EP1762211A1 - Ventilation mattress - Google Patents

Abstract

Ventilation mattress consisting of a top layer (1) of viscose foam and a bottom layer (3) made of polyether foam, with a three-dimensional spacer knitted therebetween, the top and bottom of each of a network (5) between which approximately perpendicular to the networks ( 5) aligned, resilient spacer threads (61) extend.

Description

The invention relates to a ventilation mattress consisting of a top layer of viscose foam and a lower layer of polyether foam.

Since the person spends about a third of his life sleeping, the mattress is a very long-discussed topic. Especially in the industrial society with its lack of physical activity and resulting sleep problems, the execution of the mattress has been given special meaning in the last hundred years. Until the beginning of the 20th century, straw, hay, horsehair, and other natural materials were fillers for textile bags used as a sleeping pad. With the increasing mechanization of the production of spiral springs made of metal, the production of mattresses in the form of a flat cuboid, which is slightly longer than a human high and occupies about twice the width of a man was common. These mattresses contained a lower layer of juxtaposed metal springs and layers arranged above them from the hitherto customary natural materials and were often produced because of their high weight instead of the ergonomically meaningful, one-piece construction of three juxtaposed elements. The gap between the elements reduces the comfort for the sleeping person.

A major step in innovation came in the mid-20th century with the introduction of one-piece foamed plastic mattresses consisting of a large number of adjacent air bubbles surrounded by a thin plastic skin. Depending on the material and manufacturing process, an opening forms between adjacent bubbles when the plastic material hardens. As a result, the entire material is permeable to air and the total weight is lowered. Its air permeability enables the material to absorb moisture secreted by humans as air saturated with water vapor and / or fine mist and / or in minute droplets and to be released through the individual bubbles on other surfaces. These properties are characterized according to the prior art as moisture-absorbing, moisture-transporting, breathable and / or breathable. Mattresses according to this prior art, however, do not affect the air flow and the air distribution, but leave it to the temperature profile produced by the sleeping human and the resulting air currents. In addition to their microstructure with numerous bubbles, mattresses that consist solely of foams do not provide a mechanism of action for the distribution of air and / or moisture.

The state of the art corresponds to the ergonomically favorable behavior of some foams. Thus, viscose foam is known to increase its elasticity when heated by humans, ie at temperatures in the range between about 30 and 40 degrees. As a result, he gives more in areas of increased pressure than in the adjacent areas, so it will reduce the contact pressure in these areas and thus increase the comfort of a person in a lateral position by yielding in the area of pelvis and shoulder.

The invention makes use of this effect and has also set itself the task of creating improvements in ventilation and moisture transport in mattresses with a top layer of viscose foam and a lower layer of polyether foam.

To achieve this object, the invention describes a ventilation mattress, in which between the upper layer and lower layer, a three-dimensional spacer knitted fabric is arranged, the top and bottom each consists of a network between which run approximately perpendicular to the networks aligned, resilient spacer threads.

Such a mattress offers many advantages. It combines the above-described, ergonomic advantage of increasing the temperature increase elasticity of the top layer of viscose foam with improved air and moisture transport in the underlying spacer fabric together with the elastic effect of the lower layer of polyether foam. The particularly high air permeability of the intermediate layer of three-dimensional spacer knitted fabric improves the transport of air in comparison with a one-piece foam mattress.

Another advantage is the "pumping effect" known for a pitch-stable spacer fabric, which occurs when the spacer fabric is sandwiched between two layers that allow much less air flow than the spacer fabric itself. Then, as the sleeper moves, the spacer fabric becomes very strong in some zones much more compacted than in others and it moved according to the rolling movements of the people on the mattress surface air areas within the spacer knit. As a result, air at the edge of a three-layered mattress according to the invention continuously and come out. In this case, the moisture contained in warm air is transported into the outside air and cooled there, whereby a part of the moisture condenses. At the same time, cooler air is drawn in at another point on the mattress, which penetrates into the mattress, where it cools body areas that rest on or press into the mattress, which reduces the tendency to sweat in these areas of the body.

