Flexible foldable furniture by using honeycomb technology

Abstract

The present invention relates to an improved furniture system, particularly a sofa and a bed, which is reduced to a minimum volume for transportation. The minimum volume is created to meet the current requirements for e-commerce. A flexible foldable honeycomb structure is used in manufacturing a supporting structure for a seat and a bed frame, wherein the hexagonal shape of said structure is strong and stable and provides a high bearing capacity versus weight. The honeycomb structure is designed to be foldable and used for saving space and to be easier for delivery in a box that fits in a small car, wherein said structure used flaccid materials that are glued to each other in certain way to open and close easily, wherein the number of layers of the flaccid materials determines the expansion length of the structure and these layers together is called a block of honeycomb.

Claims

1. A bed frame capable of being expanded and collapsed, comprising: a honeycomb support structure configured as a plurality of hollow hexagons each with a length of 1 to 150 mm, said structure having a length and a width, each said hexagon formed of flexible material, at least one side of each hexagon glued to a side of an adjoining hexagon, said glue disposed along an outer side of said length of said hexagon at a distance of 1 to 50 mm, each said hexagon formed of flexible material layers, said honeycomb structure visible when in an expanded state; and a frame for housing said honeycomb structure, said frame comprising: a headboard attached to a first end of the length of said honeycomb structure; an end board attached to a second end of the length of said honeycomb structure, said headboard and end board separated by a distance of the length of said structure; and first and second side boards disposed on respective sides at a distance of the width of said honeycomb structure and extending between said headboard and said end board; wherein the honeycomb structure is configured to be selectively expandable and contractible.

2. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein the honeycomb structure includes a first zone and a second zone non-overlapping with the first zone in top view, wherein each of the hollow cells in the first zone has a smaller size than a smallest hollow cell in the second zone in order to provide increased structural support against external stress applied to the first zone as compared to the second zone.

3. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein the hexagons of the honeycomb structure are formed of at least one of the items from the group consisting of cellulose material, paper, synthetic paper, non-woven fabric, and plastic material.

4. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein the hexagons are formed of paper, and at least one of the paper layers has a weight of about 40 grams to 500 grams per square meter.

5. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein the hexagons are formed of paper, and at least one of the paper layers has a thickness of about 10 μm to about 15 mm.

6. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein the hexagons are waterproof.

7. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein the hexagons are fire-retardant.

8. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein the material used for gluing includes at least one of the items from the group consisting of starch, PVA, resins, and acrylic material.

9. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein the material used for gluing includes starch.

10. The bed frame of claim 9, wherein the length of the disposed glue is limited to from about 2 cm to about 10 cm.

11. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein at least one of said headboard, end board, and side boards is formed from the group consisting of wood, steel, and aluminum.

12. The sofa of claim 1, wherein the hexagons are waterproof.

13. The bed frame of claim 1, wherein said glued sections are offset from one another.

14. A sofa capable of being expanded and collapsed, comprising: a honeycomb support structure configured as a plurality of hollow hexagons each with a length of 1 to 150 mm, said structure having a length and a width, each said hexagon formed of flexible material, at least one side of each hexagon glued to a side of an adjoining hexagon, said glue disposed along an outer side of said length of said hexagon at a distance of 1 to 50 mm, each said hexagon formed of flexible material layers, said honeycomb structure visible when in an expanded state; a frame comprising first and second extension rods and first and second side boards; first and second armrests each connected to an end of the honeycomb structure and to said frame; padding disposed over the honeycomb structure; and sponge material disposed over the padding; wherein, when the honeycomb structure is in the expanded state, said first and second extension rods are respectively connected to connectors arranged along a length of said first and second side boards, the first and second extension rods being configured to maintain the honeycomb structure in the expanded state; wherein the honeycomb structure is configured to be selectively expandable and contractible.

15. The sofa of claim 14, wherein the flexible material of the honeycomb structure is formed of at least one of the items from the group consisting of cellulose material, paper, synthetic paper, non-woven fabric, and plastic material.

16. The sofa of claim 14, wherein the first and second armrests are hollow, each defining a storage space therein.

17. The sofa of claim 14, wherein the first and second armrests are each formed including an expandable honeycomb structure that is covered by pieces of hard material formed of at least one of the items from the group consisting of MDF sheets and plywood.

18. The sofa of claim 14, wherein the flexible material paper is fire-retardant.

19. The sofa of claim 14, wherein the honeycomb structure includes a first zone and a second zone non-overlapping with the first zone in top view, wherein each of the hollow cells in the first zone has a smaller size than a smallest hollow cell in the second zone in order to provide increased structural support against external stress applied to the first zone as compared to the second zone.

