Patent Grant
11678927
In a surgical environment, smart energy devices may be needed in a smart energy architecture environment. Ultrasonic surgical devices, such as ultrasonic scalpels, are finding increasingly widespread applications in surgical procedures by virtue of their unique performance characteristics. Depending upon specific device configurations and operational parameters, ultrasonic surgical devices can provide substantially simultaneous transection of tissue and homeostasis by coagulation, desirably minimizing patient trauma. An ultrasonic surgical device may comprise a handpiece containing an ultrasonic transducer, and an instrument coupled to the ultrasonic transducer having a distally-mounted end effector (e.g., a blade tip) to cut and seal tissue. In some cases, the instrument may be permanently affixed to the handpiece. In other cases, the instrument may be detachable from the handpiece, as in the case of a disposable instrument or an interchangeable instrument. The end effector transmits ultrasonic energy to tissue brought into contact with the end effector to realize cutting and sealing action. Ultrasonic surgical devices of this nature can be configured for open surgical use, laparoscopic, or endoscopic surgical procedures including robotic-assisted procedures.
Ultrasonic energy cuts and coagulates tissue using temperatures lower than those used in electrosurgical procedures and can be transmitted to the end effector by an ultrasonic generator in communication with the handpiece. Vibrating at high frequencies (e.g., 55,500 cycles per second), the ultrasonic blade denatures protein in the tissue to form a sticky coagulum. Pressure exerted on tissue by the blade surface collapses blood vessels and allows the coagulum to form a hemostatic seal. A surgeon can control the cutting speed and coagulation by the force applied to the tissue by the end effector, the time over which the force is applied, and the selected excursion level of the end effector.
The ultrasonic transducer may be modeled as an equivalent circuit comprising a first branch having a static capacitance and a second “motional” branch having a serially connected inductance, resistance and capacitance that define the electromechanical properties of a resonator. Known ultrasonic generators may include a tuning inductor for tuning out the static capacitance at a resonant frequency so that substantially all of a generator's drive signal current flows into the motional branch. Accordingly, by using a tuning inductor, the generator's drive signal current represents the motional branch current, and the generator is thus able to control its drive signal to maintain the ultrasonic transducer's resonant frequency. The tuning inductor may also transform the phase impedance plot of the ultrasonic transducer to improve the generator's frequency lock capabilities. However, the tuning inductor must be matched with the specific static capacitance of an ultrasonic transducer at the operational resonant frequency. In other words, a different ultrasonic transducer having a different static capacitance requires a different tuning inductor.
Additionally, in some ultrasonic generator architectures, the generator's drive signal exhibits asymmetrical harmonic distortion that complicates impedance magnitude and phase measurements. For example, the accuracy of impedance phase measurements may be reduced due to harmonic distortion in the current and voltage signals.
Moreover, electromagnetic interference in noisy environments decreases the ability of the generator to maintain lock on the ultrasonic transducer's resonant frequency, increasing the likelihood of invalid control algorithm inputs.
Electrosurgical devices for applying electrical energy to tissue in order to treat and/or destroy the tissue are also finding increasingly widespread applications in surgical procedures. An electrosurgical device may comprise a handpiece and an instrument having a distally-mounted end effector (e.g., one or more electrodes). The end effector can be positioned against the tissue such that electrical current is introduced into the tissue. Electrosurgical devices can be configured for bipolar or monopolar operation. During bipolar operation, current is introduced into and returned from the tissue by active and return electrodes, respectively, of the end effector. During monopolar operation, current is introduced into the tissue by an active electrode of the end effector and returned through a return electrode (e.g., a grounding pad) separately located on a patient's body. Heat generated by the current flowing through the tissue may form hemostatic seals within the tissue and/or between tissues and thus may be particularly useful for sealing blood vessels, for example. The end effector of an electrosurgical device may also comprise a cutting member that is movable relative to the tissue and the electrodes to transect the tissue.
Electrical energy applied by an electrosurgical device can be transmitted to the instrument by a generator in communication with the handpiece. The electrical energy may be in the form of radio frequency (RF) energy. RF energy is a form of electrical energy that may be in the frequency range of 300 kHz to 1 MHz, as described in EN60601-2-2:2009+A11:2011, Definition 201.3.218—HIGH FREQUENCY. For example, the frequencies in monopolar RF applications are typically restricted to less than 5 MHz. However, in bipolar RF applications, the frequency can be almost any value. Frequencies above 200 kHz are typically used for monopolar applications in order to avoid the unwanted stimulation of nerves and muscles which would result from the use of low frequency current. Lower frequencies may be used for bipolar techniques if a risk analysis shows the possibility of neuromuscular stimulation has been mitigated to an acceptable level. Normally, frequencies above 5 MHz are not used in order to minimize the problems associated with high frequency leakage currents. It is generally recognized that 10 mA is the lower threshold of thermal effects on tissue.
During its operation, an electrosurgical device can transmit low frequency RF energy through tissue, which causes ionic agitation, or friction, in effect resistive heating, thereby increasing the temperature of the tissue. Because a sharp boundary may be created between the affected tissue and the surrounding tissue, surgeons can operate with a high level of precision and control, without sacrificing un-targeted adjacent tissue. The low operating temperatures of RF energy may be useful for removing, shrinking, or sculpting soft tissue while simultaneously sealing blood vessels. RF energy may work particularly well on connective tissue, which is primarily comprised of collagen and shrinks when contacted by heat.
Due to their unique drive signal, sensing and feedback needs, ultrasonic and electrosurgical devices have generally required different generators. Additionally, in cases where the instrument is disposable or interchangeable with a handpiece, ultrasonic and electrosurgical generators are limited in their ability to recognize the particular instrument configuration being used and to optimize control and diagnostic processes accordingly. Moreover, capacitive coupling between the non-isolated and patient-isolated circuits of the generator, especially in cases where higher voltages and frequencies are used, may result in exposure of a patient to unacceptable levels of leakage current.
Furthermore, due to their unique drive signal, sensing and feedback needs, ultrasonic and electrosurgical devices have generally required different user interfaces for the different generators. In such conventional ultrasonic and electrosurgical devices, one user interface is configured for use with an ultrasonic instrument whereas a different user interface may be configured for use with an electrosurgical instrument. Such user interfaces include hand and/or foot activated user interfaces such as hand activated switches and/or foot activated switches. As various aspects of combined generators for use with both ultrasonic and electrosurgical instruments are contemplated in the subsequent disclosure, additional user interfaces that are configured to operate with both ultrasonic and/or electrosurgical instrument generators also are contemplated.
Additional user interfaces for providing feedback, whether to the user or other machine, are contemplated within the subsequent disclosure to provide feedback indicating an operating mode or status of either an ultrasonic and/or electrosurgical instrument. Providing user and/or machine feedback for operating a combination ultrasonic and/or electrosurgical instrument will require providing sensory feedback to a user and electrical/mechanical/electro-mechanical feedback to a machine. Feedback devices that incorporate visual feedback devices (e.g., an LCD display screen, LED indicators), audio feedback devices (e.g., a speaker, a buzzer) or tactile feedback devices (e.g., haptic actuators) for use in combined ultrasonic and/or electrosurgical instruments are contemplated in the subsequent disclosure.
Other electrical surgical instruments include, without limitation, irreversible and/or reversible electroporation, and/or microwave technologies, among others. Accordingly, the techniques disclosed herein are applicable to ultrasonic, bipolar or monopolar RF (electrosurgical), irreversible and/or reversible electroporation, and/or microwave based surgical instruments, among others.
An aspect of an ultrasonic device may include an electromechanical ultrasonic system defined by a predetermined resonant frequency, the electromechanical ultrasonic system further having an ultrasonic transducer coupled to an ultrasonic blade, An aspect of a method of delivering energy to the ultrasonic device, my include applying, by a processor or control circuit, energy to the ultrasonic blade at a first power level P1 via the ultrasonic transducer coupled to the ultrasonic blade, measuring, by the processor or control circuit, a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, receiving, by the processor or control circuit, a complex impedance feedback data point, comparing, by the processor or control circuit, the complex impedance feedback data point to a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern, and determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the results of the comparison.
In one aspect, the method may further include disabling, by the processor or control circuit, power applied to the ultrasonic transducer and switching, by the processor or control circuit, to a second power level P2 that is lower than the first power level P1.
In one aspect, the method may further include generating, by the processor or control circuit, a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel.
In one aspect of the method, generating, by the processor or control circuit, a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel may include emitting, by the processor or control circuit, a warning light.
In one aspect of the method, generating, by the processor or control circuit, a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel may include emitting, by the processor or control circuit, a warning sound.
In one aspect of the method, determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel may include measuring, by the processor or control circuit, a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the complex impedance is defined as
receiving, by the processor or control circuit, a complex impedance measurement data point, comparing, by the processor or control circuit, the complex impedance measurement data point to a data point in a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern, classifying, by the processor or control circuit, the complex impedance measurement data point based on a result of the comparison analysis, and determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
In one aspect of the method, determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel may include applying, by a drive circuit, a drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the drive signal is a periodic signal defined by a magnitude and frequency, sweeping, by the processor or control circuit, the frequency of the drive signal from below resonance to above resonance of the electromechanical ultrasonic system, measuring and recording, by the processor or control circuit, impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be, comparing, by the processor or control circuit, measured impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be to reference impedance/admittance circle variables Rref, Gref, Xref, and Bref, and determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
An aspect of an ultrasonic surgical instrument may include an ultrasonic electromechanical system having an ultrasonic transducer coupled to an ultrasonic blade via an ultrasonic waveguide and a generator configured to supply power to the ultrasonic transducer. An aspect of the generator may include a control circuit configured to apply energy to the ultrasonic blade at a first power level P1 applied via the ultrasonic transducer coupled to the ultrasonic blade, measure a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, receive a complex impedance feedback data point, compare the complex impedance feedback data point to a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern, and determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the results of the comparison.
In one aspect of the ultrasonic surgical instrument, the control circuit is further configured to disable power applied to the ultrasonic transducer and switch to a second power level P2 that is lower than the first power level P1.
In one aspect of the ultrasonic surgical instrument, the control circuit is further configured to generate a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel.
In one aspect of the ultrasonic surgical instrument, the warning comprises illumination emitted by a warning light.
In one aspect of the ultrasonic surgical instrument, the warning comprises the emission of a warning sound.
In one aspect of the ultrasonic surgical instrument, the control circuit is further configured to measure a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the complex impedance is defined as
receive a complex impedance measurement data point, compare the complex impedance measurement data point to a data point in a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern, classify the complex impedance measurement data point based on a result of the comparison analysis, and determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
In one aspect of the ultrasonic surgical instrument, the control circuit is further configured to cause a drive circuit to apply a drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the drive signal is a periodic signal defined by a magnitude and frequency, sweep the frequency of the drive signal from below resonance to above resonance of the electromechanical ultrasonic system, measure and record impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be, compare the measured impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be to the reference impedance/admittance circle variables Rref, Gref, Xref, and Bref, and determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
An aspect of a generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument may include a control circuit configured to apply energy to an ultrasonic blade at a first power level P1 via an ultrasonic transducer coupled to the ultrasonic blade, measure a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, receive a complex impedance feedback data point, compare the complex impedance feedback data point to a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern, and determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the results of the comparison.
In one aspect of the generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument, the control circuit is further configured to disable power applied to the ultrasonic transducer and switch to a second power level P2 that is lower than the first power level P1.
In on aspect of the generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument, the control circuit is further configured to generate a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel.
In on aspect of the generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument, the warning comprises illumination emitted by a warning light.
In on aspect of the generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument, the warning comprises the emission of a warning sound.
In one aspect of the generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument, the control circuit is further configured to measure a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the complex impedance is defined as
receive a complex impedance measurement data point, compare the complex impedance measurement data point to a data point in a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern, classify the complex impedance measurement data point based on a result of the comparison analysis, and determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
In one aspect of the generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument, the control circuit is further configured to cause a drive circuit to apply a drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the drive signal is a periodic signal defined by a magnitude and frequency, sweep the frequency of the drive signal from below resonance to above resonance of the electromechanical ultrasonic system, measure and record impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be, compare the measured impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be to the reference impedance/admittance circle variables Rref, Gref, Xref, and Bref, and determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
The features of various aspects are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The various aspects, however, both as to organization and methods of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings as follows.
