Separable Drive Coupling With Elastic Bias to Reduce Noise and Wear
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Solution Overview
Problem
Personal care devices with separable drive trains experience noise and wear due to decoupling of gear teeth during separation of the head and handle portions, which affects the transfer of motion and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A separable coupling system with resilient elements that bias the coupling elements against each other in a gap-free manner, ensuring continuous force transmission and minimizing decoupling, thereby reducing noise and wear. The resilient elements are arranged to provide a higher biasing force than operational forces, allowing for efficient power transfer and minimizing energy loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If gear teeth are engaged in a separable coupling to transmit motion between handle portion and head portion, then motion transmission is achieved, but noise and wear occur due to decoupling during separation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a resilient element that changes the engagement parameter from rigid to elastic, allowing the coupling elements to maintain continuous contact through elastic deformation during separation and re-engagement, thereby eliminating gaps that cause noise and wear
Solution Approach 2:
The resilient element acts as a cushioning mechanism that anticipates and absorbs the impact forces during coupling and decoupling operations, preventing direct mechanical shock between gear teeth and reducing wear and noise generation
2Ease of operation
If separable coupling allows detachment of head portion for cleaning or replacement, then ease of maintenance is improved, but gap-free engagement along motion direction is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
By introducing elasticity through the resilient element, the system transforms the engagement from a precision-critical rigid interface to a tolerance-forgiving elastic interface, where the resilient element compensates for manufacturing variations and ensures gap-free engagement along the motion direction
3Power
If resilient element provides higher biasing force than operational forces, then continuous force transmission is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient element is implemented as a flexible component that can be integrated into the existing coupling structure, providing the necessary biasing force through elastic deformation rather than requiring complex mechanical spring systems or additional actuation mechanisms
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 solution effectively reduces noise and wear by maintaining continuous contact between coupling elements during operation, ensuring efficient motion transfer and extending the lifespan of the device components.
Implementation Method 1
a resilient element biasing the first coupling element and the second coupling element against each other so that the first and second coupling elements are engaged in a gap-free manner along the motion direction
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is concerned with a personal care device having a head portion having a driven treatment head, a handle portion having a drive unit for providing a motion having a motion direction, and a drive train extending between the drive unit and the driven treatment head for transmitting the motion from the drive unit to the driven treatment head, the drive train having a separable coupling. The separable coupling has a first coupling part having a first coupling element, a second coupling part having a second coupling element, the first and the second coupling elements being separably engaged with each other, and a resilient element biasing the first coupling element and the second coupling element against each other so that the first and second coupling elements are engaged in a gap-free manner along the motion direction.