阅读说明：本技术 在驱动系中具有可分离的联接件的个人护理装置 (Personal care device with a detachable coupling in the drive train ) 是由 P·桑切斯马丁内兹 H·布德克 于 2020-04-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：本公开涉及一种个人护理装置,该个人护理装置具有：头部部分,该头部部分具有从动处理头；柄部部分,该柄部部分具有驱动单元,该驱动单元用于提供具有运动方向的运动；以及驱动系,该驱动系在驱动单元和从动处理头之间延伸,以用于将运动从驱动单元传递到从动处理头,驱动系具有可分离的联接件。可分离的联接件具有：第一联接部件,该第一联接部件具有第一联接元件；第二联接部件,该第二联接部件具有第二联接元件,该第一联接元件和第二联接元件彼此可分离地接合；以及弹性元件,该弹性元件使第一联接元件和第二联接元件抵靠彼此偏置,使得第一联接元件和第二联接元件沿运动方向以无间隙方式接合。(The present disclosure relates to a personal care device having: a head portion having a driven processing head; a handle section having a drive unit for providing a movement having a direction of movement; and a drive train extending between the drive unit and the driven processing head for transferring motion from the drive unit to the driven processing head, the drive train having a separable coupling. The separable coupling has: a first coupling part having a first coupling element; a second coupling part having a second coupling element, the first and second coupling elements being detachably engaged with each other; and a resilient element biasing the first and second coupling elements against each other such that the first and second coupling elements engage in a play-free manner in the direction of movement.)

1. A personal care device comprising:

a head portion having a driven processing head;

a handle portion having a drive unit for providing a motion having a direction of motion; and

a drive train extending between the drive unit and the driven processing head for transmitting the motion from the drive unit to the driven processing head, the drive train including a separable coupling;

the separable coupling includes:

a first coupling part having a first coupling element;

a second coupling part having a second coupling element, the first and second coupling elements being detachably engaged with each other; and

a resilient element biasing the first and second coupling elements against each other such that the first and second coupling elements engage in a gapless manner along the direction of motion.

2. A personal care device according to claim 1, wherein the resilient element is arranged for biasing the force transmitting surface of the first coupling element and the force transmitting surface of the second coupling element against each other.

3. The personal care device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the motion is a rotational motion, in particular wherein the drive train comprises a first shaft and a second shaft coupled by the detachable coupling, the first shaft being coupled with the drive unit, and the rotational motion is a motion about a longitudinal axis of the first shaft, and the direction of motion is circumferential with respect to the first shaft.

4. The personal care device according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first coupling element and the second coupling element form a first pair of coupling elements and the detachable coupling comprises at least a second pair of coupling elements, in particular at least three pairs of coupling elements.

5. A personal care device according to claim 4, wherein the detachable coupling comprises a second resilient element arranged to urge the coupling elements of the second pair against each other such that the force transmitting surfaces of the coupling elements of the second pair interact with each other when the direction of movement is reversed.

6. The personal care device according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein one of the first coupling element or the second coupling element is realized as a receptacle and the other of the first coupling element and the second coupling element is realized as a protrusion, in particular as a pin, detachably engageable with the receptacle.

7. The personal care device of claim 6, wherein the receptacle has an open end along a separation direction, and wherein a chamfer is formed at the open end of the receptacle.

8. The personal care device of one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the resilient element is integral with one of the first coupling part or the second coupling part.

9. A personal care device according to claim 8, wherein the elastic element and a coupling part realized integrally with the elastic element are made of a plastic material, in particular wherein the plastic material is a polyoxymethylene material.

10. The personal care device of one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the resilient element comprises a spring arm arranged to deflect when the coupling is in the coupled state.

11. The personal care device according to one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the resilient element is designed to provide a biasing force which is greater than a force normally exerted in the reverse direction of movement during operation of the personal care device.

12. The personal care device according to one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the driven treatment head and the handle portion are arranged for being pivotable relative to each other about at least a first pivot axis, in particular wherein a total pivot angle about the first pivot axis is in a range between 1 and 50 degrees.

