JP2004081709A - Air massage machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To offer an air massage machine having a structure of preventing inspiration or exhaustion from pumps from becoming difficult by close adhesion of the inspiration and exhaustion section of an air valve to an air bag material facing each other. <P>SOLUTION: In the air massage machine in which inspiration and exhaustion of the air bag is carried out with the air valve, an irregularity form is prepared in the air bag material opposite to the inspiration and exhaustion section of the air valve. Further, the irregularity form is formed by welding a material having irregularity to the air bag material or forms the irregularity in the air bag material itself. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air massager that expands and contracts and deforms by pressurized air supplied from an external air supply pump device, and particularly to a structure of a suction / exhaust portion thereof.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as the air massaging machine that sucks and exhausts an air bag with an air valve, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-157700, an arm air massaging machine (Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-131046), and the like have been proposed by the same applicant.
[0003]
In an air massage machine that expands and contracts due to pressurized air supplied from such an external air supply pump device, the air intake / exhaust portion of the air valve during exhaust is in close contact with the facing airbag material, and the intake / exhaust portion is closed. It often happens that there is no air passage and it becomes difficult to intake or exhaust air from the pump.
[0004]
To improve this, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-201804 is known. Hereinafter, the outline of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-201804 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, an L-shaped connection pipe 41 in which a through-hole 43 is formed and a connection portion 42 to which an air hose is connected is formed on the distal end side, as shown in FIG. And a disc-shaped flange portion 44 provided at the base of the connection pipe 41. Further, a through hole 43 of the connection pipe 41 is opened in the flange portion 44 as shown by reference numeral 45. A surface of the flange portion 44 on the connection pipe 41 side is an attachment surface 44a, and a surface opposite to the attachment surface is a non-attachment surface 44b. 44a and non-attachment surface 44b are formed as flat surfaces.
[0005]
Then, the base of the connection pipe 41 is inserted into a through hole 31a formed in the sheet member 31, and the attachment surface 44a is bonded to the inner surface of the sheet member 31 by bonding or the like, so that the sheet member 31 The bag 11a is hermetically attached to the substantially central portion of the bag 11a.
[0006]
A plurality of convex portions 44c are formed on the non-attaching surface 44b of the flange portion 44. The convex portions 44c are formed so as to be scattered around the opening 45, and the connecting portion 42 The region is projected radially around the center O of the opening 45 in a region in a protruding direction, that is, a region projected on the flange portion 44 of the connection portion 42 and a peripheral region of this region.
[0007]
Further, since the convex portion 44c is formed on the non-attachment surface 44b of the flange portion 44, even if the airbag 11a contracts and becomes flat, the non-attachment surface 44b of the flange portion 44 becomes a sheet. There is no close contact with the member 32, that is, a gap G having substantially the height of the convex portion 44c is formed. Therefore, even when the airbag 11a is in a flattened state due to the contraction of the airbag 11a, the opening 45 is not closed in a closed state by the sheet member 32, and the airbag 11a always contracts around the periphery of the opening 45. Thus, even in the flat state, the gap G is formed. Therefore, when the supply of air is started by the air supply means (not shown), the air can flow into the air bag 11a through the gap G at the same time as the supply is started, that is, immediately. Therefore, the air is supplied into the air bag 11a without going through the process of forming the gap by separating the flange portion and the sheet member which are in close contact with each other by the pressure of the air at the start of the supply of the air as in the conventional case. That is, the air can flow into the air bag 11a, and the air can flow smoothly.
[0008]
However, the structure in which the rib for the air flow passage is provided on the plug side has the following disadvantages.
(1) When the structure of the rib is complicated and the entire plug is integrally formed, the mold becomes complicated and the manufacturing cost increases.
(2) The location where the rib is formed is limited to the range of the plug, and it is not possible to cope with the blockage due to the close contact of the sheet at a position slightly deviated from the plug.
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention relates to an air massager that expands and contracts due to pressurized air supplied from an external air supply pump device, and in particular, in the air massager, a suction / exhaust portion of an air valve is in close contact with an airbag material facing the airbag. It is an object of the present invention to provide a structure for preventing intake or exhaust from a pump from becoming difficult.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention, in order to achieve the above object, an air massager that sucks and discharges an air bag by an air valve,
The airbag material facing the intake / exhaust portion of the air valve is provided with an uneven shape.
[0011]
Further, the uneven shape is formed by welding a material having unevenness to the airbag material, or the uneven shape is formed by forming unevenness on the airbag material itself.
[0012]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiment shown in FIGS.
FIG. 1 is an external top view of an airbag of an air massager for an arm according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a material of a massage bag facing a plug portion of the air massager shown in FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the plug portion of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the plug portion of FIG.
[0013]
