US20100031449A1

US20100031449A1 - Mattress adjusting system

Info

Publication number: US20100031449A1
Application number: US12/448,938
Authority: US
Inventors: Chienchuan Cheng
Original assignee: Nitring Enterprise Inc
Current assignee: Nitring Enterprise Inc
Priority date: 2007-01-17
Filing date: 2007-06-13
Publication date: 2010-02-11
Also published as: DE112007003267T5; KR20090108062A; CN101224069A; WO2008089629A1

Abstract

A mattress adjusting system includes at least two airbag sets disposed in the mattress which overlap to each other, at least one air pump for supplying air to a main air tube, each airbag set being connected with the main air tube via a branch air tube, and a control valve disposed in each branch air tube for turning on/off the branch air tube, said air pump and control valves are manipulated by at least one controller. Each airbag set is inflated so as to support the mattress, or the airbag set could be alternatively deflated and inflated to provide a massage effect. When the two airbag sets overlapping to each other are alternatively deflated and inflated, the raised surface of the mattress could appear to shift smoothly.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjusting system for mattresses, and especially to a mattress adjusting system most suitable for mattresses in a chair, a set of massage equipment and bedding products etc.; each mattress is provided therein at least with two airbag sets lapping one over the other, the mattress can be aerated through the airbag sets, it will make changing during aeration and discharging, in order that the mattress is in a state of supporting, massaging or having its raised portions shifted smoothly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to increase comfort when in leaning on a mattress, there are at least a pair of mechanic pusher rods or cam units embedded in a mattress for adjusting the curvature of the mattress in presently available techniques in order to adjust the curvature of the mattress to meet the state suiting a user; for instance, the practice can be used in backrest mattresses of a car seat, the curvatures of the backrest mattresses of the car seat can be adjusted and changed to provide an effect of comfort for a user.
The above stated technique of having mechanic pusher rods or cam units embedded in the mattresses occupies quite a large space, and a problem of resulting uneven surface pressures of the mattress can be induced, this makes discomfort of the user leaning on the mattresses; moreover, when in impacting of the car, undue concentrated pressures may be exerted to the user, this is thereby unsafe in use. Therefore, to provide in each mattress with a plurality of airbag sets and to provide a technique of adjusting the surface curvatures of the mattresses by inflation and deflation of the airbag sets becomes a present and future mainstream because of having suitable buffering effect.
However, using of the airbag sets takes advantage of the airbag sets to form a soft closed space, by controlling aeration and discharging of air for the airbag sets, the soft closed space changes by inflation and deflation. When the pressure in the soft closed space becomes larger and larger, the airbag sets are inflated more and more to gradually assimilate a circular shape, this makes part of the mattresses especially protrusive; particularly when the airbag sets are allocated neighboring to or close to one another and are inflated, an evident dented area will be created between every two of these airbag sets.
Therefore, when a mattress is provided therein with a plurality of airbag sets, if it is so happened that the areas where the user needs to be supported or massaged are just at these dented areas, the airbag sets provided in the mattress will be unable to give effects of supporting and massaging, even the user may feel segregated but not continuous effects of supporting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above stated, the inventor of the present invention provides a mattress adjusting system that provides a plurality of mattresses with better supporting, massaging and adjusting effects.
In the adjusting system for the mattresses of the present invention, each mattress is provided at least with two airbag sets lapping one over the other, there is at least an aerating pump for providing air for a main air tube, each airbag set is connected with the main air tube via a branch air tube which each is provided with a control valve for opening/closing the branch air tube, operation of the above mentioned aerating pump and control valve is controlled at least by a controller.
Thereby, in addition to making each airbag set provide supporting function for a mattress, a massaging effect can be provided by the mattress by alternatively shrinking by deflation and inflating through aeration, the airbags lapping one over the other will not have between them any dented area, so that the surface of the mattress can present a smoothly shifting phenomenon of some raised portions.
And more, the main air tube can further be provided with a safe pressure releasing valve, when the pressure in the main air tube is overly large, the safe pressure releasing valve can perform safe pressure releasing; and moreover, the main air tube can be provided with a pressure detecting unit to detect the pressure in the main air tube; further, each branch air tube can also be provided with a pressure detecting unit to detect the pressure in the main air tube, in favor of accurate controlling inflation and deflation of the airbag sets by the controller, and even in favor of recording the degree of aeration of the airbag sets by the controller.
In comparison with the technique now available, the present invention is used for adjusting the curvature of the mattress through the airbag sets, and can accurately change the curvature of the mattress by pressure control; no evident dented area will be created between every two of the airbag sets, thereby a user can feel more comfortable when in leaning on the mattress; besides, the mattress per se can give a pressure scattering effect, so that in inflation and deflation to deform the airbag sets, the curvature of the mattress surface is more uniform and milder and meets human body engineering; and more, supporting and massaging effects of the mattress can be more delicate and comfort, when two airbag sets lapping one over the other respectively shrink by deflation and inflate through aeration, the raised portion on the mattress surface presents a smoothly shifting state rather than a state of alternatively raising and lowering of two parts, this not only makes the user feel better touch and more comfortable, and the entire mattress can provide better sense of quality.
The present invention will be apparent after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof in reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the positions of airbag sets of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing systematic allocation of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an action state (1) of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an action state (2) of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an action state (3) of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing an action state (4) of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic showing systematic allocation of a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic showing systematic allocation of a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing systematic allocation of a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing a state of use of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring firstly to FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the positions of airbag sets of a first embodiment of the present invention, while FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing systematic allocation of the first embodiment of the present invention, in this embodiment it is shown that, each mattress 10 of the whole mattress adjusting system of the present invention is provided at least with two airbag sets 20 lapping one over the other to form an airbag group, and in the mattress adjusting system, there is at least an aerating pump 30 for providing air for a main air tube 40, each airbag set 20 is connected with the main air tube 40 via a branch air tube 50 which each is provided with a control valve 60 for opening/closing the branch air tube 50, operation of the above mentioned aerating pump 30 and control valve 60 is controlled at least by a controller 70.
