ELECTROSURGICAL GENERATOR WITH A SINGLE USE ACTIVATION COUNTER, ELECTROSURGICAL GENERATOR SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPERATING AN ELECTROSURGICAL GENERATOR

Abstract

An electrosurgical generator for operating an electrosurgical instrument, wherein the electrosurgical generator includes a data storage device coupled to the control device for storing a warning time and a switch-off time, the warning and switch-off time each being assigned to a detected instrument in order to assign an instrument-specific warning and switch-off time to each detected instrument, a time tracking device for determining an instrument-specific activation duration, wherein the activation duration is a duration of time detected from a first connection or first activation of an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal to an actual time value, and wherein an activation duration is detected for each detected instrument, and the activation duration is recorded continuously and independently of the electrosurgical instrument operating state, and the control device triggers warning indication by triggering the signaling device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific warning time of the connected instrument.

Claims

1. An electrosurgical generator for operating an electrosurgical instrument, comprising: an instrument terminal for connecting and electrically supplying the electrosurgical instrument, an instrument detection device for detecting an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal during operation of the electrosurgical generator, a control device for controlling a signaling device and a deactivation device, wherein the signaling device is configured to generate a warning indication, and wherein the deactivation device is configured to take an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal out of operation or to keep the electrosurgical instrument out of operation, wherein the electrosurgical generator additionally comprises a data storage device coupled to the control device for storing a warning time and a switch-off time, the warning time and the switch-off time each being assigned to a detected instrument in order to assign an instrument-specific warning time and switch-off time to each detected instrument, a time tracking device for determining an instrument-specific activation duration, wherein the activation duration is a duration of time detected from a first connection or a first activation of an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal to an actual time value, and wherein an activation duration is detected for each detected instrument, and the activation duration is recorded continuously and independently of an operating state of the electrosurgical instrument, and the control device triggers the warning indication by triggering the signaling device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific warning time of the connected instrument, and/or the control device triggers the taking or keeping the connected instrument out of operation by controlling the deactivation device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific switch-off time.

2. Electrosurgical generator according to claim 1, wherein the signaling device includes an acoustic signaling device for outputting an acoustic signal as warning indication and/or the signaling device comprises an optical signaling device for outputting an optical signal or an optical message as warning indication.

3. Electrosurgical generator of claim 1, wherein the data storage device is configured to store an instrument list in which instrument-specific information to the electrosurgical instruments connected to the instrument terminal are retrievably stored.

4. Electrosurgical generator according to claim 1, wherein the instrument detection device is adapted to transmit a unique instrument identifier of the connected instrument to the data storage device for generating an instrument list.

5. Electrosurgical generator according to claim 1, wherein the activation duration is an elapsed real time duration that is independent of a use duration or active operation duration of the connected instrument, wherein the use duration or active operation duration describes a time duration that indicates how long an instrument was used or was actively operated.

6. Electrosurgical generator according to claim 1, wherein the electrosurgical generator further comprises a daytime device for detecting and/or displaying a current time, and the time tracking device for determining the instrument-specific activation duration comprises a time basis that is independent of the daytime device in order to operate the time tracking device independent to the daytime device.

7. Electrosurgical generator according to claim 6, wherein the time tracking device is configured to determine a time offset when the current time of the electrosurgical generator is manually adjusted and the time tracking device is configured to use the determined time offset for determining the instrument-specific activation duration.

8. Electrosurgical generator according to claim 1, wherein the first activation of the electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal is performable by means of an activation device coupled to the electrosurgical generator.

9. Electrosurgical generator according to claim 1, wherein the control device triggers the warning indication by triggering the signaling device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific warning time of the connected instrument and when a connection of the instrument is detected and/or an activation of the instrument is detected; and/or the control device triggers the taking or keeping the connected instrument out of operation by controlling the deactivation device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific switch-off time and when a connection of the instrument is detected and/or an activation of the instrument is detected.

10. Electrosurgical generator system, comprising an electrosurgical generator and an electrosurgical instrument connected to the electrosurgical generator, wherein the electrosurgical generator is embodied according to claim 1.

11. A method for operating an electrosurgical generator for operating an electrosurgical instrument, the electrosurgical generator comprising: an instrument terminal for connecting and electrically supplying the electrosurgical instrument, an instrument detection device for detecting an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal during operation of the electrosurgical generator, a control device for controlling a signaling device and a deactivation device, wherein the signaling device is configured to generate a warning indication, and wherein the deactivation device is configured to take an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal out of operation or to keep the electrosurgical instrument out of operation, and a data storage device coupled to the control device for storing a warning time and a switch-off time, the warning time and the switch-off time each being assigned to a detected instrument in order to assign an instrument-specific warning time and switch-off time to each detected instrument, comprising the steps of: determining an instrument-specific activation duration with a time tracking device, wherein the activation duration is a duration of time detected from a first connection or a first activation of an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal to an actual time value, and wherein an activation duration is detected for each detected instrument, wherein the activation duration is recorded continuously and independently of an operating state of the electrosurgical instrument, and triggering the warning indication by controlling the signaling device with the control device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific warning time of the connected instrument, and/or triggering the taking or keeping the connected instrument out of operation by controlling the deactivation device with the control device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific switch-off time.

