US20120192367A1

US20120192367A1 - Portable Electric Toothbrush

Info

Publication number: US20120192367A1
Application number: US13/361,156
Authority: US
Inventors: Jung Tsung Lin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-02-01
Filing date: 2012-01-30
Publication date: 2012-08-02
Also published as: TWM421808U

Abstract

A portable electric toothbrush is disclosed. The portable electric toothbrush includes: a main body having a switch; a brush head having a plurality of bristles and connected to one end of the main body; a holding portion connected to the other end of the main body; a charging circuit configured in the main body; a chargeable battery coupled to the charging circuit; a control circuit coupled to the switch; a motor coupled to the control circuit; and an USB interface coupled to the charging circuit, whereby providing electricity to the chargeable battery, thereby achieving the purpose of charging.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush, and particularly to a portable electric toothbrush.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Oral cleaning has long been concerned with human's health. Especially for modem people who pay attention to health care, oral health is significantly important. Among various types of instruments for oral health and cleaning, the most commonly used one is the toothbrush. Regardless of age or sex, people have been quite used to cleaning their teeth by employing the toothbrush when getting out of bed, before sleep or even after meals.
In the age of immature science, the toothbrush used by people is only composed of a holding portion and a brush head. When the user would like to brush his/her teeth, the user has to operate the toothbrush manually to rub the bristles on the brush head against the teeth and the gaps thereamong back and forward, so as to remove the dirt, the vegetable dregs or the bacteria thereon and achieve the function of cleaning the teeth. However, brushing the teeth in such way may easily cause the hand of the user to ache and is inconvenient for the user.
In view of the foregoing, in the present age of well developed science, a power controlled electric toothbrush is developed. Generally, the electric toothbrush is powered by batteries to provide the power needed by the motor of the toothbrush, so as to render the brush head (or the entire brush) to vibrate back and forward. Thereby, the electric toothbrush may automatically render the bristles on the brush head to rub the teeth back and forward, such that the user can brush his/her teeth in a much more easy and relaxed way.
The batteries of the traditional electric toothbrush may include a chargeable type and a non-chargeable type. The chargeable type electric toothbrush usually must utilize a charging seat to charge. However, the present power supply voltage specifications around the world are not unified yet, such that if the user would like to carry the electric toothbrush to other countries, he/she may need to additionally carry transformers of different specifications to charge the electric toothbrush with the charging seat. It is undoubtedly an extra burden to the user. If the user employs the non-chargeable type electric toothbrush, he/she often has to buy or replace the batteries to maintain the power of the electric toothbrush. It is quite inconvenient and is further a cost burden to the user.
Moreover, no matter business travel, private tour or work has been a part of human's life because of the development of traffic, such that there are more and more portable products, such as mobile phones, notebooks, etc. But, in the aspect of sanitization, some products are often omitted. Few years ago, because of the concern about uncleanly washed chopsticks in the restaurants, disposable chopsticks are massively utilized, which unfortunately results in other big problems, i.e. environmental problems and the waste of resources. Therefore, many environmental groups have progressively promoted environmental chopsticks (i.e. bringing our own chopsticks).
However, in the aspect of the toothbrushes, disposable toothbrushes are still employed nowadays. For the same reasons, disposable toothbrushes are also waste of resources and will destroy the environment. Therefore, the inventor of the present invention provides different concepts and designs, and the present invention shall not be simple combination of conventional techniques but be a huge breakthrough in the field of electric toothbrush.
Based on the foregoing, there are still some defects in the conventional electric toothbrush, which will cause inconvenience and cost burden to the user and is truly a problem urgently needed to be overcome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, to overcome the aforementioned inconvenience in life, the applicant provides a portable electric toothbrush, especially an electric toothbrush which is chargeable through USB.
One object of the present invention is to employ the universal serial bus (USB) interface, the specification of which is unified in the world, to charge the electric toothbrush, thereby the user can charge the electric toothbrush through USB interface no matter anywhere in the world and doesn't need to carry transformers of different specifications or replace the batteries from time to time, so as to render the electric toothbrush easy to be carried and used.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electric toothbrush which can be carried relaxedly and easily, so as to decrease the waste of resources and environmental destruction caused by the traditional disposable toothbrush and further aid in energy saving, carbon reduction and environmental protection.
To achieve the aforementioned objects, the present invention discloses a portable electric toothbrush, including a main body having a switch in order for the consumer to turn on the electric toothbrush; a replaceable brush head connected to the main body, wherein the brush head is removable so as to be replaced when the brush head is malfunctioned or damaged; a display component to provide the function of light indication in order for the user to understand the instant state of the electric toothbrush; a motor coupled to a control circuit; and an universal serial bus interface coupled to a charging circuit in order for the consumer to perform charging. Furthermore, the present invention further includes a brush protecting cover to protect the brush head from damage when carried by the user. The control circuit may further control the turn-on time of the electric toothbrush to prevent the situation that the user forgot turning off the electric toothbrush, which causes waste of the power of the battery, because the consumer often forgot turning off the electric toothbrush when using it. Since the voltage of the chargeable battery may vary, in order to render the rotation speed of the motor to be unaffected by the voltage of the battery, the present invention further employs a voltage detecting circuit or a voltage stabilizing circuit to force the control circuit to control and render the rotation speed of the motor to be unaffected by the voltage variation of the battery.
