Abstract:
A wall mounted hand rail system for assisting a user includes a support beam. A plurality of lighting elements is disposed adjacent a bottom portion of the support beam and is configured selectively to direct light in a downward direction. An electronic system is configured to sense when the support beam has been touched by the user and is configured to cause the lighting elements to illuminate an area below the support beam when the support beam has been touched by the user.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/751,007, filed Mar. 31, 2010, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/187,376, filed Jun. 16, 2009, the entirety of which is also hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to hand rail systems and, more specifically, to a hand rail system that provides light when touched. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    Falling is a common problem with patients in the hospital, nursing home and other health care environments. For example, patients who get out of their beds sometimes become unsteady and fall. The consequences of a fall can be debilitating to the patient and can be extremely costly to the health care facility. 
         [0006]    Many health care facilities employ hand rails affixed to the wall of a patient care area to help steady patients as they move about. Thus, a patient can get out of bed by grabbing the hand rail and walk while holding on to a hand rail. The constant guidance of the hand rail greatly reduces the likelihood of the patient falling. 
         [0007]    At night the patient&#39;s room is usually dark to facilitate sleeping. Because the room is dark, the patient may have difficulty seeing the hand rail, the floor and any hazards on the floor that increase the likelihood of tripping or falling. Leaving the lights on all night would solve this problem; however, it could also interfere with the patient&#39;s sleep. 
         [0008]    Most falls occur in the patient bedroom, followed by the bathroom. Transfers to and from bed may account for 42.2% of falls at or near the bedside, while toileting may account for 16.1% of falls. For individuals 65 and older, the rate of falls reaches 1.5 per hospital bed annually. Daytime sleep accounts for 50% of acute care patients&#39; total sleep time. Yet, harsh light sources can cause sleep arousals and awakenings during day and night-time sleep when light should be dimmer. It is projected the annual cost of fall injuries among older people in 2020 will escalate to $32.4 billion (not adjusting for changes to the U.S. dollar since 1994). Individual fall expenses often vary between approximately $1,000 and $20,000 per fall. Effective design interventions are necessary to help reduce nursing days lost due to back injuries caused by assisting patients to and from bathrooms. 
         [0009]    Therefore, there is a need for a hand rail that causes the floor to be lighted whenever the patient uses the hand rail, but that is dark when not in use. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention which, in one aspect, is a wall mounted hand rail system for assisting a user that includes a support beam. A plurality of lighting elements is disposed adjacent a bottom portion of the support beam and is configured selectively to direct light in a downward direction. An electronic system is configured to sense when the support beam has been touched by the user and is configured to cause the lighting elements to illuminate an area below the support beam when the support beam has been touched by the user. 
         [0011]    In another aspect, the invention is a hand rail system for assisting a user that includes a support beam having a conductive outer surface. A plurality of light emitting diodes is disposed adjacent a bottom portion of the support beam and is configured selectively to direct light in a downward direction. An electronic system is configured to sense when the support beam has been touched by the user and is configured to cause the light emitting diodes to illuminate an area below the support beam when the support beam has been touched by the user. 
         [0012]    The electronic system includes a touch sensor circuit that is configured to sense when the conductive outer surface has been touched, a switch that is configured to couple the lighting elements to a power source when the touch sensor has sensed that the conductive outer surface has been touched and a timing circuit that is configured to start a timer when the conductive outer surface has been touched and wherein the switch is responsive to the timer and is further configured to continue to couple the lighting elements to the power source until the timer indicates that a predetermined amount of time has passed since the conductive outer surface was touched. 
         [0013]    In yet another aspect, the invention is a room, including a wall. A support beam is affixed to the wall so that the support beam is at an elevation to facilitate supporting a person grasping the support beam. A plurality of lighting elements is disposed adjacent a bottom portion of the support beam and is configured selectively to direct light in a downward direction. An electronic system is configured to sense when the support beam has been touched by the user and is configured to cause the lighting elements to illuminate an area below the support beam when the support beam has been touched by the user. 
         [0014]    These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the following drawings. As would be obvious to one skilled in the art, many variations and modifications of the invention may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]      FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of a first embodiment. 
           [0016]      FIG. 1B  is an elevational view of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1A . 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional schematic view of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1B , taken along line  2 - 2 . 
           [0018]      FIG. 3A  is an elevational view of an embodiment employed in a patient room while in a dormant state. 
           [0019]      FIG. 3B  is an elevational view of an embodiment employed in a patient room while in an active state. 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment. 
           [0021]      FIG. 5  is an electrical schematic diagram of a device employed in one embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0022]    A preferred embodiment of the invention is now described in detail. Referring to the drawings, like numbers indicate like parts throughout the views. Unless otherwise specifically indicated in the disclosure that follows, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims, the following terms take the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise: the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on.” 
