Rolling driving actuator and power toothbrush using the same

• US 7,712,174 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Motohashi, Ryo, Yabuuchi, Hidekazu, Hasegawa, Yuya, Shimizu, Hiroaki, Hirata, Katsuhiro, Nishinaka, Takahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Karls; Shay L
• Application Number:
  US10/557,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20070011834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,188 Days
• Field of Search: 15/221, 15/222, 15/23, 15/211, 15/28
• US Class Current: 15/22.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/3418 Rotation around the axis of the toothbrush handle
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/3445 Translation along the axis of the toothbrush handle
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 33/06 with polarised armatures
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 33/16 with polarised armatures moving in alternate directions by reversal or energisation of a single coil system

Abstract

In a rolling driving actuator used as a drive source of a power toothbrush, permanent magnets are formed flat plate shape, and constituting a moving object by being attached to grooves formed on an outer peripheral face of a yoke which is press-fitted to and fixed on a shaft. On the other hand, a tubular shaped stator, which is constituted by a coil wound around a bobbin and stationary yokes provided on both side of the bobbin in axial direction of the shaft, is provided to face an outer face of the permanent magnet or an outer face of the yoke of the moving object with a predetermined clearance so that a center axis thereof becomes coaxial with the center axis of the shaft. By supplying an alternating current to the coil, the moving object is driven in rolling driving around the axis of the shaft.

Claims

1. A rolling driving actuator comprising:

a moving object having a shaft pivoted to be able to rotate around an axis thereof, a yoke fixed on the shaft and flat plate shaped permanent magnets attached to adjoin the yoke around the axis of the shaft and magnetized in thickness direction thereof; and

a tubular shaped stator having a coil wound around the axis of the shaft to enclose the moving object, and stationary yokes made of a magnetic material and disposed to face an outermost peripheral portion of the yoke and the permanent magnet with a predetermined clearance in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the shaft; and

wherein

each permanent magnet is fixed on the yoke in the same orientation so that all outer faces of the permanent magnets have the same polarity; and

the moving object being driven in rolling driving in a predetermined angle region around the axis of the shaft by supplying alternating current to the coil.

2. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by that the flat plate shaped permanent magnets are provided at more than two positions around the axis of the shaft and attached so that and polarities of respective of the flat plate shaped permanent magnets become the same.

3. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by that the yoke is a substantially tubular shaped body press-fined to and fixed on the shaft, and has at least one groove parallel to the axial direction of the shaft on its outer face, to which the permanent magnet is fitted.

4. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by further comprising a spring member for restricting rotation angle of the moving object in a predetermined region.

5. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 4 characterized by further comprising a rotation restricting structure for mechanically stopping the rotation of the moving member when a force for rotating the moving object around the axis of the shaft more than a permissible region is applied from outside.

6. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by that the stationary yokes are provided on both side of a bobbin around which the coil is wound in the axial direction of the shaft, and positions of magnetic poles of one stationary yoke are not coincided with positions of magnetic poles of the other stationary yoke around the axis of the shaft.

7. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 6 characterized by that the magnetic poles provided on at least one stationary yoke of the stator are positioned to face contacting points of the flat plate shaped permanent magnet and the yoke of the moving object in an initial state where no current is supplied to the coil.

8. The rolling, driving actuator in accordance with claim 6 characterized by that a stationary yoke positioning portion for positioning the stationary yoke with respect to the bobbin around the axis of the shaft is provided on an end face of the bobbin in the axial direction of the shaft.

9. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by that

spring members for rotatably supporting the moving object around the axis of the shaft, and a vibrational absorption spindle supported in the axial direction and around the axis of the shaft by the spring members are further comprised;

the moving object and the spring members constitute a vibration system of the rolling driving;

a position of center of gravity of the vibrational absorption spindle is disposed on the axis of the shaft; and

when the moving object is rotatively driven around the axis of the shaft, the vibrational absorption spindle is rotatively driven in opposite phase around the axis of the shaft.

10. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 9 characterized by that a gap is provided between the vibrational absorption spindle and the moving object in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the shaft.

11. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 9 characterized by that moment of inertia of the vibrational absorption spindle is set to be larger than moment of inertia of the moving object when the moving object is rotatively driven.

12. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by that

spring members for rotatably supporting the moving object around the axis of the shaft are further comprised;

the moving object and the spring members constitute a vibration system of the rolling driving; and

the moving object is driven in rolling driving by supplying an alternating current having a frequency equal to or near to a resonance vibration frequency of the vibration system to the coil.

13. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by that

spring members for rotatably supporting the moving object around the axis of the shaft are further comprised;

the moving object and the spring members constitute a vibration system of the rolling driving; and

the moving object is driven in rolling driving by supplying an alternating current having a frequency near to and lower than a resonance vibration frequency of the vibration system to the coil.

14. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by that

spring members for rotatably supporting the moving object around the axis of the shaft are further comprised;

the moving object and the spring members constitute a vibration system of the rolling driving; and

the moving object is driven in rolling driving by supplying an alternating current having a frequency near to and higher than a resonance vibration frequency of the vibration system to the coil.

15. The rolling driving actuator in accordance with claim 1 characterized by that

a shielding case of a substantially tubular shape that the stator is fixed on an inner peripheral face thereof is further comprised;

an engaging portion of a convex or concave shape is provided on an outer peripheral face of the stationary yoke parallel to the axis of the shaft; and

a concave or convex shaped rotation restricting portion to be engaged with the engaging portion of the stationary yoke for restricting rotation of the stationary yoke around the axis of the shaft is provided on an inner peripheral face of the shielding case.

16. In a power toothbrush comprising:

a brush body that brush is implanted at a front end thereof;

a rolling driving actuator for rolling driving the brush body in a predetermined direction;

an electric power supply for supplying electric power to the rolling driving actuator; and

a driving circuit for supplying driving current to the rolling driving actuator;

characterized by that

the rolling driving actuator comprises;

a moving object having a shaft pivoted to be able to rotate around an axis thereof, a yoke fixed on the shaft and flat plate shaped permanent magnets attached to adjoin the yoke around the axis of the shaft and magnetized in thickness direction thereof; and

a tubular shaped stator having a coil wound around the axis of the shaft to enclose the moving object, and stationary yokes made of a magnetic material and disposed to face an outermost peripheral portion of the yoke and the permanent magnet with a predetermined clearance in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the shaft; and

wherein

each permanent magnet is fixed on the yoke in the same orientation so that all outer faces of the permanent magnets have the same polarity; and

the moving object is driven in rolling driving in a predetermined angle region around the axis of the shaft by supplying alternating current to the coil.