Detailed Description
As used in the art of dentistry, the term dental care unit (also commonly referred to simply as "dental unit") refers to a device or arrangement that provides power to an instrument used in connection with a dental care operation, and possibly also provides control signals, and possibly also provides power and control signals to various other devices used in connection with the dental care operation.
A typical solution used in a dental care unit is to arrange the dental care instrument on an instrument console, which is supported by a support arm extending from the frame structure of the dental care unit. The dental care unit may comprise more than one and also different support arms, for example for an instrument of a dental assistant or for other means used in connection with a dental care operation.
A typical solution used in a dental care unit is to arrange one or more horizontal support arms to a support arrangement extending vertically from a frame portion of the dental care unit. Such an arrangement is typically implemented to include a number of support arms or to enable a number of different arm assembly variants, which may be achieved when the dental care unit is initially assembled or may be achieved later as a retrofit. Such vertical support arrangements are typically connected to the cover structure of the frame portion of the dental care unit. The individual dentists and on the other hand different dental offices, educational institutions, and dentists in different cultural contexts have mutually different needs and wishes for equipping the dental care unit with instruments, accessories and support arm solutions according to their own convenience.
Fig. 1 shows the basic structure of a typical dental care unit 1 for use in connection with dental care work. The dental care unit 1 of fig. 1 comprises a frame part 2 and a patient chair 3 connected thereto. A support arrangement 4 extends vertically from the frame portion 2, said support arrangement 4 comprising a vertically extending support portion 41, a first support structure 42 supporting a diagnostic instrument related to dental care or an instrument 6 used in connection with a dental care operation or both, a second support structure 43 for e.g. a surgical lamp 8 or an X-ray imaging device used in connection with a dental care operation, and a third support structure 44 for e.g. a display 10.
Fig. 1 further shows an instrument holder 11 and a foot controller 12, said instrument holder 11 may be configured to support instruments commonly used by dental assistants, the function of the dental care unit 1 and/or devices or structures connected or coupled to the dental care unit 1 may be controlled by said foot controller 12. In addition, the dental care unit 1 is arranged to be operatively connected with a data network or personal computer 13.
It should be noted that the dental care unit of fig. 1 is only an example. The dental care unit may comprise more or less support structures than are comprised in the structure of fig. 1, for example for different devices. Furthermore, for example, the patient chair need not necessarily be integrated with the dental care unit, but may be implemented as a completely separate structure from the dental care unit. On the other hand, the frame structure as described above may be arranged as an integral part of the structure of the floor standing seat. Furthermore, instead of a structure having considerable horizontal and vertical dimensions as shown in fig. 1, the frame structure of the dental care unit may mainly be only a small structure in terms of its dimensions, from which the support arm or arms extend. The arrangement may also contain a graphical user interface or other user interface in addition to or in addition to the foot controller. However, the structure of the dental care unit is typically realized such that power, fluid and/or control signals required for using instruments and devices used in the dental care operation are transmitted therethrough or may be arranged to be transmitted. Thus, physically, this means that at least one of, for example, water, compressed air, electricity, control signals is transferred.
Thus, in the present disclosure, when referring to a dental care unit, it basically refers to a structure comprising an arrangement capable of supplying at least one of the above-mentioned variables or corresponding variables to a dental care instrument and/or device used in connection with a dental care work operation, the dental care instrument and/or device being connected to the dental care unit.
Thus, as described above, the dental care unit of fig. 1 is one example of a typical dental care unit. The frame structure of the dental care unit may comprise a support structure for the patient chair (a mechanism not visible in fig. 1, as the patient chair itself blocks the view of such a structure, which may be a sturdy support arm), however the patient chair may also be a stand-alone device. The following disclosure is made primarily with reference to a stand-alone patient chair.
Fig. 2 shows a dental patient chair having a different design and in a different position than that shown in fig. 1. The dental patient chair of fig. 2 comprises a seat portion 31, an elongated backrest 32, a head support 33 and a leg support 34, said backrest 32 having a bottom end at a seat portion end thereof and a top end at an opposite end thereof. Unlike the configuration of fig. 1, the seat portion 31 is not supported by a structure extending from the frame of the dental care unit, but by a base structure 35 designed to be mounted on the floor.
