Electro-surgical instrument and fabrication method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An electro-surgical instrument comprising:
- (a) a surgical instrument having a roughened stainless steel substrate; and
(b) a durable, continuous thermally sprayed ceramic coating on said roughened stainless steel substrate, said coating providing electrical insulative properties to said substrate in the 500 KHZ to 1 MHZ frequency range greater than 3,000 volts/mm and having a metallographic porosity of less than one volume percent;
said thermally sprayed ceramic coating having a Young'"'"'s Modulus of no more than about 30×
106 pounds per square inch parallel to the coating plane, and a Young'"'"'s Modulus anisotropy coefficient of at least about 2.
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Abstract
An exceptionally durable electrical insulation coating for electro-surgical instruments is provided. The insulation coating is ceramic and exhibits excellent insulative properties in the 500 KHZ to 1 MHZ frequency range. This feature drastically reduces, if not totally eliminates, many problems of current electrical insulation materials used in electrosurgery. The insulating ceramic coating can be readily applied by plasma deposition techniques to new or existing mono/bipolar surgical instruments. The insulating ceramic coating is thermally sprayed, anisotropic, and exhibits a Young'"'"'s Modulus value of no more than about 30×106 psi parallel to the coating plane.
21 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An electro-surgical instrument comprising:
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(a) a surgical instrument having a roughened stainless steel substrate; and (b) a durable, continuous thermally sprayed ceramic coating on said roughened stainless steel substrate, said coating providing electrical insulative properties to said substrate in the 500 KHZ to 1 MHZ frequency range greater than 3,000 volts/mm and having a metallographic porosity of less than one volume percent;
said thermally sprayed ceramic coating having a Young'"'"'s Modulus of no more than about 30×
106 pounds per square inch parallel to the coating plane, and a Young'"'"'s Modulus anisotropy coefficient of at least about 2. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15)
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11. An electro-surgical instrument operably associated with an electrosurgery frequency generator and comprising:
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(a) a surgical instrument with a round shaft providing a roughened stainless steel substrate; and (b) a durable, continuous, thermally sprayed, anisotropic ceramic coating on said stainless steel substrate providing electrical insulative properties to said substrate in the 500 KHZ to 1 MHZ frequency range greater than 3,000 volts/mm and having a metallographic porosity of less than 1 volume percent;
said thermally sprayed ceramic coating having a Young'"'"'s Modulus of no more than about 15×
106 pounds per square inch parallel to the coating plane, and a Young'"'"'s Modulus anisotropy coefficient of at least about 2.
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12. A method of providing durable electrosurgical instrument insulation with excellent insulative properties in the 500 KHZ to 1 MHZ frequency range, comprising:
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(a) providing an electro-surgical instrument having a roughened surface; and (b) depositing on the roughened surface of said electro-surgical instrument, by thermal spraying, a continuous ceramic coating having a substantially uniform thickness sufficient to provide an insulative capacity of at least about 3000 volts/mm.
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Specification