Applicant of the present patent application also owns the following U.S. patent applications, each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present patent application also owns the following U.S. patent applications, each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Patent Applications, filed on Sep. 10, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Patent Applications, filed on Aug. 28, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Patent Applications, filed on Aug. 23, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Patent Applications, filed on Jun. 30, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Patent Applications, filed on Jun. 29, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applications, filed on Jun. 28, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Provisional Patent Application, filed on Apr. 19, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applications, filed on Mar. 30, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Patent Applications, filed on Mar. 29, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applications, filed on Mar. 28, 2018, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Applicant of the present application owns the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applications, filed on Dec. 28, 2017, the disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety:
Before explaining various aspects of surgical devices and generators in detail, it should be noted that the illustrative examples are not limited in application or use to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings and description. The illustrative examples may be implemented or incorporated in other aspects, variations and modifications, and may be practiced or carried out in various ways. Further, unless otherwise indicated, the terms and expressions employed herein have been chosen for the purpose of describing the illustrative examples for the convenience of the reader and are not for the purpose of limitation thereof. Also, it will be appreciated that one or more of the following-described aspects, expressions of aspects, and/or examples, can be combined with any one or more of the other following-described aspects, expressions of aspects and/or examples.
Various aspects are directed to improved ultrasonic surgical devices, electrosurgical devices and generators for use therewith. Aspects of the ultrasonic surgical devices can be configured for transecting and/or coagulating tissue during surgical procedures, for example. Aspects of the electrosurgical devices can be configured for transecting, coagulating, scaling, welding and/or desiccating tissue during surgical procedures, for example.
In various aspects smart ultrasonic energy devices may comprise adaptive algorithms to control the operation of the ultrasonic blade. In one aspect, the ultrasonic blade adaptive control algorithms are configured to identify tissue type and adjust device parameters. In one aspect, the ultrasonic blade control algorithms are configured to parameterize tissue type. An algorithm to detect the collagen/elastic ratio of tissue to tune the amplitude of the distal tip of the ultrasonic blade is described in the following section of the present disclosure. Various aspects of smart ultrasonic energy devices are described herein in connection with
In certain surgical procedures it would be desirable to employ adaptive ultrasonic blade control algorithms. In one aspect, adaptive ultrasonic blade control algorithms may be employed to adjust the parameters of the ultrasonic device based on the type of tissue in contact with the ultrasonic blade. In one aspect, the parameters of the ultrasonic device may be adjusted based on the location of the tissue within the jaws of the ultrasonic end effector, for example, the location of the tissue between the clamp arm and the ultrasonic blade. The impedance of the ultrasonic transducer may be employed to differentiate what percentage of the tissue is located in the distal or proximal end of the end effector. The reactions of the ultrasonic device may be based on the tissue type or compressibility of the tissue. In another aspect, the parameters of the ultrasonic device may be adjusted based on the identified tissue type or parameterization. For example, the mechanical displacement amplitude of the distal tip of the ultrasonic blade may be tuned based on the ratio of collagen to elastin tissue detected during the tissue identification procedure. The ratio of collagen to elastin tissue may be detected using a variety of techniques including infrared (IR) surface reflectance and emissivity. Electrical continuity across a jaw equipped with electrodes may be employed to determine what percentage of the jaw is covered with tissue.
The generator module 240 may comprise a patient isolated stage in communication with a non-isolated stage via a power transformer. A secondary winding of the power transformer is contained in the isolated stage and may comprise a tapped configuration (e.g., a center-tapped or a non-center-tapped configuration) to define drive signal outputs for delivering drive signals to different surgical instruments, such as, for example, an ultrasonic surgical instrument, an RF electrosurgical instrument, and a multifunction surgical instrument which includes ultrasonic and RF energy modes that can be delivered alone or simultaneously. In particular, the drive signal outputs may output an ultrasonic drive signal (e.g., a 420V root-mean-square (RMS) drive signal) to an ultrasonic surgical instrument 241, and the drive signal outputs may output an RF electrosurgical drive signal (e.g., a 100V RMS drive signal) to an RF electrosurgical instrument 241. Aspects of the generator module 240 are described herein with reference to
The generator module 240 or the device/instrument 235 or both are coupled to the modular control tower 236 connected to multiple operating theater devices such as, for example, intelligent surgical instruments, robots, and other computerized devices located in the operating theater. In some aspects, a surgical data network may include a modular communication hub configured to connect modular devices located in one or more operating theaters of a healthcare facility, or any room in a healthcare facility specially equipped for surgical operations, to a cloud-based system (e.g., the cloud 204 that may include a remote server 213 coupled to a storage device).
Modular devices located in the operating theater may be coupled to the modular communication hub. The network hub and/or the network switch may be coupled to a network router to connect the devices to the cloud 204 or a local computer system. Data associated with the devices may be transferred to cloud-based computers via the router for remote data processing and manipulation. Data associated with the devices may also be transferred to a local computer system for local data processing and manipulation. Modular devices located in the same operating theater also may be coupled to a network switch. The network switch may be coupled to the network hub and/or the network router to connect to the devices to the cloud 204. Data associated with the devices may be transferred to the cloud 204 via the network router for data processing and manipulation. Data associated with the devices may also be transferred to the local computer system for local data processing and manipulation.
It will be appreciated that cloud computing relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle software applications. The word “cloud” may be used as a metaphor for “the Internet,” although the term is not limited as such. Accordingly, the term “cloud computing” may be used herein to refer to “a type of Internet-based computing,” where different services—such as servers, storage, and applications—are delivered to the modular communication hub and/or computer system located in the surgical theater (e.g., a fixed, mobile, temporary, or field operating room or space) and to devices connected to the modular communication hub and/or computer system through the Internet. The cloud infrastructure may be maintained by a cloud service provider. In this context, the cloud service provider may be the entity that coordinates the usage and control of the devices located in one or more operating theaters. The cloud computing services can perform a large number of calculations based on the data gathered by smart surgical instruments, robots, and other computerized devices located in the operating theater. The hub hardware enables multiple devices or connections to be connected to a computer that communicates with the cloud computing resources and storage.
A first voltage sensing circuit 912 is coupled across the terminals labeled ENERGY1 and the RETURN path to measure the output voltage therebetween. A second voltage sensing circuit 924 is coupled across the terminals labeled ENERGY2 and the RETURN path to measure the output voltage therebetween. A current sensing circuit 914 is disposed in series with the RETURN leg of the secondary side of the power transformer 908 as shown to measure the output current for either energy modality. If different return paths are provided for each energy modality, then a separate current sensing circuit should be provided in each return leg. The outputs of the first and second voltage sensing circuits 912, 924 are provided to respective isolation transformers 928, 922 and the output of the current sensing circuit 914 is provided to another isolation transformer 916. The outputs of the isolation transformers 916, 928, 922 in the on the primary side of the power transformer 908 (non-patient isolated side) are provided to a one or more ADC circuit 926. The digitized output of the ADC circuit 926 is provided to the processor 902 for further processing and computation. The output voltages and output current feedback information can be employed to adjust the output voltage and current provided to the surgical instrument and to compute output impedance, among other parameters. Input/output communications between the processor 902 and patient isolated circuits is provided through an interface circuit 920. Sensors also may be in electrical communication with the processor 902 by way of the interface circuit 920.
In one aspect, the impedance may be determined by the processor 902 by dividing the output of either the first voltage sensing circuit 912 coupled across the terminals labeled ENERGY1/RETURN or the second voltage sensing circuit 924 coupled across the terminals labeled ENERGY2/RETURN by the output of the current sensing circuit 914 disposed in series with the RETURN leg of the secondary side of the power transformer 908. The outputs of the first and second voltage sensing circuits 912, 924 are provided to separate isolations transformers 928, 922 and the output of the current sensing circuit 914 is provided to another isolation transformer 916. The digitized voltage and current sensing measurements from the ADC circuit 926 are provided the processor 902 for computing impedance. As an example, the first energy modality ENERGY1 may be ultrasonic energy and the second energy modality ENERGY2 may be RF energy. Nevertheless, in addition to ultrasonic and bipolar or monopolar RF energy modalities, other energy modalities include irreversible and/or reversible electroporation and/or microwave energy, among others. Also, although the example illustrated in
As shown in
Additional details are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0086914, titled TECHNIQUES FOR OPERATING GENERATOR FOR DIGITALLY GENERATING ELECTRICAL SIGNAL WAVEFORMS AND SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, which published on Mar. 30, 2017, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
As used throughout this description, the term “wireless” and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices do not contain any wires, although in some aspects they might not. The communication module may implement any of a number of wireless or wired communication standards or protocols, including but not limited to W-Fi (IEEE 802.11 family), WiMAX (IEEE 802.16 family), IEEE 802.20, long term evolution (LTE), Ev-DO, HSPA+, HSDPA+, HSUPA+, EDGE, GSM, GPRS, CDMA, TDMA, DECT, Bluetooth, Ethernet derivatives thereof, as well as any other wireless and wired protocols that are designated as 3G, 4G, 5G, and beyond. The computing module may include a plurality of communication modules. For instance, a first communication module may be dedicated to shorter range wireless communications such as W-Fi and Bluetooth and a second communication module may be dedicated to longer range wireless communications such as GPS, EDGE, GPRS, CDMA, WiMAX, LTE, Ev-DO, and others.
As used herein a processor or processing unit is an electronic circuit which performs operations on some external data source, usually memory or some other data stream. The term is used herein to refer to the central processor (central processing unit) in a system or computer systems (especially systems on a chip (SoCs)) that combine a number of specialized “processors.”
As used herein, a system on a chip or system on chip (SoC or SOC) is an integrated circuit (also known as an “IC” or “chip”) that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic systems. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal, and often radio-frequency functions—all on a single substrate. A SoC integrates a microcontroller (or microprocessor) with advanced peripherals like graphics processing unit (GPU), Wi-Fi module, or coprocessor. A SoC may or may not contain built-in memory.
As used herein, a microcontroller or controller is a system that integrates a microprocessor with peripheral circuits and memory. A microcontroller (or MCU for microcontroller unit) may be implemented as a small computer on a single integrated circuit. It may be similar to a SoC; an SoC may include a microcontroller as one of its components. A microcontroller may contain one or more core processing units (CPUs) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of Ferroelectric RAM, NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers may be employed for embedded applications, in contrast to the microprocessors used in personal computers or other general purpose applications consisting of various discrete chips.
As used herein, the term controller or microcontroller may be a stand-alone IC or chip device that interfaces with a peripheral device. This may be a link between two parts of a computer or a controller on an external device that manages the operation of (and connection with) that device.
Any of the processors or microcontrollers described herein, may be implemented by any single core or multicore processor such as those known under the trade name ARM Cortex by Texas Instruments. In one aspect, the processor may be an LM4F230H5QR ARM Cortex-M4F Processor Core, available from Texas Instruments, for example, comprising on-chip memory of 256 KB single-cycle flash memory, or other non-volatile memory, up to 40 MHz, a prefetch buffer to improve performance above 40 MHz, a 32 KB single-cycle serial random access memory (SRAM), internal read-only memory (ROM) loaded with StellarisWare® software, 2 KB electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), one or more pulse width modulation (PWM) modules, one or more quadrature encoder inputs (QEI) analog, one or more 12-bit Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC) with 12 analog input channels, details of which are available for the product datasheet.
In one aspect, the processor may comprise a safety controller comprising two controller-based families such as TMS570 and RM4x known under the trade name Hercules ARM Cortex R4, also by Texas Instruments. The safety controller may be configured specifically for IEC 61508 and ISO 26262 safety critical applications, among others, to provide advanced integrated safety features while delivering scalable performance, connectivity, and memory options.
Modular devices include the modules (as described in connection with
The generator 1100 is configured to drive multiple surgical instruments 1104, 1106, 1108. The first surgical instrument is an ultrasonic surgical instrument 1104 and comprises a handpiece 1105 (HP), an ultrasonic transducer 1120, a shaft 1126, and an end effector 1122. The end effector 1122 comprises an ultrasonic blade 1128 acoustically coupled to the ultrasonic transducer 1120 and a clamp arm 1140. The handpiece 1105 comprises a trigger 1143 to operate the clamp arm 1140 and a combination of the toggle buttons 1134a, 1134b, 1134c to energize and drive the ultrasonic blade 1128 or other function. The toggle buttons 1134a, 1134b, 1134c can be configured to energize the ultrasonic transducer 1120 with the generator 1100.
