Robotic surgery system

1. A sterilizable drive unit for use with a surgical instrument having an end effector and an instrument shaft for actuating at least one degree of freedom of the end effector using the drive unit, the drive unit comprising:

an actuator assembly with at least one actuator for actuating the at least one degree of freedom of the end effector of the surgical instrument;

a component assembly with at least one electronic component;

a sterilizable housing in which the actuator assembly and the component assembly are located, the housing including a housing wall and a thermal insulation layer located on at least one of the housing wall or between the component assembly and the actuator assembly; and

a heat conduction means assembly including at least one heat conduction means with a heat dissipation surface located on an outer side of the housing wall facing the actuator assembly;

wherein at least one switchable heat conduction means of the heat conduction means assembly is switchable between a first heat-conductive state and a second heat-conductive state that is less heat conductive than the first heat-conductive state.

2. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 1 , wherein at least one switchable heat conduction means of the heat conduction means assembly comprises a gap and a movable element for selective heat-conductive bridging of the gap.

3. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 2 , wherein:

the gap is fluid-tight; or

the gap is fluid-tight in the thermal insulation layer.

4. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 1 , wherein at least one heat conduction means of the heat conduction means assembly comprises a fluid passage with a working fluid.

5. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 4 , wherein the fluid passage is a heat pipe.

6. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 4 , further comprising a flow control means for at least one of:

selective active streaming of the working fluid; or

selective active blocking of the working fluid.

7. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 1 , wherein at least one switchable heat conduction means comprises at least one Peltier element.

8. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 1 , wherein at least one stationary heat conduction means of the heat conduction means assembly is permanently connected to the housing wall.

9. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 8 , wherein the at least one stationary heat conduction means is permanently connected with the actuator assembly within the housing.

10. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 1 , wherein the thermal insulation layer completely covers at least one of the inner surface or outer surface of the housing wall.

11. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 1 , further comprising an interface for separable coupling of the actuator assembly with the instrument shaft, wherein the interface has a shell which covers at least one penetration opening of the housing in a fluid-tight manner and encases a part of a power take-off shaft extending through the at least one penetration opening, the shell being deformable by a movement of at least one of the part of the power take-off shaft, a sterilizable radial seal, or a sterilizable axial seal.

12. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 11 , wherein the shell is elastically deformable.

13. A method for sterilizing a drive unit of a surgical instrument, the method comprising:

obtaining a sterilizable drive according to claim 1 ; and

treating an outer surface of the drive unit with heated fluid, particularly steam or air, particularly for a predetermined period of time.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sterilizable drive unit includes a heat conduction means assembly including at least one heat conduction means with a heat dissipation surface located on an outer side of the housing wall facing the actuator assembly, the method further comprising:

switching the at least one switchable heat conduction means of the heat conduction means assembly from a first heat-conductive state into a second heat-conductive state during treatment with heated fluid;

wherein the second heat-conductive state is less heat conductive than the first heat-conductive state.

15. The sterilizable drive unit of claim 1 , wherein the electronic component is a position-determining means.

16. A surgical instrument, comprising:

an end effector;

a sterilizable drive unit; and

an instrument shaft for actuating at least one degree of freedom of the end effector with the drive unit;

the sterilizable drive unit comprising:

an actuator assembly with at least one actuator for actuating the at least one degree of freedom of the end effector of the surgical instrument,

a component assembly with at least one electronic component,

a sterilizable housing in which the actuator assembly and the component assembly are located, the housing including a housing wall and a thermal insulation layer located on at least one of the housing wall or between the component assembly and the actuator assembly, and

a heat conduction means assembly including at least one heat conduction means with a heat dissipation surface located on an outer side of the housing wall facing the actuator assembly,

wherein at least one switchable heat conduction means of the heat conduction means assembly is switchable between a first heat-conductive state and a second heat-conductive state that is less heat conductive than the first heat-conductive state.

17. The surgical instrument according to claim 16 , wherein the at least one switchable heat conduction means is switchable into the first heat-conductive state depending on at least one of a temperature in an interior of the housing or an operating parameter of the actuator assembly.

18. A surgical robot system, comprising:

a robot assembly including at least one robot; and

an instrument assembly with at least one instrument according to claim 16 coupled with the robot assembly.

19. The surgical instrument of claim 16 , wherein the electronic component of the component assembly is a position-determining means.