NOTICE: There has been an issue with the tracing on these, will update once testing has been done. Transfering from kiCAD to EasyEDA removed some traces.
Dental Office Air Filter Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Activation Switch. Inspired by the events of COVID-19. This is a modification of a system Designed by RAMVAC Dental Vacuum System.
A small minority of dental offices peppered around the United States in the early 2000's installed similar systems within their buildings that allow for air filtration per room, and in most cases, per 'area'. That is, it would be an inlet with 3 walls but no door, thus no closed in air source. Due to bad breath, debris from dental procedures, and sick patients, these filters were installed. Although its been roughly 20 years, this practice is not standard, or very popular. However that popularity is rising.
Interestingly enough, RAMVAC produces their own switches for their current system. Theres however uses 4x the Wattage mine does. Unfortunately, my switches do not have LED's installed in the switch. Check theres out here: https://www.dentalez.com/product/remote-switch-panel/
During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-present, many dental offices are trying to implement this system now.
This github page is the evolution of the activator switch. The switch uses a sinusoidal signal to activate both the room's individual vacuum, and to open the aperature for that 'room's tube.This project is the creation of a wired switch that is more power efficient and cost efficient to produce than buy from the manufacture.
The switches are not my original design. The original design is without a patent.- It took AA batteries
- The batteries corroded a lot and most units were switched out or bricks
- The board itself had no seal or protection for components, and the copper on many of them was oxidizing.
- There is no way to know when the switch had power or was dead until you took apart the switch socket.
- The board itself is wider (by a small margin) than the footprint of the switch itself.
With this, first thing I wanted to do was get rid of the batteries and do basic circuit analysis.
After checking PCB standards and compliance with the manufacturers, this was my first batch. I planned to save some money and solder them myself.
Solding such small parts, and not having the funds for a microsolder meant I needed to tweak my design and send it to get fabricated and have the parts soldered on at the manufacturer.
To interface with the room like the old boards did, then I modified USB cables and was able to get them 5Vin as to not burn my boards.
"Output" as seen on the board sends the signal from the board to a 2 pin terminal hardwired into the room. The "Switch" I/O on the board is where the USB power comes from.
Pictured: Dr. Robinette using vacuum tube after being activated.
To use the airlocking vacuum system, one must simply turn it on and wait for about 10 seconds for the vacuum to charge to full sucking capacity. Then simply direct the tube to the patients breathing aperatures as shown below.
I had express permission to photograph healthcare professionals and patients pictured to be in this documentation
Please contact me, and I will promplty get in touch with you!
I offered my design to the parent companyand I also applied for a position as product development engineer. I was rejected for the position.
Under fair use, I have attached all designs and files to this repo for the unicorns out there whom this project might benefit!