JP2005261540A - Cushion body - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cushion body 1 for which a manufacture cost is extremely low, a gas distribution amount among gas chambers 10 is easily adjusted and weight is reduced. <P>SOLUTION: For this cushion body, a gas chamber forming body 2 composed of a cylindrically molded film-like body having a gas barrier property is turned to the state of being narrowed at intervals relating to a length direction by a narrow part forming means 3, the plurality of gas chambers 10 are formed inside the gas chamber forming body 2 between the respective narrow part forming means 3, a narrow communication path 11 communicating the respective gas chambers 10 is formed at the part narrowed by the narrow part forming means 3 of the gas chamber forming body 2, and a gas such as air is enclosed inside the respective gas chambers 10. In the cushion body, when it is pressurized from the outside to a human body or the like, a part of the gas inside the pressed gas chamber 10 is pushed out through the communication path 11 to the other gas chamber 10 little by little. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention is used as a cushion, a pillow, a mattress for bedding (a mattress for a bed and a mattress), a sofa mattress, a cushion, a chair seat including a wheelchair, a headrest, a cushioning material, a soundproofing material, a heat insulating material, and the like. It is related with the cushion body suitable for.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of cushion body, one having air enclosed therein is known. However, among such conventional air-filled cushion bodies, only one large air chamber, in which air is sealed in this large air chamber, is supported very unstablely by the support object such as the human body. There was a problem that stability was not good. There is also a problem that so-called bottoming is likely to occur.

Further, some air-filled cushion bodies are known in which a large number of air chambers are supported by a base material and these many air chambers communicate with each other (for example, Patent Document 1). And 2). In such a cushion body, the above problem is improved to some extent by having a large number of air chambers. In addition, since the air chambers are in communication with each other, they have the same pressure regardless of the amount of deformation they receive, so that a uniform pressure distribution can be achieved over a wide area, so that a part of the user's body Therefore, it is possible to prevent a possibility that a large pressure continuously acts only on the skin and damages the skin and muscle tissue of the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,236 U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,136

  However, since the structure of the cushion body having a large number of air chambers connected to each other has a complicated structure, a dip molding method (a mold having a shape corresponding to each air chamber is made into a liquid or gel-like material such as latex) It is necessary to form the coating layer on the surface of the mold until it has the required thickness and mold each air chamber by a molding method that uses this coating layer as the wall surface of each air chamber). There was a problem of becoming higher.

  There is also a problem that the amount of air flow between the air chambers cannot be adjusted.

  Moreover, since the wall surface of each air chamber needs to be thickened to some extent, there is also a problem that the weight is relatively increased.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a conventional situation, and the objective of this invention is providing the cushion body which can make a manufacturing cost very cheap.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a cushion body capable of easily adjusting a flow rate of a gas such as air between gas chambers.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a cushion body that can be reduced in weight.

  Still other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

  The cushion body according to the present invention includes a gas chamber forming body formed of a film-shaped body having a gas barrier property formed into a cylindrical shape, and the gas chamber forming body is squeezed at an interval in the length direction of the gas chamber forming body. A throttle portion forming means to be in a state, a plurality of gas chambers formed in the gas chamber forming body between the throttle portion forming means, and a portion of the gas chamber forming body throttled by the throttle portion forming means A narrow communication path that is formed in the (throttle part) and communicates between the adjacent gas chambers, and a gas sealed in each of the gas chambers.

  In the cushion body of the present invention, when pressed against the human body or the like from the outside, a part of the gas in the pressed gas chamber (for example, air) is gradually pushed out to the adjacent gas chamber through the communication path, Further, the gas in the adjacent gas chamber is pushed out little by little to the adjacent gas chamber through the next communication passage, and finally the gas in the other gas chamber is small until all the gas chambers have equal pressures. It is pushed out one by one.

  Therefore, the portion pressed against the human body etc. from the outside is pushed down relatively gently, while the portion in the vicinity thereof expands relatively gently and presses the human body etc. from the cushion body side. It is supported in a wide area of the cushion body. And in the process in which gas is flowing between the gas chambers through the communication passage, although there is a slight pressure difference between the gas chambers, each gas chamber finally has the same pressure. For this reason, a human body etc. are supported by the uniform pressure in the wide area | region of a cushion body. Therefore, a large local pressure is continuously applied only to a part of the user's body, and damage such as destruction of the user's skin and muscle tissue (for example, bed slipping that occurs in bedridden elderly people, etc.) Can be prevented.

