effected by the spacer threads being shaped similar to a circular arc segment.

As an alternative to or as a supplement to the spacer threads, the invention proposes metal springs and / or plastic springs, which are arranged between the nets. In order to prevent the spacer knitted fabric from collapsing under load, it is important that the spacer threads are fastened so as to be stable against tilting with respect to the nets. Of course, this requirement also applies to springs. Therefore, the invention proposes that at least a part of the springs be fastened at three points of a net. As a result, the transmission of a tilting moment between the network and spring is made possible and the spring thereby supports the stability of the spacer knit.

The invention proposes that at least the front sides and the top of the ventilation mattress are covered with a textile cover. As a result, the penetration of dirt into the mattress is difficult and reduces electrostatic charge of the foam. Particularly when used for incontinent patients, the invention recommends covering the top with a moisture-repellent, urine-resistant incontinence cover.

As an advantageous embodiment, the invention proposes to loosely apply the top layer on the spacer fabric or to attach via special fasteners such as Velcro, buttons, snaps, dovetailed formations or other fasteners releasably on spacer fabric and / or on the edge strips. Such a configuration offers advantages of being able to separately clean only the topsheet, as well as adapting the mattress to sleeper habits in terms of hardness and / or configurations recommended for the ill. In particular, to avoid bedsores, a skin ulcer caused by too long exposure to a particular skin area, an improvement can be achieved by the selection of a suitable viscose foam be achieved. It is also conceivable that the upper class is divided into different sections, which can be exchanged separately. In the interest of lying comfort, however, the individual components should then be detachably connected with each other; suitable fasteners have already been mentioned above.

However, another useful embodiment variant is also to glue the top layer to the spacer fabric and / or the edge strip and / or to sew it. The properties of such a ventilation mattress are then fixed, but the mattress is protected in unwilling or mentally disabled patients against disassembly.

Another user-friendly variant of a ventilation mattress is to provide openings in the underlayer which connect the space occupied by the spacer fabric to the outside air. In particular, when the upper layer consists of a comparatively strong layer which inhibits air transport through the upper layer, and optionally together with also slightly air-permeable edge strips, it may be very useful to introduce air channels in the lower layer, from the space of the spacer fabric out lead the outside air. In the simplest variant, pumping effects generated by the movements of the horizontal will force air volumes out of this space through the air ducts and / or into them.

This positive effect can be further enhanced by valve flaps in front of the openings. Since the mattress has a finite surface and since the movements of the lying generally do not differ depending on their direction, because therefore a right turn of the Lying about the same amount of air from the mattress pushes out, as it is sucked back into a subsequent left hand circulation and because the exit velocity is usually not so high that the air volumes are blown very far away from the mattress, it is a wise, further improvement to provide the openings with valves. These valves ensure that air flows in only one direction. If air would be sucked in at this location by an opposing body movement, it will be prevented by the valves, instead a vacuum will be replenished in some areas of the spacer fabric by other air supply lines. It is particularly useful, through the conception of the mattress, to support an air movement through the upper layer, because this results in improved ventilation of the sleeping person.

An additional extension according to the invention arises from the fact that the openings on the underside of the lower layer receive a coupling for connection to an air hose. Through this air hose, an external air supply can push air into the mattress, whereby the temperature of this air can be used for cooling or warming the sleeping person. It makes sense to provide a control option for the air pressure.

Alternatively, the air can be sucked out of the space occupied by the spacer fabric by the air hose. This is particularly useful in the clinical field when a patient removes increased amounts of moisture.

A further embodiment variant with a moisture-barrier film between the spacer knitted fabric and the backsheet is also particularly useful in the area of hospitals, retirement homes and similar institutions. It is recommended in another option, the film on the inner walls of any existing edge strips to lead upwards. This forms a tub that can absorb moisture. In incontinent patients, fluid may pass through the topsheet and the spacer fabric and be trapped in the tub. If the top layer and the spacer fabric have been laid loose, they can be removed to clean this tub. Advantage of this arrangement is that irritation of the skin of the patient by prolonged dwelling in a humid environment (so-called bedsores) is reduced or avoided.

