JP7267348B2 - FLUID CELL, MAT DEVICE, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING FLUID CELL - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to fluid cells, mat devices, and methods of manufacturing fluid cells.

Conventionally, a flexible tube that can be filled with a fluid and the inner peripheral surface of the flexible tube are fixed to each other with the flexible tube sandwiched in the radial direction, and the openings at both ends of the flexible tube are opened separately. Fluid cells with closed occlusions are known. In this type of fluid cell, when the flexible tube is filled with fluid, corners are formed at the ends of the flexible tube in the axial direction. This corner portion is sharpened outward in one of the radial directions of the flexible tube that intersects the direction in which the flexible tube is sandwiched in the closed portion.
In order to suppress the generation of the corners, a fluid cell as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 below is known. In this fluid cell, at the axial end of the flexible tube, a triangular ear in plan view having a base extending in the sandwiching direction and an apex projecting outward in the axial direction is provided, and a closing portion is formed. Forming after forming suppresses the generation of the corners.

JP-A-10-5289

However, in the conventional fluid cell, it is necessary to separately form the ear portions after forming the closing portion, which increases the number of man-hours.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a fluid cell that can be easily manufactured with reduced man-hours.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention proposes the following means.
(1) A flexible tube capable of being filled with a fluid is fixed to the inner peripheral surfaces of the flexible tube with the flexible tube sandwiched in the radial direction, and both ends of the flexible tube are open. and a pair of closed portions that respectively close the flexible tube, wherein the flexible tube is provided at the axial end of the flexible tube at the closed portion in the radial direction of the flexible tube. A valley fold portion is formed to be folded inward in one direction intersecting the sandwiching direction, and the closing portion is disposed at a position where the valley fold portion is formed along the axial direction. characterized by

In this invention, the closing portion is arranged at the position where the valley fold portion is formed along the axial direction. Therefore, when the flexible tube is filled with a fluid and expanded, the axial ends of the flexible tube tend to expand in the pinching direction so that the inner surfaces of the valley fold portions are spaced apart from each other. . As a result, it is possible to suppress the formation of corners sharpened outward in the one direction at the ends of the flexible tube in the axial direction. Further, if the position of the closing portion is adjusted after forming the valley fold portion, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the corner portion at the axial end portion of the flexible tube. The fluid cell can be easily manufactured with a reduced number of man-hours, compared to a configuration in which each of the ends is separately formed with triangular ears in a plan view.

(2) In the fluid cell according to (1) above, a pair of inner surfaces of the valley fold portion facing each other is provided with a fixing portion for fixing the inner surfaces to each other, and the closing portion and the fixing portion are formed. The part may be integrally formed.

In this case, when the flexible tube is filled with fluid and expanded, the inner surfaces of the valley fold portions fixed to the fixing portion are restrained to each other. Therefore, at the end of the flexible tube in the axial direction, the outer peripheral surface positioned around the fixed portion can be formed into a flat surface perpendicular to the one direction.
Moreover, since the closing portion and the fixing portion can be integrally formed, the fluid cell can be manufactured more easily.

(3) In the fluid cell according to (1) or (2) above, the closing portion is arranged axially inside the flexible tube relative to both edges of the flexible tube. may be formed with ear portions that protrude outward in the axial direction from the closing portion.

In this case, since the ears are formed on the flexible tube, for example, attachment members for attaching the fluid cells to the mat device can be arranged on the ears.

(4) In the fluid cell according to (3) above, the closing portion extends along the one direction and is arranged over the entire area of the flexible tube along the one direction, and the ears are: It may be formed over the entire area of the flexible tube along the one direction.

In this case, the ears are arranged over the entire area of the flexible tube along the one direction. Therefore, it is possible to secure a large area for the ears, and for example, the number and shape of the mounting members to be attached to the ears can be selected with a degree of freedom.

(5) In the fluid cell according to (3) or (4) above, the ear portion may be formed with a restricting portion that is connected to another fluid cell and restricts mutual relative displacement.

In this case, the restricting portion formed in the ear restricts the relative displacement between the plurality of fluid cells, thereby enhancing the independence of the fluid cells.

(6) In the fluid cell according to any one of (1) to (5) above, the flexible tube has a partition wall that partitions the interior of the flexible tube into two filling chambers. The partition wall may partition the inside of the flexible tube in the one direction.

