Device for maneuvering a radiology appliance
AssigneeGE Medical Systems SA
InventorsHartog Roos, Jose Garrote
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A safety system including two command buttons (7, 8) spaced apart from one another geographically, and obliging an operator to use both his hands to control a radiology appliance, or one hand and a foot, is completed by a protocol including, on a single button (7), a short pulse followed by a long pulse during which the maneuver is carried out. It is shown that, under these conditions, the stress on the operator is lower and he is less fatigued
Claims23
A device for triggering and handling the maneuvering of a radiology appliance including a manually actuated switch linked to a motor for maneuvering the appliance, which includes
- a detector 1) for detecting the application to said manually actuated switch of first and second command pulses, consecutive in time, the first command pulse being short and the second command pulse being prolonged and 2) for generating a signal only when both of said command pulses are applied to said unit and only when said second command pulse is applied within a designated period following termination of said first command pulse, said second command pulse having a duration which is longer than said designated period and being maintained as long as appliance handling is needed, and
- a circuit, coupled to said detector, for starting the motor only when said signal is delivered by the detector.
A device for triggering the operation of a motor which maneuvers at least a portion of a radiology appliance, said device comprising:
- (A) a manually actuated switch;
- (B) a detector which is electronically coupled to said switch and which generates an output signal only in the event of the consecutive application of at least first and second command pulses to said switch, wherein
- said first command pulse has a first duration,
- said detector generates said output signal only if said second command pulse is initiated within a designated period following termination of said first command pulse, and wherein
- said second command pulse 1) has a second duration which is longer than said designated period and 2) is maintained as long as appliance maneuvering is needed, and wherein
- said second duration is relatively long when compared to said first duration;
- and
- (C) a circuit which is electronically coupled to said detector and which applies motive power to said motor only when said output signal is generated by said detector.
A method of triggering the operation of a motor which maneuvers at least a portion of a radiology appliance, said method comprising:
- (A) applying at least first and second consecutive command pulses to a manually actuated switch;
- (B) detecting the application of said first and second consecutive command pulses to said switch and generating an output signal only after initiation of said second command pulse and only if said second command pulse is initiated within a designated period following termination of said first command pulse, wherein said designated period is less than one second and wherein said second command pulse 1) has a duration which is longer than said designated period and 2) is maintained as long as appliance maneuvering is needed;
- and
- (C) applying motive power to said motor from a first circuit only when said output signal is generated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.