WO2009041750A1

WO2009041750A1 - Oral irrigator

Info

Publication number: WO2009041750A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/006344
Authority: WO
Inventors: Young-Soo Moon
Original assignee: Young-Soo Moon
Priority date: 2007-09-28
Filing date: 2007-12-07
Publication date: 2009-04-02

Abstract

Provided is an improved oral irrigator capable of injecting water after cleanly filtering the water. The oral irrigator includes: a housing having an inlet port for introducing raw water and an outlet port for discharging the introduced raw water; a filter installed in the housing to filter the raw water; a nozzle detachably coupled to the housing, in communication with the outlet port, and having a nozzle part to inject purified water filtered by the filter; and a valve coupled to the nozzle to control injection of the purified water.

Description

ORAL IRRIGATOR

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to an oral irrigator, and more particularly, to an oral irrigator used to clean the oral cavity by injecting a narrow and strong stream of water to gums, between teeth, and between teeth and gums in the oral cavity. Background Art

[2] With an increase in importance of hygiene, a cleaning device using water, for example, a bidet, an oral irrigating device, or the like, is widely used. In particular, the oral irrigating device is configured to strongly inject a stream of water to remove food remaining even after tooth brushing.

[3] The oral irrigating device is generally classified into a tap water direct-connection type directly connected to a water pipe or a hydrant, and a motor type injecting water stored in a water tank using a motor. In addition, the oral irrigating device may have an oral irrigator in both a tap water direct-connection type and a motor type. The oral irrigator include an introduction pipe, through which water is supplied from a water pipe, a hydrant, or a water tank, and a nozzle connected to the introduction pipe and injecting the introduced water. A valve is installed at the nozzle to control injection of water and to adjust pressure of the injected water. Therefore, a user can remove food remaining in the oral cavity by adjusting the valve while hand-gripping the oral irrigator and injecting water into the oral cavity in a state that the oral irrigator is connected to a water pipe or a water tank.

[4] However, since the oral irrigating device constituted as described above directly injects water supplied from the water pipe or hydrant or water stored in the water tank, when the supplied water or the stored water is contaminated, the contaminated water may negatively affect a human body through generation of a disease, and so on. In particular, in recent times, severe environmental pollution due to industrial development has increased the necessity of clean water injection. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[5] In order to solve the foregoing and/or other problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved oral irrigator capable of injecting water after cleanly filtering the water. Technical Solution

[6] One aspect of the present invention provides an oral irrigator including: a housing having an inlet port for introducing raw water and an outlet port for discharging the in- troduced raw water; a filter installed in the housing to filter the raw water; a nozzle de- tachably coupled to the housing, in communication with the outlet port, and having a nozzle part to inject purified water filtered by the filter; and a valve coupled to the nozzle to control injection of the purified water.

Advantageous Effects [7] In accordance with the present invention, since the water filtered from raw water can be injected, it is possible to more cleanly maintain and manage the oral cavity. In addition, when performance of a filter is decreased, the filter can be readily exchanged.

Further, even though the oral irrigator in accordance with the present invention is coupled to a conventional motor type oral irrigating device, it is possible to filter raw water stored in a water tank and clean the oral cavity.

Description of Drawings [8] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: [9] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an oral irrigator in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[10] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the oral irrigator shown in FIG. 1;

[11] FIG. 3 A is a partial cross-sectional view of an oral irrigator in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[12] FIG. 3B is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line III- III of FIG. 3A;

[13] FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of an oral irrigator in accordance with a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention; [14] FIG. 5 is a partial enlarged view of a movable member located at a second position, shown in FIG. 4;

[15] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 5;

[16] FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of an oral irrigator in accordance with a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and [17] FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of an oral irrigator in accordance with a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Mode for Invention [18] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. [19] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an oral irrigator 100 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, used for cleaning the oral irrigator, is directly connected to a water pipe or a hydrant to be used as a tap water direct-connection type, or connected to a water tank, in which raw water is stored, to be used as a motor type. The oral irrigator 100 includes a housing 10, a filter 20, a nozzle 30, and a valve 40.

[20] The housing 10 is detachably coupled to an introduction pipe 50, through which raw water is supplied, in a threaded manner. That is, a male thread is formed on an outer periphery of a projection 11 formed at one end of the housing 10, and a female thread 51 is formed on an inner periphery of the introduction pipe 50 to be threadedly engaged with the male thread formed on the projection 11. Here, a fluid passage 52 is formed in the introduction pipe 50 to introduce the raw water. In addition, the introduction pipe 50 is connected to a hose 60 by a fitting 53 so that the fluid passage 52 of the introduction pipe 50 is in communication with the hose 60.

