Apparatus and method for dispensing bone cement
AssigneeDePuy Synthes Products, Inc.
InventorsTimothy G. Vendrely, Michael A. Kryger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for dispensing bone cement includes a cartridge for containing the bone cement. The apparatus also includes a plunger insertable into the cartridge. An impedance sensor is coupled to the plunger and configured to produce an output signal indicative of an impedance of bone cement contained in the cartridge. The apparatus may also include a processing circuit configured to determine an impedance value of bone cement contained within the cartridge based on the sensor signal. The processing circuit may activate a visual indicator based on the impedance value to indicate that the dough time, the end-of-work time, and/or setting-time of bone cement contained in the cartridge has been reached.
Claims14
A method for dispensing bone cement from a cartridge, the method comprising:
- inserting a plunger into the cartridge, the plunger having an impedance sensor mounted to a first side thereof,
- advancing the plunger toward a nozzle of the cartridge,
- contacting bone cement within the cartridge with the impedance sensor as the plunger is advanced toward the nozzle,
- receiving an output signal from the impedance sensor while the impedance sensor is in contact with the bone cement,
- determining an impedance value of the bone cement based on the output signal, and
- generating a human-detectable signal based on the impedance value.
A method for dispensing bone cement from a cartridge, the method comprising:
- inserting a plunger into the cartridge, the plunger having an impedance sensor mounted to a first side thereof,
- advancing the plunger toward a nozzle of the cartridge,
- contacting bone cement within the cartridge with the impedance sensor as the plunger is advanced toward the nozzle,
- receiving an output signal from the impedance sensor while the impedance sensor is in contact with the bone cement,
- determining an impedance value of the bone cement based on the output signal, and
- generating a human-detectable signal based on the impedance value, wherein generating the human-detectable signal includes:
- (i) activating a first indicator when a dough time of the bone cement within the cartridge has been reached,
- (ii) activating a second indicator when a setting time of bone cement within the cartridge has been reached, and
- (iii) activating a third indicator when an end-of-work time of bone cement within the cartridge has been reached.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.