The foregoing illustrates the objects of the present invention, the technical means to achieve these objects and the generated advantages, etc. The present invention can be clearly understood by the reader from the following description of preferred embodiments taken together with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be understood by some preferred embodiments and detailed descriptions in the specification and the attached drawings below. The identical reference numbers in the drawings refer to the same components in the present invention. However, it should be appreciated that all the preferred embodiments of the invention are provided only for illustrating but not for limiting the scope of the Claims and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an outer diagram of an electric toothbrush of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates another outer diagram of an electric toothbrush of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates still another outer diagram of an electric toothbrush of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates yet another outer diagram of an electric toothbrush of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a structure diagram of the circuit of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a specific circuit diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a structure diagram of the circuit of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a structure diagram of the circuit of another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a structure diagram of the circuit of another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The invention will now be described with the preferred embodiments and aspects and these descriptions interpret structure of the invention only for illustrating but not for limiting the Claims of the invention. Therefore, except the preferred embodiments in the specification, the present invention may also be widely used in other embodiments.
Generally, the electric toothbrush disclosed by the present invention may include an universal serial bus interface coupled to a charging circuit to perform charging and may further include a switch and a control circuit to control the turn-on time and the turn-off time and the rotation speed of the electric toothbrush. Through the design mentioned above, the user can utilize the universal serial bus, the specification of which is unified, to charge the electric toothbrush, so as to improve the defects of the conventional techniques.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which illustrates an outer diagram of the portable electric toothbrush disclosed by the present invention. The portable electric toothbrush of the present invention includes a brush head 101, a main body 102 and a holding portion 103. The brush head 101 is connected to one end of the main body 102 and has a plurality of bristles for the user to brush his/her teeth. In certain embodiments, the brush head is removable, such that the brush head can be replaced when malfunctioned. A switch is formed on the surface of the main body 102 and is coupled to the inner control circuit (not shown) to turn on or off the motor in the electric toothbrush.
Moreover, an universal serial bus (USB) interface 104 is disposed below the holding portion 103 and is coupled to the charging circuit in the main body 102. When the universal serial bus interface 104 is inserted into or connected to a corresponding universal serial bus host, the host can provide electricity to the charging circuit through the universal serial bus interface 104 to perform charging. The holding portion 103 is connected to the other end of the main body 102.
Please refer to FIG. 2, which illustrates another outer diagram of the electric toothbrush of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the electric toothbrush disclosed by the present invention further includes a brush protecting cover 105, that may be combined with the holding portion 103 correspondingly to protect the inner brush head 101 and the inner main body 102, so as to aid in the carry of the electric toothbrush and prevent the electric toothbrush from the damage caused by external factors.
Please refer to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the holding portion 103 may be a hollow cylindrical casing to accommodate the universal serial bus interface 104. In other words, the universal serial bus interface 104 is hidden in the holding portion 103. For example, the universal serial bus interface 104 may be received into the inner space of the holding portion 103 through rotation, or the universal serial bus interface 104 may be hidden into the holding portion 103 through pressing.
Furthermore, please also refer to FIG. 4, which illustrates another embodiment for protecting the universal serial bus interface. As shown in FIG. 4, the electric toothbrush of the present invention may further include an USB interface protecting cover 106, that may be combined with the bottom of the holding portion 103 correspondingly to protect the universal serial bus interface 104 and prevent the universal serial bus interface 104 from the damage of external forces.
Please refer to FIG. 5, which illustrates a structure diagram of the circuit in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, an universal serial bus interface 201, a charging circuit 202, a chargeable battery 203, a switch 204, a control circuit 205 and a motor 206 are included. In the present embodiment, the universal serial bus interface 201 is coupled to the charging circuit 202, and the charging circuit 202 is further coupled to the chargeable battery 203, such that when the universal serial bus interface 201 is connected with an external host, the power may be transmitted to the chargeable battery 203 through the charging circuit 202 to perform charging. Further, the switch 204 is coupled to the control circuit 205, and the control circuit 205 is further coupled to the chargeable battery 203 and the motor 206, such that the user can determine whether the control circuit 205 is in a conducting state or not by operating the switch 204. When the control circuit 205 is in the conducting state, the power may be provided to the motor 206 by the chargeable battery 203 to drive the motor 206 to run, so as to render the brush head (or the entire brush) to vibrate and achieve the function of electrically brushing the teeth. In certain embodiments, the control circuit 205 can control the turn-on time and the turn-off time of the motor to avoid the situation that the user forgot turning off the electric toothbrush, which causes waste of the power.
