US20110107531A1

US20110107531A1 - Electric toothbrush based on no-touch magnetic coupling

Info

Publication number: US20110107531A1
Application number: US13/003,855
Authority: US
Inventors: Hongyuan Ye
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-07-21
Filing date: 2009-04-17
Publication date: 2011-05-12
Also published as: CN201223466Y; WO2010009633A1

Abstract

An electric toothbrush based on non-contact magnetic coupling has a toothbrush body shell (1), a drive component (2) and an output component (3). The drive component (2) includes a motor (2 a) and a drive permanent magnet (2 b) connected to it. The output component (3) includes an elastic member (3 a), an output permanent magnet (3 b), an output shaft (3 c) and a brush head (3 d). The output permanent magnet (3 b) and the output shaft (3 c) are fixed directly on the elastic member (3 a). The output permanent magnet (3 b) and the drive permanent magnet (2 b) are positioned relative to each other in a non-contact manner. The drive permanent magnet (2 b) is fixed directly on an output shaft of the motor (2 a), or connected with the output shaft of the motor (2 a) by a gear or a connecting link. The drive permanent magnet has a magnetic sector distribution in either radial direction or axial direction.

Description

TECHNOLOGY FIELD

The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush, a product used in daily life.

BACKGROUND

The electric toothbrush is familiar to the general public. A common electric toothbrush, which brush head vibrates with rotary swings, goes against the dental expert's suggestion “clean the teeth along the tooth”. Moreover, the rotary swing frequency is relatively low, which is usually lower than 100 Hertz (or Hz).
In recent years, the electric toothbrush, working at a vibration frequency of several hundreds of Hz, began to appear in the market, such as the Philips Sonicare line of electric toothbrush, with its core technology described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,751. This patented technology uses an electromagnetic coil, driven by the audio electric pulses, to form hundreds of Hz alternating magnetic fields, which propel a permanent magnet in the alternating magnetic fields, then drive the brush head to vibrate with parallel shift and swing at hundreds of Hz frequency. Because of the opened structure of the electromagnetic coil, the magnetic field lines are not closed; thus the energy exchange efficiency is low.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The purporse of the present invention is to circumvent the aformentioned disadvantages, and design a simple, reliable and efficient electric toothbrush, which bristles vibrate with parallel shift and swing along the tooth at audio frequency based on non-contact magnetic coupling.
To implement this purpose, the present invention designs an electric toothbrush, which includes a toothbrush body shell, a drive component and an output component; wherein the drive component comprises a motor and a drive permanent magnet, which connectes with the motor; wherein the output component comprises an elastic member, an output permanent magnet, an output shaft and a brush head.
The aforementioned output permanent magnet and the output shaft are both directly mounted on the elastic member. The output permanent magnet and the drive permanent magnet are positioned relative to each other in a non-contact manner.
The aforementioned drive permanent magnet is directly mounted on the output shaft of the motor, or is connected with the output shaft of the motor through gears or connecting links. The aforementioned drive permanent magnet has a magnetic sector distribution in either radial direction or axial direction.
The output permanent magnet is mounted near the aforementioned drive permanent magnet in a non-contact manner; the output permanent magnet is firmly connected with the elastic member; the brush head is mounted on the output shaft and it can be taken off the output shaft.
Compared to the current technology, the present invention uses a motor as a driving unit; the output permanent magnet and the drive permanent magnet are positioned relative to each other in a non-contact manner; therefore the present invention is simpler, more reliable and more efficient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the present invention.