  In addition, when pressed by the human body from the outside, each part does not rapidly dent or swell, but as described above, the pressed part is pushed down relatively gently, while the part near it is Since it swells relatively slowly, it gives the user a very pleasant feel. Moreover, even if an impact load acts, it can be absorbed.

  Moreover, since it has several gas chambers, while being able to support a human body etc. stably, it can make it difficult to produce bottoming.

  In addition, a plurality of gas chambers can be formed simply by setting the gas chamber forming body formed of a film-shaped body formed into a cylindrical shape to be narrowed at intervals with respect to the length direction. It can be inexpensive.

  In addition, the magnitude of the resistance of the communication path with respect to the gas flow, and hence the flow rate of the gas such as air between the gas chambers, can be easily adjusted so as to have an optimum magnitude.

  Moreover, since the gas chamber forming body is constituted by a film-like body, and the thickness of the film-like body can be reduced, the weight can be extremely reduced.

In the cushion body of the present invention,
(B) The manufacturing cost can be extremely low.
(B) The magnitude of the resistance of the communication path with respect to the gas flow, and thus the flow rate of gas such as air between the gas chambers can be easily adjusted.
(C) It can be extremely lightweight,
Such excellent effects can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

  1 to 5 show Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Among these, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a gas chamber forming body 2 and a throttle portion forming means 3 used in the cushion body 1 of the present embodiment. The gas chamber forming body 2 is made of a thermoplastic polyurethane resin film, has a gas barrier property, is flexible and stretchable, and is formed into a cylindrical shape.

  Both end portions 2a (only one end portion is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5) of the gas chamber forming body 2 are sealed. The narrowed portion forming means 3 is a binding band made of a conventionally known plastic, and has a base portion 4, a locking portion 5 and a belt-like portion 6 as shown in FIG. The strip 6 is bendable and extends from the base 4. The base portion 4 is provided with a belt-like portion insertion hole 7, and the belt-like portion 6 can be inserted into the belt-like portion insertion hole 7. The locking portion 5 is provided in the band-shaped portion insertion hole 7 so as to be able to move slightly with respect to the base portion 4. The locking portion 5 is provided with a saw-tooth projection 8, and the saw-tooth projection 8 meshes with a saw-tooth projection 9 provided on one surface of the belt-like portion 6.

  The gas chamber forming body 2 is bound by the narrowed portion forming means 3 at an interval in the length direction of the gas chamber forming body 2. Here, the bundling by the narrowed portion forming means 3 can be performed in the same manner as bundling by a normal bundling band. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the belt-like portion 6 is inserted into the belt-like portion insertion hole 7 as shown in FIG. 2, and the gas chamber forming body 2 is passed through the loop formed by the belt-like portion 6 at this time. This can be done by pulling and tightening the belt-like portion 6. Since the serrated protrusions 8 and 9 mesh with each other, the belt-like portion 6 does not move in the loosening direction.

  In this way, the gas chamber forming body 2 is squeezed at intervals with respect to the length direction of the gas chamber forming body 2 by being enclosed and tightened from the outside by the throttle portion forming means 3, thereby forming each throttle portion. A plurality of gas chambers 10 are formed in the gas chamber forming body 2 between the means 3. Air is sealed in these gas chambers 10. A portion of the gas chamber forming body 2 squeezed by the constricting portion forming means 3 is a narrow space that communicates between the gas chambers 10 while the gas chamber forming body 2 is folded in a fine shape like a wrinkle and overlapped. A communication path 11 is formed inside. In addition, since it is difficult to faithfully illustrate the cross section of the portion of the gas chamber forming body 2 that is narrowed by the narrowing portion forming means 3, the portion in FIG. 2 faithfully illustrates the actual state. Please note that it was not done.

  The total amount of air accommodated in the gas chamber forming body 2 is smaller than the maximum total amount of air that can be accommodated in the gas chamber forming body 2 (a maximum of about 50 to 80% is preferable).

