Method for operating a surgical power tool
AssigneeStryker Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG
InventorAndreas Ippisch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A surgical power tool has an actuation assembly which comprises a force sensor and a switch. The force sensor is provided to determine an actuation force produced by the user, and the switch is transferred by the actuation force from a first switching state to a second switching state. A combined evaluation of the force sensor signal and of the switching state enables, for example, a plausibility check for increasing the operational reliability of the power tool.
Claims16
An actuation assembly for the actuation-force-dependent control of the operation of a surgical power tool, comprising
- a force sensor configured to sense the actuation force and produce an output signal;
- a switch which can be transferred by the same actuation force sensed by the force sensor from a first switching state to a second switching state;
- a circuit which influences the operation of the surgical power tool in dependence on the switching state of the switch;
- wherein an actuation assembly is designed in such a manner that a user-induced actuation force at the same time changes both the switching state of the switch and acts on the force sensor, and the circuit is further adapted to allow operation of the surgical tool based on the output signal of the force sensor only if the switching state of the switch has changed from the first to the second switching state.
An actuation assembly, for the actuation-force-dependent control of the operation of a surgical power tool, comprising
- a force sensor configured to sense an actuation force and produce an output signal proportional to the force sensor;
- a switch associated with the force sensor which can be transferred from a first switching state to a second switching states by the same actuation force sensed by the force sensor;
- and
- a circuit which operates the surgical power tool depending on both the switching state of the switch and, at the same time, the output signal produced by actuation force sensed by the force sensor, wherein the circuit will not operate the tool unless the switch is in the second switching state independently of the force sensor output signal.
An actuation assembly for the control of the operation of a surgical power tool, comprising
- first and second actuators independently operable by a force applied by a user, the first actuator capable of causing operation of the power tool in a first rotational direction and the second actuator capable of causing operation of the power tool in an opposite rotational direction, each actuator comprising:
- a force sensor for sensing the force applied by the user and producing an output signal proportional to the force sensed;
- a switch associated with the force sensor which can be transferred from a first switching state to a second switching state by the force applied by the user;
- a circuit which contacts the operation of the power tool depending on which of the first and second actuators are activated based on an output of the associated force sensor and the switching state of the associated switch wherein
- the power tool is not operated by the force sensor if both the first and second actuator sense a force or if the switching state of the switch has not changed from the first to the second switching state independently of the output of the associated force sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.