13. The personal care device according to one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the detachable coupling is realized as a detachable universal joint.

14. The personal care device of one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising at least one pair of separable mechanical connector elements for mechanically connecting the handle portion and the head portion.

15. Personal care device according to one of claims 1 to 8 and 10 to 14, wherein the elastic element is at least partially made of spring metal, in particular spring metal sheet.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a personal care apparatus having a drive train for coupling a drive unit with a driven treatment head, wherein the drive train has a detachable coupling.

Background

It is generally known that personal care devices may comprise a handle portion and a head portion which is detachable from the handle portion, e.g. for cleaning purposes or for replacement. In the case of a head portion comprising a driven treatment head, this requires that the drive train between the drive unit in the handle portion and the driven treatment head in the head portion must be separable. The detachable coupling may then for example comprise two gears with gear teeth which in the attached state engage each other and become disengaged once the head portion and the handle portion are detached from each other.

It is a general object to improve personal care devices of the type in question, in particular with respect to their noise behavior and/or wear of detachable coupling parts.

Disclosure of Invention

According to one aspect, there is provided a personal care device having: a head portion having a driven processing head; a handle portion having a drive unit for providing a motion having a direction of motion; and a drive train extending between the drive unit and the driven processing head for transmitting the motion from the drive unit to the driven processing head, the drive train having a separable coupling. The separable coupling has: a first coupling part having a first coupling element; a second coupling part having a second coupling element, the first and second coupling elements being detachably engaged with each other; and a resilient element biasing the first and second coupling elements against each other such that the first and second coupling elements engage in a play-free manner in the direction of movement.

Drawings

The present disclosure and the personal care device of the present invention will be further explained by the detailed description with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, there is shown in the drawings,

fig. 1A is a schematic view of an exemplary personal care device according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 1B is an enlargement of the separable coupling shown in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 is a schematic isolated perspective view of one exemplary coupling component of a separable coupling according to the present disclosure; and

fig. 3 is a schematic, isolated perspective view of another exemplary coupling component of a separable coupling according to the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the context of the present specification, "personal care" shall mean the nutrition (or care) of the skin and its appendages (i.e. hair and nails) as well as the teeth and the oral cavity (including tongue, gums, etc.), wherein the aim is on the one hand the prevention of diseases and the maintenance and enhancement of health ("care") and on the other hand the cosmetic treatment and the improvement of the appearance of the skin and its appendages or the teeth and the oral cavity. It should include maintaining and enhancing well-being. This includes skin care, hair care and oral care as well as nail care. This also includes grooming activities such as beard care, shaving, and epilation. Thus, by "personal care device" is meant any device for performing such nutritional or grooming activities, for example a (cosmetic) skin treatment device such as a skin massaging device or a skin brush; a wet shaver; an electric razor or trimmer; an electric depilator; and oral care devices such as manual or electric toothbrushes, (electric) flosses, (electric) irrigators, (electric) tongue cleaners, or (electric) gum massagers. This should not exclude that the proposed personal care system may have a more pronounced benefit in one or several of these nutrition or device areas than in one or several other of these areas.

According to the present description, the drive train of the personal care apparatus of the invention comprises a detachable coupling comprising a first coupling part and a second coupling part. The first coupling part comprises a first coupling element and the second coupling part comprises a second coupling element. The first coupling element and the second coupling element engage each other in the attached state to enable a movement to be transferred from the first coupling part to the second coupling part or vice versa. The detachable coupling further comprises a resilient element which biases the first coupling element and the second coupling element against each other and by means of which it is also ensured that the two coupling elements engage each other in a play-free manner, in particular in a direction of movement which is to be transmitted from the drive unit to the driven processing head. Since there is no gap between the coupling elements, the two coupling elements do not substantially disengage from each other during operation. Such disengagement may otherwise generate noise (as the coupling elements will eventually collide with each other) and may also result in wear of the two engaged coupling elements. In the direction of movement, the first coupling element and the second coupling element interact via abutting force transmission surfaces, which are provided at substantially non-resilient portions of the first coupling element and the second coupling element. This means that the elastic elements are arranged elsewhere, but not in the direction of movement (but see below regarding the arrangement of the two elastic elements). The resilient element may be arranged in the reverse direction of movement. The force transmission surfaces are provided at the sides of the first and second coupling elements which are not elastic in design. This should achieve good power transfer and no energy is consumed by the deflection of the component providing the force transfer surface. Since all materials have a certain elasticity, the elastic properties of the parts arranged with force transmission surfaces should be smaller than the elastic properties of the elastic elements. Expressed in terms of spring constant, the spring constant of the part realizing the force transmission surface is at least about twice higher than the spring constant of the elastic element.

