Shaped body made from a foam and springs as well as uses thereof

Abstract

A shaped body includes at least one spring and at least one foam section. An uppermost section of the foam section is attached to an uppermost section of the at least one spring and a lowest section of the foam section is attached to the lowest section of the at least one spring. The uppermost section is attached by affixation through a top plate to the at least one spring and the lowest section is attached by affixation through a bottom plate to the at least one spring. The at least one spring is arranged adjacent to the at least one foam section. The top plate and the bottom plate are sufficiently mechanically firm to generate parallel behavior of the at least one spring and the at least one foam section.

Claims

1. A shaped body, comprising: at least one spring and at least one foam section, whereas an uppermost section of the at least one foam section is attached to an uppermost section of the at least one spring, and a lowest section of the at least one foam section is attached to the lowest section of the at least one spring; wherein the uppermost section of the at least one foam section is attached by affixation through a top plate to the at least one spring; wherein the lowest section of the at least one foam section is attached by affixation through a bottom plate to the at least one spring; wherein the top plate and the bottom plate are sufficiently mechanically firm to generate parallel behavior of the at least one spring and the at least one foam section; and wherein the at least one spring is arranged adjacent to the at least one foam section.

2. The shaped body of claim 1, wherein the shaped body comprises at least two springs and wherein the at least one foam section is arranged adjacent to and between the at least two springs.

3. The shaped body of claim 2, wherein the uppermost section of the at least one foam section is attached by affixation through a top plate to the uppermost sections of the at least two springs and the lowest section of the at least one foam section is attached by affixation through a bottom plate to the lowest sections of the at least two springs, wherein the top plate and the bottom plate are sufficiently mechanically firm to generate parallel behavior of the at least two springs and the at least one foam section.

4. The shaped body of claim 1, wherein the shaped body comprises at least two foam sections and wherein the at least one spring is arranged adjacent to and between the at least two foam sections.

5. The shaped body of claim 4, wherein the uppermost section of the at least one spring is attached by affixation through a top plate to the uppermost sections of the at least two foam sections and the lowest section of the at least one spring is attached by affixation through a bottom plate to the lowest sections of the at least two foam sections, wherein the top plate and the bottom plate are sufficiently mechanically firm to generate parallel behavior of the at least two foam sections and the at least one spring.

6. The shaped body of claim 1, wherein a softness of the at least one foam section is temperature dependent.

7. The shaped body of claim 6, further comprising a temperature-regulating device for changing the temperature-dependent foam section.

8. The shaped body of claim 7, further comprising a control device for the temperature regulating device adapted to adjust the firmness of one of the at least one foam section by alteration of temperature of the at least one foam section.

9. The shaped body of claim 1, wherein the at least one foam section further comprises at least one of a horizontal channel or a vertical channel.

10. The shaped body of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of sensors to measure pressure applied to a surface of the shaped body.

11. The shaped body of claim 1, wherein the top plate is one or more of metal and plastic, and wherein the bottom plate is one or more of metal and plastic.

12. A cushion, bed, mattress or pillow comprising a shaped body, the shaped body comprising: at least one spring and at least one foam section, whereas an uppermost section of the at least one foam section is attached to an uppermost section of the at least one spring, and a lowest section of the at least one foam section is attached to the lowest section of the at least one spring; wherein the uppermost section of the at least one foam section is attached by affixation through a top plate to the at least one spring; wherein the lowest section of the at least one foam section is attached by affixation through a bottom plate to the at least one spring; wherein the top plate and the bottom plate are sufficiently mechanically firm to generate parallel behavior of the at least one spring and the at least one foam section; and wherein the at least one spring is arranged adjacent to the at least one foam section.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) FIG. 1 shows a construction of a shaped body with a foam and springs.

(2) FIG. 2 shows an alternative construction of the shaped body.

(3) FIG. 3 shows a combination of a plurality of springs and the foam.

(4) FIGS. 4A and 4B show load deflection curves.

(5) FIG. 5A shows a top view of a further alternative construction of the shaped body.

(6) FIG. 5B shows a top view of a further alternative construction of the shaped body.