A variant of a ventilation mattress according to the invention is the bonding of edge strips of foam to at least a front side of the mattress. These edge strips can z. B. made of polyether foam and / or cold foam. If they have a higher hardness than the upper layer, they will sink less than the central area of the mattress under human stress. As a result, they counteract the rolling down of the sleeping person from the mattress and serve as support when users sit on the edge of the mattress.

The advantages of the ventilation mattress described in the invention through improved ventilation are the greater, the further and the longer the intermediate layer of spacer fabric maintains a distance between the upper and lower mesh even under load. For this purpose, it is of crucial advantage if the spacer threads between the nets feather in themselves, that are reversible elastic, and are also attached to the nets stable against tipping. This effect can be achieved in that the spacer threads form at their two ends U-shaped, dimensionally stable loops, with which they are fixed in the nets, the other end of these loops merges into a concertina-like sequence in the next spacer thread. An enhancement of the tilt stability can be effected by the spacer threads being shaped similar to a circular arc segment.

As an alternative to or as a supplement to the spacer threads, the invention proposes metal springs and / or plastic springs, which are arranged between the nets. In order to prevent the knitted fabric from collapsing under load, it is important that the spacer yarns are secured in a stable manner with respect to the nets. Of course, this requirement also applies to springs. Therefore, the invention proposes that at least a part of the springs be fastened at three points of a net. This will cause the transmission of a tilting moment between net and spring allows and the spring thereby supports the stability of the spacer knit.

The invention proposes that at least the front sides and the top of the ventilation mattress are covered with a textile cover. As a result, the penetration of dirt into the mattress is difficult and reduces electrostatic charge of the foam. Particularly when used for incontinent patients, the invention recommends covering the top with a moisture-repellent, urine-resistant incontinence cover.

As an advantageous embodiment, the invention proposes to loosely apply the top layer on the spacer fabric or to attach via special fasteners such as Velcro, buttons, snaps, dovetailed formations or other fasteners releasably on spacer fabric and / or on the edge strips. Such a configuration offers advantages of being able to separately clean only the topsheet, as well as adapting the mattress to sleeper habits in terms of hardness and / or configurations recommended for the ill. In particular, in order to avoid the pressure ulcer, a skin ulcer caused by excessive exposure to a particular skin area, an improvement can be achieved by selecting a suitable viscose foam. It is also conceivable that the upper class is divided into different sections, which can be exchanged separately. In the interest of lying comfort, however, the individual components should then be detachably connected with each other; suitable fasteners have already been mentioned above.

However, another useful embodiment variant is also to glue the top layer to the spacer fabric and / or the edge strip and / or to sew it. The characteristics of such Ventilation mattress are then fixed, but the mattress is protected against disassembly in unwilling or mentally disabled patients.

Such, in their components firmly interconnected and all around with edge strips pasted mattress can be designed so that each resulting material properties and material thickness, total air permeability of the upper layer is higher than the sum of the air permeability of all edge strips and the lower layer together. Together with the pumping effect described above is achieved so that displaced by movements of the horizontal air volumes in the areas of overpressure through the upper layer to escape through the outside, possibly take along invaded moisture, at the same time aspirate air in the areas with negative pressure from the vicinity of the patient and thereby transport sweat and / or other secreted moisture away from the patient.

Another user-friendly variant of a ventilation mattress is to provide openings in the underlayer which connect the space occupied by the spacer fabric to the outside air. In particular, when the upper layer consists of a comparatively strong layer which inhibits air transport through the upper layer, and optionally together with also slightly air-permeable edge strips, it may be very useful to introduce air channels in the lower layer, from the space of the spacer fabric out lead the outside air. In the simplest variant, pumping effects generated by the movements of the horizontal will force air volumes out of this space through the air ducts and / or into them.

