Patent Publication Number: US-2016231029-A1

Title: Portable appliance combining water dispenser, refrigerator, microwave, bed tray table and waste containers

Description:
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     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the daily life appliance and more specifically to the refrigerator, the microwave oven, the water dispenser, the coffee maker, the bed tray table and the waster container. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A lot of people (defined as patients in this entire patent document) in the world have to stay in the beds due to handicapped, injury and illness (for example, surgery, stroke, broken legs or paralyzed due to spinal cord damage, etc.) for prolong period time of treatment and recovery or for the rest of their lives, they may need frequently attentions or services such as bringing them food, water, medicine and helping them urine and having a bowl movement, take away their wastes, some of the medicines have to be kept in a refrigerator and are difficult to be reached by the patients. However, other family members may have to work or have other duties and have to leave the patients for substantially long time, hiring a healthcare provider to take care of those patients for substantially long time every day will be expensive and may not be affordable for the families; such situation will be difficult for both the families and the patients. However, a great portion of those patients have at least one arm and one hand functioning normally and their physical condition allows them being able to do suitable activities, so it is strongly desirable to invent an easy operation and space saving appliance that the patients can use to take care most of their daily life needs with their one functional arm and hand. None of previous arts listed in the reference section can provide such functionality. 
     OBJECTIVE AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The purpose of the present invention is to provide a portable multiple function appliance which can be used by patients who have to stay in a bed to take care most of their daily life needs. This invention combines a refrigerator, a microwave oven, a hot and cold water dispenser, a bed tray table, three waste containers and a portable moving cart. The refrigerator, the microwave oven, the water dispenser and the bed tray table are operated by the central operation unit which can be operated by one hand, daily life wastes can be stored in different waste containers according to their categories. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESPCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       The embodiments of the present invention can be better illustrated by the following drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is the front perspective view of the multiple function appliance showing the structure of the multiple function appliance with each component such as the refrigerator, the microwave oven, the water dispenser, the waste containers, the bed tray table with the lamp, the central operation unit and the portable moving cart. 
         FIG. 2  is the hot and cold water dispenser. 
         FIG. 3  is the central operation unit. 
         FIG. 4  is the back perspective view of the multiple function appliance showing that the bed tray table with the lamp is mounted on a motor which is attached to the side of the appliance and the bed tray table with the lamp can be rotated by the motor. 
         FIG. 5  is the front perspective view of the multiple function appliance with many attachments and is placed besides a bed and can be operated by a patient in the bed. 
         FIG. 6  is the part of this multiple function appliance which combines only the water dispenser, the refrigerator, the microwave oven and the central operation unit. Such combination unit can be placed in an office or an apartment for personal use. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     It will be easier to understand the detail of the embodiments by starting with the detail of the water dispenser  20  in  FIG. 2 . In the water dispenser  20 , the water reservoir  30  holds water  35 , the water flows out from the bottom of the water reservoir  30 , passes through the Y tube  40  and splits into the cold water line and the hot water line, respectively; the water in cold water line enters the water pump  42 , then flows through the tube  44 , a section  46  of the tube  44  is coiled which is placed inside of cooling chamber  300  of the refrigerator for cooling the water (shown in dash line in  FIG. 1 ), then the water enters a release valve  48  and reaches the cup  50  which is located at the cup sitting area  51  of the central operation unit  200  (shown in  FIG. 3 ); the water volume inside the coiled tube  46  is enough for one cup. The water in the hot water line enters the water pump  52 , then flows through the tube  54 , the tube  54  is placed outside of the cooling chamber  300  of the refrigerator, but is still inside of the outer insulation layer of the cooling chamber  300 , and the water in tube  54  enters the heating element  56  and the release valve  58 , then reaches the cup  50 . 
     Referring to the  FIG. 3 , the central operation unit  200 . The central operation unit  200  contains all electronic and mechanic components for the multiple function appliance  1 , those components include a cooing unit  210  for the refrigerator (the cooling unit can be a semiconductor cooling unit or a mechanic cooling unit which compromises a compressor, a heat exchange, a fans, etc.), the microwave oven heating unit (such as a magnetron  220  and a waveguide  230 , etc.), a water heating element  56 , water release valves  58  and  48 , and an operation electronic circuit board with front panel  240 , the operation circuit board is responsible for the entire operation of the multiple function appliance  1 ; an information display window  250  is on the top of the front panel  240 , various operation buttons  260  are below the display window  250  and are used to setup the refrigerator temperature, the hot water temperature, the microwave oven power level and running time, and to setup the time schedule to remind the patients in the bed to take food, medicine, sleep and etc., to control the motor to rotate the bed tray table with the lamp and to turn on/off the lamp, one of the buttons may be set as an emergency call button which can call family members or healthcare providers for urgent attention when it is pressed; there are the cold water button  270  and the hot water button  272  on the front panel  240 , when the cold water button  270  is pressed, the water pump  42  and the water release valve  48  are activated and cold water is released to the cup  50  located in the cup sitting area  51 ; when the hot water button  272  is pressed, the water pump  52 , the heating element  56  and the water release valve  58  are activated, the hot water with the desired temperature is released to the cup  50 . There is a plastic bag opener  280  next to the water release valve  272  and at the side corner of the central operation  200 , this plastic bag opener  280  has an open slot  290  with the sharp blaze  295  inside; the patient just holds the plastic bag and slides the edge of the bag through the open slot  290 , the sealed bag will be cut by the sharp blaze  295  and contents of the bag can be taken out; the plastic bags include sealed eat-ready food package (such as ramen noodle bags, personal pizza packs, frozen food packs, etc.), coffee bags, cream bags, sugar bags, tea bags, etc.. 
