Patent ID: 8778119

Claim:
A method of manufacturing an underbody convective blanket comprising the steps of: a) punching a plurality of apertures on a first air impermeable flexible sheet; b) selectively bonding said first air impermeable flexible sheet to a second air impermeable flexible sheet at different locations to form an inflatable structure having a head end and a foot end, a head portion at the head end having a non-inflatable head area to receive head of a patient and a body portion extending from said head portion to the foot end having a non-inflatable body area to receive body of the patient; wherein said bonding step further includes the steps of forming at least one channel in said structure to surround said non-inflatable head area; forming at least two other channels each in fluid communication with a corresponding opening of said one channel; extending each of said other channels substantially along a corresponding longitudinal side of said non-inflatable body area; forming a cross channel at the foot end of said structure for establishing a fluid communication path between said other channels; and c) forming at least one inlet to said structure to enable air to be input to and be circulated through the channels, and output from the apertures.