[21] A projection 12 is also formed at the other end of the housing 10, and a male thread is also formed on an outer periphery of the projection 12 of the housing 10. In addition, an inlet port 111 and an outlet port 121 passing through the projections 11 and 12 are formed at both ends of the housing 10. Further, the inlet port 111 and the outlet port 121 are in communication with each other through a space formed in the housing 10. The inlet port 111 is in communication with the fluid passage 52 of the introduction pipe 50. Therefore, the raw water introduced through the inlet port 111 can be discharged through the outlet port 121.

[22] The filter 20 is installed in a space formed in the housing 10. Since the filter 20 is disposed on a discharge path of the raw water, the raw water introduced through the inlet port 111 is filtered by the filter 20 and then discharged through the outlet port 121. While the filter 20 may be installed to filter all impurities like a filter of a water purifier used in a kitchen, the filter 20 may be configured to remove chlorine in consideration of cleaning of the oral cavity, serious harm to a human body, and economic efficiency. In order to remove chlorine, the filter may include an active carbon fiber layer, a calcium sulfite layer, and so on.

[23] The nozzle 30 is detachably coupled to the housing 10, and includes a nozzle main body 31 and a pipe member 32.

[24] The nozzle main body 31 is threadedly coupled to the housing 10. That is, the nozzle main body 31 has a female thread 311 engaged with a male thread formed at the projection 12 of the housing. In addition, the nozzle main body 31 has a fluid passage 312 in communication with the outlet port 121.

[25] The pipe member 32 is detachably coupled to the nozzle main body 31. That is, a projection 321 formed at the pipe member 32 is inserted into and separated from a groove 313 formed at the nozzle main body 31 so that the pipe member 32 can be detachably coupled to the nozzle main body 31. The pipe member 32 has a nozzle part 322 in communication with the fluid passage 312 of the nozzle main body 31. The nozzle part 322 is a passage for injecting purified water filtered by the filter 20 and supplied through the fluid passage 312 of the nozzle main body 31. [26] The valve 40 is coupled to the nozzle main body 31 of the nozzle to control discharge of the filtered raw water through the nozzle part 322. The valve 40 controls injection of the purified water and injection pressure of the purified water. In addition, since the structure of the valve 40 is already known, a detailed description of the structure of the valve 40 will be omitted.

[27] Meanwhile, sealing members, such as an O-ring, may be installed between the introduction pipe and the housing and between the housing and the nozzle main body to prevent leakage of water.

[28] In the oral irrigator 100 constituted as described above, the raw water supplied through the hose is filtered by the filter 20 and then injected through the nozzle part 322. Therefore, even though contaminated raw water is supplied from a water pipe, a hydrant, or a water tank, it is possible to more cleanly maintain and manage the oral cavity by injecting the filtered water, not the contaminated raw water.

[29] In addition, since the filter of the embodiment is detachably coupled to the nozzle and the introduction pipe, the filter may be readily exchanged whenever performance of the filter is decreased.

[30] Further, even though the oral irrigator in accordance with the present invention is coupled to the conventional motor type oral irrigating device, it is possible to filter raw water stored in the water tank and clean the oral cavity using the filtered raw water, without separate structural improvement.

[31] While the nozzle main body of the embodiment is separately configured from the pipe member, the nozzle main body may be integrally formed with the pipe member.

[32] In addition, while the housing is configured to be separated from the introduction pipe, the housing may be integrally formed with the introduction pipe.

[33] Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, an oral irrigator of a second embodiment is similar to the oral irrigator of the first embodiment, except for a coupling structure of the housing and the nozzle of the oral irrigator. Hereinafter, the coupling structure will be described. In addition, like reference numerals designate like elements in the first embodiment, and elements different to the first embodiment but corresponding thereto are designated by adding 'a' after the reference numerals.

[34] In an oral irrigator 100a of the second embodiment, coupling means is configured to couple a housing 10a to a nozzle main body 31a of a nozzle, and includes a concave part 71, a coupling groove 72, a coupling member 73, and an elastic member 74.

[35] A projection 12a of the housing 10a is inserted into the concave part 71. The concave part 71 is concavely formed in a direction of inserting the projection 12a into the nozzle main body 31a. In contrast to the first embodiment, the projection 12a has no male thread formed on an outer periphery thereof.

[36] The coupling groove 72 is formed at an inner surface of the concave part 71 and concaved in a diameter direction of the concave part 71. One side of the coupling groove 72 is connected to the inner surface of the concave part 71 by a smoothly curved surface 721 having a large radius of curvature.

[37] The coupling member 73 is inserted into an installation groove 122 formed at the projection 12a, and can be straightly moved in a diameter direction of the coupling groove 72 by a length corresponding to a depth of the installation groove 122. In addition, the coupling member 73 is stopped by a stopper member 75 coupled to the projection 12a to prevent separation of the coupling member 73 from the installation groove 122.

