Low capacitance endoscopic system
An endoscopic system includes a shaft comprising a proximal end portion and a distal end portion; a sensor system; a floating ground element electrically coupled to the sensor system; a power regulator electrically coupled to a power transmission line and to the floating ground element, the power regulator configured to convert ground-referenced power received from an earth ground referenced power source into floating ground element referenced power and to output the floating ground element referenced power through the power transmission line; and a circuit enclosure at least partially enclosing a transceiver circuit and the power regulator, the circuit enclosure being electrically coupled with the floating ground element.
1 . An endoscopic system comprising:
a shaft comprising a proximal end portion and a distal end portion;
a sensor system comprising:
a sensor positioned to sense a characteristic of an environment in which the distal end portion is located,
a transceiver circuit,
a data transmission line electrically coupled to the sensor and extending along the shaft, the data transmission line configured to transmit data between the sensor and a signal processor via the transceiver circuit, and
a power transmission line electrically coupled to the sensor and extending along the shaft, the power transmission line configured to transmit power to the sensor;
a floating ground element electrically coupled to the sensor system;
a power regulator electrically coupled to the power transmission line and to the floating ground element, the power regulator configured to convert ground-referenced power received from an earth ground referenced power source into floating ground element referenced power and to output the floating ground element referenced power through the power transmission line; and
a circuit enclosure at least partially enclosing the transceiver circuit and the power regulator, the circuit enclosure being electrically coupled with the floating ground element.
2 . The endoscopic system of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver circuit and the circuit enclosure comprise conductive material.
3 . The endoscopic system of claim 1 , wherein the floating ground element at least partially surrounds the data transmission line and the power transmission line.
4 . The endoscopic system of claim 1 , wherein the floating ground element is electrically coupled to provide an electrical reference for the sensor system.
5 . The endoscopic system of claim 1 , further comprising an electrically insulative material separating the floating ground element from each of the data transmission line and the power transmission line.
6 . The endoscopic system of claim 1 , wherein the power regulator is operably coupled to provide electrical power to the sensor system.
7 . The endoscopic system of claim 1 , wherein a capacitance of the sensor system relative to earth ground is less than 500 pF under a condition of an earth ground-referenced power being provided to the power regulator at a nominal 230 volts under alternating current at 60 Hertz.
8 . The endoscopic system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is an image sensor.
9 . The endoscopic system of claim 8 , wherein the image sensor is chosen from a CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) or CCD (charge-coupled device) image sensor.
10 . The endoscopic system of claim 1 , wherein the circuit enclosure comprises a Faraday cage.