Patent Application
20210379607
The present disclosure is directed generally to personal care devices and methods using liquid sheet cleaning action.
Proper personal hygiene can help improve health and reduce issues with disease, infection and other health issues. For example, proper tooth cleaning helps promote long-term dental health. One facet of proper tooth cleaning is the use of oral irrigators to remove dental plaque to clean gums and teeth. Oral irrigators are especially important in areas where toothbrushes cannot easily access, such as between the teeth and at the gum margin. The cleaning force of the water pressure provided by the oral irrigator or other personal care cleaning device can be problematic, as increasing the driving pressure reduces the comfort of the water jet. If a user experiences discomfort, they may discontinue use of the product; alternatively, if the water pressure is not sufficient, it will not provide adequate cleaning.
Personal care cleaning devices, such as oral irrigators typically comprise one or more rounded orifices that project a rounded stream or “jet” of water toward the surface to be cleaning. Although there are some variations on rounded orifices, the resulting jets are typically round or oval in shape.
Accordingly, there is a continued need in the art for personal care cleaning devices that exert sufficient force to remove unwanted substances, such as plaque layers from dental surfaces without being uncomfortable or dangerous for the user.
The present disclosure is directed to inventive systems for cleaning using personal care cleaning device that produces liquid sheets and liquid jets. Various embodiments and implementations herein are directed to nozzle designs for a personal care cleaning device, where the nozzle design combines both shear stress at a shallow incident angle and an impact pressure gradient at a normal incident angle in order to remove teeth plaques and improve gum health in all regions of the teeth including the front surface, marginal regions, proximal regions, and interproximal regions. The nozzle designs result in the emission of both one or more liquid sheets under pressure toward the surface to be cleaned, and one or more liquid jets exerted under pressure toward the surface. The liquid sheets are characterized as a water stream having an elongated shape, where the length is substantially longer than the width. The personal care cleaning device can be an oral irrigator configured to clean the teeth and gums, including the interproximal spaces, among other possible personal care devices.
Generally in one aspect, a nozzle member of a personal care device is provided. The nozzle member includes: a nozzle head positioned at an end of the nozzle member; and an orifice formed in a surface of the nozzle head, wherein the orifice comprises at least one liquid jet orifice configured to allow the liquid and/or air to exit the nozzle head in the form of a jet, and at least one liquid sheet orifice configured to allow the liquid and/or air to exit the nozzle head in the form of a sheet.
According to an embodiment, the nozzle member further includes a channel configured to allow passage of liquid and/or air from a reservoir in a body portion of the personal care device to the nozzle head.
According to an embodiment, the liquid jet orifice is located in the center of the surface of the nozzle head at the intersection of two or more liquid sheet orifices.
According to an embodiment, the liquid sheet orifice comprises a groove formed in the surface of the nozzle head. According to an embodiment, the groove is a rounded groove or a V-shaped groove. According to an embodiment, the groove is formed in the surface of the nozzle head at an angle of between approximately 15-30 degrees.
According to an embodiment, the surface of the nozzle head is positioned at an angle relative to a body portion of the personal care device.
According to an embodiment, the nozzle member further includes a tip extending outwardly from the surface of the nozzle head. According to an embodiment, a diameter of an outer edge of the tip is larger than a diameter of the surface of the nozzle head. According to an embodiment, the outer edge is scalloped.
According to an embodiment, the orifice comprises a plurality of liquid sheet orifices each extending away from a central liquid jet orifice along the surface of the nozzle head.
In another aspect, a nozzle member of a personal care device is provided. The nozzle member includes: (i) a nozzle head positioned at an end of the nozzle member; (ii) a channel configured to allow passage of liquid and/or air from a reservoir in a body portion of the personal care device to the nozzle head; (iii) an orifice formed in a surface of the nozzle head, wherein the orifice comprises a plurality of liquid sheet orifices each configured to allow the liquid and/or air to exit the nozzle head in the form of a sheet, and at least one central liquid jet orifice located in the center of the surface of the nozzle head at the intersection of the plurality of liquid sheet orifices, each liquid jet orifice configured to allow the liquid and/or air to exit the nozzle head in the form of a jet; and (iv) a tip extending outwardly from the surface of the nozzle head.
It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing concepts and additional concepts discussed in greater detail below (provided such concepts are not mutually inconsistent) are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. In particular, all combinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of this disclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein.
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter.
