Weight balance method of surgical microscope and mechanism thereof
AssigneeMitaka Kohki Co., Ltd.
InventorMinoru ISHIMA
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A weight balance method of a surgical microscope is able to automatically align, in response to a switching operation, a center of gravity G of the surgical microscope 5 with a rotary shaft S. A weight balance of the surgical microscope is easily attained only by slanting the surgical microscope, and therefore, no part of the surgical microscope protrudes upward to interfere with a supporting structure of the surgical microscope.
Claims4
An automatic weight balance method of a surgical microscope, the surgical microscope having on its front side a left-right pair of eyepieces and being attached through an electric slide mechanism, which is slidable in up-down and front-back directions of the surgical microscope, to an attaching part arranged at a front end of a support arm of a stand apparatus, the surgical microscope together with the electric slide mechanism being turned around a horizontal rotary shaft extending in a left-right direction by an electric driving unit having a clutch, the method comprising:
- in response to a switching operation, turning the surgical microscope together with the electric slide mechanism around the rotary shaft to a horizontal state by use of the electric driving unit;
- once the surgical microscope is set to the horizontal state, making the rotary shaft freely turn and detecting a front-back weight balance of the surgical microscope including the electric slide mechanism;
- in a case where the front-back weight balance is imbalanced, driving the electric slide mechanism to slide the surgical microscope in a balancing direction;
- in a case where the front-back weight balance is balanced, turning the surgical microscope together with the electric slide mechanism around the rotary shaft to an oblique state by use of the electric driving unit;
- once the surgical microscope is set to the oblique state, making the rotary shaft freely turn and detecting a front-back weight balance of the surgical microscope including the electric slide mechanism;
- and
- in a case where the front-back weight balance is imbalanced, sliding the surgical microscope by the electric slide mechanism in a balancing direction along a direction of the oblique state so that a center of gravity of the surgical microscope including the electric slide mechanism agrees with the rotary shaft.
An automatic weight balance mechanism for a surgical microscope having on its front side a left-right pair of eyepieces, the weight balance mechanism rotatably supporting a side face of the surgical microscope on an attaching part arranged at a front end of a support arm laterally extending from a stand apparatus so that the surgical microscope may turn around a horizontal rotary shaft arranged at the attaching part and extending in a left-right direction, the weight balance mechanism comprising:
- an electric slider interposed between the surgical microscope and the attaching part, to slide the surgical microscope relative to the rotary shaft in up-down and front-back directions of the surgical microscope;
- an electric driver having a clutch and arranged at the attaching part, to turn the surgical microscope together with the electric slider around the rotary shaft, and if required, make the surgical microscope including the electric slider freely turn;
- a horizontal sensor to detect a horizontal state of the surgical microscope and a balance sensor to detect a weight balance of the surgical microscope including the electric slider in the front-back direction around the rotary shaft;
- and
- a controller that operates in response to a switching operation and the horizontal sensor and balance sensor, to turn the surgical microscope together with the electric slider around the rotary shaft and slide the surgical microscope by the electric slider relative to the rotary shaft so that a center of gravity of the surgical microscope agrees with the rotary shaft, wherein the controller:
- in response to the switching operation and horizontal sensor, drives the electric driver to turn the surgical microscope together with the electric slider around the rotary shaft until the surgical microscope is set to a horizontal state;
- once the surgical microscope is set to the horizontal state, makes the rotary shaft freely turn and detects according to the balance sensor a front-back weight balance of the surgical microscope including the electric slider;
- in a case where the front-back weight balance is imbalanced, drives the electric slider to slide the surgical microscope in a balancing direction;
- in a case where the front-back weight balance is balanced, drives the electric driver to turn the surgical microscope together with the electric slider around the rotary shaft to an oblique state;
- once the surgical microscope is set to the oblique state, makes the rotary shaft freely turn and detects according to the balance sensor a front-back weight balance of the surgical microscope including the electric slider;
- and
- in a case where the front-back weight balance is imbalanced, drives the electric slider to slide the surgical microscope in a balancing direction along an oblique direction so that the center of gravity of the surgical microscope including the electric slider agrees with the rotary shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.