This positive effect can be further enhanced by valve flaps in front of the openings. Since the mattress has a finite surface and since the movements of the recumbent usually do not differ depending on their direction, so because a right-rolling of the recumbent pushes out about the same amount of air from the mattress, as it is sucked back into a subsequent left turn and because the exit velocity is usually not as high as to blow the air volumes very far from the mattress, it is a useful further improvement to provide the openings with valves. These valves ensure that air flows in only one direction. If air would be sucked in at this location by an opposing body movement, it will be prevented by the valves, instead a vacuum will be replenished in some areas of the spacer fabric by other air supply lines. It is particularly useful, through the conception of the mattress, to support an air movement through the upper layer, because this results in improved ventilation of the sleeping person.

An additional extension according to the invention arises from the fact that the openings on the underside of the lower layer receive a coupling for connection to an air hose. Through this air hose, an external air supply can push air into the mattress, whereby the temperature of this air can be used for cooling or warming the sleeping person. It makes sense to provide a control option for the air pressure.

Alternatively, the air can be sucked out of the space occupied by the spacer fabric by the air hose. This is particularly useful in the clinical field when a patient removes increased amounts of moisture.

A further embodiment variant with a moisture-barrier film between the spacer knitted fabric and the backsheet is also particularly useful in the area of hospitals, retirement homes and similar institutions. It is recommended in another option, the foil on the inner walls of any existing edge strips to lead up. This forms a tub that can absorb moisture. In incontinent patients, fluid may pass through the topsheet and the spacer fabric and be trapped in the tub. If the top layer and the spacer fabric have been laid loose, they can be removed to clean this tub. Advantage of this arrangement is that irritation of the skin of the patient by prolonged dwelling in a humid environment (so-called bedsores) is reduced or avoided.

In the case of patients in a fixed position, it may be a sensible variant to restrict the trough-shaped design of the foil to a specific region of the spacer knit. In particular, for patients with a very high volume of liquid discharges, it makes sense to form the moisture barrier film as a funnel. For this it is necessary that the upper side of the lower layer and the lower side of the spacer knit repeat this shape in a complementary manner. In the top of the lower layer of the funnel is thus formed as a recess and the spacer knitted fabric must have on its underside a complementary cone. As a functional completion of this arrangement, the invention proposes a drain pipe at the lowest point of the funnel.

Further details, features and advantages of the invention can be taken from the following description part, so that the invention is explained by way of examples. In no way, however, the invention is limited to these examples.

Figure 1 shows a three-dimensional representation of a mattress according to the invention, in which the individual layers are cut at different locations. The various embodiments of the invention are shown on the cut surfaces, wherein different options are shown in the illustration, which are meaningfully not combined with each other in a meaningful way. The uppermost layer is the cover 7 or the incontinence cover 71. Below this follows the upper layer 1 made of viscose foam and as the next layer, the spacer knit 4. To recognize the upper network 5 of the two nets 5 is shown with a hexagonal shape. The spacer threads 61 extend between the nets. On the left in the picture they can be seen in a circular arc shape; right in the picture in another variant, in which the spacer threads 61 are each secured with a U-shaped, dimensionally stable loop 62 in the network 5, wherein the other end of each loop 62 merges into a concertina-like Aneinandereihung in the next spacer thread 61.

In the middle of the picture two other variants for the spacer are drawn:

Left two metal springs 63 for connecting the upper and lower network 5, right plastic springs 64th

Below in Figure 1, the section through the lower layer 3 is shown with several variants, it being repeated that not all of these embodiments should be meaningfully combined with each other as they are included in the overview drawing.

At the left and the right edge of the lower layer 3, openings 31 can be seen, which connect the space occupied by the spacer fabric with the outside air at the bottom. Far left is an opening 31, which is equipped with a coupling 33 on the underside, to which an air hose 34 is connected.