     With the knowledge of the detailed water dispenser  20  and the central operation unit  200 , it will be easy to understand the detail of the portable multiple function appliance. Referring  FIG. 1 , the multiple function appliance  1  combines the water dispenser  20  (shown in  FIG. 2 ), the refrigerator cooling chamber  300 , the microwave oven heating chamber  400 , the central operation unit  200  (shown in  FIG. 3 ), the bed tray table  500  with the lamp  510 , the re-usable dirty item container  600 , the general waste container  610 , the special waste container  620  and the moving cart  650 . The water reservoir  30  is mounted on the top insulation layer  310  of the refrigerator cooling chamber  300 , the Y-tube  40 , the water pumps  42  and  52  and sections of the tube  44  and  54  (all shown in dash line) are placed inside of the top layer  310  of the cooling chamber  300 , the coiled section  46  (shown in dash line) of the tube  44  is inside the cooling chamber  300  to reserve cold water. The microwave oven heating chamber  400  and central operation unit  200  is below the refrigerator cooling chamber  300 , the temperature of the cooling chamber  300  is controlled by the cooling unit  210  (shown in dash line), the contents inside the microwave oven heating chamber is heated by the magnetron  220  and the waveguide  230  (both shown in dash line); the bed tray table  500  with the lamp  510  is mounted on a motor  520  which is installed on the side of the appliance  1  shown in  FIG. 4  and the bed tray table  500  with the lamp  510  can be rotated by the motor  520 , the height of the bed tray table  500  can be adjusted through the mounting rail  530 ;  540  is the electric power plug and the  550  is the air vent; the rotation of the motor and the lamp can be controlled by the operation buttons  260 . The microwave oven heating chamber  400  and the central operation unit  200  are mounted on the top of waste containers  600 ,  610  and  620 ; the re-usable dirty item container  600  collects the items which can be cleaned and re-used such as metal forks, spoons, knives, plates, etc., the general waste container  610  collects items such as dirty napkins, one time use forks, spoons, knives, plates, etc.; the special waste container  620  collects items with unpleasant smells such as dirty diapers, hazardous items, etc.; the moving cart  650  is at the bottom, so the multiple function appliance  1  can be easily moved around the house. 
       FIG. 5  shows that the multiple function appliance is placed besides the bed  680  and the bed tray table  500  is set on the bed  680 , the bed tray table  500  can be used as a dining table or a work table. Many attachments can be added to the multiple appliance  1  to provide more convenience for the patient, those attachments can include a bathroom tissue holder  700 , a napkin box holder  710 , a basket  720  (to hold small items such as medicine bottles, tea bags or other small items) on the cooling chamber door  320 , and storage cabinets  730 , or others. The bed tray table  500  can be rotated away from the bed if needed such as that the patient is going to sleep or doing other activities. 
     This multiple function appliance has no hot or sharp elements exposed to the patient so it is safe for the patient in the bed. With this multiple function appliance in place, the family member or the healthcare provider just stores the fresh prepared food, the sealed plastic eat-ready food packages, the cold preserved medicines or other items into the cooling chamber  300 , stores other items in those attachments, the patient can take care of himself/herself as long as the patient has one arm and one hand function normally and his/her physical condition allows him/her to perform those activities; for some patients, adjustable beds are preferred. This will dramatically reduce the family member or the healthcare provider&#39;s work load, and stress, and the patient can also get some exercise, the family member can go to work without worrying about the patient at home and add those items which are consumed by the patient and empty the wastes when he/she has time later. The drawing of the multiple function appliance  1  in  FIG. 1  is for the right hand person, a mirror image copy of the  FIG. 1  can be used for the left hand person. Due to the nature of the application of this multiple function appliance, a lower power of microwave and a smaller refrigerator than normal household appliance are expected. 
     The 3-in-1 combination  800  shown in  FIG. 6  of the water dispenser  20 , the cooling chamber  300  of refrigerator, the heating chamber  400  of the microwave oven and the central operation unit  200  of this invention can also be placed in regular offices or apartments for personal use with great convenience, especially when the space is limited. A coffee maker such as Keurig k-cup type can be easily adapted to this invention, so if without the k-cup coffee pack in place it just releases the hot water. 
     Whereas the present invention has been described in particular relation to the drawings attached hereto, it should be understood that other and further modifications, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be made within the spirit and scope of this invention.