The present invention is used for the air intake and exhaust ports 50 to 53 of the air bag of the foot air massage machine as shown in FIG. 6 and the arm air massage machine of FIG. It may be used for the intake and exhaust ports of an air mat type massage machine as described. The plug structure of the present invention has a remarkable effect when used in an air massage machine in which air is frequently taken in and out, but when it is difficult to intake and exhaust air, an air bag such as a normal air mat or a floating ring is used. Other things are also applicable.
[0014]
These air massagers are inflated and contracted and deformed by pressurized and decompressed air supplied by a supply / discharge control of an external air supply pump device (not shown) to compress hands and feet (air bag). Having.
[0015]
Reference numeral 54 in FIG. 7 is used to turn on and off a switch and the like of an air supply pump device provided at a central portion of the hand-side air bag body portion on the outer side of the back of the hand where there is little change in shape due to air supply and exhaust. These are projections for assisting operation. Thus, even if the hand becomes less free after the arm air massager is mounted, the operation of pointing the projection 54 to the operation panel provided on the air supply pump device and pressing various switches provided thereon can be performed. The air supply pump device can be easily operated even with the arm massager 1 attached. In the hand airbag shown in FIG. 7, the air valve is disposed at the center, and the operation assisting projection 54 is provided.
The structure also serves as
[0016]
The airbag (airbag body) is made of a material that can be bent and stretched freely, for example, the outside is made of a fabric such as nylon, and the inside is made of a fabric such as vinyl chloride or polyurethane to make the inside airtight. used. Then, the outer fabric and the inner fabric are bonded to each other by, for example, welding the peripheral edges thereof to form an air chamber that can maintain airtightness so that the pressurized air does not leak outside even when the pressurized air is introduced. .
[0017]
After the installation of the air massage machine, pressurized air is supplied from the air supply / exhaust ports 50 to 53 and the like. A hose for supplying and discharging pressurized air from an air supply pump device is detachably attached to the supply / exhaust ports 50 to 53 and the like. As a result, pressurized air of which pressure, supply / discharge timing, and the like are controlled from the air supply pump device is supplied to each supply / exhaust port, and the air bladders are individually inflated and contracted.
[0018]
Thus, when the pressurized air is supplied from the air supply pump device, the air bag body expands in a ring shape or the like, and presses the arms and feet from the surroundings.
FIG. 1 is a top view in which, for example, the airbag portion 55 in FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of irregularities provided on the inner surface of the air bag facing the intake / exhaust plug 2. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views taken along the line AA 'in FIG.
[0019]
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the inner surface of the air bag opposed to the intake / exhaust plug is provided with irregularities 4 and 8, so that even when the inner surface of the air bag comes into close contact with the intake / exhaust port at the time of exhaustion. In addition, since air can be sucked and exhausted through the gap between the concave and convex portions, the air can be easily sucked and exhausted, and it is possible to avoid a situation in which the air flow passage is blocked and the air suction and exhaust becomes difficult.
[0020]
In addition, since the unevenness is formed on the bag material, a simple general-purpose intake / exhaust plug structure can be used, so that there is no need to make a new mold and the like. Cost savings. The unevenness of the bag material may be formed by welding a separately formed unevenness material to a flat film material, or a film material having unevenness formed on the film itself may be partially or entirely used. . Alternatively, the unevenness may be formed on a flat film material by hot pressing or the like.
[0021]
By forming the unevenness on the film material, the portion having the unevenness is not limited to the plug portion, and can be formed on another portion where the air flow passage may be blocked. This makes it possible to form the irregularities in, for example, the longitudinal direction of a rectangular airbag, or in a bent portion where the film material is likely to adhere. As a result, a remarkable effect that can be prevented from being achieved in the above-described conventional example and that can be prevented from being blocked at a portion other than the intake / exhaust plug portion is generated.
[0022]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, since the airbag material facing the air intake / exhaust portion of the air valve is provided with an uneven shape, it is possible to avoid a closed state in the air intake / exhaust with a structure having a low manufacturing cost. Further, the structure can be formed not only in the vicinity of the intake / exhaust port, but also in the middle, and the effect of avoiding the above-mentioned closed state is higher than before.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an external top view of an airbag of an arm air massage machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a material of a massage bag facing a plug portion of the air massage machine shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the plug part of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the plug part of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a view showing the structure of a conventional intake / exhaust port for preventing blockage.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a foot air massage machine to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of an arm air massage machine to which the present invention is applied.
[Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 airbag 2 intake / exhaust port 3 concave / convex portion 4 concave / convex portion 5 air bag material 6 intake / exhaust port 7 intake / exhaust plug fixing portion 8 concave / convex portion

Claims (3)

In the air massage machine which sucks and exhausts the air bag by the air valve,
An air massage machine wherein an airbag material facing the intake / exhaust portion of the air valve is provided with an uneven shape. The air massage machine according to claim 1, wherein the uneven shape is formed by welding a material having unevenness to an airbag material. The air massage machine according to claim 1, wherein the uneven shape is formed by forming unevenness on an airbag material itself.

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