In this case, the interior of the flexible tube is divided into two filling chambers in the one direction in which the valley folds are folded. Therefore, it is possible to make the flexible tube stand by itself in the one direction. Furthermore, since the outer peripheral surface positioned around the fixed portion can be formed in a flat shape perpendicular to the one direction, the user lying on the fluid cell can use it comfortably.

(7) A mat device according to the present invention is a fluid cell according to any one of (1) to (6) above.

In this case, the mat device can achieve the above-described effects.

(8) A method of manufacturing a fluid cell according to the present invention is the method of manufacturing a fluid cell according to (2) above, characterized in that the fixing portion and the closing portion are formed at the same time.

In this case, since the fixing portion and the closing portion are formed at the same time, the number of man-hours can be suppressed and the fluid cell can be easily manufactured.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, a fluid cell can be manufactured simply by suppressing a man-hour.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a mat device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a fluid cell in the mat device shown in FIG. 1; FIG. Figure 3 is a front view of an axial end of the fluid cell shown in Figure 2; FIG. 4A is a front view, and FIG. 4B is a top view in the process of filling the fluid cell shown in FIG. 3 with air; 3 is a view showing (a) a valley folding step, (b) a closing step and a fixing step, and (c) a step of disposing a mounting member in the manufacturing process of the fluid cell shown in FIG. 2. FIG. It is a front view which shows (a) 1st modification, (b) 2nd modification among the modifications of the fluid cell which concerns on 1st Embodiment. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a third modified example of the fluid cell according to the first embodiment; FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a fluid cell according to a second embodiment of the invention; Figure 9 is a side view of the fluid cell shown in Figure 8;

(First embodiment)
A mat device 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG.
Examples of the mat device 10 include a bed device on which the user lies and a cushion device on which the user sits. Hereinafter, the configuration of each part will be described using the front-back direction X, the left-right direction Y, and the up-down direction Z in the mat device 10 .

As shown in FIG. 1, the mat device 10 includes a mat portion 11 on which a user lies, an air supply/exhaust portion 12 for supplying air to and exhausting air from the mat portion 11, and a control portion 13 for controlling the air supply/exhaust portion 12. , is equipped with
The mat portion 11 has a plurality of fluid cells 15 , and the fluid cells 15 are filled with air to support the load of the user lying on the mat portion 11 . The internal pressure of the fluid cell 15 corresponds to the hardness of the mat portion 11. By setting the internal pressure of the fluid cell 15 according to the weight of the user, the hardness of the mat portion 11 can be set to the optimum hardness for the user. can be made

The fluid cells 15 are rod-shaped cells extending in the left-right direction Y in the mat portion 11 . constitutes The fluid cell 15 is formed of a film material such as a vinyl chloride film or a urethane film, rolled around the central axis O1, and connected by welding or the like at both peripheral ends thereof. A peripheral edge line 15f extending in the horizontal direction Y is formed in the welded portion of the film material. In this fluid cell 15, the peripheral edge line 15f is located at the lower end, and the portion of the film material located above the peripheral edge line 15f forms a flexible tube 15a, which will be described later.
The fluid cells 15 arranged adjacent to each other may or may not be fixed to each other. The fluid cells 15 can also be attached to a cover (not shown) that integrally covers the plurality of fluid cells 15 via, for example, a button or string as an attachment member 19 to be described later.

As shown in FIG. 2, the fluid cell 15 includes a flexible tube 15a which can be filled with a fluid, and the inner peripheral surfaces of the flexible tube 15a are fixed to each other in a state in which the flexible tube 15a is sandwiched in the radial direction. and a closing portion 15b closing both end openings of the flexible tube 15a separately. A central axis O1 of the flexible tube 15a extends along the horizontal direction Y. As shown in FIG. In a plan view of the flexible tube 15a viewed from the left-right direction Y, one of the radial directions perpendicular to the central axis O1 extends along the up-down direction Z. As shown in FIG. The flexible tube 15a has a rectangular shape when viewed from the front-back direction X and the left-right direction Y, respectively. The flexible tube 15a may be made of a plurality of film materials.

