Inflatable Pillow

Introduction

The inflatable pillow is designed to relieve the stresses and sores that appear in the neck after a long night’s rest. Most of these stresses come from the misalignment of the spinal cord and the cervical vertebrae, the bones found in the back of the neck. In order to alleviate these stresses, we strive to exploit the misalignment by pumping air into the region of the pillow that the neck is in, allowing the cervical vertebrae to be aligned with the spinal cord. Some additional features we strived for include a physiological sensor to detect the cycle of sleep a patient is in, and accordingly inflate the pillow because of the noise from the pump, as well as a air pressure sensor to allow the pillow to determine a suitable cycle to continuously pump air in.

Baseline Goal

This following goals will be used to aid the development of our pillow:

1. Be able to impose a pre-determined cycle for the pillow to inflate while nothing is detected on the pillow.
2. Be able to detect the position of the head in order for the pillow to inflate in the relevant compartments.
3. Control the loudness of the pump based on the cycle of sleep the patient is in, determined by a physiological eye sensor.

Reach Goals

The following goals will help to strive our product into a multifunctional inflatable pillow:

1. Be able to detect the air pressure inside the compartment and pump air into the pillow accordingly.
2. Be able to control the pressure inside the compartments by the user setting a pre-determined pressure level.
3. Be able to create a sensing mat to potentially detect the posture of the body in relation to the head.

Initial Prototype

With this, we first obtained an inflatable pillow and placed a few flex sensors on top. Whilst the flex sensors are traditionally used from a touch perspective, we realized that the flex sensors could detect the difference between the cheeks on our face, and the back of our skull. This will appropriately guide us in order to control the pressure level, so we thought of this as ground-breaking progress.

Baseline Prototype

With our stunning detection of the different parts of the head, we thought we could be more accurate in the measurement of our heads and which part of our head was on the pillow. Using velostat pressure sensor mats, we tried to sense the head, but it just would not work. Later throughout the duration of our project, we found a niche little trick that would make the velostat work, but it was too little too late. For now, we returned to the flex sensors.

Prototype, part 3 - the Reach Demo

A return to the flex sensors. We put aside sensors for now, and got the vacuum pump and solenoids to work in junction to fulfill Baseline Goal number 1. This was ready for the reach demo, but as luck has it, a pop on the back of the pillow jeopardizes the air-tight nature of the pillow, rendering the pumping of the compartments utterly useless. A fix towards the public demo we go.

Finalized Prototype - the Public Demo

Our pillow slowly inflates through the night when no change in pressure is detected on top of the pillow. To fulfill Baseline Goal number 2, we also integrated the flex sensors into the project, so the prototype can inflate the particular compartment when an object is found on top of the compartment. However, the flex sensors have become flimsy, a first.

A new dawn awaits the Inflatable Pillow

Our Reach Goals have not been met and would be an interesting starting point. But, to really fulfill the initial goal of this project, one possible path to take is an ergonomically designed pillow that will inflate the appropriate neck portion of the pillow to a level that allows for a comfortable night’s rest, without the neck pains in the morning. Another path to take would be to turn the pillow into a fully velostat covered pressure sensor that would allow the entire pillow to sense the position of the head.

Built With

• c++
• mbed