Travel Toothbrush TakeoverDan Borden

Alli DiNataleArielle Green

David Martino10/7/11

Outline1. Introduction2. Customer Needs3.Revised Problem Statement4. External Search5. Concept Generation6. Concept Selection7. Conclusion

Project ManagementOur management strategy was to divvy out

jobs along the wayFor the planning phases, Dan became our

patent searcher, Arielle and Alli were pivotal in our internet research and putting together the morph and Pugh charts, while I put together the original outline.

After we picked a design from our Pugh charts it was time to design. Dan was our solid works man, Arielle and Alli further perfected the outline while I worked on the presentation.

Hierarchy of needs and Problem statement Statement: Our task is to design a travel friendly electric toothbrush. That

means it will be compact, light and durable.

1. Travel Friendly (0.32, 0.32) 1.1 Size (0.16, 0.5) 1.2 Collapsible (0.02, 0.063) 1.3 Light Weight (0.14, 0.437) 2. User friendly (0.64, 0.64) 2.1 Low Noise (0.04, 0.063) 2.2 Ease of Operation (0.14, 0.219) F.1 Long enough neck to reach back teeth F.2 Grip is comfortable for all grip types 2.3 Easy Maintenance (0.12, 0.188) F.3 Head changes easily F.4 Water doesn’t get inside and grow stuff F.5 Solid piece so easy to clean 2.4 Durable (0.14, 0.219) 2.5 Cleans teeth well (0.11, 0.172) 2.6 Long Battery Life (0.09, 0.141) 3. Retails under $40 (0.04, 0.04)

External SearchWe did patent searches on our product, bench marking,

and literature review of customer’s critiques on competitive products.

Using the internet, we looked up design features of competitive toothbrushes.

Also looked at customer reviews of similar products, thereby pulling our design ideas from an effectively larger customer base. For example, one of the biggest complaints customers had

about competitive brand toothbrushes was the fast battery usage. Using this information, we made power supply a large focus of design, the priority being to remove the need of replacing batteries and carrying around chargers.

Concept GenerationWe had quite a few concepts in each of the 4

categories of the toothbrush redesign:1)Power Generation2)Body Design3)Brush Head4)Energy Mechanism

Listed on the next slides are our top 2 contenders in each category of the redsign.

Power Generation1) A rechargable battery pack within the brush that was charged via USBUSB can be charged using a computer which means it can be taken around the world and plugged into a laptop no problem, an excellent solution for business people.

2) A kinetic charge mechanism. A hand pump recharges the battery pack. On the other hand the kinetic charge has an even broader market, it can be used by anyone from a suit and tie business traveler to a shorts and Tee Peace Corp volunteer.

Also this is the environmentally friendly option that is a big market pull nowadays

Body Design1) A solid body piece that is made of hard plastic. Easy to clean and very durable

2) Two pieces that separate for smaller storage. Felt this might get grimy and slimy in between the two pieces and they could get loss from one another. Also this design made it difficult to accommodate our kinetic mechanism.

Energy Mechanism1) A motor with a shorter spin stick (transfers motion from the motor to brush head)

2)Cam and gear motion used for a sonic tooth brush. Sonic tooth brush requires a lot of power so if we wanted to use the kinetic charge it would require a second 3 volt battery and a larger kinetic charge mechanism to charge the battery in the same amount of time. This would make the design too big and awkward to hold when brushing.

Brush Head1) A pivoting with a moving bottom would require more power to make both brush head move so again we wanted to be conscious of the required power to operate the toothbrush with our kinetic charger.

2) Pivoting head, was a simple interior mechanism to create the motion and we felt the scraping back and forth was very good at removing the grime. It also makes the brush smaller and lighter.

