Surgical smoke evacuation system
AssigneeStackhouse, Inc.
InventorsEd F. Nicolas, Ian M. Williamson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A surgical air vacuum apparatus includes an air pump disposed in a primary air channel for moving air between an inlet port and an outlet port of the vacuum. The air pump has properties for generating heat while moving the air, and the moving air has characteristics for cooling the pump. An air filter disposed in the primary channel has a tendency to block the air that would otherwise cool the air pump. Means is provided for combining a secondary air channel and the primary air channel along at least one passage to introduce bleed air to the pump when the filter blocks the primary channel.
Claims17
A surgical air vacuum apparatus comprising:
- an enclosure defining an inlet port and an outlet port;
- a primary air channel disposed between the inlet port and the outlet port;
- air pump means disposed in the primary air channel and including air moving means for moving air between the inlet port and the outlet port, and drive means connected to the air moving means for driving the air moving means, the drive means having properties for generating heat while driving the air moving means, the moving air having characteristics for cooling the drive means;
- filter means disposed in the primary air channel between the inlet port and the air moving means, for filtering the air moving through the primary channel, the filter means having a tendency to accumulate material filtered through the air and to block the air which would otherwise flow through the filter means to cool the drive means;
- a secondary port in the enclosure for receiving bleed air from outside the enclosure;
- a secondary air channel extending from the secondary port to an intersection of the primary channel and the secondary channel, the intersection being located between the filter means and the air pump means;
- means for combining the primary channel and the secondary channel at the intersection, the combining means having a generally planar configuration and being disposed substantially transverse to the primary channel;
- and
- portions of the combining means forming at least one passage disposed along the secondary channel for conducting the bleed air into the air pump means to cool the drive means when the filter blocks the primary channel.
A surgical air vacuum apparatus comprising:
- an enclosure defining an inlet port and an outlet port;
- a primary air channel disposed between the inlet port and the outlet port;
- an internal partition connected to the enclosure;
- air pump means disposed in the primary air channel and in juxtaposition to the partition, the air pump means including air moving means for moving air between the inlet port and the outlet port along the primary channel, and drive means connected to the air moving means for driving the air moving means, the drive means having properties for generating heat while driving the air moving means, the moving air having characteristics for cooling the drive means;
- filter means disposed in the primary air channel between the inlet port and the air moving means, for filtering the air moving through the primary channel, the filter means having a tendency to accumulate material filtered through the air and to block the air which would otherwise flow through the filter means to cool the drive means;
- a secondary port in the enclosure for receiving bleed air from outside the enclosure;
- means defining a secondary channel for conducting bleed air from the secondary port to the air pump means when the primary channel is blocked;
- and
- means disposed between the filter means and the partition for defining a plurality of passages extending along the secondary channel and intersecting the primary channel between the inlet port and the air pump means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.