Adjustable Working Head Suspension for Contour-Adaptive Personal Care
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing personal care devices, such as hair removal devices and shavers, fail to adapt to different user habits and preferences, leading to inconsistent treatment experiences due to varying pressure and movement styles, and lack efficient energy consumption and lightweight design.
Innovation Solution
An adjustment actuator is integrated into the personal care device to smoothly transition between treatment characteristics within 0.1 to 1.5 seconds, allowing for adaptable movability and stiffness adjustments of the working head based on user habits and body contours, using electric motors, smart materials, and viscose fluids to control the transition speed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the working head suspension allows for movements to adapt to body contours, then the adaptability of the device is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional adjustment mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The suspension system is designed to be dynamically adjustable, allowing the working head to move relative to the handle in multiple directions (tilting, swiveling, diving) to adapt to different body contours. The stiffness characteristics of the suspension can be adjusted during operation to change the movability range and force characteristics, enabling the system to adapt to varying user preferences and treatment requirements without adding excessive complexity through fixed mechanical structures
Solution Approach 2:
The suspension system allows for adjustment of key parameters such as stiffness, movability range, and pivoting range. By changing these parameters, the device can provide different user experiences (softer or stiffer feeling, more or less controllable) and adapt to different treatment modes and body portions, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity through programmable parameter adjustment rather than multiple fixed mechanical configurations
2Productivity
If the adjustment actuator transitions quickly between settings, then the productivity is improved, but the device generates harmful factors due to sudden mechanical impacts
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment actuator is designed to control the transition speed between different suspension settings, preventing sudden mechanical impacts. By limiting the maximum transition speed and using controlled acceleration/deceleration profiles, the system achieves quick adjustments without generating harmful mechanical shocks to the working head or handle, thus maintaining both productivity and user comfort
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the adjustment actuator transitions slowly between settings, then the harmful factors are reduced, but the productivity decreases due to longer adjustment time
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment actuator uses controlled transition speed profiles that allow rapid adjustments when appropriate while preventing harmful impacts. The system can transition quickly between settings that are farther apart when user comfort is not compromised, and slows down only when necessary to avoid mechanical shocks, thus optimizing both productivity and harm reduction
4Ease of operation
If the working head stiffness is increased for better control, then the ease of operation is improved for certain users, but the adaptability decreases for users preferring softer characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The suspension system allows dynamic adjustment of stiffness characteristics, enabling the working head to feel softer or stiffer based on user preference and treatment requirements. The adjustment actuator can modify the suspension stiffness in real-time, providing different ease of operation characteristics for different users or the same user in different treatment modes, thus resolving the contradiction between control and adaptability
Solution Approach 2:
The system adjusts the stiffness parameter of the suspension to change the force characteristics and movability of the working head. By varying this parameter, the device can provide a softer feeling for users who prefer gentler operation or a stiffer feeling for users who need more control, thereby achieving both ease of operation and adaptability to different user preferences
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is a personal care device comprising an elongated handle for manually moving the personal care device along a body surface, a working head attached to the handle for effecting a personal care treatment to the body surface, wherein an adjustment device including at least one adjustment actuator is provided for adjusting at least one treatment characteristic, wherein the adjustment actuator is configured and controlled to adjust the at least one treatment characteristic from a first setting to a second setting within a transition time period of not less than 0.1 seconds and not more than 1.5 seconds.