Morph Chart

Criteria for Selection 

A= SizeB=Weight

C= DurabilityD= Low Noise

E=Retails under $40

F= Ease of OperationG=Easy

MaintenanceH= Collapsible I= Cleans Teeth

WellJ= Long battery

Life

Pugh Charts: AlliBrush Head Size

(0.16)Weight (0.14)

Retail under $40 (.04)

Cleans Teeth Well (0.11)

Sum Rank

Concept 1* 0 0 0 0 0 5Concept 2 1 1 0 0 0.3 2Concept 3 1 1 -1 1 0.35 1Concept 4 0 0 1 0 0.04 4concept 5 0 0 0 1 0.11 3

Body/Grip Size (0.16)

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Retail under$40 (.04)

Easy Maintenance (0.12)

Collapsible (0.02)

Sum Rank

Concept 1* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3Concept 2 -1 0 0 0 0 -1 -0.18 5Concept 3 0 1 -1 -1 -1 1 -0.14 4Concept 4 1 1 -1 -1 -1 1 0.02 2Concept 5 1 1 0 -1 1 0 0.38 1

Power Generation

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Low Noise (0.04)

Retail Under $40 (0.04)

Ease of Operation (0.14)

Easy Maintenance (0.12)

Long Battery Life (0.09)

Sum Rank

Concept 1* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3Concept 2 0 1 0 0 -1 1 1 0.21 1Concept 3 0 1 0 -1 -1 1 1 .17 2Concept 4 1 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -0.07 4

Energy Mechanism

Size (0.16) Weight (0.14) Sum Rank

Concept 1* 0 0 0 3Concept 2 -1 0 -0.16 4Concept 3 1 1 0.3 1Concept 4 1 0 .16 2

Pugh Charts: DavidTooth Brush

HeadSize

(0.16)Weight (0.14)

Retails Under $40 (0.04)

Cleans Teeth Well (0.11)

Sum Rank

Concept 1* 0 0 0 0 0 4Concept 2 1 1 1 1 0.45 1Concept 3 1 1 -1 1 0.41 2Concept 4 0 -1 -1 1 -0.07 5concept 5 0 0 0 1 0.11 3

Body/Grip Size (0.16)

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Retail Under $40

(0.04)

Easy Maintenance

(0.12)

Collapsible (0.02)

Sum Rank

Concept 1* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3Concept 2 -1 -1 1 -1 0 0 -0.2 5Concept 3 1 1 -1 0 -1 1 0.06 2Concept 4 1 0 -1 0 -1 1 -0.08 4Concept 5 1 1 0 0 1 0 0.42 1

Power Generation

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Low Noise (0.04)

Retail Under

$40 (0.04)

Ease of Operation

(0.14)

Easy Maintenance

(0.12)

Long Battery

Life (0.09)

Sum Rank

Concept 1 1 -1 0 1 0 -1 -1 -0.07 3

Concept 2* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2Concept 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.26 1

Concept 4 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 0 -0.62 4

Energy Mechanism

Size (0.16)

Weight (0.14)

Retails Under $40 (.04)

Collapsible (0.02)

Sum Rank

Concept 1 0 1 -1 1 0.08 2Concept 2* 0 0 0 0 0 3Concept 3 1 1 1 1 0.36 1Concept 4 -1 -1 -1 0 -0.34 4

Pugh Chart: DanTooth

Brush HeadSize (0.16) Weight

(0.14)Retails

Under $40 (.04)

Cleans Teeth Well (0.11)

Sum Rank

Concept 1* 0 0 0 0 0 4Concept 2 1 1 1 -1 0.59 1Concept 3 -1 -1 -1 1 -0.23 5Concept 4 0 0 -1 1 0.07 2concept 5 0 0 -1 1 0.07 3

Body/Grip Size(0.16)

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Retail Under $40 (0.04)

Easy Maintenance (.12)

Collapsible (0.02)

Sum Rank

Concept 1* -1 -1 1 -1 0 0 -0.2 3Concept 2 -1 -1 1 0 0 0 -0.16 2Concept 3 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 1 -0.26 5Concept 4 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 1 -0.26 4Concept 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Power Generation

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Low Noise (0.04)

Retail Under $40 (0.04)

Ease of Operation (0.14)

Easy Maintenance (0.12)

Long Battery Life (0.09)

Sum Rank

Concept 1 0 1 0 1 -1 -1 -1 -0.17 4Concept 2* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3Concept 3 0 0 0 -1 1 1 0 0.3 1Concept 4 -1 1 -1 -1 1 1 1 0.27 2

Energy Mechanism Size(0.16) Weight(0.14)

Sum Rank

Concept 1 1 -1 0.02 3Concept 2* 0 0 0 4Concept 3 1 1 0.3 1Concept 4 1 -1 0.02 2

Pugh Chart: ArielleBrush head

Size (0.16)

