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US 12,702,409 B2Granted
Surgical instrument comprising a flex circuit
AssigneeCilag GmbH International
InventorsFrederick E. Shelton, IV, Sudhir B. Patel, Jason L. Harris, Sarah A. Worthington, Chester O. Baxter, III
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A surgical instrument comprising a flexible circuit is disclosed.
Claims13
A surgical instrument assembly, comprising:
- a shaft;
- an articulation joint;
- an end effector attached to said shaft by way of said articulation joint, wherein said end effector is configured to be articulated about said articulation joint;
- and
- a flex circuit extending through said shaft and connected to said end effector, wherein said flex circuit comprises an articulation section aligned with said articulation joint, wherein said articulation section comprises a predefined bend profile configured to stretch across said articulation joint predictably as said end effector is articulated about said articulation joint.
2 more elements
A surgical instrument assembly, comprising:
- a shaft;
- an end effector attached to said shaft;
- a flex circuit extending through said shaft, wherein said flex circuit comprises:
- a flex circuit profile plane;
- and
- a pre-curved section wherein said flex circuit is bent such that said flex circuit profile plane is aligned in a single plane throughout said pre-curved section;
- and
- an articulation joint, wherein said pre-curved section extends across said articulation joint, and wherein said pre-curved section is positioned off-center with respect to a central shaft axis defined by said shaft.
5 more elements
A surgical instrument, comprising:
- a shaft defining a longitudinal axis;
- an end effector;
- an articulation joint, wherein said end effector is rotatably attached to said shaft about said articulation joint;
- an articulation driver mounted to said end effector, wherein said articulation driver is translatable longitudinally to rotate said end effector about said articulation joint;
- a wiring harness that comprises:
- a shaft portion extending within said shaft;
- an end effector portion extending within said end effector;
- an anchor portion mounted to said articulation driver;
- a first flexible bend extending between said shaft portion and said anchor portion;
- and
- a second flexible bend extending between said anchor portion and said end effector portion.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.