Patent ID: 7703158

Claim:
A patient support comprising: a base frame supported by a floor; an intermediate frame positioned over the base frame for up and down movement relative to the base frame; an articulating deck supported on the intermediate frame including a head section, a seat section, and a foot section, wherein each of the head, seat and foot sections are movable relative to each other; a linear actuator coupled to one or more of the base frame, the intermediate frame, and the articulating deck, the linear actuator having a piston rod, a housing, and a drive motor configured to extend and retract the piston rod relative to the housing; a position sensor coupled to the linear actuator to determine the position of the piston rod relative to the housing of the linear actuator; and a microcontroller having a memory configured to store position information sent from the position sensor and a central processing unit (CPU) configured to analyze the position information, wherein the CPU is configured to compare the position of the piston rod with a predetermined end-of-travel limit set to occur earlier than both an electrical end-of-travel limit and a mechanical end-of-travel limit of the piston rod.