FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present application is concerned with a motor that has a spring-mounted movable motor part, in particular where the spring element is connected with a motor carrier. The present application is also concerned with a personal care device comprising such a motor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known that motors, e.g. for use in an electric toothbrush, have one or several moving motor parts that are mounted at a motor carrier by means of one or several spring elements. Document WO 2014/009915 A2 generally discusses such a motor.

It is now an objective of the present disclosure to provide a motor that has an improved structure, in particular improved with respect to simplification of the motor structure and of the manufacturing process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect, a motor is provided that has a motor carrier made at least partially from a sheet metal material, a movable motor part, a spring element that couples the movable motor part with the motor carrier, wherein the sheet metal material comprises at least one coupling area where the sheet metal material is folded so that two layers of sheet metal material are arranged vis-a-vis to each other and each of the two layers comprises a slot, which slots are aligned with each other and through which aligned slots a connection extension of the spring element extends.

In accordance with one aspect, a personal care device is provided that comprises a motor as proposed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is further elucidated by a detailed description of example embodiments and with reference to figures. In the figures Fig. 1 is a depiction of an example personal care device realized as an electric toothbrush;

Fig. 2 is a depiction of an example motor in accordance with the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 is a depiction of an example motor carrier in accordance with the present

disclosure;

Fig. 4A is a front view onto a first embodiment of a spring-mounted moving motor part, where extension projections of a spring element are arranged in aligned slots of folded sheet metal connection portions;

Fig. 4B is a perspective depiction of Fig. 4A;

Fig. 5A is a perspective depiction of a moving motor part in accordance with a second embodiment;

Fig. 5B is a front view of Fig. 5A; and

Fig. 6 is a detail depiction of a portion of a motor carrier made from sheet metal material that comprises an example connection area.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the context of the present description“personal care” shall mean the nurture (or care) of the skin and of its adnexa (i.e. hairs and nails) and of the teeth and the oral cavity (including the tongue, the gums etc.), where the aim is on the one hand the prevention of illnesses and the maintenance and strengthening of health (“care”) and on the other hand the cosmetic treatment and improvement of the appearance of the skin and its adnexa. It shall include the maintenance and strengthening of wellbeing. This includes skin care, hair care, and oral care as well as nail care. This further includes other grooming activities such as beard care, shaving, and depilation. A“personal care device” thus means any device for performing such nurturing or grooming activity, e.g. (cosmetic) skin treatment devices such as skin massage devices or skin brushes; wet razors; electric shavers or trimmers; electric epilators; and oral care devices such as manual or electric toothbrushes, (electric) flossers, (electric) irrigators, (electric) tongue cleaners, or (electric) gum massagers. This shall not exclude that the proposed personal hygiene system may have a more pronounced benefit in one or several of these nurturing or device areas than in one or several other of these areas. In the below description with reference to the figures, an epilation device was chosen to present details of the proposed personal care device. To the extent in which the details are not particular to an epilation device, the proposed technology can be used in any other personal care device. In accordance with the present disclosure, a moving motor part of a motor is coupled with a motor carrier by means of at least one spring element. The motor carrier is at least partially made from a sheet metal material and in particular the motor carrier may comprise a portion that is made from stamped and bent sheet metal. A sheet metal material used for the purpose of providing a mounting structure for a motor of a personal care device has a certain thickness that may be in a range of between 0.05 mm to 2.0 mm, in particular in a range of between 0.1 mm and 1.0 mm. In order to provide a structure for a connection of the spring element with the motor carrier, the sheet metal material has at least one connection area where the sheet metal material is folded such that two layers of sheet metal material are arranged vis-a-vis. A slot is provided in each of the layers such that the two slots are aligned (i.e. are at least partially congruent or overlapping in position and/or shape), and a connection extension of the spring element can be slid into the aligned slots in order to connect the spring element with the motor carrier. The spring element may comprise a motor connection portion by which the spring element is mounted at the movable motor part. The movable motor part may be connected at the motor carrier by means of at least two spring elements. The movable motor part may be mounted for linear vibratory motion, in particular for linear vibratory motion along an axis perpendicular to the extension plane of the spring element at rest. The motor may comprise more than one movable motor part.

The spring element may in particular be realized by a flat spring made from spring sheet metal, which shall not exclude that two or more layers of spring sheet metal are connected with each other to form the spring element.

