product description
The Depuy Synthes Battery Equine Float is a powered equine dental device designed to emulate medical instruments in order to float, or grind, horses’ teeth in a more benign and humane manner.
background
A horse’s teeth are constantly growing, and due to the way they grind their food, sharp points develop on the outside of the upper teeth and on the inside of the lower teeth. These sharp points develop over time, and cause pain while cutting the cheeks and tongue.
Horse’s live by their ability to chew and poor conditions of the mouth result in health risks. “Floating” is the removal or repair of any irregularities or sharp enamel points in a horse’s mouth. Regular dentistry & “floating” is required for proper health of a horse.
EXISTING PROBLEMS
There is currently NO specified power float for this procedure on the market, only attachments used on everyday power drills.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
KEY INNOVATION:
A water cooling system is integrated into the body of the device in order to flush and cool the horse’s mouth during the procedure.
HOW IT WORKS:
A peristaltic pump is built into the main body of the tool. Water runs through a flexible tube fitted inside a circular casing. A rotor with 3 rollers compresses the flexible tube, and as the rotor turns, the part of the tube under compression is pinched closed. This forces the water to be pumped through the tube.
Water flows through the system, and is released at the head, flushing the horses mouth as the carbide disk grinds the tooth. This dual grinding and flushing system prevents thermal damage to the teeth, as well as flushes out any dust created from grinding.
Exploded Views
Form development
Concept sketching, rendering, 3D prototyping