20. A method of manufacturing a bed frame, the method comprising the steps of: forming a selectively expandable and collapsible honeycomb structure by arranging a series of hexagonal frames, each said frame including sheets of paper, each said frame glued on a side pairwise with an adjoining frame, wherein the gluing operation consists of disposing glue only between select portions of pairs of paper sheets that face and contact one another, the selected glue portions being spaced apart from one another and collectively having a staggered formation; cutting the glued sheets of paper to a size of the bed frame; gluing a headboard to a first end of the glued sheets of paper; gluing an end board to a second of the glued sheets of paper, first and second ends being opposite to one another; expanding the honeycomb structure by distancing the first and second ends of the glued sheets of paper away from one another, the expanded honeycomb structure having a first side extending between the first and second ends of the glued sheets of paper and a second side extending between the first and second ends of the glued sheets of paper, the first and second sides of the expanded honeycomb structure being opposite to one another; disposing a first side board on the first side of the honeycomb structure, the first side board extending between the headboard and the end board; disposing a second side board on the second side of the honeycomb structure, the second side board extending between the headboard and the end board; and covering each of the first and second side boards with least one of the items from the group consisting of fabric, leather, and felt, wherein the headboard, the end board, the first side board, and the second side board are each formed of at least one of the items from the group consisting of wood, steel, and aluminum.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(1) The aim of the invention is to provide foldable furniture using honeycomb technology. Moving/shipping furniture like seats and bed frames is a pain due to its huge volume. Moving a big piece of furniture requires big spaces in shipping containers, big spaces in trucks and labors to carry them to the final places. Beside the high shipping cost per piece, the CO2 footprint of transporting the big pieces of furniture is high which adds to bot: the carbon dioxide emissions and ultimately to the climate change in terms of global warming. The honeycomb technology is a structure used in manufacturing aero planes body is now used for furniture. The foldability aspect of such technology would allow to reduce the volume, weight and the cost of the product considerably which may lead to a complete disruption in the furniture industry. The present invention relates to a flexible foldable bed made of a core of layers of paper. The core shape can be opened and closed manually. The structure is made of honeycomb technology where the layers are glues together with glue. The structure of hexagonal shape is rigid and can carry heavy weights. The bed portable and can be carried by one person. The bed is light in weight and is extendable to any length depending on the number of layers. The foldable bed uses extension bars to fix the structure in place using special connections.

(2) The current glue is starch with acrylic additives. The glue that can be used is starch or any other glue like PVA, resins, acrylic or any other glue. The glue can be water based or solvent based.

(3) The materials used in this structure is preferably Paper but can be any flaccid materials like, but not limited to, plastic, Non-woven fabric, or synthetic paper. The paper used can be either treated to be water resistant and/or fire retardant. The thickness of paper can vary from 10 micron to 15 mm. Other materials can be used to give the hexagonal shapes. Plastic, felt, non-woven fabric can be also used. Any flaccid materials can be used to give the same function.

(4) For Paper, paper grams can vary from 40 to 500 gram per meter square. It also can be engineered to have better edge burst strength of 10-100.

(5) The used paper can be treated and sprayed by coloring materials, i.e. pigments, or dyed in coloring chemicals. Spraying materials can be anything from coloring or adding feature and/or function to the structure like being water proof, or/and fire retardant, changing flexibility, changing color, or changing physical or chemical properties of the paper or other structural material.

(6) The honeycomb foldable bed Structure of the present invention comprising the below components: A—Headboard (1). B—Flexible hexagonal Structure (2). C—End board (3). D—Side Boards (4).

(7) The advantage of these embodiments is that the structure can be divided into zones where the cell size can be reduced to give more support to the points of stresses of a sleeping person. The cell size can be larger in the areas that will not carry more load.

(8) The structure is also so flexible due to the improvement done on the cell size and glue size. The cell side is determined by the space between the glue lines in the honeycomb core machine. The width of the glue line is also a factor in giving flexibility of the honeycomb structure. The improvement was done on the machine to increase the length between the glue lines from 2-3 cm to 7-10 cm. The glue width also was decreased from 10 mm to 2 mm. The glue width can go down to 1 mm. The smaller the glue line and the bigger width between the glue lines give higher flexibility.

(9) There are two kinds of foldability for the bed of the current invention as below:

(10) Horizontal foldability: The bed can be folded to be 2 cm and extended to be anything from 2 cm up to 10000 cm depending on the number of layers glued to each other.