Fig. 3a and 3b schematically illustrate basic components and specific operations of a dental patient chair according to the present disclosure. In comparison with fig. 3a, the seat part 31 has been driven to a higher level in fig. 3b, while the inclination angle between the backrest 32 and the seat part 31 has been reduced such that a reference point R located on the virtual extension of the elongated backrest 32 at a distance therefrom remains at the same height position. This is achieved by a combined movement of the specially designed motorised means M1, M2, said movement changing the height position of the seat portion 31 and the angle of inclination between the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32. That is, when the length of the elongate backrest 32 measured from its physical or virtual pivot axis (defined by the hinge configuration a) to its top end, and the distance from the top end of the backrest to the reference point R, is known, it can be calculated how any change in the angle of inclination changes the height position of the reference point R. (it should be noted that the position of the reference point R relative to the top end of the backrest when initiating the above-described combined movement need not be the same in any given case, and may even be given a position of R that is not farther from the pivot axis but closer than the position of the top end of the backrest.)
In the case of a patient chair employing the support as shown and discussed with reference to fig. 1, a motorized drive for adjusting the height position of the seat portion 31 may also be arranged in such a configuration. Here, the frame 2 may correspond to the base structure according to fig. 2, and in such a case the same mutual positions of the parts of the patient chair as shown and discussed with reference to fig. 3a and 3b may also be achieved.
Many constructions for adjusting the height position of the seat portion (in the case according to fig. 1 or 2) are well known in the art, and therefore the details of these constructions are not repeated here. The same is true for the configuration for adjusting the inclination angle between the seat portion and the backrest.
In particular for the present disclosure, such mutual movement of the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32 as shown in fig. 3a and 3b is arranged to be effected in response to specific commands given from the user interface. That is, if the position shown in fig. 3a is considered to be "position a" and the position shown in fig. 3B is considered to be "position B", the user interface according to the present disclosure is designed to provide a single input to drive the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32 from the mutual position a to the position B, and obviously vice versa, as compared to driving the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32 from their mutual position a to the mutual position B, respectively.
In particular, such a single input is used only to drive the motorized means M1 that adjust the height position of the seat portion 31 and to drive the motorized means M2 of the articulation configuration a that is able to adjust the inclination angle between the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32. In other words, the single input does not trigger any other drive that the patient chair may be configured with. Such a substantially simple combined actuation may be arranged to be achieved by arranging virtual or physical control buttons SMU and SMD as shown in fig. 4, for example, for a user interface configured to control the seat. A first one of these buttons may be configured to generate a "synchronous move up" control signal (of the seat portion) whenever a control command is issued, e.g. whenever a corresponding control button is pressed, and a second one of these buttons may be configured accordingly to generate a "synchronous move down" control signal whenever a control command is entered. It is clear that similar control can be achieved in alternative or additional ways via other types of user interfaces as well, e.g. like a joystick of a foot pedal control.
The above-described type of control is different from control in that the control system may include a storage position of the seat part, and control in which a control command may be issued to drive the seat part to a certain position stored in advance in the control system.
Fig. 5 schematically illustrates a control system suitable for use in the present disclosure. The control system may be part of a stand-alone chair or part of a dental care unit comprising a patient chair. In response to a trigger input from the user interface, the control system controls motorized actuation of the seat portion and backrest as described above.
Although fig. 3a and 3b show the position of the tilting angle between the seat part 31 and the backrest 32 being closer to 45 degrees than 90 degrees (90 degrees will correspond to the sitting position of the patient), the mutual driving principle as described above may also be applied to such tilting angles-as well as other directions, for example up to or rather "down to" the so-called Trendelenburg position, wherein the patient lies almost horizontally, but the position of the head is below the pelvis. (in such a case, the seat may be further arranged to allow adjustment of the inclination angle between the seat portion 31 and the leg support 34 independently of the above-described operation.)