[38] The coupling member 73 can be straightly moved between an insertion position shown as a solid line in FIG. 3A and a separation position shown as an imaginary line in FIG. 3A. In the insertion position, the coupling member 73 projects from an outer periphery of the projection 12a and is inserted into the coupling groove 72. In the separation position, the coupling member 73 is extracted from the insertion position to be separated from the coupling groove 72.

[39] The elastic member 74 is installed in the installation groove 122 to elastically bias the coupling member 73 toward the insertion position. The elastic member 74 is in contact with the inner surface of the installation groove 122 at its one side, and in contact with the coupling member 73 at the other end.

[40] In the oral irrigator 100a constituted as described above, when the projection 12a of the housing is inserted into the concave part 71 of the nozzle main body, the coupling member 73 is pushed by the inner surface of the concave part 71 to overcome an elastic force of the elastic member 74, and then inserted into the concave part at the separation position. Then, as soon as the inserted coupling member 73 is located at a position shown as an imaginary line in FIG. 3A, the coupling member 73 projects by the elastic force of the elastic member 74 to be inserted into the coupling groove 72. As described above, the coupling member 73 is inserted into the coupling groove 72 to couple the housing 10a to the nozzle main body 31a.

[41] Meanwhile, when a user intends to separate the housing 10a, the user can simply rotate the housing 10a to an appropriate angle to separate the housing 10a in a reverse direction of the coupling direction. In this separation process, the coupling member 73 is pressed by the curved surface 721 and thus automatically moved to a separation position to be separated as shown as an imaginary line in FIG. 3B.

[42] Referring to FIGS. 4 to 6, an oral irrigator 100b of a third embodiment is also similar to the oral irrigator 100 of the first embodiment, except for an injection direction of purified water. Hereinafter, modified structure of the injection direction will be described. In addition, like reference numerals designate like elements in the first embodiment, and elements different to the first embodiment but corresponding thereto are designated by adding 'b' after the reference numerals.

[43] In the oral irrigator 100b of the third embodiment, an ejection part 314 is further formed in a nozzle main body 31b. A center axis direction of the ejection part 314 is perpendicular to a center axis direction of a fluid passage 312 of the nozzle main body, as shown in FIG. 6. In addition, the ejection part 314 has a larger diameter than a nozzle part 322. Further, the ejection part 314 is in communication with the fluid passage 312 of the nozzle main body. Therefore, the purified water supplied into the fluid passage 312 can be ejected through the ejection part 314.

[44] In addition, the oral irrigator 100b further includes a movable member 81, an elastic member 82, and a push member 83.

[45] The movable member 81 has a cylinder shape. The movable member 81 has a first fluid passage 811 and a second fluid passage 812 separated from each other. The first fluid passage 811 and the second fluid passage 812 are formed to pass through an outer surface of the movable member 81. The first fluid passage 811 has a straight shape, and the second fluid passage 812 has a right-angled shape.

[46] The movable member 81 is straightly movably installed in the nozzle main body 31b in a direction perpendicular to a center axis direction of the fluid passage 312 formed at the nozzle main body 31b. In particular, the movable member 81 is movably installed in a straight direction between a first position and a second position. In the first position, as shown in FIG. 4, an outlet port 121 is in communication with a nozzle part 321 through the first fluid passage 811. In the second position, as shown in FIG. 5, the outlet port 121 is in communication with the ejection part 314 through the second fluid passage 812.

[47] The elastic member 82 elastically biases the movable member 81 toward the first position. The elastic member 82 is installed to be in contact with an inner surface of the nozzle main body 31b at its one side, and in contact with the movable member 81 at the other side.

[48] The push member 83 is inserted into the nozzle main body 31b to be fixed to the movable member 81 at its one side and project from the nozzle main body 31b at the other side. Therefore, in a state that a user does not push the push member 83, as shown in FIG. 4, the movable member 81 is automatically located at the first position by an elastic force of the elastic member 82 so that the outlet port 121 is in communication with the nozzle part 322 through the first fluid passage 811. Meanwhile, when the user pushes the push member 83, since the movable member 81 moves to the second position by overcoming the elastic force of the elastic member 82 as shown in FIG 5, the outlet port 121 is in communication with the ejection part 314 through the second fluid passage 812. As described above, the user can selectively position the movable member 81 between the first position and the second position by pushing the push member 83 or not.

[49] As described above, in this embodiment, purified water can be injected or ejected through the nozzle part 322 or the ejection part 314. In particular, when the ejection part 314 has a larger diameter than the nozzle part 322, pressure of the purified water ejected through the ejection part 314 can be reduced to increase an amount of the purified water. Therefore, the purified water injected through the nozzle part 322 can be used for cleaning the gums and teeth, and the purified water ejected through the ejection part 314 can be used for other purposes such as tooth brushing or face washing.

