Cleaning Section For An Electric Oral Hygiene Device

• US 20130007969A1
• Filed: 07/05/2012
• Published: 01/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Braun GmbH (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Original Assignee: Braun GmbH (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Inventors: Driesen, Georges, Trebitz, Bernd, Thurnay, Eva Susanne Dominique, Schmelcher, Heidrun, Haas, Martin, Fritsch, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 9,364,303 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 15/28
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 2200/1066 Toothbrush for cleaning the teeth or dentures A61C17/16 takes precedence; bristles arrangements for toothbrushes A46B9/04
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 9/00 Arrangements of the bristles in the brush body
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 9/025 the bristles or the tufts being arranged in an angled position relative to each other
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 9/028 Bristle profile, the end of the bristle defining a surface other than a single plane or deviating from a simple geometric form, e.g. cylinder, sphere or cone
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 9/04 Arranged like in or for toothbrushes
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/22 with brushes, cushions, cups, or the like brush bodies, e.g. arrangements of the bristles A46B
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/222 Brush body details, e.g. the shape thereof or connection to handle
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/34 driven by electric motor
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/3436 Rotation around the axis perpendicular to the plane defined by the bristle holder

Abstract

A cleaning section for an electric oral hygiene device is disclosed. The cleaning section includes at least a first carrier mounted for driven rotation or oscillating rotation around a rotation axis; and at least a plurality of first cleaning elements mounted on the first carrier with their bases arranged on the vertices of a first star-shaped polygon around the rotation axis. All of the first cleaning elements are inclined in a circumferential direction such that the free end of each of the first cleaning elements is farther away in the circumferential direction than the base of the respective first cleaning element; and wherein at least one cleaning element property alternates between adjacent first cleaning elements or between clusters of first cleaning elements.

Claims

1. A cleaning section for an electric oral hygiene device, comprising:

at least a first carrier mounted for driven rotation or oscillating rotation around a rotation axis;

at least a plurality of first cleaning elements mounted on the first carrier with their bases arranged on the vertices of a first star-shaped polygon around the rotation axis, wherein the bases lie on a mounting surface and the whole interior of the first star-shaped polygon is visible from the point where the rotation axis crosses the mounting surface;

wherein all of the first cleaning elements are circumferentially inclined with respect to the rotation axis such that the free end of each of the first cleaning elements is farther away in the circumferential direction than the base of the respective first cleaning element and wherein the circumferential inclination direction of all first cleaning elements is the same; and

wherein at least one cleaning element property of adjacent first cleaning elements or adjacent clusters of first cleaning elements discretely alternates between a first configuration and a second configuration.

2. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning element property is selected from the group consisting of:

length of the cleaning element between base and free end, area of a cross section or shape of the cross section of the cleaning element, radial inclination angle, circumferential inclination angle, surface structuring, material, and cleaning element composition.

3. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the cross-sections of the first cleaning elements alternate between an elongate shape such as an essentially rectangular shape and a more compact shape such as an essentially square shape or an essentially trapezoidal shape, optionally wherein the trapezoidal cross-sectional shape tapers towards the rotation axis.

4. The cleaning section according to claim 3, wherein the first cleaning elements having the essentially elongate cross-sectional shape are angled such that a longer axis of the elongate cross-sectional shape lying in the mounting surface crosses a radial beam originating at the point where the rotation axis crosses the mounting surface and intersecting the geometric centre of the cross-sectional shape with an acute angle of less than 10 degrees, optionally with less than 5 degrees.

5. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of second cleaning elements is mounted on the first carrier with their bases arranged on the vertices of a second star-shaped polygon around the rotation axis, wherein the bases lie on a mounting surface and the whole interior of the second star-shaped polygon is visible from a point where the rotation axis crosses the mounting surface, the second star-shaped polygon being disposed inside of the first star-shaped polygon, wherein all of the second cleaning elements are circumferentially inclined in a circumferential direction that is opposite to the circumferential direction in which all the first cleaning elements are inclined, optionally wherein the second cleaning elements have a similar or smaller circumferential inclination angle than the first cleaning elements.

6. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of second cleaning elements is mounted on a second carrier with their bases arranged on the vertices of a second star-shaped polygon around the rotation axis, wherein the bases lie on a mounting surface and the whole interior of the second star-shaped polygon is visible from the point where the rotation axis crosses the mounting surface, which second carrier is either arranged to be static during operation with respect to the cleaning section or to be driven into a movement different to the movement of the first carrier during operation, optionally wherein the second carrier is arranged to be driven in counter direction and/or with opposed phase relative to the first carrier.

7. The cleaning section according to claim 6, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier are arranged such that their mounting surfaces from which the cleaning elements extend have a height distance and one of the first or second carrier extends partly underneath the other of the first or second carrier such that the mounting surfaces of the first and second carrier overlap when viewed along the direction of the rotation axis.

8. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein a concave depression, in particular a spherical, cylindrical or oval depression that is suitable to accommodate a typical human tooth is formed in the surface defined by the free ends of the cleaning elements.

9. The cleaning section according to claim 8, wherein the concave depression merges over into two flat surfaces that are arranged opposite to each other.

10. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning elements have either a first height measured between the mounting surface of the first carrier and a free end of the cleaning element in rotation axis direction or a second height, wherein the distance between the two height values lies in a range of between about 0.1 mm and about 3.0 mm.

11. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein the circumferential inclination angles of at least the first cleaning elements lie in a range of between about 2 degrees to about 35 degrees.

12. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein the location and/or the cross-sectional shapes of the cleaning elements mounted on the first carrier is chosen such that a ratio between the area filled by cleaning elements and the area not filled with cleaning elements varies by about 25% or less.

13. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein at least one cleaning element is mounted in a mounting hole provided in a first carrier, which mounting hole has at least two opposite side walls that diverge over at least a length portion proximal to a mounting surface of the first carrier, wherein the angular difference in the wall inclinations lies in a range of between about 0.1 degree and about 10 degrees.

14. The cleaning section according to claim 1, wherein the bases of the first cleaning elements lie on a differentiable, not self-intersecting, convex and closed curve around the rotation axis such as the edge of a circle, an ellipse, or an oval, wherein the bases of the first cleaning elements lie within a radial band around the rotation axis, which radial band has a radial width that is 25% or less than the radial distance between the respective band centre and the point where the rotation axis intersects the mounting surface.

15. Oral hygiene device comprising a cleaning section in accordance with claim 1 wherein the cleaning section is detachable.

16. A cleaning section for an electric oral hygiene device, comprising:

at least a first carrier mounted for driven rotation or oscillating rotation around a rotation axis; and

at least a plurality of first cleaning elements mounted on the first carrier with their bases arranged on the vertices of a first star-shaped polygon around the rotation axis;

wherein all of the first cleaning elements are inclined in a circumferential direction such that the free end of each of the first cleaning elements is farther away in the circumferential direction than the base of the respective first cleaning element; and

wherein at least one cleaning element property alternates between adjacent first cleaning elements or between clusters of first cleaning elements.