According to a particular aspect, the control system is arranged to generate the mutual movement of the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32 such that, taking into account a reference point R at a given short distance from the top end of the backrest 32, the height position of said reference point R will be the same at the end of the movement of the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32 as when the control command for the mutual driving of the components was initially issued.
It is noted that although the driving of the movement of the seat part described above may be arranged to be performed synchronously so as to always keep the reference point R at the same height position, this is not essential. For example, either the movement of the seat portion or the movement of the backrest may be arranged faster, and the intended mutual end position is reached only after either the height position of the seat portion or the inclination angle of the backrest is considered to reach the intended end position. As an example, the adjustment of the height position of the seat portion may be arranged faster and when the desired height is reached, the backrest will "follow" its complete movement, so as to finally bring the reference point R at the same height position as when the combined movement was started.
According to one aspect, the control system of the seat may be configured to calculate the height position of the reference point R from the height position of the seat portion 31 and the inclination angle of the backrest 32 at the given moment in response to receiving an input initiating the above-mentioned mutual movement.
According to one aspect, the dental patient chair comprises a first position sensor indicating a height position of the seat portion 31 and a second position sensor indicating a tilt position of the backrest 32, wherein the first and second position sensors are optionally arranged as part of the first and second motorized drive configurations (M1, M2). The control system may then be configured to receive position signals from the first and second position sensors in response to receiving the above-described mutually driven inputs for activating the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32.
According to one aspect, the motorized drive that adjusts the height position of the seat portion 31 and the inclination angle of the backrest 32 comprises a stepper motor that can be equipped to continuously provide information of the horizontal position of the seat portion 31 and information of the inclination position of the backrest 32, whereby the calculation of the vertical position of the reference point R can also be continuous or does not require calculation based on specific position sensor signals when the above-mentioned synchronous movement is initiated.
According to one aspect, a dental patient chair comprises a seat portion 31 and an elongate backrest 32, the elongate backrest 32 having a bottom end at a seat portion end thereof and a top end at an opposite end. The control system of the patient chair comprises a user interface configured to be able to send control commands to a first motorized drive configuration M1 designed to adjust the height position of the seat portion 31 with respect to its support structure 35 and to a second motorized drive configuration M2 designed to adjust the inclination angle between the seat portion 31 and the backrest 32. In response to an initial input from the user interface, the control system initiates actuation of the motorized configuration M1, M2 to generate a combined movement that changes the height position and tilt angle of the seat portion 31 such that, given a short distance from the top end of the backrest 32, at the end of the combined movement, the height position of the reference point R will be the same as the height position it was at when the initial input was received.
According to one aspect, a dental patient chair comprises:
The seat part 31, the elongated backrest 32 having a bottom end at a seat part end thereof and a top end at an opposite end, a support structure 35 of the seat part, a first motorized construction M1 designed to enable adjustment of the height position of the seat part 31 with respect to the support structure 35 of the seat part, a hinge structure a connecting the seat part 31 and the backrest 32, a second motorized construction M2 designed to operate the hinge structure a to enable adjustment of the inclination angle between the seat part 31 and the backrest 32, and a control system comprising a user interface configured to enable transmission of control commands to the first and second motorized constructions M1, M2. The user interface is configured to be capable of transmitting the first and second inputs to the control system, wherein,
The first input is designed as a combination of triggering operations including driving the first motorized configuration (M1) to raise the seat portion (31) and driving the second motorized configuration (M2) to reduce the angle of inclination, and
The second input is designed as a combination of triggering operations comprising driving the first motorized configuration (M1) to lower the seat portion (31) and driving the second motorized configuration (M2) to increase the inclination angle,
And said first and second inputs are both configured not to move other components optionally comprised in the patient chair construction, and wherein a combination of the above two sets of operations both generates a combined movement of the seat portion (31) and the backrest (32) such that, taking into account a reference point (R) at a given short distance from the top end of the backrest (32), at the end of the combined movement, the height position of said reference point (R) will be the same as the height position at which said first and second inputs were transmitted.