Flat Spring Mattress Core Design for Body Contour and Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Standard mattresses, whether coil spring or foam core, face issues such as excessive firmness, difficulty in adjusting firmness, and poor air flow leading to trapped body heat, which affect comfort and support.
Innovation Solution
A mattress design featuring a core chassis with flat springs that have arcuate shapes and terminal ends with body support disks, allowing for compressibility and improved support, along with a manufacturing process that forms flat springs in a sheet with terminal ends configured to support these disks, enhancing comfort and adjustability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If foam core mattress is used, then body contour and pressure point elimination are improved, but firmness becomes excessive and air flow is blocked causing heat trapping
Solution Approach 1:
The mattress core is segmented into multiple flat springs arranged in parallel, each spring being a separate functional unit. This segmentation allows individual springs to compress and expand independently, providing localized support and airflow channels between the springs, thus resolving the contradiction between body contouring and air flow.
Solution Approach 2:
The flat springs are designed to be flexible and dynamic, allowing them to compress under body weight for support and then rebound. This dynamic behavior provides adjustable firmness through the natural elasticity of the springs, while the gaps between moving springs maintain air flow passages, addressing both firmness adjustability and heat dissipation needs.
2Ease of operation
If metal coil springs are used, then air flow and heat dissipation are improved, but body contour and pressure point elimination are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The flat springs are designed with a curved or arcuate cross-sectional shape rather than being completely flat. This curvature allows the springs to conform better to body contours, distributing pressure more evenly across contact points, thus improving body contouring and pressure point elimination while maintaining the airflow benefits of the spring structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The mattress combines flat springs made from composite materials that provide both structural support and surface area for body contact. The composite construction allows the springs to maintain their shape for support while having sufficient surface area to contour to the body, resolving the contradiction between structural integrity and body conforming capability.
3Ease of manufacture
If standard foam mattress structure is used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but firmness cannot be adjusted and heat trapping occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The firmness of the mattress can be adjusted by changing parameters of the flat springs such as thickness, width, spacing, and material properties. This allows customization of firmness levels while maintaining a relatively simple manufacturing process using standard sheet metal forming and assembly techniques, thus achieving adaptability without sacrificing ease of manufacture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design provides improved body contour, reduced pressure points, and better airflow, addressing the limitations of traditional mattresses by offering customizable support and comfort while minimizing heat retention.
Implementation Method 1
each one of the plurality of flat springs comprises a first terminal end, a second terminal end, and a flexible arcuate member extending from the first terminal end to the second terminal end... each flat spring being compressible along a longitudinal axis in response to a force applied along the longitudinal axis
Data Source
AI summary
Mattresses including a chassis core including a rigid or semi-rigid base sheet; a plurality of flat springs spaced apart from one another in parallel rows, wherein each one of the plurality of flat springs comprises a first terminal end, a second terminal end, and a flexible arcuate member extending from the first terminal end to the second terminal end, and wherein a center of an arc defined by the arcuate member is fixedly attached to the rigid base sheet; a body support disk disposed on each one of the first and second terminal ends. The body support disk supports the load of an individual. In some embodiments, the body support disk is pivotably connected to each terminal end.