INFLATABLE AIR MATTRESS

An inflatable air mattress includes a plurality of air cells arranged side by side. Every air cell includes an envelope, an elastomer, and a plurality of restriction straps. The envelope is inflatable and the elastomer is located inside the envelope. Each restriction strap includes two connection sections connected to a locating zone on the envelope, and a covering section located between the two connection sections to cover a part of the locating zone, such that a communicating gap is formed between the covering section and the envelope and the locating zone is divided into a central restricted area and an outer expandable area. The outer expandable area and the central restricted area are different in deformability. With the restriction straps, it is able to prevent the locating zones on the envelope from being over-deformed when the envelope is inflated and to prevent the deformed envelope from having an irregular shape.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an inflatable air mattress for a patient to lie thereon, and more particularly, to an inflatable air mattress that is restricted from over-deformation when being inflated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Patients who are suffering from paralysis, persistent vegetative state (PVS), stroke, and spinal cord injury are not freely movable by themselves. With limited mobility, these patients are usually confined to hospital beds over a long time without changing their position. As a result, the patients' skin under continued pressure is subjected to localized damages, such as forming blisters or getting skin-loss wounds. In some worse conditions, tissue necrosis caused by bedsore might occur at the patients' locally damaged skins. To avoid the bedridden patients from getting bedsore, they are usually lying on an air mattress during treatment. The conventional air mattress provides the functions of massaging the patients lying thereon and helping the patients to roll over, so that the patients can avoid localized skin necrosis.

The conventional air mattress consists of a plurality of deformable air cells. When the air cells are inflated using an inflation device, the air cells tend to deform and present different configurations in the process of inflation. As a result, the inflated air mattress would show an irregular shape, which is not comfortable for the patient to lie on. Further, since the air cells of the air mattress will deform irregularly when being inflated, holes tends to be formed on the air cells to cause air leakage and accordingly, reduce the service life of the air mattress.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide an inflatable air mattress including air cells with improved structural configuration, such that the air cells being inflated with an inflation device would not be over-deformed to result in irregularly shapes. Meanwhile, air leakage caused by holes formed in the inflation of the air cells can be reduced to prolong the service life of the air cells.

To achieve the above and other objects, the inflatable air mattress according to the present invention includes a plurality of air cells, which are arranged side by side to form a supporting bed for a patient. Each of the air cells includes an envelope, an elastomer, and a plurality of restriction straps.

The envelope internally defines an air chamber that is inflatable to expand, such that the envelope is capable of providing an inflation supporting force when the air cell is in an inflated state. Further, a plurality of locating zones are defined on the envelope. The elastomer is located in the air chamber defined by the envelope and is capable of providing a deflation supporting force when the air cell is in a deflated state. Each of the restriction straps includes two connection sections vertically spaced from each other and a covering section located between the two connection sections. A vertical linear distance between the two connection sections is defined as a strap width distance. The two connection sections on each of the restriction straps are connected to the same locating zone on the envelope, such that a communicating gap is formed between the covering section of the restriction strap and the envelope.

Each of the locating zones has a part being covered by the covering section, such that the locating zone is divided into a central restricted area and an outer expandable area. The outer expandable area has deformability different from that of the central restricted area.

In a preferred embodiment, when the air cell is in the inflated state, the central restricted areas on the envelope are deformed toward the covering sections to thereby change a cross-sectional shape of the communicating gaps. The restriction straps respectively have a deformation coefficient ranged between zero and a deformation coefficient of the envelope, such that the restriction straps respectively have deformability smaller than that of the envelope. When the central restricted areas on the envelope are deformed toward the covering sections, the restriction straps are deformed at the same time to shorten the strap width distance and one of the two connection sections of the same restriction strap is brought closer to the other of the two connection sections. In the preferred embodiment, when the air cell is in the inflated state, the central restricted areas on the envelope are in partial contact with the covering sections.

In another operable embodiment, the restriction straps respectively have a deformation coefficient of zero, such that the restriction straps are non-deformable and can limit the central restricted areas from deformation while the outer expandable areas are deformable when the air cell is in the inflated state. The central restricted areas limited by the non-deformable restriction straps are able to maintain an initial shape, such that the strap width distance of the restriction straps is unchanged and the communicating gaps keep their original cross-sectional shapes.

In the above two embodiments, the envelopes are respectively provided on each of four side surfaces with one locating zone; and the restriction straps are connected to the locating zones in one-to-one correspondence to limit the air cell from deformation in the x-axis and the y-axis.

The covering sections respectively include a plurality of covering sheets and a plurality of bending lines. Each of the bending lines is located between two adjacent covering sheets, such that the two adjacent covering sheets are connected to each other along the bending line with a sunken area formed on the covering section at each of the bending lines.

The present invention is characterized in that the air cell is formed of an envelope and a plurality of restriction straps. The locating zones defined on the envelope respectively have a part being covered by the restriction straps, so that the locating zones are respectively divided into a central restricted area and an outer expandable area. The outer expandable area has deformability smaller than that of the central restricted area. When the envelope is inflated and deformed, the locating zones are limited by the restriction straps from being over-deformed to prevent the air cell from forming an irregular shape. Meanwhile, air leakage caused by holes formed on the air cell in the process of inflating can be avoided to thereby prolong the service life of the air cell.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments thereof and by referring to the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of easy to understand, elements that are the same in the preferred embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Please refer toFIG.1, in which an inflatable air mattress1according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. The inflatable air mattress1includes a plurality of air cells10arranged side by side to form a supporting bed20. As can be seen inFIGS.2,3and4, each of the air cells10includes an envelope11, an elastomer12, and a plurality of restriction straps13. The envelope11is deformable and has a generally square-column configuration to define an internal air chamber111. As shown, each of a front, a rear, a left and a right side surface of the envelope11is partially defined as a locating zone112.

