HK1069085B - Fluid bedding - Google Patents

Description

Fluid bedding

Technical Field

The present invention relates to bedding which provides comfortable support for the head or body of a person during sleep.

Background

Generally, bedding in which fluid is used inside, bedding called air cushions and air pillows in which air is used as a filler, and bedding called water beds and water pillows in which water is used as a filler.

Conventional air cushions and air pillows mainly use the tension of a sealed air bag to support a human body. However, the pressure generated by the tension of the air bag for supporting the human body is very non-uniform between points according to the shape of the human body, and is greatly varied according to the contact state between the human body and the balloon. Therefore, such bedding cannot continuously support the human body with uniform pressure, so that the person cannot sleep comfortably.

Also, with respect to water beds and water pillows; a method of continuously and uniformly supporting the human body mainly using the buoyancy of water has been invented. However, in the conventional water bed and water pillow without a frame, in order to maintain the shape of the bedding, it is necessary to fill water approximately in the same amount as the maximum space inside the sealed water bladder. Since the force supporting the human body is mainly generated by the tension on the water bladder, it is not comfortable to sleep.

In view of the above problems, there has been proposed a technique for reducing the volume of a sealed fluid cell while maintaining the shape of bedding, the technique including: the bladder is inserted with a continuous foamed elastomer which is formed into the desired shape of the bedding, and the continuous portion of the elastomer surface and the bladder inner surface are all adhered to each other so as to maintain the shape of the bedding. However, in this case, since the bag body and the elastic body are adhered by the surface, it is not sufficiently adaptable to the free deformation, and therefore when the human body is supported, there arises a problem that the force supporting the human body is mainly generated by the tension.

In order to reduce the proportion of tension in the force for supporting the human body, the part of the sealed water bag body which is in contact with the human body is properly loosened so as not to generate tension. To maintain the configuration of the bedding, a portion of the bladder is constructed of a solid material, or the periphery of the bladder body is wrapped with a solid material. In this case, however, although almost all the supporting force of the human body is borne by the buoyancy, the technique is only applicable to a large bed in which the solid material portion does not contact the human body. And, in order to obtain sufficient buoyancy, a sufficient depth of liquid is sealed inside the bed. The bed is heavy and creates a problem in that it can only be installed in buildings designed with special standards.

As described above, the conventional bedding cannot provide comfortable support for the head or the whole body of a person with constant buoyancy, and cannot reduce the weight of the bedding, the size of the bedding, and the cost.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. The problem to be solved is to obtain a bedding which comfortably supports the head or the whole body of a person using a constant buoyancy and which is light in weight, small in size and low in cost.

In the capsule for sealing fluid according to the present invention, for example, an elastic body having a plurality of continuous pores, such as a sponge having continuous bubbles, is adhered to the elastic body at portions of the inner surface of the capsule corresponding to the side surface of the bedding, so that the shape of the bedding can be maintained even when the water sealed in the capsule is small with respect to the volume of the capsule. Therefore, the bag body can be properly loosened at the part of the bedding supporting the human body; therefore, the proportion of the cell tension in the force supporting the human body can be reduced satisfactorily.

Also, the elastic force is generated by the elastic body portion of the capsule which is in contact with the human body by being inserted into the outer layer of the capsule. Thus, in some cases, such a problem arises: the distribution of pressure acting on the human body varies greatly between the portion that the human body is in contact with and the portion that the human body is not in contact with. In the present invention, the above problems are solved by using an elastomer having numerous continuous pores. That is, since innumerable continuous air holes are filled with liquid, even a portion bent downward by the pressure of the human body can generate liquid buoyancy. In addition, the viscosity of the liquid significantly reduces the elastic force with which the bent portion is restored to the original shape. In the direction of bedding facing to the side, the elasticity required for keeping the shape is obtained, and the elasticity in the vertical direction is eliminated; this makes it possible to uniformly support the human body by buoyancy.

