JP2009045202A - Electric toothbrush and replacement brush - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a user-friendly electric toothbrush hardly transmitting unpleasant vibration to the hands and lips when cleaning the oral cavity, improving the operability by miniaturizing a handle part and further improving the toothbrushing performance. <P>SOLUTION: This electric toothbrush 1 is provided with a handle part 3 disposed with a power supply 6 and a control circuit 7, a neck part 4 extended from the handle part 3, and a head part 5 provided at the tip of the neck part 4, wherein the power supply 6 supplies an electric power to the head part 5 and the control circuit 7 controls the actuation of the head part 5. The head part 5 has a movable portion 9 filled with a plurality of bristles 10 on a bristle-filled surface 9a, a fixed portion 11 for retaining the movable portion 9, and a drive mechanism 12 for reciprocatingly vibrating the movable portion 9 at least in the direction orthogonally crossing with the bristle-filled surface 9a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrically driven electric toothbrush and a replacement brush thereof.

  Conventionally, as an electric toothbrush, a rotation (spin) type (for example, refer patent document 1), a vibration motor type (for example, refer patent document 2), and a linear motor type (for example, refer patent document 3). ) And ultrasonic types (see, for example, Patent Document 4) have been proposed.

  For example, the rotary type electric toothbrush 100 shown in FIG. 4 includes a power supply 102 and a rotary motor 103 disposed in the handle portion 101, and the driving force of the rotary motor 103 is generated by the power supplied from the power supply 102 and links such as gears and shafts. It is transmitted to the rotary head 106 at the tip of the neck portion 105 extended from the handle portion 101 through the mechanism 104, and the oral cavity is cleaned by the brush 107 implanted in the rotary head 106 while rotating the rotary head 106. It is a mechanism to do.

  On the other hand, in the vibration type electric toothbrush 200 shown in FIG. 5, a power source 202 and a rotary motor 203 are arranged in a handle portion 201, and an eccentric weight 204 attached to a rotary shaft of the rotary motor 203 by power supplied from the power source 202. The vibration generated by the rotation of the eccentric weight 204 is transmitted to the head portion 206 at the tip of the neck portion 205 extended from the handle portion 201, and the brush implanted in the head portion 206. 207 is a mechanism for cleaning the oral cavity.

  On the other hand, the linear motor type electric toothbrush 300 shown in FIG. 6 includes a power supply 302 and a linear motor 303 disposed in the handle portion 301, and the linear motor 303 reciprocally vibrates the drive shaft 304 in the axial direction by electric power supplied from the power supply 302. The head portion 306 at the tip of the neck portion 305 extended from the handle portion 301 is reciprocally vibrated while the inside of the oral cavity is cleaned by the brush 307 implanted in the head portion 306.

On the other hand, in the ultrasonic type electric toothbrush 400 shown in FIG. 7, the power source 402 and the control circuit 403 are disposed in the handle portion 401, and the power is supplied from the power source 402 and the driving is controlled by the control circuit 403. The ultrasonic transducer 404 has a structure built in the head portion 406 at the tip of the neck portion 405 extended from the handle portion 401, and the ultrasonic transducer 404 generates ultrasonic vibration while It is a mechanism for cleaning the inside of the oral cavity with the brush 407 installed.
JP-A-6-343513 JP-A-56-500159 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-29604 Japanese Utility Model Publication No.57-2829

  However, among the electric toothbrushes described above, in the case of the rotary type electric toothbrush 100, the link mechanism 104 converts the rotational drive of the rotary motor 103 into a reciprocating motion, and then converts it into the rotational motion of the rotary head 106 again. There is a drawback that unpleasant vibration and noise are likely to occur. Further, in the case of the rotary head 106, since the thickness of the head tends to increase as compared with a normal toothbrush, the operability in the oral cavity is deteriorated. Further, the drive loss is large, and the rotary motor 103 and the power source 102 having high output are arranged in the handle portion 101 in order to compensate for the drive loss. In this case, since the handle portion 101 is large and heavy, the operability of the handle portion 101 is deteriorated.

  On the other hand, in the case of the vibration type electric toothbrush 200, unpleasant vibration is easily transmitted to the hand through the handle portion 201. In order to prevent this, a vibration suppressing member is provided in the handle portion 201, or the eccentric weight 204 is attached to the neck portion 205. For example, it is provided on the tip side. However, when the vibration suppressing member is provided in the handle portion 201, it is possible to suppress the vibration of the handle portion 201, but the operability deteriorates due to the large handle portion 201. On the other hand, when the eccentric weight 204 is provided on the distal end side of the neck portion 205, unpleasant vibration is easily transmitted to the lips during oral cleaning.

