An airbag inflation and deflation device

Abstract

The present invention is applicable to the technical field of inflating and deflating devices, and provides an airbag inflating and deflating device, which includes an airbag valve unit, an air pump unit, and an inflating and deflating switching valve unit. The airbag valve unit is connected to the inflating and deflating switching valve unit, and the inflating and deflating switching valve unit is connected to the air pump unit. Among them, the airbag valve unit includes an airbag valve group, and the airbag valve group includes an airbag and one or two valves. The air pump unit includes an air inlet and an air outlet, and is used to provide the power for inflation and deflation; the inflating and deflating switching valve unit includes a three-way valve. Without increasing additional costs, the airbag inflating and deflating device of the present invention uses an off-the-shelf air pump to perform reverse deflation on the airbag. Compared with natural deflation, the airbag deflation speed is faster and the deflation speed is constant, having the advantage that the deflation speed is not affected by external factors. At the same time, the airbag inflating and deflating device shares the air pump for inflation and deflation, greatly saving costs and the space of the structure.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of inflating and deflating devices, and particularly relates to an airbag inflating and deflating device. Background Art

[0002] In the prior art, an airbag can be combined with components such as an air pump, an air valve, and an air tube to form an inflating and deflating device. Since the airbag itself can adjust its height and softness by inflating and deflating, the inflating and deflating device including the airbag also has a corresponding adjustment function. Among them, the inflation of the airbag is realized by using an air pump, and the inflation speed is proportional to the air flow rate of the air pump and the number of air pumps. The inflation speed is constant. Therefore, the inflating and deflating devices on the market usually adopt an air pump with a large air flow rate or multiple parallel air pumps to enable the airbag to have a fast enough inflation speed. However, for the deflation of the airbag, since the current airbags usually adopt a simple structure, that is, each airbag is connected to an air tube, and the air tube is connected to an air valve and an air pump, and the operation of inflating and deflating each airbag is controlled by the air valve and the air pump. Therefore, the deflation of the airbag usually adopts natural deflation, that is, the air valve connected to the airbag is opened, and the gas in the bag is discharged into the air through the air pressure difference.

[0003] And this kind of natural deflation of the airbag has problems such as slow deflation speed, non-constant deflation speed, and the deflation speed being limited by the minimum diameter in the air path. First of all, when the force applied to the airbag is small, as the deflation time increases, the gas in the airbag becomes less and less. At this time, the external pressure applied to the airbag also becomes smaller and smaller, and the deflation speed of the airbag will also become slower and slower. Especially when the air pressure in the airbag is slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure, the deflation speed of the airbag is very slow, and the adjustment effect of the airbag is very weak at this time. Secondly, the deflation speed of the airbag during natural deflation is not constant, and the air pressure in the airbag changes with the exhaust, which is very inconvenient for accurately controlling the exhaust of the airbag. Finally, the exhaust speed of the airbag is affected by the minimum diameter in the air path. For example, although the exhaust hole of the airbag is made very large, the exhaust speed still often cannot reach a fast speed, because the exhaust speed is also related to the minimum diameter in the air path, and the exhaust speed is usually determined by the minimum diameter of the internal exhaust of the air valve. For the consideration of the airtightness of the air valve, the diameter of the air valve is usually set to a smaller diameter. These technical problems affect the use effect and need to be further improved. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of the embodiment of the present invention is to provide a device with a fast inflating and deflating speed and a constant deflating speed for the airbag, aiming to solve the problems of slow natural deflation speed, non-constant deflating speed, and the deflation speed being limited by the minimum diameter in the air path in the prior art.

[0005] The embodiments of the present invention are implemented as follows. A balloon inflation and deflation device is provided, which includes a balloon valve unit, an air pump unit, and an inflation and deflation switching valve unit. The balloon valve unit is connected to the inflation and deflation switching valve unit, and the inflation and deflation switching valve unit is connected to the air pump unit. The balloon valve unit includes a balloon valve group, and each balloon valve group includes a balloon and one or two valves. The air pump unit includes an air inlet and an air outlet, and is used to provide the power for inflation and deflation. The inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes a first port, a second port, and a third port. The first port and the second port are respectively connected to the air inlet and the air outlet of the air pump unit, and the third port is communicated with the atmosphere or a normal pressure air source. The inflation and deflation switching valve unit is used to switch between inflation and deflation.

