US20110191961A1

US20110191961A1 - Ecological airbed

Info

Publication number: US20110191961A1
Application number: US12/703,484
Authority: US
Inventors: Shin Ping WU
Original assignee: Sportspower
Current assignee: Sportspower
Priority date: 2010-02-10
Filing date: 2010-02-10
Publication date: 2011-08-11
Also published as: CN201806325U

Abstract

An ecological inflatable airbed comprises a main body, a plurality of rings, and an air faucet. The main body is made by non-woven fabric and Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer. A space is defined within the main body. The main body is inflatable, and has a top layer and a bottom layer. The non-woven fabric is laminated to a layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer which is laminated to a polyester mesh. A plurality of interstitial flaps have connection between the top layer and the bottom layer. A plurality of loop connection areas are arranged within the space defined in the main body. An air valve is provided on the main body for inflating or deflating the main body. The air valve forms an airtight seal with the main body for retaining air within the main body.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an airbed, and more particularly, to an EVA Mesh Nonwoven Material Application for an ecological air bed providing improved environmental friendliness.

BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION OF RELATED ART

A conventional bed usually includes a bed frame and a mattress placed on the bed frame. It has numerous disadvantages, such as weight, bulk, and difficult to transport, assemble, and disassemble. In order to overcome above shortcomings, various kinds of airbed were developed.
Generally, an airbed is in the form of mattress composed of an inflatable main body and an outer layer for covering the inflatable main body. Besides, one side of the inflatable main body is provided with an air faucet or valve for inflation and deflation. The inflatable main body can be expanded when being inflated through the air faucet. When the inflatable main body is inflated, users can lie down thereon. For the preferable features including light weight, elasticity, smaller space and convenience for storage, and also portability, the airbeds mentioned above are more attractive for most consumers.
However, the above airbeds have following disadvantages. The outer layer used for covering the airbeds is generally made by polyvinyl chloride (abbreviated as PVC hereinafter). Although the airbeds made by PVC are advantageous in low manufacturing cost, the disadvantages thereof are to have hard tactile sensation, non-decomposability, poor capacity of self-inflation, and short lifetime.
In order to overcome the disadvantage of the airbeds made by PVC due to aspect of tactile sensation, the outer surface of the outer layer made by PVC needs to be treated with a flocking process in order to form a surface with better tactile sensation for consumers to lie upon. However, the color of the outer layer treated with the flocking process fades easily. In addition, the flocking's soft fine hairs detach easily from the outer surface of the outer layer. For certain consumers, they may suffer from respiratory hypersensitivity when they inhale soft fine hair from the main body. Consequently, it may adversely affect the health of consumers.
To overcome the disadvantage of the airbeds made by PVC due to aspect of environmental protection, Thermoplastic Polyurethane (abbreviated as TPU hereinafter) is alternatively used to manufacture airbeds. TPU is a family of Thermoplastic Elastomer (abbreviated as TPE) that is friendly to environment, non-harmful to human beings, and non-irritant to skin, and has preferable features such as elasticity and durability. However, the use of TPU is restricted because of high cost and discomfortable tactile sensation. In order to overcome above shortcomings, inventor had the motive to study and develop the present invention to provide an ecological airbed that is easily self-decomposable, friendly to environment, and is still able to provide a comfortable tactile sensation.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

An object of the present invention is to provide with an ecological airbed that is able to fulfill the dual purposes of environmental protection and providing a comfortable tactile sensation. In order to achieve above object, the present invention provides an ecological airbed comprising a main body, a plurality of rings, and an air faucet. The main body is made by non-woven fabric and Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer and is defined with a space therein. The plurality of rings is arranged within the space defined in the main body. The air faucet is provided on the main body for inflating or deflating the main body.
In practice, the non-woven fabric is preferably made by polypropylene. In practice, the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer preferably provide on one surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body. Besides, the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is preferably provided via lamination on the surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body. The following detailed description describe with examples or embodiments for best understanding accompanying in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an ecological airbed of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the main body, and a partially enlarged schematic view showing part of the ecological airbed in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross section of the material, and a partially enlarged schematic view showing part of the ecological airbed in FIG. 2.

The following list of elements is useful in reviewing the drawings.

10 Main Body
12 Plurality Of Rings
15 Interstitial Connecting Flaps
14 Air Valve
102 Non-Woven Fabric
103 Layer Of Polyester Mesh
104 Layer Of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Copolymer