A partition wall 15c extending in the horizontal direction Y is formed in the flexible tube 15a. The partition wall 15c is formed near the central portion in the vertical direction Z of the flexible tube 15a. The interior of the fluid cell 15 (flexible cylinder 15a) is partitioned into two filling chambers in the vertical direction Z by the partition wall 15c. Each filling chamber is provided with an air supply/exhaust port 15e for supplying and discharging air. Pipes forming the air supply/exhaust unit 12 are connected to the air supply/exhaust ports 15e, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 4, at the end of the flexible tube 15a in the left-right direction Y, one of the radial directions of the flexible tube 15a intersects the direction in which the flexible tube 15a is sandwiched in the closing portion 15b. A valley fold portion 16 folded inward in the vertical direction Z is formed. The valley fold portion 16 is folded in one of the radial directions of the flexible tube 15a, and is folded downward in the vertical direction Z in the illustrated example. In a state in which air is discharged from the fluid cell 15 (flexible cylinder 15a) and the fluid cell 15 is folded in the front-rear direction X, the valley fold portion 16 is formed over the entire length in the left-right direction Y of the flexible cylinder 15a. It is That is, as shown in FIG. 4, in the process of filling air into the fluid cell 15, the valley fold portion 16 is formed over the entire length in the horizontal direction Y of the flexible tube 15a. Note that the valley folds 16 may be formed on the upper surface and the lower surface, respectively.

The closing portion 15b is arranged at a position where the valley fold portion 16 is formed along the left-right direction Y. As shown in FIG. That is, the closing portion 15b is formed so as to overlap the valley fold portion 16. As shown in FIG.
A pair of blocking portions 15b are formed at both ends of the fluid cell 15 in the left-right direction Y, respectively. The blocking portion 15b extends along the vertical direction Z and is arranged over the entire area of the flexible tube 15a. The closing portion 15b closes the openings at both ends of the flexible tube 15a by bonding the inner peripheral surfaces of the flexible tube 15a to each other. In the illustrated example, the closing portion 15b is formed by welding the inner peripheral surfaces of the flexible cylinder 15a to each other.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a pair of opposing inner surfaces 16c of the valley fold portion 16 are formed with fixing portions 17 for fixing the inner surfaces 16c to each other. The fixed portion 17 is formed integrally with the closing portion 15b. The fixing portion 17 and the closing portion 15b are formed by welded lines that extend vertically through the flexible tube 15a.

When the fluid cell 15 is filled with air, the valley folds 16 are separately formed at both ends in the left-right direction Y on the upward facing upper surface of the outer surface of the flexible tube 15a.
The valley-folded portion 16 includes a valley-folded concave portion 16a and a facing portion 16b. The valley fold portion 16 is recessed downward and open upward. The valley-fold concave portion 16a has a triangular shape in which two apexes are arranged along the front-rear direction X and the remaining apexes are arranged outside in the left-right direction Y when viewed from above. The facing portion 16b extends outward in the left-right direction Y from the outer end portion in the left-right direction Y of the valley-fold recessed portion 16a. The facing portion 16b is formed by a pair of front and rear inner surfaces 16c of the valley fold portion 16 facing each other in the front-rear direction X. As shown in FIG. A fixing portion 17 is formed at the inner end portion in the left-right direction Y of the facing portion 16b.

Further, in the present embodiment, the blocking portion 15b is arranged inside the flexible tube 15a in the left-right direction Y from both edges of the flexible tube 15a, and the flexible tube 15a has an outer side in the left-right direction Y from the blocking portion 15b. An ear portion 18 is formed that protrudes toward the. The ear portions 18 are separately formed at both ends in the horizontal direction Y of the flexible tube 15a. The ear portion 18 has a rectangular shape elongated in the vertical direction Z when viewed from the front-rear direction X. As shown in FIG.

Two attachment members (restricting portions) 19 are provided at both ends of the ear portion 18 in the vertical direction Z with a gap therebetween in the vertical direction Z. As shown in FIG. In the illustrated example, the mounting member 19 is a synthetic resin snap button arranged in a hole formed in the ear portion 18 . The mounting member 19 mounts the fluid cell 15 to a cover (not shown) of the mat device 10 . The mounting member 19 is connected to another fluid cell 15 through the cover and functions as a restricting portion that restricts relative displacement.
One or three or more attachment members 19 may be provided, or may be provided in the central portion of the ear portion 18 in the up-down direction Z. As shown in FIG. Alternatively, a snap button made of metal may be employed as the mounting member 19 .

Next, a method for manufacturing the fluid cell 15 will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the film material forming the fluid cell 15 is rolled around the center axis O1, and both peripheral ends are welded to each other to form the peripheral edge line 15f. This forms the flexible tube 15a.
Next, as a valley folding step, as shown in FIG. 5A, the upper end portion of the outer peripheral surface of the flexible tube 15a extending along the horizontal direction Y is folded inward in the vertical direction Z to fold the valley. A fold 16 is formed. In the illustrated example, a valley fold 16 parallel to the central axis O1 is formed over the entire length of the flexible tube 15a. In the valley-folding step, it is not necessary to form the valley-folded portion 16 over the entire length of the flexible tube 15a. Enough. Moreover, the valley fold portion 16 may be formed so as to be inclined with respect to the central axis O1.

