Fluid dispense tips
AssigneeDL Technology, LLC.
InventorJeffrey P. Fugere
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fluid dispense tip includes a bevel at an opening to reduce the amount of surface tension, or “land”, at the opening. The bevel is formed by grinding in a longitudinal direction such that any tooling scars resulting from the grinding operation are likewise longitudinally oriented, further reducing the amount of surface tension in the tip, thereby leading to heightened dispensing accuracy. The tip may be machined from stock as a unitary piece, to increase its lifetime, and may be formed with a bore of a relatively large diameter that is tapered down to a smaller diameter near the tip opening, to allow for delivery of fluid through the tip body at a decreased pressure. The tip may optionally be formed with a Luer™-style fitting on the body, such that the tip is compatible with pumps that utilize such a fitting.
Claims1
A dispense tip comprising:
- a Luer™-type base for mounting the dispense tip to a material pump,
- an inlet at an input end of the base;
- an elongated neck, wherein the base and the neck are formed along a longitudinal axis from a single common stock;
- and
- a bore machined in the base and neck, the bore centered along the longitudinal axis, wherein an input end of the bore communicates with the inlet;
- an opening at an output end of the neck, the opening adjacent to, and in communication with, an output end of the bore such that a single fluid path is formed between the inlet and the opening;
- wherein:
- the input end of the bore comprises an inner surface of a first inner diameter, the output end of the bore comprises an inner surface of a second inner diameter, and the opening is of the second inner diameter, the first inner diameter being greater than the second inner diameter;
- and wherein:
- an inner taper is machined in the bore for transitioning the inner surface of the bore from the first inner diameter to the second inner diameter, the bore being unobstructed both within the first inner diameter and the second inner diameter between the input end of the bore and the opening.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.