Integral Open-Face Chamber Cover Assembly for Patient Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cover assemblies for patient supports are laborious to produce and require many manufacturing steps, lacking efficiency and versatility in accommodating different patient sizes and support materials.
Innovation Solution
A cover assembly design featuring integral open face chambers with hinges and optional horizontal expansion portions, coupled with a sealing surface, allowing for easy assembly and adaptation to various patient sizes, and incorporating an expandable turn assist module with pre-positioned turn bladders for simplified alignment and therapy provision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional cover assemblies are designed with separate top and bottom portions joined together, then structural support is provided, but manufacturing becomes laborious and requires many manufacturing steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the top portion and bottom portion into a single integral cover assembly formed from a single sheet of material. The bottom portion includes integrated hinges that fold upward to form the sides and top portion, eliminating the need to join separate components. This merging of parts directly reduces manufacturing steps and labor while maintaining the structural support function.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional cover assemblies use fixed size design, then manufacturing is simple, but versatility in accommodating different patient sizes is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates expandable portions with expansion lines into the cover assembly, allowing the structure to dynamically change size. The bottom portion includes expandable sections that can be folded outward along expansion lines to increase the width and length of the cover assembly, accommodating different patient sizes. This dynamic adaptability is achieved through additional fold lines and expansion portions rather than complex mechanisms.
3Ease of manufacture
If turn bladders are not pre-positioned, then manufacturing is simpler, but alignment becomes difficult and assembly is time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-positions the turn bladders within recesses formed in the bottom portion of the cover assembly during the molding process. The recesses are specifically shaped and located to automatically position the turn bladders in their correct final positions when the cover assembly is formed. This preliminary positioning action eliminates the need for separate alignment steps and ensures precise placement without requiring complex assembly procedures.
Data Source
AI summary
A cover assembly for a patient support including a top portion with the top portion defining a patient support surface and a sealing surface opposite the patient support surface. The cover assembly further includes a bottom portion defining a plurality of open face chambers with each open face chamber including a floor and a plurality of walls extending from the floor towards the top portion. Each open face chamber is connected to, and integral with, at least one additional open face chamber by a hinge. The sealing surface of the top portion covers the open face chambers and is coupled to the bottom portion at each hinge.