JP2009219757A - Electric toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a novel method to control a power source of an electric toothbrush, so that a power source button can be eliminated. <P>SOLUTION: The electric toothbrush includes a power generation element for generating electric power by pressing force and a control unit for turning the power source on by using electromotive force by the power generation element as a trigger when the power source is turned off. An artificial muscle (an electric field responsive macromolecule) or a piezoelectric device is preferably employed as the power generation element. The power generation element may be arranged in a manner to generate electric power by the pressing force applied to a brush part or to generate electric power by gripping force to grip the electric toothbrush. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush.

  A type of electric toothbrush that brushes teeth (removes food residues and plaque) by applying a brush that vibrates at high speed to the teeth is known. In an electric toothbrush, if an excessive pressing force is applied to the teeth and gums, the teeth and gums may be damaged. Patent Documents 1 to 5 disclose that the driving of the brush is stopped and suppressed when the pressing force becomes strong.

  Patent Document 6 discloses that the pressing force of the brush is used as a switch for switching the brush operation. Specifically, the reciprocating linear motion and the reciprocating rotational motion can be switched as the operation of the brush, and the operation of the brush is switched depending on the output level of the pressure sensor.

Patent Document 7 discloses a razor and a toothbrush that start vibration of the head portion when the head portion approaches or contacts the user's body. Specifically, the proximity of the head unit to the body is detected by a proximity switch that is provided in the head unit and is driven by light, infrared rays, high frequency, etc., thereby starting vibration of the head unit.
JP-A-5-329024 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-116027 JP-T-2004-506462 Japanese National Patent Publication No. 11-512938 JP 2003-93416 A JP-A-8-10045 JP-T-2006-520212

  The detection of the pressing force according to Patent Documents 1 to 6 is performed in a state where electric power is supplied to the electric toothbrush. In other words, the pressing force cannot be detected in the power-off state, and the power needs to be turned on by other means. Similarly, in Patent Document 7, when the head unit approaches the body while power is being supplied to the main body, the vibration of the head unit is started.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a new and useful technique for controlling the power supply of an electric toothbrush.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following configuration.

The electric toothbrush of the present invention is
A power generation element that generates power by pressing force; and
At the time of power off, control means to turn on the power with the electromotive force by the power generation element as a trigger,
Is provided.

The electric toothbrush according to the present invention can turn on the power by detecting the pressing force with the power generation element. Since the pressing force is detected by the power generation element, it is not necessary to turn on the power for detecting the pressing force. In this way, it is possible to omit a power switch (button) and the like, and it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the apparatus.

  Here, the pressing force can be converted into electric power using an electric field responsive polymer as the power generation element. Moreover, a pressing force can be converted into electric power using a piezoelectric element as a power generation element. These power generation elements generate power when force is applied or deformed even when power is not supplied to the power generation elements. Therefore, when the power of the electric toothbrush is turned off, the power of the electric toothbrush can be turned on using an electromotive force generated by the pressing force as a trigger.

  As the power generation element, any element other than the above can be used as long as it generates power by pressing force in a state where no power is supplied. For example, an electromagnetic actuator, an electrostatic actuator, or a magnetostrictive actuator may be employed to convert the displacement due to the pressing force into electric power. That is, any element can be employed as long as it is an element that can convert mechanical energy (pressing force) into electrical energy.

  It is preferable that the power generation element in the present invention generates power by a pressing force applied to the brush.

  By doing in this way, the power supply of an electric toothbrush can be turned on only by applying a brush to a tooth, without a user performing operation, such as a button.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the power generation element is provided in the vicinity of the root of the drive member that moves the brush.

  Since the pressing force applied to the brush is concentrated near the root of the drive member, the power generation element can efficiently generate power.

  In addition, when the power generating element generates electric power by the pressing force applied to the brush, it is preferable that the control means starts driving the toothbrush using that as a trigger.

  By doing in this way, tooth brushing can be started only by applying a brush to a tooth, without a user operating a button etc. Therefore, installation of a button for starting the driving of the brush can be omitted. In addition, since the period during which the power is turned on can be shortened, power consumption can be suppressed. Further, conventionally, there has been a problem that the dentifrice is scattered when the power is turned on before being applied to the oral cavity with the dentifrice applied to the brush. However, such a problem can be solved. Also, when putting the electric toothbrush in the oral cavity or moving it in the oral cavity, parts other than the brush flocking come into contact with parts that are different from the part you want to brush, causing unnecessary vibrations to be transmitted and uncomfortable feelings. The problem of doing can be solved. Here, the “parts different from the place to be polished” correspond to lips, tongues, front teeth when the brush is moved to brush the back teeth, and the like.

