Rotatable Dental Touch Screen Support for Ergonomic Input
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Solution Overview
Problem
Dental units with touch screens face challenges in providing ergonomic working environments for dental care professionals due to difficulties in viewing content and entering information, which often require unergonomic movements and positions, and cleaning is cumbersome and risks accidental input activation.
Innovation Solution
A dental unit with a rotatable display unit connected to a support, allowing the display unit to switch between orientations for easy viewing and inputting, stabilized in the second orientation for ergonomic comfort, and featuring a lockable touch screen for cleaning without accidental activation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If the touch screen is positioned for viewing content during patient treatment, then content visibility is improved, but entering information becomes difficult and requires unergonomic movements
Solution Approach 1:
The display unit is made rotatable about a rotation axis, allowing it to dynamically change orientation between a first position optimized for viewing content during patient treatment and a second position optimized for entering information. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by enabling the system to adapt its configuration based on the current operational task.
2Illumination intensity
If the display unit is positioned for easy viewing, then content display is improved, but cleaning the touch screen becomes difficult and requires unergonomic movements
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable display unit can be repositioned from its viewing-optimized first position to a cleaning-optimized second position, where the touch screen orientation facilitates easier access for cleaning personnel. This dynamic reconfiguration resolves the contradiction between optimal display positioning and optimal cleaning accessibility.
3Ease of operation
If the touch screen is accessible for input operations, then information entry is improved, but accidental inputs during cleaning may occur interfering with settings
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses different spatial positions of the display unit to indicate different operational states. When in the first position, the touch screen is active for input operations. When rotated to the second position, the system indicates that input operations should not be performed, reducing the risk of accidental activations during cleaning while maintaining ease of access when properly positioned for use.
Data Source
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AI summary
A dental unit (1) comprising a support (3) and a display unit (2) with a touch screen (21), the display unit (2) being connected to the support (3) in such a manner that the display unit (2) is rotatable between a first and a second orientation, wherein the first orientation is suitable for enabling a dental care professional to view content displayed on the touch screen (21) during work on a patient situated in a chair (11) of the dental unit, and thus for displaying content on the touch screen (21), wherein the second orientation is suitable for enabling a dental care professional to input information by touching the touch screen (21), and thus for receiving input by means of the touch screen (21), and wherein the support (3) is adapted to support the display unit (2) in the second orientation.