The resilient element may be designed such that the biasing force applied is higher than the usual force occurring in the reverse direction of movement during normal operation of the personal care device. A force above the biasing force and acting in the direction of the reverse movement will deflect the spring element and will thus cause a disengagement of the first and second coupling elements. Thus, the biasing force may be defined by measuring typical forces occurring during normal operation of the personal care device and by setting a threshold value such that on average only disengagement of the first and second coupling elements occurs during 50% or less, or 25% or less, or 10% or less, or 5% or less, or 4%, 3%, 2%, or 1% or less of a treatment cycle.

In at least one embodiment, the first and second coupling parts comprise further engagement pairs of coupling elements, for example at least a second pair of coupling elements. The separable coupling may have three or four or more pairs of engaging coupling elements. In such embodiments, a second resilient element may be provided, which may then be arranged in the direction of movement such that the coupling elements of the second pair of coupling elements are biased against each other and interact at a force transmission surface arranged in the opposite direction of movement. This allows the direction of movement to be reversed without losing the effect of the movement transmission via the substantially inelastic force transmission surface.

The motion transferred from the drive unit to the driven processing head may be a rotational motion. In some embodiments, the rotational movement may be an oscillating rotational movement, or the personal care device may comprise the possibility of repeating the rotational movement back and forth, for example by means of a corresponding input device such as a button or a touch screen. Nor should it be excluded that the motion is a linear motion or a more complex motion.

In at least one embodiment, the first coupling element is one of a receiving portion (also referred to as a receiver) and a protrusion (e.g., a pin), and the second coupling element is the other of the receiving portion and the protrusion. The receptacle may have an open end in a direction along which the first and second coupling parts are intended to be separated. The open end may have an inclined surface to accommodate easy attachment of a detached coupling part, wherein the protrusion will be guided into the receiving portion despite an offset between the two coupling elements due to the inclined surface.

The resilient element may be arranged integrally with one of the first or second coupling parts, e.g. in the above example it may form one side of the receiving portion. The resilient element may comprise a spring arm which is deflectable from a rest position into a deflected position in the coupled state. For example, when the coupling parts are attached, the first coupling element is realized as a receptacle and the second coupling element is realized as a projection which engages with the receptacle. One side of the receptacle may then be realized by a resilient element, such as a spring arm, which is deflectable into the hollow. The receptacle can now be designed to be smaller than the corresponding size of the protrusion into the receptacle. The larger sized protrusion deflects the spring arm of the resilient element from its rest state to a deflected state. Under such deflection, the resilient element provides a biasing force that urges the two coupling elements against each other. The elastic element may in particular be arranged in a direction opposite to the direction of movement, so that during operation the two coupling elements transmit movement via the two force transmission surfaces which have been discussed without elasticity (ignoring any elasticity of the bulk material of which the coupling elements are made). The elastic element may be made of the same material as the coupling part in which the elastic element is integrally provided. The material may be a plastic material such as polyoxymethylene, which should not exclude any other material. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the resilient element is made of metal, for example, spring metal forming a spring leaf that may be overmolded, for example, at least partially by plastic.

The treatment head and the handle portion of the personal care device may be arranged to be pivotable relative to each other about at least one pivot axis. To accommodate such relative pivotal movement of the first and second coupling parts, the separable coupling may be realized as a separable universal joint. The pivot angle may have an absolute range of about 1 to 50 degrees. The handle section and the treatment head may also be arranged to be pivotable with respect to each other about two, in particular perpendicular, pivot axes.