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention discloses an ecological airbed. The ecological airbed comprises a main body, a plurality of rings, and an air faucet. The main body has a top layer and a bottom layer connected by four side walls and a plurality of interstitial connecting flaps. The interstitial connecting flaps 15, FIG. 2 are bonded between the top and bottom of the main body. At each connection area appearing shaped as a loop from the exterior, a pair of connecting flaps, namely a first connecting flap and a second connecting flap, connect between the top layer and the bottom layer of the main body.
See FIGS. 1-2, showing a preferred embodiment of an ecological airbed according to the present invention. The main body 10 is defined with a space therein. The plurality of rings 12 is arranged in the space within the main body 10. Besides, the air valve 14, in the shape of a faucet, is provided on one side of the main body 10 for inflation and deflation of the main body 10.
In this embodiment, the plurality of rings 12 is arranged vertically in a matrix form.
The top and the bottom of each ring 12 are respectively attached to the inner top surface and the inner bottom surface of the main body 10. The plurality of rings 12 provides better support for the main body 10 and provides the outer surface of the main body 10 with undulating effect. Therefore, the surface of the main body 10 for users to lie down thereon can be more comfortable. The rings here are not necessarily circular and can be a wide variety of loop shapes.
Please refer to FIG. 3 that is a partially enlarged schematic view showing part of the main body 10. The main body 10 includes a layer of non-woven fabric 102 and a layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104. For other embodiments for example, the main body 10 may include a layer of mesh between the non-woven fabric 102 and layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104. Alternatively, the construction can be a PP exterior layer over a TPU middle layer, over the layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104.
In the main embodiment, the layer of non-woven fabric 102 is non-woven fabric made by polypropylene. Besides, the layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104 is provided on one surface of the layer of non-woven fabric 102 facing the space defined in the main body 10. Moreover, more specifically, the layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104 is provided via lamination on the surface of the layer of non-woven fabric 102 facing the space defined in the main body 10.
Non-woven fabric is made by oriented fibers or randomly oriented fibers. Non-woven fabric is chosen because it is easily decomposable and friendly to environment. In addition to the feature of being friendly to environment, non-woven fabric also has advantageous features including lightweight, air permeability, waterproof, soft tactile sensation, elasticity, non-toxicity, odorlessness, and low cost. Therefore, the use of non-woven fabric prevents from the environment threat resulting from the difficult decomposition of plastic material (such as PVC) that is used to manufacture conventional airbeds. For users, moreover, non-woven fabric provides comfortable tactile sensation and is non-irritant to skin as well.
An alternate configuration of the fiber layer is a day ballistic nylon of nylon fabric woven into a basket weave configuration. Preferably, the fiber layer can be made as a ripstop nylon layer with interwoven ripstop reinforcement threads in a cross hatch pattern. While high strength fibers such as polyethylene, aramid and polybenzazole PBT, glass fibers, carbon fiber or other mineral fibers could be used, it is preferable to use a simple configuration such as cotton and polymer blended mesh.
Thus, the preferred embodiment is still the main body 10 having a layer of non-woven fabric 102 and a layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104 laminated to the nonwoven fabric and also including a layer of cotton and polymer blended mesh 103 between the non-woven fabric 102 and layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104. Alternatively, the construction can be a PP exterior layer over a TPU middle layer, over the layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104.
As disclosed in the above description and attached drawings, the present invention provides an ecological airbed that fulfills the dual purpose of environmental protection and providing comfortable tactile sensation. It is new and can be put into industrial use.
The product is preferably made according to a lamination process of the main body material. First, the material is heat and pressure laminated by first roll laminating the EVA sheet 104 (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer layer 104) to an adhesive bonded nonwoven fabric 102 at approximately 200° Celsius to make EVA adhesive bonded cloth. Secondly, the EVA adhesive bonded cloth is roll laminated in a second lamination to polyester mesh also preferably at approximately 200° Celsius. The final product is a layer of non-woven fabric 102 roll laminated to a layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104 which is roll laminated to a layer of polyester mesh. The polyester mesh preferably provides ripstop protection to the layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer 104.
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, many modifications and variations may be made by those skilled in the art from the teachings disclosed hereinabove. Therefore, it should be understood that any modification and variation equivalent to the spirit of the present invention be regarded to fall into the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An ecological airbed, comprising:

a main body, made of non-woven fabric laminated to Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer, wherein a space is defined within the main body, wherein the main body is inflatable, wherein the main body has a top layer and a bottom layer;

a plurality of interstitial flaps connecting between the top layer and the bottom layer;

a plurality of loop connection areas arranged within the space defined in the main body; and

an air valve, provided on the main body for inflating or deflating the main body, wherein the air valve forms an airtight seal with the main body for retaining air within the main body, wherein the main body is inflatable.

2. The ecological airbed of claim 1, wherein the non-woven fabric is made by polypropylene.

3. The ecological airbed of claim 1, wherein the plurality of rings is arranged vertically in a matrix form.

4. The ecological airbed as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is provided on one surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body.

5. The ecological airbed of claim 4, wherein the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is provided via lamination on the surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body.

6. The ecological airbed of claim 1, wherein the plurality of rings is arranged vertically in a matrix form, wherein the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is provided on one surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body, and wherein the non-woven fabric is made by polypropylene.

7. The ecological airbed of claim 6, wherein the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is provided via lamination on the surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body.

8. An ecological airbed, comprising:

wherein the non-woven fabric is laminated to a layer of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer which is laminated to a polyester mesh;

9. The ecological airbed of claim 8, wherein the non-woven fabric is made by polypropylene.

10. The ecological airbed of claim 8, wherein the plurality of rings is arranged vertically in a matrix form.

11. The ecological airbed as claimed in claim 8, wherein the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is provided on one surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body.

12. The ecological airbed of claim 11, wherein the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is provided via lamination on the surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body.

13. The ecological airbed of claim 8, wherein the plurality of rings is arranged vertically in a matrix form, wherein the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is provided on one surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body, and wherein the non-woven fabric is made by polypropylene.

14. The ecological airbed of claim 13, wherein the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer is provided via lamination on the surface of the non-woven fabric facing the space defined in the main body.