Patient support appliances

Details Patient support appliances Patient support appliances

1987-01-21

1990-06-26

Grosz, Alexander

Beds

Bedclothing

And means to facilitate changing thereof

5455, A61G 700, A47C 2708

Patent

active

049359681

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to support appliances of the kind in which a patient is supported on a plurality of contiguous inflated air sacs.
In British patent application No. 2,141,333 A, there is described a bed of the above kind in which one feature of its construction is that the elongated inflatable air sacs are arranged on flat obstruction free sections which are hingedly joined together. The bed described in the above-mentioned co-pending patent application may be mounted upon a standard hospital bed or constructed as part of a purpose built integral low air loss bed unit of the kind described in British patent No. 1,474,018. The present invention relates to low air loss appliances of both kinds, i.e. those having their own custom-built trolley frames as well as appliances which can be fitted to a standard hospital bed frame such as a `Kings Fund` bed or beds such as those manufactured by Hill-Rom or Joerns.
In the appliances specifically described in the above prior specification air is supplied to the sacs on the bed via individual conduits from a blower unit remote from the bed, the blower unit including pressure regulating valves so that the pressure of air supplied to different sections of the bed is controlled at the remote blower unit. While this arrangement has some technical and clinical advantages, e.g. it is easier to maintain high safety standards and reduce blower noise perceived by the user of the bed, the use of a separately housed blower, heater and control equipment and the need to connect the bed and blower unit with trailing hoses can be a disadvantage where space is limited.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a patient support appliance having a base which provides a flat, obstruction free surface and a plurality of elongated inflatable air sacs mounted on said surface and extending transversely of the appliance so as to provide a surface for supporting a person thereon, an air blower for supplying pressurised air to the sacs which is mounted beneath said base or adjacent thereto, a main air supply conduit for feeding air from the blower to a distribution chamber and individual air supply conduits leading from said distribution chamber to said sacs, pressure regulating means being included to regulate the pressure of air supplied to the sacs from the distribution chamber, whereby the pressure in individual sacs or groups of sacs can be adjusted so that the area of contact between a person supported on the sacs can be maximised.
The blower unit is preferably housed within the physical confines of the bed or its supporting frame, normally beneath the base and attached to the base or on a supporting frame.
There are various possible locations for the blower. If the bed is of the integral type described in British Patent No. 1,474,018, the blower is conveniently mounted on the trolley frame, while the distribution chamber and control valves may be mounted on the underside of the attitude frame. For example, the distribution housing and control unit may be mounted at the foot end of the bed, in a position where manual controls for the pressures in individual bed sections are readily accessible. The distribution housing is conveniently connected to the blower output by a large diameter main flexible supply conduit. However, in certain circumstances, e.g. where the dimensions of the space available make it more convenient, a pair of blowers may be mounted on the trolley frame (preferably in a common housing) and the outputs from these blowers fed to the distribution chamber via separate large diameter conduits. In the case where a pair of blowers are employed, the blower may feed a pair of supply conduits or a single supply conduit via a suitable manifold. However, non-return valves are desirably interposed in the supply conduits to prevent feed back of air from one blower to the other.
If the bed employs air operated bellows for contouring the patient supporting surface, e.g. as in U.K. Patent No. 1,474,018, an auxiliary air pump may be provided to supply air

REFERENCES:
patent: 3822425 (1974-07-01), Scalbs
patent: 4099276 (1978-07-01), Hunt et al.
patent: 4488322 (1984-12-01), Hunt et al.
patent: 4525885 (1985-07-01), Hunt et al.
patent: 4638519 (1987-01-01), Hess
patent: 4686722 (1987-08-01), Swart
National Research Council of Canada, Medical Instrumentation, vol. 3, No. 1, Jun. 1976 "The NRC Hospital Air Bed".

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