  On the other hand, in the case of the linear motor type electric toothbrush 300, a spring member for suppressing unpleasant vibration in the handle portion 301 is arranged. However, in this case as well, the handle portion 301 becomes large, so that the operability is deteriorated and unpleasant vibration from the neck portion 305 is easily transmitted to the lips.

  On the other hand, in the case of the ultrasonic type electric toothbrush 400, it is possible to remove plaque at a portion where the brush does not reach by ultrasonic waves. On the other hand, since the frequency of the ultrasonic wave is in a region outside the audible region, it may be difficult for the user to realize the effect.

  The electric toothbrush has excellent cleaning ability and is very convenient, but it is unique to the electric toothbrush such as the size and weight of the handle part, unpleasant vibration and noise, poor operability due to the thickness and width of the head part, etc. Therefore, further improvement in usability is required.

Therefore, the present invention has been proposed in view of such conventional circumstances, and uncomfortable vibrations are difficult to be transmitted to the hand, lips, etc. during oral cleaning, and the operability is improved by downsizing the handle portion. An object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-use electric toothbrush that can further improve the brushing ability.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a replacement brush that can be replaced in such an electric toothbrush.

  To achieve this object, the invention according to claim 1 includes a handle portion in which a power source and a control circuit are arranged, a neck portion extended from the handle portion, and a head portion provided at the tip of the neck portion. An electric toothbrush in which power is supplied from the power source to the head unit and the drive of the head unit is controlled by a control circuit, the head unit being movable and a movable unit having a plurality of brushes implanted on the flocked surface An electric toothbrush comprising: a fixed portion that holds the portion; and a drive mechanism that reciprocally vibrates the movable portion in a direction orthogonal to at least the flocked surface.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the movable part is attached to the fixed part via a diaphragm or a hinge.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the drive mechanism includes a magnet attached to a surface opposite to the flocked surface of the movable portion, and an excitation coil attached to a surface facing the magnet of the fixed portion. Or, it has an exciting coil attached to the surface opposite to the flocked surface of the movable part and a magnet attached to the surface facing the exciting coil of the fixed part, and switches the direction of the current flowing through the exciting coil. However, the movable part is reciprocally oscillated by an electromagnetic action acting between a magnetic field generated by passing a current through the exciting coil and a magnetic field generated in the magnet. Electric toothbrush.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the electric toothbrush according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the vibration frequency of the movable part is in an audible region.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the control circuit variably controls the amplitude and vibration frequency of the movable part driven by the drive mechanism. Toothbrush.

  The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the head portion is detachably attached to the neck portion, or the neck portion is detachably attached to the handle portion. It is an electric toothbrush as described in any one of 1-5.

  The invention according to claim 7 is a replacement brush that is replaceable in the electric toothbrush according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the main body part is composed of a neck part and a handle part. Thus, the replacement brush is characterized in that the head portion can be replaced or the head portion and the neck portion can be integrally replaced with respect to the main body portion formed of the handle portion.

  As described above, according to the present invention, unpleasant vibrations are difficult to be transmitted to the hands and lips when cleaning the oral cavity, and the operability is improved by reducing the size of the handle portion, and the brushing ability is further improved. It is possible to provide an electric toothbrush that is easy to use, and a replacement brush that can be replaced in such an electric toothbrush.

  Hereinafter, an electric toothbrush and a replacement brush to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, in the drawings used in the following description, in order to make the features easy to understand, there are cases where the features are schematically shown for the sake of convenience, and the shapes and dimensional ratios of the respective components are the same as the actual ones. Not necessarily.

(electric toothbrush)
First, an electric toothbrush 1 to which the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is applied will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the electric toothbrush 1 includes a main body portion 2, and the main body portion 2 includes a handle portion 3 and a neck portion 4 that extends in an axial direction from one end of the handle portion 3. The head portion 5 is detachably attached to the tip of the neck portion 4.

  The handle portion 3 is a portion that is gripped by the user, and the shape thereof is not particularly limited. For example, the handle portion 3 has a substantially cylindrical shape. The inside of the handle portion 3 has a watertight structure in which an internal power source 6 that supplies power to the head portion 5 described later and a control circuit 7 that controls driving of the head portion 5 are arranged.