  4 and 5 show the cushion body 1 of the present embodiment. The cushion body 1 is made of a flexible film-like body such as a cloth, a plastic film, or a sheet. The gas chamber forming body 2 and the throttle part forming means 3 shown in FIG. The outer skin 12 itself has air permeability or is provided with a vent so as not to impede the characteristics of the cushion body by constituting a sealed air chamber. It is preferable. The outer skin 12 is made of a flexible film-like body such as a cloth, a plastic film or a sheet, and a partition 13 for partitioning the space in the outer skin 12 is provided at an interval. Are folded in a zigzag manner so as to be sewn between the partitions 13 and accommodated in the outer skin 12. Thereby, the movement of the gas chamber forming body 2 is moderately restricted by the partition 13.

  In this cushion body 1, when pressed by a human body or the like from the outside, a part of the air in the pushed gas chamber 10 is pushed out little by little through the communication path 11 to the adjacent gas chamber 10, The gas in the adjacent gas chamber 10 is further pushed out to the adjacent gas chamber 10 little by little through the next communication passage 11 until other gases are finally equalized. It is pushed out into the chamber 10 little by little.

  Accordingly, the portion pressed against the human body or the like from the outside is pushed down relatively gently, while the portion in the vicinity thereof expands relatively gently and presses the human body or the like from the cushion body 1 side. Are supported in a wide area of the cushion body 1. Further, in the process in which air is flowing between the gas chambers 10 through the communication passage 11, although there is a slight pressure difference between the gas chambers 10, the gas chambers 10 finally have the same pressure. For this reason, a human body etc. will be supported by the uniform pressure in the wide area | region of the cushion body 1. FIG. Therefore, a large local pressure is continuously applied only to a part of the user's body, and the occurrence of a disorder such as destruction of the user's skin and muscle tissue can be prevented.

  In addition, when pressed by the human body from the outside, each part does not rapidly dent or swell, but as described above, the pressed part is pushed down relatively gently, while the part near it is Since it swells relatively slowly, it gives the user a very pleasant feel. Moreover, even if an impact load acts, it can be absorbed.

  Moreover, since it has the several gas chamber 10, while being able to support a human body etc. stably, it can make it difficult to produce bottoming.

  Further, since the plurality of gas chambers 10 can be formed simply by setting the gas chamber forming body 2 formed of a film-like body formed into a cylindrical shape to be narrowed at intervals in the length direction, the manufacturing cost can be configured. Can be made extremely inexpensive.

  Further, by selecting the degree of tightening by the throttle forming means 3, the magnitude of the resistance of the communication passage 11 with respect to the air flow, and consequently the amount of flow of gas such as air between the gas chambers 10 is optimized. Can be easily adjusted. In this embodiment, the binding band used as the narrowed portion forming means 3 cannot be operated in the loosening direction. For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication Nos. 57-141616 and 6-73411. If a binding band that can be operated in a loosening direction is used, such as the binding band disclosed in the above, the resistance of the communication passage 11 with respect to the flow of gas can be more easily adjusted.

  Moreover, since the gas chamber forming body 2 is configured by a film-like body, and the thickness of the film-like body can be reduced, the weight can be extremely reduced.

  The hardness of the cushion body 1 can also be adjusted by adjusting the amount of air filled into the gas chamber forming body 2.

  FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of a narrowed portion (throttle portion) of the gas chamber forming body 2 in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the throttle forming means comprises a short tubular member 14 and a ring-shaped fastener 15. The cylindrical member 14 is accommodated in the gas chamber forming body 2, and the fastener 15 is a gas that sandwiches the gas chamber forming body 2 between the outer periphery of the cylindrical member 14 from the outside of the gas chamber forming body 2. The chamber forming body 2 is tightened. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the communication path 11 is formed by the hollow portion inside the cylindrical material 14, and therefore, the resistance of the communication path 11 against the air flow is increased by selecting the opening cross-sectional area of the cylindrical material 14. The height can be adjusted.

  FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of a narrowed portion (throttle portion) of the gas chamber forming body 2 in Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the throttle portion forming means is constituted by a ring-shaped material 16 made of a rubber elastic body such as an O-ring, and is fitted to the outside of the gas chamber forming body 2, and the gas chamber forming body 2 by its elasticity. Is tightened. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the communication passage 11 having an effective cross-sectional area corresponding to the size of the inner periphery of the ring-shaped member 16 is formed. Therefore, by selecting the inner diameter of the ring-shaped member, the communication passage 11 for the air flow. The magnitude of the resistance can be adjusted.

