Electric toothbrush redesign

1. Electric toothbrush redesign 10/7/11 Team 13: John Colwell Megan Gearhart Jordan Kerner Greg Marchuska

2. The following steps were completed in redesigning the toothbrush: • Recognition of Problem • Analysis of customer needs • External search for concept generation, including: • Literature search • Patent searches • Benchmarking • Product dissection • Revising the design statement • Internal work for concept generation • Concept selection • Detailed Final Design. The main goal was to develop a more travel friendly toothbrush. outline

3. We managed our project through two main skills; communication and division of work. We did our best to work efficiently during class time and used it for the aspects of the project that needed to be completed as a group. When there was extra work to be done, we split it up and worked on it outside of class, then communicated via email to share our reports. We also tried to split up the tasks based on what everyone was good at, rather than making someone do something that they had no idea how to do. This helped to have our tasks completed in a more timely manner along with producing quality results. Project management

4. REVISED PROBLEM STATEMENT: After completing the customer needs survey and assessment, the goal of this project is still to create a more travel friendly electric toothbrush. However, the main focus of the project will be on four main points: portability, cleaning effectiveness, durability and user friendliness. Hierarchal Customer Needs List Obtained from Focus Group and Individual Interviews Final Hierarchal customer needs chart and problem statement.

5. External search activities The external search activities were completed in hopes of better understanding the inner-workings of an electric toothbrush and also to see and compare what was currently on the market. The external search activities we completed were: literature review, patent search, benchmarking and product dissection. The table shown above is our benchmarking table in which we compared our toothbrush with three other electric toothbrushes that are currently on the market. It was the most useful of all of our external search activities because we were able to compare the products based on the four things we were most concerned with in the redesign (portability, durability, cleaning effectiveness and user friendliness) while also helping us generate ideas for the new toothbrush.

6. The Morphological Chart shown in the next slide displays the ideas for each of the four concepts out team developed. Each box displays a picture and description of each component we plan to change (brush head, grip, battery or bristles) for each concept. The goal of the new generated concepts was to meet the needs of the customers, specifically in designing a toothbrush that was durable, portable, user friendly and still efficient at cleaning teeth. Each concept idea was analyzed to see which one would best meet those needs. Generated Concepts

7. Morphological chart

8. Final team pugh chart The winning concept was Jordan’s concept. His featured a brush head with two circular bristles, each with bristles positioned in a crisscross pattern and of medium fiber. The grip of the toothbrush is a full wrap around toothbrush with no finger slots, and the toothbrush is powered by a standard AA battery.

9. Sketch and cad drawings

10. The toothbrush works almost like any standard toothbrush, just with a few slight modifications.  As compared to the original, the body is about an inch shorter in length and diameter. Thus, the toothbrush itself will be lighter in weight as well. This should make the toothbrush easier to handle. With the recommended brush time being two minutes, children will prefer using a lighter toothbrush because it will be easier on their arms. Also, we made the grip a few inches longer, extending from the bottom of the brush head to about 1 ½ inches from the bottom of the body.  Many people, including ourselves, have had experiences in which we dropped the toothbrush while brushing. Because of this, we also made the grip slightly thicker as well. With the extended and modified grip, it should minimize any type of mishap and enable the user to focus on the fundamentals of brushing. The original Oral-B toothbrush had one circular set of bristles and two rectangular bristles surrounding it. We modified the brush two have just two circular sets of bristles, which will focus on the most neglected teeth when brushing (i.e. molars). The circular bristles will be able to fully remove plaque in hard to reach places. As far as the battery goes, we kept the battery the same (1 AA). We felt that the battery life of the toothbrush was adequate enough to refrain from making any drastic changes. Adding anymore batteries would increase the duration of the toothbrush, but would significantly alter the weight and portability of the toothbrush, which we felt wasn’t worth it. The AA battery is what powers the motor, which then puts its oscillations into a gear system. From that gear system it rotates and powers an oscillating metal pole which is where the movement of the bristle bodies comes from. It is all accomplished from the motor powering the gear system. How this works

11. As the project comes to an end, we as a team feel that it was a success. The changes we made to the original design were all based on what the customers said they wanted, and to the best of our abilities we feel we met those needs. The main desires of the customers were to create a toothbrush that could be more travel friendly while also keeping the best features of a normal one, including cleaning effectiveness, durability, portability and user friendliness. The toothbrush we designed had all those features, but was also made smaller and more compact in hopes of making it easier for the traveling individual. Conclusions