(11) Vertical foldability: The bed itself can be cut into two or more pieces then get attached to each other vertically with a hinge or any other connector. This allows the structure to be folded into two halves or more.

(12) Characterized in that:

(13) The honeycomb structure bed can be folded down to be 30×30×30 cm. The box which is used for the folded bed can be any size can have any side length from 20 to 300 cm. The box dimensions are variable to accommodate the required size of the mattresses.

(14) The components of the sofa comprising: A—Flexible hexagonal Structure (5). B—Side board (6). C—Extension rods (7). D—Armrest (8). E—Padding (9).

(15) It is worth mentioning that honeycomb structures are natural or man-made structures that have the geometry of a honeycomb to allow the minimization of the amount of used material to reach minimal weight and minimal material cost. The geometry of honeycomb structures can vary widely but the common feature of all such structures is an array of hollow cells formed between thin vertical walls. The cells are often columnar and hexagonal in shape. A honeycomb shaped structure provides a material with minimal density and relative high out-of-plane compression properties and out-of-plane shear properties.

(16) The using of the honeycomb technology in the current invention, utilizes the gluing machines to glue the paper (or any flexible materials) in parallel glue lines, in which the lines are laid down ready for the next paper sheet. The glue is done in a staggered way paper after another. The whole stacked paper layers constitute a block of paper layers. The staggered way of gluing gives us the hexagonal shape constituting the honeycomb structure. Then, these layers are cut to the size of the bed by any cutting method. The cut block is attached to the headboard and the end board by glue or any hardware fixtures. The hexagonal shape has the property of being expanded manually to the size needed. The length of the expanded honeycomb depends on the number of paper layers. The design of the hexagonal structure, the distance between the glue lines and the width of the glue lines makes it easier to for the user to expand the bed. Then, the side boards are inserted to keep the structure in place and to the designed length ready for the mattress.

(17) The constructive and functional characteristics of the foldable and transportable bed will be better understood from the following detailed description, in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings that illustrate a preferred and non-limiting embodiment and in which:

(18) FIG. 1 shows the top view of the expanded bed, wherein the claimed bed comprising Headboard (1), Flexible hexagonal Structure (2), End Board (3) and Side Board (4) as shown in FIG. 1.

(19) FIG. 2 shows the Cross section A-A Side view of the expanded bed, wherein it shows Headboard (1), Flexible hexagonal Structure (2), End Board (3).

(20) FIG. 3 shows the Expanded Side View of the expanded bed, wherein it shows Headboard (1), End Board (3) and Side Board (4)

(21) FIGS. 4 and 5 show the top and side view of the folded bed, wherein it shows Headboard (1), Flexible hexagonal Structure (2), End Board (3).

(22) FIG. 6 Shows the top view of the expanded sofa, wherein the claimed sofa comprising Flexible hexagonal Structure (5), Side board (6), Extension rods (7), Armrest (8) and Padding (9).

(23) FIG. 7 shows a particular embodiment of the Top View of a folded Sofa in order to clarify Flexible hexagonal Structure (5), Side board (6), Extension rods (7).

(24) FIG. 8 shows a particular embodiment of the foldable sofa a cross section A-A Side View in order to clarify Flexible hexagonal Structure (5), Side board (6), Extension rods (7).

(25) FIG. 9 shows a particular embodiment of the Side View of a folded sofa in order to clarify Flexible hexagonal Structure (5), Side board (6) and Armrest (8).

(26) FIG. 10 shows a particular embodiment of the expanded front view of the foldable sofa to clarify Flexible hexagonal Structure (5), Side board (6), Extension rods (7), and Padding (9).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(27) An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(28) FIG. 1 shows a particular embodiment of the top view of the expanded bed to which the present invention relates.

(29) FIG. 2 shows a particular embodiment of the Cross section A-A Side view of the expanded bed to which the present invention relates.

(30) FIG. 3 shows a particular embodiment of the Expanded Side View of the expanded bed to which the present invention relates.

(31) FIGS. 4 and 5 show a particular embodiment of the top and side view of the folded bed to which the present invention relates.

(32) FIG. 6 shows a particular embodiment of the top view of the expanded sofa to which the invention relates.

(33) FIG. 7 shows a particular embodiment of the Top View of a folded Sofa to which the invention relates.

(34) FIG. 8 shows a particular embodiment of the foldable sofa a cross section A-A Side View to which the invention relates.

(35) FIG. 9 shows a particular embodiment of the Side View of a folded sofa to which the invention relates.

(36) FIG. 10 shows a particular embodiment of the expanded front view of the foldable sofa to which the invention relates.