Furthermore, the problem is: when the human body is mainly supported by buoyancy, the self weight of the bedding is increased in order to obtain sufficient buoyancy and increase the amount of fluid, and the solution is to form a thin bag filled with liquid and elastomer and a thick bag filled with gas and elastomer and put them under. Thus, when the surfaces of the two capsules in contact with each other are properly relaxed by properly adjusting the pressure of the enclosed gas in the capsules, the load distribution causes the liquid and gas capsules to respond as a whole. The gas and liquid act simultaneously to maintain a constant volume. At the portion where no load is applied, deformation of the projection occurs. The difference between the upper convex portion and the lower concave portion forms a difference in water depth that creates a water buoyancy proportional to the water depth. By using the above-described techniques, a portable bedding is obtained which requires a substantially reduced amount of liquid compared to conventional fluid bedding.

Brief description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a fluid bedding construction illustration;

fig. 2 is an explanatory view of a fluid bedding connection method (embodiment 1);

FIGS. 3a-3c are diagrams illustrating embodiments of gas channels;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a fluid bedding body supporting manner;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a fluid bedding connection method (example 2);

FIGS. 6a-6b are explanatory views of the connection of fluid bedding (example 3); and is

FIGS. 7a to 7b are explanatory views of the fluid bedding connection method (example 4).

Best Mode for Carrying Out The Invention

The pillow shown in fig. 2 is one embodiment of the present invention. A cuboid capsule body 8 is made of polyvinyl chloride sheets, and is 300mm in radial direction, 500mm in transverse direction and 110mm in height. The rectangular parallelepiped interior is divided into upper and lower portions by a partition 9 made of a polyvinyl chloride sheet at a distance of 60mm from the bottom surface. Water 10 is sealed at the upper part and gas 11 is sealed at the lower part. A valve 12a is installed at a lower portion of the rectangular parallelepiped capsule to inject or discharge gas, and a valve 12b is installed at an upper portion to inject and discharge water. Also, the shape obtained by placing the partition 9 on a horizontal plane and the shape obtained by placing a rectangular parallelepiped on a horizontal plane are the same rectangle. The partition 9 has a slack so that the sealed water and gas change their shape appropriately and freely. The area of the partition 9 is about 1664cm². Wherein the volume of the sealing water is about 4500cm³This corresponds to a depth of about 3cm at room temperature. Sealing at room temperature, and volume of 9000cm at one atmospheric pressure³The gas of (2). An elastic body 4 with continuous bubbles is arranged in the upper space of the bag body 8, and is shaped like a cuboid, the radial direction of the elastic body is 30mm, the transverse direction of the elastic body is 50mm, and the height of the elastic body is 30 mm. The inner surface of the capsule and the side surface of the elastic body are coupled to each other. An elastic body 1 having continuous bubbles is disposed in the lower space of the bag body 8, and has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a dimension of 500mm in the radial direction, 300mm in the transverse direction, and 60mm in height. The inner surface of the capsule 8 and the side surface of the elastic body are coupled to each other. The elastic body 1 has the function of: even when the pillow is loaded so that a part of the air is replaced, the pillow maintains its shape, and when the pillow is unloaded, the original shape is immediately restored. Further, the bladder is typically made of a flexible material. The distance between molecules of such a substance is greater than the distance between molecules of the gas. When the bedding is used for a long time, gas escapes. Even when this is the case, the elastic body 1 has elasticity in the capsule expanding direction so that the elastic body can suck air from the outside. In addition, a plurality of passages 7 are provided on the surface and inside of the elastic body 1 to rapidly move the gas inside the elastic body 1. Even if a load is applied to the pillow, in order that the channel 7 does not sag, an elastic body 13 having a larger elastic force than the elastic body 1 is formed at the lower portion of the elastic body 1, so that the gas rapidly moves in the lower space of the bladder 8. Fig. 3 shows some embodiments of the channel.

Figure 3a shows an embodiment in which channels 7 are provided in the surface of the elastomer so that the gas can easily move along the channels. Fig. 3b is a schematic view showing an embodiment in which a channel 7 is provided in the interior of the elastic body, seen from a cross-section of the elastic body. When the channel 7 is built in the interior of the elastomer, the gas away from the surface can be easily displaced. Fig. 3c shows an embodiment in which the channel 7 is formed in the lower part of the elastic body 1 using the elastic body 13 having an elastic force exceeding the elastic body 1. By forming the channels using a material that is somewhat harder than the elastic body 1, channel deformation due to pressure can be alleviated when the pillow is loaded. The gas is moved more easily by connecting these passages with the passages inside the elastic body 1. Channels as shown in fig. 3 can also be formed in the respective portions of the elastic body in combination with each other.

