JPH09224983A - Air mat device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air mat device which has a preventing effect on decubitus and suppress the increase in cost by arranging an elastic member having a prescribed thickness in the bottom side of an air mat, where a plurality of bag-shaped air cells are arranged and integrally constituting a device by covering them. SOLUTION: A plurality of air cells 2 of an air mat device 1 are arranged so as to be formed into an air mat, the air cells 2a in odd member rows constitute an A group, and the air cells 2b in even number rows constitute a B group. Air is fed from an air pump to the A group cells composed of the odd-number air cells 2a and to the B group cell composed of the even-number air cells 2b via an air transfer path 14 and an air transfer path 15, respectively. The A group cells and the B group cells are mutually expanded and contracted via the air transfer paths 14, 15 so that the air mat is changed into a wavy shape in the length direction. A mattress 3 is arranged in the bottom side of the air cells 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air matting device for preventing pressure ulcers that occur when a sick person or the like lies on the floor for a long period of time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art If a sick person or the like who cannot turn over by himself has been lying on the floor for a long period of time, bed slippage may occur on the body. The cause of bed sores is that the body pressure from the bedding concentrates on a certain part of the body due to the inability to turn over, causing poor blood circulation, deterioration of physical strength and deterioration of nutritional status, or excessive moisture due to sweat or the like. Propagation of bacteria is said to be a factor.

In order to prevent such bed sores, various medical air mats have been developed. For example, a medical air mat as shown in FIG. 4 has been developed. This air mat 10 is, as shown in the figure, a bag-shaped air cell 1
About 20 1s are arranged side by side on the seat 12, and the air is sent from the air pump 13 to these air cells 11.

In this example, there are two transfer paths for the air from the air pump 13, and the group A (A-system cell) consisting of the odd-numbered air cells 11a of the arranged air cells 11 is supplied via the air transfer path 14. The air is sent to the group B (B system cell) including the even-numbered air cells 11b through the air transfer path 15.
Then, the A system cells and the B system cells are alternately inflated and deflated via these air transfer paths 14 and 15 to change into a waveform in the length direction of the air mat 10 to be locally applied to the sleeping person. The pressure is prevented from continuing to concentrate intensively to prevent pressure ulcers.

When the air mat 10 is actually used, it is put on a bed, for example, or a mattress is laid on a tatami mat and placed on it. By the way, in order to prevent pressure ulcers, it is preferable that such an air mat has as little contact pressure with the body as possible. For example, it is said to be a pressure ulcer development risk zone when the contact pressure to the sacral region exceeds 32 mmHg. For this reason, the pressure of the air sent into the air cell is suppressed to less than that.

[0006]

However, if the contact pressure is too low, the portion heavily loaded by the body will sink too much and the body portion will come into contact with the bed arranged below. Become. In this case, there is also a method of using an air cell whose height does not come into contact with the bottom even when it sinks, but it becomes difficult to care for a sick person depending on the place where the height is high. There is also a method of purchasing a soft mattress and laying it on the lower side of the air mat, but it is difficult to obtain the one having a thickness suitable for care, and the cost becomes high.

An object of the present invention is to provide an air matting device capable of exerting an effect of preventing pressure ulcer and suppressing an increase in cost.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention employs the following means. In the air matting device according to claim 1, an elastic member having a predetermined thickness is arranged below the air mat formed by arranging a plurality of bag-shaped air cells side by side, and these are covered with a cover to be integrally formed. It is characterized by that.

According to this structure, even if the portion to which a large amount of pressure is applied from the body sinks too much, the portion comes into contact with the elastic member of a predetermined thickness disposed on the lower side, so that the elastic member sinks. , There is no danger of absorbing the pressure and applying excessive contact pressure to the body of the sleeping person. In addition, if you prepare standard products that use elastic materials of several types of thickness, you can select a height that is easy to care for depending on the place of use, which is convenient for the purchaser. Since the air mat composed of a plurality of air cells and the elastic member are integrally formed by the cover, the product cost can be kept low. Furthermore, since the air mat does not slip on the mattress or on the bed, unlike the case where the air mats are used individually, there is no fear of slipping off because of the integrated structure.

An air matting device according to a second aspect is the air matting device according to the first aspect, characterized in that the elastic member is made of urethane foam.

According to this structure, since the material is general, the product cost can be kept low and the contact pressure can be kept low because the cushioning property is good.