[0006] Further, the inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes a three-way valve or a two-way valve. When including a three-way valve, the number of the three-way valves is one or two.

[0007] Further, the inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes a three-way valve, and the three-way valve is connected in parallel with the balloon valve unit and the air pump unit.

[0008] Further, the inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes a three-way valve, and each balloon valve group includes a balloon and two valves. Both ends of the balloon are respectively connected to the two valves.

[0009] Further, the inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes two three-way valves, and the air inlet of the air pump unit is connected to the first port of the first three-way valve, and the air outlet is connected to the first port of the second three-way valve.

[0010] Further, the two second ports of the two three-way valves are simultaneously connected to the balloon valve unit.

[0011] Further, each balloon valve group includes a balloon and one valve. One end of the valve is connected to the balloon, and the other end is connected to the inflation and deflation switching valve unit.

[0012] The embodiments of the present invention also provide a method for controlling the inflation and deflation of a balloon, and this method is executed by using the above-mentioned balloon inflation and deflation device.

[0013] Specifically, when the number of the three-way valves is one, when inflating the balloon, the end of the three-way valve connected to the air outlet of the air pump unit is closed, and when deflating the balloon, the end of the three-way valve connected to the air inlet of the air pump unit is closed. When the number of the three-way valves is two, one is used as an intake three-way valve for inhaling gas through the connection port with the atmosphere, and one is used as an exhaust three-way valve for exhausting gas through the connection port with the atmosphere.

[0014] Further, when the number of the three-way valves is two, when inflating the airbag, open the air valve, turn on the air pump unit, control the first port of the first three-way valve to communicate with the third port of the first three-way valve, and the first port of the second three-way valve to communicate with the second port of the second three-way valve. The air pump unit intakes air from the third port of the first three-way valve and fills it into the airbag.

[0015] Further, when the number of the three-way valves is two, when deflating the airbag, open the air valve, turn on the air pump unit, control the first port of the first three-way valve to communicate with the second port of the first three-way valve, and the first port of the second three-way valve to communicate with the third port of the second three-way valve. The air pump unit extracts air from the airbag and discharges it into the atmosphere through the third port of the second three-way valve.

[0016] Further, when the number of the three-way valves is one, when inflating the airbag, open the second air valve, close the first air valve, turn on the air pump unit, control the first port of the three-way valve to communicate with the second port of the three-way valve. The air pump unit intakes air from the first port of the three-way valve and fills it into the airbag.

[0017] Further, when the number of the three-way valves is one, when deflating the airbag, open the first air valve, close the second air valve, turn on the air pump unit, control the first port of the three-way valve to communicate with the third port of the three-way valve. The air pump unit extracts air from the airbag and discharges it into the atmosphere through the first port of the three-way valve.

[0018] The embodiment of the present invention also provides a method for adjusting the gas flow between multiple airbags. This method is executed by using the above-mentioned airbag inflation and extraction device, where the number of the three-way valves is one and is set to the closed state, or the three-way valve is not provided.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: An airbag inflation and extraction device is provided. Without adding additional costs, an off-the-shelf air pump is used to perform reverse extraction on the airbag, that is, the inflation and extraction of the airbag share one air pump. Compared with natural deflation, the deflation speed of the airbag is faster. Especially when the air pressure in the airbag is not high, the deflation speed can still be maintained very fast, and the deflation speed of the airbag is constant. At the same time, the airbag inflation and extraction device of the present invention shares an air pump for inflation and extraction. Compared with adding another air pump to extract air from the airbag, it greatly saves costs and the space of the structure. Description of the Drawings

[0020] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings.

[0021] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an airbag inflation and deflation device provided by the prior art;

[0022] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an airbag inflation and deflation device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an airbag inflation and deflation device provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an airbag inflation and deflation device provided by yet another embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Description of the drawing reference numerals:

[0026] 11 - air pump, 12 - airbag, 13 - air pipe, 14 - transfer airbag, 15 - controller, 16 - air valve, 131 - discrete air pipe, 132 - integral air pipe, 161 - discrete air valve, 162 - integral air valve. Detailed implementation manners

