US-12616312-B2 - Inflatable product, and manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method therefor

US12616312B2US 12616312 B2US12616312 B2US 12616312B2US-12616312-B2

Abstract

An inflatable product is provided, including a first wall, a second wall, and a plurality of internal tensioning members connecting the first and second walls. Each internal tensioning member includes a first fixing strip and a second fixing strip respectively coupled to the first wall and the second wall. The inflatable product further includes a thread helically wound around the first fixing strip and the second fixing strip. First parts the thread are fixed between the first fixing strip and the first wall, and second parts of the thread are fixed between the second fixing strip and the second wall. An apparatus set and method for manufacturing the inflatable product are also provided.

Inventors

Xianglin Zeng
YIHUA YOU
Xiaguang Xu
Bingrong WU
Jiabao Jiang
Jing Wang
Qingshui Song

Assignees

BESTWAY INFLATABLES & MATERIAL CORP.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230531
Priority Date: 20230201

Claims (11)

1 . An inflatable product, comprising: a first wall, a second wall opposite the first wall, and a plurality of internal tensioning members connecting the first wall and the second wall, each of the internal tensioning members comprising: a first fixing strip fixedly and directly coupled to the first wall; a second fixing strip fixedly and directly coupled to the second wall, the second fixing strip disposed in parallel to the first fixing strip; at least one thread extending helically around and along the first fixing strip and the second fixing strip, wherein first parts of the at least one thread are fixed between the first fixing strip and the first wall, and second parts of the at least one thread are fixed between the second fixing strip and the second wall.
2 . The inflatable product of claim 1 , wherein the at least one thread comprises a plurality of threads spaced apart from each other along a length of the first fixing strip and the second fixing strip.
3 . The inflatable product of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of threads are spaced apart from each other at a constant interval along the length of the first fixing strip and the second fixing strip.
4 . The inflatable product according to claim 1 , wherein each of the first fixing strip, the second fixing strip, the first wall, and the second wall are made from a weldable material.
5 . The inflatable product according to claim 1 , wherein each of the first fixing strip, the second fixing strip, the first wall, and the second wall are made from one of: polyvinyl chloride, thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, polyethylene terephthalate, ethylene-vinyl acetate, polyurethane, and nylon.
6 . The inflatable product according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one thread is made from one of: cotton fibers, linen fibers, silk fibers, nylon fibers, natural fibers, synthetic fibers, polyester, polypropylene, polyethylene, glass fibers, and carbon fibers.
7 . The inflatable product according to claim 1 , wherein the first fixing strip is fixedly coupled to the first wall by means of high-frequency welding, and the second fixing strip is fixedly coupled to the second wall by means of high-frequency welding.
8 . The inflatable product according to claim 1 , wherein at least one end portion of the at least one thread is welded to one of the first fixing strip and second fixing strip.
9 . The inflatable product according to claim 8 , wherein from 3-20 mm of the end portion of the at least one thread is welded to the one of the first fixing strip and the second fixing strip.
10 . The inflatable product according to claim 1 , wherein: the first fixing strip comprises a plurality of first fixing strips spaced apart from each other and arranged in parallel to and along the first wall, such that each of the plurality of first fixing strips is fixedly and directly coupled to the first wall, and wherein the at least one thread is helically wound around and along the plurality of first fixing strips.
11 . The inflatable product according to claim 10 , wherein: the second fixing strip comprises a plurality of second fixing strips spaced apart from each other and arranged in parallel to and along the second wall, such that each of the plurality of second fixing strips is fixedly and directly coupled to the second wall, and wherein the at least one thread is helically would around and along the plurality of first fixing strips and the plurality of second fixing strips.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority from Chinese Application CN202310098091.6 filed in China on Feb. 1, 2023 and Chinese Application CN202320172271.X, filed in China on Feb. 1, 2023, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. BACKGROUND Field Example embodiments relate to inflatable products, and in particular to an inflatable product including internal tensioning members, and a manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method therefor. Description of Related Art With the development of materials technologies and increasing social demands, people increasingly use portable devices in various places, such as carrying the devices used indoors to the outdoors for use. As a typical example, inflatable products have been widely applied in the areas of recreation, entertainment, and sports because of their light weight and easy packaging and storage. Thanks to internal structures, most inflatable products, after being inflated, achieve a preset final shape under the combined actions of internal air pressures and internal tensile forces. For example, tensioning members may be arranged in an inflatable chamber of an inflatable product, such that the tensioning members are connected to inner walls of the inflatable chamber enabling the inflatable product to assume a desired shape once inflated. With an increase in the variety of inflatable products, some inflatable products need to have high air pressures in their inflatable chambers in order to meet the needs of use. Therefore, the connection between the tensioning members and the inner wall of the inflatable chamber should be highly reliable, and the tensioning member itself should also have a high tensile strength. Inflatable products may be formed by splicing various material sheets by means of high-frequency welding, and accordingly, product surfaces and internal tensioning members are generally made of elastic sheet materials that can be subjected to welding, an often, to high-frequency welding. As a widely used material, Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been used in many inflatable products. However, for products with high internal air-pressures, due to a creep behavior of the material when the inflatable product is subjected to a high internal pressure (especially when an ambient temperature is high), sheet internal tensioning members made of the PVC material may deform, so that a contour of the inflatable product is deformed, affecting user experience. In addition, PVC degrades only slowly after the product is discarded, causing a pressure on the human environment. FIG. 1 illustrates a related-art inflatable mattress. The inflatable mattress 10 includes a top wall 14, a bottom wall 16, a side wall 18, and a plurality of internal tensioning members 12 connecting the top wall 14 and the bottom wall 16. The top wall 14, the bottom wall 16, and the side wall 18, together, define an inflatable chamber, and the internal tensioning members 12 limit the shape of the inflatable mattress 10 after inflation, enabling a user to comfortably use the mattress. The top wall 14, the bottom wall 16, the side wall 18, and the plurality of internal tensioning members 12 may all be made of PVC that is easily deformed after long-term use and is likely to cause environmental pollution after being discarded. Sometimes, a material having a laminated structure is used as an internal tensioning member. For example, a fabric layer may be arranged between two layers of PVC films, and all the layers are made into a laminated material by means of a lamination process. In this way, the creep behaviors of the internal tensioning members made of the laminated material are limited, thereby improving the deformation resistance capacity of the product. However, such materials are still subject to deformation to a certain extent after the product is inflated, and more PVC material is required, resulting in an increase of material costs. Furthermore, the use of more PVC material results in more environmental degradation pressure after product discarding. A more environmentally friendly material is desired for use in internal tensioning members. A plurality of parallel threads or fabrics may be made into internal tensioning members to be fixedly connected to an inner wall of an inflatable product. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,431 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/504,196 each disclose an internal tensioning member which is a tensioning member of an inflatable mattress that is made with a helical structure. SUMMARY Example embodiments may address at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, example embodiments are not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and may not overcome any of the problems described above. According to an aspect of an example embodiment, an inflatable product comprises: a first wall, a second wall opposite the first wall, a