An air matting device according to a third aspect is the air matting device according to the first aspect, characterized in that the air cell has a partition plate for partitioning the interior into upper and lower parts across the left and right side walls.

According to this structure, when pressure is applied from the upper side of the air cell, the air cell tries to spread in the left-right direction due to the internal air pressure, but since the partition plate is provided between the left and right sidewalls, The part does not spread. Therefore, the height is higher than that of an air cell that does not have a partition plate with the same internal pressure.
The width can be made narrower, and the margin for the subduction is created accordingly. In addition, since the number of the air mats can be increased, it is possible to make fine contact along the body shape, and the contact pressure decreases as the contact area increases,
The effect of pressure ulcer prevention can be increased.

The air matting device according to a fourth aspect is the air matting device according to the first or third aspect, wherein the air cells are divided into a plurality of groups and are configured to alternately repeat expansion and contraction.

According to this structure, when the air mat is viewed from the side, the upper surface of each air cell moves up and down to form a corrugated shape as a whole so that a strong contact pressure is locally maintained on the sleeping person. There is no. Therefore, there is an effect of improving blood flow and preventing bed sores. When applied to the configuration according to claim 3, in this case, since the width of each air cell is narrow, the discomfort at the time of contraction is alleviated.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same or equivalent members as those described in the section of the related art are designated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an air matting device 1 of the present invention. In the figure, 2 is an air cell,
Although its structure will be described later, a substantially cylindrical bag made by laminating a highly polymerized polymer film on a flexible cloth such as cloth, a plastic film as it is, or a plastic film having a satin-finished surface is used. It has a shape and can be expanded and contracted by supplying and exhausting air inside.

A plurality of air cells 2 are arranged side by side to form an air mat, and the odd-numbered air cells 2a are A.
The even-numbered air cells 2b form a group, and form a B group. Further, reference numeral 13 in the drawing is an air pump, which is adapted to send air into these air cells 2. There are two air transfer paths from the air pump 13, and the air is sent through the air transfer path 14 to the group A (A system cell) which is composed of the odd-numbered air cells 2a of the arranged air cells 2, and the even-numbered air cells are supplied. Air is sent into the group B (B system cell) consisting of 2b through the air transfer path 15. Then, the A-system cells and the B-system cells are alternately expanded and contracted via these air transfer paths 14 and 15 to change into a waveform in the length direction of the air mat, so that a strong contact pressure is locally concentrated. I try not to.

Further, reference numeral 3 in the drawing is a mattress made of urethane foam, which is arranged below the air cell 2.
A thickness of about 3 cm to 10 cm is appropriately used.
The one with a low height is convenient for care when the air mat device 1 is placed at a high position such as a bed, and the one with a height is when the air mat device 1 is placed directly on a tatami mat or the like. Moreover, the burden on the waist of the caregiver is reduced.

Reference numeral 4 in the drawing is a cover. In the figure, a part is missing, but this is cut out to show the inside, and actually the air cell 2 and the urethane foam 3 arranged below it are entirely covered and integrated. It was done. The material is stretchable, waterproof, breathable,
It is made of fabric with super antibacterial and deodorant properties.

Next, the structure of the air cell 2 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the side view of FIG. 2A, the air cell 2 has a bag-shaped main body 21 that can be inflated and deflated by inhaling and exhausting air from the air supply / exhaust port 22. As shown in FIG. 2C, a partition plate (hanging) 23 is provided inside the main body 21 so as to vertically partition the inside between the left side wall 21a and the right side wall 21b.

The partition plate 23 is made of the same material as that of the main body 21. The partition plate 23 is cut away in the vicinity of the front and rear ends of the main body 21, and the upper and lower interiors of the main body 21 communicate with each other through that portion. ing. Therefore, one air supply / exhaust port 2
The air cell 2 as a whole expands and contracts by sucking and exhausting air from 2.

2 (b) is a front view of the air cell 2, and FIG. 2 (c) is a C-C 'of the air cell shown in FIG. 2 (a).
2D is an end view taken along line D-D 'of the air cell shown in FIG. 2A, and FIG. 2E is an air cell 2 shown in FIG.
It is a perspective view of.

When air is supplied to the air cell 2 to expand it, and pressure is applied from above, in the case of the type without a normal partition plate, the central part swells to the left and right, and the upper and lower parts collapse. Since the type has the partition plate 23, the central portion does not swell, and the upper and lower central portions of the air cell 2 with the partition plate 23 as a boundary swell.