With the above-described structure, when the shape of the rectangular parallelepiped is maintained at about 300mm in the radial direction, 500mm in the lateral direction, and 90mm in height, the pillow properly relaxes the surface which comes into contact with the head of the person. The pressure created by the surface tension of the bladder is thus reduced satisfactorily in comparison with a totally water-filled sealed water pillow, which is the reaction force generated by the head of the person when this is placed in this position. When the head of a person is placed on the cuboid, the elastic body placed in the upper space of the cuboid immediately generates elastic force. However, this effect is reduced when using less elastic elastomers, since the water in the numerous pores supports the head of the person. Furthermore, when the elastomer is compressed in water, it must expand against the friction created by the viscosity of the water. When the head is placed on the elastic body, the elastic force generated by the elastic body being compressed due to rest is about the same as the maximum static friction force of the elastic body. Therefore, the pressure due to the elastic force of the elastic body, which is a reaction force against the head of the human body, is satisfactorily suppressed as compared with the pressure due to the buoyancy of water.

A state in which the head of a person is placed on the pillow of one embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing a state where a cube 14 having a radius of 100mm, a lateral direction of 100mm and a height of 100mm is placed on the pillow made according to the present invention, where the cube 14 is used to simulate a human head. The depth of the water in the upper part of the cube is about 30 mm. For example, in the case of a human head having a volume approximately equivalent to a cube and a weight of about 6Kg, if it is supported by only the buoyancy of water, it is required that the depth of water be about 60 mm. In this embodiment, the cube 14 can be sunk to a depth with little tension from the bladder due to the satisfactory slack in the upper portion of the bladder, with the sealed liquid inside. In the process, water is squeezed to the surroundings, and the elastomer in the water is pressed down. Therefore, the bottom face 15 of the cube is lower than the bottom face of the water without the cube, and the bottom face 15 of the cube sinks to a position 2cm lower than the bottom face of the water without the cube. And the elastomer in the water is also pressed down by the bottom face of the cube, so that the gas in the bottom face of the cube also flows to the surrounding area. The volume change of the air is small under such load, and in the surrounding area where the gas flows, the capsule containing the gas expands and pushes the water toward the upper part of the capsule. As a result the water level in this area rises. As shown by peak 16, the water level at the highest point rises by approximately 1cm compared to no load. Thus, although the actual depth of water is 3cm, the buoyancy effect is the same as if the cube was placed in 6cm depth of water.

Fig. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention. The rectangular capsule 6 with a radial dimension of 300mm and a transverse dimension of 500mm and a height of 70mm is made of polyvinyl chloride sheet. Associated with capsule 6 is a valve 12b for injecting and discharging water, of which 75000cm is injected²10 of the water. Also, the inside of the capsule body is filled with the elastic body 4 having the continuous bubbles in the radial direction of 300mm, in the lateral direction of 500mm and in the height of 50 mm. The side surface of the elastic body 4 is connected to the inner surface of the vinyl sheet. Disposed below and connected to the bladder 6 is the elastic body 1 having the continuous bubbles of 300mm in a radial direction, 500mm in a lateral direction and 50mm in height. Similar to the previous embodiment, when a cube 100mm in the radial direction, 100mm in the lateral direction, 100mm high and weighing 6Kg is placed on the pillow, the water level is raised by about 3mm compared to the state before the cube is not placed, and the bottom of the cube is lowered by 4mm below the bottom surface of the water before the cube is not placed. In this case the buoyancy effect is the same as placing a cube in water about 5.7cm deep.

With the above described structure, no capsule for sealing the gas is required, which results in a simple structure compared to the previous embodiments. Even if the gas leaks, the situation is not deteriorated. When the pillow is loaded, the elastic body in the water is pressed down at the loaded position. Accordingly, the corresponding portion of the elastic body disposed in the capsule is pressed. Even if the air in the area escapes to the surrounding area, the unloaded part of the pillow can not be lifted. In order to obtain the same buoyancy as in the previous embodiment, it is necessary to increase the height of the initial water level. Therefore, the reduction of the weight of the pillow becomes a problem.