12. Method for operating an electrosurgical generator for operating an electrosurgical instrument, the electrosurgical generator comprising: an instrument terminal for connecting and electrically supplying the electrosurgical instrument, an instrument detection device for detecting an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal during operation of the electrosurgical generator, a control device for controlling a signaling device and a deactivation device, wherein the signaling device is configured to generate a warning indication, and wherein the deactivation device is configured to take an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal out of operation or to keep the electrosurgical instrument out of operation, and a data storage device coupled to the control device for storing a warning time and a switch-off time, the warning time and the switch-off time each being assigned to a detected instrument in order to assign an instrument-specific warning time and switch-off time to each detected instrument, comprising the steps of: determining an instrument-specific activation duration with a time tracking device, wherein the activation duration is a duration of time detected from a first connection or a first activation of an electrosurgical instrument connected to the instrument terminal to an actual time value, and wherein an activation duration is detected for each detected instrument, wherein the activation duration is recorded continuously and independently of an operating state of the electrosurgical instrument, and triggering the warning indication by controlling the signaling device with the control device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific warning time of the connected instrument, and/or triggering the taking or keeping the connected instrument out of operation by controlling the deactivation device with the control device when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific switch-off time, additionally wherein the electrosurgical generator is embodied according to claim 1 and/or the electrosurgical generator is part of the electrosurgical generator system comprising an electrosurgical generator and an electrosurgical instrument connected to the electrosurgical generator, wherein the electrosurgical generator is embodied according to claim 1

Description

[0047] Preferred embodiments shall now be described with reference to the attached figures, in which

[0048] FIG. 1 shows an electrosurgical generator system with an electrosurgical generator and an electrosurgical instrument connected to the electrosurgical generator according to an embodiment.

[0049] FIG. 2 shows a schematic construction of an electrosurgical generator according to the invention.

[0050] FIG. 3 shows the time tracking principle according to state of the art.

[0051] FIG. 4 shows the time tracking principle according to the invention.

[0052] FIG. 5 shows a schematic flow chart of the method for operating an electrosurgical generator for operating an electrosurgical instrument.

[0053] In the figures, elements with the same or comparable functions are indicated with the same reference numerals.

[0054] FIG. 1 shows an electrosurgical generator system 10 with an electrosurgical generator 100 and an electrosurgical instrument 200 connected to the electrosurgical generator 100. The electrosurgical instrument 200 is connected with the electrosurgical generator 100 at the instrument terminal 110 by mean of a connection line 202. The connection line 202 may include supply lines and a data transfer line, which are not shown in FIG. 1. The supply line are used to supply the instrument 200 with electrical power and the data transfer line is used to exchange data between the instrument and the generator. The generator may also include several instrument terminals, for example a neutral instrument terminal, a unipolar instrument terminal and a bipolar instrument terminal. The electrosurgical instrument 200 includes a shaft having an active electrode at the end of the shaft. The shaft is attached to a handle of the electrosurgical instrument. The generator 100 includes a display 144 for displaying text and/or symbols and/or graphics, which is adapted to display an optical warning indication. The generator 100 also includes an operating device 102 which is illustrated as three buttons. The operating device 102 may also be a touch display or the like. The electrosurgical generator 100 is used for operating the electrosurgical instrument 200.

[0055] FIG. 2 shows a schematic construction of an electrosurgical generator 100 in more detail.

