Abstract:
A medical air mattress has a mattress body, a lower bedspread, an upper bedspread and a guardrail unit. The mattress body is formed by multiple air cells parallel arranged in an air cell row. The upper bedspread covers the mattress body and has two guardrail sleeves formed on the upper bedspread. The guardrail unit has multiple guardrail air cells mounted respectively in the guardrail sleeves. Since the guardrail sleeves are formed on the upper bedspread, the guardrail sleeves from each opposite side of the upper bedspread will draw each other to maintain the guardrail sleeves in position when pressed. Therefore, the guardrail sleeves do not fall down when pressed to remain providing optimal protection purpose.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a medical air mattress, especially to a medical air mattress for anti-decubitus purposes. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Arts 
         [0004]    For patients who have physical difficulties with mobility or bedfast. Patients lying on a mattress over a long period of time are susceptible to develop decubitus ulcers on multiple areas of body due to continuous pressure. In order to minimize or eliminate the development of decubitus ulcers caretakers must turn patients&#39; body over or move patient to alternate the areas of pressure on the body. The conventional medical air mattress was developed to assist in the manual movement of and alternating pressure areas on the patient using multiple odd and even cells alternatively inflated to generate wave motion for changing the contact areas of the patient&#39;s body. The conventional medical air mattress has the following inadequacies. 
         [0005]    1. Because the patients lying on the conventional air mattress have difficulty with mobility or bedfast, the protective apparatus around the conventional air mattress is important to keep the patient from falling off of the mattress. Hospital beds, which a medical mattress is used on, are equipped with guardrails; which at times can prohibit medical staff from taking care of the patients lying on the hospital beds and cannot always be in optimal position for patient protection. Many patients require the continued therapy of a medical air mattress in their homes. The medical air mattress is also required to assist caretakers move patient with minimal manual labor. In many cases the home is not equipped with guardrails on the bed that the medical air mattress is being used. The conventional medical air mattress has air filled guardrails to protect patients and to assist caretakers, who can easily press down the air guardrails. Such guardrails cannot be inflated or deflated independently. If the patient accidentally compresses either air guardrail, such air guardrails will slant outward and cannot protect the patient anymore, causing the opportunity for the patient to fall from mattress. Such air guardrails have no connection with the upper bedspreads, only being connected to the lower bedspreads restrict the ability to have mutual-drawing power to each other from two-side on the upper bedspreads. 
         [0006]    2. To assist patients in turning over, two inclined cells are mounted under the body air cells. When the patients need to turn over, one of the inclined cells inflates to tilt the conventional air mattress. This design offers only one inclined angle. Patients with varying disabilities will require different inclined positions, which are decided by physicians or patient discomfort. In the event that the patient requires a different angle than that offered by the conventional air mattress caretakers may use non-recommended accessories or the therapy cannot be provided. Either of these options put the patient at risk of injury. 
         [0007]    The present invention provides a medical air mattress to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned inadequacies. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The main objective of the present invention is to provide a medical air mattress that will have mutual-drawing guardrail sleeves to keep the guardrail sleeves from tilting when being pressed. The medical air mattress has a mattress body, an upper bedspread and a guardrail unit. The mattress body is formed by multiple air cells parallelly arranged in an air cell row. The upper bedspread covers the mattress body and has guardrail sleeves on two-side formed on the top of the upper bedspread. The guardrail unit has multiple guardrail air cells mounted respectively in the guardrail sleeves. The guardrail sleeves are formed on the upper bedspread, the upper bedspread and the guardrail sleeves will draw each other on two-side to ensure the guardrail sleeves remain in position when pressed. Therefore, the guardrail sleeves will not fall down when pressed and continue to provide optimal protection for the patient as its intended purpose. 
