PUMP AND HOUSING CONFIGURATION FOR INFLATING AND DEFLATING AN AIR MATTRESS

摘要

Efficient systems and methods for inflating, deflating, or simultaneously inflating and deflating air mattress chambers using various pump and pump housing configurations are provided. Examples of the various pump and pump housing configurations include: boundary-layer pumps having single disk array or multiple disk array layouts, different disk geometries, different pressure recovery chamber geometries, adjustable components for switching between filling and powered dumping operations, and reversible and non-reversible motors; and pump housings having one or more dump channels for manifold-driven powered dumping, multiple sides or stages for pressure and/or flow compounding, various manifold chamber configurations for robust connectivity with air mattresses having multiple chambers, and various valve configurations for flexible control over filling, powered dumping, and simultaneous filling and powered dumping operations. Pump products having pumps and pump housings designed according to the principles described herein are able to satisfy a wide range of different performance and cost requirements.

主权项

1. An airbed system, comprising:
an air mattress having at least one air mattress chamber; a boundary-layer pump connected to the at least one air mattress, configured to fill the at least one air mattress with gas, the boundary-layer pump comprising:
a pressure recovery chamber housing including a pressure recovery chamber, a pump inlet, and a pump outlet;a plurality of disks within the pressure recovery chamber; anda motor attached to the plurality of disks, configured to rotate the plurality of disks;wherein the plurality of disks are configured such that rotation of the plurality of disks, utilizing viscous boundary layer adhesion forces, imparts a velocity profile having a centrifugal component and a radial component to gas entering the boundary-layer pump through the pump inlet so as to impel the gas radially outwards from centers of the plurality of disks towards edges of the plurality of disks based on the imparted velocity profile; and a control unit, configured to receive user input corresponding to increasing or decreasing the pressure in the at least one air mattress chamber and to control the boundary-layer pump based on the received user input; wherein the pressure recovery chamber comprises a pressure recovery involute spanning approximately 360 degrees having a curvature defined by the edges of the plurality of disks and interior walls of the pressure recovery chamber housing, wherein the width of the pressure recovery involute, defined by the distance between the edges of the plurality of disks and the interior walls of the pressure recovery chamber housing, decreases along the pressure recovery involute from the pump outlet to a region of the pressure recovery involute farthest from the pump outlet along a flow path of the pressure recovery involute.