The airbag set 20 is composed at least of an airbag 21, while the airbag set 20 in this embodiment is composed of two airbags 21; three airbag sets 20 are lapped sequentially one over the other to form an airbag group. Array of the airbag sets 20 can be vertical or horizontal as a whole, the embodiment is described according to the vertical array; the mode of lapping is that an upper airbag set 20 laps over a lower airbag set 20.
The amount of the aerating pump 30 can be one or plural depending upon the requirement in use, FIGS. 1 and 2 is described based on one aerating pump 30.
The main air tube 40 is provided with a safe pressure releasing valve 41, when the pressure in the main air tube 40 is overly large, the safe pressure releasing valve 41 can perform safe pressure releasing; the main air tube 40 is provided with a tap air tube 42, the branch air tubes 50 of the airbag sets 20 lapped are parallelly connected to same tap air tube 42, a tap valve 43 is provided between the tap air tube 42 and the main air tube 40 to be controlled by the controller 70.
And more, each main air tube 40 can also be provided with a pressure detecting unit 80 to detect the pressure in the main air tube 40 and the branch air tube 50, in favor of accurate controlling inflation and deflation of the airbag sets 20 by the controller 70, and even in favor of recording the degree of aeration of the airbag sets by the controller 70.
Each control valve 60 has an air discharging passage 61 for air discharging of a corresponding airbag set 20.
Thereby, in addition to making each airbag set 20 provide supporting function for a mattress 10, a massaging effect can be provided by the mattress 10 by alternatively shrinking by deflation and inflating through aeration, the airbag sets 20 lapping one over the other will not have between them any dented area, so that the surface of the mattress 10 can present a smoothly shifting phenomenon of some raised portions.
The above mentioned main air tube 40, safe pressure releasing valve 41, tap air tube 42, tap valve 43, branch air tube 50, air discharging passage 61 and pressure detecting unit 80 etc. can all or partially assembled in a valve assembly 100 in practice, or can be distributed respectively at suitable positions in the mattress 10.
FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are schematic views of action states (1), (2), (3) and (4) of the first embodiment of the present invention for describing the principle of inflating through aeration and deflating through discharging of the airbag sets 20 of the first embodiment of the present invention, the airbag sets 20 are expressed in a simple mode in the drawings, and each branch air tube 50 and its corresponding airbag set 20 have therebetween a tube 51.
As shown in FIG. 3, when it is desired to inflate one of the airbag sets 20, the aerating pump 30 is activated and the tap valve 43 is opened; air enters the tap air tube 42 from the main air tube 40 to relieve the blocking state between the tap air tube 42 and the branch air tube 50 being blocked by the control valve 60 of a corresponding airbag set 20, thus air flows into the airbag set 20 to have it inflated, when it is inflated to a size desired, the control valve 60 is activated to block flowing between the tap air tube 42 and the branch air tube 50 to keep the airbag set 20 in its inflation state, and a supporting effect is obtained.
When it is desired to discharge air from the inflated airbag set 20, in addition to directly discharge air out of the airbag set 20 via the air discharging passage 61 as shown in FIG. 4, the air released from the airbag set 20 can also injected into some other airbag set 20 by a pressure balancing means without consuming electric power, as is shown in FIG. 5, to inflate primarily the other airbag set 20, after primary inflation of the other airbag set 20, the residual air in the airbag set 20 is discharged out of the air discharging passage 61 as is shown in FIG. 6, and by activating of the aerating pump 30, subsequent inflation of the primarily inflated airbag set 20 is performed.
Please refer to FIG. 1 simultaneously, by the fact that the airbag sets 20 are in the state of lapping one over the other, when two airbag sets 20 lapping one over the other respectively shrink by deflation and inflate through aeration, the raised portion on the surface of the mattress 10 presents a smoothly shifting state to adjust the effect of supporting of the mattress; and more, when deflation and inflation of the airbag sets 20 are frequent, the raised portion of the mattress 10 gets a massaging and adjusting effect in the mode of smoothly shifting.
The above description for FIGS. 3˜6 is done taking two airbag sets 20 lapping one over the other as an example, in practicing, a plurality of airbag sets 20 can be used in cooperation with one another to create deflation and inflation, in order to present different effects of supporting and massaging, and to present a massaging and adjusting effect in the mode of smoothly shifting.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing systematic allocation of a second embodiment of the present invention, it discloses another mode and means for cooperative deflation and inflation among airbag sets 20, the difference of the second embodiment from the first embodiment resides in that, the branch air tubes 50 of the airbag sets 20 lapping one over the other are parallelly connected to a main air tube 40 directly, and each control valve 60 has an air discharging passage 61 for air discharging of a corresponding airbag set 20; thereby deflation and inflation among airbag sets 20 can be controlled, while the inflated airbag sets 20 parallelly connected can be used to primarily inflate other airbag sets 20 to be inflated according to a pressure balancing principle, this can save electric power of operation of an air pump.
FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing systematic allocation of a third embodiment of the present invention, the difference of the third embodiment from the first embodiment resides in that, the branch air tubes 50 of the airbag sets 20 lapping one over the other are parallelly connected to a main air tube 40 directly, the main air tube 40 is provided with an air exhaust valve 44, this embodiment can similarly attain the object of controlling deflation and inflation of the airbag sets 20 and the inflated airbag sets 20 parallelly connected can also be used to primarily inflate other airbag sets 20 to be inflated according to a pressure balancing principle, this can save electric power of operation of an air pump too.
As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 being respectively a schematic view showing systematic allocation of a fourth embodiment of the present invention and a schematic view showing a state of use of the fourth embodiment, the fourth embodiment is derived from the first embodiment, wherein by providing a plurality of tap air tubes 42 and tap valves 43, a plurality of airbag sets 20 lapping one over the other or a single airbag set 20 can form various airbag groups, so that designated areas of the entire mattress 10 can present an effect of supporting and massaging. When amount of the airbag groups is larger in practice, the amount of aerating pumps 30 and controllers 70 can be increased according to requirement; the above stated mattress 10 in the drawings is described taking a seat in a car as an example, in practice, the range of use of the mattress 10 can include a seat, a set of massage equipment, a bedding product etc.
The above stated and the drawings provided are only for illustrating preferred embodiments of the present invention, and not for giving any limitation to the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various equivalent modifications or changes without departing from the spirit, scope and characteristic of this invention shall fall within the scope of the appended claims and are intended to form part of this invention.