  It is also preferable that the power generation element in the present invention generates power by a pressing force applied to the grip portion of the electric toothbrush body. For this purpose, a power generation element may be provided in the gripping portion.

  If it does in this way, a user can turn on the power supply of an electric toothbrush simultaneously with having an electric toothbrush.

  When the power source is turned on using an electromotive force generated by the pressing force applied to the gripping portion as a trigger, it is preferable to turn on the power source without driving the brush.

  In this way, unnecessary driving of the brush can be avoided, and operation such as changing the operation mode can be performed only by holding the electric toothbrush.

  When the power generation element for turning on the power of the electric toothbrush is provided in the grip portion, the brush further includes a brush pressure sensor for detecting a pressing force applied to the brush, and the brush pressure sensor is in a power-on state. It is preferable to start driving the brush when the pressing force applied to the brush is detected.

  By doing in this way, tooth brushing can be started only by applying a brush to a tooth, without a user performing operation, such as a button. Therefore, installation of a button for starting the driving of the brush can be omitted. Since the electric toothbrush is powered on by the pressing force applied to the gripping portion, the brush pressure sensor may be a type of sensor that requires power supply.

  Each of the above means and processes can be combined with each other as much as possible to constitute the present invention.

  The present invention allows the electric toothbrush to be turned on by a novel method, thereby allowing the power button to be omitted.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
<Configuration of electric toothbrush>
The configuration of the electric toothbrush will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the electric toothbrush of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of the electric toothbrush of the first embodiment.

  The electric toothbrush includes an electric toothbrush main body 1 (hereinafter also simply referred to as “main body 1”) including a motor 10 as a driving source, and a motion member 2 having a brush 210. The main body 1 has a generally cylindrical shape, and also serves as a gripping part for a user to grip with his / her hand when brushing teeth.

  The main body 1 is provided with an operation button 16 for switching the operation mode. In the main body 1, a motor 10 as a drive source, a drive circuit 12, a rechargeable battery 13 as a 2.4V power source, a charging coil 14 and the like are provided. When charging the rechargeable battery 13, the battery 1 can be charged in a non-contact manner by electromagnetic induction only by placing the main body 1 on the charger. The drive circuit 12 includes a CPU (input / output processing unit) 120 that executes various calculations and controls, a memory 121 that stores programs and various setting values, a timer 122, and the like.

  The motion member 2 includes a stem portion 20 fixed to the main body 1 side, and a brush component 21 attached to the stem portion 20. A brush 210 is planted at the tip of the brush component 21. Since the brush part 21 is a consumable part, it is configured to be detachable from the stem portion 20 so that it can be replaced with a new one.

A brush pressure sensor 21 made of a dielectric elastomer (artificial muscle) is provided on the side opposite to the front surface of the brush 210 in the vicinity of the root where the motion member 2 is attached to the main body 1. Dielectric elastomers are a type of electric field responsive polymer that deforms when an electric field is applied. Conversely, when the electric field responsive polymer is deformed, an electric power is generated by generating electric power accordingly. Such an electric field responsive polymer is a material used as an artificial muscle (actuator).

  Since the brush pressure sensor 21 is provided on the back side of the joint between the moving member 2 and the main body 1, when a pressing force (load) is applied to the brush 210, the moving member 2 is moved against the main body 1 as shown in FIG. 3. And the brush pressure sensor 21 is crushed. Therefore, when a pressing force is applied to the brush 210, the brush pressure sensor 21 generates electric power accordingly.

  In the present embodiment, the electromotive force generated by applying a pressing force to the brush pressure sensor 21 is used as a trigger to turn on the power and to start driving the motion member 2 to vibrate the brush 210. Thus, the user can start brushing his teeth by simply placing the brush part 210 on his / her teeth.

<Power control of electric toothbrush>
When the power is turned off, the drive circuit 12 inputs an electric signal generated by the power generation of the brush pressure sensor (artificial muscle) 21 and turns on the electric toothbrush. A part of the drive circuit 12 is shown in FIG.

