Auto-Leveling Patient Bed with Position-Locked Repositioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing patient support apparatuses, such as hospital beds for bariatric patients, face challenges in safely repositioning patient support surfaces without causing damage to components, managing patient safety by preventing excessive head or foot elevation, and efficiently updating onboard electronic firmware.
Innovation Solution
The patient support apparatus incorporates a repositioning mechanism that allows for vertical and angular adjustment of the patient support surface, along with sensors to prevent damaging contact and ensure safe positioning. Additionally, it includes a tilt control system to limit head or foot elevation and a warning system to detect changes in patient weight. The apparatus also features a controller area network bus for remote firmware updates, ensuring system functionality and safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the patient support surface is vertically repositioned and angularly repositioned to facilitate patient movement, then patient repositioning capability is improved, but components may come into damaging contact with each other
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by using sensors to detect when the support surface is in vulnerable positions before damaging contact can occur. The system proactively prevents damage by detecting angular positions and vertical heights that would put components at risk, and automatically inhibiting further repositioning movements that could cause harm.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback through sensors that continuously monitor the angular position and vertical position of the patient support surface. This feedback is sent to the control system, which automatically adjusts or prohibits repositioning operations based on the detected conditions, creating a closed-loop safety mechanism that prevents component damage while maintaining repositioning functionality.
2Reliability
If sensors and control systems are added to prevent damaging contact and ensure safe positioning, then component protection and patient safety are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by implementing an automatic control system that uses sensor data to make decisions about safe repositioning without requiring constant operator intervention. The system monitors its own state through sensors and automatically inhibits movements that would cause damage, allowing the apparatus to protect itself and ensure patient safety autonomously.
3Adaptability or versatility
If firmware updates are performed on microcontrollers with limited memory, then system functionality can be updated, but the update process is vulnerable to interruptions and memory constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by preparing and validating firmware updates before they are fully installed. The system receives update data, validates it, and prepares the update process in advance, ensuring that updates can be completed reliably without interruptions that would corrupt the firmware or render the system nonfunctional.
Data Source
AI summary
A patient support apparatus including a patient support surface and a repositioning mechanism for vertically and angularly repositioning the surface. The apparatus including sensors for automatically detecting and inhibiting attempts to vertically reposition the surface when it is at a particular angular position, and attempts to angularly reposition the surface when it is at a particular vertical position. The apparatus also includes a tilt control system for limiting the extent to which head or foot ends of the surface can be angularly repositioned, a scale and a warning system for communicating a warning when a change in the weight on the surface is indicative of a patient moving or attempting to move off of the surface, a sensor for detecting an increase in amperage during an operation and stopping the operation, and an ability to update microcontroller programming via a controller area network bus.