One of the two layers of the connection area of the sheet metal material of the motor carrier may be closer (i.e. proximate) to the spring element and the other layer may then be farther away from (i.e. distal to) the spring element. In such embodiments, it is referred to the proximate layer and the distal layer of the folded connection area formed from the sheet metal material. It is contemplated that the slot in the proximate layer may at least in one region be smaller in width than the slot in the distal layer, in particular where the slot in the proximate layer may be smaller in width than the slot in the distal layer along its complete clamping length, i.e. the length that will get into contact with the connection extension of the spring element. In some embodiments, the slots each have a constant width and the width of the slot of the proximate layer is smaller than the width of the slot in the distal layer. In particular, the width of the slot in the proximate layer may be dimensioned so that a press fit between the connection extension of the spring element and the slot is established. And the slot in the distal layer may have a width dimensioned so that a transition fit is established between the connection extension of the spring element and the slot. The aligned slots may have a common opening at the folding edge, where the common opening may allow to slide an extension portion of the spring element into the pair of aligned slots. In some embodiments the common opening at the folding edge may comprise a chamfer that widens towards the folding edge to support sliding-in of the connection extension of the spring element into the aligned slots (e.g. in an automated process). The slot in the proximate layer may also have an opening in an edge opposite to the folding edge.

A gap may extend between the two vis-a-vis arranged layers of sheet metal material of the connection area, which gap may have a width in the range of between 0.005 mm to 5.0 mm, in particular in the range of between 0.01 mm to 2.0 mm and further in particular in the range of between 0.05 mm and 1.0 mm. This shall not exclude that in some embodiments the two layers abut against each other without any intentional gap.

The connection extension of the spring element may be held by clamping forces (i.e. friction forces) in the aligned slots. But the connection extension may in particular be fixedly secured at the sheet metal material, e.g. by means of welding or other connection technologies such as gluing, even though welding may be preferred for some motor applications. The fixation may be provided at the distal layer or at both layers. While it is contemplated that a gap may extend between the two layers of sheet metal material of the connection area, in some embodiments the two layers abut against each other and no intentional gap extends between the two layers. In particular in the latter case, the depth of the fixation (e.g. the welding depth) may extend from the distal layer through to the proximate layer.

The motor as proposed herein may be used in a personal care device, e.g. in an electric toothbrush, where the motor may be used for driving a drive shaft of the electric toothbrush.

Fig. 1 is an example depiction of a personal care device 1 that is here realized as an electrical toothbrush. The personal care device 1 has a head section 10 and a handle section 20. In the shown example, the head section 10 is detachably attached to the handle section 20 so that the head section 10 can essentially not move with respect to the handle section 20. The head section 10 comprises a treatment head 11, here realized as a brush head. The treatment head 11 is arranged for driven oscillatory rotational motion around an axis A as indicated by double arrow R. The oscillatory rotational motion may be driven by a motor in accordance with the present description. The personal care device 1 extends along a longitudinal direction 1.

Fig. 2 is a depiction of an example motor 100 in accordance with the present description. The motor 100 as shown has two movable motor parts, namely an armature 120 and a counter- oscillating mass 140. The first movable motor part 120 is mounted at a motor carrier 110 by means of two spring elements 121 and 122. The second movable motor part 140 is mounted at the motor carrier 110 by means of two spring elements 141 and 142. It shall be understood that a motor as proposed only needs to have a single movable motor part and that a movable motor part can also be mounted at the motor carrier by means of a single spring element. It shall also be understood that the counter-oscillating mass 140, even so not actively driven into motion, but passively excited into a motion by the vibrations of the motor carrier 110, is a movable motor part within the meaning of the present application. It is here noted that the terms“first” and “second” with respect to the movable motor parts shall not convey any particular meaning other than to say that the shown example has two movable motor parts. In some embodiments, the armature may not be mounted as proposed herein, but only the counter-oscillating mass may be respectively mounted. Then the counter-oscillating mass would the first (or only) movable motor part that is mounted in a manner as described herein. This may also be true the other way around.

The motor carrier 110 is made from a sheet metal material 1100 that may have been stamped and bent (laser cutting or similar techniques may be used as well instead of stamping). Fig. 3 shows an example motor carrier 110A made from stamped (or laser cut) and bent sheet metal material. Two stabilization elements 111 and 112 are fixedly secured at two opposing longitudinal ends of the motor carrier 110. A drive shaft 150 is attached to the armature or first movable motor part 120. A stator 130 comprises a coil 131 at which an alternating current is applied in operation so that the armature 120 that carries here two permanent magnets 128 and 129 is driven into a linear vibratory motion as indicated by double arrow M. The concept of a driven spring-mass type of motor that is excited at a drive frequency close to or at the resonance frequency of the spring- mass component is widely known by a person skilled in the art and is not further elaborated here.

In the shown example motor 100, the second movable motor part 140 is mounted at the motor carrier by means of the two spring elements 141 and 142, where the spring elements 141 and 142 each have a connection extension 1411 and 1421, respectively. The connection extension 1411 of spring element 141 extends into aligned slots 1151 of a folded connection area 115 of the sheet metal material 1100 of the motor carrier 110. The connection extension 1421 of spring element 142 extends into aligned slots 1152 of the folded connection area 115. In the folded connection area 150, two layers of the sheet metal material 1100 are arranged vis-a-vis so that a strong and good coupling between spring element and motor carrier is enabled as will be explained in more detail further below.