The handle portion and the head portion may be secured to each other by means of at least one pair of separable mechanical connector elements, such as a clasp and a corresponding receptacle for receiving the clasp.

Fig. 1A is a schematic view of an exemplary personal care device 1 according to the present disclosure. The personal care device 1 has a head portion 10 and a handle portion 20 detachably connected to each other. The head portion 10 comprises a treatment head 11, which treatment head 11 has at least a part arranged to be driven into motion (for simplicity, in the following, the treatment head 11 is driven during operation of the personal care apparatus, it being understood that at least a part of the treatment head 11 is driven, which should not exclude that the complete treatment head 11 is driven into motion). A drive unit 30 is provided in the handle section 20. A drive train 40 extends between the drive unit 30 and the processing head 11 to transmit the motion provided by the drive unit 30 to the processing head 11. The drive train 40 comprises a separable coupling 50 arranged such that when the head and handle portions 10, 20 are separated, the separable coupling 50 also becomes separated. The head portion 10 and the handle portion 20 may comprise at least one pair of mechanical connector elements 12, 22. The head portion 10 may include a mechanical connector element 12 and the handle portion 20 may include a mechanical connector element 22, the pair of mechanical connector elements 12, 22 mechanically connecting the head portion 10 and the handle portion 20 together. In some embodiments, the head portion 10 and the handle portion 20 comprise two or more pairs of mechanical connector elements. One of the mechanical connector elements 12, 22 may be arranged as a clasp and the other may be arranged as a receiver for receiving at least a part of the clasp (e.g. the nose of the clasp). This should not preclude caps that may use other mechanical connector elements.

The separable coupling 50 has a first coupling part 510 and a second coupling part 520 that are detachably engaged with each other as will be detailed with respect to fig. 1B. The separable coupling 50 also includes a resilient element 530.

Fig. 1B is an enlargement of the separable coupling 50 shown in fig. 1A. The first coupling part 510 comprises a first coupling element 511A and the second coupling part 520 comprises a second coupling element 512A. It is also shown that the drive train 40 comprises a first shaft 513 connected with the first coupling part 510 to transfer the motion M1 provided by the drive unit, and a second shaft 523 connected with the second coupling part 520 to transfer the motion M2, wherein when the coupling 50 does not have any transmission ratio, M2 is M1. The coupling 50 may be disengaged by moving the first coupling part 510 relative to the second coupling part 520 in a disengagement direction S1, or vice versa, by moving the second coupling part 520 relative to the first coupling part 510 in a disengagement direction S2.

In the embodiment shown, the resilient element 530 is realized as an integral element with the first coupling part 510. This should be understood as a non-limiting example and the resilient element 530 may also be arranged at the second coupling part 520 or may otherwise form part of the detachable coupling 50. In the example shown, the resilient element 530 includes a spring arm 531 in a deflected position (with a hollow 532 disposed behind the spring arm 531 so that the spring arm 531 has sufficient position to deflect). Thus, the spring arm 531 applies a biasing force F to the second coupling element 521A, thereby urging the force transfer surface 522A of the second coupling element 521A against the force transfer surface 512A of the first coupling element 511A. Due to its designed elastic properties, i.e. its spring properties, the spring arm 531 of the elastic element 530 will move back to its rest position when the first coupling part 510 and the second coupling part 520 are disengaged (i.e. separated). By means of the elastic element 530, the first and second coupling elements 511A, 521A engage in a play-free manner with respect to the movement direction of the movement M1. Due to the play-free engagement and due to the biasing force F, the first and second coupling elements 511A, 521A will substantially always be in force transmitting contact at their force transmitting surfaces 512A, 522A. In the case of gaps between the coupling elements, uneven movement of the drive unit or a load on the processing head may cause the coupling elements to come into loose contact, in particular, repeatedly, and then collide with each other again when they come into contact again, which generates noise and wear of components. The resilient element 530 may be arranged such that the biasing force is greater than a typical force that may be exerted by the second coupling element 522A at the spring arm 531. In some embodiments, the drive train 40 may include an overload clutch such that the force applied at the resilient element 530 is limited.

