Braun Gmbh

Robert Schäfer

Norbert Schaefer

Uwe Schober

Andreas Kramp

Thomas Willi Fritsch

Martin Haas

Frank Ziegler

Andreas Larscheid

Marc Kunz

Bernhard Kraus

Christian Neyer

Tobias Schwarz

Ingo Vetter

Frank Kressmann

Sven Alexander Franke

Matthias Paschold

Jannik Scheele

Martin Ring

Felix Merten

A personal hygiene device has a drive unit having a support, a stator fixedly mounted at the support, and an armature spring-mounted at the support for driven linear oscillating motion along a first longitudinal direction parallel to or coinciding with an x-axis of an x-y-z coordinate system. The armature has a center of gravity located in rest at a coordinate [x, y, z], and a drive shaft fixedly coupled with the armature and having a center of gravity located in rest at a coordinate [x, y, z]. A first treatment head assembly, detachably connected to the drive shaft, has a center of gravity located in rest at a coordinate [x, y, z]. A secondary mass element, spring-mounted at the support for essentially linear oscillating motion along the first longitudinal direction, has a center of gravity located in rest at a coordinate [x, y, z]. At least the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the armature has an offset in at least one of the y-direction and z-direction with respect to the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the drive-shaft or with respect to the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the first treatment head assembly, i.e., y&#x2260;yand/or y&#x2260;yand/or z&#x2260;zand/or z&#x2260;z; and the secondary mass element is configured such that the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the secondary mass element is aligned with the coordinate [x, y, z] of the joint center of gravity of the drive shaft, the first treatment head assembly and the armature in the at least one offset direction, i.e., y=yand z=z, so that a line connecting the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the secondary mass element and the coordinate [x, yz] of the joint center of gravity is parallel to or coincides with the x-axis.

Personal hygiene device

A personal hygiene device has a handle and a treatment head pivotably connected with the handle. Applying a treatment force against the treatment head causes a pivoting of the treatment head relative to the handle. A sensor, such as, e.g., a Hall sensor, fixedly secured with respect to one of the handle and the treatment head, measures a measurement variable. A sensor cooperation unit defines or influences the measurement variable in dependence on the relative position of the sensor and the sensor cooperation unit, such e.g., as a sensor permanent magnet, fixedly secured relative to one of the handle and the treatment head. A spring unit defines a rest position of the treatment head when no treatment force is applied. The spring unit has a first spring constant in the treatment direction and a second spring constant in a lateral direction, the second spring constant being at least about two times higher than the first spring constant.

A toothbrush has a handle and a treatment head mounted for movement relative to the handle against a spring force when a treatment force is applied in at least one treatment direction onto the treatment head. A treatment force measurement unit for determining the applied treatment force includes a capacitive force senor having a first electrode fixedly mounted with respect to the handle and a second electrode mounted at a distance from the first electrode. The second electrode is movably mounted with respect to the handle. A spring unit is arranged between the first and the second electrode. A control circuit determines at least one parameter indicative of the capacitance between the first and second electrodes, wherein the second electrode is mechanically coupled with the treatment head and is arranged to be moved relative to the first electrode when the treatment force is applied at the treatment head.

Personal hygiene device with treatment force measurement unit

A personal hygiene device has a handle, a treatment head, and a motor carrier disposed in the handle. The motor is pivot-mounted against at least one spring element arranged between the handle and the motor carrier. The motor has a stator portion fixedly mounted at the motor carrier and an armature portion spring mounted at the motor carrier to allow a motion relative to the motor carrier. The armature portion is coupled with a drive shaft connected with the treatment head for transferring motion thereto, wherein an external treatment force acting on the brush head leads to pivoting of the motor carrier relative to the handle. The motor has a motor permanent magnet and a coil for providing an alternating electromagnetic field interacting therewith to excite an oscillating motion of the drive shaft. A Hall sensor is fixedly mounted to the handle or to the motor carrier; and a sensor permanent magnet is fixedly mounted to the other one of the handle and motor carrier, so that a pivoting motion of the motor carrier leads to a relative movement between the sensor permanent magnet and the Hall sensor.

A personal hygiene device has a handle, a treatment head mounted for relative movement of at least a portion thereof with respect to the handle against a restoring force when a treatment force is applied in at least one direction onto the treatment head, a treatment-force-measurement unit for determining the applied treatment force comprising a light-emitting element, a light-sensitive element, and a light-changing element arranged at least partly in the light path between the light-emitting element and the light-sensitive element, wherein the light-changing element and at least one of the light-emitting element and light-sensitive element are arranged to be moved relatively to each other when at least the portion of the treatment head is moved.

Personal hygiene device having treatment-force-measurement unit

A circuit arrangement (S) for supplying a load (P), whose essential electric property is capacitance, from a DC voltage source (U) has a switch element (S), which in the operational state is alternately switched between the conductive and non-conductive state, and at least one component (L, L) whose essential property is inductance, the load (P) being coupled into the circuit arrangement (S) in parallel to the component (L, L) so that the load (P) and the component (L, L) form a parallel resonant circuit, the switch element (S) is connected between the parallel resonant circuit and a base voltage (GND) and the DC voltage source is to be applied in parallel (U) to the load. The circuit arrangement (S) according to the invention can be used to drive the capacitive load (P) in a bipolar manner, the supply of the load in the non-conductive phase of the switch element (S) being achieved by the component (L, L).

Circuit arrangement and method for supplying a capacitive load

The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush, specifically the toothbrush handle of an electric toothbrush, with a handle housing, with a preferably rod-shaped drive transmitter which protrudes from a first side of the handle housing and on which a brush attachment can be secured, and with a drive motor for moving the drive transmitter, wherein the drive transmitter is mounted, by means of a bearing device in the interior of the handle housing, in the manner of a rocker arm such that the drive transmitter can be pivoted to-and-fro transverse to its longitudinal axis by the drive motor. The invention further relates to the whole toothbrush, comprising such a toothbrush handle part and a brush attachment secured to the drive transmitter thereof. According to the invention, the bearing device holds the drive transmitter so as to pivot about a rotation point lying outside the handle housing. Said rotation point is offset particularly far out from the handle housing, such that it comes to lie between the bristle array of the brush attachment and the front end of the handle in the area of the lips. In this way, an efficient cleaning movement with a large cleaning amplitude in the area of the bristle array can be combined with a low vibration amplitude of the toothbrush in the area of the lips.

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Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany

Robert Schäfer