Care bed and method for changing shape thereof
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional nursing beds with flat surfaces struggle to facilitate natural motion changes for care receivers, leading to excessive body burden and discomfort due to unnatural force application, which is not effectively addressed by existing solutions.
Innovation Solution
A nursing bed with a curved surface and a driving mechanism that moves portions of the bed surface in a predetermined order, utilizing a robot arm and multiple driving force input ports to simulate natural turning motions, minimizing body burden and preventing bedsores.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a flat bed upper surface is used with manual or power-driven movement, then the caregiver's workload is reduced, but the care receiver experiences unnatural force application and body burden
Solution Approach 1:
The bed upper surface is changed from a flat surface to a curved surface that follows the natural contour of the human body. This curvature allows the care receiver's body to rotate naturally during posture changes, distributing force evenly across the body surface and eliminating the unnatural concentrated force application that occurs on flat surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The bed upper surface is designed as a movable structure that can dynamically change its shape and position. By controlling the movement of multiple sections of the curved surface in a coordinated sequence, the system simulates natural turning motions that reduce body burden while maintaining ease of operation through automated or assisted control.
2Productivity
If belt-shaped members are hoisted to change posture, then the care receiver is moved to a side position, but strong force is applied locally causing excessive body burden
Solution Approach 1:
The bed upper surface is divided into multiple movable sections rather than using a single hoisted belt. Each section can move independently in a coordinated sequence, distributing the force application across multiple contact points and avoiding the concentrated local pressure that occurs with belt hoisting.
Solution Approach 2:
The segmented movable sections are arranged to form a curved surface that conforms to the body's natural shape. This curvature ensures that force is applied distributedly across the body surface during posture changes, rather than concentrating force at single pressure points as occurs with belt-shaped members.
3Ease of operation
If the bed upper surface is moved manually or with power, then the caregiver's burden is reduced, but natural motion similar to turning movement cannot be realized
Solution Approach 1:
The bed upper surface incorporates movable sections that can dynamically adjust their position and shape. By controlling these sections to move in a coordinated sequence, the system can simulate natural turning motions that occur during sleep, providing adaptability for different posture change scenarios while maintaining ease of operation through automated control mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The curved configuration of the movable bed surface enables it to conform to and facilitate natural body contours during turning movements. This curvature allows the surface to guide the body through natural motion paths, achieving both natural motion capability and operational ease.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
To provide a nursing bed capable of preventing bedsores of a care receiver while minimizing a burden on the body of the care receiver when changing posture. A nursing bed 1 with a longitudinal dimension L and a width dimension W has an upper surface forming member 3 which forms a bed upper surface 2 on which a care receiver lies and a driving mechanism 6, 7 configured to move at least a portion of the upper surface forming member 3. The bed upper surface 2 includes a curved surface which is curved downwardly in the width direction.