         [0009]    Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when reviewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a medical air mattress in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a pipeline diagram of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3A  is a pipeline diagram of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is an operational side view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 1 , showing the body air cells all inflated; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is an operational side view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 1 , showing the odd body air cells inflated; 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is an operational side view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 1 , showing the even body air cells inflated; 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  is an operational end view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 1 , showing the left side inclined air cell inflated; 
           [0018]      FIG. 8  is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of a medical air mattress in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 9  is a pipeline diagram of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 8 ; 
           [0020]      FIG. 10  is an operational end view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 8 , showing the odd body air cells inflated; 
           [0021]      FIG. 11  is an operational end view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 8 , showing the even body air cells inflated; 
           [0022]      FIG. 12  is an operational end view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 8 , showing the left side inclined air cell and all body air cells inflated; 
           [0023]      FIG. 13  is an operational end view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 8 , showing the right side inclined air cell and even body air cells inflated; and 
           [0024]      FIG. 14  is an operational end view in partial section of the medical air mattress in  FIG. 8 , showing the left side inclined air cell and odd body air cells inflated. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0025]    With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a first embodiment of a medical air mattress in accordance with the present invention comprises a lower bedspread  10 , two inclined air cells  20 , a mattress body  30 , an upper bedspread  50  and a guardrail unit  60 . 
         [0026]    The inclined air cells  20  are mounted longitudinally on the lower bedspread  10 ; respectively near two sides of the lower bedspread  10  and are parallel to each other. 
         [0027]    The mattress body  30  is mounted on the lower bedspread  10 , which is mounted across the inclined air cells  20  comprising of multiple body air cells  31  and multiple head air cells  32 . In a preferred embodiment, the mattress body  30  comprises three head air cells  32 . Each body air cell  31  and each head air cell  32  are tubular and respectively uniform in diameter. The head air cells  32  have the same diameter with the body air cells  31 . The body air cells  31  and the head air cells  32  are parallel to each other and are arranged in a row to form an air cell row. The head air cells  32  are arranged at a head end in the air cell row, i.e. the head air cells  32  arranged at first to third in the air cell row. The body air cells  31  are arranged at fourth to seventeenth in the air cell row. 
         [0028]    The upper bedspread  50  covers the mattress body  30  and is connected securely to the lower bedspread  10 . A heat unit  51  is installed right under the upper bedspread  50  and above mattress body  30  for heating. The heat unit  51  may be carbon fiber electrothermal sheet. The upper bedspread  50  has guardrail sleeves  52 . The guardrail sleeves  52  are formed parallel on two-side of the upper bedspread  50  and are respectively formed adjacent to the edges of two sides of the upper bedspread  50 . In a preferred embodiment, the guardrail sleeves  52  are stitched on the upper bedspread  50 . Each guardrail sleeve  52  has at least one sleeve body  521 . In a preferred embodiment, each guardrail sleeve  52  has two sleeve bodies  521  formed separately and aligning with and coaxial to each other. 
         [0029]    The medical air mattress as described further comprises a massage unit  40  mounted on the mattress body  30 . The massage unit  40  comprises multiple micro vibrators  41  to massage the patients lying on the medical air mattress as described. Those micro vibrators  41  distribute massage separately and respectively to patient&#39;s neck, back, waist, thighs and so on. 
         [0030]    The guardrail air unit  60  is mounted in the guardrail sleeves  52  and comprises multiple guardrail air cells  61 . The guardrail air cells  61  are mounted respectively in the sleeve bodies  521  of the guardrail sleeve  52 . 
         [0031]    With reference to  FIG. 3 , the medical air mattress as described comprises a pumping assembly  70 . The pumping assembly  70  is connected to and selectively inflates the inclined air cells  20 , the body air cells  31 , the head air cells  32  and the guardrail air cells  61 . In a preferred embodiment, the pumping assembly  70  comprises a pump  71 , an inclined pipeline  72 , an odd body pipeline  73 , an even body pipeline  74 , a guardrail pipeline  77  and a rapidly releasing valve  78 . The inclined pipeline  72  connects the pump  71  with the inclined air cells  20 . The odd body pipeline  73  connects the pump  71  with the body air cells  31  and the head air cells  32  at odd rows of the air cell rows. The even body pipeline  74  connects the pump  71  with the body air cells  31  and the head air cells  32  at even rows of the air cell rows. The guardrail pipeline  77  connects the pump  71  with the guardrail air cells  61 . The rapidly releasing valve  78  is connected to the odd body pipeline  73  and the even body pipeline  74  for rapidly releasing the air in the mattress body  30  for emergency uses. For example, when the patient needs C.P.R., the medical air mattress as described needs not be removed or the patient needs not be moved since the mattress body  30  is rapidly deflated to rescue the patient immediately. 
