Abstract:
A mobile disinfection apparatus is provided to disinfect the sickbeds. The disinfection apparatus includes a retractable hollow shield with a plurality of wheels for enclosing the sickbed thereinside; a disinfector furnished on an inner surface of the shield for disinfecting the sickbed; and a control unit with a control panel located outside the shield for activating the disinfector.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates in general to a mobile disinfection apparatus, and more particularly, to a disinfection apparatus to be used in disinfecting the sickbeds, which is easy in traveling and for storage, and can rapidly complete the disinfection work with minimum manpower.  
         [0002]     The hospital and nursing home provide beds for sick persons. The sickbeds are public equipments so that it is very important to make sure the bed is thoroughly disinfected after it is used by others. Therefore, it exists demand of a special disinfection apparatus to disinfect the sickbeds in convenience.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     The present invention provides a mobile disinfection apparatus for a sickbed, which is easy in traveling and for storage, and can rapidly complete the disinfection work with minimum manpower.  
         [0004]     Further, the present invention provides a disinfection apparatus for disinfecting the sickbed from the under side, which can be cooperated with the above-mentioned mobile disinfection apparatus to make sure the sickbed is thoroughly disinfected thereby.  
         [0005]     Accordingly, the mobile disinfection apparatus for a sickbed includes a retractable hollow shield with a plurality of wheels for enclosing the sickbed thereinside; a disinfector furnished on an inner surface of the shield for disinfecting the sickbed; and a control unit with a control panel located outside the shield for activating the disinfector.  
         [0006]     Furthermore, the disinfection apparatus for disinfecting a under portion of a sickbed includes a base located under the sickbed; a disinfector furnished on a top surface of the base for disinfecting the under portion of the sickbed; and a control unit with a controller for activating the disinfector.  
         [0007]     These and other objectives of the present invention will become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.  
         [0008]     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     These, as well as other features of the present invention, will become apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a mobile disinfection apparatus in an unfolding status according to the present invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  shows a different view of the mobile disinfection apparatus in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  shows an enlarged view of part A of the mobile disinfection apparatus in  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  shows a perspective view of another cooperated disinfection apparatus according to the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  shows an application of the disinfection apparatus for a sickbed;  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  shows a front view of the disinfection apparatus in  FIG. 5 ; and  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  shows a perspective view of the mobile disinfection apparatus in a folding status. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.  
         [0018]     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 and 7 , which show the perspective views of an unfolding and a folding disinfection apparatus of the present invention, respectively. The mobile disinfection apparatus  1  of the present invention includes a retractable hollow shield  10  for enclosing a sickbed  2  (as shown in  FIG. 5  or  6 ) inside the shield  10 . Therefore, the sickbed  2  can be entirely shielded to be disinfected under the enclosure of the retractable shield  10 . The shield  10  is foldable to be expanded for use as in  FIG. 1 , or to be folded for storage as in  FIG. 7 . Moreover, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the shield  10  has a plurality of wheels  100  to provide the mobility of the disinfection apparatus  1  in traveling to another sickbed.  
         [0019]     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  of an preferred embodiment of the present invention, the retractable shield  10  includes a plurality of n-shaped casings  101 ,  102 ,  103  connected to each other. Referring to  FIG. 3 , each two casings  101 ,  102  or  102 ,  103  are connected by an engagement of a rail  105  of one casing  102  or  103  to a sliding slot  104  of the other casing  101  or  102 , respectively. As such, the retractable shield  10  can be easily unfolded for use and folded for storage. Furthermore, at both front end  106  and rear end  107  of the retractable shield  10  can be constructed to be opened upwards or aside (either from right side or left side). Therefore, the sickbed  2  can be put inside the shield  10  from opening the front side  106  of the rear side  107 . However, of course there can be only one side of the shield capably to be opened and the other side is closed.  
         [0020]     As in  FIGS. 2, 3  and  6 , the mobile disinfection apparatus  1  includes a disinfector  11  to kill bacteria and virus. The disinfector  11  includes at least one of a high-temperature vapor, a light exposure, a medication, a physical/chemical disinfection device or any other disinfector capably to kill and/or inactivate germs. In this preferred embodiment, the disinfector  11  includes a plurality of ultra violet (UV) light tubes  110  which provide UV light to kill and/or inactivate germs. The UV tubes  110  are mounted on each inner wall of the casings  101 ,  102 ,  103 . The inner wall of each casing  101 ,  102  or  103  is recessed, as shown in  FIG. 3 , for the UV tubes  110  to be installed therein. As such, when the mobile disinfection apparatus is folded, the casings  101 ,  102 ,  103  will not interfere to each other for the retraction of the shield  10 . In this embodiment, the UV tubes  110  are preferably the UV254 tubes which provide an ultra violet light of 253.7 nm wavelength.  
         [0021]     Back to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the disinfector  11  is controlled by a control unit  12  to switch on/off, and determine the power and/or the operation time of the disinfector  11 . The control unit  12  includes a control panel mounted outside the shield  10  for the operation of the users.  
         [0022]     Furthermore, as in  FIGS. 4 and 6 , the disinfection apparatus of the present invention can further includes a plate base  13  and another disinfector  14  mounted on the base  13 . This disinfector  14  is similar to the above-mentioned disinfector  11 , which includes at least one of a high-temperature vapor, a light exposure, a medication, a physical/chemical disinfection device or any other disinfector capably to kill and/or inactivate germs. In this embodiment, the disinfector  14  includes a plurality of ultra violet (UV) light tubes  110 . The base  13  also includes a plurality of wheels  130  so that the base  13  can be movably located under the sickbed  2 , and the disinfector  14  is provided to disinfect a under portion of the sickbed  2 . Moreover, another control unit  15  is also provided to switch on/off, and determine the power and/or the operation time of the disinfector  14 . The control unit  15  includes a controller  150  which can further includes a cord  151  to connected with the control unit  15  or connect to the control unit  15  via wireless connection.  
         [0023]     Finally, please refer to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , an application of the present invention are shown. Using both the shield  10  and the base  13 , the sickbed  2  can be thoroughly disinfected in convenience. The shield  10  is used to disinfect both the right and left sides of the sickbed  2 , and the base  13  is used to disinfect the sickbed  2  from the under side. As such, the disinfection work can be rapidly complete in minimum time without manually wiping and cleaning action. After the disinfection, the sickbed  2  is moved out from the mobile disinfection apparatus of the present invention, and a clean mattress, sheet and pillow can be then placed on the sickbed for the next use.  
         [0024]     This disclosure provides exemplary embodiments of the present invention. The scope of this disclosure is not limited by these exemplary embodiments. Numerous variations, whether explicitly provided for by the specification or implied by the specification, such as variations in shape, structure, dimension, type of material or manufacturing process may be implemented by one of skill in the art in view of this disclosure.