(7) FIG. 5C shows a top view of a further alternative construction of the shaped body.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(8) The invention will now be described on the basis of the drawings. It will be understood that the embodiments and aspects of the invention described herein are only examples and do not limit the protective scope of the claims in any way. The invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents. It will be understood that features of one aspect or embodiment of the invention can be combined with a feature of a different aspect or aspects and/or embodiments of the invention.

(9) The present document teaches a shaped body 10 which comprises at least one spring 20 having an inner section 22 and one foam section 30 as is shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and is suitable, for example, for use as a mattress for a bed or a cushion. The foam section 30 is either a conventional polyurethane foam or can be made from a viscoelastic foam, but this is not limiting the invention and other types of foam can be used in the shaped body. The viscoelastic foam has the property that it changes its dynamic properties on warming, as will be explained below. The conventional polyurethane foam does not change its dynamic properties on warming at typical room temperatures. It will be seen in FIG. 1 that the cross diameter of the foam section 30 is smaller than the cross-section of the inner section 22 of the spring 20.

(10) The shaped body can be used in connection with a warming device, sensors and a controller to change the properties of the foam in the mattress or cushion, as explained below. This enables the use of such shaped bodies in areas which are close to surface of a product, such as in the mattress on the bed. The shaped bodies enable significant changes in the firmness of the bed and its mattress, which are substantially independent of the influence of body temperature on their firmness. This means that the foams can be placed close to the surface of the mattress of the bed, and therefore the changes in firmness are more perceptible during the use of the bed.

(11) The thermoelastic foams together with a temperature changing device enabling the warming of the foams in the range from 20 C. to 50 C. and results in the product having changing properties. The inventors have established that the changes in the firmness of the foam itself are rapid and can be clearly noticed by the user, even with small changes in the temperature caused by the temperature changing device.

(12) The combination of the spring 20 and the foam 30 described in this document behaves differently to the combinations described in the prior art. The forces of increasing load will reach the spring 20 and the foam 30 at the same time and will keep this synchrony all the way until both the spring 20 and the foam 30 are substantially completely compressed. Furthermore, the forces released by this combination of the spring 20 and the foam 30 under decreasing load towards the user will come from both the spring 20 and the foam 30 at the same time and keep this synchrony all the way until both the spring 20 and the foam 30 are fully expanded.

(13) In the known prior art one of the components of either the spring 20 or the foam 30 is found to dominate the response to increasing or decreasing load at the beginning or at any time during compression and expansion, because the spring 20 and the foam 30 of the prior art can move independently from each other and the firmer part will dominate under compression and the part with the higher recovery force will dominate under expansion. The only harmonized reaction of both components in the prior art is the phase during which the foam is creeping or extending between the wire of the spring. This creeping out leads to a static non-responsive reaction of such a combination, as the two materials, i.e. the foam and the springs are blocking each other, and this blocking is unwanted.

(14) The expression uppermost or lowest section of a spring or the foam is defined as the sections within this foam/spring combination. This combination can be glued to foam or spring on top or below this combination within a final product.

(15) A shown in the example of FIGS. 1 to 3, an uppermost section 34 and a lowest section 36 of the foam 30 are attached to the springs 20 as this will enable the foam 30 to return to the original shape after removal of a load. The construction can include channels or holes in the foam 30 or elsewhere to allow warmer air to leave the section of the foam, based on the tendency of warmer air to rise.

(16) As noted above, the shaped bodies with comfort features are made of the foam 30 with the springs 20. These springs 20 are mostly metal, although some plastic versions are available. The springs 20 are either attached to each other or are standing singly in pockets beside each other, as can be seen in FIG. 3. The springs 20 can be assembled in several layers horizontally placed on top of each other. In this latter case of several horizontal layers, each one of the horizontal layers may have a different firmness characteristic with the uppermost horizontal layer of the springs 20 being the softest one of the layers and the lowermost horizontal layer being the firmest one of the layers. This leads to an increase of the firmness with increased load forces from the top of the product during use.