Note that the maximum depth of the valley fold line 16d defined at the groove bottom of the valley fold portion 16 is the front-rear direction X at the center portion in the left-right direction Y of the upper surface of the fluid cell 15 in a state filled with air. It is preferably 15% to 50% of the thickness dimension of (hereinafter referred to as the central cell width).
If the maximum depth of the valley fold line 16d is 15% or less of the width of the central cell, the flexible tube 15a may have slightly sharp corners at its ends in the left-right direction Y. has been confirmed. In addition, when the maximum depth of the valley fold line 16d is 50% or more of the cell width in the central portion, the thickness dimension in the front-rear direction X (hereinafter referred to as , cell width at the ends) becomes larger than the cell width at the center.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5(b), the flexible tube 15a is sandwiched from both sides in the front-rear direction X by welding means (not shown) at the open end of the flexible tube 15a and welded. The inner peripheral surfaces of the flexible cylinders 15a are connected to each other over the entire area in the vertical direction Z. As a result, the fixing step of fixing the pair of mutually facing inner surfaces 16c of the valley fold portion 16 to each other and the closing step of closing the openings at both ends of the flexible tube 15a with the closing portions 15b are simultaneously performed.
As shown in FIG. 5(c), this welding operation forms closed portions 15b extending along the vertical direction Z at both ends of the flexible tube 15a in the left-right direction Y. Among the closed portions 15b, A fixing portion 17 is formed at a portion of the valley fold portion 16 located above the valley fold line 16d. Ear portions 18 are separately formed in portions of the flexible tube 15a that are located outside in the left-right direction Y of the closing portion 15b. This welding work is performed simultaneously with the formation of the peripheral edge line 15f by welding both peripheral edges of the film material, thereby forming the peripheral edge line 15f, the closed portion 15b, and the fixed portion 17. They may be formed at the same time.

Mounting members 19 are arranged on both ends of the ear portion 18 in the up-down direction Z. As shown in FIG. In the illustrated example, the upper attachment member 19 is attached to the facing portion 16 b of the valley fold portion 16 .
When the fluid cells 15 manufactured in this manner are used as the mat device 10, the plurality of fluid cells 15 are attached to the cover of the mat device 10 using the attachment members 19, and the air supply/exhaust unit 12 and the control unit The portion 13 is used to fill the inside of the fluid cell 15 with air.

Here, in the air-filled state, the cell width at the end portion is about twice the depth of the valley fold portion 16 to the valley fold line 16d. Therefore, the depth of the valley fold portion 16 can be set based on the cell width of the end portion when filled with air.
Further, the interval (pitch) in the front-rear direction X when the receiving members to which the mounting members 19 arranged on the ear portions 18 of the fluid cells 15 are mounted are provided on the cover of the mat device 10 is equivalent to the cell width at the ends. is preferably As a result, the gaps between the fluid cells 15 in the front-rear direction X can be narrowed, and when the user puts his/her hand between the plurality of fluid cells 15, the user's hand can be placed in the gap formed between the fluid cells 15. can prevent entry.
From the above, it can be said that the gap between the fluid cells 15 can be effectively narrowed by setting the depth of the valley folds 16 to half the pitch.

