Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging – Cell or battery charger structure – For handheld device
Reexamination Certificate
2003-04-10
2004-10-26
Tso, Edward H. (Department: 2838)
Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging
Cell or battery charger structure
For handheld device
C600S178000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06809499
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a portable light source system incorporating a power conditioning sub-system, used to supply light for use with medical endoscopes, laryngoscopes, other portable medical illumination devices, and industrial boroscopes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The use of endoscopes has increasingly become important in many fields. For instance, endoscopes are widely used for many medical procedures providing significant advantages such as greatly enhancing a physician's ability to remotely view a body cavity. Not only have endoscopes been widely utilized for surgical procedures, but have also been utilized for assisting a physician to accurately place medical equipment into a body cavity, such as the placing of a laryngoscope in a trachea. Illumination levels and color temperature of the illuminating light is selected and must be maintained in these applications.
For instance, in a surgical procedure, it is absolutely critical that the physician have enough illuminating light in the cavity being operated on to perform the procedure accurately and in a timely manner. If the illumination level is poor, it is challenging for the physician to perform the procedure mistake-free. Additionally, if the illumination level is poor, this will have the effect of slowing the physician in performing the procedure which in turn will increase the length of time the patient will have to be under anesthesia, which is highly undesirable. Therefore, a selected minimum illumination level must be met and must also be maintained throughout the length of the procedure. It should also be noted that illumination levels are very important in applications where, for instance a medical device is being inserted into a body such as a laryngoscope. Without proper illumination, the physician may have difficulty inserting the laryngoscope properly without causing damage to for instance, the vocal cords.
Not only is it important to maintain the proper illumination level in medical applications, but it is also very important to maintain the proper color temperature of the illuminating light. For instance, in many surgical procedures, the physician must first inspect the area or cavity where a potential procedure is to take place and based upon what he observes, identify structures, and determine how to proceed. Being able to accurately differentiate between one type of tissue and the next based upon the color or look and texture is therefore critical to not only diagnosis, but also in performing the procedure mistake-free. Therefore, the color temperature of the illuminating light must be accurately supplied and maintained throughout the procedure.
Endoscopy is also becoming increasingly important for industrial applications. For instance, boroscopes having self contained light sources are utilized to illuminate and image small pipelines, cavities, and internal workings of machinery. Illumination levels and color temperature of the illuminating light must also be maintained for these applications.
For instance, where a boroscope is utilized for inspecting small pipelines, cavities, and internal workings of machinery, in many applications it is important that detailed images be obtained to determine if the equipment has been compromised or if failure is imminent. Failure to detect defects due to poor illumination levels or difficulty in perceiving the color of what is being observed could have catastrophic results. Therefore, maintaining effective illumination levels and accurate color temperature throughout the entire inspection is very important.
Portable, lightweight endoscopy systems for use in both medical and industrial applications are also increasingly being utilized. Traditionally, light sources for portable endoscopes, laryngoscopes, other portable medical illumination devices, and industrial boroscopes have comprised a light source that is powered by a battery source, and some means for connecting or disconnecting the light source to the battery. However, this simple means of providing a portable power source has some inherent problems that greatly limit its use.
Due to the nature of primary or secondary electrochemical power sources (batteries), discharge characteristics are such that their voltage decreases as the total available energy decreases. For some battery types, this is due to an increase in internal impedance, and for others, a combination of the latter and a general drop in open circuit voltage. For some secondary systems, battery age and use history also cause an increase in internal impedance, which in turn will result in unsatisfactory voltage decreases.
In a voltage versus discharge (use) time plot, the slope of the curve depends on the above, as well as the discharge current. Typically, the slope increases with larger currents. When powering a light source, such as is utilized with endoscopes, laryngoscopes, other portable medical illumination devices, and industrial boroscopes, this decrease in voltage causes the intensity of the light source output to decrease exponentially, and to decrease or shift in light color temperature, for instance, a shift towards the red. This is undesirable and in many instances is unacceptable for medical or technical illumination, given that the intensity and color temperature of the illuminating light are critical to the application.
In addition, when primary batteries are used, especially relatively small batteries for added portability and weight reduction, the quantity and quality of light output may become unacceptable due to a drop in circuit voltage, even though the battery may still have a relatively large amount of power remaining. Therefore, the useable lifespan of primary batteries has been greatly reduced when used to power a light source in these critical applications due to unsatisfactory voltage output.
Therefore, what is desired is a portable light source system such as is utilized with endoscopes, laryngoscopes, other medical devices, and industrial boroscopes, that will supply a light output that will not vary in intensity over the life of the battery.
It is also desired to provide a portable light source system, such as is utilized with endoscopes, laryngoscopes, other medical devices, and industrial boroscopes, that will supply a light output that will not shift in color temperature over the life of the battery.
It is further desired to provide a portable light source system, such as is utilized with endoscopes, laryngoscopes, other medical devices, and industrial boroscopes, that will effectively utilize substantially all the energy stored in the battery as practicable for the use while still maintaining strict output requirements.
It is still further desired to provide a portable light source system, such as is utilized with endoscopes, laryngoscopes, other medical devices, and industrial boroscopes, with a minimized size, while still maintaining strict output requirements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These objectives are achieved by providing a system configuration in which a light source is connected to the output of a power conditioning circuit, which is in turn, connected to a battery. This configuration provides for a constant voltage level to be delivered to the light source, regardless of variations in battery condition. Providing a constant voltage level to the light source will thereby ensure a constant level of illumination and prevent a shift of the light source color.
The power conditioning circuit will also allow a much larger percentage of the energy stored in the battery to be utilized while still maintaining a determined substantially constant voltage output that will not cause a drop in light intensity or a shift in color. This increase in efficiency will have a positive impact on the “cost of use.” The power conditioning circuit may comprise several forms such as, a step-up, step-down, or step-up/down voltage regulator with constant or adaptive output.
The configuration also allows for re-rating of the light source, in this case a tungsten filament bulb, so as to increase effic
Karl Storz GmbH & Co. KG
St. Onge Steward Johnston & Reens LLC
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