  As the internal power source 6, for example, a secondary battery (battery) such as a nickel cadmium battery, a nickel hydrogen battery, or a lithium ion battery can be mounted. In addition, when a secondary battery is mounted as the internal power supply 6, the internal power supply 6 can be charged from an external power supply (commercial power supply) via a charger. In this case, it is desirable to use a non-contact charging method in terms of safety and high usability. In addition to the above-described secondary battery, for example, a primary battery (AA or AA dry battery) may be mounted as the internal power supply 6 in a replaceable manner.

  The control circuit 7 includes a CPU, a memory, and the like. The control circuit 7 is connected to the internal power source 6 and controls when an operation button (not shown) provided on the handle portion 3 is operated by the user. A signal is generated, and power supply to the head unit 5 and driving of the head unit 5 are controlled based on the control signal.

  The neck portion 4 is a portion that connects the handle portion 3 and the head portion 5, and has a narrow and narrow shape. Further, the shape of the neck portion 4 is not limited to the straight shape as shown in FIG. 1, and may be a gentle curve shape so that the back teeth can be easily brushed. The width or thickness of the neck portion 4 is preferably in the range of 4 to 10 mm, more preferably in the range of 5 to 7 mm in consideration of operability and strength. Inside the neck portion 4, wiring 8 for electrically connecting the head portion 5 and the control circuit 7 is disposed. The wiring 8 can be disposed in the hollow neck portion 4 or can be embedded in the neck portion 4 by insert molding. Although not shown in the drawing, the tip of the neck 4 is provided with an attachment mechanism for detachably attaching the head 5 and a contact for connecting the wiring 8 to the wiring on the head 5 side. Yes.

  The head portion 5 may be any shape or size that can easily clean the inside of the oral cavity, and the shape thereof is not particularly limited, but generally has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The head unit 5 is supplied with electric power from the internal power supply 6 in the main body unit 2 described above, and the driving of the head unit 5 is controlled by the control circuit 7. Specifically, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 2, the head portion 5 includes a flocking plate 9 in which a plurality of brushes 10 are planted on a flocking surface 9a, a casing 11 that holds the flocking plate 9, and a flocking plate. 9 has a linear drive mechanism 12 that reciprocally vibrates in a direction orthogonal to the flocked surface 9a (hereinafter, referred to as a vertical direction).

  The flocking plate 9 has a flat plate shape, and one surface thereof is a flocking surface 9a. The thickness of the flocking plate 9 is preferably about 1 to 5 mm, more preferably about 2 to 3.5 mm. The flocking plate 9 is attached to the casing 11 via a diaphragm 13 as a movable part that moves within the casing 11. The diaphragm 13 is made of an elastic member such as an elastomer (polyolefin elastomer, polyester elastomer, styrene elastomer, urethane elastomer, etc.) or silicone. The diaphragm 13 supports the flocked plate 9 so as to be movable in the vertical direction by elastic deformation in a state (watertight state) in which a space between a recessed portion 11a of the casing 11 described later and the flocked plate 9 is sealed.