Please refer toFIGS.3,4and5. The elastomer12of the air cell10is deformable and located in the air chamber111defined by the envelope11. Each of the restriction straps13includes two connection sections131and a covering section132. The two connection sections131are vertically spaced from one another, such that a vertical linear distance between the two connection sections131is defined as a strap width distance D. The covering section132is located between the two connection sections131and each includes a plurality of covering sheets132aand a plurality of bending lines132b. Each of the bending lines is located between two adjacent covering sheets132a, such that the two adjacent covering sheets132aare connected to each other along the bending line132band a sunken area is formed on the covering section132at each of the bending lines132b. In the illustrated preferred embodiment, each of the restriction straps13has a deformation coefficient ranged between zero and a deformation coefficient of the envelope11, so that the restriction strap has deformability smaller than that of the envelope11. The two connection sections131of each restriction strap13are connected to the same locating zone112on the envelope11, such that the covering section132covers a part of the locating zone112with a communicating gap C being formed between the covering section132and the locating zone112. As can be seen inFIG.6, when the two connection sections131of the restriction strap13are connected to the same one locating zone112, a central part of the locating zone112being covered by the covering section132is defined as a central restricted area112a, while other area of the locating zone112surrounding the central restricted area112aand not covered by the covering section132is defined as an outer expandable area112b. With the provision of the restriction strap13on each of the locating zones112, the central restricted area112ahas deformability different from that of the outer expandable area112b. With this arrangement, the air cell10is restricted by the restriction strap13to deform in the x-axis and the y-axis direction.

Please refer toFIG.7A, which shows the inflatable air mattress1of the present invention before it is inflated. When the inflatable air mattress1is not inflated, the envelope11of each air cell10is in touch with a top surface of the elastomer12in the air cell10. The air cell10at this point is defined as in a deflated state A1. When the air cell10is in the deflated state A1, the elastomer12provides a deflation supporting force F1to bear the weight of a patient lying on the supporting bed20of the inflatable air mattress1.

Please refer toFIG.7B, which shows the inflatable air mattress1of the present invention after it is inflated. Air can be supplied into the inflatable air mattress1using an inflating device (not shown). When the air flows into the air chambers111in the envelopes11, the envelopes11are expanded to deform outward and the air chambers111are increased in size. At this point, the central restricted areas112aon the envelopes11are deformed toward the covering sections132of the restriction straps13. Meanwhile, the restriction straps13are also deformed and each of the covering sheets132aof the covering sections132is expanded and pivotally turned about the bending lines132band accordingly, to move closer to an adjacent covering sheet132a. At this point, a contained angle between any two adjacent covering sheets132ais reduced, bringing the connection sections131of each restriction strap13to be located closer to each other. That is, the strap width distance D of the restriction straps13is shortened and the air cells10are changed from the deflated state A1into an inflated state A2, which results in change of a cross-sectional shape of the communicating gaps C. When the envelopes11are deformed outward, the restriction straps13are able to restrict the outward deformability of the central restricted areas112aof the locating zones112to be smaller than the deformability of the outer expandable areas112b. In brief, when the envelopes11are expanded and deformed by the air filled thereinto, the central restricted areas112bof the locating zones112are limited by the restriction straps13from being over-deformed, such that the air cells10are restricted by the restriction straps13from deformation in the x-axis and the y-axis direction and the envelopes11are prevented from having an irregular configuration after being deformed. Further, the provision of the restriction straps13is possible to avoid the condition of air leakage caused by the formation of one or more holes on the air cells10in the process of inflation and accordingly, prolong the service life of the air cells10. In the illustrated preferred embodiment, when the air cells10are in the inflated state A2, the envelopes11of the air cells10can provide an inflation supporting force F2to bear the weight of a patient lying on the supporting bed20of the inflatable air mattress1, and the central restricted areas112aon the envelopes11are in contact with the covering sections132of the restriction straps13.

However, the above description that the contained angle between two adjacent covering sheets132awill reduce when the central restricted areas112aof the envelopes11are deformed toward the covering sections132of the restriction straps13is only illustrative. In another example as shown inFIG.7C, when the central restricted areas112aare deformed toward the covering sections132of the restriction straps13, all the covering sheets132aof the covering sections132are also deformed outward, such that every covering sheet132ais convex relative to the central restricted area112aof the envelope11. In this case, the deformed central restricted areas112aare not in contact with the covering sections132.

Please refer toFIG.8, in which an air cell according to a second embodiment of the present invention is shown. The second embodiment is different from the preferred embodiment in that the restriction straps13of the second embodiment respectively have a deformation coefficient of zero. Since the air cells10in the second embodiment are structurally identical to that in the preferred embodiment, they are not repeatedly described herein.

In the second embodiment, since the restriction straps13on each air cell10has a deformation coefficient of zero, the restriction straps13are non-deformable and can therefore limit the central restricted areas112afrom deformation. In this case, when the envelope11is expanded by air supplied thereinto and the air cell10is in the inflated state A2, a top and a bottom side surface of the envelope11and the outer expandable areas112bon the envelope11all are deformable while the central restricted areas112aon the envelope11limited by the non-deformable restriction straps13do not deform to maintain their initial shapes. Therefore, the strap width distance D of the restriction straps13does not change and the communicating gaps C keep their original configuration.