Surgical instrument, steering gear thereof, and method of regulating the position of a steering ring of the steering gear

Abstract

An exemplary embodiment provides a steering gear () for a surgical instrument (), which can be arranged at the proximal end () of a shaft () that defines a longitudinal axis (B) and has a bending mechanism () at the distal end (). The steering gear () has two controllable and adjustable motorised drives and is designed to transfer the adjustment angles of the two controllable and adjustable motorised drives to a spatial alignment of a swash plate () which is designed to control the distal bending mechanism () of the surgical instrument (). The swash plate () is arranged in a steering ring (), and each of the two controllable and adjustable motorised drives has a drive shaft () driven by a motor ('), each of which is connected to the steering ring () directly and operatively connected via a force transmitter (′), wherein the two force transmitters (′) which are arranged on the drive shafts () each define a drive axis (C, C′), directly contacting the steering ring () at an effective section (W). The steering ring () is cardanically suspended on a fastening device which has position sensors () on its cardan axes. Furthermore, a surgical instrument () with a steering gear () and a method for controlling the position of a steering ring () of a steering gear () are disclosed.