Pocketed Spring Comfort Layer With Controlled Airflow and Low Noise
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing comfort layers in seating and bedding products, such as those made of visco-elastic foam, retain heat and provide a luxury feel but at the cost of slow heat dissipation, while pocketed spring cores with ventilation holes can be noisy due to fabric expansion.
Innovation Solution
A comfort layer comprising individually pocketed springs within semi-impermeable or impermeable fabric pockets, where the fabric's airflow characteristics control compression and recovery rates, providing a luxury feel without heat retention and minimizing noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If visco-elastic foam or latex foam pads are used to cover spring cores, then a luxury feel with slow compression and slow recovery is achieved, but heat retention increases and body heat dissipation slows down
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses porous foam material with open cell structure that allows air circulation through the comfort layer. This porosity enables heat dissipation while maintaining the slow compression and recovery characteristics that provide the luxury feel, thus resolving the contradiction between comfort and heat retention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines foam material with fabric material in a composite structure where the foam provides the slow compression/recovery luxury feel and the fabric provides breathability and heat dissipation. This composite approach allows both the luxury feel and heat dissipation to coexist.
2Temperature
If ventilation holes are added to fabric pockets in pocketed spring cores, then airflow is improved, but noise is generated due to fabric expansion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different properties to different parts of the system: the foam material is made porous for airflow while the fabric material is kept non-porous or less porous to minimize noise. This local differentiation allows airflow improvement without significant noise generation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a simplified version of ventilation by using the foam's inherent porosity rather than adding physical holes to the fabric pockets. This copying of the ventilation function through material property rather than structural modification achieves airflow improvement without fabric expansion noise.
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 comfort layer offers improved airflow for cooling, slow compression, and gentle recovery, mimicking the feel of expensive visco-elastic foam without heat retention, while reducing noise through controlled airflow.
Implementation Method 1
the fabric material, while permitting some airflow through the material, does so at a rate which retards or slows the rate at which a spring maintained in a pocket of the fabric may compress under load or return to its original height when a load is removed from the pocketed spring
Implementation Method 2
The patent uses porous foam material with open cell structure that allows air circulation through the comfort layer. This porosity enables heat dissipation while maintaining the slow compression and recovery characteristics that provide the luxury feel
Implementation Method 3
the visco-elastic foam pad is slow to compress under load and slow to recover to its original height when the load is removed from the visco-elastic foam pad
Data Source
AI summary
A comfort layer for a bedding or seating product has slow-acting pockets characterized by the individual springs of the comfort layer being pocketed with either semi-impermeable or impermeable fabric. Each seam joining opposed plies of fabric around each of the coil springs of the comfort layer may be segmented, allowing air to flow between the segments, thereby increasing the luxury “feel” of the comfort layer. The method of making the comfort layer includes compressing the springs and creating pockets with a welding horn and an anvil.