[0056] The generator 100 includes an instrument terminal 110 for connecting and electrically supplying the electrosurgical instrument 200. For that purpose, the generator 100 includes a supply terminal 182 for connecting the generator 100 with an electrical supply grid 180. The generator 100 includes a power converter 190, which is used to convert the input current and the input voltage of the supply grid into a suitable operation current and/or operation voltage at the instrument terminal 110. The power converter 190 can also be understood as a switching power supply. Power converters for converting alternating current to direct current are known as rectifiers. Power converters for converting direct current to alternating current are known as inverted rectifier or inverters. Power converters for converting one AC current to another AC current are known as frequency converters. Power converters for converting one direct current to another direct current are known as DC-to-DC converters. The generated alternating current or generated direct current can be higher, lower or inverted depending on the design of the converter or the requirements of the electrical load, respectively the electrosurgical instrument. The shown power converter is an inverter that is adapted to convert the AC current from the grid into an AC operation current at the terminal 110 for electrical supplying the instrument 200 with an alternating current. However it is understood, that in case the instrument works with direct current, the power converter would be implemented as a DC-to-DC converter. The power converter 190 includes a rectifier device 191 in order to rectify the drawn alternating voltage from the grid into an intermediate circuit DC voltage. The capacitor 193 is an intermediate capacitor that is used as temporal energy buffer. The power converter 190 also includes a converter device 195 for generating the operation current and/or operation voltage at the instrument terminal 110. The converter device 195 for example includes a semiconductor switches such as IGBTs, MOSFETS or the like, which are arranged in a half-bridge topology or the like. The converter 195 may also include a transformer 196, for example a step-up-transformer, in order to step up the voltage at the instrument terminal into a voltage with a desired amplitude and or frequency. In general, the power converter 190 is adapted to generate a high frequency current for supplying the instrument 200 with power. The power converter 190 also includes driver circuits 197, 198 for controlling electrical switches, for example the electrical switch 192. The driver circuits 197, 198 and the switches illustrate that the power converter 190 may include a step-up-converter, a step-down-converter or the like, depending on the type of power converter 190. In case the power converter 190 is an AC-to-AC converter the driver circuits 197, 198 and the switches 192 illustrate that the power converter 190 includes controllable switches in order to generate the output current and output current at the instrument terminal 110. The rectifier 190 is for example a passive or active rectifier.

[0057] The generator 100 also includes an instrument detection device 120 for detecting an electrosurgical instrument 200 connected to the instrument terminal 110 during operation of the electrosurgical generator. The detection device 120 for example includes a data interface and is adapted to receive information from the connected instrument that is connected to the instrument terminal 110.

[0058] The generator 100 includes a control device 130 for controlling a signaling device 140 and a deactivation device 150.

[0059] The signaling device 140 is configured to generate a warning indication. The signaling device 140 thus may include an acoustic signaling device 142, namely a speaker, and/or an optical signaling device, namely a display 142.

[0060] The deactivation device 150 is configured to take an electrosurgical instrument 200 connected to the instrument terminal 110 out of operation or to keep the electrosurgical instrument 200 out of operation. In the showed embodiment the deactivation device 150 includes a controllable switch that interrupts the power supply of the instrument 200 connected to the terminal 110 of the generator. The deactivation device 150 may also be a data interface that transmits a shut-off signal to the instrument over a data transfer line.

[0061] The electrosurgical generator 100 also comprises a data storage device 160 coupled to the control device 130 for storing a warning time t.sub.warn and a switch-off time t.sub.off, the warning time and the switch-off time each being assigned to a detected instrument in order to assign an instrument-specific warning time and switch-off time to each detected instrument.

[0062] The electrosurgical generator 100 also comprises a time tracking device 170 for determining an instrument-specific activation duration t.sub.E, wherein the activation duration t.sub.E is a duration of time detected from a first connection t.sub.0 or a first activation to of an electrosurgical instrument 200 connected to the instrument terminal 110 to an actual time value t.sub.ist, and wherein an activation duration t.sub.E is detected for each detected instrument.

[0063] The activation duration t.sub.E is recorded continuously and independently of an operating state of the electrosurgical instrument 200, which is showed in FIG. 4 as an example. The activation duration t.sub.E is an elapsed real time duration that is independent of a use duration or active operation duration of the connected instrument, wherein the use duration or active operation duration describes a time duration that indicates how long an instrument was used or was actively operated.

[0064] The control device 130 triggers the warning indication by triggering the signaling device 140 when the determined activation duration t.sub.E exceeds the instrument-specific warning time of the connected instrument t.sub.E>t.sub.warn.

[0065] The control device 130 also triggers the taking or keeping the connected instrument out of operation by controlling the deactivation device 150 when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific switch-off time t.sub.E>t.sub.off.

[0066] Furthermore, FIG. 2 shows that the signaling device 140 includes an acoustic signaling device 142 for outputting an acoustic signal as warning indication, namely a loudspeaker and that the signaling device 140 comprises an optical signaling device 144 for outputting an optical signal or an optical message as warning indication, namely a display.

[0067] The data storage device 160 is configured to store an instrument list in which electrosurgical instruments connected to the instrument terminal 110 are retrievably stored. The instrument list includes unique identifiers ID1, ID2, the determined activation duration t.sub.E wherein the activation duration t.sub.E is the duration of time detected from a first connection to or a first activation t.sub.0 of an electrosurgical instrument 200 connected to the instrument terminal 110 to an actual time value t.sub.ist. The instrument list also includes the instrument specific warning times 10 h and 5 h and the instrument specific shut-off times 12 h and 8 h, wherein h indicates hours.