Please refer to FIG. 6, which illustrates a specific circuit layout diagram in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, it should be appreciated by the person having ordinary skill in the art that the following circuit layout is described to further illustrate the present invention in order for the reader to clearly understand the spirit of the present invention but not to limit the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the circuit elements of the present invention basically includes an universal serial bus interface 201, a chargeable battery 203, a switch 204, a motor 206, a microprocessor 301, a first semiconductor component 302, a second semiconductor component 303 and a display component 304. The first semiconductor component 302 may be P type MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor), and the second semiconductor component 303 may be N type MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor). In the present embodiment, the contact point of the voltage bus (Vbus) of the universal serial bus interface 201 is coupled to the microprocessor 301 and the drain electrode of the first semiconductor component 302, and the ground point of the universal serial bus interface 201 is coupled to the negative electrode of the chargeable battery 203. Moreover, the source electrode of the first semiconductor component 302 is coupled to the positive electrode of the chargeable battery 203, and the gate electrode of the first semiconductor component 302 is coupled to the microprocessor 301, thereby when the universal serial bus interface 201 is inserted into the external host, the first semiconductor component 302 may be conducted to form a closed circuit, so as to transmit the power to the chargeable battery 203 and achieve the purpose of charging. Furthermore, the switch 204 is coupled to the microprocessor 301 to control the microprocessor 301 to provide the voltage of the gate electrode of the second semiconductor component 303.
One end of the motor 206 is coupled to the chargeable battery 203, and the other end of the motor 206 is coupled to the drain electrode of the second semiconductor component 303. When the user turns on the switch 204, the microprocessor 301 may be forced to provide the voltage of the gate electrode of the second semiconductor component 303, so as to conduct the second semiconductor component 303 to form a closed circuit and drive the motor 206 to run. In certain embodiments, the control circuit can control the rotation speed of the motor based on the choice of the user, which specifically may be achieved by the microprocessor 301 utilizing pulse width modulation (PWM).
Moreover, in the present embodiment, the present invention may further include a display component 304, for example light emitting diodes. The light emitting diodes may be coupled to the microprocessor 301 to emit light when the electric toothbrush is being charged, when the electric toothbrush is performing the teeth brushing procedure, when the electric toothbrush is in a standby state or when the power of the electric toothbrush is not enough, so as to provide the function of light indication and aid in reminding or cautioning the user about the instant state of the electric toothbrush.
Please refer to FIG. 7, which illustrates a structure diagram of the circuit in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 5. The present embodiment also includes an universal serial bus interface 201, a charging circuit 202, a chargeable battery 203, a switch 204, a control circuit 205 and a motor 206. The difference between the embodiments shown in FIGS. 7 and 5 is that the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 further includes a wireless charging module 401 coupled to the chargeable battery 203. When the power providing end has a corresponding wireless charging device, the resonant energy may be transmitted to the wireless charging module 401 through wireless transmission and further be transformed into the power to be provided to the chargeable battery 203, so as to achieve the function of charging. Regarding the specific methods or means of wireless charging, it may refer to a Taiwan patent No. 1254195, entitled “Contactless power sensing circuit,” which is incorporated herein for reference.
Please refer to FIG. 8, which illustrates a structure diagram of the circuit in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 5. The present embodiment also includes an universal serial bus interface 201, a charging circuit 202, a chargeable battery 203, a switch 204, a control circuit 205 and a motor 206. The present embodiment further includes a voltage detecting circuit 501 coupled between the chargeable battery 203 and the control circuit 205. Specifically, the voltage of the chargeable battery 203 may differ based on the amount of the remaining power, so as to affect the rotation speed of the motor 206. Therefore, the present invention employs a voltage detecting circuit 501 to detect the voltage variations of the chargeable battery 203 and modulates the voltage inputted into the motor 206 to avoid the unsteadiness of the rotation speed.
In certain embodiments, the voltage detecting circuit 501 may also be replaced with a voltage stabilizing circuit. The voltage stabilizing circuit may include a voltage stabilizing integrated circuit (IC) to stabilize the amount of the voltage and the current inputted into or outputted from the motor 206.
Please refer to FIG. 9, which illustrates a structure diagram of the circuit in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 5. The present embodiment also includes an universal serial bus interface 201, a charging circuit 202, a chargeable battery 203, a switch 204, a control circuit 205 and a motor 206. The present embodiment further includes a boost circuit 601 coupled between the chargeable battery 203 and the control circuit 205 to boost the voltage outputted from the chargeable battery 203, so as to provide higher voltage to the motor 206 through the control circuit 205 and aid in driving the motor 206.
The foregoing description is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that this embodiment is described for purposes of illustration only, not for limiting, and that numerous alterations and modifications may be practiced by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all such modifications and alterations are included insofar as they come within the scope of the invention as claimed or the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A portable electric toothbrush, comprising:

