Hinged Back Pillow for Maintaining Side-Sleeping Position
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals struggle to maintain a side-sleeping position during sleep, particularly those with conditions like sleep apnea, as they often involuntarily shift to a supine position, leading to discomfort and health issues, with existing solutions causing physiological and psychological irritation.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight, elongate back pillow with a hinge attachment that allows bi-directional rotation, positioned at the individual's spine to prevent rotation to a supine position by capturing between the bed and back, providing gentle resistance and maintaining a side-sleeping orientation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid back pillow is used to prevent supine positioning, then the effectiveness of preventing supine sleep increases, but the comfort and ease of movement decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The back pillow is designed with dynamic characteristics, allowing it to be compressed and deformed when the user moves or changes position. The pillow material and structure enable it to return to its original shape after compression, maintaining its positioning function. This dynamic behavior allows the pillow to prevent supine sleep while accommodating natural movement and maintaining comfort during side sleeping.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a heavy back pillow is used to maintain position, then the stability of side-sleeping orientation improves, but the ease of movement and partner compatibility worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The back pillow utilizes the parameter of weight, designing it to be lightweight rather than heavy. This parameter change achieves the desired stability through optimized geometry and positioning rather than mass. The lightweight design allows easy movement and partner compatibility while maintaining side-sleeping orientation through its structural design and strategic placement between the user's back and the mattress.
3Reliability
If a bulky back pillow is used to prevent supine positioning, then the effectiveness of positional therapy increases, but the ease of use and comfort decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The back pillow is designed with a segmented or zoned structure, featuring different density regions and structural zones that provide targeted support to specific areas of the back. This segmentation allows the pillow to maintain positional therapy effectiveness by supporting critical areas while reducing overall bulk and improving comfort through localized support rather than uniform mass.
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 solution effectively helps individuals maintain a side-sleeping position without causing discomfort, reducing the risk of health issues associated with supine sleeping, such as sleep apnea, while being comfortable and easy to use, allowing for easy movement and partner compatibility.
Implementation Method 1
allowing the pillow to fall to a laterally offset position from the spine toward the bed surface, thereby facilitating capture of the pillow between the bed and back side of the individual
Data Source
AI summary
A device and method for enabling an individual located on a bed to sustain a side-sleeping orientation on either a left or right side. The device comprises a light weight, elongated pillow having a longitudinal axis and being configured to assume a rest position at a back side of the individual and proximate to an adjacent surface of a bed when reclined in a side-sleeping orientation. The pillow includes a hinge-like attachment structure which is positioned along a longitudinal edge of the pillow to secure the pillow to the individual's bed clothing. The attachment structure provides sufficient rotation to allow the pillow to rotate to the rest position in response to the force of gravity, ready to be engaged in a partial captured configuration between the individual's back and bed surface upon initial rotation of the individual from the side-sleeping orientation toward a supine sleeping position.