Stiffening rib
The type of stiffeners provided in the design of the bed (this item is relevant for this type of inflatable furniture).
Stiffeners externally look like a special set of protrusions and depressions on the surface of the product, however, the matter may not be limited to external details (see below). Anyway, such structural elements increase the resistance of the surface to bending and, accordingly, increase strength and reliability. In modern inflatable furniture, you can find the following types of similar parts:
— Longitudinal. Stiffening elements in the form of a set of protrusions and grooves directed along the product; the ridges and grooves can be zigzagged for transverse efficiency, but even such elements resist mainly lateral deformation. Anyway, this is the simplest and most inexpensive form of stiffeners. As for practical properties, such a design works well at small and medium loads, but at high loads it is inferior to the transverse one (see below) both in terms of efficiency and durability. In addition, for some users, the longitudinal elements are inconvenient purely for subjective feelings.
— Transverse. Stiffeners of this type may look different. The most obvious, traditional option is a set of protrusions and grooves directed across the recumbent place; in other words, it is an analogue of the longitudinal ribs described above, differing only in direction. This provides, above all, resistance to transverse deformations, whic...h is especially useful for double products used by people who differ significantly in weight. Another, more advanced type of transverse ribs is a set of special recesses located in the correct order on the surface of the product. Under these recesses, partitions are hidden that connect the upper and lower sides of the inflatable shell. Such a design is quite expensive, but it has a number of advantages: in particular, it works effectively not only in the transverse, but also in the longitudinal direction, and also optimally distributes the load on the body of a lying person, providing maximum comfort.
Headrest
The presence of a
headrest in the product is a device for supporting the head.
This feature is found mainly among beds (see "Type"). In such furniture, the headrest is a small protrusion from the side of the head of a lying person (people). This ledge performs several functions at once: it increases the height of the pillow, reduces the likelihood of it falling over the edge of the bed, and in extreme cases it can even replace the pillow. At the same time, note that in some cases the headrest may be redundant — for example, if the existing pillows are already of considerable thickness. So most air beds do not have such equipment.
Size (unfolded)
The overall dimensions of the product in the working position — fully inflated, and for folding models (see "Type") — also unfolded.
In general, this is a fairly obvious parameter; we only note that the size of the space available for sitting or lying down may be somewhat less than the overall length or width of the product — due to the presence of a backrest and/or armrests. These elements usually account for about 20 – 25 cm of space.
Weight
The total weight of the product.
The ease of transportation depends primarily on the weight. However in the case of inflatable furniture, this point is not critical: most of these products are still designed for constant use in one place. However, sometimes a piece of furniture is also bought with the expectation of being able to quickly move from place to place — for example, from home to the country house and back. In such cases, it is worth considering that light weight makes it easier to carry, but for the same performance, lighter products usually have either less reliability (due to the thin shell) or more cost than heavier ones.