The generator 1100 also is configured to drive a second surgical instrument 1106. The second surgical instrument 1106 is an RF electrosurgical instrument and comprises a handpiece 1107 (HP), a shaft 1127, and an end effector 1124. The end effector 1124 comprises electrodes in clamp arms 1142a, 1142b and return through an electrical conductor portion of the shaft 1127. The electrodes are coupled to and energized by a bipolar energy source within the generator 1100. The handpiece 1107 comprises a trigger 1145 to operate the clamp arms 1142a, 1142b and an energy button 1135 to actuate an energy switch to energize the electrodes in the end effector 1124.
The generator 1100 also is configured to drive a multifunction surgical instrument 1108. The multifunction surgical instrument 1108 comprises a handpiece 1109 (HP), a shaft 1129, and an end effector 1125. The end effector 1125 comprises an ultrasonic blade 1149 and a clamp arm 1146. The ultrasonic blade 1149 is acoustically coupled to the ultrasonic transducer 1120. The handpiece 1109 comprises a trigger 1147 to operate the clamp arm 1146 and a combination of the toggle buttons 1137a, 1137b, 1137c to energize and drive the ultrasonic blade 1149 or other function. The toggle buttons 1137a, 1137b, 1137c can be configured to energize the ultrasonic transducer 1120 with the generator 1100 and energize the ultrasonic blade 1149 with a bipolar energy source also contained within the generator 1100.
The generator 1100 is configurable for use with a variety of surgical instruments. According to various forms, the generator 1100 may be configurable for use with different surgical instruments of different types including, for example, the ultrasonic surgical instrument 1104, the RF electrosurgical instrument 1106, and the multifunction surgical instrument 1108 that integrates RF and ultrasonic energies delivered simultaneously from the generator 1100. Although in the form of
The generator 1100 may be activated to provide the drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer 1120 in any suitable manner. For example, the generator 1100 may comprise a foot switch 1430 (
Additionally or alternatively, the one or more switches may comprise a toggle button 1134 that, when depressed, causes the generator 1100 to provide a pulsed output (
It will be appreciated that a device 1104 may comprise any combination of the toggle buttons 1134a, 1134b, 1134 (
In certain aspects, a two-position switch may be provided as an alternative to a toggle button 1134 (
In some aspects, the RF electrosurgical end effector 1124, 1125 (
In various aspects, the generator 1100 may comprise several separate functional elements, such as modules and/or blocks, as shown in
In accordance with the described aspects, the ultrasonic generator module may produce a drive signal or signals of particular voltages, currents, and frequencies (e.g. 55,500 cycles per second, or Hz). The drive signal or signals may be provided to the ultrasonic device 1104, and specifically to the transducer 1120, which may operate, for example, as described above. In one aspect, the generator 1100 may be configured to produce a drive signal of a particular voltage, current, and/or frequency output signal that can be stepped with high resolution, accuracy, and repeatability.
In accordance with the described aspects, the electrosurgery/RF generator module may generate a drive signal or signals with output power sufficient to perform bipolar electrosurgery using radio frequency (RF) energy. In bipolar electrosurgery applications, the drive signal may be provided, for example, to the electrodes of the electrosurgical device 1106, for example, as described above. Accordingly, the generator 1100 may be configured for therapeutic purposes by applying electrical energy to the tissue sufficient for treating the tissue (e.g., coagulation, cauterization, tissue welding, etc.).
The generator 1100 may comprise an input device 2150 (
The generator 1100 may also comprise an output device 2140 (
Although certain modules and/or blocks of the generator 1100 may be described by way of example, it can be appreciated that a greater or lesser number of modules and/or blocks may be used and still fall within the scope of the aspects. Further, although various aspects may be described in terms of modules and/or blocks to facilitate description, such modules and/or blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware components, e.g., processors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), circuits, registers and/or software components, e.g., programs, subroutines, logic and/or combinations of hardware and software components.
In one aspect, the ultrasonic generator drive module and electrosurgery/RF drive module 1110 (
In one aspect, the modules comprise a hardware component implemented as a processor for executing program instructions for monitoring various measurable characteristics of the devices 1104, 1106, 1108 and generating a corresponding output drive signal or signals for operating the devices 1104, 1106, 1108. In aspects in which the generator 1100 is used in conjunction with the device 1104, the drive signal may drive the ultrasonic transducer 1120 in cutting and/or coagulation operating modes. Electrical characteristics of the device 1104 and/or tissue may be measured and used to control operational aspects of the generator 1100 and/or provided as feedback to the user. In aspects in which the generator 1100 is used in conjunction with the device 1106, the drive signal may supply electrical energy (e.g., RF energy) to the end effector 1124 in cutting, coagulation and/or desiccation modes. Electrical characteristics of the device 1106 and/or tissue may be measured and used to control operational aspects of the generator 1100 and/or provided as feedback to the user. In various aspects, as previously discussed, the hardware components may be implemented as DSP, PLD, ASIC, circuits, and/or registers. In one aspect, the processor may be configured to store and execute computer software program instructions to generate the step function output signals for driving various components of the devices 1104, 1106, 1108, such as the ultrasonic transducer 1120 and the end effectors 1122, 1124, 1125.
An electromechanical ultrasonic system includes an ultrasonic transducer, a waveguide, and an ultrasonic blade. The electromechanical ultrasonic system has an initial resonant frequency defined by the physical properties of the ultrasonic transducer, the waveguide, and the ultrasonic blade. The ultrasonic transducer is excited by an alternating voltage Vg(t) and current Ig(t) signal equal to the resonant frequency of the electromechanical ultrasonic system. When the electromechanical ultrasonic system is at resonance, the phase difference between the voltage Vg(t) and current Ig(t) signals is zero. Stated another way, at resonance the inductive impedance is equal to the capacitive impedance. As the ultrasonic blade heats up, the compliance of the ultrasonic blade (modeled as an equivalent capacitance) causes the resonant frequency of the electromechanical ultrasonic system to shift. Thus, the inductive impedance is no longer equal to the capacitive impedance causing a mismatch between the drive frequency and the resonant frequency of the electromechanical ultrasonic system. The system is now operating “off-resonance.” The mismatch between the drive frequency and the resonant frequency is manifested as a phase difference between the voltage Vg(t) and current Ig(t) signals applied to the ultrasonic transducer. The generator electronics can easily monitor the phase difference between the voltage Vg(t) and current Ig(t) signals and can continuously adjust the drive frequency until the phase difference is once again zero. At this point, the new drive frequency is equal to the new resonant frequency of the electromechanical ultrasonic system. The change in phase and/or frequency can be used as an indirect measurement of the ultrasonic blade temperature.
As shown in
Various aspects of the generator 1100 may not rely on a tuning inductor Lt to monitor the motional branch current Im(t). Instead, the generator 1100 may use the measured value of the static capacitance C0 in between applications of power for a specific ultrasonic surgical device 1104 (along with drive signal voltage and current feedback data) to determine values of the motional branch current Im(t) on a dynamic and ongoing basis (e.g., in real-time). Such aspects of the generator 1100 are therefore able to provide virtual tuning to simulate a system that is tuned or resonant with any value of static capacitance C0 at any frequency, and not just at a single resonant frequency dictated by a nominal value of the static capacitance C0.
Power may be supplied to a power rail of the power amplifier 1620 by a switch-mode regulator 1700. In certain aspects the switch-mode regulator 1700 may comprise an adjustable buck regulator 1170, for example. As discussed above, the non-isolated stage 1540 may further comprise a processor 1740, which in one aspect may comprise a DSP processor such as an ADSP-21469 SHARC DSP, available from Analog Devices, Norwood, Mass., for example. In certain aspects the processor 1740 may control operation of the switch-mode power converter 1700 responsive to voltage feedback data received from the power amplifier 1620 by the processor 1740 via an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 1760. In one aspect, for example, the processor 1740 may receive as input, via the ADC 1760, the waveform envelope of a signal (e.g., an RF signal) being amplified by the power amplifier 1620. The processor 1740 may then control the switch-mode regulator 1700 (e.g., via a pulse-width modulated (PWM) output) such that the rail voltage supplied to the power amplifier 1620 tracks the waveform envelope of the amplified signal. By dynamically modulating the rail voltage of the power amplifier 1620 based on the waveform envelope, the efficiency of the power amplifier 1620 may be significantly improved relative to a fixed rail voltage amplifier scheme. The processor 1740 may be configured for wired or wireless communication.
In certain aspects and as discussed in further detail in connection with
The non-isolated stage 1540 may further comprise an ADC 1780 and an ADC 1800 coupled to the output of the power transformer 1560 via respective isolation transformers 1820, 1840 for respectively sampling the voltage and current of drive signals output by the generator 1100. In certain aspects, the ADCs 1780, 1800 may be configured to sample at high speeds (e.g., 80 Msps) to enable oversampling of the drive signals. In one aspect, for example, the sampling speed of the ADCs 1780, 1800 may enable approximately 200× (depending on drive frequency) oversampling of the drive signals. In certain aspects, the sampling operations of the ADCs 1780, 1800 may be performed by a single ADC receiving input voltage and current signals via a two-way multiplexer. The use of high-speed sampling in aspects of the generator 1100 may enable, among other things, calculation of the complex current flowing through the motional branch (which may be used in certain aspects to implement DDS-based waveform shape control described above), accurate digital filtering of the sampled signals, and calculation of real power consumption with a high degree of precision. Voltage and current feedback data output by the ADCs 1780, 1800 may be received and processed (e.g., FIFO buffering, multiplexing) by the programmable logic device 1660 and stored in data memory for subsequent retrieval by, for example, the processor 1740. As noted above, voltage and current feedback data may be used as input to an algorithm for pre-distorting or modifying LUT waveform samples on a dynamic and ongoing basis. In certain aspects, this may require each stored voltage and current feedback data pair to be indexed based on, or otherwise associated with, a corresponding LUT sample that was output by the programmable logic device 1660 when the voltage and current feedback data pair was acquired. Synchronization of the LUT samples and the voltage and current feedback data in this manner contributes to the correct timing and stability of the pre-distortion algorithm.
In certain aspects, the voltage and current feedback data may be used to control the frequency and/or amplitude (e.g., current amplitude) of the drive signals. In one aspect, for example, voltage and current feedback data may be used to determine impedance phase, e.g., the phase difference between the voltage and current drive signals. The frequency of the drive signal may then be controlled to minimize or reduce the difference between the determined impedance phase and an impedance phase setpoint (e.g., 0°), thereby minimizing or reducing the effects of harmonic distortion and correspondingly enhancing impedance phase measurement accuracy. The determination of phase impedance and a frequency control signal may be implemented in the processor 1740, for example, with the frequency control signal being supplied as input to a DDS control algorithm implemented by the programmable logic device 1660.
The impedance phase may be determined through Fourier analysis. In one aspect, the phase difference between the generator voltage Vg(t) and generator current Ig(t) driving signals may be determined using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) or the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) as follows:
Evaluating the Fourier Transform at the frequency of the sinusoid yields:
Other approaches include weighted least-squares estimation, Kalman filtering, and space-vector-based techniques. Virtually all of the processing in an FFT or DFT technique may be performed in the digital domain with the aid of the 2-channel high speed ADC 1780, 1800, for example. In one technique, the digital signal samples of the voltage and current signals are Fourier transformed with an FFT or a DFT. The phase angle 9 at any point in time can be calculated by:
φ=2πft+φ0
where φ is the phase angle, f is the frequency, t is time, and φ0 is the phase at t=0.
Another technique for determining the phase difference between the voltage Vg(t) and current Ig(t) signals is the zero-crossing method and produces highly accurate results. For voltage Vg(t) and current Ig(t) signals having the same frequency, each negative to positive zero-crossing of voltage signal Vg(t) triggers the start of a pulse, while each negative to positive zero-crossing of current signal Ig(t) triggers the end of the pulse. The result is a pulse train with a pulse width proportional to the phase angle between the voltage signal and the current signal. In one aspect, the pulse train may be passed through an averaging filter to yield a measure of the phase difference. Furthermore, if the positive to negative zero crossings also are used in a similar manner, and the results averaged, any effects of DC and harmonic components can be reduced. In one implementation, the analog voltage Vg(t) and current Ig(t) signals are converted to digital signals that are high if the analog signal is positive and low if the analog signal is negative. High accuracy phase estimates require sharp transitions between high and low. In one aspect, a Schmitt trigger along with an RC stabilization network may be employed to convert the analog signals into digital signals. In other aspects, an edge triggered RS flip-flop and ancillary circuitry may be employed. In yet another aspect, the zero-crossing technique may employ an eXclusive OR (XOR) gate.
