# US 11,078,897 B2 · Apparatus for pumping fluid > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,078,897 B2 - Document ID: US11078897B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/015,958 - Filed: 2016-02-04 - Published: 2016-07-21 - Granted: 2021-08-03 - Earliest claimed: 2008-06-27 - Assignees: Lynntech, Inc. - Applicants: Lynntech, Inc. - Inventors: Jonathan Reeh; Jeffrey S. Parkey; Alan Cisar; Duncan Hitchens - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11078897B2 ## CPC - F04B 43/0054: {particularities of the flexible members} - F04B 43/06: Pumps having fluid drive - F04B 45/02: having bellows - F04B 45/024: {with two or more bellows in series} - F04B 45/0336: {the actuating fluid being controlled by one or more valves} - F04B 19/24: Pumping by heat expansion of pumped fluid - F04B: POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS (machines for liquids, or pumps, of rotary-piston or oscillating-piston type F04C; non-positive-displacement pumps F04D; pumping of fluid by direct contact of another fluid or by using inertia of fluid to be pumped F04F) ## Abstract The present invention includes an electrochemical actuator pump and method of making the same, comprising a membrane electrode assembly comprising an ion exchange membrane, a first and a second catalyzed porous electrode in contact with opposing sides of the ion exchange membrane; a first gas chamber in fluid communication with the first electrode, and a second gas chamber in fluid communication with the second electrode; and a controller for controllably reversing the polarity of a voltage source electrically coupled to the first and second electrodes, wherein the controller causes a first polarity at the first electrode to function as an anode and the second electrode to function as a cathode, wherein the first polarity simultaneously decreases the hydrogen gas pressure in the first hydrogen gas chamber and increases the hydrogen gas pressure in the second hydrogen gas chamber, with additional embodiment using MOF or Ni—H batteries. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A pump head operable with a driving fluid, comprising: a pump housing including a moveable element that separates a driving fluid chamber from a pumping fluid chamber, an inlet check valve disposed to allow unidirectional fluid communication of a pumping fluid into the pumping fluid chamber, and an outlet check valve disposed to allow unidirectional fluid communication of the pumping fluid out of the pumping fluid chamber; first and second control valves in fluid communication with the driving fluid chamber and selectively operable to establish the driving fluid chamber in fluid communication with a driving fluid source or vacuum; wherein the moveable element is a rigid plate, the driving fluid chamber includes a first expandable bellows secured between a driving fluid chamber surface of the rigid plate and a first side of the pump housing, and the pumping fluid chamber includes a second expandable bellows secured between a pumping fluid chamber surface of the rigid plate and a second side of the pump housing; wherein the first and second expandable bellows define an axial direction of expansion and retraction; and wherein the first and second expandable bellows each have a cross-sectional area in a plane perpendicular to the axial direction, wherein a cross-sectional area inside the first expandable bellows is less than a cross-sectional area inside the second expandable bellows; wherein the pump housing is open to the atmosphere around the circumferential exterior surfaces of the first and second expandable bellows facing away from the interiors of the first and second expandable bellows and parallel to the axial direction of expansion and contraction, wherein an atmospheric pressure of the atmosphere acting on the larger cross-sectional area of the second expandable bellows assists in pressurizing and displacing the pumping fluid from the second expandable bellows and impedes drawing of the pumping fluid into the pump fluid chamber, thereby requiring a reduced vent or vacuum pressure to fully expand the second expandable bellows; and a spring disposed concentric to and outside of the first expandable bellows between the driving fluid chamber surface of the rigid plate and the first side of the pump housing, wherein the spring biases the first expandable bellows to expand in the axial direction. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The pump head of claim 1, wherein the driving fluid comprises hydrogen, methane, natural gas, propane, or one or more other gases. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The pump head of claim 1, wherein the pumping fluid comprises a gas or a liquid. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The pump head of claim 1, wherein the pump head is coupled in fluid communication with an electrochemical actuator. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The pump head of claim 4, wherein the electrochemical actuator is hermetically sealed within a material with a very low permeability to hydrogen. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The pump head of claim 5, wherein the material is aluminum. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) An electrochemically actuated pump comprising: at least one pump head of claim 1; and an electrochemical actuator coupled in fluid communication with the at least one pump head. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The electrochemically actuated pump of claim 7, wherein the driving fluid comprises hydrogen, methane, natural gas, propane, or one or more other gases. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The electrochemically actuated pump of claim 7, wherein the pumping fluid comprises a gas or a liquid. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The electrochemically actuated pump of claim 7, wherein the electrochemical actuator is hermetically sealed within a material with a very low permeability to hydrogen. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The electrochemically actuated pump of claim 10, wherein the material is aluminum. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The electrochemically actuated pump of claim 7, wherein the electrochemical actuator comprises a metal hydride alloy material disposed to store hydrogen gas within the electrochemical actuator.