Touch Control Panel for Dental Unit Hygiene and Ergonomics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dental care environments face challenges in maintaining hygiene due to the difficulty in disinfecting computer keyboards and mice, which can transmit microbes to patients, and the need for a more ergonomic and easily accessible control system for dental units.
Innovation Solution
A control arrangement that integrates a touch pad or capacitive/resistive contact surface for controlling a computer and dental unit, allowing for easy disinfection and operation from the dental care workspace, with the option to change operating modes between computer and dental unit control, and featuring a detachable and disinfectable surface for enhanced hygiene.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional keyboard and mouse are used to control the computer, then the computer can be controlled, but hygiene risk increases due to difficulty in disinfection and microbial transmission
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical keyboard and mouse controls with a touch-sensitive control panel that can be integrated into the dental unit. This electronic control system allows for easier disinfection of surfaces and reduces the number of separate components that need to be cleaned, thereby improving hygiene safety while maintaining computer control functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the computer control functions with the dental unit by integrating the control panel into the dental unit structure. This merging eliminates the need for separate keyboard and mouse devices, creating a unified control interface that is easier to disinfect and reduces the surface area requiring cleaning, thus addressing the hygiene risk.
2Productivity
If computer is placed on a separate table at a distance from the dental care working place, then the computer can be operated, but the operator has to move between working places reducing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the computer control functions directly into the dental unit at the working place, eliminating the need for a separate computer table. The control panel is positioned within easy reach of the operator, allowing continuous operation without moving between locations, thereby improving both productivity and ease of operation.
3Reliability
If computer control means are covered with a disposable protective cover, then hygiene risk is reduced, but use of control means becomes difficult and replacing the cover is troublesome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the need for disposable protective covers with a smooth, non-porous control panel surface that can be easily disinfected. The touch-sensitive interface requires minimal contact from the operator, and the integrated design allows for straightforward cleaning without removing covers, thus maintaining hygiene protection while improving usability.
4Ease of manufacture
If a touch pad or contact surface is used for controlling the computer, then easy disinfection is achieved, but the control surface must be both sensitive to touch and easy to clean which is challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a control panel with a smooth, non-porous surface that changes the physical parameters of the control interface to enable both touch sensitivity and easy disinfection. The surface is designed to be chemically resistant to disinfectants while maintaining capacitive or resistive touch sensitivity, resolving the contradiction between ease of cleaning and device complexity through material and design parameter optimization.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables easy cleaning and disinfection of the control panel, allowing for safe and ergonomic operation of the computer during dental treatments, reducing the risk of microbial transmission and improving workflow by allowing operation without moving from the treatment area.
Implementation Method 1
A control arrangement in which the dental apparatus comprises a computer (101) and its display (111) operatively connected to each other, a dental unit (102, 104) and control means (116) arranged in connection with it, said control means being arranged to be used for controlling the aforesaid computer (101) arranged in the dental care environment
Implementation Method 2
A control arrangement that includes a touch pad or capacitive/resistive contact surface for controlling a computer and dental unit
Implementation Method 3
Disinfection can be carried out as thermal disinfection, for example by boiling an instrument or by sterilizing it in an autoclave
Implementation Method 4
or as chemical disinfection, for example by wiping an instrument with suitable disinfectant or by soaking it in disinfectant solution
Implementation Method 5
featuring a detachable, disinfectable surface for enhanced hygiene
Data Source
AI summary
A control arrangement and a method for controlling a computer comprised in a dental apparatus, said dental apparatus (100) comprising at least a computer (101) and its display (111) functionally connected to each other, a dental unit (102, 104) and a control arrangement which comprises control means (112, 116, 117) for controlling the functions of at least said computer and dental unit, wherein at least some of the control means (116) used to control said computer (101) are arranged in connection with said dental unit (102, 104) so as to allow the computer (101) to be controlled via the control means (116) arranged in connection with the dental unit (102, 104).