(17) The springs 20 and the foam 30 have different firmness characteristics, which can be demonstrated by examining the load deflection curve, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. FIGS. 4A and 4B are graphs in which increasing flexural loads on a beam are plotted along the vertical axis, and deflections resulting from these loads are plotted along the horizontal axis. Both curves are distinctively different for foam and for springs. FIG. 4A shows the graph for one of the springs 20. It will be seen that the increase of firmness with increasing is very linear, but not in the beginning with a low load.

(18) The same curve for polyurethane flexible foam is seen in FIG. 4B and has a different characteristic. As can be seen the increasing load for the polyurethane flexible foam 30 leads to an increasing firmness at a low load, then the firmness is more or less static with an increasing load, before increasing fast again when the polyurethane foam is compressed completely.

(19) As noted in the introduction, there have been different trials in the past to combine both comfort materials into one product, to form so called hybrid products. It was found that placing both materials (i.e. the springs plus the polyurethane foams in a serial manner) in one product does not lead to a positive combination of both deflection curves, as each of the two different materials keeps its own firmness characteristics.

(20) It had been found that one combination of both materials is the integration of the polyurethane foam 30 into the spring 20 with a mechanical firm connection of the uppermost section 36 of the polyurethane foam 30 to the uppermost section 26 of the springs 20 and the lowest section 34 of the polyurethane foam 30 with the lowest section 24 of the spring 20. This attachment can be made, for example, by means of an adhesive. This combination was found to generate an unexpected behavior of the final product as the combination behaves like an ordinary spring but with a very linear increase of firmness from low to high, until the two materials (both the polyurethane foam 30 and the spring 20) are compressed completely. The polyurethane foam 30 dampens the movement of the spring 20 but the overall combination maintains its resilience as a spring, unless compressed completely. The foam 30 can be sized in a way that the foam 30 does not creep out from between the wire material under load of the spring 20, as this creeping out would destroy the dynamic properties of the combination of the foam 30 and the spring 30 described herein. For example, this condition can be fulfilled by designing the section of the flexible foam 20 to be sufficiently smaller in diameter than the diameter of the spring 20.

(21) Using a thermoelastic foam with a corresponding controller to control the firmness together with the spring 20 enables controlling of the firmness of the shaped body 10 by controlling the firmness of the thermoelastic foam 30. With the air on both side of the thermoelastic foam 30 inside the spring 20, a fast release of excessive thermal energy is possible.

(22) It was also found that it is not necessary to connect all the springs 20 to the polyurethane foam 30. It was found that if one or more of the springs 20 are mechanically connected to the modified spring 20 (with the polyurethane foam), this will lead to those adjacent ones of the springs 20 (without the attachment to the polyurethane foam) to react to the increasing load in a similar way. Thus, only some of the springs 20 in a product have to be modified to achieve the effects described.

EXAMPLES

(23) FIG. 1 shows a typical construction of a section of a shaped body, such as the aforementioned bed, mattress or cushion. Several of these sections can be placed adjacent to each other, either horizontally or vertically or both to form the complete product.

(24) The shaped body 10 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a spring 20 with the uppermost section 24 and the lowest section 26 which is attached to a foam 30 arranged inside the body of the spring 20. The foam 30 has an uppermost section 34 and a lowest section 36 which are attached by affixation, e.g. by an adhesive, through a top plate 44 and a bottom plate 46 to the spring 20. The foam 30 can be a viscoelastic foam as discussed in this document or a conventional foam. The top plate 44 could be at the surface of the mattress and the bottom plate 46 could be at the bottom surface of the mattress or cushion. It is also possible that the top plate 44 and the bottom plate 46 are intermediate layers within the mattress or cushion as long as the top plate 44 and the bottom plate 46 attaches spring 20 and foam 30 with each other. The top plate 44 and/or the bottom plate 46 must therefore be sufficiently mechanically firm to generate parallel behavior and could be made of metal or another plastic.

(25) FIG. 2 shows an alternative construction of the shaped body 10 in which the spring 20 is arranged inside a cylindrically shaped foam 30. The uppermost section 24 of the spring 20 is attached to the upper section 34 of the foam 30 and the lowest section 26 of the spring 30 is attached to the lowest section 36 of the foam 30. In this combination the foam 30 will move outwards under increasing load so that the foam 30 is not creeping out from between the wire of spring 20.

