Dental Tool Tip Cover With Window for Wear Check and Sterilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dental tool tips, particularly those for ultrasonic dental tools, face challenges in accurately assessing wear due to curved or bent geometries, leading to potential coupling with transducers, electronic drive issues, and safety risks, while current protective caps are cumbersome and inefficient for sterilization and wear assessment.
Innovation Solution
A covering element with a lateral window section for precise wear assessment and sterilization, featuring a translational mounting and removal mechanism, ensuring reproducible positioning and simplified handling, and incorporating a window section for fluid flow to facilitate sterilization without removing the cap.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a traditional protective cap is used to cover the tool tip, then the operator is protected from injury, but the cap requires both hands to remove and does not allow sufficient liquid penetration during cleaning and disinfection
Solution Approach 1:
The cap is designed with an elastic material that allows it to be dynamically compressed and released. The elastic biasing mechanism enables the cap to snap open automatically when pressed, transforming a static two-handed removal process into a dynamic one-handed operation. The cap transitions from a closed protective state to an open accessible state through elastic deformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The cap's elastic mechanism provides self-service by automatically opening when subjected to compression force. The stored elastic energy in the biased mechanism performs the work of opening the cap without requiring manual manipulation beyond a simple press action, making the system self-actuating rather than requiring active two-handed operation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a traditional protective cap is used to cover the tool tip, then the operator is protected from injury, but the cap does not allow sufficient liquid penetration during cleaning and disinfection process
Solution Approach 1:
The cap incorporates porous or perforated sections that allow liquid penetration while maintaining structural integrity and protective function. These porous regions enable sterilization fluids and cleaning liquids to pass through the cap material, ensuring adequate liquid flow for disinfection processes while the cap remains in place to protect against injury.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the tool tip is curved or bent, then the tool can access different areas, but the wear identification becomes complicated and positioning is imprecise
Solution Approach 1:
The cap serves as an intermediary reference frame that provides a consistent viewing angle and measurement baseline regardless of the tool tip's curvature. By establishing a fixed reference plane at the cap's opening, the system enables accurate wear assessment of curved tips without requiring complex positioning, as the cap's geometry provides a stable reference that compensates for the tip's curvature.
4Duration of action of moving object
If the tool tip wear is not accurately assessed, then the tool can be used longer, but coupling with transducer occurs resulting in non-mastered motion and safety risks
Solution Approach 1:
The cap incorporates visual reference features such as markings or transparent sections that provide immediate feedback on the tool tip's wear status. This feedback mechanism allows the operator to continuously monitor the tip length and detect when wear approaches critical thresholds, enabling timely replacement before coupling occurs. The cap transforms the invisible wear process into a visible indicator system.
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
Enhances safety and efficiency by providing accurate wear assessment and sterilization of dental tool tips, reducing the risk of misalignment and electronic drive issues, and simplifying handling through a translational mechanism.
Implementation Method 1
the cover section comprises a window section for a lateral view on the tool tip to check a wear of the tool tip
Implementation Method 2
the window section includes at least one opening in the cover section for flooding an interior space of the covering element with a fluid
Data Source
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AI summary
A covering element (30) for protecting a needle like dental tool tip (20), the tool tip (20) being attachable to a handpiece (8) for the dental treatment or being part of the handpiece (8), wherein the covering element (30) is removable from the tool tip (20) and/or the handpiece (8) and wherein the covering element (30) is fixed in a mounted state to the tool tip (20) or a part of the handpiece (8), the covering element (30) comprising - a cover section (31) for covering the tool tip (20) in the mounted state of the covering element (30) and - a fixing section (32) for fixing the covering element (30) to the tool tip (20) and/or a part of the handpiece (8) in the mounted state wherein the cover section (31) comprises a window section (33) for a preferably lateral view on the tool tip (20) to check a wear of the tool tip (20) and/or preferably for flooding an interior space of the covering element (30) with a fluid.