29548results about "Electric switches" patented technology

An electrically powered surgical instrument includes a surgical end effector having a surgical procedure effecting actuation assembly. A handle is coupled with the end effector. An electric motor is disposed within a shell of the handle and has power terminals and a drive train actuating the assembly when the motor is supplied with power. A break-before-make power supply switch at the handle selectively controls supply of power to the motor. A post-termination braking circuit electrically short-circuits the power terminals when the switch does not supply power to the motor. A method for post-termination braking of an electrical motor utilizes the permanent magnetic field of the motor to counteract an inertia-induced over-stroke characteristic of the motor, drive train, and / or actuation assembly after powered operation by short-circuiting the still-spinning motor to create an electrically generated magnetic field in opposition to the permanent magnetic field upon ceasing supply of power to the motor.

A battery assembly for use with a surgical device having a battery terminal and operational parameters includes a housing having a shape formed to removably connect with the terminal. The housing contains a modular battery operable to supply power to the device at the terminal and has a control circuit with a microprocessor, a memory, and a real-time clock. The control circuit is communicatively coupled to the battery and is operable to detect an identity of the surgical device, to determine at least one piece of information pertaining to at least one of the operational parameters of the surgical device based upon the detected identity, to record the piece of information at least in the memory, and to selectively allow or prevent the battery from supplying power to the surgical device dependent upon the piece of information.

A driving tool having a driver, a power source, a sensor and a controller. The power source selectively provides an input to the driver to cause the driver to translate along an axis. The sensor senses a condition in the power source that is indicative of a level of kinetic energy of an element in the power source and generates a sensor signal in response thereto. The controller is coupled to the power source and the sensor and is responsive to the sensor signal for deactivating the power source to inhibit the power source from providing the input to the driver when the level of kinetic energy of the element in the power source is below a predetermined threshold. A method for operating a driving tool is also provided.

Various safe switching mechanisms are provided for use with electrosurgical instruments which prevent arcing between the high-energy contacts as the high-energy source is activated. The switching mechanisms generally include a pair of high-energy contacts and a pair of activation contacts. An actuator is provided which initially engages the high-energy contacts in advance of engagement of the activation contacts to prevent arcing and subsequently disengages the activation contacts in advance of the high-energy contacts as the energy source is deactivated. A method of switching power to an electrosurgical instrument while avoiding damage to high-energy contacts is also disclosed.

A battery-operated screwdriver (10) with a housing (12, 18) with a grip (14), in particular with a fixedly built-in battery (40), and with charging contact tongues (37) for charging the battery (40), is designed as especially compact and lightweight because instead of a boxlike, standard ON / OFF switch, counterpart contacts (34) fixed to the tool are provided, to which a contact plate (32) that is movable by means of an ON / OFF trigger (26) and in the process is coupleable to the counterpart contacts (34) and upon their release is easily releasable, is assigned.

A connection cable is disclosed for controlling a voltage-controlled generator such as an electrosurgery generator from a controlling device such as a robotic surgery system. The cable includes a first connector adapted to connect to a voltage-controlled generator and a second connector adapted to connect to a controlling device. Within the cable is a voltage divider interdisposed between the first connector and the second connector. The voltage divider is configured to divide a reference voltage provided by the voltage-controlled generator into at least one control voltage which is selectable by the controlling device. The cable additionally includes a plurality of electrical wires which operatively connect the first connector, the second connector and the voltage divider. During robotic electrosurgery, said operating parameters can be actuated by a surgeon operating at the robotic surgical system console, which causes a corresponding control voltage to be switched to a control voltage input on an electrosurgery generator, which, in turn, generates a corresponding electrosurgical signal in response thereto.

A system and method is provided for the inductive transfer of electric power between a substantially flat primary surface and a multitude of secondary devices in such a way that the power transfer is localized to the vicinities of individual device coils. The contact free power transfer does not require precise physical alignment between the primary surface and the secondary device and can allow the secondary device or devices to be placed anywhere and in arbitrary orientation with respect to the primary surface. Such power transfer is realized without the need of complex high frequency power switching network to turn the individual primary coils on or off and is completely scalable to almost arbitrary size. The local anti-resonance architecture of the primary device will block primary current from flowing when no secondary device or devices are in proximity to the local RF power network. The presence of a tuned secondary device detunes the local anti-resonance on the primary surface; thereby enable the RF power to be transferred from the local primary coils to the secondary device. The uniformity of the inductive coupling between the active primary surface and the secondary devices is improved with a novel multi-pole driving technique which produces an apparent traveling wave pattern across the primary surface.

Products and processes for providing tactile sensations to input devices or electronic devices are provided. Input devices include mechanical input devices (such as, for example, mechanical switches) and non-mechanical input devices (such as, for example, touchpads). Tactile feedback is provided by using an actuator or other means in communication with the input device or electronic device. A controller may be employed to receive signals from the input devices and control the actuator. Tactile feedback to an input device or electronic device may be provided in response to one or more events or situations. Such an event or situation may be any one designated. Examples of such events and situations include the level of pressure placed on an input device; the availability or lack of availability of a function associated with an input device; and the function, menu, or mode of operation associated with an input device's activation. A variety of feedback types and combinations may be selected.

The invention concerns a method and a circuit for maximum power point tracking of a variable power source from a comparison of an image of the power (P) supplied by the power source, the circuit comprising two elements (14, 31) providing different propagating delays to a physical quantity proportional to the power image, a comparator (16) of the outputs of the delaying elements to control a trigger (17) supplying a signal (Q) with two automatic control states to a static power converter, and means (33) for detecting a transitory operating condition from variations in oscillations of an established operating condition and means (32) for modifying the delay input by the slower delaying element (31).