Other techniques for determining the phase difference between the voltage and current signals include Lissajous figures and monitoring the image; methods such as the three-voltmeter method, the crossed-coil method, vector voltmeter and vector impedance methods; and using phase standard instruments, phase-locked loops, and other techniques as described in Phase Measurement, Peter O'Shea, 2000 CRC Press LLC, <http://www.engnetbase.com>, which is incorporated herein by reference.
In another aspect, for example, the current feedback data may be monitored in order to maintain the current amplitude of the drive signal at a current amplitude setpoint. The current amplitude setpoint may be specified directly or determined indirectly based on specified voltage amplitude and power setpoints. In certain aspects, control of the current amplitude may be implemented by control algorithm, such as, for example, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control algorithm, in the processor 1740. Variables controlled by the control algorithm to suitably control the current amplitude of the drive signal may include, for example, the scaling of the LUT waveform samples stored in the programmable logic device 1660 and/or the full-scale output voltage of the DAC 1680 (which supplies the input to the power amplifier 1620) via a DAC 1860.
The non-isolated stage 1540 may further comprise a processor 1900 for providing, among other things, user interface (UI) functionality. In one aspect, the processor 1900 may comprise an Atmel AT91 SAM9263 processor having an ARM 926EJ-S core, available from Atmel Corporation, San Jose, Calif., for example. Examples of UI functionality supported by the processor 1900 may include audible and visual user feedback, communication with peripheral devices (e.g., via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface), communication with a foot switch 1430, communication with an input device 2150 (e.g., a touch screen display) and communication with an output device 2140 (e.g., a speaker). The processor 1900 may communicate with the processor 1740 and the programmable logic device (e.g., via a serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus). Although the processor 1900 may primarily support UI functionality, it may also coordinate with the processor 1740 to implement hazard mitigation in certain aspects. For example, the processor 1900 may be programmed to monitor various aspects of user input and/or other inputs (e.g., touch screen inputs 2150, foot switch 1430 inputs, temperature sensor inputs 2160) and may disable the drive output of the generator 1100 when an erroneous condition is detected.
In certain aspects, both the processor 1740 (
The non-isolated stage 1540 may further comprise a controller 1960 (
In certain aspects, when the generator 1100 is in a “power off” state, the controller 1960 may continue to receive operating power (e.g., via a line from a power supply of the generator 1100, such as the power supply 2110 (
In certain aspects, the controller 1960 may cause the generator 1100 to provide audible or other sensory feedback for alerting the user that a “power on” or “power off” sequence has been initiated. Such an alert may be provided at the beginning of a “power on” or “power off” sequence and prior to the commencement of other processes associated with the sequence.
In certain aspects, the isolated stage 1520 may comprise an instrument interface circuit 1980 to, for example, provide a communication interface between a control circuit of a surgical device (e.g., a control circuit comprising handpiece switches) and components of the non-isolated stage 1540, such as, for example, the programmable logic device 1660, the processor 1740 and/or the processor 1900. The instrument interface circuit 1980 may exchange information with components of the non-isolated stage 1540 via a communication link that maintains a suitable degree of electrical isolation between the stages 1520, 1540, such as, for example, an infrared (IR)-based communication link. Power may be supplied to the instrument interface circuit 1980 using, for example, a low-dropout voltage regulator powered by an isolation transformer driven from the non-isolated stage 1540.
In one aspect, the instrument interface circuit 1980 may comprise a programmable logic device 2000 (e.g., an FPGA) in communication with a signal conditioning circuit 2020 (
In one aspect, the instrument interface circuit 1980 may comprise a first data circuit interface 2040 to enable information exchange between the programmable logic device 2000 (or other element of the instrument interface circuit 1980) and a first data circuit disposed in or otherwise associated with a surgical device. In certain aspects, for example, a first data circuit 2060 may be disposed in a cable integrally attached to a surgical device handpiece, or in an adaptor for interfacing a specific surgical device type or model with the generator 1100. In certain aspects, the first data circuit may comprise a non-volatile storage device, such as an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) device. In certain aspects and referring again to
In certain aspects, the first data circuit 2060 may store information pertaining to the particular surgical device with which it is associated. Such information may include, for example, a model number, a serial number, a number of operations in which the surgical device has been used, and/or any other type of information. This information may be read by the instrument interface circuit 1980 (e.g., by the programmable logic device 2000), transferred to a component of the non-isolated stage 1540 (e.g., to programmable logic device 1660, processor 1740 and/or processor 1900) for presentation to a user via an output device 2140 and/or for controlling a function or operation of the generator 1100. Additionally, any type of information may be communicated to first data circuit 2060 for storage therein via the first data circuit interface 2040 (e.g., using the programmable logic device 2000). Such information may comprise, for example, an updated number of operations in which the surgical device has been used and/or dates and/or times of its usage.
As discussed previously, a surgical instrument may be detachable from a handpiece (e.g., instrument 1106 may be detachable from handpiece 1107) to promote instrument interchangeability and/or disposability. In such cases, known generators may be limited in their ability to recognize particular instrument configurations being used and to optimize control and diagnostic processes accordingly. The addition of readable data circuits to surgical device instruments to address this issue is problematic from a compatibility standpoint, however. For example, it may be impractical to design a surgical device to maintain backward compatibility with generators that lack the requisite data reading functionality due to, for example, differing signal schemes, design complexity and cost. Other aspects of instruments address these concerns by using data circuits that may be implemented in existing surgical instruments economically and with minimal design changes to preserve compatibility of the surgical devices with current generator platforms.
Additionally, aspects of the generator 1100 may enable communication with instrument-based data circuits. For example, the generator 1100 may be configured to communicate with a second data circuit (e.g., a data circuit) contained in an instrument (e.g., instrument 1104, 1106 or 1108) of a surgical device. The instrument interface circuit 1980 may comprise a second data circuit interface 2100 to enable this communication. In one aspect, the second data circuit interface 2100 may comprise a tri-state digital interface, although other interfaces may also be used. In certain aspects, the second data circuit may generally be any circuit for transmitting and/or receiving data. In one aspect, for example, the second data circuit may store information pertaining to the particular surgical instrument with which it is associated. Such information may include, for example, a model number, a serial number, a number of operations in which the surgical instrument has been used, and/or any other type of information. Additionally or alternatively, any type of information may be communicated to the second data circuit for storage therein via the second data circuit interface 2100 (e.g., using the programmable logic device 2000). Such information may comprise, for example, an updated number of operations in which the instrument has been used and/or dates and/or times of its usage. In certain aspects, the second data circuit may transmit data acquired by one or more sensors (e.g., an instrument-based temperature sensor). In certain aspects, the second data circuit may receive data from the generator 1100 and provide an indication to a user (e.g., an LED indication or other visible indication) based on the received data.
In certain aspects, the second data circuit and the second data circuit interface 2100 may be configured such that communication between the programmable logic device 2000 and the second data circuit can be effected without the need to provide additional conductors for this purpose (e.g., dedicated conductors of a cable connecting a handpiece to the generator 1100). In one aspect, for example, information may be communicated to and from the second data circuit using a one-wire bus communication scheme implemented on existing cabling, such as one of the conductors used transmit interrogation signals from the signal conditioning circuit 2020 to a control circuit in a handpiece. In this way, design changes or modifications to the surgical device that might otherwise be necessary are minimized or reduced. Moreover, because different types of communications can be implemented over a common physical channel (either with or without frequency-band separation), the presence of a second data circuit may be “invisible” to generators that do not have the requisite data reading functionality, thus enabling backward compatibility of the surgical device instrument.
In certain aspects, the isolated stage 1520 may comprise at least one blocking capacitor 2960-1 (
In certain aspects, the non-isolated stage 1540 may comprise a power supply 2110 for outputting DC power at a suitable voltage and current. The power supply may comprise, for example, a 400 W power supply for outputting a 48 VDC system voltage. As discussed above, the power supply 2110 may further comprise one or more DC/DC voltage converters 2130 for receiving the output of the power supply to generate DC outputs at the voltages and currents required by the various components of the generator 1100. As discussed above in connection with the controller 1960, one or more of the DC/DC voltage converters 2130 may receive an input from the controller 1960 when activation of the “on/off” input device 2150 by a user is detected by the controller 1960 to enable operation of, or wake, the DC/DC voltage converters 2130.
The multiplexed current and voltage feedback samples may be received by a parallel data acquisition port (PDAP) implemented within block 2144 of the processor 1740. The PDAP may comprise a packing unit for implementing any of a number of methodologies for correlating the multiplexed feedback samples with a memory address. In one aspect, for example, feedback samples corresponding to a particular LUT sample output by the programmable logic device 1660 may be stored at one or more memory addresses that are correlated or indexed with the LUT address of the LUT sample. In another aspect, feedback samples corresponding to a particular LUT sample output by the programmable logic device 1660 may be stored, along with the LUT address of the LUT sample, at a common memory location. In any event, the feedback samples may be stored such that the address of the LUT sample from which a particular set of feedback samples originated may be subsequently ascertained. As discussed above, synchronization of the LUT sample addresses and the feedback samples in this way contributes to the correct timing and stability of the pre-distortion algorithm. A direct memory access (DMA) controller implemented at block 2166 of the processor 1740 may store the feedback samples (and any LUT sample address data, where applicable) at a designated memory location 2180 of the processor 1740 (e.g., internal RAM).
Block 2200 of the processor 1740 may implement a pre-distortion algorithm for pre-distorting or modifying the LUT samples stored in the programmable logic device 1660 on a dynamic, ongoing basis. As discussed above, pre-distortion of the LUT samples may compensate for various sources of distortion present in the output drive circuit of the generator 1100. The pre-distorted LUT samples, when processed through the drive circuit, will therefore result in a drive signal having the desired waveform shape (e.g., sinusoidal) for optimally driving the ultrasonic transducer.
At block 2220 of the pre-distortion algorithm, the current through the motional branch of the ultrasonic transducer is determined. The motional branch current may be determined using Kirchhoff's Current Law based on, for example, the current and voltage feedback samples stored at memory location 2180 (which, when suitably scaled, may be representative of Ig and Vg in the model of
At block 2240 of the pre-distortion algorithm, each motional branch current sample determined at block 2220 is compared to a sample of a desired current waveform shape to determine a difference, or sample amplitude error, between the compared samples. For this determination, the sample of the desired current waveform shape may be supplied, for example, from a waveform shape LUT 2260 containing amplitude samples for one cycle of a desired current waveform shape. The particular sample of the desired current waveform shape from the LUT 2260 used for the comparison may be dictated by the LUT sample address associated with the motional branch current sample used in the comparison. Accordingly, the input of the motional branch current to block 2240 may be synchronized with the input of its associated LUT sample address to block 2240. The LUT samples stored in the programmable logic device 1660 and the LUT samples stored in the waveform shape LUT 2260 may therefore be equal in number. In certain aspects, the desired current waveform shape represented by the LUT samples stored in the waveform shape LUT 2260 may be a fundamental sine wave. Other waveform shapes may be desirable. For example, it is contemplated that a fundamental sine wave for driving main longitudinal motion of an ultrasonic transducer superimposed with one or more other drive signals at other frequencies, such as a third order harmonic for driving at least two mechanical resonances for beneficial vibrations of transverse or other modes, could be used.
Each value of the sample amplitude error determined at block 2240 may be transmitted to the LUT of the programmable logic device 1660 (shown at block 2280 in
Current and voltage amplitude measurements, power measurements and impedance measurements may be determined at block 2300 of the processor 1740 based on the current and voltage feedback samples stored at memory location 2180. Prior to the determination of these quantities, the feedback samples may be suitably scaled and, in certain aspects, processed through a suitable filter 2320 to remove noise resulting from, for example, the data acquisition process and induced harmonic components. The filtered voltage and current samples may therefore substantially represent the fundamental frequency of the generator's drive output signal. In certain aspects, the filter 2320 may be a finite impulse response (FIR) filter applied in the frequency domain. Such aspects may use the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the output drive signal current and voltage signals. In certain aspects, the resulting frequency spectrum may be used to provide additional generator functionality. In one aspect, for example, the ratio of the second and/or third order harmonic component relative to the fundamental frequency component may be used as a diagnostic indicator.
