Integrated system for filtering and dispensing fluid having fill, dispense and bubble purge strokes

An integrated system for filtering a fluid and for dispensing a desired volume of the fluid, comprising:

• a) a system inlet for receiving the fluid from a fluid source;
• b) a feed pump sub-assembly for pumping fluid from the fluid source through a filter, said feed pump sub-assembly including an inlet for receiving the fluid from the system inlet, and an outlet for conducting fluid pumped by the feed pump sub-assembly to the filter;
• c) a filtration sub-assembly integrally joined with the feed pump sub-assembly for housing the filter, the filtration sub-assembly configured for housing a filter and having an inlet arranged for receiving fluid from the feed pump sub-assembly and an outlet;
• d) a dispense pump sub-assembly integrally joined with the filtration sub-assembly arranged for receiving filtered fluid from the filtration sub-assembly, the dispense pump sub-assembly including,
• i) a fluid inlet,
• ii) a fluid outlet,
• iii) a purge outlet disposed above the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet, and
• iv) a dispensing means which is moveable from a fill position to a purge position for purging at least a portion of any gas bubbles in the filtered fluid chamber through the purge outlet, and moveable from the purge position to a dispense position for dispensing a desired volume of the fluid through the fluid outlet and out of the integrated system;
• and
• e) a system outlet for conducting fluid, which has been dispensed form the dispense pump sub-assembly, out of the integrated system.

An integrated method for filtering a fluid and for dispensing a desired volume of the fluid, comprising:

• a) directing a fluid from a fluid source through a filter disposed in a filtration sub-assembly and to a dispense pump sub-assembly which is integrally joined with the filtration sub-assembly, whereby the dispense pump sub-assembly is moved from a dispense position to a fill position;
• b) directing the dispense pump sub-assembly from the fill position to a purge position for purging at least a portion of any gas bubbles collected at the dispense pump sub-assembly through a purge outlet disposed above the fluid inlet and above a fluid outlet of the dispense pump sub-assembly;
• and
• c) directing the dispense pump sub-assembly from the purge position to a dispense position, whereby a desired volume of the fluid is dispensed from the dispense pump sub-assembly.