Systems and methods for improving efficiency of electrosurgical generators

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9770283-B2
Application number	US-201414320762-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2014
Priority date	Sep 24, 2013
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

A method of improving efficiency of an electrosurgical generator is presented, the method including controlling an output of an electrosurgical generator by converting a direct current (DC) to an alternating current (AC) using an inverter, and sensing a current and a voltage at an output of the inverter. The method further includes the steps of determining a power level based on the sensed voltage and the sensed current, determining an efficiency of the electrosurgical generator, and inserting a predetermined integer number of off cycles when the efficiency of the electrosurgical generator reaches a threshold power efficiency.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling an output of an electrosurgical generator, the method comprising:
converting a direct current (DC) to an alternating current (AC) using an inverter of the electrosurgical generator;
sensing a current and a voltage at an output of the inverter;
determining a power level based on the sensed voltage and the sensed current;
determining a power efficiency of the inverter of the electrosurgical generator based on the determined power level; and
inserting a predetermined integer number of off periods having no pulse signals into control signals provided to the inverter when the determined power efficiency of the inverter reaches a threshold power efficiency.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined integer number of off periods are inserted at random time periods.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the random time periods are generated via a pseudo-random sequence determined by a random number generator.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising switching from a continuous wave mode to a pulsed wave mode.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining a duty cycle to maintain the determined power level at a desired power level.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising varying the duty cycle to maintain a desired power efficiency.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining a pulse width to maintain the determined power level at a desired power level.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising varying the pulse width to maintain a desired power efficiency.

9. An electrosurgical generator comprising:
a radio frequency (RF) amplifier coupled to an electrical energy source and configured to generate electrosurgical energy, the RF amplifier including:
an inverter configured to convert a direct current (DC) to an alternating current (AC); and
a plurality of sensors configured to sense voltage and current of the generated electrosurgical energy; and
a controller coupled to the RF amplifier and the plurality of sensors, wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a power level based on the sensed voltage and the sensed current;
determine a power efficiency of the inverter based on the determined power level; and
insert a predetermined integer number of off periods having no pulse signals into control signals provided to the inverter when the determined power efficiency of the inverter reaches a threshold power efficiency.

10. The electrosurgical generator according to claim 9 , wherein the predetermined integer number of off periods are inserted at random time periods.

11. The electrosurgical generator according to claim 10 , wherein the random time periods are generated via a pseudo-random sequence determined by a random number generator.

12. The electrosurgical generator according to claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to switch from a continuous wave mode to a pulsed wave mode.

13. The electrosurgical generator according to claim 9 , wherein a duty cycle is determined to maintain the determined power level at a desired power level.

14. The electrosurgical generator according to claim 13 , wherein the duty cycle is varied to maintain a desired power efficiency.

15. The electrosurgical generator according to claim 9 , wherein a pulse width is determined to maintain the determined power level at a desired power level.

16. The electrosurgical generator according to claim 15 , wherein the pulse width is varied to maintain a desired power efficiency.

Assignees

• Covidien Lp

Inventors

• Gilbert James A
• Johnston Mark A
• Mattmiller Aaron
• Johnson Joshua H

Classifications

• A61B2018/1266

  with DC current output · CPC title

• A61B2018/00892

  Voltage · CPC title

• A61B2018/00875

  Resistance or impedance · CPC title

• A61B2018/00827

  Current · CPC title

• A61B2018/00779

  Power or energy · CPC title