Although the material of the brush 10 is not particularly limited, for example, polyamide (eg, 6-12 nylon, 6-10 nylon), polyester (eg, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate), polyolefin (eg: Examples thereof include synthetic resin materials such as polypropylene) and elastomers (eg, olefin-based and styrene-based). A plurality of these resin materials may be used in combination. For example, different resin materials may be used for the core and the sheath, such as a core-sheath structure.
The vertical cross-sectional shape of the brush 10 is usually circular, but is not limited to such a shape. For example, an elliptical shape, a triangular shape, a quadrangular shape, a hexagonal shape, a star shape, a three-leaf clover shape, and a four-leaf shape are used. An arbitrary shape such as a clover shape can be used.
In addition, the tip of the brush 10 has a rounded tip, a tapered shape whose outer diameter gradually decreases toward the tip, and an arbitrary shape such as a spatula shape, a spherical shape, and a tip shape. can do.
The hair length of the brush 10 is preferably 8 mm to 13 mm for adults and 6 mm to 9 mm for children from the flocked surface 9 a of the flocked plate 9. The thickness (maximum diameter) of the brush 10 is preferably 0.12 mm to 0.26 mm in terms of usability in the oral cavity and usability. Further, considering a feeling of use, a feeling of brushing, a cleaning effect, durability, and the like, a plurality of brushes having different thicknesses may be used in any combination.
In addition, on the flocking surface 9a of the flocking plate 9, a plurality of hair bundles of the brush 10 are usually arranged in a lattice shape or a zigzag manner at predetermined intervals in the length direction or the width direction of the head portion 5. The arrangement and interval of these hair bundles, combinations thereof, etc. are not particularly limited, and can be arbitrarily set according to the intended use.
In addition, the hair bundle is usually a bundle of a plurality of brushes 10 that are bundled in a substantially circular shape. However, the hair bundle is not limited to such a bundle that is bundled in a substantially circular shape, but a substantially polygonal shape such as a substantially triangular shape or a substantially rectangular shape. They may be bundled, and may be further bundled in a shape having a major axis and a minor axis different from each other, such as a substantially elliptical shape, a substantially elliptical shape, a substantially rectangular shape, or a substantially polygonal shape.
As for the method of flocking the brush 10, the bristles of the brush 10 are folded in two, and a flat wire is sandwiched between them and fixed to the flock hole provided in the flock plate 9, or the lower end of the brush 10 is the flock plate. A heat fusion method in which the resin is pressed into a molten resin 9 and fixed, and the lower end of the brush 10 is heated to form a molten lump, and then the molten resin is filled into the mold cavity and integrated with the flocking plate 9. An in-mold method for molding can be used.

  The casing 11 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is detachably attached to the tip of the neck portion 4 as a fixed portion fixed to the tip of the neck portion 4. On one surface of the casing 11, a recess 11 a for accommodating the flocking plate 9 and the linear drive mechanism 12 is provided. The flocking plate 9 is disposed so as to close the upper surface opening of the recess 11a. Although not shown, the casing 11 is connected to a mounted mechanism that is detachably attached to the mounting mechanism of the neck portion 4, and a wiring 15 a on the exciting coil 15 side and a wiring 8 on the neck portion 4 side, which will be described later. It has a contact point to do.

  The linear drive mechanism 12 is attached to the magnet (movable element) 14 attached to the surface opposite to the flocking surface 9a of the flocking plate 9 and the surface of the casing 11 facing the magnet 14 (the bottom surface of the recess 11a). An excitation coil (stator) 15 is included.

  A plurality of magnets 14 are arranged side by side at a position surrounding the periphery of the exciting coil 15. The magnetization direction of the magnet 14 is set to the north pole (outside is the south pole) toward the exciting coil 15. Further, the magnet 14 may be magnetized in the south pole (the outside is the north pole). Further, the magnet 14 is preferably arranged at a position that is symmetrical with the excitation coil 15 interposed therebetween, and the magnet 14 shown in FIG. 2 has a front end side and a rear end side of the flocking plate 9 that are symmetrical with respect to the excitation coil 15. And is arranged.

  The exciting coil 15 is arranged in a state of being wound around the magnetic core 16 provided at the center of the bottom surface of the recess 11a. Further, the wiring 15 a extended from both ends of the exciting coil 15 is electrically connected to the wiring 8 on the neck portion 4 side.

  In this linear drive mechanism 12, the electromagnetic action acting between the magnetic field generated by flowing the current through the exciting coil 15 and the magnetic field generated at the magnet 14 while switching the direction of the current flowing through the exciting coil 15. The flocking plate 9 elastically supported by the diaphragm 13 can be reciprocated in the vertical direction. Specifically, the vibration frequency of the flocking plate 9 driven by the linear drive mechanism 12 is preferably in the audible region of 50 Hz to 20,000 Hz. In order to enhance the cleaning feeling, 150 Hz to 1000 Hz (9000 to 60,000). rpm / min) is more preferable. Further, the amplitude of the flocking plate 9 of the flocking plate 9 driven by the linear drive mechanism 12 is preferably in the range of 0.1 to 10 mm at the tip of the brush 10, more preferably in the range of 0.5 to 5 mm. is there. Further, the amplitude and vibration frequency of the flocking plate 9 driven by the linear drive mechanism 12 can be variably controlled by the control circuit 7.