In the case of patients in a fixed position, it may be a sensible variant to restrict the trough-shaped design of the foil to a specific region of the spacer knit. In particular, for patients with a very high volume of liquid discharges, it makes sense to form the moisture barrier film as a funnel. For this it is necessary that the upper side of the lower layer and the lower side of the spacer knit repeat this shape in a complementary manner. In the top of the lower layer of the funnel is thus formed as a recess and the spacer knitted fabric must have on its underside a complementary cone. As a functional completion of this arrangement, the invention proposes a drain pipe at the lowest point of the funnel.

Further details, features and advantages of the invention can be taken from the following description part, so that the invention is explained by way of examples. In no way, however, the invention is limited to these examples.

FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional view of a mattress according to the invention, in which the individual layers are cut at different locations. At the cut surfaces, the various embodiments of the invention are shown, wherein in the illustration different options are shown, which are meaningfully not combined with each other. The uppermost layer is the cover 7 or the incontinence cover 71. Below this follows the upper layer 1 made of viscose foam and as the next layer, the spacer knit 4. To recognize the upper network 5 of the two nets 5 is shown with a hexagonal shape. The spacer threads 61 extend between the nets. On the left in the picture they can be seen in a circular arc shape; right in the picture in another variant, in which the spacer threads 61 are each secured with a U-shaped, dimensionally stable loop 62 in the network 5, wherein the other end of each loop 62 merges into a concertina-like juxtaposition in the next spacer thread 61.

• Links zwei Metallfedern 63 zur Verbindung des oberen und des unteren Netzes 5, rechts Kunststofffedern 64.
• Unten in Figur 1 ist der Schnitt durch die Unterschicht 3 mit etlichen Ausführungsvarianten abgebildet, wobei zu wiederholen ist, dass nicht alle diese Ausführungsvarianten sinnvoller Weise so miteinander kombiniert werden sollten, wie sie in der Übersichtszeichnung enthalten sind.
• An der linken und der rechten Kante der Unterschicht 3 sind Öffnungen 31 zu erkennen, die den vom Abstandsgewirke beanspruchten Raum mit der Außenluft nach unten hin verbinden. Ganz links ist eine Öffnung 31 eingezeichnet, die mit einer Kupplung 33 an der Unterseite ausgestattet ist, woran ein Luftschlauch 34 angeschlossen ist.
• An der rechten Seite der Unterschicht sind zwei Öffnungen 31 durchschnitten, die mit einer Ventilklappe 32 versehen sind, von denen die linke Ventilklappe 32 im geschlossenen Zustand wiedergegeben ist, während die rechte Ventilklappe geöffnet ist; im gezeichneten Beispiel also nach unten hängt.
• In der Mitte ist ein Beispiel für die Ausführung eines Trichters 81 eingetragen. Die Form des Trichters 81 ist komplementär zu der Folie 8 in diesem Bereich sowie zur Unterseite des Abstandsgewirkes 4.

In the middle of the picture two other variants for the spacer are drawn:

• Left two metal springs 63 for connecting the upper and lower network 5, right plastic springs 64th
• Down in FIG. 1 the section through the lower layer 3 is shown with several variants, it being repeated that not all of these embodiments should be meaningfully combined with each other as they are included in the overview drawing.
• At the left and the right edge of the lower layer 3, openings 31 can be seen, which connect the space occupied by the spacer fabric with the outside air at the bottom. On the far left, an opening 31 is shown, which is equipped with a coupling 33 on the underside, to which an air hose 34 is connected.
• On the right side of the lower layer two openings 31 are cut, which are provided with a valve flap 32, of which the left valve flap 32 is shown in the closed state, while the right valve flap is open; So in the example drawn down.
• In the middle of an example of the execution of a funnel 81 is entered. The shape of the funnel 81 is complementary to the foil 8 in this area and to the underside of the spacer knit 4.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

top layer

2

edgebandings

3

underclass

31

Opening in lower layer 3

32

Valve flap in opening 31

33

Coupling in opening 31

34

Air hose to coupling 33

4

spacer

5

Net, forms the top and bottom of the spacer knit 4

61

Spacer threads in spacer plate

62

Loop, connects spacer threads 61

63

Metal springs between the nets 5

64

Plastic springs between the nets 5

7

Reference, at least to upper class 1

71

Incontinence cover, impermeable to water

8th

Foil between spacer knitted fabric 4 and lower layer 3

81

Funnel, shaping variant of the film 8

82

Drain pipe, at the lowest point of the funnel 81 1

Claims (17)