DETAILED IMPLEMENTATION

As shown in the drawing, one embodiment of the present invention is further described below. Shown in FIG. 1, the electric toothbrush of the present invention mainly includes a toothbrush body shell 1, a drive component 2 and an output component 3. The drive component 2 includes a motor 2 a and a drive permanent magnet 2 b; the drive permanent magnet 2 b is mounted on the output shaft of the motor 2 a; the output shaft of the motor 2 a and the drive permanent magnet 2 b rotate together to form alternating magnetic fields. The drive permanent magnet 2 b can have only one magnet sector or multiple magnet sectors. Adjusting the speed of the motor 2 a and the number of magnet sectors of the drive permanent magnet 2 b changes the frequency of the alternating magnetic fields.
As an additional description to the drive component 2, the magnet sectors of the drive permanent magnet 2 b can be radial distribution or axial distribution; the drive permanent magnet 2 b can be directly mounted on the output shaft of the motor 2 a or connected through gears or connecting links etc; and the motor 2 a can be a rotary motor or a swing motor.
The output component 3 includes an elastic member 3 a, an output permanent magnet 3 b, an output shaft 3 c and a brush head 3 d. The output permanent magnet 3 b and the output shaft 3 c are directly mounted on the elastic member 3 a. The brush head 3 d and the output shaft 3 c usually use quick-connect structure so that the brush head 3d can be easily taken off the output shaft 3 c. The output permanent magnet 3 b and the drive permanent magnet 2 b are mounted relative to each other in a non-contact manner so that the output permanent magnet 3 b is driven by the alternating magnetic fields generated by the drive permanent magnet 2 b, then drive the elastic member 3 a and make the brush head 3 d to vibrate at hundreds of hertz frequency. The output permanent magnet 3 b can have only one magnet sector or multiple magnet sectors. Appropriately adjusting the number of magnet sectors of the output permanent magnet 3 b can change the vibration frequency of the brush head 3 d. Appropriately adjusting the relative position between the output permanent magnet 3 b and the drive permanent magnet 2 b can change the vibration mode of the brush head 3 d so that the brush head 3 d can vibrate in swinging, twisting, rotating or other motion modes.
As an additional description to the output component 3, the elastic member can be an elastic plate spring or other forms of elastic elements. The output permanent magnet can be directly mounted on the elastic member or connected with the elastic member through other elements; the output shaft also can be directly mounted on the elastic member or connected with the elastic member through other elements.
In the present invention, appropriately adjusting the speed of the motor 2 a, the number of the magnet sectors of the drive permanent magnet 2 b and the number of magnet sectors of the output permanent magnet 3 b, the brush head 3 d can work near the resonant frequency, thus greatly improving the output power.

Claims

1. An electric toothbrush based on non-contact magnetic coupling, comprising: a toothbrush body shell, a drive component and an output component;

wherein the drive component (2) includes a motor (2 a) and a drive permanent magnet (2 b), which connects with the motor; whereinthe output component (3) includes an elastic member (3 a), an output permanent magnet (3 b), an output shaft (3 c) and a brush head (3 d).

2. An electric toothbrush based on non-contact magnetic coupling, as recited in claim 1, with the following characteristics: the output permanent magnet (3 b) and the output shaft are both directly firmly mounted on the elastic member (3 a); the output permanent magnet (3 b) and the drive permanent magnet (2 b) are mounted relative to each other in a non-contact manner.

3. An electric toothbrush based on non-contact magnetic coupling, as recited in claim 1, with the following characteristics: the aforementioned drive permanent magnet (2 b) is directly mounted on the output shaft of the motor (2 a) or is connected with the output shaft of the motor (2 a) through gears or connecting links;

the magnet sectors of the aforementioned drive permanent magnet (2 b) can be radial distribution or axial distribution.

4. An electric toothbrush based on non-contact magnetic coupling, as recited in claim 1, with the following characteristics: output permanent magnet (3 b) is mounted near the aforementioned drive permanent magnet (2 b) in a non-contact manner; the output permanent magnet (3 b) and the elastic member (3 a) are firmly connected; the output shaft (3 c) is mounted at the top of the elastic member (3 a); the brush head (3 d) is mounted on the output shaft (3 c) and the brush head can be taken off.

5. An electric toothbrush based on non-contact magnetic coupling, as recited in claim 1, with the following characteristics: the motor (2 a) and the drive permanent magnet (2 b) rotate together to form alternating magnetic fields to drive the ouput permanent magnet (3 b) in the alternating magnetic fields, then propels the elastic member (3 a), which is connected with the output permanent magnet (3 b), and make the brush head (3 d) to vibrate at hundreds of hertz frequency.

6. An electric toothbrush based on non-contact magnetic coupling, as recited in claim 1, is characterized in that the brush head (3 d) works near resonant frequency at the following conditions: the output component (3) is connected with the toothbrush body shell (1) indirectly by vibration isolation elements, and the elastic member (3 a) is not a moving part.