At block 2340 (
At block 2360, a root mean square (RMS) calculation may be applied to a sample size of the voltage feedback samples representing an integral number of cycles of the drive signal to determine a measurement Vrms representing the drive signal output voltage.
At block 2380, the current and voltage feedback samples may be multiplied point by point, and a mean calculation is applied to samples representing an integral number of cycles of the drive signal to determine a measurement Pr of the generator's real output power.
At block 2400, measurement Pa of the generator's apparent output power may be determined as the product Vrms·Irms.
At block 2420, measurement Zm of the load impedance magnitude may be determined as the quotient Vrms/Irms.
In certain aspects, the quantities Irms, Vrms, Pr, Pa and Zm determined at blocks 2340, 2360, 2380, 2400 and 2420 may be used by the generator 1100 to implement any of a number of control and/or diagnostic processes. In certain aspects, any of these quantities may be communicated to a user via, for example, an output device 2140 integral with the generator 1100 or an output device 2140 connected to the generator 1100 through a suitable communication interface (e.g., a USB interface). Various diagnostic processes may include, without limitation, handpiece integrity, instrument integrity, instrument attachment integrity, instrument overload, approaching instrument overload, frequency lock failure, over-voltage condition, over-current condition, over-power condition, voltage sense failure, current sense failure, audio indication failure, visual indication failure, short circuit condition, power delivery failure, or blocking capacitor failure, for example.
Block 2440 of the processor 1740 may implement a phase control algorithm for determining and controlling the impedance phase of an electrical load (e.g., the ultrasonic transducer) driven by the generator 1100. As discussed above, by controlling the frequency of the drive signal to minimize or reduce the difference between the determined impedance phase and an impedance phase setpoint (e.g., 0°), the effects of harmonic distortion may be minimized or reduced, and the accuracy of the phase measurement increased.
The phase control algorithm receives as input the current and voltage feedback samples stored in the memory location 2180. Prior to their use in the phase control algorithm, the feedback samples may be suitably scaled and, in certain aspects, processed through a suitable filter 2460 (which may be identical to filter 2320) to remove noise resulting from the data acquisition process and induced harmonic components, for example. The filtered voltage and current samples may therefore substantially represent the fundamental frequency of the generator's drive output signal.
At block 2480 of the phase control algorithm, the current through the motional branch of the ultrasonic transducer is determined. This determination may be identical to that described above in connection with block 2220 of the pre-distortion algorithm. The output of block 2480 may thus be, for each set of stored current and voltage feedback samples associated with a LUT sample, a motional branch current sample.
At block 2500 of the phase control algorithm, impedance phase is determined based on the synchronized input of motional branch current samples determined at block 2480 and corresponding voltage feedback samples. In certain aspects, the impedance phase is determined as the average of the impedance phase measured at the rising edge of the waveforms and the impedance phase measured at the falling edge of the waveforms.
At block 2520 of the of the phase control algorithm, the value of the impedance phase determined at block 2500 is compared to phase setpoint 2540 to determine a difference, or phase error, between the compared values.
At block 2560 (
Block 2580 of the processor 1740 may implement an algorithm for modulating the current amplitude of the drive signal in order to control the drive signal current, voltage and power in accordance with user specified setpoints, or in accordance with requirements specified by other processes or algorithms implemented by the generator 1100. Control of these quantities may be realized, for example, by scaling the LUT samples in the LUT 2280 and/or by adjusting the full-scale output voltage of the DAC 1680 (which supplies the input to the power amplifier 1620) via a DAC 1860. Block 2600 (which may be implemented as a PID controller in certain aspects) may receive, as input, current feedback samples (which may be suitably scaled and filtered) from the memory location 2180. The current feedback samples may be compared to a “current demand” Id value dictated by the controlled variable (e.g., current, voltage or power) to determine if the drive signal is supplying the necessary current. In aspects in which drive signal current is the control variable, the current demand Id may be specified directly by a current setpoint 2620A (Isp). For example, an RMS value of the current feedback data (determined as in block 2340) may be compared to user-specified RMS current setpoint Isp to determine the appropriate controller action. If, for example, the current feedback data indicates an RMS value less than the current setpoint Isp, LUT scaling and/or the full-scale output voltage of the DAC 1680 may be adjusted by the block 2600 such that the drive signal current is increased. Conversely, block 2600 may adjust LUT scaling and/or the full-scale output voltage of the DAC 1680 to decrease the drive signal current when the current feedback data indicates an RMS value greater than the current setpoint Isp.
In aspects in which the drive signal voltage is the control variable, the current demand Id may be specified indirectly, for example, based on the current required to maintain a desired voltage setpoint 2620B (Vsp) given the load impedance magnitude Zm measured at block 2420 (e.g. Id=Vsp/Zm). Similarly, in aspects in which drive signal power is the control variable, the current demand Id may be specified indirectly, for example, based on the current required to maintain a desired power setpoint 2620C (Psp) given the voltage Vrms measured at blocks 2360 (e.g. Id=Psp/Vrms).
Block 2680 (
Block 2700 of the processor 1740 may implement a switch-mode converter control algorithm for dynamically modulating the rail voltage of the power amplifier 1620 based on the waveform envelope of the signal being amplified, thereby improving the efficiency of the power amplifier 1620. In certain aspects, characteristics of the waveform envelope may be determined by monitoring one or more signals contained in the power amplifier 1620. In one aspect, for example, characteristics of the waveform envelope may be determined by monitoring the minima of a drain voltage (e.g., a MOSFET drain voltage) that is modulated in accordance with the envelope of the amplified signal. A minima voltage signal may be generated, for example, by a voltage minima detector coupled to the drain voltage. The minima voltage signal may be sampled by ADC 1760, with the output minima voltage samples being received at block 2720 of the switch-mode converter control algorithm. Based on the values of the minima voltage samples, block 2740 may control a PWM signal output by a PWM generator 2760, which, in turn, controls the rail voltage supplied to the power amplifier 1620 by the switch-mode regulator 1700. In certain aspects, as long as the values of the minima voltage samples are less than a minima target 2780 input into block 2720, the rail voltage may be modulated in accordance with the waveform envelope as characterized by the minima voltage samples. When the minima voltage samples indicate low envelope power levels, for example, block 2740 may cause a low rail voltage to be supplied to the power amplifier 1620, with the full rail voltage being supplied only when the minima voltage samples indicate maximum envelope power levels. When the minima voltage samples fall below the minima target 2780, block 2740 may cause the rail voltage to be maintained at a minimum value suitable for ensuring proper operation of the power amplifier 1620.
In one aspect, the ultrasonic or high-frequency current generators of the surgical system 1000 may be configured to generate the electrical signal waveform digitally using a predetermined number of phase points stored in a lookup table to digitize the wave shape. The phase points may be stored in a table defined in a memory, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or any suitable non-volatile memory.
The waveform signal may be configured to control at least one of an output current, an output voltage, or an output power of an ultrasonic transducer and/or an RF electrode, or multiples thereof (e.g. two or more ultrasonic transducers and/or two or more RF electrodes). Further, where the surgical instrument comprises ultrasonic components, the waveform signal may be configured to drive at least two vibration modes of an ultrasonic transducer of the at least one surgical instrument. Accordingly, a generator may be configured to provide a waveform signal to at least one surgical instrument wherein the waveform signal corresponds to at least one wave shape of a plurality of wave shapes in a table. Further, the waveform signal provided to the two surgical instruments may comprise two or more wave shapes. The table may comprise information associated with a plurality of wave shapes and the table may be stored within the generator. In one aspect or example, the table may be a direct digital synthesis table, which may be stored in an FPGA of the generator. The table may be addressed by anyway that is convenient for categorizing wave shapes. According to one aspect, the table, which may be a direct digital synthesis table, is addressed according to a frequency of the waveform signal. Additionally, the information associated with the plurality of wave shapes may be stored as digital information in the table.
The analog electrical signal waveform may be configured to control at least one of an output current, an output voltage, or an output power of an ultrasonic transducer and/or an RF electrode, or multiples thereof (e.g., two or more ultrasonic transducers and/or two or more RF electrodes). Further, where the surgical instrument comprises ultrasonic components, the analog electrical signal waveform may be configured to drive at least two vibration modes of an ultrasonic transducer of the at least one surgical instrument. Accordingly, the generator circuit may be configured to provide an analog electrical signal waveform to at least one surgical instrument wherein the analog electrical signal waveform corresponds to at least one wave shape of a plurality of wave shapes stored in a lookup table 4104. Further, the analog electrical signal waveform provided to the two surgical instruments may comprise two or more wave shapes. The lookup table 4104 may comprise information associated with a plurality of wave shapes and the lookup table 4104 may be stored either within the generator circuit or the surgical instrument. In one aspect or example, the lookup table 4104 may be a direct digital synthesis table, which may be stored in an FPGA of the generator circuit or the surgical instrument. The lookup table 4104 may be addressed by anyway that is convenient for categorizing wave shapes. According to one aspect, the lookup table 4104, which may be a direct digital synthesis table, is addressed according to a frequency of the desired analog electrical signal waveform. Additionally, the information associated with the plurality of wave shapes may be stored as digital information in the lookup table 4104.
With the widespread use of digital techniques in instrumentation and communications systems, a digitally-controlled method of generating multiple frequencies from a reference frequency source has evolved and is referred to as direct digital synthesis. The basic architecture is shown in
Because the DDS circuit 4100 is a sampled data system, issues involved in sampling must be considered: quantization noise, aliasing, filtering, etc. For instance, the higher order harmonics of the DAC circuit 4108 output frequencies fold back into the Nyquist bandwidth, making them unfilterable, whereas, the higher order harmonics of the output of phase-locked-loop (PLL) based synthesizers can be filtered. The lookup table 4104 contains signal data for an integral number of cycles. The final output frequency fout can be changed changing the reference clock frequency fc or by reprogramming the PROM.
The DDS circuit 4100 may comprise multiple lookup tables 4104 where the lookup table 4104 stores a waveform represented by a predetermined number of samples, wherein the samples define a predetermined shape of the waveform. Thus multiple waveforms having a unique shape can be stored in multiple lookup tables 4104 to provide different tissue treatments based on instrument settings or tissue feedback. Examples of waveforms include high crest factor RF electrical signal waveforms for surface tissue coagulation, low crest factor RF electrical signal waveform for deeper tissue penetration, and electrical signal waveforms that promote efficient touch-up coagulation. In one aspect, the DDS circuit 4100 can create multiple wave shape lookup tables 4104 and during a tissue treatment procedure (e.g., “on-the-fly” or in virtual real time based on user or sensor inputs) switch between different wave shapes stored in separate lookup tables 4104 based on the tissue effect desired and/or tissue feedback. Accordingly, switching between wave shapes can be based on tissue impedance and other factors, for example. In other aspects, the lookup tables 4104 can store electrical signal waveforms shaped to maximize the power delivered into the tissue per cycle (i.e., trapezoidal or square wave). In other aspects, the lookup tables 4104 can store wave shapes synchronized in such way that they make maximizing power delivery by the multifunction surgical instrument of surgical system 1000 while delivering RF and ultrasonic drive signals. In yet other aspects, the lookup tables 4104 can store electrical signal waveforms to drive ultrasonic and RF therapeutic, and/or sub-therapeutic, energy simultaneously while maintaining ultrasonic frequency lock. Custom wave shapes specific to different instruments and their tissue effects can be stored in the non-volatile memory of the generator circuit or in the non-volatile memory (e.g., EEPROM) of the surgical system 1000 and be fetched upon connecting the multifunction surgical instrument to the generator circuit. An example of an exponentially damped sinusoid, as used in many high crest factor “coagulation” waveforms is shown in
A more flexible and efficient implementation of the DDS circuit 4100 employs a digital circuit called a Numerically Controlled Oscillator (NCO). A block diagram of a more flexible and efficient digital synthesis circuit such as a DDS circuit 4200 is shown in
The DDS circuit 4200 includes a sample clock that generates the clock frequency fc, the phase accumulator 4206, and the lookup table 4210 (e.g., phase to amplitude converter). The content of the phase accumulator 4206 is updated once per clock cycle fc. When time the phase accumulator 4206 is updated, the digital number, M, stored in the parallel delta phase register 4204 is added to the number in the phase register 4208 by the adder circuit 4216. Assuming that the number in the parallel delta phase register 4204 is 00 . . . 01 and that the initial contents of the phase accumulator 4206 is 00 . . . 00. The phase accumulator 4206 is updated by 00 . . . 01 per clock cycle. If the phase accumulator 4206 is 32-bits wide, 232 clock cycles (over 4 billion) are required before the phase accumulator 4206 returns to 00 . . . 00, and the cycle repeats.
