An Engineering Approach to Industrial Research and Development of Pillows

Comfort during sleep, though taken for granted, involves a great amount of research and engineering. Few give it a second thought, but nearly one-third of a person’s life is spent with their head on a pillow, thus making them a point for increased quality. Having been approached by a tier-1 bedding manufacturer, a team of both mechanical and electrical engineers was been tasked with the goal of creating a valid research tool that the customer, Tempur-Sealy, will utilize in the company’s research and development of high-end pillows. The team sought to tackle this project utilizing tools and knowledge gained throughout our careers as an engineering student. The goal is to create an accurate prototype model of the human head in regards to surface area, weight, heat generation, and vapor production and use this model in parallel with a data acquisition and controls system to simulate and record a pillow’s thermal dissipative properties. With this tool, in-depth research into product properties can be conducted by the manufacturer. The desire is to utilize this tool for new product validation. Once a prototype for a new pillow has been proposed and the structure and filling (i.e. foam, cloth, etc.) created, the test-bed will be used to prove the product’s capabilities. As with any R&D environment in industry, the data and results will be used for justification in further developments by the company