         [0032]    In a preferred embodiment, the pump  71  is connected to an inclined alternating-valve  701  and a body alternating-valve  702 . An inclined solenoid valve  703  is also connected between the inclined alternating-valve  701  and the pump  71 . The inclined alternating-valve  701  is connected between the inclined solenoid valve  703  and the inclined pipeline  72 . The body alternating-valve  702  is connected between the pump  71  with the body pipelines  73 ,  74  and the guardrail pipeline  77 . The guardrail pipeline  77  is connected to the body alternating-valve  702  via a guardrail solenoid valve  772 . The odd body pipeline  73  is connected to the head air cells  32  via a check valve  731 . The even body pipeline  74  is connected to the head air cells  32  via a check valve  741 . The body alternating-valve  702  is connected to the guardrail solenoid valve  772  via a check valve  771 . 
         [0033]    With reference to  FIG. 3A , the deflating unit for the guardrail air cells  61  may be a manual alternating device  772 A. The user controls the manual alternating device  772 A to stop inflating the guardrail air cells  61 . The manual alternating device  772 A has an air inlet, an inflating opening, a deflating opening, a linking rod, two airflow washers, an air restricting washer and a resilient element. The air inlet is connected to the body alternating-valve  702 . The inflating opening is connected to the guardrail air cells  61  through the guardrail pipeline  77 . The deflating opening communicates with the exterior. When inflating, the deflating opening is closed and the inflating opening is opened to inflate the guardrail air cells  61 . When deflating, the resilient element, the linking rod and the air-resisting washer are manually moved to close the inflating opening and to open the deflating opening. Then the guardrail air cells  61  are deflated independently. 
         [0034]    When the medical air mattress as described is operated, the pump  71 , the alternating-valves and the solenoid valves are actuated to inflate the air cells and to adjust the inflating. The inflating and the deflating operations are described detailedly below. 
         [0035]    For guardrail air cells  61 , when the pump  71  is operated, the guardrail air cells  61  are inflated to expand the guardrail sleeves  52  to provide side protections on the upper bedspread  50 . When the patients lying on the upper bedspread  50  accidentally press on the guardrail sleeves  52 , the guardrail sleeves  52  on both sides are drawn by each other since the guardrail sleeves  52  are formed on two-side of the upper bedspread  50 . The drawing force keeps the guardrail sleeves  52  maintaining their shapes even being pressed. Therefore, the guardrail sleeves  52  are kept in position to protect the patients lying on the medical air mattress as described. Further, the check valve  771  keeps the air from back flowing when the body alternating-valve  702  is operated. 
         [0036]    For the mattress body, when the pump  71  is operated, user may select different modes. 
         [0037]    1. Full Inflating Mode: 
         [0038]    With reference to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the pump  71  is operated to inflate the body air cells  31  and the head air cells  32 . 
         [0039]    2. Alternating Inflating Mode: 
         [0040]    With reference to  FIGS. 3 ,  5  and  6 , the pump  71  is operated and inflates the body air cells  31  at odd or even rows of the air cell rows alternately. In a preferred embodiment, the body alternating-valve  702  accomplishes the alternating inflating. The pump  71  supplies air into the body alternating-valve  702 . The body alternating-valve  702  alternately supplies air into odd or even body pipelines  73 ,  74 . When the odd body pipeline  73  is inflated, the body air cells  31  at odd rows of the air cell rows are inflated and the body air cells  31  at even rows of the air cell rows are deflated as shown in  FIG. 5 . When the even body pipeline  74  is inflated, the body air cells  31  at even rows of the air cell rows are inflated and the body air cells  31  at odd rows of the air cell rows are deflated as shown in  FIG. 6 . Moreover, since the check valves  731 ,  741  are connected between the head air cells  32  with the odd and even body pipelines  73 ,  74 , the head air cells  32  are kept inflated without deflating by the body alternating-valve  702  to support the patient&#39;s head stably. 
         [0041]    For the inclined air cells  20  as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 7 , the pump  71  is operated to inflate one of the inclined air cells  20  to tilt one side of the medical air mattress as described so that the patient is to be turned over easily. In a preferred embodiment, the inclined alternating-valve  701  is operated to inflate the inclined air cells  20  alternately. 
