What does an oscillator do in a toothbrush

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Lobotomy
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So i have a rough sketch of a toothbrush with its main components. Its like an Oral B type of toothbrush with a DC motor i think...that uses some type of camshaft and gears to create a back and forth rotation of the head from the revolving motor.

Theres a couple of components there that i don't know what they are doing and why they are needed:

Oscillator - it says it contains an oscillator but i haven't figured out what it does. Is it a part of the charger/base station? or part of the PCB in the toothbrush? but why is it needed? The "oscillation" of the brush is created mechanically from the rotating shaft through cams and gears (i think). So what does the oscillator do.

transformer - i thought induction chargers kind of where their own transformers... but do you have a transformer inside the charger/base station?
i mean you have a transmitter coil in the base station and a reciever coil in the toothbrush - that works like the transformer? or do you have an additional transformer before that?

also: if you want to charge faster What components do you change in order for it to charge faster? The coil in the transmitter or reciever or something else?

and I am not an electrical engineer so explain it simply please.

edit: Or have i misunderstood it - it might be one of these pulsating philips sonicare style brushes with a different type of motor that might be able to change its speed with varying input AC frequency provided by an oscillator?
 
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  • #3
Keith_McClary said:
Here is a "teardown" of the older sonicare with magnets on the brushes:
https://www.powerelectronictips.com/teardown-whats-inside-a-phillips-sonicare-electric-toothbrush/

yea thanks I've seen these. But doesn't really answer my question of what these components mentioned above actually do and why they are needed.So i might have figured this out by myself what these components does. this is my hypothesis:
  • AC voltage from power outlet is incresed in frequency by oscillator for a smaller and lighter transformer. Then it is transformed down by a transformer to lower AC V
  • This AC is transmitted between primary and secondary coil in the wireless charging.
  • this AC is then rectified to DC before it enters the battery.
would that perhaps be how it works?
 
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  • #4
Is there a patent number listed on the toothbrush or the package it comes in? If so, just do a patent search to find it and go through it. It should describe all of the important stuff in the toothbrush construction and operation (modulo all the patent legalese).
 
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  • #5
Lobotomy said:
pulsating philips sonicare style brushes with a different type of motor that might be able to change its speed with varying input AC frequency provided by an oscillator?
The sonicare ones like in the teardown don't have a rotary motor. They have a coil with an oscillating current that makes the magnets on the brush head vibrate. There is an oscillator to drive the coil.
 
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  • #6
Keith_McClary said:
The sonicare ones like in the teardown don't have a rotary motor. They have a coil with an oscillating current that makes the magnets on the brush head vibrate. There is an oscillator to drive the coil.

yea i suspected that. but what do you have an oscillator for in an oral-B type of rotary motor toothbrush?
 
  • #7
Lobotomy said:
but what do you have an oscillator for in an oral-B type of rotary motor toothbrush?
It makes it go back-and-forth and round-and-round. The patent probably has more useful explanations -- did you do that search yet? :wink:
 

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