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US 12,721,325 B2Granted
Peristaltic metering pump and methods of operation
AssigneeEcoTech, LLC
InventorsMark Lindenmoyer, Timothy Marks, Christian Clough, Patrick Clasen, Justin Lawyer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A peristaltic pump is provided for conveying a fluid pumping medium through a compressible hose. The pump is designed particularly for use in an aquarium, terrarium, or vivarium for metering fluids accurately and reliably by eliminating permanent tubing deformation and random stopping positions of rollers.
Claims20
A peristaltic metering pump for aquariums, vivariums and terrariums, the peristaltic metering pump comprising:
- a. an inlet port;
- b. an outlet port;
- c. a stator having an internal surface;
- d. a flexible tube having an inlet end connected to the inlet port, and an outlet end connected to the outlet port;
- e. a rotor comprising a roller carrier and a plurality of equiangularly disposed rollers rotatably mounted to the roller carrier, a portion of the flexible tube is compressed between at least two rollers and the internal surface, the rollers having a plurality of equiangularly disposed park positions;
- f. a stepper motor configured to rotate the pump rotor;
- and
- g. a controller operably connected to the motor and configured to advance the rotor from a known park position during a dosing event in order to dispense a specified volume, the controller determining the number of steps of the stepper motor to dispense the specified volume, and to reverse the motor a number of steps to return at least one of the rollers to one of the plurality of park positions after completion of the dosing event.
5 more elements
A peristaltic metering pump for aquariums, vivariums and terrariums, comprising:
- a. housing, the housing including an inlet port, an outlet port, and a stator having an internal surface;
- b. a flexible tubing having an inlet end connected to the inlet port and an outlet end connected to the outlet port, at least a portion of the tubing juxtaposed to the internal surface;
- c. a rotor comprising a roller carrier having a plurality of equiangularly disposed arms, each arm has a roller rotatably mounted thereto, a portion of the tubing is compressed between at least one roller and the internal surface;
- d. a stepper motor operably connected to the pump rotor;
- and
- e. a controller operably connected to the motor and configured to advance the rotor from a known park position during each one of a plurality of dosing events in order to dispense a specified volume from the tubing and to reverse the motor and return the rollers to the known park position after completion of each dosing event.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.