Weight (0.14)

Retails Under $40(0.04)

cleans teeth well (0.11)

Durability (0.14)

Low Noise (0.04)

Sum Rank

Concept 1 -1 1 1 1 -1 1 0.03 2Concept2 1 1 0 1 -1 1 0.31 1Concept 3* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3Concept 4 -1 -1 1 1 -1 -1 -0.33 5Concept 5 -1 1 -1 1 -1 1 -0.05 4

Body/grip Size (0.16)

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Retails under $40 (0.04)

Easy maintenance (0.12)

Collapsible (0.02)

Sum Rank

Concept 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0.46 1Concept 2 0 -1 1 -1 1 0 0.08 3Concept 3*

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

Concept 4 1 0 -1 -1 -1 1 -0.12 5Concept 5 0 1 -1 1 1 0 0.16 2

Power Generation

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Low Noise (0.04)

Retails Under $40 (0.04)

Ease of Operation (0.14)

Easy Maintenance (0.12)

Long Battery Life (0.09)

Sum Rank

Concept 1 1 0 0 1 1 -1 -1 0.11 1Concept 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.04 2Concept 3* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3Concept 4 1 -1 1 1 -1 1 -1 -0.03 4

Energy Mechanism

Size (0.16)

Weigh t(0.14)

Retails under $40 (0.04)

Sum Rank

Concept 1 -1 -1 1 -0.26 2Concept 2 -1 -1 0 -0.3 3Concept 3* 0 0 0 0 1Concept 4 -1 -1 -1 -0.32 4

Final Group Pugh ChartSize (0.16)

Weight (0.14)

Durability (0.14)

Low Noise(0.04)

Retails Under $40 (0.04)

Ease of Operation (0.14)

Easy Maintenance (0.12)

Collapsible (0.02)

Cleans Teeth Well (0.11)

Long Battery Life (0.09)

Sum Rank

David 0 1 0 0 -1 -1 -1 0 0 1 -0.07 4

Dan 0 1 1 0 -1 0 1 0 0 1 0.45 1

Arielle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3

Alli 0 1 0 0 -1 -1 -1 0 1 1 0.04 2

David’s design: pivoting circular head, smaller bottom with longer head, rechargeable battery using USB, motor – short stick

Dan’s Design: pivoting circular head, smaller bottom with longer head, kinetic, motor – short stick

Arielle’s Design: pivoting circular head, one full body piece w/ grip contoured to hand and flap at bottom to get to power source, Disposable battery/ rechargeable disposable battery, motor-short stick

Alli’s Design: sonic head, smaller bottom with longer head, rechargeable battery plug in the wall, motor- short stick

Sketch

CAD

Abbreviated CalculationsBased on the previous diagram, the maximum radius of the plastic motor spinner is about 0.14 inches. The range of motion (R) will remain the same as the old design, and the length of the steel rod (L) is now 2.00 inches.

Therefore the same range of motion can be achieved at a stick length of 2.00 inches if the motor spinner radius is expanded from 0.11in to 0.14in and the motor spinner height is reduced from 0.15in to 0.10in.

How it worksHand pump that charges up a battery to power the

electric toothbrush. Also a connection from generator to the toothbrush head to

allow excess electrical energy to be streamed off when the battery is charged (prevents overcharging).

Once the battery is charged is a normal electronic toothbrush. Batteries operate a motor that spins a rod. Spinning motion of the rod is translated into a pivot

motion of the head of the toothbrush. There is a mechanism within the head of the tooth brush

that creates the pivoting motion from the rotating stick. There is a push on/off switch set to power up and off the

toothbrush.

In Conclusion We feel we have come up with a very unique product that actually creates

its own niche within the toothbrush world let alone travel toothbrush community.

Our design meets the needs of our customers pretty well. Size

We do have a wider toothbrush handle, but we have shortened the length of the toothbrush itself.

Weight We also have kept the weight pretty low as the kinetic charge technology is

no heavier than a regular battery. The generator itself is small and light weight, and we use small rechargeable 3 volt lithium-ion batteries.

Durability and Easy Maintenance The product is also very easy to maintain, you simply need to change the

toothbrush head every 3 months, we have kept a streamlined single plastic cover design to keep the body clean and devoid of crevices for mold and mildew buildup.