[0068] The instrument detection device 120 is adapted to transmit a unique instrument identifier I.sub.ID of the connected instrument 110 to the data storage device 160 and/or to the control device 130 for generating the instrument list.

[0069] The electrosurgical generator 100 further comprises a daytime device that is not shown in FIG. 2 for detecting and/or displaying a current time. The time tracking device 170 for determining the instrument-specific activation duration t.sub.E comprises a time basis that is independent of the daytime device in order to operate the time tracking device 170 independent to the daytime device.

[0070] The first activation to of the electrosurgical instrument 200 connected to the instrument terminal 110 is performable by means of an activation device 175 coupled to the electrosurgical generator 100, wherein the activation device is an external device which is not part of the electrosurgical instrument, namely a pedal device for foot activation.

[0071] FIG. 3 shows the time tracking principle according to the state of the art. In the state of the art the use duration or active operation duration t.sub.use of the connected instrument is tracked. The use duration or active operation duration describes a time duration that indicates how long an instrument was actively used or was actively operated. If for example an instrument is actively used for 1 hour from the time point t.sub.0 to t.sub.1 the tracking of the use duration t.sub.use will be stopped although the real time t will further increase. Later on at time point t.sub.2 the instrument is actively used again until t.sub.3 for 2 h and 15 min. Again later, at time point t.sub.4 the instrument actively used until t.sub.5 is reached for 2 h and 15 min. The total use duration t.sub.use would thus be the sum of the overall usage time, thus in the example 5 h:30 min:00 s. The actual time t is thus much larger than the total use duration t.sub.use, since the usage time is not tracked in the pauses between the usages.

[0072] FIG. 4 shows in contrast to FIG. 3 the time tracking principle according to the invention. In contrast to FIG. 3 the FIG. 4 shows that the activation duration t.sub.E is recorded continuously and independently of an operating state of the electrosurgical instrument 200. The time detection starts at the time t.sub.0, when the instrument 200 is connected to the generator 100 for the first time or is activated for the first time. The activation duration t.sub.E is recorded continuously and independently from the operating state of the electrosurgical instrument 200. The activation duration t.sub.E is thus an elapsed real time duration that is independent of a use duration t.sub.use or active operation duration t.sub.use as showed FIG. 3.

[0073] FIG. 5 shows a schematic flow chart of the method for operating an electrosurgical generator for operating an electrosurgical instrument.

[0074] In step S1 determining an instrument-specific activation duration t.sub.E with a time tracking device 170 is performed, wherein the activation duration t.sub.E is a duration of time detected from a first connection t.sub.0 or a first activation t.sub.0 of an electrosurgical instrument 200 connected to the instrument terminal 110 to an actual time value t.sub.ist, and wherein an activation duration t.sub.E is detected for each detected instrument, wherein the activation duration t.sub.E is recorded continuously and independently of an operating state of the electrosurgical instrument 200.

[0075] In step S2 triggering a warning indication by controlling a signaling device 140 with a control device 130 is performed when the determined activation duration t.sub.E exceeds an instrument-specific warning time t.sub.warn of the connected instrument t.sub.E>t.sub.warn.

[0076] In step S3 triggering S3 a taking or keeping a connected instrument out of operation is performed by controlling a deactivation device 150 with the control device 130 when the determined activation duration exceeds the instrument-specific switch-off time t.sub.E>t.sub.off.

[0077] The generator, generator system and method described above offer a number of other advantages, which are summarized below: [0078] The complexity and the weight of the handheld electrosurgical instruments can be reduced, since all components for monitoring and disabling the electrosurgical instrument are provided in the generator but not in the electrosurgical instrument. [0079] A safer operation of the handheld electrosurgical instruments is provided, because the shut-off of the electrosurgical instrument is indicated with a warning. The user of the electrosurgical instrument will thus not be surprised by an unexpected shut-off. [0080] The risk of unsterile use due to a too long use of the device is reduced.

REFERENCE SIGN LIST

[0081] 10 Electrosurgical generator system [0082] 100 Electrosurgical generator [0083] 102 Operating device [0084] 110 Instrument terminal [0085] 120 Instrument detection device [0086] 130 Control device [0087] 140 Signaling device [0088] 142 Acoustic signaling device [0089] 144 Optical signaling device [0090] 150 Deactivation device [0091] 160 Data storage device [0092] 170 Time tracking device [0093] 175 Activation device [0094] 180 Electrical supply grid [0095] 182 Supply terminal [0096] 190 Power converter [0097] 191 Rectifier device [0098] 192 Switch [0099] 193, 194 Capacitor [0100] 195 Converter device [0101] 196 Transformer [0102] 197, 198 Driver circuit [0103] 200 Electrosurgical instrument [0104] 202 Connection line