Segmented Oral Care Bristle Design for Cleaning Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional toothbrushes with injection molded bristles have fewer end-points for cleaning due to larger bristle sizes, leading to reduced cleaning effectiveness and shorter bristle lifespan, necessitating an optimal shape for both cleaning efficiency and longevity.
Innovation Solution
The development of bristles formed via injection molding with varying axial portions, including non-tapered cylindrical, tapered, and curved sections, utilizing elastomeric materials to enhance cleaning performance and durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If injection molded bristles with larger sizes are used, then manufacturing efficiency is improved, but the number of end-points for cleaning decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The bristle body is segmented into multiple axial portions (first axial portion, second axial portion, third axial portion) with different cross-sectional shapes. This segmentation allows the single bristle to provide multiple cleaning end-points along its length, resolving the contradiction between using fewer larger bristles and maintaining sufficient cleaning end-points.
Solution Approach 2:
Different axial portions of the bristle have different local qualities with varying cross-sectional shapes (circular, oval, triangular, rectangular). Each shape provides different cleaning characteristics, allowing the bristle to perform multiple cleaning functions simultaneously while maintaining a manageable number of bristles on the brush head.
2Ease of manufacture
If injection molded bristles with larger sizes are used, then bristle lifespan is reduced, but manufacturing complexity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The bristle employs parameter changes by varying the cross-sectional shape parameters along its axial length. The transition from circular to oval to triangular to rectangular cross-sections creates progressive wear resistance and maintains cleaning effectiveness throughout the bristle's lifespan, extending its duration of action.
Solution Approach 2:
The bristle design incorporates dynamic characteristics through its tapered portions and varying cross-sections, allowing the bristle to adapt its cleaning action as it wears. The different shapes at different axial positions ensure that as one portion wears, another portion maintains effective cleaning capability, thereby extending overall lifespan.
3Reliability
If bristles with varying axial portions and cross-sectional shapes are used, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple cleaning functions are merged into a single bristle structure by combining different cross-sectional shapes along its axial portions. This merging approach maintains cleaning effectiveness equivalent to or greater than multiple separate bristles would provide, while actually reducing the total number of bristles needed on the brush head.
Solution Approach 2:
The bristle achieves multi-functionality by incorporating different cross-sectional shapes that provide different cleaning characteristics (scrubbing, polishing, massaging) within a single component. This universal design allows one bristle to perform the functions of multiple specialized bristles, improving cleaning effectiveness without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A bristle for an oral care implement and an oral care implement including a plurality of such bristles. The bristle may include a body extending along a longitudinal axis from a proximal end to a distal end, the body having tapered portion having a transverse cross-sectional profile with a perimeter defined by a first linear section and a second linear section that intersect to form a first apex, a third linear section and a fourth linear section that intersect to form a second apex, a first curved section extending between the first and third linear sections, and a second curved section extending between the second and fourth linear sections. The body may also include a cylindrical body portion such that the tapered portion extends from a top end of the cylindrical body portion. The bristle includes various edges and rounded contours for enhanced cleaning.