Monolithic Oral Care Cleaning Unit Preventing Bristle Detachment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing oral care implements, such as toothbrushes, are susceptible to bacterial contamination, which poses a health risk, especially when used with babies. Additionally, conventional toothbrushes can detach their bristles, posing a choking hazard.
Innovation Solution
The development of an oral care implement with a monolithic cleaning unit formed from a flexible material, featuring a block portion and protuberances that extend from the distal surface, with ribs connecting the protuberances to prevent detachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional toothbrush bristles are used, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but bristles can detach and pose choking hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the bristles and head into a single monolithic cleaning unit made of flexible material. The cleaning elements are integrated as protrusions from the head structure, eliminating separate bristle components that could detach and cause choking hazards while maintaining cleaning effectiveness through the monolithic design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses flexible material for the entire cleaning unit including the head and cleaning elements. This flexibility prevents the cleaning elements from detaching while allowing them to conform to oral surfaces for effective cleaning, and the material can be made non-choking by ensuring it cannot break into small detachable parts.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the oral care implement is made entirely of flexible material, then safety is improved by preventing detachment, but cleaning effectiveness may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating protrusions with specific geometric characteristics on the flexible head. The protrusions have rounded tips and appropriate spacing to provide effective cleaning action on oral surfaces while the flexible material ensures safety by preventing detachment. The local geometry of protrusions compensates for the flexibility of the material.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes physical parameters of the flexible material and protrusion geometry to optimize both safety and cleaning effectiveness. The material is selected to have appropriate flexibility and tensile strength, and the protrusions are designed with specific dimensions, spacing, and tip radii to ensure effective cleaning while maintaining safety through the monolithic flexible structure.
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 design minimizes bacterial contamination by preventing the detachment of cleaning elements, thus reducing the risk of choking hazards and ensuring a safer oral care experience for babies.
Implementation Method 1
The oral care implement may be formed entirely out of a resilient or flexible material
Data Source
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AI summary
An oral care implement including a handle and a head. The oral care implement may be formed entirely out of a resilient or flexible material. The head may include a base structure and a monolithic cleaning unit. The monolithic cleaning unit may include a block portion extending from a front surface of the base structure and a plurality of protuberances extending from a distal end of the block portion. The block portion may have a greater height than the protuberances. The protuberances may include central protuberances that extend from a distal surface of the block portion and peripheral protuberances that surround the block portion and extend from the front surface of the base structure. The monolithic cleaning unit may include ribs extending between adjacently positioned protuberances. The oral care implement may be suitable for babies.