As the film-like body constituting the gas chamber forming body 2, various materials other than the thermoplastic polyurethane resin can be used as long as they have flexibility or flexibility and have a gas barrier property. Films made of stretchable materials such as urethane film, soft PVC (polyvinyl chloride), rubber, or film-like bodies such as sheets can also be suitably used (however, when rubber is used, it is relatively easy to cause bottoming. Become). In some cases, a film-like body having poor stretchability can also be used.

  Moreover, the aspect which accommodates the gas chamber formation body 2 in the outer skin 12 grade | etc., Is not restricted to an aspect like the said Example. However, if the movement of the gas chamber forming body 2 is appropriately limited by the partition 13 as in the above embodiment, the gas chamber forming body 2 moves excessively in the outer skin 12 and the like and deviates from a desired position. It is possible to prevent the risk of being lost.

  Moreover, in the said Example, although the gas chamber formation body 2 is accommodated in the outer skin | casing 12 without laminating | stacking, in this invention, you may laminate | stack the gas chamber formation body 2 in multiple steps.

  Further, in the present invention, there is a possibility that the cushion characteristics of the gas chamber forming body 2 are different between the length direction of the gas chamber forming body 2 and the direction perpendicular thereto, but such anisotropy is present. Even when it becomes larger, the anisotropy of the cushion body 1 as a whole can be brought to a level where there is no problem by devising the arrangement of the gas chamber forming body 2 or the like. In some cases, conversely, such anisotropy can be used effectively.

  Further, as the narrowed portion forming means in the present invention, means other than those shown in the above embodiments can be used. For example, the gas chamber forming body 2 may be narrowed by a string, a thread, a wire or the like.

  Moreover, in the said Example, although all the gas chambers 10 are mutually connected, the gas chamber 10 is divided into a some group, only the gas chambers 10 which belong to the same group are mutually connected, and the gas chamber which belongs to a different group 10 may not be communicated with each other.

  Moreover, in the said Example, although the air was accommodated in the gas chamber 10, you may accommodate gases other than air in the gas chamber 10. FIG.

  Further, in the present invention, the gas chamber forming body 2 is provided with an opening and a valve for injecting and discharging gas, and gas is injected into the gas chamber forming body 2 through these openings and valves, or the gas chamber is formed. The total amount of gas in the gas chamber forming body 2 may be adjusted by discharging the gas from the body 2.

  In addition, since the cushion body 1 of the present invention contains a large amount of gas inside, it can be used not only as a cushioning material but also as a sealing material, a soundproofing material, a heat insulating material, etc. in order to achieve a soundproofing action and a heat insulation action. .

  As described above, the cushion body according to the present invention is used as a cushion, a pillow, a mattress for bedding, a sofa mattress, a cushion, a chair seat including a wheelchair, a headrest, a cushioning material, a sealing material, a soundproofing material, a heat insulating material, and the like. Useful for.

It is a front view which takes out and shows the gas chamber formation body and throttle part formation means in Example 1 of the cushion body of the present invention. It is an expanded sectional view in the II-II line of FIG. It is an expanded sectional view which shows the aperture | diaphragm | squeeze part formation means in the said Example 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing which fractures | ruptures only the outer skin and shows the said Example 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing in the VV line of FIG. It is a cross-sectional view of the narrowed part of the gas chamber formation body in Example 2 of this invention. It is a cross-sectional view of the narrowed part of the gas chamber formation body in Example 3 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cushion body 2 Gas chamber formation body 3 Restriction part formation means 10 Gas chamber 11 Communication path 14 Tubular material (throttle part formation means)
15 Fastener (throttle forming means)
16 Ring-shaped material (drawing part forming means)

Claims (3)

A gas chamber forming body formed of a film-shaped body having a gas barrier property formed into a cylindrical shape, and a throttle portion forming means for narrowing the gas chamber forming body at intervals with respect to the length direction of the gas chamber forming body And a plurality of gas chambers formed in the gas chamber forming body between each of the throttle portion forming means, and a portion of the gas chamber forming body that is throttled by the throttle portion forming means and adjacent to each other A cushion body comprising a narrow communication passage communicating between gas chambers and a gas sealed in each gas chamber. The cushion body according to claim 1, wherein a total amount of air accommodated in the gas chamber forming body is smaller than a maximum total air amount that can be accommodated in the gas chamber forming body. The cushion body according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the throttle portion forming means surrounds and tightens the gas chamber forming body from the outside.

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