In fig. 1B, it is indicated that the separable coupling 50 may have more than one pair of coupling elements 511A, 521A. Two further pin-like coupling elements 521B and 521C are shown, which engage with corresponding receiver-like coupling elements provided at the first coupling part 510. When the relative position between the first coupling part 510 and the second coupling part 520 is defined by the first pair of coupling elements 511A, 521A, any other pair of coupling elements need not engage in a play-free manner. In some embodiments, a second resilient element may be present and may be arranged with the second pair of coupling elements in a manner that is mirrored to the arrangement of resilient element 530 and first pair of coupling elements 511A and 521A shown with respect to the direction of movement M1. Such a mirror image arrangement would then take over the force transmission in the direction of the reverse movement of the movement M1'. In the case of the shown arrangement of only the elastic element 530 and the first pair of coupling elements 511A and 521A, when the direction of movement is reversed to M1', some energy will be lost due to the elasticity of the elastic element 530.

Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an exemplary coupling component 300 that may be used as either a first coupling component or a second coupling component of a separable coupling according to the present disclosure. The coupling member 300 is arranged at the end of the shaft 310 and comprises a base element 320 and three projections 321, 322 and 323, each realized as a pin extending radially outwards from the base element 320, with an angular offset of 180 degrees between each pair of adjacent projections 321 and 322, 322 and 323 and 321. The projections 321, 322, and 323 (i.e., their centerlines) extend in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis along which the shaft 310 extends. In contrast to the example shown, it is basically sufficient if one coupling part has one projection which engages with a receiving portion of the other coupling part of the separable coupling. Instead of one projection or three projections as shown in the figures, the respective coupling member may have two projections or four projections etc. The coupling elements provided as projections may take any form and are not limited to pins. In case two or more coupling elements are realized as protrusions, each of the coupling elements may have its own shape and position.

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an exemplary coupling component 400 that may be used as the first or second coupling component of a separable coupling according to the present disclosure. In particular, the coupling member 400 may be engaged with the coupling member 300 shown in fig. 2 to form a separable coupling. The coupling member 400 is arranged at an end of the shaft 410 and comprises a base element 420 and three receiving portions 421, 422 and 423 and an elastic element 430. Each of the receiving portions 421, 422 and 423 is formed by a wall of the base element 420 and an adjacent wall element 421A, 422A, 423A, and in the case of the receiving portion 421 one of these walls is defined by a wall of a spring arm 431 of the elastic element 430. The wall elements 421A, 422A and 423A each extend substantially in a direction parallel to the longitudinal extension direction of the shaft element 410. Once the coupling element 400 has received the respective projection from the engaging coupling part, the projection and receiving portions 421, 422 and 423 are intended to interact along the force transmitting surfaces 421F, 422F and 423F of the wall elements 421A, 422A and 423A, respectively, such that a movement M3 in the counter-clockwise direction is generated. Furthermore, the projection intended to engage with the receiving part 421 has a dimension which is slightly larger in the circumferential direction than the opening width of the receiving part 421 and which bends the spring arm 431 of the elastic element 430 from its shown rest position into a deflected position, in which the spring arm 431 moves into the hollow 432 and biases the projection against the force transmission surface 421F. With this arrangement, the projection (e.g., projection 321 as shown in fig. 2) and the receiving portion 421 engage in a gapless manner in the circumferential direction (i.e., in the direction of movement M3), and any noise and wear due to repeated disengagement of the projection and receiving portion during operation is effectively reduced.

Instead of two engaging coupling members (each having only a projection and a receiving portion) as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the engaging coupling members may each have a mix of projections and receiving portions, e.g. each coupling member may have one projection and one receiving portion.

The dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Rather, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, a dimension disclosed as "40 mm" is intended to mean "about 40 mm".