EP0262888A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Surgical diathermy apparatus
Assignee: Individual
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Filing: 1987-09-28
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-09-28
Abstract
Abstract A surgical diathermy apparatus which virtually eliminates the possibility of burns to the patient from faulty return current electrodes applied to the skin, and other causes. A capacitive neutral plate system is employed as return electrodes, along with injection of a compensating potential in series opposition to the potential drop across the capacitive neutral plate system. The apparatus can also incorporate testing, measuring, alarm, and safety cut-off systems. The invention can be applied to completely new diathermy apparatus, or as a retrofit improvement to existing equipment.
Inventors
- 👤 Ronald Davidson Clark
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 17:24
CPC Classifications
A; A61; A61B; A61B18/00; A61B18/04; A61B18/12; A61B18/14; A61B18/16; A61B2018/165; A61B2018/167
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
47 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus comprising a power source, an active electrode for operation on a patient, at least one capacitive neutral plate for attachment to the patient, and a potential compensator for providing a compensating potential in series opposition to the potential drop across said capacitive neutral plate.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
47 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus comprising a power source, an active electrode for operation on a patient, at least one capacitive neutral plate for attachment to the patient, and a potential compensator for providing a compensating potential in series opposition to the potential drop across said capacitive neutral plate.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
27 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 including a compensation potential level adjuster for adjusting the level of the compensation potential provided by the potential compensator.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
26 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 including an open circuit fault condition detector for detecting open circuit fault conditions of the capacitive neutral plate.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
26 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 including a short circuit fault condition detector for detecting short circuit fault conditions of the capacitive neutral plate.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
37 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 3 and Claim 4 including an alarm system associated with said fault condition detectors and further including deactivation means for deactivating the diathermy apparatus upon detection of a fault condition.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
37 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 including a plurality of compensated capacitive neutral plates or plate elements which are included in circuit such as to provide an automatic reduction of current in a faulty plate.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
33 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 including an array of neutral plates or a multi-element capacitive neutral plate such that the statistical probability of a significant fault current occuring is minimised.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
19 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 including an automatic control system for automatic control of the apparatus.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
52 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the potential compensator is an inductance connected in series between the power source and the capacitive neutral plate, the impedance of said inductance being that the series-connected inductance and capacitive neutral plate are substantially series-resonant at the operating frequency of the power supply.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
55 words
Surgical diathermy apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the potential compensator is an amplifier transformer-coupled in series between the power supply and the capacitive neutral plate, said amplifier being operated to inject a voltage through the transformer which is substantially equal to the potential drop across the capacitive reactance of the capactive neutral plate.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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