US 12,478,421 B2
Powering an electrocautery surgical instrument
Simon Roderick Grover, Cambridge (GB)
Assigned to CMR SURGICAL LIMITED, Cambridge (GB)
Appl. No. 16/623,992
Filed by CMR SURGICAL LIMITED, Cambridge (GB)
PCT Filed Jun. 20, 2018, PCT No. PCT/GB2018/051716
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 18, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/234795, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 27, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 1709902 (GB), filed on Jun. 21, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0138510 A1, May 7, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 18/14 (2006.01); A61B 34/00 (2016.01); A61B 34/30 (2016.01); A61B 18/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 18/1445 (2013.01) [A61B 34/30 (2016.02); A61B 34/71 (2016.02); A61B 34/74 (2016.02); A61B 2018/00178 (2013.01); A61B 2018/00595 (2013.01); A61B 2034/306 (2016.02); A61B 2034/715 (2016.02)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A robotic surgical instrument comprising:
a shaft;
an electrocautery end effector powered by an electrocautery element; and
an articulation connecting the electrocautery end effector to the shaft, the articulation comprising:
a first joint driveable by a first pair of driving elements, the first joint permitting the electrocautery end effector to rotate about a first axis transverse to a longitudinal axis of the shaft, and
a second joint driveable by a second pair of driving elements, the second joint permitting the electrocautery end effector to rotate about a second axis transverse to the first axis;
wherein the electrocautery element is constrained to move around the first axis and constrained to wrap at least one full revolution around the second axis;
wherein the path of the electrocautery element between the shaft and the second joint rotationally symmetrically opposes the path of a first one of the second pair of driving elements about the longitudinal axis of the shaft between the shaft and the second joint; and
wherein the articulation comprises a pulley arrangement around which the second pair of driving elements and the electrocautery element are constrained to move, the pulley arrangement comprising a first set of pulleys rotatable about the first axis, each of the second pair of driving elements and the electrocautery element being in contact with and constrained to move over the first set of pulleys such that the first set of pulleys redirects the path of each of the second pair of driving elements and the electrocautery element, the electrocautery element and the first one of the second pair of driving elements being constrained to have rotationally symmetrically opposing paths about the longitudinal axis of the shaft around the first set of pulleys.