Claims

1. An adjusting system for mattresses, wherein each mattress is provided at least with two airbag sets lapping one over other, and in said mattress adjusting system, there is at least an aerating pump for providing air for a main air tube, each of said airbag sets is connected with said main air tube via a branch air tube which is provided with a control valve for opening/closing said branch air tube, operation of said aerating pump and said control valve is controlled at least by a controller; said branch air tubes are communicated with one another, inflated airbag sets release air and inject it into other airbag sets according to a pressure balancing principle.

2. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 1, said system is characterized in that: said main air tube is provided with a safe pressure releasing valve.

3. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 1, said system is characterized in that: said main air tube is provided with a pressure detecting unit.

4. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 1, said system is characterized in that: said branch air tube is provided with a pressure detecting unit.

5. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 1, said system is characterized in that: said main air tube is provided with a tap air tube, said branch air tubes of said airbag sets lapped are parallelly connected to same tap air tube.

6. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 5, said system is characterized in that: said control valve has an air discharging passage for air discharging of a corresponding one of said airbag sets.

7. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 1, said system is characterized in that: a tap valve is provided between said tap air tube and said main air tube.

8. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 1, said system is characterized in that: said branch air tubes of said airbag sets lapping one over other are parallelly connected to said main air tube.

9. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 8, said system is characterized in that: said main air tube is provided with an air exhaust valve.

10. The adjusting system for mattresses as in claim 8, said system is characterized in that: said control valve has an air discharging passage for air discharging of a corresponding one of said airbag sets.