W.c. Heraeus Gmbh

Jorg Boxhammer

Bernd Rudolph

Bruno Sebralla

Peter Enders

Hans J Bossler

To provide for automatic adjustment of the light field of an operating room light in accordance with manual positioning of the light, an electrical servo control loop positions the respective lamps and/or deflection mirrors of circularly placed light sources (2) in the housing (1) to iluminate a given field in a given plane. The distance of the lamp from the given field is determined by an ultrasonic distance sensor (5; 5a, 5b, 5c) to provide one input to the servo loop, for comparison of the positioning of the light source to illuminate said field. If the distance of the illuminated field increases, the angular position of the light sources is automatically adjusted to provide the field at the increased distance. If the distance decreases, however, no adjustment is carried out unless an operator touches an operating handle. This is transformed into a manual readjustment signal which releases the servo system to then readjust the position of the light sources. A switch (33) is located in the control loop to interrupt the control loop and permit adjustment only upon an increase in distance. Thus, erroneous sensing of a smaller distance, for example given by the hands of a surgeon, surgical instrument, or the surgeon's head, will not affect repositioning of the lamp and the light sources therein.

Growing community of inventors

Griesheim, Germany

Jorg Boxhammer