Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Bernardo Arnoldus Mulder

Ytsen Wielstra

Franciscus Jozef Bosman

Johannes Hotze Bernhard De Vries

Nienke Cornelie De Vries-Arentsen

Bartel Marinus Van De Sluis

Ronaldus Maria Aarts

Ype Bernardus Brada

Pieter Johannes Bax

Georgo Zorz Angelis

Jan Martijn Krans

Peter Sofrides Viet

Theodoor Stolk

Jia Du

Johannes Willem Tack

Juergen Vogt

Egbert Van De Veen

Maarten Van Den Boogaard

Thijs De Haan

Johan Bron

Ivar Bosma

Petronella Zwartkruis-Pelgrim

Renger Ypenburg

Joost Willem Frederik Nengerman

Tim Tijs

Roy Raymann

Paulus Dillen

Jeroen De Graaf

A personal care device drive unit comprises a main body housing a motor and enabling releasable connection to any selected one of a set of different functional units. A controller of the personal care device drive unit generates an output signal associated with the selected one of the functional units connected to the main body in dependence on a sensed motor current and a sensed vibration occurring in the main body. The use of both vibration sensing and current sensing (which detects the electrical motor load resulting from driving the selected one of the functional units connected to the main body) enables multiple different functional units to be identified more reliably.

Personal care system including a person care device drive unit and multiple functional units

The invention relates to a thermal skin treatment device comprising a skin contact component with a skin contact surface; a thermal energy component in thermal contact with the skin contact component; a temperature control circuit electrically connected to the thermal energy component and comprising a user interface; and an energy source electrically connected to said thermal energy component for energy supply. Said temperature control circuit is adapted to control an amount of energy supplied from said energy source to said thermal energy component such that a first predetermined temperature is maintained at the skin contact surface for a first duration, or a second predetermined temperature is maintained at the skin contact surface for a second duration, wherein said first predetermined temperature is in a range of 40&#xb0; C.+/&#x2212;2&#xb0; C., and wherein said second predetermined temperature is in a range of 19&#xb0; C.+/&#x2212;2&#xb0; C. The temperature control circuit is adapted to maintain for a predetermined duration, during operation, only said first predetermined temperature or said second predetermined temperature at the skin contact surface. The invention further relates to a method for non-therapeutic treatment of a human eye region by means of a thermal skin treatment device according to the invention.

Thermal skin treatment device

The invention provides a heater arrangement and method for heating a liquid, wherein the heater comprises a heating element, wherein the method comprises (i) heating the liquid in the heater wherein the heating element is in contact with the liquid, and (ii) applying a potential difference between the heating element and a counter electrode, wherein the potential difference has an AC component whereby the potential difference varies with an AC frequency in the range of 0.01-100 Hz and wherein the potential difference is applied with a cycle time, wherein the potential difference has a sign during a first part of the cycle time that is opposite of the sign of the potential difference during a second part of the cycle time, and wherein during one or more of the first part of the cycle time and the second part of the cycle time, the potential difference temporarily changes sign.

Electrochemical descaling by pulsed signal reversal

A method for heating a liquid in a heater having a heating element and a counter electrode includes the acts of (i) heating the liquid in the heater by heating the heating element to a temperature in the range of 120-250&#xb0; C., and (ii) applying an AC potential difference between the heating element and the counter electrode. The AC potential difference varies with an AC frequency in the range of 200-2500 Hz and has an amplitude in the range of 1-5 V, and the liquid flows in the heater between the heating element and the counter electrode.

The present invention is related to a breath pacing device () for pacing the respiratory activity of a subject, comprising an output unit () for outputting a sequence of output signals, a control unit () provided to control the output unit, and an input unit () connected to or integrated into the output unit for generating an input signal related to a respiration characteristic of a subject. The control unit is provided to control the length of the sequence at least based on characteristics of the input signal. The invention is further related to a corresponding method for pacing the respiratory activity of a subject.

Breath pacing device and method for packing the respiratory activity of a subject

In a device () for making a beverage on the basis of interaction between a beverage extract and an extracting fluid, which comprises an openable and closeable chamber () for receiving and accommodating a quantity of the beverage extract, and heating/cooling means () for setting the temperature of the extracting fluid, arranged upstream of the chamber (), a beverage making process can be performed with extracting fluid that is exactly at a desired temperature. During heat-up or cool-down phases of the heating/cooling means (), the extracting fluid is transported to another position than the chamber () where the beverage making process is supposed to take place. For the purpose of determining an appropriate path of the extracting fluid in every possible situation, valve means () are applied, which are switchable under the influence of a change of the flow rate of the extracting fluid.

Device for making a beverage adapted to accurately set a dispense temperature of the beverage

A breast pump apparatus, including a vacuum pump and a variable-volume buffer volume coupled together in fluid communication, also includes a breast-receiving portion coupled to the vacuum pump and the buffer volume such that the vacuum pump is operable to generate negative pressure at the breast-receiving portion to stimulate milk expression, and the negative pressure generated at the breast-receiving portion can be controlled by controlling the buffer volume.

Piston pump with variable buffer

In a breast pump, milk expressed from a user's nipple may be drawn into the pumping mechanism used to create a vacuum. This can lead to unhygienic situations because pumping mechanisms are difficult or impossible to clean by a user. The present invention relates to a breast pump comprising first and second pressure chambers () and an actuator () disposed to fluidly divide the two chambers (). The actuator () is movable to generate an inverse pressure differential in the second chamber () when a pressure differential is generated in the first pressure chamber (), or a pressure differential is released from the first pressure chamber (). Furthermore, the actuator () comprises a first piston element () and a second piston element (), and wherein the first pressure chamber () is disposed between the first piston element () and the second piston element ().

Breast pump

A flow-through heating system () is described, comprising: a flow tube (); a plurality of at least two heating elements (A,B,C), each heating element being connected in series with a corresponding controllable switch (A,B,C); a control unit () having control outputs (A,B,C) coupled to said controllable switches; the control unit () being designed to generate control signals (Sa, Sb, Sc) for opening and closing the controllable switches such that said heating system is operated at a required power (Pr) less than the power capacity (Ptot) of said heating system by operating precisely one of said heating elements at reduced power while the remaining heating elements are either operated at full power or at zero power.

Method of operating a flow-through heating

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Bernardo Arnoldus Mulder