End-effector force measurement drive circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10175127-B2
Application number	US-201514670781-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2015
Priority date	May 5, 2014
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

A surgical instrument for applying fasteners includes a drive motor, a replaceable loading unit having an end-effector assembly, and an adapter configured to releasably couple a replaceable loading unit to the drive motor. The adapter includes a strain gauge having a drive circuit coupled thereto. The strain gauge and the drive circuit are configured to directly measure a driving force in the adapter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A surgical instrument for applying fasteners, comprising:
a handle assembly;
a drive motor disposed within the handle assembly;
a replaceable loading unit having an end-effector assembly; and
an adapter configured to releaseably couple to the handle assembly and to releaseably couple to the replaceable loading unit such that the replaceable loading unit is coupled to the drive motor, the adapter including a strain gauge and a drive circuit directly coupled to the strain gauge, the drive circuit including a microprocessor within the adapter, wherein the strain gauge and the drive circuit are configured to directly measure a driving force in the adapter.

2. The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the drive circuit includes an operational amplifier.

3. The surgical instrument of claim 2 , wherein the operational amplifier is configured to provide low-pass filtering.

4. The surgical instrument of claim 3 , wherein the operational amplifier is a two pole Butterworth filter.

5. The surgical instrument of claim 2 , wherein the operational amplifier is configured to provide electromagnetic interference (EMI) suppression.

6. The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein factory-calibrated force measurements including slope and offset correction factors are permanently stored in the microprocessor.

7. The surgical instrument of claim 2 , wherein the drive circuit further includes a voltage regulation circuit configured to provide a DC voltage of 3.3 volts.

8. The surgical instrument of claim 2 , further comprising a conductor configured to transmit an analog output of the operational amplifier to an analog-to-digital input of the microprocessor.

9. The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the end-effector assembly is configured to apply staples to tissue.

10. The surgical instrument of claim 9 , wherein the end-effector assembly is configured for use in endoscopic surgical procedures.

Assignees

• Covidien Lp

Inventors

• Collins Ethan
• Hryb John
• Calderoni Anthony
• Pantazis John

Classifications

• A61B17/07207 Primary

  the staples being applied sequentially · CPC title

• G01L5/0028 Primary

  Force sensors associated with force applying means (G01L5/0052, G01L5/0057, G01L5/0061 take precedence) · CPC title

• A61B2017/07278

  characterised by its sled or its staple holder · CPC title

• A61B2017/00398

  using powered actuators, e.g. stepper motors, solenoids · CPC title

• A61B2017/00473

  Distal part, e.g. tip or head (A61B2017/00464 takes precedence) · CPC title