A truncated output 4218 of the phase accumulator 4206 is provided to a phase-to amplitude converter lookup table 4210 and the output of the lookup table 4210 is coupled to a DAC circuit 4212. The truncated output 4218 of the phase accumulator 4206 serves as the address to a sine (or cosine) lookup table. An address in the lookup table corresponds to a phase point on the sinewave from 0° to 360°. The lookup table 4210 contains the corresponding digital amplitude information for one complete cycle of a sinewave. The lookup table 4210 therefore maps the phase information from the phase accumulator 4206 into a digital amplitude word, which in turn drives the DAC circuit 4212. The output of the DAC circuit is a first analog signal 4220 and is filtered by a filter 4214. The output of the filter 4214 is a second analog signal 4222, which is provided to a power amplifier coupled to the output of the generator circuit.
In one aspect, the electrical signal waveform may be digitized into 1024 (210) phase points, although the wave shape may be digitized is any suitable number of 2n phase points ranging from 256 (28) to 281,474,976,710,656 (248), where n is a positive integer, as shown in TABLE 1. The electrical signal waveform may be expressed as An(θn), where a normalized amplitude An at a point n is represented by a phase angle θn is referred to as a phase point at point n. The number of discrete phase points n determines the tuning resolution of the DDS circuit 4200 (as well as the DDS circuit 4100 shown in
TABLE 1 specifies the electrical signal waveform digitized into a number of phase points.
The generator circuit algorithms and digital control circuits scan the addresses in the lookup table 4210, which in turn provides varying digital input values to the DAC circuit 4212 that feeds the filter 4214 and the power amplifier. The addresses may be scanned according to a frequency of interest. Using the lookup table enables generating various types of shapes that can be converted into an analog output signal by the DAC circuit 4212, filtered by the filter 4214, amplified by the power amplifier coupled to the output of the generator circuit, and fed to the tissue in the form of RF energy or fed to an ultrasonic transducer and applied to the tissue in the form of ultrasonic vibrations which deliver energy to the tissue in the form of heat. The output of the amplifier can be applied to an RF electrode, multiple RF electrodes simultaneously, an ultrasonic transducer, multiple ultrasonic transducers simultaneously, or a combination of RF and ultrasonic transducers, for example. Furthermore, multiple wave shape tables can be created, stored, and applied to tissue from a generator circuit.
With reference back to
For a phase accumulator 4206 configured to accumulate n-bits (n generally ranges from 24 to 32 in most DDS systems, but as previously discussed n may be selected from a wide range of options), there are 2n possible phase points. The digital word in the delta phase register, M, represents the amount the phase accumulator is incremented per clock cycle. If fc is the clock frequency, then the frequency of the output sinewave is equal to:
The above equation is known as the DDS “tuning equation.” Note that the frequency resolution of the system is equal to
For n=32, the resolution is greater than one part in four billion. In one aspect of the DDS circuit 4200, not all of the bits out of the phase accumulator 4206 are passed on to the lookup table 4210, but are truncated, leaving only the first 13 to 15 most significant bits (MSBs), for example. This reduces the size of the lookup table 4210 and does not affect the frequency resolution. The phase truncation only adds a small but acceptable amount of phase noise to the final output.
The electrical signal waveform may be characterized by a current, voltage, or power at a predetermined frequency. Further, where any one of the surgical instruments of surgical system 1000 comprises ultrasonic components, the electrical signal waveform may be configured to drive at least two vibration modes of an ultrasonic transducer of the at least one surgical instrument. Accordingly, the generator circuit may be configured to provide an electrical signal waveform to at least one surgical instrument wherein the electrical signal waveform is characterized by a predetermined wave shape stored in the lookup table 4210 (or lookup table 4104
In one aspect, the generator circuit may be configured to provide electrical signal waveforms to at least two surgical instruments simultaneously. The generator circuit also may be configured to provide the electrical signal waveform, which may be characterized two or more wave shapes, via an output channel of the generator circuit to the two surgical instruments simultaneously. For example, in one aspect the electrical signal waveform comprises a first electrical signal to drive an ultrasonic transducer (e.g., ultrasonic drive signal), a second RF drive signal, and/or a combination thereof. In addition, an electrical signal waveform may comprise a plurality of ultrasonic drive signals, a plurality of RF drive signals, and/or a combination of a plurality of ultrasonic and RF drive signals.
In addition, a method of operating the generator circuit according to the present disclosure comprises generating an electrical signal waveform and providing the generated electrical signal waveform to any one of the surgical instruments of surgical system 1000, where generating the electrical signal waveform comprises receiving information associated with the electrical signal waveform from a memory. The generated electrical signal waveform comprises at least one wave shape. Furthermore, providing the generated electrical signal waveform to the at least one surgical instrument comprises providing the electrical signal waveform to at least two surgical instruments simultaneously.
The generator circuit as described herein may allow for the generation of various types of direct digital synthesis tables. Examples of wave shapes for RF/Electrosurgery signals suitable for treating a variety of tissue generated by the generator circuit include RF signals with a high crest factor (which may be used for surface coagulation in RF mode), a low crest factor RF signals (which may be used for deeper tissue penetration), and waveforms that promote efficient touch-up coagulation. The generator circuit also may generate multiple wave shapes employing a direct digital synthesis lookup table 4210 and, on the fly, can switch between particular wave shapes based on the desired tissue effect. Switching may be based on tissue impedance and/or other factors.
In addition to traditional sine/cosine wave shapes, the generator circuit may be configured to generate wave shape(s) that maximize the power into tissue per cycle (i.e., trapezoidal or square wave). The generator circuit may provide wave shape(s) that are synchronized to maximize the power delivered to the load when driving RF and ultrasonic signals simultaneously and to maintain ultrasonic frequency lock, provided that the generator circuit includes a circuit topology that enables simultaneously driving RF and ultrasonic signals. Further, custom wave shapes specific to instruments and their tissue effects can be stored in a non-volatile memory (NVM) or an instrument EEPROM and can be fetched upon connecting any one of the surgical instruments of surgical system 1000 to the generator circuit.
The DDS circuit 4200 may comprise multiple lookup tables 4104 where the lookup table 4210 stores a waveform represented by a predetermined number of phase points (also may be referred to as samples), wherein the phase points define a predetermined shape of the waveform. Thus multiple waveforms having a unique shape can be stored in multiple lookup tables 4210 to provide different tissue treatments based on instrument settings or tissue feedback. Examples of waveforms include high crest factor RF electrical signal waveforms for surface tissue coagulation, low crest factor RF electrical signal waveform for deeper tissue penetration, and electrical signal waveforms that promote efficient touch-up coagulation. In one aspect, the DDS circuit 4200 can create multiple wave shape lookup tables 4210 and during a tissue treatment procedure (e.g., “on-the-fly” or in virtual real time based on user or sensor inputs) switch between different wave shapes stored in different lookup tables 4210 based on the tissue effect desired and/or tissue feedback. Accordingly, switching between wave shapes can be based on tissue impedance and other factors, for example. In other aspects, the lookup tables 4210 can store electrical signal waveforms shaped to maximize the power delivered into the tissue per cycle (i.e., trapezoidal or square wave). In other aspects, the lookup tables 4210 can store wave shapes synchronized in such way that they make maximizing power delivery by any one of the surgical instruments of surgical system 1000 when delivering RF and ultrasonic drive signals. In yet other aspects, the lookup tables 4210 can store electrical signal waveforms to drive ultrasonic and RF therapeutic, and/or sub-therapeutic, energy simultaneously while maintaining ultrasonic frequency lock. Generally, the output wave shape may be in the form of a sine wave, cosine wave, pulse wave, square wave, and the like. Nevertheless, the more complex and custom wave shapes specific to different instruments and their tissue effects can be stored in the non-volatile memory of the generator circuit or in the non-volatile memory (e.g., EEPROM) of the surgical instrument and be fetched upon connecting the surgical instrument to the generator circuit. One example of a custom wave shape is an exponentially damped sinusoid as used in many high crest factor “coagulation” waveforms, as shown in
In accordance with the PID algorithm, the “P” element 12974 accounts for present values of the error. For example, if the error is large and positive, the control output will also be large and positive. In accordance with the present disclosure, the error term e(t) is the difference between the desired closure force and the measured closure force of the closure tube. The “I” element 12976 accounts for past values of the error. For example, if the current output is not sufficiently strong, the integral of the error will accumulate over time, and the controller will respond by applying a stronger action. The “D” element 12978 accounts for possible future trends of the error, based on its current rate of change. For example, continuing the P example above, when the large positive control output succeeds in bringing the error closer to zero, it also puts the process on a path to large negative error in the near future. In this case, the derivative turns negative and the D module reduces the strength of the action to prevent this overshoot.
It will be appreciated that other variables and set points may be monitored and controlled in accordance with the feedback control systems 12950, 12970. For example, the adaptive closure member velocity control algorithm described herein may measure at least two of the following parameters: firing member stroke location, firing member load, displacement of cutting element, velocity of cutting element, closure tube stroke location, closure tube load, among others.
The outputs of the voltage and current sensors 132018, 132020 are applied to another phase/frequency detector 132022 to determine the phase angle between the voltage and current as measured by the voltage and current sensors 132018, 132020. The output of the phase/frequency detector 132022 is applied to one channel of a high speed analog to digital converter 132024 (ADC) and is provided to the processor 132004 therethrough. Optionally, the outputs of the voltage and current sensors 132018, 132020 may be applied to respective channels of the two-channel ADC 132024 and provided to the processor 132004 for zero crossing, FFT, or other algorithm described herein for determining the phase angle between the voltage and current signals applied to the ultrasonic electromechanical system 132002.
Optionally the tuning voltage Vt, which is proportional to the output frequency fo, may be fed back to the processor 132004 via the ADC 132024. This provides the processor 132004 with a feedback signal proportional to the output frequency fo and can use this feedback to adjust and control the output frequency fo.
A challenge with ultrasonic energy delivery is that ultrasonic acoustics applied on the wrong materials or the wrong tissue can result in device failure, for example, clamp arm pad burn through or ultrasonic blade breakage. It is also desirable to detect what is located in the jaws of an end effector of an ultrasonic device and the state of the jaws without adding additional sensors in the jaws. Locating sensors in the jaws of an ultrasonic end effector poses reliability, cost, and complexity challenges.
Ultrasonic spectroscopy smart blade algorithm techniques may be employed for estimating the state of the jaw (clamp arm pad burn through, staples, broken blade, bone in jaw, tissue in jaw, back-cutting with jaw closed, etc.) based on the impedance
of an ultrasonic transducer configured to drive an ultrasonic transducer blade, in accordance with at least one aspect of the present disclosure. The impedance Z9(t), magnitude |Z|, and phase φ are plotted as a function of frequency f.
Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), also known as dynamic mechanical spectroscopy or simply mechanical spectroscopy, is a technique used to study and characterize materials. A sinusoidal stress is applied to a material, and the strain in the material is measured, allowing the determination of the complex modulus of the material. The spectroscopy as applied to ultrasonic devices includes exciting the tip of the ultrasonic blade with a sweep of frequencies (compound signals or traditional frequency sweeps) and measuring the resulting complex impedance at each frequency. The complex impedance measurements of the ultrasonic transducer across a range of frequencies are used in a classifier or model to infer the characteristics of the ultrasonic end effector. In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a technique for determining the state of an ultrasonic end effector (clamp arm, jaw) to drive automation in the ultrasonic device (such as disabling power to protect the device, executing adaptive algorithms, retrieving information, identifying tissue, etc.).
Spectral analysis of different jaw bites and device states produces different complex impedance characteristic patterns (fingerprints) across a range of frequencies for different conditions and states. Each state or condition has a different characteristic pattern in 3D space when plotted. These characteristic patterns can be used to estimate the condition and state of the end effector.
The spectra 132030 can be evaluated by applying a low-power electrical signal across the ultrasonic transducer to produce a non-therapeutic excitation of the ultrasonic blade. The low-power electrical signal can be applied in the form of a sweep or a compound Fourier series to measure the impedance
across the ultrasonic transducer at a range of frequencies in series (sweep) or in parallel (compound signal) using an FFT.
