AU2021100726A4

AU2021100726A4 - Upholstered furniture core and upholstered furniture item

Info

Publication number: AU2021100726A4
Application number: AU2021100726A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Yanjun Mu; Hailong Zhang
Original assignee: Beijing Hengxiang Future Technology Development Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Hengxiang Future Technology Development Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-04-03
Filing date: 2021-02-05
Publication date: 2021-04-22
Anticipated expiration: 2029-02-05
Also published as: DE212020000283U1; KR20210002769U; CN211984695U; WO2021196318A1; JP3241161U; KR200497508Y1

Abstract

Disclosed is an upholstered furniture core, wherein the upholstered furniture core includes: an elastic base has a plurality of elastic grid units; wherein each elastic grid unit is enclosed by an elastic wall, and any two elastic grid units are symmetrically arranged and the elastic walls enclosing the two adjacent elastic grid units are connected to each other at the axis of symmetry. And another aspect is to provide an upholstered furniture item including an upholstered furniture core. The upholstered furniture core provided by the present invention and the upholstered furniture having the upholstered furniture core adopt a specially designed elastic grid unit enclosed by elastic walls and a specially designed arrangement and connection of the elastic grid unit. The elastic base has a certain degree of flexibility and can play a good supporting role, and can achieve a balance between comfort, support, and structural strength; when certain area sinks significantly under the action of external force, the adjacent elastic grid units could generally maintain an independent support form and still could provide sufficient support. 11 12 - -. A Fig.1 15-2 15-1 12 13 11-1 10 21 Fig.2 1/9

Description

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Upholstered Furniture Core and Upholstered Furniture Item

Technical field

The present invention belongs to the technical field of upholstered furniture, in particularly to an upholstered furniture core and an upholstered furniture item with the same.

Background

Traditional upholstered furniture mainly refers to furniture has a main body made of sponge and fabric, which could be divided into a type used on bed and a type used on sofa. The most common products in the bed category are mattress and pillow, and the most common products in the sofa category are seating, cushions and armrests.

Traditional upholstered furniture has a main body made of springs and upholstered mattress, sponges or natural palm fibers and its forming relies on adhesives or other connection manners. Upholstered furniture has steadily grown in popularity for a number of reasons, and the comfort factor is major; in this regard materials as sponge, natural palm fiber and latex are the most commonly used as upholstered furniture core due to its softness. But porosities of those materials are comparatively low and even could be considered as 'solid' practically that has the following shortcomings: firstly the area where the solid core attached to body surface area is large; the sponge, natural palm fiber and latex material are good in absorption and heat preservation so the heat and humidity between those material and human skin is high in which air could not circulate smoothly, the chances of feeling uncomfortable is high; secondly, human body has a complex curve that is so different of individuals, a force exerted by the convex body areas on the solid core is higher than that by other areas, the unbalanced force causes sags appearing in corresponding areas on the core. Because the solid core has a continuous and flat body, the appearance of sags further stretches over forming non-pressure sags in surrounding areas to make those parts unable to be supportive.

The above-mentioned information disclosed in the background art is only used to enhance the understanding of the background art of the present application, and therefore, it may include the prior art not known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Summary

The present invention is aimed at providing an upholstered furniture core, in order to solve the problem that the solid core used in traditional upholstered furniture has a large contacting area with skin, which is uncomfortable and easy to sink, in particular prone to stretching over forming non-pressure sags in surrounding areas to make those parts unable to be supportive.

One aspect of the present invention provides an upholstered furniture core, wherein the upholstered furniture core includes: an elastic base has a plurality of elastic grid units; wherein each elastic grid unit is enclosed by an elastic wall, and any two elastic grid units are symmetrically arranged and the elastic walls enclosing the two adjacent elastic grid units are connected to each other at the axis of symmetry.

Further, each elastic grid unit has a first end surface and a second end surface forming at both ends of the elastic wall; wherein the first end surfaces of the elastic grid units jointly form a core force receiving surface and the second end surfaces of the elastic grid units jointly form a core connection surface.

In order to achieve a balance between structural strength, softness, and plasticity, the upholstered furniture core further includes: an auxiliary base connected to the core connection surface; wherein the elastic wall is made of thermoplastic elastomer material, the auxiliary base is made of knitted fiber, woven fiber or non-woven fabric, and the elastic base and the auxiliary base are connected by means of hot blanching or integral injection molding.

