Toothbrush Capsule Loading With Hygienic Moisture-Control Dispensing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional oral care products, including toothbrushes and toothpaste dispensing systems, face challenges in motivating children to practice proper oral hygiene, minimizing mess and pathogen transfer, ensuring consistent dentrifice application, and storing oral care capsules effectively, especially for young users who may confuse capsules with candy or face choking hazards.
Innovation Solution
A toothbrush with a capsule receiving zone and angled bristles to retain oral care capsules, combined with a dispensing device that includes a desiccant material to prevent moisture infiltration and a mechanism for safe, hygienic dispensing of capsules, minimizing contact between toothbrushes and promoting consistent use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If oral care capsules are stored in a tightly sealed container to prevent moisture infiltration, then capsule integrity is maintained, but the container may be unsuitable for use by small children
Solution Approach 1:
The storage system is divided into two parts: a tightly sealed container for storing multiple capsules that maintains capsule integrity, and a separate dispensing mechanism that allows easy access to individual capsules. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by isolating the integrity-maintaining function in the sealed container while providing child-friendly access through the dispensing interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary dispensing mechanism between the sealed container and the user. This intermediary allows children to easily access and use capsules without compromising the sealed container's integrity, thus resolving the contradiction between maintaining reliability and ensuring ease of operation.
2Ease of operation
If conventional toothpaste dispensing systems are used, then toothpaste can be applied to toothbrush, but opportunities for growth of pathogens and transfer of pathogens between users arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs disposable single-use capsules containing pre-measured toothpaste. Each capsule is individually sealed and discarded after use, eliminating the shared dispensing surfaces that harbor pathogens. This disposable approach maintains ease of application while preventing pathogen growth and transfer between users.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the toothpaste from the shared dispensing system and encapsulates it in individual single-use units. By taking the toothpaste out of the communal dispenser and placing it in disposable capsules, the system eliminates the pathogen transmission risk while preserving the functionality of toothpaste application.
3Adaptability or versatility
If oral care capsules require manual manipulation by the user, then capsule can be used, but young children have difficulty manipulating toothbrush and toothpaste tube
Solution Approach 1:
The capsule design incorporates self-service features including a breakable seal that automatically opens when the capsule is activated, and a formulation that allows the toothpaste to be released simply by squeezing or breaking the capsule. This reduces the manipulation complexity for young children while maintaining versatility in how the capsule can be activated.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the physical parameters of the capsule to make it easier for children to manipulate. The capsule uses softer, more compliant materials that can be easily squeezed or torn, and the toothpaste formulation is adjusted to flow more readily. These parameter changes reduce manipulation difficulty while preserving capsule functionality.
4Ease of operation
If oral care capsules use water-soluble coating that dissolves easily in mouth, then capsule is comfortable for users, but capsules cannot be practically stored in high-moisture bathroom environment
Solution Approach 1:
The capsule structure is segmented into an outer protective shell for storage and an inner dissolvable coating for oral use. The outer shell is moisture-resistant to maintain storage stability in bathroom environments, while the inner coating remains water-soluble to provide comfort and ease of dissolution in the mouth. This segmentation resolves the contradiction between storage stability and oral comfort.
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the capsule have different properties: the outer shell is made moisture-resistant for stable storage, while the inner coating is made water-soluble for comfortable dissolution in the mouth. This local differentiation of material properties resolves the contradiction between storage stability and oral comfort by optimizing each region for its specific function.
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 motivates children to perform proper oral care, reduces mess and pathogen transfer, ensures consistent dentrifice application, and provides a safe and effective storage system for oral care capsules, addressing the limitations of existing products.
Implementation Method 1
a desiccant material disposed to receive moisture from the interior
Data Source
AI summary
A toothbrush includes a brush head having a capsule receiving zone sized to receive an dentrifice capsule, and a plurality of angled bristles adapted to retain the capsule in such zone. Loading of such toothbrush with a capsule may be performed with a dispenser including a toothbrush manipulation element adapted to move a retention structure associated with the brush head, and dispensation element adapted to deliver the capsule into the receiving zone. Such dispenser may include a desiccant material disposed to receive moisture from a capsule storage container. A dispenser may further include a plurality of toothbrush insertion apertures each adapted to receive a portion of a different toothbrush, so as to enable multiple users each having different toothbrushes to use the same dispenser without requiring contact between multiple brushes and single capsule interface surface of the dispenser.