[0027] In order to make the technical problems to be solved, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present invention clearer and more understandable, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0028] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an airbag inflation and deflation device in the prior art, as Figure 1As shown in the figure, the airbag inflation and deflation device in the prior art includes an air pump 11, a plurality of airbags 12 connected in parallel, an air pipe 13, a transfer airbag 14, a controller 15 and an air valve 16. The air pipe 13 includes a plurality of discrete air pipes 131 and an integral air pipe 132. The air valve 16 includes a plurality of discrete air valves 161 and an integral air valve 162. Each airbag 12 is connected to a discrete air pipe 131. The plurality of discrete air pipes 131 are connected in parallel and each discrete air pipe 131 is respectively connected to the integral air pipe 132. One end of the integral air pipe 132 is connected to the controller 15, and the other end of the controller 15 is connected to the integral air valve 162 for controlling the opening and closing of the integral air valve 162. A transfer airbag 14 is connected between the air pump 11 and the integral air valve 162. The transfer airbag 14 is used to store air pressure to facilitate the regulation of the inflation and deflation of the airbag 12.

[0029] In specific operation, first, the transfer airbag 14 is pre-filled with a sufficient amount of gas by the air pump 11, and then the air pump is turned off. When inflating, the integral air valve 162 is opened, and the corresponding airbag 12 is inflated by controlling each discrete air valve 161. When deflating, the integral air valve 162 is closed, each discrete air valve 161 is opened, and the gas in the corresponding airbag 12 is discharged into the air through the air pressure difference, that is, natural deflation.

[0030] This kind of airbag inflation and deflation device has a simple structure. The inflation and deflation operations of each airbag are controlled by the air pump and the air valve, thereby adjusting the softness and hardness of each airbag. However, during the natural deflation process of the airbag, there is a problem that the deflation speed of the airbag is not constant, and the deflation speed of the airbag is affected by many factors. For example, when the external pressure on the airbag is small, the deflation speed of the airbag is very slow.

[0031] To overcome the above problems in the prior art, an embodiment of the present invention provides an airbag inflation and deflation device, which includes an airbag valve unit, an air pump unit, and an inflation and deflation switching valve unit. The airbag valve unit is connected to the inflation and deflation switching valve unit, and the inflation and deflation switching valve unit is connected to the air pump unit. Among them, the airbag valve unit includes an airbag valve group, and the airbag valve group includes an airbag and one or two valves, and the airbag and the valve are directly connected. The air pump unit includes an air inlet and an air outlet, and is used to provide the power for inflating and deflating the airbag. The inflation and deflation switching valve unit may include a three-way valve or multiple two-way valves. The inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes three ports: a first port, a second port, and a third port. Among them, the third port is communicated with the atmosphere or a normal pressure air source, and the switching of airbag inflation and deflation is realized through the connection and disconnection of the three ports. The inflation and deflation switching valve unit may include one or two three-way valves. Among them, when the number of airbag valve groups is multiple (including two or more), multiple airbag valve groups are connected in parallel. The valve is used to control the connection or closing of the airbag valve group including the valve, so as to control the state of the airbag in the airbag valve group. When the valve is opened, the airbag is inflated or deflated. When the valve is closed, the state of the airbag remains unchanged. By setting multiple groups of airbag valve groups, the accuracy of the airbag adjustment effect can be improved, so as to realize the precise control of each part of the airbag.

[0032] Among them, the air pump unit includes an air pump. The number of air pumps can be one, or multiple (including two or more). When the number of air pumps is multiple, multiple air pumps are connected in parallel.

[0033] In one embodiment, the number of three-way valves in the inflation and deflation switching valve unit is two. As Figure 2 shown, the airbag inflation and deflation device includes an airbag valve unit, an air pump unit, and an inflation and deflation switching valve unit. Among them, the airbag valve unit includes multiple airbag valve groups connected in parallel. Each airbag valve group is a combination of an airbag and a valve. The air pump unit includes an air pump. The inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes two three-way valves: three-way valve A (the first three-way valve) and three-way valve B (the second three-way valve). The airbag is connected to the valve. After three-way valve A and three-way valve B are connected in parallel, they are connected to the valve. The air pump is connected between three-way valve A and three-way valve B. Among them, the A1 end of three-way valve A is connected to the air inlet of the air pump, the B1 end of three-way valve B is connected to the air outlet of the air pump, the A2 end of three-way valve A and the B2 end of three-way valve B are communicated with one end of the valve, the other end of the valve is connected to the airbag, and the A3 end of three-way valve A and the B3 end of three-way valve B are used to communicate with the atmosphere or a normal pressure air source.

[0034] Specifically, the valve in the present application is different from the three-way valve. The valve is arranged in the middle of the linear pipeline to control the flow and non-flow of gas without changing the gas direction. The three-way valve has three ports and can change the gas direction.

