COMPOSITE INFLATABLE MATTRESS

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Taiwanese Utility Model Patent Application No. 113209236, filed on Aug. 27, 2024, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a mattress, and more particularly to a composite inflatable mattress.

BACKGROUND

Generally, mattresses can be classified into spring mattresses, independent spring mattresses, and inflatable mattresses, which provide different sleeping experiences. Inflatable mattresses employ air pressure to support the weight of a user lying thereon, are easy to store when not in use, and are deformable to a relatively large extent to conform with the body shape of the user, thus providing a comfortable sleeping experience. However, support provided by the inflatable mattresses is relatively low.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a mattress that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, a composite inflatable mattress is provided to include a bottom layer, an air cushion layer, and an air pressure adjustment unit. The bottom layer defines a bottom space. The air cushion layer is disposed on the bottom layer and includes an outer casing, and a partition plate disposed in the outer casing and cooperating with the outer casing to define two air chambers thereamong. The air pressure adjustment unit is mounted to the bottom layer and the air cushion layer, and includes an inflation mechanism, an air pump motor, and two pressure relief valves. The inflation mechanism is mounted to the air cushion layer, and is in spatial communication with the two air chambers. The air pump motor is mounted in the bottom space, and is in spatial communication with the inflation mechanism. The two pressure relief valves are mounted to the outer casing, and are in spatial communication respectively with the two air chambers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment(s) with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that various features may not be drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a composite inflatable mattress of an embodiment according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the composite inflatable mattress of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a bottom layer and an air cushion layer of the composite inflatable mattress of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of the air cushion layer of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the air cushion layer and an inflation mechanism of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 5, but illustrating that a steel ball plug of the inflation mechanism is moved to allow inflation of the composite inflatable mattress.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a modification of the air cushion layer of the composite inflatable mattress of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic top view of the air cushion layer shown in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.

It should be noted herein that for clarity of description, spatially relative terms such as “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “on,” “above,” “over,” “downwardly,” “upwardly” and the like may be used throughout the disclosure while making reference to the features as illustrated in the drawings. The features may be oriented differently (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative terms used herein may be interpreted accordingly.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a composite inflatable mattress of an embodiment according to the present disclosure includes a bottom layer 1, an air cushion layer 2, an air pressure adjustment unit 3, a latex layer 4, a comfort layer 5, and a surface layer 6.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, the bottom layer 1 is substantially rectangular and is for supporting the air cushion layer 2 disposed thereon. The bottom layer 1 defines a bottom space 11. The air cushion layer 2 is disposed on the bottom layer 1 and includes an outer casing 21, a partition plate 22 disposed in the outer casing 21, and two support plates 24. The outer casing 21 is a hollow housing and upper and lower sides of the outer casing 21 are enclosed. The outer casing 21 cooperates with the partition plate 22 to define two air chambers 23 thereamong. The support plates 24 are made of plastic. The support plates 24 are respectively disposed in the air chambers 23, are connected to the outer casing 21, and are parallel to the partition plate 22. In this embodiment, each of the support plates 24 has upper and lower sides connected to the outer casing 21, such that an overall supporting structural strength of the air cushion layer 2 is increased and an upper surface of the composite inflatable mattress is relatively flat. Each of the support plates 24 divides the respective one of the air chambers 23 into two sub-chambers, and has two notches 241 formed respectively at the upper and lower sides thereof such that the sub-chambers that are in the respective one of the air chambers 23 and that are divided by the support plates 24 are in spatial communication with each other.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 6, the air pressure adjustment unit 3 is mounted to the bottom layer 1 and the air cushion layer 2, and includes an inflation mechanism 31 mounted to the air cushion layer 2, an air pump motor 32 mounted in the bottom space 11 and in spatial communication with the inflation mechanism 31, a switch 33 electrically connected to the air pump motor 32 and mounted to the bottom layer 1, a barometer unit 34 electrically connected to the air pump motor 32 and in spatial communication with the air chambers 23, and two pressure relief valves 35 mounted to the outer casing 21 and in spatial communication respectively with the air chambers 23. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the inflation mechanism 31 includes an inflation tube 311 that has an inflation opening 311a in spatial communication with the air pump motor 32, two splitter pipes 312 that are respectively in spatial communication with the air chambers 23 and that are in spatial communication with the inflation tube 311, a plug tube 313 that is in spatial communication with the inflation tube 311 and the splitter pipes 312, a cap 314 that is connected fixedly to one side of the plug tube 313 opposite to the inflation tube 311, a steel ball plug 315 that is disposed at a junction among the inflation tube 311 and the splitter pipes 312, and a biasing member 316 that is disposed in the plug tube 313, that has two opposite ends respectively abutting against the steel ball plug 315 and the cap 314, and that biases the steel ball plug 315 toward the junction. The steel ball plug 315 has an outer diameter greater than an inner diameter of each of the inflation tube 311 and the splitter pipes 312, and is movable relative to the junction among the inflation tube 311 and the splitter pipes 312, such that the inflation tube 311 and the splitter pipes 312 are not in spatial communication with each other when the steel ball plug 315 moves toward the junction and completely blocks the junction (see FIG. 5), and that the inflation tube 311 and the splitter pipes 312 are in spatial communication with each other when the steel ball plug 315 moves away from the junction into the plug tube 313 (see FIG. 6).

