Adjustable Bed Boost Control for Occupant Repositioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Adjustable beds in healthcare settings often cause occupants to migrate towards the foot of the bed during adjustments, increasing caregiver workload and risk of injury when repositioning.
Innovation Solution
An adjustable bed with a single-action boost control that allows for simultaneous adjustment of elevation, profile, and angular orientation to reposition the occupant towards the head of the bed, using a user interface to command desired settings and a controller to execute these adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If adjustable bed settings (elevation, profile, angular orientation) are modified to improve patient comfort and positioning, then patient care quality is improved, but the occupant migrates toward the foot of the bed requiring additional caregiver intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The boost control proactively adjusts bed settings (elevation, profile, angular orientation) to a predetermined boost configuration that automatically propels the occupant toward the head of the bed, preventing migration before it occurs and eliminating the need for reactive caregiver intervention
Solution Approach 2:
The bed system performs self-adjustment through the boost control feature, automatically modifying its own positioning settings to reposition the occupant without requiring external manual intervention, thereby reducing caregiver workload while maintaining adaptive positioning capability
2Reliability
If manual repositioning of migrated occupants is performed to maintain proper positioning, then occupant positioning is maintained, but caregiver workload increases and risk of physical injury increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bed system autonomously maintains occupant positioning stability by using the boost control to automatically adjust settings and propel the occupant back toward the head of the bed, eliminating the need for manual caregiver intervention and ensuring consistent positioning without increasing caregiver workload or injury risk
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple individual controls are provided for adjusting elevation, profile and angular orientation, then precise control over each parameter is achieved, but the complexity of the control interface increases
Solution Approach 1:
The boost control serves as a multi-functional control element that simultaneously adjusts multiple bed settings (elevation, profile, angular orientation) to a coordinated boost configuration, providing precise control over all parameters through a single universal control rather than requiring separate controls for each setting
Data Source
AI summary
An adjustable bed comprises an occupant support having adjustable settings that include an elevation, a profile and an angular orientation. The bed also includes an interface for allowing desired values of the adjustable settings to be individually commanded. The bed also includes a single-action boost control for commanding a boost configuration comprising a boost elevation setting and a boost profile setting and a boost angular orientation setting. The bed also includes an adjustment system for adjusting the bed to the desired values of the adjustable settings in response to inputs to the interface and for adjusting the elevation, profile and angular orientation to the boost configuration settings in response to input applied to the single-action boost control.