  When a load is applied to the brush 210 and the power generation element of the brush pressure sensor (artificial muscle) 21 generates power, a current is generated and the FET (switch) is turned on. Then, the transistor M1 is turned on and power is supplied to the CPU 120. When the CPU 120 is turned on, the transistor M2 in the latch unit is turned on, and power is continuously supplied to the CPU 120. Therefore, the CPU 120 operates even if current generation in the power generation element does not continue. When the CPU 120 operates, the transistors M3 and M4 are turned on to drive the motor 10 in order to drive the toothbrush.

  Control to turn off the power can be performed by various methods. For example, the power can be turned off when the brush pressure sensor 21 does not detect a load applied to the brush for a certain time (for example, 1 second). Further, a sensor such as a dielectric elastomer for turning off the power is provided on the opposite side of the brush pressure sensor (for power on) 21, that is, on the front side of the brush 210 near the root where the moving member 2 is attached to the main body 1. The power may be turned off by using the power generation by the power-off brush pressure sensor as a trigger. When the load from the brush is released, the moving member 2 becomes straight with respect to the main body 1, and the extended brush pressure sensor for turning off the power is compressed to generate electric power. This may be used as a trigger to turn off the power.

<Action / Effect>
In this way, since the brush pressure is detected by the artificial muscle and the power is turned on, the process of natural tooth brushing operation (that is, the operation of applying the brush to the teeth) without the user operating the power button or the like. Can turn on the power. Thereby, it is possible to omit the power button (switch) and the like, and it is possible to reduce the number of parts and the cost. In recent years, electric toothbrushes have become more sophisticated, and various operation buttons, indicator lamps, etc. have been used, so that the installation location of other parts can be secured by omitting the power button. Become.

In addition, since the artificial muscle is used to generate power from the pressing force applied to the brush and the electromotive force is used as a trigger, it can be turned on from the power-off state. Conventionally, there has been an electric toothbrush that detects the pressure applied to the brush and controls the driving of the brush, but all of them detect the pressing force applied to the brush portion in a state where the power is on. Therefore, in these conventional apparatuses, the operation speed and mode can be changed, but the power cannot be turned on.
Alternatively, it is necessary to pass a standby current, and unnecessary power consumption occurs. In the electric toothbrush according to the present embodiment, there is no unnecessary power consumption, and the power can be turned on with a simple operation.

  In addition, after detecting the pressing force applied to the brush, the power is turned on to start driving the brush, and when the pressing force is no longer applied to the brush, the power is turned off, so that unnecessary toothbrush driving can be suppressed. . After applying the toothpaste on the brush part, if you start driving the brush before putting the brush part in the mouth, the toothpaste will scatter, but it is not necessary with the electric toothbrush according to this embodiment Such a problem can be solved because the driving of the brush can be suppressed. Also, when putting the electric toothbrush in the oral cavity or moving it in the oral cavity, there is a place other than brush implantation in a part different from the part you want to brush (such as the lips, tongue, or front tooth when you want to brush the back teeth). The problem of unpleasant feeling caused by contact with unnecessary vibrations can be solved.

<Modification>
As the artificial muscle used for the brush pressure sensor 21, a dielectric elastomer is adopted, but other artificial muscles (electric field responsive polymer) such as an ion conductive polymer or an electrostrictive polymer may be adopted. In addition, other elements can be used as long as they generate substances by applying a pressing force. For example, a piezoelectric element using a piezoelectric element can be employed.

  Further, the brush pressure sensor 21 only needs to be able to detect the pressing force applied to the brush 210, so that a sensor that generates electric power according to the displacement of the moving member 20 that moves due to the pressing force applied to the brush 210 can be employed. For example, it is possible to employ a generator that generates power according to the principle of an electromagnetic actuator (motor, linear motor), electrostatic actuator, magnetostrictive actuator, or the like.

  That is, any element may be adopted as the brush pressure sensor 21 as long as the mechanical energy applied to the brush 210 can be converted (electric power generation) into electrical energy.

  Further, the brush pressure sensor 21 may be used not only for turning on the power but also for detecting the load applied to the brush during brushing and changing the operation mode. It is also preferable to store the electric power generated by the load applied to the brush during tooth brushing in a capacitor and use the amount of electricity for the operation of the toothbrush and the light emission of the display light.

