Blade grounding mechanisms and alternative pin designs
AssigneeCilag GmbH International
InventorsSean P. Conlon, Ellen Burkart, Guion Y. Lucas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A surgical instrument includes a body, a shaft assembly, and an end effector. The end effector includes an ultrasonic blade and a clamp arm movably coupled with the shaft assembly. The shaft assembly extends between the body and the end effector and includes an acoustic waveguide, a rotational driver, and a driver wrench. The rotational driver is configured to be received within the rotational drive channel and rotate the shaft assembly relative to the body. The acoustic waveguide includes a notch and the driver wrench includes a key, wherein the first notch of the acoustic waveguide is configured to receive the key.
Claims20
A surgical instrument, comprising:
- (a) a body including a rotational drive channel;
- (b) an end effector, including:
- (i) an ultrasonic blade, and
- (ii) a clamp arm movably coupled with the shaft assembly and distally extending therefrom;
- and
- (c) a shaft assembly extending between the body and the end effector defining a longitudinal axis and configured to rotatably couple to the body, the shaft assembly including:
- (i) an acoustic waveguide having a surface defining a first notch and acoustically coupled with the ultrasonic blade,
- (ii) a rotational driver configured to be received within the rotational drive channel, wherein the rotational driver is operable to rotate the shaft assembly relative to the body about the longitudinal axis, and
- (iii) a driver wrench operatively coupled between the rotational driver and the acoustic waveguide and defining a first key,
- wherein the first notch of the acoustic waveguide is configured to receive the first key of the driver wrench thereby rotatably locking the driver wrench relative to the acoustic waveguide for rotating the shaft assembly relative to the body about the longitudinal axis.
A surgical instrument, comprising:
- (a) a body;
- (b) an end effector, including:
- (i) an ultrasonic blade, and
- (ii) a clamp arm movably coupled with the shaft assembly and distally extending therefrom;
- and
- (c) a shaft assembly extending between the body and the end effector defining a longitudinal axis and configured to rotatably couple to the body, the shaft assembly, including:
- (i) an acoustic waveguide defining a first notch and a second notch,
- (ii) a rotational driver configured to rotate the shaft assembly relative to the body about the longitudinal axis, and
- (iii) a driver wrench operatively coupled to the rotational driver and the acoustic waveguide, wherein the driver wrench defines a first key and a second key,
- wherein the first and second keys are respectively received within the first and second notches thereby rotatably locking the driver wrench relative to the acoustic waveguide for rotating the shaft assembly relative to the body about the longitudinal axis.
A surgical instrument, comprising:
- (a) a body including a rotational drive channel;
- (b) an end effector, including:
- (i) an ultrasonic blade, and
- (ii) a clamp arm movably coupled with the shaft assembly and distally extending therefrom;
- and
- (c) a shaft assembly extending between the body and the end effector defining a longitudinal axis and configured to rotatably couple to the body, the shaft assembly including:
- (i) an elongated tube,
- (ii) an acoustic waveguide positioned within the elongated tube and including a bore, and
- (iii) a guide pin positioned within the bore and configured to be received within the rotational drive channel, wherein the guide pin is configured to rotatably lock the elongated tube to the acoustic waveguide and longitudinally lock the acoustic waveguide to the body for rotating the shaft assembly relative to the body about the longitudinal axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.