Aspiration control system

A surgical aspiration system for aspirating fluid and cut tissue from an operative site through a surgical handpiece into a vacuum chamber, the system comprising:

• a vacuum pump for creating a negative pressure within the vacuum chamber, including conduit means adapted for connection with the vacuum chamber;
• a motor mechanically connectable to said vacuum pump for operating said vacuum pump;
• transducer means, adapted for placement in pressure communication with the vacuum chamber, for sensing the vacuum within the vacuum chamber and for generating a first signal in response thereto;
• input means for selecting an appropriate vacuum level for aspirating and cutting tissue and for generating a second signal which corresponds to the vacuum level;
• a foot pedal having a continuously variable range of angular position settings which correspond to an analog voltage signal via potentiometer or a digital signal via an encoder which sends a third signal to controller means for regulating a control signal being sent to said motor;
• and
• controller means, connected to said transducer means, said input means, and said foot pedal, for comparing the first and second signals and generating the control signal to regulate the rotational speed and output of said motor such that the aspiration level within the vacuum chamber and surgical handpiece can be precisely controlled by said controller means, wherein said controller means comprises a feedback circuit for comparing the first, second and third signals from said transducer means, said input means and said foot pedal, respectively, and generating the control signal to cause the surgical aspiration system to generally follow the second signal as modified by the third signal.

A surgical aspiration system for aspirating fluid and cut tissue from an operative site through a surgical handpiece into a vacuum chamber, the system comprising:

• a vacuum pump for creating a negative pressure within the vacuum chamber, including conduit means adapted for connection with the vacuum chamber;
• a motor mechanically connectable to said vacuum pump for operating said vacuum pump;
• transducer means, adapted for placement in pressure communication with the vacuum chamber, for sensing the vacuum within the vacuum chamber and for generating a first signal in response thereto;
• input means for selecting an appropriate vacuum level for aspirating and cutting tissue and for generating a second signal which corresponds to the vacuum level;
• a foot pedal having a continuously variable range of angular position settings which correspond to an analog voltage signal via potentiometer or a digital signal via an encoder which sends a third signal to controller means for regulating a control signal being sent to said motor;
• and
• controller means, connected to said transducer means, said input means, and said foot pedal, for comparing the first and second signals and generating a control signal to regulate the rotational speed and output of said motor such that the aspiration level within the vacuum chamber and the surgical handpiece can be precisely controlled by said controller means, wherein said controller means comprises a summing junction which consists of a differential amplifier to which is input the first signal from said transducer means representing current vacuum level and the second signal representing a reference signal from said input means as modified by the third signal.

A surgical aspiration system for aspirating fluid and cut tissue from an operative site through a surgical handpiece into a vacuum chamber, the system comprising:

• a vacuum pump for creating a negative pressure within the vacuum chamber, including conduit means adapted for connection with the vacuum chamber;
• a brushless DC motor mechanically connectable to said vacuum pump for operating said vacuum pump;
• said motor further including a motor controller having a PID type controller receiving a control signal from controller means and sending a second control signal to said motor to precisely regulate the rotational speed and output of said motor and said vacuum pump, and said motor controller receiving a feedback signal from said motor to precisely control the speed of said motor;
• transducer means, adapted for placement in pressure communication with the vacuum chamber, for sensing the vacuum within the vacuum chamber and for generating a first signal in response thereto;
• input means for selecting an appropriate vacuum level for aspirating and cutting tissue and for generating a second signal which corresponds to the vacuum level;
• controller means, connected to said transducer means and said input means, for comparing the first and second signals and generating the control signal to regulate the rotational speed and output of said motor such that the aspiration level within the vacuum chamber and the surgical handpiece can be precisely controlled by said controller means.

A negative pressure delivery and control system for creating a negative pressure within a vacuum chamber wherein the chamber is in communication through a fluid conduit with a surgical handpiece, comprising:

• a vacuum pump for creating the negative pressure within the vacuum chamber including conduit means adapted for connection with the vacuum chamber;
• a motor mechanically connectable to said vacuum pump for operating said vacuum pump;
• transducer means, adapted for placement in pressure communication with the vacuum chamber, for sensing the negative pressure level within the vacuum chamber and for generating a first signal in response thereto;
• input means for selecting an appropriate negative pressure level for aspirating fluid through the surgical handpiece and for generating a second signal which corresponds to said level;
• a variable reference voltage source for generating a selectively variable reference voltage;
• controller means, connected to said transducer means, said input means, and said variable reference voltage source, for comparing the first and second signals and generating a control signal to regulate the rotational speed and output of said motor such that the negative pressure level can be precisely controlled by said controller means, wherein said controller means further compares the first and second signals and the variable reference voltage and generates the control signal representing the difference as determined by said controller means between the first signal and the second signal as modified by the variable reference voltage;
• and
• pinch valve means adapted for placement on the fluid conduit to operatively restrict the flow of fluid being aspirated by the surgical handpiece such that the flow of fluid can be independently controlled from the negative pressure level created by said motor and said vacuum pump.