a main body having a switch;

a brush head having a plurality of bristles and connected to one end of said main body, wherein said brush head is removable so as to be replaced when said brush head is malfunctioned;

a holding portion connected to the other end of said main body;

a charging circuit configured within said main body;

a control circuit coupled to said switch;

a motor coupled to said control circuit; and

an universal serial bus interface coupled to said charging circuit in order for an external power source to provide electricity to said charging circuit through said universal serial bus interface to perform charging.

2. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 1, further comprising a microprocessor coupled to said charging circuit and said control circuit.

3. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 2, further comprising a display component coupled to said microprocessor to provide a function of light indication.

4. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 1, wherein a run time of said portable electric toothbrush is determined by said control circuit.

5. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 1, wherein a rotation speed of said motor is determined by said control circuit.

6. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 1, further comprising a brush protecting cover combined with said holding portion correspondingly to protect said brush head.

7. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 1, further comprising a chargeable battery coupled to said charging circuit.

8. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 7, further comprising a wireless charging module coupled to said chargeable battery.

9. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 7, further comprising a voltage detecting circuit coupled to said chargeable battery and said control circuit to stabilize a rotation speed of said motor.

10. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 7, further comprising a voltage stabilizing circuit coupled to said chargeable battery and said control circuit to stabilize a rotation speed of said motor.

11. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 7, further comprising a boost circuit coupled to said chargeable battery and said control circuit to drive said motor.

12. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 1, wherein said universal serial bus interface is hidden into said holding portion through rotation or pressing.

13. The portable electric toothbrush of claim 1, further comprising an universal serial bus interface protecting cover combined with said holding portion correspondingly to protect said universal serial bus interface.

14. An electrically vibrational product, comprising:

a main body having a switch;

a holding portion connected to one end of said main body;

a charging circuit configured within said main body;

a control circuit coupled to said switch;

a motor coupled to said control circuit; and

15. The electrically vibrational product of claim 14, further comprising a protecting cover combined with said holding portion correspondingly.

16. The electrically vibrational product of claim 14, further comprising a chargeable battery coupled to said charging circuit.

17. The electrically vibrational product of claim 16, further comprising a wireless charging module coupled to said chargeable battery.

18. The electrically vibrational product of claim 16, further comprising a voltage stabilizing circuit coupled to said chargeable battery and said control circuit to stabilize a rotation speed of said motor.

19. The electrically vibrational product of claim 14, wherein said universal serial bus interface is hidden into said holding portion through rotation or pressing.

20. The electrically vibrational product of claim 14, further comprising an universal serial bus interface protecting cover combined with said holding portion correspondingly to protect said universal serial bus interface.