Oral care appliance with hydrodynamic cavitation action
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorsBethany Joyce Johnson, Tyler G. Kloster, Johannes Willem Tack
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An appliance body which includes a fluid delivery system providing a fluid flow to the appliance body and an exit for the fluid. A cavitation assembly is responsive to the fluid flow, and includes a constriction or obstruction member, wherein the flow rate to and through the cavitation assembly and the flow velocity and other factors results in a cavitation number in the range of 0.1 to 6, so that hydrodynamic cavitation is produced at the exit of the appliance for delivery to a treatment surface.
Claims29
An oral care appliance for treating the surfaces of teeth, comprising:
- an appliance body which includes a fluid delivery system for producing a fluid flow and an outlet for fluid from the appliance;
- and
- a cavitation assembly having an inlet and responsive to the fluid flow which includes a constriction or obstruction member, wherein the flow rate to and through the cavitation assembly is such, and wherein the flow velocity is such, that hydrodynamic cavitation bubbles are produced at the exit of the appliance, the hydrodynamic cavitation bubbles moving from the exit to treatment surfaces of teeth.
A power toothbrush, comprising:
- a handle, which includes a fluid reservoir, a fluid pump, a drive assembly, a control assembly and a power supply assembly;
- and
- a brushhead assembly with a brushhead member at the distal end thereof, the brushhead assembly including a set of bristles mounted on a bristle base, and a cavitation assembly, wherein a change of fluid flow past a constriction member or an obstruction member in a fluid channel portion of the cavitation assembly produces hydrodynamic cavitation at an outlet of the cavitation assembly, with a cavitation number within the range of 0.1 to 1.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.