Intraoral Scanner Cooling Layout to Prevent Airflow Pressure Loss
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current intraoral scanning devices face inefficiencies in their cooling systems due to air flow turning angles and pre-heating by the battery, which leads to pressure drops and reduced cooling efficiency, and existing systems fail to address these inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a cooling system with a heat exchanger unit and a flow generating unit, wherein the air inlet and outlet are separated by the heat exchanger unit, ensuring that the flow generating unit is configured to move air between the air inlet and the air outlet in a direction mainly perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the intraoral scanning device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If air flow turns 90 degrees when going from air inlet to cooling system and another 90 degrees when going from cooling system to air outlet, then the cooling system can be arranged in vicinity to the battery, but the air flow hits and bounces off housing surfaces causing pressure drop and turbulences that significantly decrease cooling efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the air flow direction from a multi-angle turn path to a substantially straight path by arranging the air outlet in a direction substantially parallel to the air inlet relative to the cooling system. This dimensional reorientation eliminates the 90-degree turns and prevents air flow from hitting housing surfaces, thereby eliminating pressure drop and turbulences while maintaining compact component arrangement.
2Device complexity
If air inlet and air outlet are separated by the battery, then the cooling system can be integrated within the housing, but the air sucked in is pre-heated by the battery which further reduces cooling efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the air inlet from the path of pre-heated air by positioning it on a first side of the cooling system and the air outlet on a second side, such that air is drawn from an environment not pre-heated by the battery. This spatial separation removes the harmful pre-heating effect while maintaining the integrated cooling system within the housing.
3Use of energy by moving object
If electronic components are tightly packed to maximize power efficiency and minimize energy losses, then power efficiency is improved, but thermal energy locally concentrates causing heating of the exterior surface that must be dissipated to guarantee user safety
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful concentrated thermal energy into a beneficial controlled cooling process. The cooling system is positioned to receive thermal contact from the electronic components and actively dissipates the heat through a controlled air flow path that eliminates turbulences and pressure drops, thereby converting the harmful heat concentration into an efficient thermal management process that maintains safe exterior temperatures.
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
This enhances the intraoral scanning device by optimizing the cooling efficiency and ensuring that the air flow does not encounter any surface of the housing of the intraoral scanning device, thereby preventing the development of turbulences along the outlet air flow and enhancing the cooling efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling system configured to remove heat from the one or more electronic units, wherein the cooling system includes a heat exchanger unit and a flow generating unit
Implementation Method 2
the flow generating unit is configured to move air between the air inlet and the air outlet and through the heat exchanger unit in a direction mainly perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the intraoral scanning device
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure relates to an intraoral scanning device configured to perform a scanning of a dental object inside an oral cavity, the device including: one or more electronic units; a cooling system configured to remove heat from the one or more electronic units, the cooling system including a heat exchanger unit and a flow generating unit, wherein at least a part of the flow generating unit is covered by the heat exchanger unit; an air inlet and an air outlet, wherein the air inlet and air outlet are separated by the heat exchanger unit, wherein the flow generating unit is configured to move air between the air inlet and the air outlet and through the heat exchanger unit in a direction mainly perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the intraoral scanning device.