  In the electric toothbrush 1 having the above-described structure, only the flocking plate 9 reciprocates vertically in the head portion 5 with respect to the casing 11 fixed to the tip of the neck portion 4. Uncomfortable vibrations are not easily transmitted to the hand or lips through the part 3. Moreover, since the linear drive mechanism 12 drives only the flocking plate 9 without generating noise, it has high energy efficiency. Further, the main body 2 can be reduced in size and weight because only the power supply 6 and the control circuit 7 are disposed in the handle portion 3. Further, the head unit 5 can be downsized. Furthermore, the shape of the neck portion 4 has a high degree of freedom, and operability in the oral cavity can be improved. Moreover, since the head part 5 has a simple structure, it can be manufactured at low cost and the risk of failure is small.

  As described above, in the electric toothbrush 1 to which the present invention is applied, unpleasant vibrations are not easily transmitted to the hand or lips during oral cleaning, and the handle portion 3 is reduced in size, thereby improving operability and brushing. It is possible to further improve the ability.

  The electric toothbrush 1 to which the present invention is applied is not necessarily limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Specifically, the electric toothbrush 1 to which the present invention is applied may be configured to include, for example, a head unit 50 shown in FIG. 3 instead of the head unit 5.

  The head portion 50 has a structure in which the flocking plate 9 is attached to the casing 11 via a hinge 51. The hinge 51 supports the flocking plate 9 fitted in the concave portion 11a of the casing 11 so as to be movable in the vertical direction. In this configuration, since the flocking plate 9 and the casing 11 are not watertightly fitted, the magnet 14 and the excitation coil 15 constituting the linear drive mechanism 12 are covered with a waterproof film or inserted. Waterproofing measures such as covering the exciting coil 15 by molding are taken.

  In the electric toothbrush 1 having the head portion 50 as described above, similarly to the case of having the head portion 5, unpleasant vibrations are difficult to be transmitted to the hand or lips during oral cleaning, and the handle portion 3 is reduced in size. As a result, it is possible to further improve the cleaning capability while improving operability.

  The head portions 5 and 50 are not limited to a configuration in which the head portions 5 and 50 are detachably attached to the main body portion 2 including the handle portion 2 and the neck portion 4, and the head portions 5 and 50 and the neck portion 4 are integrally formed. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the shell is detachably attached to the main body portion 2 including the handle portion 3.

  The linear drive mechanism 12 is not limited to the configuration in which the magnet (movable element) 14 is attached to the flocking plate 9 side and the excitation coil (stator) 15 is attached to the casing 11 side. An excitation coil (movable element) 15 may be attached, and a magnet (stator) 14 may be attached to the casing 11 side.

  The magnet 14 is magnetized in the direction of the current flowing through the exciting coil 15 even when the upper side is the S pole (lower side is the N pole) or the upper side is the N pole (lower side is the S pole). The flocking plate 9 can be reciprocally oscillated in the vertical direction by an electromagnetic action that acts between the magnetic field generated by passing an electric current through the exciting coil 15 and the magnetic field generated in the magnet 14. is there. In the linear drive mechanism 12, the magnet 14 attached to the yoke may be used as a mover or a stator. Further, the inside of the casing 11 may have a magnetic shielding structure.

  Further, in the linear drive mechanism 12, not only the above-described flocking plate 9 reciprocally vibrates in the vertical direction, but also the flocking plate 9 is moved by changing the number and arrangement of the magnets 14 and the excitation coils 15 described above. It is also possible to reciprocate in a plane parallel to 9.

(Replacement brush)
Next, a replacement brush to which the present invention is applied will be described.
The replacement brush to which the present invention is applied is one in which the head parts 5 and 50 can be replaced with respect to the main body part 2 composed of the handle part 3 and the neck part 4, or the main body part composed of the handle part 3. 2, the head portions 5, 50 and the neck portion 4 can be integrally replaced.

  Since these replacement brushes can be detachably attached to the main body 2 described above, they can be sold separately from the main body 2 and exchanged after a certain period of use.

  Hereinafter, the effects of the present invention will be made clearer by examples. In addition, this invention is not limited to a following example, In the range which does not change the summary, it can change suitably and can implement.