Fig. 3 is a depiction of an example motor carrier 110A made from stamped and bent sheet metal material 1100A. The motor carrier 110A has two oppositely arranged connection areas 111A and 112A, where the sheet metal material 1100A is folded so that two layers of sheet metal material are arranged vis-a-vis. The connection areas 111A and 112A are geometrically identical but are mirrored and a folded portion of the sheet metal material 1100A is in both cases folded inwards of the motor carrier 110A. Similar to Fig. 2, a spring element will in an assembled state extend in between the two coupling areas 111A and 112A. Each of the coupling areas 111A and 112A has a layer of sheet metal material that faces inwards and thus will be proximate to the spring element, which are the proximate layers 113A and 115 A. Similarly, each coupling area 111A and 112A has also an outer layer of sheet metal material 1100A, which will be distal to the spring element and are thus the distal layers 114A and 116A. The proximate and distal layers 113A and 114A are connected by folding edge 1123 A and the proximal and distal layers 115A and 116A are connected by folding edge 1113A. The connection area 111A comprises two pairs of aligned slots 1111A and 1112A and the connection area 112A comprises two pairs of aligned slots 1121 A and 1122A. Each of the aligned pairs of slots 1121 A and 1122 A have a joint opening at the respective folding edge as is visible from Fig. 3.

Fig. 4A is a front view onto a first example embodiment of a motor 100B as proposed herein, the motor 100B having a movable motor part 140B that is mounted at a motor carrier 110B by means of a spring element 14 IB. A second spring element may be connected at the opposite end of movable motor part 140B. Like what was explained for the motor carrier 110A shown in Fig. 3, the motor carrier 110B has two connection areas 11 IB and 112B. Each connection area 11 IB and 112B comprises two layers of sheet metal material 1100B. The sheet metal material 1100B has here a thickness d that may lie in the previously mentioned ranges, in particular the thickness may be d = 0.15 mm. The connection area 111A comprises a proximal layer 115D and a distal layer 116D hat are connected by a folding edge 1113B. The two layers 115D and 116D are arranged at a distance that has a width g, which may be in the previously mentioned ranges, in particular the width may be g = 0.5 mm. The same holds for the opposite connection area 112B having two layers 113B and 114B that are connected by a folding edge 1123B of the sheet metal material 1100B. Again, the gap between the proximate layer 113B and the distal layer 114B may be g = 0.5 mm, but this shall not exclude that the two gaps have different values.

The spring element 14 IB, which is here realized as a flat spring at rest, has two spring arms 142 IB and 1422B that extend from a central connection portion 145B at which the movable motor part 140B is connected with the spring element 14 IB. Each of the spring arms 142 IB and 1422B turn around the center connection portion 145B by an amount of about 270 degrees. Each of the spring arms 1421B and 1422B ends in a connection extension 141 IB and 1412B, respectively, which are arranged in aligned slots in the connection areas 11 IB and 112B, respectively. The motor carrier 110B may have the form and shape of the motor carrier 110A as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 4B is a perspective view onto the first example motor 100B. In this view another spring element 142B is used to connect the moving motor part 140B at the motor carrier 110B. Each of the connection areas 11 IB and 112B comprises here two pairs of aligned slots of which aligned slots 1112B, 112 IB, and 1122B are visible. The aligned pair of slots 1112B in connection area 111A comprises slots 1112 IB and 11122B that are arranged in the distal and the proximate layer of the connection area 111A, respectively. The aligned pair of slots 1122B in connection area 112A comprises slots 1122 IB and 11222B that are arranged in the distal and the proximate layer of the connection area 112A, respectively. Connection extension 141 IB of the spring element 14 IB is disposed in the aligned pair of slots 1112B and connection extension 1412B of the spring element 141B is disposed in aligned pair of slots 1122B. It can also be seen that a connection extension 1422 of the other spring element 142B is disposed in the aligned pair of slots 1121B.

Figs. 5A and 5B are a perspective of and a front view onto a second example embodiment of a motor lOOC in accordance with the present disclosure. A movable motor part 120C is mounted at a motor carrier 1 IOC by means of spring elements 121C and 122C. Only spring element 121C will be further discussed in detail. Spring element 122C is mounted in a similar manner. In some embodiments, the first example embodiment and the second example embodiment have a joint motor carrier, i.e. the carriers 110B and 1 IOC are joined to a single carrier so that a motor similar with the motor 100 shown in Fig. 2 results. Spring element 121C has a single spring arm 128C that has a central connection portion 125C where the spring element 121C is fixed at the movable motor part 120C by means of splayed extensions 1201C and 1202C. The spring arms 128C turns around the center connection portion by about 360 degrees. A first connection extension 1211C connects the spring arm 128C at about 270 degree at a connection area 114C of the motor carrier 1 IOC. A second connection extension 1212C of the spring arm is arranged at about 360 degrees and connects the spring arm 121C with a bottom layer 117C of the motor carrier 1 IOC. The connection extension 1212C may by welded into a slot 119C provided in the bottom layer 117C. The connection area 114C comprises two layers of sheet metal material 1 lOOC, namely a distal layer 111C and a proximate layer 112C, where the two layers 111C and 112C are arranged to abut against each other so that no gap extends between the two layers 111C and 112C. 'The two layers comprise a pair of aligned slots 116C. The structure of the connection area 114C is in a more general manner explained with reference to Fig. 6 further below and it is referred to this part of the description.

