Cleaning appliance

• US 9,814,302 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2016
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dyson Technology Limited (Beeswax Holdings UK Limited)
• Original Assignee: Dyson Technology Limited (Beeswax Holdings UK Limited)
• Inventors: Follows, Thomas James Dunning, Bex-Russell, William John, Stickney, Timothy Nicholas, Courtney, Stephen Benjamin, Lemon, Graham Charles, Jones, Jason Godfrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Chiang, Jennifer C
• Application Number:
  US15/152,083
• Publication Number:
  US 20160331113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 13/04 with reservoir or other means for supplying substances
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 5/0095 Removable or interchangeable brush heads
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 7/08 as a rotating disc
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 9/04 Arranged like in or for toothbrushes
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/0202 Hand-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/028 with intermittent liquid flow
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/221 Control arrangements therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/227 with reservoirs, e.g. for toothpaste
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/40 orbiting, e.g. nutating

Abstract

A dental cleaning appliance includes a handle, a fluid delivery system for delivering working fluid to the teeth of a user, and a control circuit for actuating the delivery of working fluid to the teeth of the user depending on a received input. For each input, the control circuit is arranged to actuate the delivery of a series of bursts of working fluid to the teeth of the user.

Claims

1. A dental cleaning appliance comprising:

a handle;

a fluid delivery system for delivering working fluid to the teeth of a user; and

a control circuit for actuating the delivery of working fluid to the teeth of the user depending on a received input;

wherein the control circuit is arranged to actuate the delivery of a series of bursts of working fluid to the teeth of the user in response to a detected change in the received input, and wherein the received input is an output from a sensor.

2. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the sensor is a motion detection sensor.

3. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the sensor is a Hall effect sensor.

4. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to actuate the delivery of working fluid to the teeth of the user depending on the rate of change of the output from the sensor.

5. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the sensor is located in the handle.

6. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the fluid delivery system comprises a source of pressurized working fluid and a valve, and the control circuit is configured to open the valve to deliver a burst of working fluid to the teeth of a user.

7. The appliance of claim 6, wherein the source of pressurized working fluid comprises a fluid chamber, and wherein the fluid chamber has a capacity in the range from 0.1 to 1 ml.

8. The appliance of claim 7, wherein the capacity of the fluid chamber is substantially the same as the volume of a single series of bursts of working fluid.

9. The appliance of claim 7, wherein the capacity of the fluid chamber is greater than the volume of a single series of bursts of working fluid.

10. The appliance of claim 6, wherein the valve is a solenoid valve.

11. The appliance of claim 1, wherein, within a series, the time period between bursts of working fluid is substantially the same.

12. The appliance of claim 1, wherein, within a series, the time period between bursts of working fluid is in the range from 1 to 25 ms.

13. The appliance of claim 1, wherein, within a series, the number of bursts of working fluid is in the range from two to ten.

14. The appliance of claim 1, wherein, within a series, the bursts have substantially the same volume.

15. The appliance of claim 1, wherein each burst of working fluid has a volume in the range from 0.05 to 0.5 ml.

16. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the working fluid is a liquid working fluid.