  Even if the above configuration is adopted, when moving the brush with the power off to brush the back teeth, the brush will unintentionally contact the front teeth, etc. It may be uncomfortable. Therefore, in order to more effectively eliminate such unintended power-on, it is preferable to further employ the following method.

  The first method is to pass a band-pass filter (or low-pass filter) to the output (voltage waveform) of the brush pressure sensor 21 that is a power generation element, thereby removing an output with a short time width due to instantaneous brush contact. It is a method to do. This is to remove the short waveform by utilizing the fact that when the brush hits the front teeth or the like unintentionally, the contact is instantaneous and the output of the power generating element becomes an output with a short time width. As a result, unintended power-on due to erroneous detection can be more effectively prevented.

As the second method, a method of removing by setting a threshold value to the output of the brush pressure sensor 21 can be adopted. When the brush hits the front teeth unintentionally, it hits lightly, so the amplitude of the voltage waveform is smaller than that when the brush is applied to the normal teeth. Therefore, when the amplitude is smaller than the threshold value, the power is not turned on, so that unintended power-on due to erroneous detection can be more effectively prevented. Furthermore, the output waveform of the power generation element may be averaged for every certain period, and the averaged voltage (amplitude) may be compared with a threshold value. Here, if the averaging period is set to a time interval that is larger than the time during which the voltage waveform is output by instantaneously hitting the front teeth or the like, the influence of the temporary contact of the brush can be eliminated, which is more effective.

(Second Embodiment)
With reference to FIG. 5, the structure of the electric toothbrush which concerns on 2nd Embodiment is demonstrated. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of the electric toothbrush according to the present embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, a gripping pressure sensor 15 is provided on the gripping portion of the main body 1 on the opposite side (back side) to the brush front. Although a dielectric elastomer is employed for the gripping pressure sensor 15, various elements can be employed as in the first embodiment.

  When the user grips the main body 1, a pressing force is applied to the grip pressure sensor 15, and the dielectric elastomer generates electricity. The drive circuit 12 turns on the electric toothbrush using the electromotive force as a trigger. At this time, the motor 10 is not driven, and supply of power to the CPU 120 is started without generating brush vibration. Therefore, in this state, settings such as changing the operation mode of the brush unit 210 can be performed. That is, the user can select the brush operation mode and the like without turning on the power button only by picking up the electric toothbrush.

  The electric toothbrush according to the present embodiment is provided with a brush pressure sensor for detecting a pressing force applied to the brush. The brush pressure sensor according to the present embodiment may employ a sensor that requires power supply, such as a strain gauge or a load cell, in addition to the same sensor as in the first embodiment. Then, after detecting the gripping pressure and turning on the power, when it is detected that the pressing force is applied to the brush, the motor 10 is driven to drive the brush 210.

  Also in this embodiment, the same effect as the first embodiment can be obtained.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the electric toothbrush of the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of the electric toothbrush of the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the deformation of the artificial muscle due to the force applied to the brush. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a drive circuit. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of the electric toothbrush of the second embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electric toothbrush main body 10 Motor 12 Drive circuit 121 Memory 122 Timer 13 Rechargeable battery 15 Gripping pressure sensor 16 Operation button 2 Vibration member 20 Stem part 21 Artificial muscle (brush pressure sensor)
21 Brush parts 210 Brush

Claims (9)

A power generation element that generates power by pressing force; and
At the time of power off, control means to turn on the power with the electromotive force by the power generation element as a trigger,
An electric toothbrush comprising: The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the power generating element converts a pressing force into electric power using an electric field responsive polymer. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the power generating element converts a pressing force into electric power using a piezoelectric element. The electric toothbrush according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the power generation element generates electric power by a pressing force applied to the brush. The electric toothbrush according to claim 4, wherein the power generation element is provided in the vicinity of a root of a drive member that moves the brush. The electric toothbrush according to claim 4, wherein the control unit starts driving the brush by using an electromotive force generated by the power generation element as a trigger. The electric toothbrush according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the power generation element generates electric power by a pressing force applied to a grip portion of the electric toothbrush body. The electric toothbrush according to claim 7, wherein the control unit turns on a power source in a state where the brush is not driven, using an electromotive force generated by the power generation element as a trigger. A brush pressure sensor for detecting a pressing force applied to the brush;
9. The electric toothbrush according to claim 8, wherein the control unit starts driving the brush when the pressing force applied to the brush is detected by the brush pressure sensor in a power-on state.

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