Contactless Surgical Lamp Control via 3D Optical Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional surgical lights require non-sterile operation to adjust illumination settings, leading to suboptimal control and potential contamination, as surgeons cannot directly control the lights due to sterility concerns, resulting in time delays and inadequate illumination adjustments during surgeries.
Innovation Solution
A non-contact surgical light system with a 3D sensor unit that detects movement data from a sterile action element, allowing for comprehensive control of illumination properties without physical contact, including adjustments to light intensity, color, and focus, using a sensor unit that can detect movements in a defined measurement space between the light and the surgical field.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the surgical light is controlled by non-surgeon personnel, then sterility is maintained, but control responsiveness and illumination optimization are degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces direct mechanical contact control with optical sensing control. The sensor unit detects hand movements through optical fields without requiring physical contact, allowing the surgeon to control the surgical light while maintaining sterility. This substitution resolves the contradiction by enabling both sterility maintenance and direct surgeon control.
Solution Approach 2:
The sterile cover acts as an intermediary between the surgeon's hand and the sensor unit. It allows optical sensing to occur while maintaining the sterile barrier, enabling the surgeon to control the light without direct contact with non-sterile components.
2Ease of operation
If the surgeon moves hand to the sensor unit for control, then direct control is achieved, but the risk of contamination increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces mechanical contact-based control with optical field-based sensing. The sensor unit detects hand movements through optical means without requiring the surgeon to touch non-sterile components, thus enabling direct control while eliminating contamination risk.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor unit creates a digital copy or representation of the surgeon's hand movements in the measurement space, converting physical gestures into control signals without requiring direct physical interaction with the control mechanism.
3Reliability
If a sterile cover is placed over the sensor unit, then sterility is maintained, but sensor detection accuracy is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The sterile cover is designed as a thin, optically transparent film that allows optical sensing to occur while maintaining sterility. The thin film structure minimizes interference with the optical field, preserving sensor detection accuracy while providing the necessary sterile barrier.
Solution Approach 2:
The sterile cover material is selected to be optically transparent in the wavelength range used by the sensor unit, allowing the optical sensing to penetrate the cover without significant attenuation or distortion, thus maintaining measurement precision while ensuring sterility.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise, contactless control of surgical light settings by the surgeon, reducing the need for external assistance and minimizing contamination risks, while maintaining sterility and improving illumination adaptability to varying surgical conditions.
Implementation Method 1
The sensor unit (2) is designed in such a way that it can detect movements of an action element in three dimensions within a measurement space (3), which is arranged below the surgical light (1) in the direction of emission
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The invention relates to a surgical lamp (1) that can be controlled without contact, comprising a control unit and a sensor unit, wherein the control unit is designed to control the surgical lamp (1), wherein the sensor unit is designed to detect a motion of an action element and to convert said motion of the action element into motion data, wherein the control unit is designed to read out the motion data generated by the sensor unit and to control the surgical lamp (1) in dependence on the motion data. The sensor unit is designed in such a way that the sensor unit ensures the detection of the motion of the action element in three dimensions in a measurement space (3), which is arranged below the surgical lamp in an emission direction.