In order to meet different strength requirements, the upholstered furniture core further includes: a supporting base connected to the auxiliary base; wherein the supporting base is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring.

Furthermore, the upholstered furniture core includes a plurality of supporting bases stacked and the uppermost supporting base and the auxiliary base are in connection..

The upholstered furniture core further includes: one or more supporting bases, the supporting base is connected to the core connection surface; wherein the supporting base is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring.

One core may include multiple elastic bases to meet different size requirements, and the multiple elastic bases are evenly distributed; and further include: a first supporting base by which the elastic base is surrounded, the surface of the first supporting base is aligned with the core connection surface; and a second supporting base respectively connected to the core connection surface and the first supporting base; wherein the first supporting base is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring; the second supporting base is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring.

Preferably, the elastic grid unit includes: a hollow area formed inside the elastic wall and the area of each hollow area is within a range of1 cm2 ~16 cm 2 and the total area of the plurality of hollow areas is in a range from 70% to 90% of the area of the elastic base; the thickness of the elastic wall is 1mm to 10mm, the height of the elastic wall is 1cm to 15cm, and the cross section of each elastic grid unit is in a shape of rectangular, circular, oval, triangular or regular polygon.

Another aspect of the present invention provides an upholstered furniture item, the upholstered furniture core includes: an elastic base has a plurality of elastic grid units; wherein each elastic grid unit is enclosed by an elastic wall, and any two elastic grid units are symmetrically arranged and the elastic walls enclosing the two adjacent elastic grid units are connected to each other at the axis of symmetry.

Preferably, the upholstered furniture item is a mattress.

Compared with the prior art, the advantages and positive effects of the utility model are: the upholstered furniture core provided by the present invention and the upholstered furniture having the upholstered furniture core adopt a specially designed elastic grid unit enclosed by elastic walls and a specially designed arrangement and connection of the elastic grid unit. The elastic base has a certain degree of flexibility and can play a good supporting role, and can achieve a balance between comfort, support, and structural strength; when certain area sinks significantly under the action of external force, the adjacent elastic grid units could generally maintain an independent support form and still could provide sufficient support.

After reading the specific embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the drawings, the other features and advantages of the present invention will become clearer.

Description of the drawings

In order to explain the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention more clearly, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

Fig.1 is a schematic diagram of an elastic base of an upholstered furniture core according to one aspect of the present invention;

Fig.2 is a partial enlarged schematic diagram of area A in Fig. 1;

Fig.3 is a schematic diagram showing a core force receiving surface of an elastic grid unit under force;

Fig.4 is a schematic diagram showing a core force receiving surface of an elastic grid unit under force;

Fig.5 is a comparison diagram showing the height changes of a core in the prior art and a core disclosed by the present invention under force;

Fig.6 is a schematic structural diagram of an elastic grid unit;

Fig.7 is a top view of Fig.6 showing an arrangement relationship of the elastic grid units;

Fig.8 is schematic structural diagram of an elastic grid unit;

Fig.9 is a top view of Fig.8 showing an arrangement relationship of the elastic grid units;

Fig.10 is schematic structural diagram of an elastic grid unit;

Fig.11 is a top view of Fig.10 showing an arrangement relationship of elastic grid units;

Fig.12 is schematic structural diagram of an elastic grid unit;

Fig.13 is schematic structural diagram of an elastic grid unit;

Fig.14 shows an arrangement relationship of the elastic grid units in Fig.12 and Fig. 13;

Fig.15 is a schematic structural diagram of an upholstered furniture core according to one aspect of the invention;

Fig. 16 is a side view of an upholstered furniture core according to one aspect of the invention;

Fig. 17 is a side view of an upholstered furniture core according to one aspect of the invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the following will further describe the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

It should be noted that in the description of the present invention, the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc. indicating directions or positional relationship is based on the direction or positional relationship shown in the drawings, which is only for better understanding of description, and does not indicate or imply that the device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limitation of the present invention. In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