The air pump motor 32 is configured to inflate the air chambers 23 via the inflation mechanism 31. The switch 33 is configured to turn on and off the air pump motor 32. The barometer unit 34 is configured to measure and display air pressures in the air chambers 23. In this embodiment, the barometer unit 34 has two barometers that measure and display the air pressures in the air chambers 23, respectively. The pressure relief valves 35 are operable to respectively decrease the air pressures in the air chambers 23. In this way, the air pressures in the two air chambers 23 may be independently adjusted according to the user's preference, and two different support levels may be provided.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the latex layer 4 is disposed on the air cushion layer 2, and provides a relatively soft touch to the composite inflatable mattress. The comfort layer 5 is disposed on the latex layer 4, and may be made of a material such as foam, latex foam, memory foam, etc. The surface layer 6 is disposed on the comfort layer 5, serves as an uppermost layer of the composite inflatable mattress that the user is in direct contact with, and may be made of fabric.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, an inflation process performed by the air pressure adjustment unit 3 for inflating the air cushion layer 2 is described in the following. First, the switch 33 is turned on to activate the air pump motor 32 that inflates the inflation mechanism 31. Specifically, gas from the air pump motor 32 first enters the inflation tube 311 via the inflation opening 311a, pushes the steel ball plug 315 away from the junction into the plug tube 313 so the biasing member 316 is compressed to store a restoring force, and then gas passes through the splitter pipes 312 to enter and inflate the air chambers 23. When each of the air pressures in the air chambers 23 measured by the barometer unit 34 exceeds a predetermined pressure value, the air pump motor 32 stops inflating. At this time, the steel ball plug 315 is biased back to its original position by the restoring force of the biasing member 316, so the air chambers 23 are not in spatial communication with each other. In this way, in a case where one of two regions of the surface layer 6 corresponding respectively in position to the air chambers 23 is subjected to an external force, for example, a user lying thereon turning over, another user lying on the other one of the two regions of the surface layer 6 would not be affected, thereby improving sleeping experiences for the users.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, a modification of the air cushion layer 2 of the composite inflatable mattress is shown. In this modification, the number of the support plates 24 of the air cushion layer 2 is six, the support plates 24 are disposed evenly in the air chambers 23, and each of the support plates 24 extends transverse to the partition plate 22. Each of the support plates 24 has upper and lower sides connected to the outer casing 21, increasing the overall supporting structural strength of the air cushion layer 2. Each of the air chambers 23 is divided by three of the support plates 24 into a plurality of sub-chambers, and each of the three support plates 24 has two notches 241 formed respectively at the upper and lower sides thereof such that the sub-chambers divided by the three support plates 24 are in spatial communication with each other. It should be noted that the number of the support plates 24 is not limited to the examples described herein as long as the support plates 24 are capable of increasing the structural strength of the composite inflatable mattress, and the present disclosure is not limited herein.

To sum up, as compared with the conventional inflatable mattresses, the structure of the air cushion layer 2 disposed on the bottom layer 1 provides an increased structural strength and support for the composite inflatable mattress of the embodiment of the present disclosure. Furthermore, since the air pressure adjustment unit 3 is mounted to the bottom layer 1 and the air cushion layer 2, no external inflation devices for inflating the air cushion layer 2 is required, so inflation of the composite inflatable mattress is relatively simple. Moreover, by virtue of the pressure relief valves 35, the air pressures in the air chambers 23 may be adjusted independently, so the composite inflatable mattress of the embodiment provides two different support levels.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment(s). It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects; such does not mean that every one of these features needs to be practiced with the presence of all the other features. In other words, in any described embodiment, when implementation of one or more features or specific details does not affect implementation of another one or more features or specific details, said one or more features may be singled out and practiced alone without said another one or more features or specific details. It should be further noted that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is (are) considered the exemplary embodiment(s), it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment(s) but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.