         [0042]    With reference to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , a second embodiment of a medical air mattress in accordance with the present invention is similar to the first embodiment as described, but the body air cells  31 A of the body mattress  30 A are conical. Each body air cell  31 A gradually tapers in diameter from one end to the other end so that each body air cell  31 A has a wide end and a narrow end. The body air cells  31 A are arranged with wide ends adjacent to the narrow ends. For example, the wide ends of the body air cells  31 A at odd rows of the air cell rows align with the narrow ends of the body air cells  31 A at even rows of the air cell rows. The medical air mattress as described further comprises two offset air cells  34 A mounted longitudinally and mounted respectively on two sides of the mattress body  30 A to enlarge the area of the medical air mattress and to support the upper bedspread  50 A. The offset air cells  34 A are connected to the pipeline connecting to the head air cells  32 A and are also protected by the check valves  731 ,  741  to maintain inflating. 
         [0043]    When the medical air mattress as described is operated, the pump  71 A, the alternating-valves and the solenoid valves are also actuated to inflate the air cells and to alternatively adjust the inflating. Since most operations are discussed above, only different operations are described below for the second embodiment of the medical air mattress. 
         [0044]    For mattress body  30 A, when the pump  71 A is operated, user may select different modes. 
         [0045]    1. Full Inflating Mode: 
         [0046]    The pump  71 A is operated to inflate all the body air cells  31 A and the head air cells  32 A. 
         [0047]    2. Alternating Inflating Mode: 
         [0048]    With reference to  FIGS. 9 to 11 , the pump  71 A is operated and inflates the body air cells  31 A at odd or even rows of the air cell rows alternatively. When the body air cells  31 A at odd rows of the air cell rows are inflated, the body air cells  31 A at even rows of the air cell rows are deflated as shown in  FIG. 10 . Since the body air cells  31 A at odd rows of the air cell rows have wide left ends and narrow right ends, the mattress body  30 A is higher at left side and lower at right side to tilt the patient rightward. When the body air cells  31 A at even rows of the air cell rows are inflated, the body air cells  31 A at odd rows of the air cell rows are deflated as shown in  FIG. 11 . Since the body air cells  31 A at even rows of the air cell rows have wide right ends and narrow left ends, the mattress body  30 A is higher at right side and lower at left side to tilt the patient leftward. Therefore, the alternating inflating of the body air cells  31 A not only provides the alternative wave of the mattress body  30 A, but also tilts the patient at certain inclined angle. In this embodiment, the body air cells  31 A provides inclined angle at, said 20 degrees. 
         [0049]    With reference to  FIGS. 9 and 12  to  14 , the alternating inflating of the body air cells  31 A associated with the inclined air cells  20 A provides more different inclined angles. 
         [0050]    When all of the body air cells  31 A are inflated and one of the inclined air cells  20 A is inflated as shown in  FIG. 12 , the top surface of the upper bedspread  50 A is tilted to one side to provide an inclined angle at, said 10 degrees. 
         [0051]    When the body air cells  31 A at even rows of the air cell rows are inflated and the body air cells  31 A at odd rows of the air cell rows are deflated, the inclined air cell  20 A at right side is also simultaneously inflated to provide a totally added inclined angle at, said 30 degrees. 
         [0052]    When the body air cells  31 A at odd rows of the air cell rows are inflated and the body air cells  31 A at even rows of the air cell rows are deflated, the inclined air cell  20 A at left side is also inflated to provide an inclined angle at, said 30 degrees. 
         [0053]    The medical air mattress in accordance with the present invention has numerous advantages. With the guardrail sleeves  52  formed on the top of the upper bedspread  50 , the mutual drawing-force between the guardrail sleeves  52  from 2-opposite side of the upper bedspread  50  holds the guardrail sleeves  52  in position to protect the patient lying on the medical air mattress. Furthermore, the body air cells  31 A in conical shape associated with the inclined air cells  20 A provide multiple inclined angles. Therefore, different patients may choose a proper inclined angle they need or as instructed by the doctor. 
         [0054]    Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the above disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.