Toothbrush Coupling Element for Irreversible Neck-Handle Connection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing of manual toothbrushes faces challenges in reducing production time and cost while maintaining high quality and complexity, particularly due to cooling times in injection molding and the complexity of bristle field anchoring technologies, which often result in either low-quality low-price products or high-price complex alternatives that are impractical for manual toothbrushes.
Innovation Solution
A method for producing a manual toothbrush involving a coupling element that irreversibly connects the neck and handle, allowing for over-molding of cleaning elements and the coupling element during injection molding, enabling a secure and cost-effective production process with flexible design options for bristle fields and handle materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If injection molding is used to produce manual toothbrushes, then manufacturing efficiency is improved, but cooling times increase production time
Solution Approach 1:
The toothbrush is divided into separable components: a reusable handle and a disposable replacement brush head. This segmentation allows the handle to be produced once with long cooling cycles, while replacement heads can be quickly manufactured and attached, reducing overall production time without sacrificing molding quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The handle is prepared in advance with a receiving element already integrated into it. This preliminary action eliminates the need for subsequent assembly steps and allows replacement brush heads to be directly attached, streamlining the production process and reducing total manufacturing time.
2Device complexity
If anchor technology is used to fasten bristle filaments to the brush head, then bristle field complexity is achieved, but the number of successive steps increases production time
Solution Approach 1:
The bristle field and the brush head body are merged into a single integrated component. The bristle filaments are directly molded onto the brush head in one injection molding process, eliminating the need for separate anchoring steps and significantly reducing production time while maintaining complex bristle field designs.
3Stability of the object's composition
If replacement brush heads are made with hard plastic material for high rigidity, then stability is improved, but the neck portion diameter increases and flexibility is lost
Solution Approach 1:
Different parts of the toothbrush have different material properties optimized for their specific functions. The handle is made from hard plastic for stability and durability, while the replacement brush head and neck portion are made from more flexible materials that allow for smaller diameters and better adaptability to the user's mouth, achieving both rigidity where needed and flexibility where required.
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 method reduces production time and costs by allowing for the production of high-quality, complex manual toothbrushes with flexible design options, ensuring efficient manufacturing and improved hygiene through an irreversible connection between the neck and handle, while maintaining cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
forming the head and the neck portion or a part thereof by injecting a first plastic material into the first injection molding cavity, wherein the first ends of the one or more cleaning elements and the first end of the coupling element are over-molded
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A method for producing a toothbrush may comprise the following steps: providing a head, a neck portion and handle; providing a coupling element and combining the neck portion to the handle by the coupling element so that an irreversible connection is formed. The individual parts of the toothbrush to be formed can be produced in parallel or successively, wherein some of the parts can be produced by injection molding. Thereby, a toothbrush is formed which comprises a head, a neck portion and a handle, which can be produced as building blocks separately and may be connected to each other via a coupling element. Said connection is constructed to be inseparable.