On the right side of the lower layer, two openings 31 are cut, which are provided with a valve flap 32, of which the left valve flap 32 is shown in the closed state, while the right valve flap is open; So in the example drawn down.

In the middle of an example of the execution of a funnel 81 is entered. The shape of the funnel 81 is complementary to the foil 8 in this area and to the underside of the spacer knit 4.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

top layer

2

edgebandings

3

underclass

31

Opening in lower layer 3

32

Valve flap in opening 31

33

Coupling in opening 31

34

Air hose to coupling 33

4

spacer

5

Net, forms the top and bottom of the spacer knit 4

61

Spacer threads in spacer plate

62

Loop, connects spacer threads 61

63

Metal springs between the nets 5

64

Plastic springs between the nets 5

7

Reference, at least to upper class 1

71

Incontinence cover, impermeable to water

8th

Foil between spacer knitted fabric 4 and lower layer 3

81

Funnel, shaping variant of the film 8

82

Outlet pipe, at the lowest point of the funnel 81

Claims (19)

Ventilation mattress consisting of a top layer 1 of viscose foam and a bottom layer 3 of polyether foam,
characterized in that
between a three-dimensional spacer knitted fabric 4 is arranged, the top and bottom of each of a network 5, between which approximately perpendicular to the nets 5 aligned, resilient spacer threads 61 extend. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claim 1,
characterized in that
Edge strips 2 made of foam are glued on all four end faces over the entire height of the mattress. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claim 1, characterized in that the edge strips 2 - Consist of polyether foam and / or cold foam - And / or have a higher hardness than the upper layer 1. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
the spacer threads 61 are fastened in both nets 5, each with a U-shaped, dimensionally stable loop 62, - Wherein the other end of the loop passes in a concertina-like juxtaposition in the next distance thread 61 Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
the spacer threads 61 have shapes similar to a circular arc segment. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
between the nets 5 numerous metal springs 63 and / or plastic springs 64 are arranged, Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
at least a portion of all metal springs 63 and / or plastic springs 64 are secured to three spaced points of a net 5. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
at least the end faces and the top are covered with a textile cover 7. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
at least the top is covered with a moisture-repellent, urine-resistant incontinence cover 71. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
the topsheet 1 loosely rests on the spacer fabric 4 or is releasably secured thereto and / or attached to the edge trim 2. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
the upper layer 1 is glued and / or sewn to the spacer fabric 4 and / or the edge strip 2. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
each resulting from material properties and material thickness, total air permeability of the upper layer 1 is higher than the sum of the air permeability of all edge strips 2 and the lower layer. 3 Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
the lower layer 3 has a plurality of openings 31 which connect the space occupied by the spacer fabric 4 with the outside air. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claim 13,
characterized in that
all openings 31 are closed by valve flaps 32, which can be pushed open only by an air flow in a single direction. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claim 13,
characterized in that
at least one opening 31 on the underside of the lower layer 3 has a coupling 33 for connection to an air hose 34. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claims,
characterized in that
between spacer knitted fabric 4 and lower layer 3, a moisture-barrier film 8 is arranged, - Where the film 8 can be performed trough-shaped on the inner sides of the edge strips 2 upwards - And the top layer 1 and / or the spacer knitted fabric 4 may be laid loosely. Ventilation mattress according to the preceding claim 14
characterized in that
the surface of the lower layer 3 and the film 8 resting thereon are designed in the form of a funnel 81 and the underside of the spacer knit 4 is shaped complementarily thereto, - In which the hopper 81 can pass at its lowest point in a drain pipe 82. Method for using a ventilation mattress according to the preceding claim 10,
characterized in that
each coupling 33 is connected via an air hose 34 to an air supply with increased air pressure (overpressure), - The air is heated or cooled from the environment and / or can be dried - And the pressure can be regulated. Method for using a ventilation mattress according to the preceding claim 10,
characterized in that
Each coupling 33 is connected via an air hose to an air supply with reduced air pressure (negative pressure) - And the negative pressure can be regulated.

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