The present invention relates generally to a plate lifting device and a lifting bed, and more particularly to a plate lifting device, which could smoothly lift a plate of a multi-plate equipped apparatus, and a lifting bed with the plate lifting device.
Electric lifting beds are commonly used in the medical or rehabilitation field, and its bed surface consists of a plurality of plates, wherein a lifting device is disposed below the plates to respectively lift the plates, whereby to support the user's back or legs, so that the user can change his posture easily. The lifting device has a retractable shaft and a driven member, which are arranged opposite to each other. For instance, the retractable shaft, which is adapted to lift the plate under the user's leg, is pivotally connected to a base of the lifting bed adjacent to the tail of the lifting bed, and the driven member is pivotally connected to the base of the lifting bed at a position below the user's hip when the user lies on the lifting bed. The retractable shaft is connected to a free end of the driven member. An end of the retractable shaft, which is pivotally connected to the base, is connected to a motor, wherein the motor could control the retractable shaft to extend or retract.
When the user wants to adjust a height of the lifting bed on which the user's lie his legs, the motor could be controlled by a controller to drive the retractable shaft to extend, and the extended retractable shaft pushes the driven member, so that the retractable shaft and the driven member rotate in a direction away from the base, and a junction between the retractable shaft and the driven member moves upward, whereby to push the plate, which is located above the retractable shaft and the driven member, to move. In this way, the plate on the tail of the lifting bed could be raised to support the user's legs.
If the tail of the lifting bed has already been raised, the retractable shaft and the driven member are deflected upwards, so that the vertical component of the force exerted by the motor which pushes the retractable shaft is larger. In such a condition, the tail of the lifting bed could be easily raised. However, if the lifting bed is in a horizontal state, the force exerted by the motor which pushes the retractable shaft is almost only the horizontal component. In such a condition, the lifting bed is hard to be lifted, and the push between the retractable shaft and the driven member during the lifting process may cause damage to the lifting device.
In addition, a multi-plate equipped apparatus that has similar functions with a lifting bed and uses a similar lifting device may also have such problems. Therefore, there is a need for the manufacturers to develop a new type of plate lifting device to solve the aforementioned problems.
In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a plate lifting device, which could be applied to a multi-plate equipped apparatus and could smoothly lift a plate of the multi-plate equipped apparatus.
The present invention provides a plate lifting device, which is applied to a lifted object, including a base, a push rod assembly, a retractable shaft, a motor, and a lifting mechanism, wherein the push rod assembly includes a first push rod and a second push rod. The first push rod extends toward a first direction and includes a first end and a second end. The first end is slidable and is pivotally connected to the base. A movable member is disposed on the second end and is operatively coupled to the lifted object. The second push rod is connected to the first push rod at where between the first end and the second end and extends toward a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction. An end of the retractable shaft is pivotally connected to the second push rod. The retractable shaft is capable of extending toward the second push rod to push the second push rod, and is capable of retracting in an opposite direction to pull the second push rod. The motor drives the retractable shaft to extend or retract. The lifting mechanism corresponds to the movable member and is disposed on the base, wherein when the motor drives the retractable shaft to extend from an initial state, the retractable shaft abuts against the second push rod, so that the movable member is in contact with the lifting mechanism and is lifted by the lifting mechanism, whereby the lifted object is raised by the movable member.
In addition, the another primary objective of the present invention is to provide a lifting bed, which could be smoothly lifted under a horizontal state.
The present invention further provides a lifting bed, which includes a base, a plurality of plates disposed on the base, and the abovementioned plate lifting device which is disposed between the base and the plates.
With the aforementioned design, the disclosure of the present invention could smoothly lift the plate when the lifting bed is under the horizontal state.
The present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which
A lifting bed 1 of an embodiment according to the present invention is illustrated in
The plate lifting device is adapted to manipulate the plate 12A or the plate 12B and the plate 12C, wherein two ends of another plate 12 are respectively connected to an end of the plate 12A and an end of the plate 12B, so that the plate 12A fulcrums at a joint between the plate 12A and the another plate 12, and the plate 12B fulcrums at a joint between the plate 12B and the another plate 12. Another end of the plate 12A and another end of the plate 12B could be raised. An end of the plate 12C is connected to the another end of the plate 12B. The plate lifting device 14 for manipulating the plate 12A is used for illustration first as follows.
As shown in
As shown in
In the aforementioned paragraphs, detailed components and the structures of the plate lifting device 14 for manipulating the plate 12A of the present invention are explained, while the operation thereof will be described in detail herein. As shown in
In contrast, when the motor 144 is reversed, the retractable shaft 145 is retracted in an opposite direction, and the second push rod 1462 is pulled to change the plate 12A back to the flattened state. It shall be noted that, the retractable shaft 145 could be controlled at a predetermined position that is extended or retracted, whereby to stop the plate 12A at a predetermined inclination angle that the user feels comfortable.
It is worth mentioning that, in the current embodiment, the movable members 1465 for being in contact with the lifting mechanisms 142 is a roller as an example. However, in other embodiments, the movable members could be a sliding member, which is not rotatable, with a curved surface. In other words, the same guiding effect could be obtained by contacting the curved surface of the sliding member with the inclined plane of the slope. In addition, the structure for being in contact with the movable members 1465 and guiding the lifting mechanisms 142 moving upward is not limited by the metal plate bent to include the slope 142a with an inclined plane, but could be a rotatable fixed wheel (not shown). For instance, when the motor 144 pushes the retractable shaft 145 to extend from the initial state, the movable members 1465 would rise along a surface of the rotatable fixed wheel, and the rotatable fixed wheel would also rotate to avoid excessive friction with each other. In this way, the movable members could be lifted as well.
The plate lifting device of the present invention is also applicable to control the plate 12B and the plate 12C, and only some of the components are slightly different, but the overall control action is the same, as explained later. As shown in
With the aforementioned design, the lifting device of the present invention could smoothly lift the plates of the multi-plate equipped apparatus such as a lifting bed from a horizontal state, and could prevent the components of the multi-plate equipped apparatus from being damaged due to pushing each other during the lifting process. However, the lifted object is not limited by the lifting bed, but could be any object that needs to be lifted and displaced.
It must be pointed out that the embodiments described above are only some preferred embodiments of the present invention. All equivalent structures which employ the concepts disclosed in this specification and the appended claims should fall within the scope of the present invention.