Electric hospital beds designed for ICU

Electric hospital beds designed for Intensive Care Units (ICU)

The Le-03 bed was my first design project for an ICU bed, completed as part of a multidisciplinary engineering team at Famed Żywiec S.A.

The product was developed in cooperation with the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków and co-funded by the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN).

General design assumptions for the Le-03 bed

The bed is designed for adult patients during the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diseases. The bed structure can be made of either stainless steel or powder-coated carbon steel.

The Le-03 bed features:

A 4-section mattress platform (backrest, fixed section, thigh, and lower leg sections).
Height adjustment (pantograph mechanism) and backrest section angle adjustment, both driven by electric actuators.
A bed base covered with an ABS plastic shroud manufactured using thermoforming technology.
Side rails that fold down below the mattress platform, and bed ends made with thermoforming technology, featuring handles made of integral polyurethane foam.
A control panel integrated into the side rails.
A control panel built in under the ABS shroud at the foot end of the bed.
An integrated scale to monitor patient weight, which facilitates accurate medication dosing when dependent on body mass.

Available versions of side rails and bed ends for Le-03 and Le-04:

A bed with bed ends and longitudinally folding side rails made of ABS plastic.
A bed with bed ends and side rails made of laminated board and polyurethane foam.
A bed with bed ends and side rails made of plexiglass and polyurethane foam.
The Le-04 bed – a version of the Le-03 bed without the scale, additionally offered with side rails and a bed end made of rigid polyurethane (without controls in the side rails).

Subsequent models of electric beds

Based on the experience gained during the design and production launch of the Le-03, a family of beds was developed where the mattress platform height is adjusted using electric columns:

The Le-12 VIGO DUO bed (on two electric columns).
The Le-13 VIGO TRIO bed (on three electric columns) with lateral tilt.
The Le-14 VIGO QUATTRO bed (on four electric columns) with lateral tilt and a safe working load of 500 kg.

All beds were offered with:

Fold-down side rails and plastic bed ends made with blow-molding technology.
Fold-down side rails and bed ends made with OKOUME waterproof plywood.
Fold-down side rails and bed ends made with CORIAN board.
Fold-down side rails and bed ends that were painted or made of stainless steel, filled with laminated board.

Design impact achieved

During the Medica trade fair in Düsseldorf, a representative from a German competitor asked the Export Director of Famed Żywiec: “Which Italian design studio does Famed Żywiec collaborate with?” I took that as a major compliment..

The beds received the following awards:

Salmed Trade Fair in Poznań:

Gold medal for the LE-04 ICU bed – 2004.
Gold medal for the LE-12 VIGO DUO ICU bed – 2006.

“Śląska Rzecz” Design Competition:

Honorable mention for the LE-13 VIGO TRIO ICU bed – 2007.

The Le-03 and Le-12 beds “worked”, among others, on the set of the TV medical drama series “Na dobre i na złe”. It was highly satisfying to watch the products I had shaped with my own hands on screen.

Konstrukcja łóżka Le-13 stała się platformą do kolejnych modernizacji, po zmianach w wymaganiach dotyczących poręczy bocznych wyrób został poddany liftingowi ( z zachowaniem tworzywowej osłony podstawy i klawiatury sterowania w poręczach bocznych) i przez kolejne 20 lat był w ofercie firmy.