In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
The present disclosure describes various embodiments of a nozzle design for a personal care device configured to emit both a liquid sheet and a liquid jet toward a surface to be cleaned. More generally, applicant has recognized and appreciated that it would be beneficial to provide a method or system to clean surfaces simultaneously using a liquid sheet cleaning action and a liquid jet cleaning action. Accordingly, described or otherwise envisioned herein is a nozzle design for a personal care cleaning device configured to emit one or more liquid sheets and one or more liquid jets. The nozzle comprises one or more orifices configured to emit a liquid sheet, and one or more orifices configured to simultaneously or intermittently emit a liquid jet.
The embodiments and implementations disclosed or otherwise envisioned herein can be utilized with any personal care cleaning device, including but not limited to an oral irrigator, toothbrush, a flossing device, a wound cleaning device, skin cleaning device, a device comprising both a toothbrush and an oral irrigator, or any other cleaning device. However, the disclosure is not limited to an oral irrigator and thus the disclosure and embodiments disclosed herein can encompass any personal care cleaning device.
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Body portion 12 is further provided with a user input 26. The user input 26 allows a user to operate the personal care cleaning device 10, for example to turn the device on and off or initiate a cleaning session. The user input 26 may, for example, be a button, touch screen, or switch. The user input may be located on the body portion, or on another portion of the device (not shown).
A liquid sheet can be defined as a shape that has a cross-section in which the length is longer than the width. A liquid sheet embodies a higher cleaning force, which may result from a steeper pressure gradient due of the thinner dimension, combined with a two-directional outflow compared to radial outflow in round jets. Additionally, the liquid sheet has the additional advantage of a much larger treatment area over round jets as the personal care cleaning device is moved across the surface to be cleaned. When a personal care cleaning device is an oral cleaning device, the length of the one or more liquid sheets impacting the teeth is configured to approximate the height of teeth at the tooth surface, as excess length above the height of teeth would waste liquid.
According to an embodiment, nozzle 14 of personal care cleaning device 10 may comprise one, or a multiple of different orifices configured to emit a liquid for cleaning. Different orifices produce different shape morphologies, and one morphology may be more efficient at cleaning a certain type of surface versus another morphology.
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Tip 28 can be designed or configured to improve cleaning during use of the personal care device. For example, the distance that tip 28 extends beyond the face of the orifice 40 can be designed such that it is the same or substantially the same as the optimal distance for cleaning when the jet and/or liquid sheet impacts the surface to be cleaned. Additionally, the scalloped design of the tip embodiment shown in
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Pursuant to this embodiment, a fluid footprint measured on a user's teeth when the 0.49 mm2 nozzle orifice is held 3 mm away from the teeth, comprises a jet with a diameter of 0.6±0.15 mm, a sheet length of 1.8±0.3 mm, and a sheet thickness 55±30 μm. These measurements can be varied by changing the cut angle of the grooves, the size of the jet orifice, the distance from the teeth, the shape of the tip, and other variables.
According to an embodiment, the thickness and/or length of the liquid sheets is dependent upon and/or affected by one or more geometric parameters of the shape of the orifice, the soft tip, and/or other factors. Each shape might have specific parameters associated with it. For example, the number of sheets may depend on the number of grooves, while the thickness and/or length of the sheets may depend on the cut angle of the grooves, among other factors. However, there may also be geometrical constraints that limit the type of shape that can be generated. For example, the sum of angles of a triangle is 180 degrees. According to an embodiment, for some uses on-symmetrical shapes would be less preferred, such as scalene triangles, as they would apply a rotational restriction rather than being rotationally independent.
According to another embodiment, the length of the shaped orifice may be varied to affect the size, shape, and/or number of sheets emitted by the orifice. For example, the orifice may be formed in a material comprising a thickness of approximately 0.2 to 0.5 mm, which provides at the orifice inlet a jump from large diameter to the small orifice size, which appears to be beneficial for sheet formation. However, other thicknesses are possible.
According to another embodiment, other orifice shapes that could be used are rectangular or pentagonal orifices, among others. These shapes produce sheets, but not as long as the triangular nozzles due to the larger angles. Accordingly, 4- and 5-point star nozzles may be preferred for obtaining longer sheets. The pointiness of these shapes makes the angles smaller and the sheets longer.
All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.
The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”
The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.”
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.
It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.
In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively.
While several inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2019/077454 | 10/10/2019 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62744207 | Oct 2018 | US |