Comparing the one without the partition plate 23 and the one without the partition plate 23, the one without the partition plate 23 becomes a cylindrical shape when air is introduced, that is, the cross section becomes a circle, but the one with the partition plate 23 has an elongated cylindrical shape. That is, the cross section becomes an ellipse. For this reason, in the case of a cell having the partition plate 23, the width can be narrowed, so that the number of air cells constituting the air mat can be increased. Therefore, the area in contact with the body increases, the contact pressure decreases, and the pressure ulcer prevention effect can be increased.

Further, as described above, the air cells 2 alternately expand and contract and expand repeatedly. At that time, since the width of each air cell 2 is narrowed, the sleeping person can contract the air cell 2 at the time of contraction. There is little discomfort.

Further, the height can be made higher than that without the partition plate 23, so that there is a margin for the depression, and the body is placed on the lower side under the same internal pressure. The possibility of so-called bottoming in contact with an object is reduced. Moreover, since the height is high, the internal pressure can be lowered, and the pressure ulcer prevention effect can be enhanced.

Note that, for example, even when the body is depressed so as to contact the lower side, the urethane foam 3 is arranged below the air cell 2, so that the urethane foam 3 and the urethane foam 3 can absorb the load together. Therefore, the internal pressure of the air cell can be lowered to further enhance the pressure ulcer prevention effect.

The air cell 2 having the partition plate 23
Instead of this, a conventionally used cylindrical air cell 11 without a partition plate as shown in FIG. 3 may be used. Even in this case, the internal pressure can be lowered by the presence of the urethane foam 3 arranged on the lower side, so that the pressure ulcer prevention effect can be increased. Further, there is an advantage that the manufacturing cost is lower than that of the air cell 2 having a partition plate.

[0030]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, even if a portion to which a large amount of pressure is applied from the body is depressed too much, the portion has a predetermined thickness arranged on the lower side. Since the elastic member comes into contact with the elastic member, the elastic member does not sink, absorb the pressure, and apply excessive contact pressure to the body of the sleeping person. In addition, if you prepare standard products that use elastic materials of several types of thickness, you can select a height that is easy to care for depending on the place of use, which is convenient for the purchaser. Since the air mat composed of a plurality of air cells and the elastic member are integrally formed by the cover, the product cost can be kept low,
Also, unlike when used individually, the air mat does not slip up, so it does not slip.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the material is general, the product cost can be kept low, and since the cushioning property is good, the contact pressure can be kept even lower.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when pressure is applied from the upper side of the air cell, the air cell tries to spread in the left-right direction by the internal air pressure, but the partition plate is passed between the left and right side walls. That part does not spread.
Therefore, compared to an air cell that does not have a partition plate with the same internal pressure,
The height can be made high and the width can be made narrow, so that there is a margin for the depression. Further, since the number of the air mats can be increased, the air mat can be finely contacted along the body shape, and the contact pressure can be reduced with the increase of the contact area, so that the pressure ulcer prevention effect can be increased.

According to the invention described in claim 4, the upper surface of each group of air cells moves up and down to form a corrugated shape as a whole without locally maintaining a strong contact pressure to a sleeping person. , Combined with the other configurations described above, improves blood flow and doubles the pressure ulcer prevention effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an air matting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B show a form of an air cell used in an air matting device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 2A is a side view, FIG. 2B is a front view, and FIG. An end view taken along line C ', an end view taken along line D-D' in (a), and a perspective view (e).

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a conventionally used air cell.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conventional air matting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Air Mat Device 2 Air Cell 3 Urethane Foam (Elastic Member) 4 Cover 11 Air Cell 13 Air Pump 14 Air Transfer Path 15 Air Transfer Path 21 Air Cell Main Body 21a Side Wall 21b Side Wall 22 Air Supply / Exhaust Port 23 Partition Plate (Suspended)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An elastic member having a predetermined thickness is arranged below the air mat formed by arranging a plurality of bag-shaped air cells in parallel, and these are covered with a cover to be integrally formed. Air matting device. 2. The air matting device according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is made of urethane foam. 3. The air matting device according to claim 1, wherein the air cell has a partition plate that partitions the inside into upper and lower parts across the left and right side walls. 4. The air matting device according to claim 1, wherein the air cell including the plurality of air cells is divided into a plurality of groups and is configured to alternately repeat expansion and contraction.