Patent ID: 8578527

Claim:
An occupant support, comprising: a mattress having a generally rectangular shape with longitudinally extending sides and laterally extending ends, a detector, and an energy management system comprising a plurality of straps defining thermally conductive pathways and a controller for activating a selected pathway in response to information from the detector to regulate energy transfer at a detected region of risk on the mattress, wherein the plurality of straps extend over an upper surface of the mattress at an oblique angle to the sides and ends of the mattress, wherein the energy management system includes a plurality of heat flow augmentors that are operable to conduct heat away from the region of risk via the thermally conductive pathways, wherein some of the plurality of straps overlaps others of the plurality of straps to define junctures and the selected pathway is activated by the controller issuing a command to operate a subset of the heat flow augmentors.