Integrated system for powered surgical tools

A powered surgical tool system, said system including:

• a powered surgical handpiece for actuating an attachment, said handpiece having a variable speed motor for actuating the attachment, wherein said motor is actuated by an energization signal;
• a manually actuatable switch for regulating the speed of said motor, said switch generating a control signal;
• a non-volatile memory integral with said handpiece, said memory containing data representative of the maximum current for said motor at a plurality of different speeds;
• and
• a control console connected to said handpiece for applying energization signals to said motor and connected to said memory for reading the data from said memory, said control console being configured to:
• monitor the speed of said motor;
• monitor the current drawn by said motor;
• apply the energization signals to said motor based on the control signal and the speed of said motor;
• calculate a maximum allowed current to be drawn by said motor based on the speed of said motor and the data in said memory representative of the maximum current for said motor at a plurality of speeds;
• compare the current drawn by said motor to the maximum allowed current;
• and
• when the comparison of the current drawn by the motor to maximum allowed current indicates said motor is drawing more current than the maximum allowed current, modulating the application of energization signals to said motor.

A powered surgical tool system, said system including:

• a powered surgical handpiece for actuating an attachment, said handpiece having a variable speed motor for actuating the attachment, wherein said motor is actuated by an energization signal;
• a manually actuated switch assembly for indicating a speed at which said motor is to be operated, said switch assembly having state sensor that generates a variable control signal that indicates the speed at which said motor is to be operated, wherein said state sensor is located in said handpiece or in a supplemental component separate from said handpiece;
• a non-volatile memory integral with said handpiece, said memory containing data indicating if said state sensor is located in said handpiece;
• and
• a control console connected to said handpiece for applying energization signals to said motor and connected to said memory for reading the data therein, said control console being configured to:
• read the data from said memory;
• if the data in said memory indicates said state sensor is in said handpiece, retrieve from said handpiece the control signal;
• if the data in said memory indicates said state sensor is not in said handpiece, retrieve from the supplemental component the control signal;
• monitor the speed of said motor;
• and
• generate the energization signals to said motor based on the speed of said motor and the control signal.

A powered surgical tool for actuating an attachment, said tool including:

• a handpiece having a power consuming unit for actuating the attachment, wherein said power consuming unit is actuated by an energization signal and a coupling assembly for releasable connecting the attachment to said power consuming unit;
• a sensor disposed in said handpiece wherein said sensor generates an output signal used to control or monitor the operation of said power consuming unit;
• and
• a non-volatile memory integral with said handpiece, said memory having therein data descriptive of the energization signals to be applied to said power consuming unit and data defining coefficients that are used by a processor remote from said handpiece to define a corrected output signal based on the output signal produced by said sensor.

A powered surgical tool system, said system including:

• a handpiece having a power producing unit for actuating an attachment, wherein said power producing unit is actuated by an energization signal and a coupling assembly for releasably connecting the attachment to said power producing unit;
• a sensor disposed in said handpiece wherein said sensor generates a sensor output signal used to control or monitor the operation of said power producing unit;
• a non-volatile memory integral with said handpiece, said memory having therein data descriptive of the energization signals to be applied to said power producing unit and data defining coefficients for producing a corrected sensor output signal based on the sensor output signal;
• and
• a control console connected to:
• said handpiece for applying energization signals to said power producing unit;
• said sensor for receiving the sensor output signal;
• and to said memory for reading the data stored therein, said control console configured to:
• produce a corrected sensor output signal based on the sensor output signal and the coefficient data in said memory;
• and
• selectively apply energization signals to said power producing unit based on the corrected sensor output signal.

A powered surgical handpiece comprising:

• a housing;
• a variable-speed motor disposed in said housing, said motor being actuated by energization signals;
• a coupling assembly attached to said housing for releasably coupling a cutting attachment to said motor;
• and
• a memory integrally associated with said motor, said memory containing data describing the energization signals that are to be applied to said motor, data describing whether or not a sensor is present in said housing that produces an output signal for controlling the motor or monitoring the operating state of the handpiece, and, if the sensor is present, data describing the type of the sensor output signal and any coefficients required to produce a corrected sensor output signal.