         [0023]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , one embodiment is a selectively illuminated hand rail  100  that includes a support beam  110 , configured to provide a patient with support, and a plurality of wall mounts  120  for securing the support beam  110  to a wall. The hand rail  100  is placed at a height that would be typical for supporting patients in, for example, a hospital room, a restroom, a nursing home or any environment where a person would use a handrail for support. The support beam  110  includes an unlighted patient support member  112  and a light member  114 . The unlighted patient support member  112  may be made of one of many materials that could be employed in a hand rail, including metal, plastic, wood, etc. In one embodiment, it can include an anti-microbial material or an anti-microbial coating. The light member  114  has embedded therein a plurality of downwardly pointing lighting elements  116 , such a light emitting diodes. (However, it is understood that other types of lighting elements, such as incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lights could be employed without departing from the scope of the invention.) 
         [0024]    One or more lights  118  may also be placed adjacent the ends of the patient support member  112  to provide guidance to the patient as to where to grab. In one embodiment, these lights  118  are relatively dim lights, such as light emitting diodes, that are left on permanently. Also, these lights  118  may also face upwardly (as shown) or, alternatively, may face outwardly from the ends of the patient support member  112  or the light member  114 . 
         [0025]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , a touch-sensitive electronic element  210  is embedded in the hand rail  100 . In one representative embodiment, the touch-sensitive electronic element  210  includes a touch sensor  212  (such as a capacitive touch sensor, a pressure sensor, or one of the many types of touch sensors known to those of skill in the electronic arts), a switch  216  that is responsive to the touch sensor  212  and a power source  214  (which could be, e.g., hard wired to a low voltage DC power source or which could be a battery). When the touch sensor  212  senses that someone has touched the hand rail  100 , the touch sensor  212  causes the switch  216  to supply power to the lighting elements  116 , thereby illuminating the floor. A timer  218  may also be activated by the touch sensor  212 , causing the switch  216  to stay in a “on” state for a predetermined amount of time after the touch sensor  212  senses the touching, thereby preventing the lighting elements  116  from blinking off during brief periods when the patient&#39;s hand is removed from the hand rail  100 . As will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art, the configuration of the touch-sensitive electronic element  210  shown in  FIG. 2  is one of many different touch switch systems that may be employed within the scope of the invention. Such systems could include, for example, programmable logic arrays or microprocessors to achieve the desired lighting timing. 
         [0026]    As shown in  FIG. 3A , the hand rail  100  may be employed in a patient care room  300  to provide a patient with support and guidance from a bed  310  to a restroom  320 . In this example, since no one is touching the hand rail  100  in  FIG. 3A , the lighting elements are off. However, as shown in  FIG. 3B , a patient  302  touching the hand rail  100  causes the lighting elements to illuminate that area  330  under the hand rail  100 , thereby providing the patient  302  with greater stability and confidence, while lessening the potential for the patient  302  to slip, trip or fall. 
         [0027]    One example of a system  400  including a hand rail  410  mounted on a wall  402  is shown in  FIG. 4 . In this embodiment, the electronic circuits  412  used to control the lighting are contained within the hand rail  410 . This example also employs a strut  420  to provide added vertical support to the hand rail  410 . In other embodiments, the hand rail and its mounting elements can be built of materials of sufficient strength so as not to employ a strut. 
         [0028]    An example of an electrical device  500  employed in one embodiment is shown in  FIG. 5 . This embodiment is powered by a 24 V DC wall input to power light emitting diodes (LEDs) through a printed circuit board. 
         [0029]    This device lessens the potential for physical injury, adverse psychological effects, extended hospital stays, litigation, and even fatality because many patient falls occur at night or during dim conditions. Also, many falls occur while an unassisted patient is walking or getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. An added advantage is that the invention provides a visual cue to healthcare staff of when a patient is attempting to exit the bed and moving to or from the bathroom without assistance. 
         [0030]    One embodiment facilitates the relationship between patient bed and the bathroom in a typical patient room afforded by a canted headwall. Inboard bathrooms (near the corridor) and near the patient bed allow the staff to easily view the patient from the hallway during nursing rounds. The bathroom arrangement gives patients a wider view to the outdoors and closer proximity to the bathroom. The above-disclosed device would complete this or any other patient bedroom design ensemble by offering the peace of mind afforded by a clear and reliable means to egress a bed or access a bathroom during dim conditions either night or day. The avoidance of litigation resulting from a single injury and/or trauma to a patient could likely outweigh the cost of outfitting an entire facility. 
         [0031]    The above described embodiments, while including the preferred embodiment and the best mode of the invention known to the inventor at the time of filing, are given as illustrative examples only. It will be readily appreciated that many deviations may be made from the specific embodiments disclosed in this specification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be determined by the claims below rather than being limited to the specifically described embodiments above.