Next, a modified example of the fluid cell 15 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 6A, in the fluid cell 25 of the first modified example, the closing portion 25b is formed in a curved shape that gradually protrudes outward in the horizontal direction Y as it goes inward in the vertical direction Z. It is By forming the closing portions 25b in this manner, it is possible to easily secure portions for disposing the mounting members 19 at both end portions of the ear portion 18 in the vertical direction Z. As shown in FIG. According to this configuration, when the ear portion 18 is folded in the front-rear direction X, the attachment member 19 can be attached to the fluid cell more easily than in the case where the closing portion 25b is formed in a straight line extending along the up-down direction Z. 25 can be easily arranged in the vicinity of the central portion in the front-rear direction X.
In addition, as another aspect of the blocking portion, in a plan view viewed from the front-rear direction X, a slanted line that gradually extends outward in the left-right direction Y as it goes upward, or a line that gradually extends in the left-right direction as it goes upward in the plan view. It may be formed so as to form an inclining line toward the inside of Y.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6(b), in the fluid cell 35 of the second modified example, hook-and-loop fasteners extending in the vertical direction Z are disposed as attachment members 29 on the ear portions 18. As shown in FIG. The hook-and-loop fastener is arranged over substantially the entire region of the ear portion 18 in the up-down direction Z. As shown in FIG. By adopting the hook-and-loop fastener as the mounting member 29 in this way, the attachment and detachment work of the mounting member 19 can be facilitated compared to the configuration in which the snap button is adopted. Further, when the hook-and-loop fastener is provided over a wide area of the ear portion 18, the mounting strength of the mounting member 29 can be increased.
As another aspect of the mounting member, fixing holes are provided in the ear portions 18, and fixing strings having joints formed at predetermined intervals are passed through the respective fixing holes of the plurality of fluid cells 15 arranged in the front-rear direction X. It may be configured to penetrate.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, in the fluid cell 15A of the third modified example, the fixing portion 17 is not formed on the valley fold portion 16, and the inner surfaces 16c of the valley fold portions 16 are not fixed to each other. For this reason, the valley-folded portion 16 does not have a facing portion in which the pair of front and rear inner surfaces 16c face each other in the front-rear direction X, and the pair of front and rear inner surfaces 16c are integrated with the valley-fold recessed portion 16a. It is open upwards. Further, in the fluid cell 15A, one mounting member 19 is arranged below the ear portion 18. As shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the fluid cell 15 according to the present embodiment, the closing portion 15b is arranged at the position where the valley fold portion 16 is formed along the axial direction. Therefore, when the flexible tube 15a is filled with a fluid and expanded, the axial end of the flexible tube 15a and the inner surfaces of the valley fold portions 16 are separated from each other. It tries to spread in the direction in which it is sandwiched. As a result, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of corners sharpened outward (upward) in the vertical direction Z at the ends in the horizontal direction Y of the flexible tube 15a. Further, by adjusting the position of the closing portion 15b after forming the valley fold portion 16, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the corner portion at the end portion of the flexible tube 15a in the left-right direction Y. The fluid cell 15 can be easily manufactured with a reduced number of man-hours, compared to a structure in which a triangular ear in plan view is separately formed at the end of the vertical direction Z of the fluid cell 15b.

Further, when the flexible tube 15a is filled with fluid and expanded, the inner surfaces 16c of the valley fold portions 16 fixed to the fixing portion 17 are restrained to each other. Therefore, at the end of the flexible tube 15a in the axial direction, the outer peripheral surface positioned around the fixing portion 17 is flattened perpendicularly to one of the radial directions of the flexible tube 15a in which the valley fold portion 16 is folded. It can be formed in a planar shape.
Moreover, since the closing portion 15b and the fixing portion 17 can be integrally formed, the fluid cell 15 can be manufactured more easily.

Further, since the ear portions 18 are formed on the flexible tube 15a, for example, a mounting member 19 for mounting to the mat device 10 can be arranged on the ear portions 18. As shown in FIG.
Moreover, ear portions 18 are arranged over the entire area of the flexible tube 15a along the one direction. Therefore, a large area of the ear portion 18 can be secured, and for example, the number and shape of the mounting members 19 to be attached to the ear portion 18 can be selected with a degree of freedom.

Moreover, the mounting members 19 formed on the ear portions 18 restrict the relative displacement of the plurality of adjacent fluid cells 15, and the independence of the fluid cells 15 can be enhanced.
Further, the inside of the flexible tube 15a is divided into two filling chambers in one direction in which the valley fold portion 16 is folded. Therefore, the flexible tube 15a can be easily made independent in the one direction. Furthermore, since the outer peripheral surface positioned around the fixed portion 17 can be formed in a flat shape perpendicular to the one direction, the user lying on the fluid cell 15 can use it comfortably.

Further, according to the mat device 10 according to the present embodiment, since the fluid cells 15 are provided, the above effects can be achieved in the mat device 10 .
In addition, according to the method of manufacturing the fluid cell 15 according to the present embodiment, the fixing step and the closing step are performed simultaneously, so the fluid cell 15 can be easily manufactured with reduced man-hours.

(Second embodiment)
Next, a fluid cell 45 according to a second embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG.
In the second embodiment, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components as in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted, and only the different points will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a plurality of fluid cells 45 are interconnected in the front-rear direction X to form a fluid cell unit 50 . In the illustrated example, three fluid cells 45 are interconnected. The number of fluid cells 45 to be connected may be two or four or more.