In order to solve the problem that the solid core used in traditional upholstered furniture has a large contacting area with skin, which is uncomfortable and easy to sink, in particular prone to stretching over forming non-pressure sags in surrounding areas to make those parts unable to be supportive, an upholstered furniture core is provided. The upholstered furniture core could be used in bed products, such as used in a mattress or to form a part of mattress, in a pillow or to form a part of a pillow; it also could be used on sofa or seats, such as used in a back cushion or to form a part of a back cushion, used in a seat cushion or to form a part of seat cushion, or used in an armrest or to form a part of armrest and the like. Shown in Fig.1 to Fig. 4, the upholstered furniture core 1 includes an elastic base 10 having a plurality of elastic grid units 11. Each elastic grid unit 11 is enclosed by an elastic wall 12. Two adjacent elastic grid units 11 have a common edge to form a line connection, or have a common side wall to form a plane connection. Specifically, any two adjacent elastic grid units 11 are symmetrically arranged, and the elastic walls 12 enclosing the two adjacent elastic grid units 11 are connected to each other at the axis of symmetry, that is to say, the common edge or the common side wall is located on the axis of symmetry. As shown in an example in Fig.2 and Fig.3, the adjacent elastic grid unit 11-1 and the elastic grid unit 11-2 have a common side wall, and the common side wall is located on the symmetry axis 15-1 so as to form a plane connection between the two elastic grid units 11; or the adjacent elastic grid unit 11-1 and the elastic grid unit 11-3 have a common edge, and the common edge is located on the symmetry axis 15-2. This arrangement of the elastic grid units 11 makes the elastic base 10 have a certain degree of flexibility and could play a good supporting role, and also very comfort in use.

More specifically, as shown in Fig.1 to Fig.4, each elastic grid unit 11 has a first end surface 13 and a second end surface 24 forming at both ends of the elastic wall 12, wherein, the first end surfaces 13 of the plurality of elastic grid units 11 jointly form a core force receiving surface P1, and the second end surfaces 24 of the plurality of elastic grid units 11 are aligned with each other and jointly form a core connection surface P2. Wherein, the core force receiving surface P1 could be designed as flat or having a set curve according to ergonomics. For example, when the core body is applied to a back cushion, it could be designed as with a protrusion in a region corresponding to the waist. Since the elastic grid unit 11 is a hollow structure and enclosed by the elastic wall 12, each elastic grid unit 11 has relatively good tensile strength, and the ultimate elongation distance could reach to more than 7 times the original length; two adjacent elastic grid units 11 only form a line connection or a plane connection at the axis of symmetry, so that the elastic base 10 as a whole allows a larger amount of deformation under the action of external force, and is not prone to irreversible deformation; and under the action of uneven external force, an interaction force between two adjacent elastic grid units 11 is at a relatively low level so as to enable each elastic grid unit to maintain at an independent supportable form roughly. Each elastic grid unit 11 could be used as an independent bearing capacity unit, so that when a certain area greatly sinks under the action of external force, the adjacent elastic grid units 11 will not collapse significantly, and the adjacent area could still provide sufficient supporting force. Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between pressure and core height change, where Y1 represents the existing solid core, Y2 represents the core provided in the present embodiment; the vertical axis represents the pressure, and the horizontal axis represents the amount of height change of the core. It can be seen that in the existing solid core, as the pressure increases, the change of the height of the core increases, and the relationship between the two is approximately a linear relationship; while in regard to the core provided by the present embodiment, as the pressure increases, the height change of the core body gradually enters a platform interval range. In the platform interval range, the core may sink but the height of the core could be maintained to provide sufficient supporting force while not to exert excessive counter acting force on human body, and the external force could be evenly dispersed on the plurality of elastic grid units 11. For example, the buttocks curvature is protruding. When the change of the height of the core enters the platform interval range, the part of the core in contact with buttock may slightly sink to fit with the curve of the human body, but at the same time it will not exert excessive counter acting reaction force to cause physical discomfort.

The core connection surface P2 composed of the second end surfaces of a plurality of elastic grid units 11 aligned with each other is mainly used for connecting with auxiliary materials. The core connection surface P2 could be connected to auxiliary materials by adhesives directly or by adhesive layers and the like, or connected with auxiliary materials by means of physical connection such as stitching and riveting.

In order to improve the structural strength of the elastic base, especially the elastic grid unit 11, an auxiliary base 21 is preferably designed. The auxiliary base 21 has a flat and complete surface, which is connected to the core connection surface P2.

