Furnace for dental prosthesis or partial dental prosthesis

Abstract

A furnace for a dental prosthesis or a partial dental prosthesis, in particular for dental ceramic, comprising a firing chamber which can be heated and in particular can also be evacuated, a control device for controlling the operation of the furnace on the basis of a firing program, which is based on a set of parameter values, and an operator control unit, which is assigned to the control device and is designed to display a representation of the firing program in the form of a firing process curve, wherein the operator control unit can be used in a simplified operating mode in which it displays together with the firing process curve at least one operator control area for adjusting a selected parameter value of the set of parameter values that relates to a prescribed program phase of the firing program, wherein the at least one operator control area is permanently arranged in the area of the displayed firing process curve that corresponds to the prescribed program phase.

Claims

1. A furnace (11, 11) for dental prosthesis or partial dental prosthesis, having a heatable and evacuable firing chamber; having a control device for controlling the operation of the furnace (11, 11) with reference to a firing program that is based on a set of parameter values; and having an operating unit (17) formed by a touchscreen that is associated with the control device and that is configured to represent the firing program in the form of a firing progress curve (19), wherein the operating unit (17) is usable in a simplified operating mode in which it displays on the touchscreen, together with the firing progress curve (19), at least one control panel (25a-d) for adjusting a selected parameter value of the set of parameter values relating to a predefined program phase of the firing program, with the at least one control panel (25a-d) being fixedly arranged and superposed in that region of the displayed firing progress curve (19) that corresponds to the predefined program phase to allow the predefined program phase to be changed by tapping the respective at least one control panel (25a-d) superposed along the firing progress curve (19) on the touchscreen.

2. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein, in the simplified operating mode, the operating unit (17) displays a plurality of control panels for adjusting selected parameter values of the set of parameter values that are arranged in different regions of the firing progress curve (19).

3. A furnace in accordance with claim 2, wherein the plurality of control panels does not exceed five control panels.

4. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein, in the simplified operating mode, the operating unit (17) displays a control panel (25a) for at least one of adjusting a heating rate and a control panel for adjusting a heating period that is arranged in an upward slope (27) of the firing progress curve (19).

5. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein, in the simplified operating mode, the operating unit (17) displays at least one of a control panel (25b) for adjusting a final temperature and a control panel (25c) for adjusting a firing period that is arranged in the region of a plateau (29) of the firing progress curve (19).

6. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein, in the simplified operating mode, only the or each selected parameter value is adjustable while every other parameter value of the set of parameter values is set to a fixed default.

7. A furnace in accordance with claim 6, wherein, in the simplified operating mode, at least one of a pre-drying time, a pre-drying temperature, a cooling period, a cooling rate and a cooling gradation is set to a fixed default.

8. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operating unit (17) is provided for exclusive use in the simplified operating mode.

9. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operating unit does not have any further display and operating elements.

10. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operating unit (17) is integrated in the furnace (11).

11. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operating unit (17) is designed as a portable unit (21) separate from the furnace (11).

12. A furnace in accordance with claim 11, wherein the operating unit is a tablet computer.

13. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one control panel (25a-d) is a display field which shows the current selected parameter value and is adapted to call up an input window (33) by being tapped.

14. A furnace in accordance with claim 13, wherein the input window (33) has two levels (33a, 33b), and the second level (33b) can be called up by tapping the first level (33a).

15. A furnace in accordance with claim 14, wherein the first level (33a) of the input window (33) comprises one of a control dial and a slide control (35) and the second level (33b) comprises a key panel (36).

16. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operating unit (17) is configured for displaying at least one functional control panel (37a-d) independent of the representation of the firing progress curve (19), via which functional control panel an operating function of the furnace (11, 11) can be triggered.

17. A furnace in accordance with claim 16, wherein the operating function comprises at least one of the starting and stopping of the firing program, the switching on and off of an evacuation apparatus and the moving up and down of an object carrier lift (15).

18. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operating unit (17) is configured for displaying at least one setting control panel (309) independent of the representation of the firing progress curve (19), via which setting control panel at least one input window (40) can be called up for adapting at least one of base settings of the operating unit (17) and a calibration of the furnace (11, 11).

19. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operating unit (17) is configured for displaying at least one of the furnace temperature, the outside temperature and the time in respective display fields (50a, 50b).

20. A furnace in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operating unit (17) comprises one of an electronic interface for a barcode reader (51) and a QR code reader via which parameter values of the set of parameters can be read into the control device.

21. An operating unit (17) of a furnace (11, 11) for dental prosthesis or partial dental prosthesis, that comprises a heatable and evacuable firing chamber and a control device for controlling the operation of the furnace (11, 11) using a firing program that is based on a set of parameter values, wherein an operating unit (17) formed by a touchscreen is associated with the control device and is configured to display a representation of the firing program in the form of a firing curve (19), wherein the operating unit (17) is usable in a simplified operating mode in which it displays on the touchscreen, together with the firing progress curve (19), a plurality of control panels (25a-d) for adjusting a selected parameter value of the set of parameter values relating to a predefined program phase of the firing program by tapping the touchscreen on the control panel associated with the predefined program phase to be changed, with the plurality of control panels (25a-d) being fixedly superposed along separate regions of the displayed firing progress curve that correspond to respective predefined program phases of the firing progress curve (19).

Description

(1) The invention will be described in the following by way of example with reference to the drawings.

(2) FIG. 1 shows in a simplified form a furnace in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a furnace in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention; and

(4) FIG. 3 shows an operating unit in accordance with the invention for a furnace.

(5) The furnace 11 for dental ceramics shown in FIG. 1 comprises a housing 13 in which a firing chamber is accommodated that is not visible from the outside. The firing chamber is heatable in a generally known manner via heating elements likewise not visible in FIG. 1 and is evacuable by means of a vacuum pump as required. A firing object can be moved from below into the firing chamber and can be moved downward out of the firing chamber by means of a liftable and lowerable object carrier lift 15. An electronic control device (not shown) is also accommodated in the housing 13 for controlling the operation of the furnace 11 using a firing program. The firing program is based in a typical manner on a set of parameter values such as on the pre-drying time, the pre-drying temperature, the heating rate, the final temperature, the cooling period, and the cooling rate.

(6) The operation of the furnace 11 takes place via an operating unit 17 that is associated with the electronic control device and that is directly integrated into the housing 13 of the furnace 11 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. The operating unit 17 is here formed only by a touchscreen. In general, however, separate single operating elements could be present, for example, in addition to the touchscreen. The operating unit 17 is configured to display a representation of the firing program in the form of a firing progress curve 19 in an operating state of the furnace 11.

(7) The furnace 11 shown in FIG. 2 is in principle of a similar design to the above-described furnace 11, but with the operating unit 17 of the furnace 11 not being integrated in its housing 13, but rather being designed as a portable unit separate from the furnace 11. The operating unit 17 is especially integrated in a table computer 21 that is connected to the control device of the furnace 11 via a cableless communication connection.

(8) So that the furnaces 11, 11 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can also be used by those users who have not been especially trained, they are deliberately kept relatively simple in a construction respect. In addition, the operating unit 17 is usable in a simplified operating mode both in the furnace 11 in accordance with FIG. 1 and in the furnace 11 in accordance with FIG. 2, as will be described in more detail in the following with reference to FIG. 3.

(9) In the simplified operating mode, the operating unit 17 shows, together with the firing progress curve 19, four control panels 25a-d for adjusting respective selected parameter values of that set of parameter values that the firing program lays down. As shown, the control panels 25a-d are arranged in different regions of the firing progress curve 19 and are partly superposed thereon. The respective current parameter values are displayed in the control panels 25a-d.