In this example, the electric toothbrush 1 (Example 1) provided with the head part 5 shown in FIG. 2, the electric toothbrush 1 (Example 2) provided with the head part 50 shown in FIG. 3, and the rotary type shown in FIG. Electric toothbrush 100 (Comparative Example 1), vibration motor type electric toothbrush 200 shown in FIG. 5 (Comparative Example 2), linear motor type electric toothbrush 300 shown in FIG. 6 (Comparative Example 3), and ultrasonic type shown in FIG. An electric toothbrush 400 (Comparative Example 4) was actually produced, and “cleaning feeling”, “vibration / noise”, “intraoral operability”, “ease of holding”, and “comprehensive evaluation” were performed. Each evaluation is a sensory evaluation by 20 expert panelists, where ◯ is “very good”, Δ is “neither”, and x is “not good”.
For the brushes of Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Examples 1 to 4, 6-12 nylon (2.0 mil) having a hair length of 10.0 mm was used.
Moreover, in Example 1, the brush was fixed to the flocking plate which consists of a 2.0-mm-thick polypropylene by the heat sealing | fusion method. A nickel metal hydride battery was used as the internal power source.
Moreover, in Example 1, the brush was fixed to the flocking plate which consists of a 3.0-mm-thick polypropylene by the flat wire flocking method. A AAA battery was used as the internal power source.

  As shown in Table 1, the electric toothbrushes of Examples 1 and 2 to which the present invention was applied obtained good results in all the evaluations of cleaning feeling, vibration / noise, intraoral operability, and ease of holding. Very good results were obtained for the evaluation. On the other hand, the rotation-type electric toothbrush of Comparative Example 1 was poor in evaluations other than the cleaning feeling, and good results were not obtained for the comprehensive evaluation. On the other hand, in the vibration motor type electric toothbrush of the comparative example 2, the evaluation of vibration / noise was poor, and a better result than the electric toothbrush of the examples 1 and 2 was not obtained in the comprehensive evaluation. On the other hand, in the linear motor type electric toothbrush of Comparative Example 3, the evaluation of vibration / noise and ease of holding was poor, and a better result than the electric toothbrushes of Examples 1 and 2 was not obtained in the comprehensive evaluation. On the other hand, in the ultrasonic type electric toothbrush of the comparative example 4, the evaluation of cleaning feeling and ease of holding was poor, and a better result than the electric toothbrush of the examples 1 and 2 was not obtained in the comprehensive evaluation.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an electric toothbrush to which the present invention is applied. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the head portion of the electric toothbrush shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a modification of the head portion. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a rotary type electric toothbrush. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a vibration motor type electric toothbrush. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a linear motor type electric toothbrush. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an ultrasonic type electric toothbrush.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electric toothbrush 2 ... Main-body part 3 ... Handle part 4 ... Neck part 5 ... Head part 6 ... Internal power supply 7 ... Control circuit 8 ... Wiring 9 ... Flocking plate (movable part) 9a ... Flocking surface 10 ... Brush 11 ... Casing ( 11a ... concave portion 12 ... linear drive mechanism 13 ... diaphragm 14 ... magnet 15 ... exciting coil 15a ... wiring 16 ... magnetic core 50 ... head portion 51 ... hinge

Claims (7)

A handle portion in which a power source and a control circuit are arranged, a neck portion extended from the handle portion, and a head portion provided at a tip of the neck portion, and power is supplied from the power source to the head portion. An electric toothbrush in which the driving of the head unit is controlled by the control circuit,
The head portion includes a movable portion having a plurality of brushes implanted on a flocked surface, a fixed portion that holds the movable portion, and a drive mechanism that reciprocally vibrates the movable portion in a direction orthogonal to the flocked surface. An electric toothbrush characterized by having.   The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the movable part is attached to the fixed part via a diaphragm or a hinge. The drive mechanism includes a magnet attached to a surface of the movable portion opposite to the flocked surface and an excitation coil attached to a surface of the fixed portion facing the magnet, or the movable portion. An excitation coil attached to the surface of the part opposite to the flocked surface, and a magnet attached to the surface of the fixed part facing the excitation coil,
While moving the direction of the current flowing through the exciting coil, the movable part is reciprocally oscillated by an electromagnetic action acting between a magnetic field generated by flowing a current through the exciting coil and a magnetic field generated in the magnet. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1 or 2.   The electric toothbrush according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a vibration frequency of the movable part is in an audible region.   The electric toothbrush according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the control circuit variably controls an amplitude and a vibration frequency of the movable part that is driven by the drive mechanism.   The head part is detachably attached to the neck part, or the neck part is detachably attached to the handle part. The electric toothbrush according to one item. A replacement brush that can be replaced in the electric toothbrush according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The head part can be replaced with the main body part composed of the neck part and the handle part, or the head part and the neck part can be integrally replaced with the main body part composed of the handle part. Replacement brush characterized by

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