In the present embodiment, the elastic wall 12 is preferably made of thermoplastic elastomer material to achieve a balance between plasticity, softness and support performance, so that the core is more comfortable to use. Those skilled in the art can understand without any doubt that the elastic wall 12 may also be made of other polymer materials with certain elasticity. Multiple elastomer units can be integrally formed by a thermoplastic process, or could be integrally formed by 3D printing. Since the thermoplastic elastomer material cannot be directly bonded to the partially molten adhesive or the water-soluble adhesive, the auxiliary base 21 specially designed to fit the thermoplastic elastomer material is made of knitted fiber, woven fiber or non-woven fabric. During processing, the elastic base made of thermoplastic elastomer material and the auxiliary base 21 adapted to it could be connected by hot blanching or integral injection molding.

The elastic base with the auxiliary base 21 produced by the hot blanching or integral injection molding process can be divided into a plurality of unit modules with a standard size. It is also possible to produce unit modules with a standard size through hot blanching or integral injection molding processes, and to achieve the required size by splicing. The length and width dimensions of the elastic base are not further limited here.

The application of the core in a mattress product is taken as an example for further introduction. When applied in a mattress product, the core force receiving surface P1 and the core connection surface P2 are preferably designed to be flat. A preferable structure of the elastic grid unit 11 is introduced with reference to Fig. 6 to Fig.14. The elastic grid unit 11 includes a hollow area 14, and the hollow area 14 is formed inside the elastic wall 12. The area of each hollow area 14 is within the range of1 cm 2 ~16cm 2. If the hollow area 14 too large, the bearing capacity will be reduced; if the hollow

area 14 too small, the elastic wall 12 will have no bending space. When subjected to external forces, the elastic wall may be stacked further resulting in losing elastic support. The total area of the plurality of hollow areas 14 is preferably in a range from % to 90% of the area of the elastic base, which could ensure a high level of porosity to make the core breathable with excellent air permeability.

The thickness of the elastic wall 12 is 1 mm to 10mm. If the elastic wall is too thin, the elastic wall 12 may not be supportive, but if the elastic wall is too thick, the thickness may reduce the elasticity. Furthermore, the thickness of the elastic wall 12 in this preferable range could satisfy processing requirements. The height of the elastic wall 12 is lcm to 15cm. If the elastic wall is too low, it could not provide sufficient depth for proper sinking as attaching to human body. Especially when it is used in a mattress, the preferable height range of the elastic wall 12 could fully distribute the weight of the human body. Additionally, from a perspective of product weight, it could make the mattress product lighter and easy to carry.

As shown in Fig. 6 and Fig.7, the cross section of each elastic grid unit 11 could be designed as a regular hexagon (as shown in Fig.16), and the elastic grid units are distributed in a crystalline shape. As shown in Fig.8 and Fig.9, the cross section of each elastic grid unit 11 could be designed as a triangle (as shown in Fig. 17). Particularly, as shown in Fig.10 and Fig.11, the elastic grid units 11 designed as triangles could also be arranged in rows (as shown in Fig.18) so that multiple rows of elastic grid units 11 could be further combined. In order to achieve better strength along the length direction to meet improved requirements of different mattress products, as shown in Fig.12 to Fig.14, the cross section of the elastic grid unit 11 could also be designed to be circular (as shown in Fig. 19), and the edge of the elastic base could be further provided with a protective wall as shown in Fig. 13, or as shown in Fig.12, no protective wall is provided on the edge of the elastic base. In addition, the cross-section of the elastic grid unit 11 may also be designed as an ellipse or a regular polygon with other shapes.

In some applications, the elastic base needs to further improve its support strength. As shown in Fig.15-17, specifically, a supporting base 30 is also provided in the core. The supporting base 30 is supportive due to the fact that it is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring. Preferably, a core could only include one supporting base 30 or include a plurality of supporting bases 30. The supporting base 30 could be connected to the core connection surface P2. The connection between the supporting base 30 and the core connection surface P2 could be fulfilled by a physical means of connection such as bonding, stitching or riveting; the supporting base 30 could also be connected to the auxiliary base 21. As shown in Fig.16, according to the different strength requirements of the product, multiple supporting bases could be designed (as shown in 30-1 and 30-2 in Fig.17), multiple supporting bases are stacked, and the uppermost supporting base 30-1 and the auxiliary base 21 are in connection. The connection between the supporting base 30-1 and the auxiliary base 21 may also adopt a physical connection method such as bonding, stitching or riveting.

