Reversible micro-valve devices
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorPavel Kornilovich
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A reversible micro-valve device includes a main channel, a passage comprising an opening in fluid communication with the main channel, and a side chamber to house a volume of trapped gas. The side chamber is communicably attached to the passage to control flow along the main channel. The side chamber is to be larger in volume than the main channel to which the trapped gas expands and includes one of the following two states at a given time: an open state in which the main channel is open and flow proceeds through the main channel, or a closed state in which the trapped gas within the side chamber is to expand within the passage and block the flow in the main channel.
Claims16
A reversible micro-valve device, comprising:
- a main channel comprising a pair of capillary breaks:
- a passage comprising an opening at an end of the passage into the main channel, the opening between the pair of capillary breaks;
- a side chamber to house a volume of trapped gas, the side chamber communicably attached to the passage to control flow along the main channel, the side chamber to be larger in volume than the main channel to which the trapped gas expands, wherein the micro-valve device includes each of the following two states at different points in time:
- an open state in which the main channel is open and flow proceeds through the main channel, and
- a closed state in which the trapped gas within the side chamber is to expand across the passage and the full width of the main channel to block the flow in the main channel.
A reversible micro-valve system, comprising:
- a plurality of channels, each of the plurality of channels comprising a pair of capillary breaks:
- a side chamber to house a volume of trapped gas, the side chamber communicably attached by passages to respective channels of the plurality of channels to control flow therein, the side chamber to be larger in volume than each channel of the plurality of channels into which the trapped gas expands through an opening at an end of a passage of the passages into a channel of the plurality of channels, each opening between a different pair of capillary breaks;
- and
- a heating device communicably attached to the side chamber, wherein the micro-valve device includes each of the following two states at different points in time:
- an open state in which the plurality of channels are open and flow proceeds through the plurality of channels, and
- a closed state in which the trapped gas within the side chamber is to expand across the passage and the full width of the main channel to block the flow in the plurality of channels.
A method, comprising:
- applying a first temperature to a side chamber of a reversible micro-valve device that is in fluid communication with a main channel comprising a pair of capillary breaks, wherein when the first temperature is applied, flow proceeds through the main channel, wherein the side chamber contains trapped gas, the volume of the side chamber being larger than the volume of the main channel;
- and
- applying, to the side chamber, a second temperature that is higher than the first temperature, the second temperature to cause the trapped gas within the side chamber to expand across the full width of the main channel through an opening at an end of a passage into the main channel and between the pair of capillary breaks to block the flow of fluid through the main channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.