[0035] The "direct connection" in this application means that there are no other components between two components, and only pipelines are connected.

[0036] The air pump used in the embodiments of this application is a device that pumps air by electricity and can be used for both inflation and air extraction. By sharing one air pump for inflation and air extraction, compared with adding another air pump to extract air from the airbag, the cost and the space of the structure are greatly saved.

[0037] In this embodiment, the number of airbags and air valves can be increased multiplicatively (in groups) according to actual application requirements, and multiple airbags are connected in parallel.

[0038] Among them, the common ends of three-way valve A and three-way valve B are A1 and B1 respectively. When three-way valve A is at low level, the A1 end and the A3 end are connected; when three-way valve A is at high level, the A1 end and the A2 end are connected; when three-way valve B is at low level, the B1 end and the B3 end are connected; when three-way valve B is at high level, the B1 end and the B2 end are connected. By setting the levels of three-way valve A and three-way valve B, the connection or disconnection of the three ports of three-way valve A and three-way valve B is realized, so as to achieve the switching of airbag inflation and air extraction. Specifically, when inflating the airbag, open the air valve and turn on the air pump. At this time, the air pump is used for inflation. Control three-way valve A to be at low level and three-way valve B to be at high level. At this time, the A1 end and the A3 end of three-way valve A are connected, and the B1 end and the B2 end of three-way valve B are connected. The air pump intakes air (ambient air) from the A3 end of three-way valve A, and the gas is filled into the airbag. When deflating the airbag, open the air valve and turn on the air pump. At this time, the air pump is used for air extraction. Control three-way valve A to be at high level and three-way valve B to be at low level. At this time, the A1 end and the A2 end of three-way valve A are connected, and the B1 end and the B3 end of three-way valve B are connected. The air pump extracts air from the airbag, and the gas in the airbag is discharged into the atmosphere through the B3 end of three-way valve B.

[0039] When it is not necessary to inflate or deflate the airbag, turn off the air pump, and three-way valve A, three-way valve B and the air valve are all closed.

[0040] The airbag inflation and air extraction device in the embodiments of the present invention can inflate or deflate the airbag by controlling the connection state of three-way valve A and three-way valve B and using the inflation and air extraction functions of the air pump. The inflation and deflation speed is fast, and the speed is constant and easy to control. In particular, without adding an additional air pump, only by changing the connection state of three-way valve A and three-way valve B and using the existing air pump for inflation to perform reverse air extraction on the airbag, the effect of fast and constant airbag deflation speed is achieved. Since the deflation speed of the airbag depends on the air extraction speed of the air pump and is not affected by factors such as external pressure, even when the air pressure in the airbag is slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure, the airbag can still maintain a fast deflation speed, and the deflation speed can be controlled by the air pump so as to deflate the airbag at a constant speed.

[0041] Figure 3 An airbag inflation and deflation device provided by another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, there is only one three-way valve. As Figure 3 shown, the airbag inflation and deflation device includes an airbag valve unit, an air pump unit, and an inflation and deflation switching valve unit. Among them, the airbag valve unit includes a plurality of airbag valve groups connected in parallel. Each airbag valve group is a combination of an airbag and two valves, that is, an airbag is connected between valve 1 (the first valve) and valve 2 (the second valve); the air pump unit includes an air pump, and the inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes a three-way valve. The three-way valve is connected in parallel with the airbag and the air pump. Among them, port 2 of the three-way valve is connected in parallel with one end of valve 1 and the air inlet of the air pump, port 3 of the three-way valve is connected in parallel with one end of valve 2 and the air outlet of the air pump, an airbag is connected between the other ends of valve 1 and valve 2, and port 1 of the three-way valve is in communication with the atmosphere. Among them, the common end of the three-way valve is port 1.

[0042] In this embodiment, the number of airbags, valve 1, and valve 2 (a set of airbag and valves includes one airbag and 2 valves, as Figure 3 ) can be increased multiplicatively according to actual application requirements. The larger the number, the more accurate the adjustment effect of the airbag, and the higher the corresponding production cost. Multiple airbags are connected in parallel.