For each characteristic pattern, a parametric line can be fit to the data used for training using a polynomial, a Fourier series, or any other form of parametric equation as may be dictated by convenience. A new data point is then received and is classified by using the Euclidean perpendicular distance from the new data point to the trajectory that has been fitted to the characteristic pattern training data. The perpendicular distance of the new data point to each of the trajectories (each trajectory representing a different state or condition) is used to assign the point to a state or condition.
The probability distribution of distance of each point in the training data to the fitted curve can be used to estimate the probability of a correctly classified new data point. This essentially constructs a two-dimensional probability distribution in a plane perpendicular to the fitted trajectory at each new data point of the fitted trajectory. The new data point can then be included in the training set based on its probability of correct classification to make an adaptive, learning classifier that readily detects high-frequency changes in states but adapts to slow occurring deviations in system performance, such as a device getting dirty or the pad wearing out.
The parametric Fourier series fit to the 3D training data set (S) is defined by:
For a new point {right arrow over (z)}, the perpendicular distance from {right arrow over (p)} to {right arrow over (z)} is found by:
D=∥{right arrow over (p)}−{right arrow over (z)}∥
A probability distribution of D can be used to estimate the probability of a data point {right arrow over (z)} belonging to the group S.
Based on the classification of data measured before, during, or after activation of the ultrasonic transducer/ultrasonic blade, a variety of automated tasks and safety measures can be implemented. Similarly, the state of the tissue located in the end effector and temperature of the ultrasonic blade also can be inferred to some degree, and used to better inform the user of the state of the ultrasonic device or protect critical structures, etc. Temperature control of an ultrasonic blade is described in commonly owned U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/640,417, filed Mar. 8, 2018, titled TEMPERATURE CONTROL IN ULTRASONIC DEVICE AND CONTROL SYSTEM THEREFOR, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Similarly, power delivery can be reduced when there is a high probability that the ultrasonic blade is contacting the clamp arm pad (e.g., without tissue in between) or if there is a probability that the ultrasonic blade has broken or that the ultrasonic blade is touching metal (e.g., a staple). Furthermore, back-cutting can be disallowed if the jaw is closed and no tissue is detected between the ultrasonic blade and the clamp arm pad.
This system can be used in conjunction with other information provided by sensors, the user, metrics on the patient, environmental factors, etc., by combing the data from this process with the aforementioned data using probability functions and a Kalman filter. The Kalman filter determines the maximum likelihood of a state or condition occurring given a plethora of uncertain measurements of varying confidence. Since this method allows for an assignment of probability to a newly classified data point, this algorithm's information can be implemented with other measures or estimates in a Kalman filter.
Once the reference complex impedance characteristic patterns or a training data sets (S) are generated, the ultrasonic instrument measures new data points, classifies the new points, and determines whether the new data points should be added to the reference complex impedance characteristic patterns or a training data sets (S).
Turning now to the logic flow diagram of
The control receives 132048 a complex impedance measurement data point and compares 132050 the complex impedance measurement data point to a data point in a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern. The control circuit classifies 132052 the complex impedance measurement data point based on a result of the comparison analysis and assigns 132054 a state or condition of the end effector based on the result of the comparison analysis.
In one aspect, the control circuit receives the reference complex impedance characteristic pattern from a database or memory coupled to the processor. In one aspect, the control circuit generates the reference complex impedance characteristic pattern as follows. A drive circuit coupled to the control circuit applies a nontherapeutic drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer starting at an initial frequency, ending at a final frequency, and at a plurality of frequencies therebetween. The control circuit measures the impedance of the ultrasonic transducer at each frequency and stores a data point corresponding to each impedance measurement. The control circuit curve fits a plurality of data points to generate a three-dimensional curve of representative of the reference complex impedance characteristic pattern, wherein the magnitude |Z| and phase φ are plotted as a function of frequency f. The curve fitting includes a polynomial curve fit, a Fourier series, and/or a parametric equation.
In one aspect, the control circuit receives a new impedance measurement data point and classifies the new impedance measurement data point using a Euclidean perpendicular distance from the new impedance measurement data point to a trajectory that has been fitted to the reference complex impedance characteristic pattern. The control circuit estimates a probability that the new impedance measurement data point is correctly classified. The control circuit adds the new impedance measurement data point to the reference complex impedance characteristic pattern based on the probability of the estimated correct classification of the new impedance measurement data point. In one aspect, the control circuit classifies data based on a training data set (S), where the training data set (S) comprises a plurality of complex impedance measurement data, and curve fits the training data set (S) using a parametric Fourier series, wherein S is defined herein and wherein the probability distribution is used to estimate the probability of the new impedance measurement data point belonging to the group S.
There has been an existing interest in classifying matter located within the jaws of an ultrasonic device including tissue types and condition. In various aspects, it can be shown that with high data sampling and sophisticated pattern recognition this classification is possible. The approach is based on impedance as a function of frequency, where magnitude, phase, and frequency are plotted in 3D the patterns look like ribbons as shown in
By way of example, the equivalent electrical lumped parameter model is known to be an accurate model of the physical piezoelectric transducer. It is based on the Mittag-Leffler expansion of a tangent near a mechanical resonance. When the complex impedance or the complex admittance is plotted as an imaginary component versus a real component, circles are formed.
The circle is created as the frequency is swept from below resonance to above resonance. Rather than stretching the circle out in 3D, a circle is identified and the radius (r) and offsets (a, b) of the circle are estimated. These values are then compared with established values for given conditions. These conditions may be: 1) open nothing in jaws, 2) tip bite 3) full bite and staple in jaws. If the sweep generates multiple resonances, circles of different characteristics will be present for each resonance. Each circle will be drawn out before the next if the resonances are separated. Rather than fitting a 3D curve with a series approximation, the data is fitted with a circle. The radius (r) and offsets (a, b) can be calculated using a processor programmed to execute a variety of mathematical or numerical techniques described below. These values may be estimated by capturing an image of a circle and, using image processing techniques, the radius (r) and offsets (a, b) that define the circle are estimated.
The lumped parameter input values are:
The outputs of the model based on the inputs are:
The output values are used to plot the circle plot 132060 shown in
The summations A-E specified below are needed to estimate the circle plot 132060 plot for the example given in
r2=(x−a)2+−b)2
The modified least squares method (Umbach and Jones) is convenient in that there a simple close formed solution for a, b, and r.
The caret symbol over the variable “a” indicates an estimate of the true value. A, B, C, D, and E are summations of various products which are calculated from the data. They are included herein for completeness as follows:
Z1,i is a first vector of the real components referred to as conductance;
Z2,i is a second of the imaginary components referred to as susceptance; and
Z3,i is a third vector that represents the frequencies at which admittances are calculated.
This disclosure will work for ultrasonic systems and may possibly be applied to electrosurgical systems, even though electrosurgical systems do not rely on a resonance.
The complex impedance and complex admittance are just the reciprocal of one another. No new information should be added by looking at both. Another consideration includes determining how sensitive the estimates are to noise when using complex impedance or complex admittance.
In the examples illustrated in
The oscillator voltage applied to the ultrasonic transducer is 500 mV and the frequency is swept from 55 kHz to 56 kHz. The impedance (Z) scale is 200 Ω/div and the admittance (Y) scale is 500 μS/div. Measurements of values that may characterize the impedance (Z) and admittance (Y) circle plots may be obtained at the locations on the circle plots as indicated by an impedance cursor and an admittance cursor.
Where R is the resistance (real value) and X is the reactance (imaginary value). Similarly, the position of the admittance cursor 132074 corresponds to values of:
Where G is the conductance (real value) and B is susceptance (imaginary value).
Measurements of values that may characterize the complex impedance (Z) and admittance (Y) circle pots 132078, 132080 may be obtained at locations on the circle plots 132078, 132080 as indicated by the impedance cursor 132082 and the admittance cursor 132084. Thus, the impedance cursor 132082 is located at a portion of the impedance circle plot 132078 that is equivalent to about 55.68 kHz, and the admittance cursor 132084 is located at a portion of the admittance circle plot 132080 that is equivalent to about 55.29 kHz. As depicted in
Where R is the resistance (real value) and X is the reactance (imaginary value).
Similarly, the position of the admittance cursor 132084 corresponds to values of:
Where G is the conductance (real value) and B is susceptance (imaginary value).
Measurements of values that may characterize the complex impedance (Z) and complex admittance (Y) circle plots 132088, 132090 may be obtained at locations on the circle plots 132088, 132090 as indicated by the impedance cursor 132092 and the admittance cursor 132094. Thus, the impedance cursor 132092 is located at a portion of the impedance circle plot 132088 that is equivalent to about 55.68 kHz, and the admittance cursor 132094 is located at a portion of the admittance circle plot 132090 that is equivalent to about 55.29 kHz. As depicted in
Where R is the resistance (real value) and X is the reactance (imaginary value). Similarly, the admittance cursor 132094 corresponds to values of:
Where G is the conductance (real value) and B is susceptance (imaginary value).
Measurements of values that may characterize the impedance and admittance circle plots 132098, 132100 may be obtained at locations on the circle plots 132098, 132100 as indicated by the impedance cursor 13212 and admittance cursor 132104. Thus, the impedance cursor 132102 is located at a portion of the impedance circle plot 132098 equivalent to about 55.63 kHz, and the admittance cursor 132104 is located at a portion of the admittance circle plot 132100 equivalent to about 55.29 kHz. As depicted in
Similarly, the admittance cursor 132104 corresponds to values of:
Where G is the conductance (real value) and B is susceptance (imaginary value).
Measurements of values that may characterize the impedance and admittance circle plots 132110a-c, 132112a-c may be obtained at locations on the impedance and admittance circle plots 132110a-c, 132112a-c as indicated by the impedance cursor 132114 and the admittance cursor 132116. Thus, the impedance cursor 132114 is located at a portion of the impedance circle plots 132110a-c equivalent to about 55.52 kHz, and the admittance cursor 132116 is located at a portion of the admittance circle plot 132112a-c equivalent to about 59.55 kHz. As depicted in
Where R is the resistance (real value) and X is the reactance (imaginary value). Similarly, the admittance cursor 132116 corresponds to values of:
Where G is the conductance (real value) and B is susceptance (imaginary value).
Because there are only 400 samples across the sweep range of the impedance analyzer, there are only a few points about a resonance. So, the circle on the right side becomes choppy. But this is only due to the impedance analyzer and the settings used to cover multiple resonances.
When multiple resonances are present, there is more information to improve the classifier. The circle plots 132110a-c, 132112a-c fit can be calculated for each as encountered to keep the algorithm running fast. So once there is a cross of the complex admittance, which implies a circle, during the sweep, a fit can be calculated.
Benefits include in-the-jaw classifier based on data and a well-known model for ultrasonic systems. Count and characterizations of circles are well known in vision systems. So data processing is readily available. For example, a closed form solution exists to calculate the radius and axes' offsets for a circle. This technique can be relatively fast.
TABLE 2 is a list of symbols used for lumped parameter model of a piezoelectric transducer (from IEEE 177 Standard).
TABLE 3 is a list of symbols for the transmission network (from IEEE 177 Standard).
TABLE 4 is a list of solutions for various characteristic frequencies (from IEEE 177 Standard).
TABLE 5 is a list of losses of three classes of piezoelectric materials.
TABLE 6 illustrates jaw conditions, estimated parameters of a circle based on real time measurements of complex impedance/admittance, radius (re) and offsets (ae and be) of the circle represented by measured variables Re, Ge, Xe, Be, and parameters of a reference circle plots, as described in
In use, the ultrasonic generator sweeps the frequency, records the measured variables, and determines estimates Re, Ge, Xe, Be. These estimates are then compared to reference variables Rref, Gref, Xref, Bref stored in memory (e.g., stored in a look-up table) and determines the jaw conditions. The reference jaw conditions shown in TABLE 6 are examples only. Additional or fewer reference jaw conditions may be classified and stored in memory. These variables can be used to estimate the radius and offsets of the impedance/admittance circle.
During liver resection procedures, surgeons risk cutting large vessels because they are buried inside the parenchyma that is being dissected, and thus cannot be seen.
During liver resection and dissection procedures of other vascular parenchymal tissues, the surgeon cannot see vessels that are embedded within the parenchyma along the dissection plane. This can cause surgeons to cut large vessels without sealing, resulting in excessive bleeding that causes blood loss to the patient and stress for the surgeon.
