Magnetostrictive Ultrasonic Tool with Distinct Bends and Fluid Conduit
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ultrasonic dental tools face challenges in accessing small inter-tooth spaces and subgingival areas due to their large diameter and blunt tips, which can cause discomfort and inadequate fluid delivery, leading to heat buildup and potential damage during scaling procedures.
Innovation Solution
The tool features a vibrating tip with distinct bends and a connecting body shape that differs from conventional tools, allowing for better access and comfort, along with a fluid passageway positioned away from bend areas to minimize deformation and enhance fluid delivery, resulting in improved vibrational amplitude control and reduced risk of breakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the tip diameter is reduced to access small inter-tooth spaces and subgingival areas, then access and patient comfort are improved, but the tip strength and resistance to breakage deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The tool is divided into distinct functional segments: a slender working tip for access, a connecting body for structural support, and a handle for operation. This segmentation allows the tip to be thin for access while the connecting body provides strength to prevent breakage.
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the tool have different structural properties optimized for their specific functions. The tip is made slender and flexible for access, while the connecting body has increased mass and structural reinforcement at critical locations to provide strength and resistance to breakage.
2Ease of manufacture
If a conventional connecting body shape is used, then manufacturing is simpler, but access to furcations and mesial grooves is inadequate
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting body features an asymmetric design with a flattened distal portion that has a different shape from conventional circular cross-sections. This asymmetric geometry allows the tool to navigate complex anatomical structures like furcations and mesial grooves while maintaining manufacturability through standard forming processes.
3Device complexity
If the fluid passageway is positioned near the bend areas, then the tip structure is simpler, but fluid delivery is inadequate and heat buildup occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The fluid passageway is repositioned from a longitudinal position near the bends to a transverse orientation through the connecting body. This dimensional change allows the passageway to bypass the bend areas entirely, ensuring adequate fluid delivery for cooling and debris removal while maintaining a relatively simple overall tip structure.
4Ease of operation
If the tip is made slender for access, then patient comfort and access are improved, but the tip becomes more susceptible to breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The tip employs a slender, flexible design that can bend and adapt to anatomical structures, improving patient comfort and access. The flexibility is controlled through material selection and cross-sectional geometry, allowing the tip to be thin yet resistant to catastrophic breakage under normal operating conditions.
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 tool provides enhanced access to furcations and mesial grooves, increased patient comfort, and precise fluid delivery, reducing heat buildup and the risk of tool breakage while maintaining effective vibrational motion.
Implementation Method 1
an electro-mechanical part or section that can be induced to vibrate at high frequency... The energy generator and related electro-mechanical section may be any one of several types such as electro-dynamic, piezo electric, or magnetostrictive
Implementation Method 2
when an ultrasonically vibrated tip contacts a tooth surface, as required for performing a cleaning operation, the moving tip against the tooth surface produces heat
Implementation Method 3
Water or some other fluid is usually supplied to the tooth surface in order to remove the heat... heat caused by electrical and mechanical friction losses within the tool during vibration are dissipated by means of a cooling fluid
Implementation Method 4
heat caused by electrical and mechanical friction losses within the tool during vibration are dissipated by means of a cooling fluid that flows axially with respect to the tool insert
Implementation Method 5
Design of the tip and its related electro-mechanical components involves combining a number of parameters to produce mechanical resonances (harmonic vibrations) at the driving frequency to produce amplified mechanical motion, particularly at the distal tip end
Data Source
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AI summary
A device includes a tool, a connecting body and a magnetostrictive stack. The tool has an internal fluid passageway, distinct bend areas and a coined working end. The connecting body of the device has a decreased mass for improved control of the vibrational amplitude of the tool during use.