[0043] When inflating the airbag, open valve 2, close valve 1, and turn on the air pump. At this time, the air pump is used for inflation. Control port 1 and port 2 of the three-way valve to be in communication. The air pump intakes air from port 1 of the three-way valve (ambient atmosphere), and the gas is filled into the airbag through the air outlet and valve 2 (as Figure 3 indicated by the arrow). When deflating the airbag, open valve 1, close valve 2, and turn on the air pump. At this time, the air pump is used for deflation. Control port 1 and port 3 of the three-way valve to be in communication. The air pump pumps air from the airbag, and the gas in the airbag flows through valve 1, through the air outlet, and is discharged into the atmosphere through port 1 of the three-way valve.

[0044] When it is not necessary to inflate or deflate the airbag, turn off the air pump, and the three-way valve, valve 1, and valve 2 are all closed.

[0045] Compared with the above embodiment, the difference in this embodiment of the present invention is that only one three-way valve is used. The airbag valve group includes one airbag and two valves. One airbag is connected between the two valves, and the three-way valve is connected in parallel with the airbag valve unit and the air pump unit. Similar to the above embodiment, the airbag inflation and deflation device in this embodiment of the present invention also achieves the effect of using an off-the-shelf air pump to perform reverse pumping on the airbag, with a fast and constant airbag deflation speed.

[0046] Figure 4 is Figure 3Schematic diagram of another application of an airbag inflation and deflation device provided by the illustrated invention embodiment. As Figure 4 shown, Figure 3 The airbag inflation and deflation device of the invention embodiment shown can also achieve gas exchange between two airbags. At this time, the three-way valve is in a closed state. When airbag 1 needs to be inflated and airbag 2 needs to be deflated, open valve 21 and valve 12, close valve 11 and valve 22, and turn on the air pump. At this time, the air pump is used for pumping air. The air pump intakes air from airbag 2, flows through valve 21 through the air outlet, and fills into airbag 1 (flowing along the Figure 4 direction indicated by the arrow in). When airbag 1 needs to be deflated and airbag 2 needs to be inflated, open valve 11 and valve 22, close valve 21 and valve 12, and turn on the air pump. The air pump intakes air from airbag 1 and fills into airbag 2.

[0047] Specifically, the airbags in the embodiments of the present application can be square, circular, polygonal, etc., and the specific shape is not limited.

[0048] The airbag inflation and deflation device provided in this embodiment improves the inflation and deflation efficiency and makes the airbag adjustment effect faster by gas exchange between two adjacent airbags without intake of air from the atmosphere. The invention embodiment also provides a method for controlling airbag inflation and deflation. This method is executed using the above airbag inflation and deflation device. Among them, when the number of three-way valves is one, when inflating the airbag, the end of the three-way valve connected to the air outlet of the air pump is closed, and when deflating the airbag, the end of the three-way valve connected to the air inlet of the air pump is closed; when the number of three-way valves is two, one is used as an intake three-way valve for inhaling gas through the connection port with the atmosphere, and one is used as an exhaust three-way valve for exhausting gas through the connection port with the atmosphere. For specific control details, refer to the description of the above structure part.

[0049] The technical solution of the present invention is described above with the inflation and deflation switching valve unit composed of three-way valves as an example. It should be understood that the above inflation and deflation switching valve unit composed of three-way valves can be replaced with an inflation and deflation switching valve unit with the same function composed entirely of two-way valves.

[0050] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, and improvements made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An airbag inflation and deflation device, comprising an airbag valve unit, an air pump unit, and an inflation and deflation switching valve unit. The airbag valve unit is connected to the inflation and deflation switching valve unit, and the inflation and deflation switching valve unit is connected to the air pump unit. The airbag valve unit includes a plurality of airbag valve groups connected in parallel, each airbag valve group includes an airbag and two valves. The air pump unit includes an air pump, an air inlet, and an air outlet. The inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes a three-way valve, a first port, a second port, and a third port. The first port and the second port are respectively connected to the air inlet and the air outlet of the air pump unit, and the third port is communicated with the atmosphere or a normal pressure air source. The inflation and deflation switching valve unit is used to switch between inflation and deflation. Among them, The three-way valve is connected in parallel with the airbag valve unit and the air pump unit, and two ends of the airbag are respectively connected to the two valves.

2. A method for controlling the inflation and deflation of an airbag, which is executed by using the airbag inflation and deflation device described in claim 1.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The inflation and deflation switching valve unit includes a three-way valve. When inflating the airbag, one end of the three-way valve connected to the air outlet of the air pump unit is closed. When deflating the airbag, one end of the three-way valve connected to the air inlet of the air pump unit is closed.

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