Oral – B AdvancePower 400 Redesign

Kevin Bakey

Anthony Deller

Robert Peason

Nicholas Rossi

Design Activities

•Assessed Customer Needs

•Composed and conducted a survey–Evaluated and weighed needs

•Research and Outside Analysis–Conducted tests on the Oral-B AdvancePower 400 in order to gather various metrics, such as noise, power, and battery usage

–Disassembled the toothbrush in order to separate all the components and understand the inner workings

–Examined currently existing patents to understand current brush technology in order to aid our design

–Reviewed the history of toothbrushes to see what has been done and what works.

–Compared the AdvancePower 400 against other electric brushes currently in the market

•Generated initial concepts–Focused on the four aspects of an electric toothbrush: form, function, brush head design, and power generation, creating several designs for each aspect

–Compiled all the designs into a morphological chart, and selected complete concepts with Pugh charts

•Finalized complete design–Perfected one of the generated concepts, and developed it using drawing and functional explanation.

Project management

Our project followed a strict schedule of tasks to be completed, which were set by our project goals and needs. Time and necessary tasks were managed by using:

•Calendars to see where each task falls, and when deadlines need to be met

•Design Structure Matrices to illustrate which tasks rely on each other

•Activity Networks which created paths that our workflow must follow in order to complete our project on time.

•Gantt Charts to provide a timeline which compiles all the tasks together, and show how long is left for our next task

Our Design Structure Matrix

Customer needs

By examining our customer surveys, we were able to compile a hierarchal list displaying the weight and importance of each aspect

Hierarchal Customer Needs List

Using this information, we were able to revise our problem statement and focus on the most important aspects to consider during our redesign.

In our new problem statement, we determined that the most important design goal was to create a low cost, clean toothbrush. We figured that such can be achieved by lowering the amount of maintenance required for the product. This focused our design on introducing a charging stand and longer lasting brush heads.

External Search

In order to best utilize our project time, we conducted a search into electric toothbrush technology which currently exists. We achieved this by

•Examining and testing the Oral-B AdvancePower 400 which we sought to redesign. We measured the Noise, Power and Battery Life of the brush, and dismantled the device to observe and catalogue all the components. We then composed a Bill of Materials and Assembly Hierarchy.

•Conducting a patent search to compile a function art matrix of patent usage in order to see which designs currently fulfill functionality we may intend to implement, as well as guide in our own design

•Investigating the product archaeology of toothbrushes throughout the ages. This allowed us to understand what has been used in the past, and the rationale behind such designs, further guiding our own design.

•Benchmarking other toothbrushes on the market and comparing them against each other. This granted us a wider perspective of the electric toothbrush market and allowed us to gauge how well our design would stand up.

Benchmarking table

Concepts

The following concepts are generated for one of four categories, form, function, brush design and power generation. We will use some of these concepts in out final design

Concepts

Form

Easily removable battery cap

Ergonomic body design

On/Off switch – Rather than a button for

activation, the brush will be turned on and off with a

switch

Curved handle – This design would help get into the difficult to reach parts of the mouth, as well as

reach behind teeth

Concepts

Form

Tactile Sensor

A digital display to show how long the brush has

been in use

Concepts

Function

Oscillating motor with gears – Oscillates the

brush head

Rotating motor with gears – rotates brush

head

Oscillating motor with piston –

creates up and down bristle motion

Concepts

Function

Small motor is housed in the brush head, reducing body size

Piezoelectric material creates vibration

An off-center plate on the motor to vibrate the

entire brush body.

Concepts

Brush Head Design

Cup shaped bristles to clean individual teeth

Rubber cleaning pad to scrub gums, cheek

and tongue

Additional bristles beneath the moving

bristles

Concepts

Brush Head Design

Brush head is held onto the body with latches

An outer ring of bristles rotate opposite of the inner

ring

Rubber ridges between bristles to clean between teeth

Concepts

Power Generation

Brush is powered with two AA batteries

Brush plugs into a standard wall outletBrush is recharged by

spinning a hand crank on the side of the body

Concepts

Power Generation

Brush charges its battery through

inductive charging provided from a charging base

Brush plugs into a USB port, charging a

rechargeable battery

Brush charges through a charging stand, which

produces energy through solar panels

Morphological Chart

Morphological Chart continued

Criteria for Concept Selection

The following criteria were used in judging our previous concepts against each other in our Pugh charts

•Cost – How much the feature would add to the price of the product

•Sanitation – How clean the feature keeps the product/How susceptible the feature makes the product to grime

•Durability – How resistant the feature is to failure

•Effectiveness – How well the feature completes its intended task

•Sustainability – How well the feature can be implemented continuously without harm to future production

•Quietness – How quiet the feature is

Pugh Charts

Form

Pugh Charts

Form

The curved handle ranked first under both comparisons

Pugh Charts

FunctionFunction

Pugh Charts

Function

Including a small motor in the brush head ranked first in both comparisons

Pugh Charts

Brush Head Design

Pugh Charts

Brush Head Design

The cheek and tongue cleaning pad ranked first under both comparisons

Pugh Charts

Power Generation

Pugh Charts

Power Generation

The recharging stand ranked first under both comparisons

Final Design

Of our originally conceptualized features, our final design includes:

•Curved Handle

•Tactile Sensor

•The motor housed in the brush head

•Cheek and Tongue Cleaner

•Additional bristles below the brush head

•Rubber Teeth-Cleaning Ridges

•Recharging Station

Final Design

Body

Final Design

Charging Base

Final Design

Brush Head

Final Design

Complete Product

Final Design

How does it work?

Each change to the original design offers the brush a particular new function or advantage

•Curved Handle – The curved handle allows the brush head to fit into the back areas of the mouth, thereby cleaning the teeth and overall mouth more thoroughly and effectively

•Tactile Sensor – The tactile sensor ring which circles near the top half of the body uses the body heat from the user’s hand in order to complete the circuit to the motor and allow the brush to run. Upon releasing the brush, the tactile sensor no longer completes the circuit and the brush turns off.

–This is a more intuitive way to turn the brush on and off, and costs approximately as much as a standard button to implement.

•The motor housed in the brush head – The motor housed in the brush head will rotate the brush a full 360 degrees, cleaning the teeth more and evenly using the brush. The brush head will have two nodes on the bottom which connect the power source housed in the body to the motor housed in the head.

–This setup allows for more free room in the body, and removes moving parts from the brush head, allowing it to last longer

Final Design

How does it work?

•Cheek and Tongue Cleaner – A small rubber pad with grooves sits on the back of the brush head to clean the mouth and gums as the user brushes their teeth.

•Additional bristles below the head – These extra bristles clean the edges of the teeth which the rotating brush head may not get.

•Rubber Teeth-Cleaning Ridges – These ridges which lie between the additional bristles clean between the teeth for a more thorough cleaning.

•Recharging Station – The recharging station is a small cup-like object which the toothbrush fits into. Upon setting the brush into the recharging station, metal coils within the two objects inductively charge the lithium battery, which is wired to the tactile sensor. The recharging station itself plugs into a standard 120 volt US wall outlet

–This rechargeable system eliminates the need for AA batteries, creating a more sustainable design. Additionally, this eliminates the need for battery sockets, which have a propensity for accumulating grime.

And that’s our design!

Play us out, Kevin