(10) The parameter values adjustable by means of the control panels 25a-d each relate to a specific predefined program phase of the firing program. To facilitate the operation, each control panel 25a-d is fixedly arranged in that region of the displayed firing progress curve 19 that corresponds to the predefined program phase. Specifically, one control panel 25a for adjusting the heating rate is arranged in the region of an upward slope 27 of the firing progress curve 19 while another control panel 25b for adjusting the final temperature is arranged in the upper region of an upper plateau 29 of the firing progress curve 19. A control panel 25c for adjusting the firing period is arranged beneath the control panel 25b for adjusting the final temperature. In addition, a further control panel 25d for adjusting the base temperature is arranged beneath a lower plateau 30 of the firing progress curve 19.

(11) The remaining parameter values that are decisive for a firing cycle such as the pre-drying time, the pre-drying temperature, the cooling period, the cooling rate, and the cooling gradation are not adjustable in the simplified operating mode of the operating unit 17, but are rather set to fixed defaults. The control panels 25a-d each have to be tapped to adjust the selected parameter values. A respective input window 33 is invoked by such a tap and has, as shown in the bottom left part of FIG. 3, a first level 33a and a second level 33b. The first level 33a here comprises, in addition to a display of the parameter value, a slide control 35 while the second plane 33b comprises a key panel 36. It preferably applies to each control panel 25a-d that the first level 33a of the input window 33 is invokable by a single tap and the second level 33b of the input window 33 is invokable by a second tap.

(12) Three functional control panels 37a-c are located beneath the firing progress curve 19 and are independent of the representation of the firing progress curve 19. The functional control panel 37a at the left in the drawing is marked by an arrow facing to the right and serves for the switching on and off of an evacuation apparatus, not shown. The two functional control panels 37b, 37c disposed at the right in the drawing serve for the moving up and down of the object carrier lift 15 (FIGS. 1 and 2) and are marked by arrows accordingly. A further functional control panel 37d is arranged above the firing progress curve 19; it serves for starting and stopping the firing program and is accordingly marked by a start symbol (as shown) and by a stop symbol (not shown)for example a solid square.

(13) A setting control panel 39 is arranged at the right in the drawing next to the functional control panel 37d and an input window 40 for adapting base settings of the operating unit 17 and a calibration of the furnace 11, 11 is invokable via it. On a tapping of the setting control panel 39 marked by tool symbols, a first level 40a of the input window 40 is first invoked. A calibration display field 45 and a brightness display field 47 are shown in the first plane 40a of the input window 40. The calibration display field 45 serves for the display of calibration settings while the brightness display field 47 displays the currently set screen brightness. The second level 40b of the input window 40 comprises two different input windows depending on whether the calibration display field 45 or the brightness display field 47 was tapped in the first level 40a. The settings for the calibration of the furnace 11, 11 and for the screen brightness of the operating unit 17 can be changed in the second level 40b by means of respective slide controls 49.

(14) The room temperature and the current time are displayed in respective display fields 50a,b in the upper left region of the operating unit 17. It is understood that these display fields 50a-c can also be arranged at different points of the operating unit 17.

(15) The operating unit 17 comprises an electronic interface, not shown, for a barcode reader 51 via which parameter values of the set of parameter values can be read into the control device of the furnace 11, 11. This electronic interface is preferably also able to communicate with a further operating unit 17, only shown schematically, of a furnace 11, 11.

(16) To ensure an operation of the furnace 11, 11 that is always simple, the operating unit 17 is preferably provided for sole use in the simplified operating mode. An accidental change into a more complicated operating mode is thus precluded. It can, however, be desirable for specific applications to enable a change of the operating unit 17 into an expanded operating mode in which the user has access to all the parameter values of the set of parameter values.

REFERENCE NUMERAL LIST

(17) 11, 11 furnace 13, 13 housing 15 object carrier lift 17 operating unit 19 firing progress curve 21 tablet computer 25a-d control panel 27 upward slope 29 upper plateau 30 lower plateau 33 input window 33a first level 33b second level 35 slide control 36 key panel 37a-d functional control panel 39 setting control panel 40 input window 40a first level 40 second level 45 calibration display field 47 brightness display field 49 slide control 50a,b display field 51 barcode reader