The ultrasonic devices described herein may be employed to accomplish following vessel detection prior to initiating a liver resection and dissection procedure. A control circuit of the generator or the ultrasonic device initiates a frequency sweep from below resonance to above resonance of the electromechanical ultrasonic system to enable measurements of the magnitude and phase of the impedance. The results are plotted on a 3D curve as described in connection with
A different 3D curve is generated by the frequency sweep when the ultrasonic blade is contacting a large vessel. When the ultrasonic blade contacts a vessel, the control circuit compares the test frequency sweep of the new (vessel) curve with the frequency sweep of the old (parenchyma) curve and identifies the new (vessel) curve as being different from the old (parenchyma) curve. Based on the comparison results, the control circuit enables an action to be taken by the ultrasonic device to prevent cutting into the large vessel, and to inform the surgeon that a large vessel is located on or is in contact with the ultrasonic blade.
The various actions that can be taken by the ultrasonic device may include, without limitation, a change the therapeutic output of the device to prevent cutting of the vessel or a change in a tone from the generator to inform the surgeon that a vessel has been detected, or a combination thereof.
Alternatively, various aspects of this technique may be applied to detect blood if a vessel had been cut, allowing the surgeon to quickly seal the vessel, even without seeing the cut vessel.
While several forms have been illustrated and described, it is not the intention of the applicant to restrict or limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Numerous modifications, variations, changes, substitutions, combinations, and equivalents to those forms may be implemented and will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, the structure of each element associated with the described forms can be alternatively described as a means for providing the function performed by the element. Also, where materials are disclosed for certain components, other materials may be used. It is therefore to be understood that the foregoing description and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, combinations, and variations as falling within the scope of the disclosed forms. The appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, variations, changes, substitutions, modifications, and equivalents.
The foregoing detailed description has set forth various forms of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those within the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. Those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the forms disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of being distributed as one or more program products in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative form of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution.
Instructions used to program logic to perform various disclosed aspects can be stored within a memory in the system, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), cache, flash memory, or other storage. Furthermore, the instructions can be distributed via a network or by way of other computer readable media. Thus a machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer), but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, compact disc, read-only memory (CD-ROMs), and magneto-optical disks, read-only memory (ROMs), random access memory (RAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or a tangible, machine-readable storage used in the transmission of information over the Internet via electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.). Accordingly, the non-transitory computer-readable medium includes any type of tangible machine-readable medium suitable for storing or transmitting electronic instructions or information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer).
As used in any aspect herein, the term “control circuit” may refer to, for example, hardwired circuitry, programmable circuitry (e.g., a computer processor comprising one or more individual instruction processing cores, processing unit, processor, microcontroller, microcontroller unit, controller, digital signal processor (DSP), programmable logic device (PLD), programmable logic array (PLA), or field programmable gate array (FPGA)), state machine circuitry, firmware that stores instructions executed by programmable circuitry, and any combination thereof. The control circuit may, collectively or individually, be embodied as circuitry that forms part of a larger system, for example, an integrated circuit (IC), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system on-chip (SoC), desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, servers, smart phones, etc. Accordingly, as used herein “control circuit” includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry having at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one application specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming a general purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g., a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein, or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein), electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of random access memory), and/or electrical circuitry forming a communications device (e.g., a modem, communications switch, or optical-electrical equipment). Those having skill in the art will recognize that the subject matter described herein may be implemented in an analog or digital fashion or some combination thereof.
As used in any aspect herein, the term “logic” may refer to an app, software, firmware and/or circuitry configured to perform any of the aforementioned operations. Software may be embodied as a software package, code, instructions, instruction sets and/or data recorded on non-transitory computer readable storage medium. Firmware may be embodied as code, instructions or instruction sets and/or data that are hard-coded (e.g., nonvolatile) in memory devices.
As used in any aspect herein, the terms “component,” “system,” “module” and the like can refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution.
As used in any aspect herein, an “algorithm” refers to a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result, where a “step” refers to a manipulation of physical quantities and/or logic states which may, though need not necessarily, take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It is common usage to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. These and similar terms may be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities and/or states.
A network may include a packet switched network. The communication devices may be capable of communicating with each other using a selected packet switched network communications protocol. One example communications protocol may include an Ethernet communications protocol which may be capable permitting communication using a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The Ethernet protocol may comply or be compatible with the Ethernet standard published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) titled “IEEE 802.3 Standard”, published in December, 2008 and/or later versions of this standard. Alternatively or additionally, the communication devices may be capable of communicating with each other using an X.25 communications protocol. The X.25 communications protocol may comply or be compatible with a standard promulgated by the International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). Alternatively or additionally, the communication devices may be capable of communicating with each other using a frame relay communications protocol. The frame relay communications protocol may comply or be compatible with a standard promulgated by Consultative Committee for International Telegraph and Telephone (CCITT) and/or the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Alternatively or additionally, the transceivers may be capable of communicating with each other using an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) communications protocol. The ATM communications protocol may comply or be compatible with an ATM standard published by the ATM Forum titled “ATM-MPLS Network Interworking 2.0” published August 2001, and/or later versions of this standard. Of course, different and/or after-developed connection-oriented network communication protocols are equally contemplated herein.
Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the foregoing disclosure, it is appreciated that, throughout the foregoing disclosure, discussions using terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “displaying,” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
One or more components may be referred to herein as “configured to,” “configurable to,” “operable/operative to,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that “configured to” can generally encompass active-state components and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unless context requires otherwise.
The terms “proximal” and “distal” are used herein with reference to a clinician manipulating the handle portion of the surgical instrument. The term “proximal” refers to the portion closest to the clinician and the term “distal” refers to the portion located away from the clinician. It will be further appreciated that, for convenience and clarity, spatial terms such as “vertical”, “horizontal”, “up”, and “down” may be used herein with respect to the drawings. However, surgical instruments are used in many orientations and positions, and these terms are not intended to be limiting and/or absolute.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to claims containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations.
In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be typically understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art will appreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed in any order. Also, although various operational flow diagrams are presented in a sequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may include overlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental, preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variant orderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like “responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives are generally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictates otherwise.
It is worthy to note that any reference to “one aspect,” “an aspect,” “an exemplification,” “one exemplification,” and the like means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the aspect is included in at least one aspect. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one aspect,” “in an aspect,” “in an exemplification,” and “in one exemplification” in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same aspect. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more aspects.
Any patent application, patent, non-patent publication, or other disclosure material referred to in this specification and/or listed in any Application Data Sheet is incorporated by reference herein, to the extent that the incorporated materials is not inconsistent herewith. As such, and to the extent necessary, the disclosure as explicitly set forth herein supersedes any conflicting material incorporated herein by reference. Any material, or portion thereof, that is said to be incorporated by reference herein, but which conflicts with existing definitions, statements, or other disclosure material set forth herein will only be incorporated to the extent that no conflict arises between that incorporated material and the existing disclosure material.
In summary, numerous benefits have been described which result from employing the concepts described herein. The foregoing description of the one or more forms has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting to the precise form disclosed. Modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The one or more forms were chosen and described in order to illustrate principles and practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the various forms and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the claims submitted herewith define the overall scope.
Various aspects of the subject matter described herein are set out in the following numbered examples:
A method of delivering energy to an ultrasonic device, the ultrasonic device comprising an electromechanical ultrasonic system defined by a predetermined resonant frequency, the electromechanical ultrasonic system further comprising an ultrasonic transducer coupled to an ultrasonic blade, the method comprising:
applying, by a processor or control circuit, energy to the ultrasonic blade at a first power level P1 via the ultrasonic transducer coupled to the ultrasonic blade;
measuring, by the processor or control circuit, a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer;
receiving, by the processor or control circuit, a complex impedance feedback data point;
comparing, by the processor or control circuit, the complex impedance feedback data point to a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern; and
determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the results of the comparison.
The method of Example 1, further comprising:
disabling, by the processor or control circuit, power applied to the ultrasonic transducer; and
switching, by the processor or control circuit, to a second power level P2 that is lower than the first power level P1.
The method of any one or more of Examples 1 through 2, further comprising generating, by the processor or control circuit, a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel.
The method of Example 3, wherein generating, by the processor or control circuit, a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel comprises emitting, by the processor or control circuit, a warning light.
The method of any one or more of Example 3 through 4, wherein generating, by the processor or control circuit, a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel comprises emitting, by the processor or control circuit, a warning sound.
The method of any one or more of Example 1 through 5, wherein determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel comprises:
measuring, by the processor or control circuit, a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the complex impedance is defined as
receiving, by the processor or control circuit, a complex impedance measurement data point;
comparing, by the processor or control circuit, the complex impedance measurement data point to a data point in a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern;
classifying, by the processor or control circuit, the complex impedance measurement data point based on a result of the comparison analysis; and
determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
The method of any one or more of Example 1 through 5, wherein determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel comprises:
applying, by a drive circuit, a drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the drive signal is a periodic signal defined by a magnitude and frequency;
sweeping, by the processor or control circuit, the frequency of the drive signal from below resonance to above resonance of the electromechanical ultrasonic system;
measuring and recording, by the processor or control circuit, impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be;
comparing, by the processor or control circuit, measured impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be to reference impedance/admittance circle variables Rref, Gref, Xref, and Bref; and
determining, by the processor or control circuit, that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
An ultrasonic surgical instrument comprising:
an ultrasonic electromechanical system comprising an ultrasonic transducer coupled to an ultrasonic blade via an ultrasonic waveguide; and
a generator configured to supply power to the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the generator comprises a control circuit configured to:
The ultrasonic surgical instrument of Example 8, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
disable power applied to the ultrasonic transducer; and
switch to a second power level P2 that is lower than the first power level P1.
The ultrasonic surgical instrument of any one or more of Examples 8 through 9, wherein the control circuit is further configured to generate a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel.
The ultrasonic surgical instrument of Example 10, wherein the warning comprises illumination emitted by a warning light.
The ultrasonic surgical instrument of any one or more of Examples 10 through 11, wherein the warning comprises the emission of a warning sound.
The ultrasonic surgical instrument of any one or more of Examples 8 through 12, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
measure a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the complex impedance is defined as
receive a complex impedance measurement data point;
compare the complex impedance measurement data point to a data point in a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern;
classify the complex impedance measurement data point based on a result of the comparison analysis; and
determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
The ultrasonic surgical instrument of any one or more of Examples 8 through 13, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
cause a drive circuit to apply a drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the drive signal is a periodic signal defined by a magnitude and frequency;
sweep the frequency of the drive signal from below resonance to above resonance of the electromechanical ultrasonic system;
measure and record impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be;
compare the measured impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be to the reference impedance/admittance circle variables Rref, Gref, Xref, and Bref; and
determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
A generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument, the generator comprising:
a control circuit configured to:
The generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument of Example 15, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
disable power applied to the ultrasonic transducer; and
switch to a second power level P2 that is lower than the first power level P1.
The generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument of any one or more of Examples 15 through 16, wherein the control circuit is further configured to generate a warning that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel.
The generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument of Example 17, wherein the warning comprises illumination emitted by a warning light.
The generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument of any one or more of Examples 17 through 18, wherein the warning comprises the emission of a warning sound.
The generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument of any one or more of Examples 15 through 19, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
measure a complex impedance of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the complex impedance is defined as
receive a complex impedance measurement data point;
compare the complex impedance measurement data point to a data point in a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern;
classify the complex impedance measurement data point based on a result of the comparison analysis; and
determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
The generator for an ultrasonic surgical instrument of any one or more of Examples 15 through 20, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
cause a drive circuit to apply a drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the drive signal is a periodic signal defined by a magnitude and frequency;
sweep the frequency of the drive signal from below resonance to above resonance of the electromechanical ultrasonic system;
measure and record impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be;
compare the measured impedance/admittance circle variables Re, Ge, Xe, and Be to the reference impedance/admittance circle variables Rref, Gref, Xref, and Bref; and
determine that the ultrasonic blade is contacting a vessel based on the result of the comparison analysis.
This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/640,415, titled ESTIMATING STATE OF ULTRASONIC END EFFECTOR AND CONTROL SYSTEM THEREFOR, filed Mar. 8, 2018, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20190274749 A1 | Sep 2019 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62640415 | Mar 2018 | US |
