Knife drive mechanism
AssigneeCilag GmbH International
InventorsAustin Michael FISCHER, Christopher William BIRRI, Andrew KOLPITCKE
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A surgical tool includes a drive housing, a drive input rotatably mounted to a bottom of the drive housing, a capstan assembly arranged within the drive housing to rotate a drive gear about a rotational axis and within a drive plane orthogonal to the rotational axis, a longitudinally driven gear engageable with the drive gear, and a drive rod operatively coupled to the longitudinally driven gear and extending from the drive housing to a knife extendable within end effector of the surgical instrument. The drive rod is aligned within the drive plane such that translation of the longitudinally driven gear induces a corresponding longitudinal translation of the drive rod within the drive.
Claims20
A surgical tool, comprising:
- a drive housing;
- a drive input rotatably mounted to a bottom of the drive housing;
- a capstan assembly arranged within the drive housing and rotatable about a rotational axis, the capstan assembly including a drive gear operatively coupled to the drive input such that rotation of the drive input about the rotational axis correspondingly actuates the drive gear to rotate in a drive plane orthogonal to the rotational axis;
- a longitudinally driven gear arranged within the drive housing and engageable with the drive gear such that the longitudinally driven gear translates between a proximal home position and a distal extended position in response to actuation of the drive gear;
- and
- a drive rod operatively coupled to the longitudinally driven gear and extending from the drive housing to a knife extendable within end effector of the surgical instrument,
- wherein the drive rod is aligned within the drive plane such that translation of the longitudinally driven gear induces a corresponding longitudinal translation of the drive rod within the drive plane.
A method of operating a surgical tool, comprising:
- positioning the surgical tool adjacent a patient, the surgical tool including:
- a drive housing;
- a drive input rotatably mounted to a bottom of the drive housing;
- a capstan assembly arranged within the drive housing and including a drive gear operatively coupled to the drive input to rotate about a rotational axis;
- a longitudinally driven gear arranged within the drive housing and engageable with the drive gear to translate in response to actuation of the drive gear;
- and
- a drive rod coupled to the longitudinally driven gear and extending from the drive housing to an end effector of the surgical housing;
- rotating the drive input to actuate the capstan assembly and thereby rotate the drive gear within a drive plane orthogonal to the rotational axis and to thereby translate longitudinally driven gear;
- and
- translating the drive rod within the drive plane in response to rotating the drive input within the drive plane.
A surgical tool system, comprising:
- a drive housing having a drive input rotatably mounted to a bottom thereof;
- a shaft extending distally from the drive housing and terminating at an end effector;
- a tool driver operably coupled to the drive housing to selectively rotate the drive input;
- a capstan assembly arranged within the drive housing and including a drive gear operatively coupled to the drive input such that rotation of the drive input correspondingly actuates the drive gear to rotate within a drive plane;
- a longitudinally driven gear arranged within the drive housing and engageable with the drive gear such that the longitudinally driven gear translates between a proximal position and a distal position in response to actuation of the drive gear;
- and
- a drive rod extending through the shaft and operatively coupled to the longitudinally driven gear to translate within the drive plane in response to translating the longitudinally driven gear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.