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US 11,911,229 B2Granted
Universal piezo-magneto ultrasonic systems and methods
OwnerJames Feineinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ultrasonic unit manufacturing system and process are based on a universal ultrasonic generator unit that operates interchangeably with either one of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive ultrasonic devices, and optionally as well as with either on-off or power level control footswitches. The ultrasonic units use a generator unit having a detector that determines whether the connected device is piezoelectric or magnetostrictive, and activates the generator for the appropriate piezoelectric or magnetostrictive operating mode. The ultrasonic units so made and methods of using them are also disclosed.
Claims21
An ultrasonic dental scaling system, comprising:
- an ultrasonic device comprising a power scaler handpiece and a tip, wherein the ultrasonic device is connected to a signal conditioner of a universal ultrasonic generator unit, wherein the ultrasonic device is selected from:
- a piezoelectric ultrasonic device operable on capacitance and comprising a piezoelectric device cable for connecting the ultrasonic device to the signal conditioner;
- and
- a magnetostrictive ultrasonic device operable on inductance and comprising a magnetostrictive device cable for connecting the ultrasonic device to the signal conditioner;
- the signal conditioner comprising a piezoelectric mode circuit to drive the piezoelectric ultrasonic device when connected to the universal ultrasonic generator unit and further comprising a magnetostrictive mode circuit to drive the magnetostrictive ultrasonic device when connected to the universal ultrasonic generator unit;
- wherein the piezoelectric device cable comprises a piezoelectric device passive activation plug to selectively activate the piezoelectric mode circuit when the piezoelectric ultrasonic device is connected, and wherein the magnetostrictive device cable comprises a magnetostrictive device passive activation plug to selectively activate the magnetostrictive mode circuit when the magnetostrictive ultrasonic device is connected.
3 more elements
An assembly line system for assembling ultrasonic dental scaling units, comprising:
- an inventory of ultrasonic devices comprising piezoelectric power scalers operable by capacitance and magnetostrictive power scalers operable by induction;
- an inventory of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive device cables adapted to connect the piezoelectric and magnetostrictive ultrasonic devices to a respective universal ultrasonic generator unit;
- an inventory of the universal ultrasonic generator units, wherein each ultrasonic generator unit comprises a signal conditioner comprising a piezoelectric mode circuit to drive one of the piezoelectric ultrasonic devices and further comprising a magnetostrictive mode circuit to drive one of the magnetostrictive ultrasonic devices;
- wherein the piezoelectric device cables comprise piezoelectric device passive activation plugs to selectively activate the piezoelectric mode circuit when one of the piezoelectric ultrasonic devices is connected, and wherein the magnetostrictive device cables comprise magnetostrictive device passive activation plugs to selectively activate the magnetostrictive mode circuit when one of the magnetostrictive ultrasonic devices is connected;
- and
- an assembly line workstation to assemble together a respective one or more of the device cables from the device cable inventory, a respective one or more of the power scalers from the ultrasonic device inventory, and a respective one of the universal ultrasonic generator units from the universal ultrasonic generator inventory to form assembled ultrasonic dental scaling units.
3 more elements
An ultrasonic method, comprising:
- connecting a power source to a universal ultrasonic generator unit having a signal conditioner having both piezoelectric and magnetostrictive mode circuits to drive either one of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive ultrasonic devices;
- connecting a cable between the universal ultrasonic generator unit and an ultrasonic device selected from the piezoelectric and magnetostrictive ultrasonic devices;
- and
- wherein the cable comprises a piezoelectric or a magnetostrictive device passive activation plug to selectively activate one of the piezoelectric and magnetostrictive operating mode circuits corresponding to the connected ultrasonic device.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.