In addition, a plurality of elastic bases can be arranged in one core which are evenly distributed. The elastic bases are connected by a first supporting base, and the elastic base is surrounded by the first supporting base. The surface of the first supporting base is aligned with the core connection surface P2. The first supporting base and the elastic base in the connected state could be connected to the auxiliary base 21 or could be connected to a second supporting base. The connection can also be physically connected by bonding, stitching or riveting. Both of the first supporting base and the second supporting base can be composed of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring.

Another aspect of the present invention provides an upholstered furniture item. The upholstered furniture core is arranged in the upholstered furniture item. The specific structure of the upholstered furniture core could be referred to the detailed description of the above-mentioned embodiments and the accompanying drawings of the specification, which will not be repeated described. Upholstered furniture item provided with the upholstered furniture core can achieve the same technical effect. The upholstered furniture item is preferably a mattress.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, but not to limit them; although the present invention is described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, for those of ordinary skill in the art, the foregoing implementation can still be The technical solutions recorded in the examples are modified, or some of the technical features are equivalently replaced; these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions claimed by the present invention.

Claims

Claims:

1 An upholstered furniture core, wherein the upholstered furniture core includes: an elastic base has a plurality of elastic grid units; wherein each elastic grid unit is enclosed by an elastic wall, and any two elastic grid units are symmetrically arranged and the elastic walls enclosing the two adjacent elastic grid units are connected to each other at the axis of symmetry.
2 The upholstered furniture core according to claim 1, wherein each elastic grid unit has a first end surface and a second end surface forming at both ends of the elastic wall; wherein the first end surfaces of the elastic grid units jointly form a core force receiving surface and the second end surfaces of the elastic grid units jointly form a core connection surface.
3 The upholstered furniture core according to claim 2, wherein the upholstered furniture core further includes: an auxiliary base connected to the core connection surface; wherein the elastic wall is made of thermoplastic elastomer material, the auxiliary base is made of knitted fiber, woven fiber or non-woven fabric, and the elastic base and the auxiliary base are connected by means of hot blanching or integral injection molding.
4 The upholstered furniture core according to claim 3, wherein the upholstered furniture core further includes: a supporting base connected to the auxiliary base; wherein the supporting base is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring.

The upholstered furniture core according to claim 4, wherein the upholstered furniture core includes a plurality of supporting bases stacked and the uppermost supporting base and the auxiliary base are in connection.

6 The upholstered furniture core according to claim 2, wherein the upholstered furniture core further includes: one or more supporting bases, the supporting base is connected to the core connection surface; wherein the supporting base is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring.

7 The upholstered furniture core according to claim 2, wherein the upholstered furniture core further includes: a plurality of elastic bases which are evenly distributed; a first supporting base by which the elastic base is surrounded, the surface of the first supporting base is aligned with the core connection surface; and a second supporting base respectively connected to the core connection surface and the first supporting base; wherein the first supporting base is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring; the second supporting base is made of sponge, latex, spinneret fiber, hose or spring.

8 The upholstered furniture core according to any one of claim 1 to 7, wherein the elastic grid unit includes: a hollow area formed inside the elastic wall and the area of each hollow area is within a range of 1 cm2 ~16 cm 2 and the total area of the plurality of hollow areas is in a range from 70% to 90% of the area of the elastic base; the thickness of the elastic wall is1mm to 10mm, the height of the elastic wall is lcm to 15cm, and the cross section of each elastic grid unit is in a shape of rectangular, circular, oval, triangular or regular polygon.

9 An upholstered furniture item comprising an upholstered furniture core, wherein the upholstered furniture core includes: an elastic base has a plurality of elastic grid units; wherein each elastic grid unit is enclosed by an elastic wall, and any two elastic grid units are symmetrically arranged and the elastic walls enclosing the two adjacent elastic grid units are connected to each other at the axis of symmetry.

An upholstered furniture item according to claim 9, wherein the upholstered furniture item is mattress.

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