(26) FIG. 3 shows a plurality of metal springs 20 are arranged adjacently along the length of a block shaped piece of the foam 30. This construction could be used, for example, in the aforementioned mattress.

(27) FIG. 3 also shows a temperature generating layer 50 is firmly fixed or glued inside the thermoelastic foam 1. The temperature generating layer 50 is connected by cable to an outside controller 60. One or more sensors 70 on the surface of the shaped body 10 can detect pressure on the shaped body 10 and change the properties of the shaped body 10 and so adjust the firmness of the cushion or mattress.

(28) FIG. 5A shows a top view of a further construction of the shaped body 10. A cuboid foam 30 with an uppermost section 34 is arranged inside a cylindrical spring 20 with an uppermost section 24. It will be appreciated that the foam 30 and the spring 20 can also have different shapes, i.e. the foam 30 does not need to be cuboid in shape and the spring 20 does not need to be cylindrical. The uppermost section 34 of the foam 30 is attached to the uppermost section 24 of the cylindrical spring 20 through a top plate 44. A lowest section 36 of the cuboid foam 30 is attached to a lowest section 26 of the spring 20 through a bottom plate 46.

(29) The movement of the foam 30 and the spring 20 are synchronized by attaching the lowest section 36 of the foam 30 to the lowest section 26 of the spring 20 through the bottom plate 46 and attaching the uppermost section 34 of the foam 30 to the uppermost section 24 of the spring 20 through the top plate 44. The foam 30 and the spring 20 therefore show a substantially parallel behavior regarding compression and decompression when a load is applied to any one of the top plate 44, the bottom plate 46, the foam 30, and the spring 20. In particular, the foam 30 and the spring 20 decompress at the same rate after the load is reduced or removed, as the coupling of the spring 20 and the foam 30 through the top plate 44 and the bottom plate 46 prevents the spring 20 from decompressing at a higher rate than the foam 30. This leads to a substantially visco-elastic behavior of the shaped body 10.

(30) The top plate 44 and the bottom plate 46 have the shape of a strip but can also have different shapes, such as a circular shape. The top plate 44 and the bottom plate 46 are made from a polymer but can also be made from a different material, such as a metal. The material of the top plate 44 and the bottom plate 46 should provide sufficient stiffness to enable a mechanically firm coupling of the spring 20 and the foam 30 for allowing the parallel (visco-elastic) behavior regarding compression and decompression. The uppermost section 34 of the foam 30 and the uppermost section 24 of the spring 20 are each affixed, e.g. by an adhesive, to the top plate 44. The lowest section 36 of the foam 30 and the lowest section 26 of the spring 20 are each affixed, e.g. by an adhesive, to the bottom plate 46.

(31) FIG. 5B shows a top view of a further alternative construction of the shaped body 10. A spring 20 is arranged adjacent to and between two elements of the foam 30. The uppermost section 24 of the spring 20 is attached to uppermost sections 34 of both of the two elements of the foam 30 through the top plate 44. A lowest section 26 of the spring 20 is attached to lowest sections 36 of both of the two elements of the foam 30 through the bottom plate 46. Both of two elements of the foam 30 and the spring 20 show a parallel behavior regarding compression and decompression when a load is applied to any one of the top plate 44, the bottom plate 46, either one of the two elements of the foam 30, and the spring 20.

(32) FIG. 5C shows a top view of a further alternative construction of the shaped body 10. The foam 30 is arranged adjacent to and between two springs 20. The uppermost section 34 of the foam 30 is attached to uppermost sections 24 of both of the two springs 20 through a top plate 44. The lowest section 36 of the foam 30 is attached to lowest sections 26 of both of the two springs 20 through a bottom plate 46. Both of the two springs 20 and the foam 30 show a parallel behavior regarding compression and decompression when a load is applied to any one of the top plate 44, the bottom plate 46, either one of the two elements of the foam 30, and either one of the two springs 20.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

(33) 10 Shaped body 20 Spring 22 Inner section 24 Uppermost section 26 Lowest section 30 Foam 34 Uppermost Section 36 Lowest section 40 Plate 44 Top plate 46 Bottom plate 50 Temperature generating layer 60 Controller 70 Sensor