One difference between the first example embodiment of Figs. 4 A and 4B and the second example embodiment shown in Figs. 5A and 5B is that in the second example embodiment the two layers 111C and 112C of sheet metal material 1 lOOC are arranged without a gap. In such an embodiment, the fixation of the connection extension 1211C at the distal layer 111C by, e.g., welding may lead to a fixation depth that extends beyond the thickness of the distal layer 111C. As indicated in Fig. 5 B, the fixation depth df may extend through to the proximate layer and is then thicker than the thickness d of the sheet metal material 1 lOOC (where the thickness d is defined with reference to Fig. 4A).

It is a common aspect of the shown embodiments and of the proposed motor in general that the fixation (e.g. welding) of the connection extension of the spring element at the motor carrier is done at the distal layer, where the width of the slot is somewhat wider than the width of the slot in the proximate layer. Independent from the precise realization, such a design tends to improve the fatigue limit of the fixation, i.e. the amplitude of cyclic stress that be applied to the connection without causing fatigue failure. The clamping at two layers leads to essentially a 2- point suspension, where the proximate clamping tends to suppress torsion stress on the welding seam at the distal layer. The folded connection area overall increases the stiffness of the motor carrier and thus tends to suppress vibrations and associated noise. Also, as becomes obvious, the number of needed components is low. No additional rivets are needed. In a motor as shown, the amplitude of movement in the longitudinal direction may be in the order of ±1.0 mm at a frequency of about 150 Hz. The chosen design also assures a relatively stiff fixation, which tends to ensure that the effective spring length (i.e. the spring constant) is relative precisely defined. As was already mentioned, the chamfered joint opening of the aligned slots facilitates the sliding of the connection extension into the aligned slots, hence it facilitates automatic assembly.

Fig. 6 is a detail depiction of a portion of a motor carrier 110D made from sheet metal material 1100D that comprises an example connection area 114D. The connection area 114D comprises two layers 11 ID and 112D of sheet metal material 1100D. For sake of continuity, the layer 11 ID is here referred as the distal layer and the layer 112D is referred to as the proximate layer. A folding edge 115D of the motor carrier 110D connects the distal and proximate layers 11 ID and 112D. An aligned pair of slots 116D is provided in the connection area 114D. The aligned pair of slots 116D comprises a slot 116 ID in the distal layer 11 ID and a slot 1162D in the proximate layer 112D. The aligned pair of slots 116D has a joint opening at the folding edge 115D. At the level of the folding edge 115D, the joint opening 1163D is larger in width than each of the slots 1161D and 1162D. The joint opening 1163D comprises a chamfer 1165D so that sliding of a connection extension of a spring element into the pair of aligned slots 116D is facilitated. The slot 1161D in the distal layer 11 ID has a width W2 that is larger than the width wi of the slot 1162D in the proximate layer 112D. The effective clamping length of the pair of aligned slots 116D is s. The slot 1162D in the proximate layer 112D has also an opening 1162 ID at a free edge 118D of the proximate layer 112D, which free layer 118D lies opposite the folding edge 115D. As was mentioned before, the width W2 of the slot 1162D may be dimensioned so that a press fit with a connection extension of a spring element is established. In the shown design, the slot 1162D has a somewhat larger elasticity to deform under applied forces than a shaft/bore pair for which a press fit is usually defined - this shall not limit the definition of a press fit under the given circumstances, i.e. the mentioned dimensions are treated as if they relate to a shaft and a bore that shall establish a press fit. The width wi of the slot 1161D is dimensioned so that a transition fit is realized with respect to the connection extension of the spring element. By the given design the proximate layer 112D separates into two wings 112 ID and 1122D that are arranged at the sides of the slot 1162D. The width of the wings 1121D and 1122D may be identical and may be given by b, where b may be in a range of between 1.0 mm and 50.0 mm.

The height of the wings between folding edge 115D and free edge 118D is given by 1, where 1 may be in a range of between 1.0 mm and 30.0 mm. The given ranges shall not be understood as limiting. Other dimensions may be chosen as well in accordance with the needs of the individual case. The dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Instead, 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.”