The bladders in the embodiment of fig. 6 are coupled to one another in accordance with the embodiments described above, thereby forming a piece of bedding. Figure 6 shows at 17 a capsule made according to the example described above. Fig. 6a is a side view of an embodiment in which the upper portion of the capsule made of polyvinyl chloride and the connecting portion 18 made of polyvinyl chloride are coupled to each other. The polyvinyl chloride forming the upper part of the bladder is formed by a plurality of bladders together. Bladders 17 are constructed of small size components and the fluid in the bladders is independent of each other in each bladder. Even if one of the capsules leaks for some reason, only the water in the perforations of that capsule flows out. Therefore, even if this occurs, the damage can be limited to a small range. Fig. 6b is a side view of the connection points with the side surfaces of the capsules, wherein the connection points may use, for example, Velcro 19, which is detachable, and the coupling of the capsules to each other is detachable. Since each capsule is removable, it cannot be very large for transport. The entire structure can be rearranged very reasonably according to the location where the same structure is used, the person using the same structure, the purpose of application of the same structure, or the like.

Fig. 7 shows capsules 17 according to the above described embodiments, which are enclosed in a frame 20. Thus, the shape of the capsule can be well maintained. But also a plurality of individual capsules of smaller size can be made and placed individually in the frame. Fig. 7a is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment with a frame, which encloses only the sides. Figure 7b is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment having a frame formed by side and bottom surfaces joined together. In this case, even if the liquid in the capsule is discharged due to rupture of the capsule or the like, the liquid is merely left in the frame, so that the liquid does not flow to the room where the bedding is placed.

In the above examples, the pillow is mainly described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to the pillow, and may be applied to various purposes for supporting a human body such as a bed, a chair, a sofa, a mat, or the like.

Industrial feasibility

As described above, a bedding using a fluid is obtained, which supports a human body mainly by buoyancy of a liquid and allows a person to sleep comfortably. In addition, the fluid needed for supporting the human body is greatly reduced, so that the weight of the bedding can be reduced, and the bedding can be placed everywhere. Further, since the fluid is not necessarily sealed in the solid material, the same effect can be obtained even when the fluid is used for bedding having a small size such as a pillow. Further, if the mattress is used for bedding having a large size such as a bed, the mattress can be made lightweight, small in size, and inexpensive.

Claims (8)

1. A bedding element, comprising:

a sealed capsule (3), said sealed capsule (3) having a first elastomer (1) with a plurality of continuous pores, a gas (2) sealed in said sealed capsule (3), and said sealed capsule (3) having a slack in an upper portion thereof; and

a sealed water bladder (6) disposed on the upper portion of said sealed bladder (3), said water bladder (6) having a second elastomer (4) with a plurality of continuous pores, a liquid (5) sealed in said water bladder (6), and said water bladder (6) having a slack in the upper and lower portions thereof,

bonding the first elastic body (1) to portions of the inner surface of the sealed capsule (3) corresponding to the side surface of the bedding,

the second elastic body (4) is bonded to portions of the inner surface of the water bladder body (6) corresponding to the bedding side surface.

2. A bedding element, comprising:

a first elastic body (1) having a plurality of continuous pores; and

a sealed water bladder body (6), the water bladder body (6) is arranged on the upper part of the first elastic body (1), the water bladder body (6) is provided with a second elastic body (4) with a plurality of continuous air holes, the liquid (5) is sealed in the water bladder body (6), and the upper part and the lower part of the water bladder body (6) have looseness,

the second elastic body (4) is bonded to portions of the inner surface of the water bladder body (6) corresponding to the bedding side surface.

3. Bedding according to claim 1, characterised in that the first elastomer (1) and/or the second elastomer (4) have channels (7) on their surface or inside which are independent of each other or which are connected to each other.

4. Bedding according to claim 2, characterised in that the first elastomer (1) and/or the second elastomer (4) have channels (7) on the surface or in the interior, which are independent of each other or are continuous with each other.

5. A bedding element formed by connecting a plurality of bedding elements, wherein each of the smaller sized bedding elements is made according to claim 1.

6. A bedding element formed by connecting a plurality of bedding elements, wherein each of the smaller sized bedding elements is made according to claim 2.

7. A bedding element formed by connecting a plurality of bedding elements, wherein each of the smaller sized bedding elements is made according to claim 3.

8. A bedding element formed by connecting a plurality of bedding elements, wherein each of the smaller sized bedding elements is made according to claim 4.