Below the fluid cells 45, connecting pieces 40 are provided that extend in the front-rear direction X over the entire area in the left-right direction Y from the outer peripheral surface and connect the fluid cells 15 that are adjacent to each other. The connecting piece 40 is formed integrally with the outer wall of the flexible tube 45a in each fluid cell 45. As shown in FIG. In this way, by connecting a plurality of fluid cells 45 with the connecting piece 40 to form the fluid cell unit 50, the handleability of the fluid cells 45 in the mat device 10 can be ensured.

In addition, in this embodiment, the ear portion 48 of the fluid cell 45 is provided with a restricting portion 49 that is connected to another adjacent fluid cell 45 and restricts mutual relative displacement. The restricting portion 49 extends in the front-rear direction X from the left-right direction Y end portion of the ear portion 48 . The restricting portion 49 is formed in a rectangular band shape elongated in the front-rear direction X when viewed from the left-right direction Y. As shown in FIG.
The restricting portions 49 formed on the ear portions 48 of the fluid cells 15 adjacent to each other are connected to each other. In the illustrated example, two restricting portions 49 are separately formed on the ear portion 48 at different positions in the vertical direction Z. As shown in FIG. Of the restricting portions 49, the upper restricting portion 49 is formed at the upper end portion of the ear portion 48, and the lower restricting portion 49 is formed at the central portion in the vertical direction Z. As shown in FIG. The restricting portions 49 are connected to each other by engaging engaging portions (not shown) with each other.

As described above, according to the fluid cell 45 according to the present embodiment, the relative displacement between the plurality of adjacent fluid cells 45 is restricted by the restriction portion 49 formed in the ear portion 48, and the fluid cell 45 becomes self-sustaining. can enhance sexuality.

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the fluid cell 15 filled with air is used as the fluid cell.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the closing portion 15b and the fixing portion 17 are integrally formed is shown, but the present invention is not limited to such an aspect. The closing part and the fixing part may be formed separately, and for example, another form in which the fixing part is located inside the closing part in the left-right direction Y can be adopted as appropriate.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the flexible tube 15a is connected to the blocking portion 15b over the entire area in the vertical direction Z, and the ear portion 18 projecting outward in the horizontal direction Y is formed. It is not limited to such a mode. The ears may not be connected to the blocking part over the entire area in the vertical direction Z, or the ears may not be formed on the flexible tube.

In the above-described embodiment, the flexible tube 15a is provided with the partition wall 15c that partitions the interior of the flexible tube 15a into two filling chambers in the vertical direction Z, but such an aspect is provided. is not limited to The partition wall may partition the interior of the flexible tube in a direction different from the vertical direction Z, or the flexible tube may not be provided with a partition wall.

In addition, it is possible to appropriately replace the constituent elements in the above-described embodiment with well-known constituent elements without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the modifications described above may be combined as appropriate.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 mat device 15, 25, 35, 45 fluid cell 15a flexible tube 15b, 25b closing portion 16 valley fold portion 16c inner surface 17 fixing portion 18, 48 ear portion 19, 29 attachment member (restriction portion)
40 connecting piece 49 restricting part

Claims (9)

a flexible cylinder capable of being filled with a fluid;
a pair of closing parts that respectively close openings at both ends of the flexible tube;
ear portions protruding outward in the longitudinal direction of the flexible tube from the blocking portion, provided between the upper surface and the lower surface of the flexible tube, and extending vertically by a desired length ;
Air cell with. 2. The air cell according to claim 1, wherein the height of a part of the upper surface of the flexible tube is higher than the height of the ear portion when the flexible tube is filled with the fluid. The pair of closing portions individually closes the openings at both ends of the flexible tube with the upper surface of the flexible tube recessed downward when the fluid is not filled in the flexible tube. 3. The air cell according to claim 1 or 2. The air cell according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the ears are formed over the entire area of the flexible tube along the vertical direction. The air cell according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the ear portion is formed with a restricting portion that is connected to another air cell and restricts mutual relative displacement. The air cell according to claim 5, wherein the length of the ear portion is longer than the length of the restricting portion in the vertical direction. The flexible tube is provided with a partition wall that partitions the interior of the flexible tube into two filling chambers,
The air cell according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the partition wall vertically partitions the interior of the flexible tube. The air cell according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein an air supply/exhaust port is provided on a side surface of said flexible cylinder. A mat device comprising a plurality of air cells according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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