1. Ventilated mattress consisting of an upper layer (1) made of viscose foam and a lower layer (3) made of polyether foam, between which there is arranged a three-dimensional spacer fabric (4), the upper and lower side of which each consist of a mesh, between which resilient spacer threads (61) extend approximately perpendicular to the meshes (5)
   characterised in that

   - edge strips (2) of foam are bonded on all four side faces over the entire height of the mattress

   - the overall air permeability of the upper layer (1), resulting from the material property and material thickness, is greater than the sum of the air permeability of all edge strips (2) and of the lower layer (3).
2. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claim 1, characterised in that the edge strips (2)

   - are made of polyether foam and/or cold foam

   - and/or have a greater hardness than the upper layer (1)
3. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims, characterised in that
   the spacer threads (61) are fixed in both meshes (5) with a U-shaped, dimensionally stable loop (62) in each case,

   - wherein the other end of the loop merges into the next spacer-thread (61) in a concertina-like sequence
4. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims,
   characterised in that
   the spacer threads (61) have shapes similar to a circular segment.
5. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims,
   characterised in that
   a multiplicity of metal springs (63) and/or plastic springs (64) are present, which are arranged between the meshes (5).
6. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claim 5, characterised in
   that
   at least one portion of all metal springs (63) and/or plastic springs (64) is fixed at three mutually distant points of a mesh (5).
7. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims, characterised in
   that
   at least the end faces and the upper layer (1) are covered with a textile cover (7).
8. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims, characterised in
   that
   at least the upper layer (1) is covered with a moisture-repellent incontinence cover (71) that is resistant to urine.
9. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims, characterised in that the upper layer (1) lies loosely on the spacer fabric (4) or detachably thereon and/or is fixed to the edge strips (2).
10. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims, characterised in that
    the upper layer (1) is adhesively bonded or stitched to the spacer fabric (4) and/or to the edge strips.
11. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims, characterised in that the lower layer (3) has a plurality of openings (31) which connect the space occupied by the spacer fabric to the exterior air.
12. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claim 11, characterised
    in that
    all openings (31) are closed by valve flaps (32), which can only be forced open by an air stream in a single direction.
13. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claim 12,
    characterised in that
    at least one opening (31) has, on the underside of the lower layer (3), a coupling (33) for connection to an air tube (34).
14. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claims, characterised in that
    a moisture barrier film (8) is arranged between the spacer fabric (4) and lower layer (3).

    - wherein the film (8) can be extended upwards on the insides of the edge strips (2) in the manner of a trough

    - and the upper layer (1) and/or the spacer fabric (4) can be loosely laid on.
15. Ventilated mattress according to the preceding claim 14, characterised
    in that
    the surface of the lower layer (3) and the film (8) laid thereon is designed in the form of a funnel (81)

    - and the underside of the spacer fabric (4) is formed complementary thereto,

    - wherein the funnel (81), at its lowest point, can merge into a drain tube (82).
16. Method for using a ventilated mattress according to the preceding claim 13,
    characterised in that
    each coupling (33) is connected via an air tube (34) to an air supply with elevated air pressure, that is to say to a superatmospheric pressure,

    - wherein the air can be heated or cooled and/or dried with respect to ambient conditions

    - and the superatmospheric pressure can be controllable
17. Method for using a ventilated mattress according to the preceding claim 13
    characterised in that
    each coupling (33) is connected via an air tube (34) to an air discharge with reduced air pressure, that is to say to a subatmospheric pressure,

    - and the subatmospheric pressure can be controllable.

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