Method and apparatus for predicting the operating points of bone cement
AssigneeDePuy Synthes Products, Inc.
InventorsJason T. Sherman, Mark R. DiSilvestro, Michael A. Kryger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of predicting the operating state of a curable bone cement composition includes determining the impedance of the bone cement composition. The impedance is used to predict a number of operating states of the bone cement composition including end-of-work time and setting time.
Claims33
A method of predicting an operating state of a curable bone cement composition, the method comprising the steps of:
- sampling the electrical impedance of the bone cement composition as the bone cement composition cures,
- generating a first electronic control signal if the magnitude of the electrical impedance of the bone cement composition has decreased to a minimum value, and
- generating a second electronic control signal if a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since generation of the first electronic control signal.
An apparatus for predicting the operating state of a curable bone cement composition, the apparatus comprising:
- a bone cement container,
- an electrical impedance analyzer,
- a processor electrically coupled to the electrical impedance analyzer, and
- a memory device electrically coupled to the processor, wherein the memory device has stored therein a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
- operate the electrical impedance analyzer to sample the electrical impedance of the bone cement composition as the bone cement composition cures,
- generate a first control signal if the magnitude of the electrical impedance of the bone cement composition has decreased to a minimum value, and
- generate a second control signal if a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since generation of the first control signal.
A method of predicting an operating state of a curable bone cement composition, the method comprising the steps of:
- sampling the electrical impedance of the bone cement composition as the bone cement composition cures,
- commencing a timer if the magnitude of the electrical impedance of the bone cement composition has decreased to a minimum value, and
- generating a control signal if the timer reaches a predetermined time value.
An apparatus for predicting the operating state of a curable bone cement composition, the apparatus comprising:
- a bone cement container,
- an electrical impedance analyzer,
- a processor electrically coupled to the electrical impedance analyzer, and
- a memory device electrically coupled to the processor, wherein the memory device has stored therein a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
- operate the electrical impedance analyzer to sample the electrical impedance of the bone cement composition as the bone cement composition cures,
- commence a timer if the magnitude of the electrical impedance of the bone cement composition has decreased to a minimum value, and
- generate a control signal if the timer reaches a predetermined time value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.