Vibration-canceling secondary resonator for use in a personal care appliance

• US 9,301,822 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2007
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Grez, Joseph W., Benning, Wolter, Headstrom, Patrick, Miller, Kevin, Kloster, Tyler
• Primary Examiner(s): Siconolfi, Robert A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rashid, Mahbubur
• Application Number:
  US12/513,185
• Publication Number:
  US 20100154151A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,077 Days
• Field of Search: 188/378
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/32 reciprocating or oscillating
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/3481 Vibrating brush body, e.g. by using eccentric weights
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 7/104 the inertia member being resiliently mounted F16F7/1022 takes precedence

Abstract

The personal care appliance (10) comprises a handle/housing (20), a workpiece assembly (12), a motor assembly (18) which is mounted to the handle for driving the workpiece assembly and a secondary resonator (30) connected to the motor assembly or the handle, the secondary resonator comprising a spring mass assembly characterized in that at resonant operation thereof, vibrations produced by action of the motor assembly which would otherwise be transmitted to the handle, are significantly reduced/cancelled.

Claims

1. A personal care appliance, comprising:

a handle portion;

a workpiece assembly; and

a non-nodal mounted motor assembly, mounted to the handle portion by a mounting assembly, for non-nodally driving the workpiece assembly in phase with the motor motion of the motor assembly, constituting a primary resonator characterized by a drive frequency and producing in operation vibration otherwise transmitted to the handle portion, said motor assembly comprising a housing; and

a secondary resonator separate from the primary resonator comprising a spring mass assembly characterized by a separate resonant frequency from the drive frequency and configured to reduce vibrations from the non-nodal mounted motor assembly to the handle portion when the appliance is operating, the spring mass assembly comprising a spring member connected to the outside of the housing of the non-nodal mounted motor assembly, and a separate mass attached at the end of the spring member.

2. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the motion of the secondary resonator is approximately 180°

out of phase with the motion of the motor assembly.

3. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the resonant frequency of the secondary resonator is within 10 Hz of the drive frequency of the appliance.

4. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the motion of the workpiece assembly is rotational.

5. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the motion of the workpiece assembly is transverse.

6. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the secondary resonator includes a vibration damping structure.

7. The personal care appliance of claim 6, wherein the vibration damping structure is a part of the mass portion of the spring mass assembly comprising the secondary resonator.

8. The personal care appliance of claim 6, wherein the vibration damping member comprises a mounting member (168) which is secured to the mass portion, to which said mounting member the one end of the spring member is connected.

9. The personal care appliance of claim 6, wherein the vibration damping member comprises a low efficiency spring member (154) portion of the spring mass assembly comprising the secondary resonator.

10. The personal care appliance of claim 6, wherein the vibration damping member comprises at least one fan blade element (170) which is attached to the mass portion of the spring mass assembly comprising the secondary resonator.

11. The personal care appliance of claim 10, comprising at least two opposing fan blade elements (170, 171).

12. The personal care appliance of claim 10, wherein the mass portion and the fan blades are mounted within a container which includes a viscous material, thereby increasing the damping action produced by the fan blades.

13. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the spring portion of the spring mass assembly comprises a leaf spring.

14. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the spring portion of the spring mass assembly comprises a torsion bar (66).

15. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the spring portion of the spring mass assembly comprises a wire spring (72).

16. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the spring portion of the spring mass assembly comprises a coiled watch spring (132).

17. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the spring portion of the spring mass assembly comprises a cut spring (79).

18. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the spring portion of the spring mass assembly comprises a V spring member (96).

19. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the spring mass assembly of the secondary resonator includes a mass member, a first spring (120) extending between the motor assembly and the mass member, and a second spring (122) between the mass member and the handle.

20. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the vibrations to the handle produced by the motor assembly are substantially cancelled.

21. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the secondary resonator is a magnet assembly which includes a fixed magnet arrangement (137, 173A, 139) and a magnet (136, 138) connected to the motor and which produces a centering effect on the motor connected magnet, resulting in a counter oscillation and reduction in vibration.

22. The personal care appliance of claim 21, wherein the magnet assembly is arranged in one manner to operate in repulsion between the motor connected magnet and the fixed magnet arrangement or in another manner to operate in attraction between the motor connected magnet and the fixed magnet arrangement.

23. The personal care appliance of claim 1, wherein the secondary resonator includes a secondary stator member through which a current is directed to provide a magnetic field and further includes a magnet arrangement mounted to the housing, wherein the magnetic interaction between the fixed magnet and the magnetic field produces a centering effect on movement of the secondary stator member, resulting in a counter oscillation relative to the motor action, reducing vibration.

24. A personal care appliance comprising

a handle portion;

a workpiece assembly;

a non-nodal mounted motor assembly, mounted to the handle portion by a mounting assembly, defining a primary resonator for non-nodally driving the workpiece in phase with the motor motion of the motor assembly, the primary resonator characterized by a drive frequency and producing in operation vibration otherwise transmitted to the handle portion, said motor assembly comprising a housing,

a secondary resonator separate from the primary resonator connected to the non-nodal mounted motor assembly, the secondary resonator characterized by a separate resonant frequency from the drive frequency and comprising a spring mass assembly comprising a spring member connected to the outside of the housing of the non-nodal mounted motor assembly, and a separate mass attached to the end of the spring member, said secondary resonator configured to reduce vibrations transmitted to the handle.

25. The personal care appliance of claim 24, wherein the vibrations of the secondary resonator are approximately 180°

out of phase with the vibrations of the primary resonator.

26. The personal care appliance of claim 24, wherein the mass assembly has a resonant frequency which is within 10 Hz of the drive frequency for the appliance.

27. The personal care appliance of claim 24, wherein the motion of the workpiece is rotational.

28. The personal care appliance of claim 24, wherein the motion of the workpiece assembly is transverse.

29. The personal care appliance of claim 24, wherein the secondary resonator includes a vibration damping structure.

30. The personal care appliance of claim 24, wherein the vibrations produced by the primary resonator are substantially cancelled.

31. A personal care appliance, comprising:

handle portion;

a workpiece assembly;

a non-nodal mounted motor assembly, mounted to the handle by a mounting assembly, for non-nodally driving the workpiece assembly in phase with the motor motion of the motor assembly, constituting a primary resonator characterized by a drive frequency, producing in operation vibration otherwise transmitted to the handle portion, said motor assembly comprising a housing; and

a secondary resonator separate from the primary resonator, the secondary resonator comprising a spring mass assembly comprising a spring member connected to the outside of the housing of the non-nodal mounted motor assembly, and a separate mass attached at the end of the spring member, characterized by having a separate resonant frequency from the drive frequency and configured to reduce vibrations from the non-nodal mounted motor assembly to the handle portion when the appliance is operating.

32. The personal care appliance of claim 31, wherein the motion of the secondary resonator is approximately 180°

out of phase with the motion of the motor assembly.

33. The personal care appliance of claim 31, wherein the motion of the workpiece assembly is rotational.

34. The personal care appliance of claim 31, wherein the motion of the workpiece assembly is transverse.

35. The personal care appliance of claim 31, wherein the resonator includes a vibration damping structure.