The present invention relates to a system and method for adjusting the pressure in an inflatable object. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for adjusting the pressure in an air bed in less time and with greater accuracy.
Advances made in the quality of air beds having air chambers as support bases have resulted in vastly increased popularity and sales of such air beds. These air beds are advantageous in that they have an electronic control panel which allows a user to select a desired inflation setting for optimal comfort and to change the inflation setting at any time, thereby providing changes in the firmness of the bed.
Air bed systems, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,172 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, generally allow a user to select a desired pressure for each air chamber within the mattress. Upon selecting the desired pressure, a signal is sent to a pump and valve assembly in order to inflate or deflate the air bladders as necessary in order to achieve approximately the desired pressure within the air bladders.
In one embodiment of an air bed system, there are two separate air hoses coupled to each of the air bladders. A first air hose extends between the interior of the air bladder and the valve assembly associated with the pump. This first air hose fluidly couples the pump to the air bladder, and is structured to allow air to be added or removed from the air bladder. A second hose extends from the air bladder to a pressure transducer, which continuously monitors the pressure within the air bladder. Thus, as air is being added or removed from the air bladder, the pressure transducer coupled to the second hose is able to continuously check the actual air bladder pressure, which may then be compared to the desired air pressure in order to determine when the desired air pressure within the bladder has been reached.
In another embodiment of an air bed system, there is only a single hose coupled to each of the air bladders. In particular, the hose extends between the interior of the air bladder and the valve assembly associated with the pump, and is structured to allow air to be added or removed from the air bladder. Instead of having a second hose with a pressure transducer coupled thereto for continuously reading the pressure within the air bladder, a pressure transducer is positioned within a chamber of the valve assembly. Once the user selects the desired air pressure within the air bladder, the pressure transducer first senses a pressure in the chamber, which it equates to an actual pressure in the air bladder. Then, air is added or removed from the bladder as necessary based upon feedback from the sensed pressure. After a first iteration of sensing the pressure and adding or removing air, the pump turns off and the pressure within the chamber is once again sensed by the pressure transducer and compared to the desired air pressure. The process of adding or removing air, turning off the pump, and sensing pressure within the chamber is repeated for several more iterations until the pressure sensed within the chamber is within an acceptable range close to the desired pressure. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, numerous iterations of inflating and deflating the air bladder may be required until the sensed chamber pressure falls within the acceptable range of the desired pressure.
Thus, while this second embodiment of an air bed system may be desired because it minimizes the necessary number of hoses, it is rather inefficient in that numerous iterations may be required before the sensed pressure reaches the desired pressure. Furthermore, the pump must be turned off each time the pressure transducer takes a pressure measurement, which increases the amount of time that the user must wait until the air bladder reaches the desired pressure.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved pressure adjustment system and method for an air bed that is able to minimize the amount of time and the number of adjustment iterations necessary to achieve a desired pressure in an air bladder, while also increasing the accuracy of the actual bladder pressure.