[50] Referring to FIG. 7, an oral irrigator 100c of a fourth embodiment is similar to the oral irrigator of the third embodiment, except that a pair of push members 83 are installed, instead of the elastic member. In addition, like reference numerals designate like elements in the third embodiment, and elements different to the third embodiment but corresponding thereto are designated by adding 'c' after the reference numerals.

[51] That is, in this embodiment, the pair of push members 83 are fixed to one side and the other side of the movable member 81, respectively. In addition, each push member 83 projects from a nozzle main body 31c. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, when the push member 83 disposed over the nozzle main body 31c is pushed in a state that the movable member 81 is located at a first position, the movable member 81 can be located at a second position as shown in FIG. 8. Further, when the push member 83 disposed under the nozzle main body 31c is pushed in the state shown in FIG. 8, the movable member 81 can be located again at the first position.

[52] Referring to FIG. 8, an oral irrigator lOOd of a fifth embodiment is also similar to the oral irrigator 100 of the first embodiment, except that a case 90 is further comprised. Hereinafter, the case-added structure will be described. In addition, like reference numerals designate like elements in the first embodiment, and elements different to the first embodiment but corresponding thereto are designated by adding 'd' after the reference numerals.

[53] In the oral irrigator lOOd of the fifth embodiment, in contrast to the first embodiment, a housing 1Od has no projection and no male thread. In addition, an inlet port 111 and an outlet port 121 are formed at both sides of the housing 1Od. Further, in contrast to the first embodiment, an introduction pipe is integrally formed with a case 90, not separately formed therefrom.

[54] The case 90 is threadedly engaged with a nozzle main body 3 Id. That is, the case 90 has a female thread 91, and the nozzle main body 3 Id has a male thread 314 engaged with the female thread 91 of the case 90. The case 90 has an insertion space part 92 and an inlet hole 93.

[55] The insertion space part 92 is formed in the case 90 and has an open part at its one side. The housing 1Od is inserted into the open part of the insertion space part 92. In addition, the inserted housing 1Od can be separated from the insertion space part 92 in a reverse direction of the insertion direction.

[56] The inlet hole 93 is in communication with the inlet port 111 of the housing 1Od. In addition, the inlet hole 93 is connected to a hose 60 by a fitting 53. Therefore, raw water supplied through the hose 60 is introduced into a filter 20 through the inlet hole 93.

[57] As described above, in the oral irrigator lOOd of the fifth embodiment, since the housing 1Od accommodating the filter 20 is inserted into the insertion space part 92 of the case 90, it is possible to reduce the length of the oral irrigator lOOd in comparison with the oral irrigator 100 described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In addition, by simply exchanging the housing 1Od accommodating the filter 20, the filter 20 having lowered performance can be readily exchanged. Therefore, the oral irrigator lOOd can be semi-permanently used.

[58] While exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

[ 1 ] An oral irrigator comprising: a housing having an inlet port for introducing raw water and an outlet port for discharging the introduced raw water; a filter installed in the housing to filter the raw water; a nozzle detachably coupled to the housing, in communication with the outlet port, and having a nozzle part to inject purified water filtered by the filter; and a valve coupled to the nozzle to control injection of the purified water.

[2] The oral irrigator according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle and the housing are detachably coupled to each other in a threaded manner.

[3] The oral irrigator according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle has an ejection part in communication with the outlet port to eject the purified water, further comprising a movable member having a first fluid passage and a second fluid passage separated from each other, and coupled to the nozzle to be selectively positioned between a first position in which the outlet port is in communication with the nozzle part through the first fluid passage and a second position in which the outlet port is in communication with the ejection part through the second fluid passage.

[4] The oral irrigator according to claim 3, further comprising an elastic member for elastically biasing the movable member toward the first position.

[5] The oral irrigator according to claim 1, wherein any one of the housing and the nozzle has a projection, and the other of the housing and the nozzle has a concave part into which the projection is inserted, and a coupling groove concaved toward an inner surface of the concave part, further comprising: a coupling member coupled to the projection to be straightly movable between an insertion position in which the coupling member is inserted into the coupling groove and a separation position in which the coupling member is separated from the coupling groove; and an elastic member for elastically biasing the coupling member toward the insertion position.

[6] The oral irrigator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the nozzle comprises: a nozzle main body coupled to the valve; and a pipe member coupled to the nozzle main body and at which the nozzle part is formed.

[7] The oral irrigator according to claim 1, further comprising a case detachably coupled to the nozzle, having an insertion space part with an open side into which the housing is inserted and, and having an inlet hole in communication with the inlet port of the housing and through which the raw water is introduced, wherein the housing is inserted into and separated from the case through one side of the insertion space part.