Patent ID: 8910334

Claim:
A patient support comprising: an air flow system for directing air flow into the patient support; a bladder layer formed from an upper sheet and a lower sheet joined together to form a plurality of fluid pressurized bladders, each bladder having an internal chamber and an upwardly facing surface for facing and supporting a patient, said bladders having a network of fluid passageways between the bladders to redistribute pressure between surrounding bladders, the network of fluid passageways being adapted to maintain the fluid in the chambers at a minimum pressure and release fluid from the chambers when the collective pressure in the chambers exceeds a maximum pressure, and the network further being adapted to redistribute fluid pressure between the chambers so that when one or more of the bladders are compressed by a part of a patient's body, the increase in pressure in the fluid in the compressed bladder or bladders will be redistributed to the chambers surrounding the compressed bladder or bladders and to redistribute the increase in pressure in the surrounding bladders to their surrounding bladders so that the bladders that surround the compressed bladder or bladders will allow the patient to immerse into the bladder layer and envelope that part of the patient's body to thereby distribute the weight of that part of the patient's body over a greater contact area than just the facing surface of the bladder or bladders that are compressed by that part of the body; said bladder layer configured to allow air flow to flow from the air flow system through at least one of said sheets forming said fluid pressurized bladders external to said chambers to facilitate moisture management; and a cover over the fluid pressurized bladders, the cover having an upwardly facing patient surface and a bladder layer facing surface, the upwardly facing patient surface for forming a patient support surface on the support and forming a patient interface, and the bladder layer facing surface lying on the upwardly facing surfaces of the bladders wherein the cover and the bladder layer are free of any intermediate cushioning layer, and the cover comprising a moisture vapor permeable, but generally liquid impermeable cover to allow moisture vapor flow through the cover into a space beneath said cover and either in the bladder layer or above the bladder layer, wherein the bladder layer forms a reservoir for the moisture vapor passing through the cover, and the air flow from the air flow system directing moisture vapor to flow out of the cover at a location other than the interface so that together the cover and the bladder layer will transport away moisture from the patient's body at the interface.