Peristaltic pump
AssigneeMetameric Limited
InventorBernard Henry Refson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A peristaltic pump, which provides a relatively rigid tubular body (2); a contained substantially tubular elastic element (1), with an outside diameter less than the inside diameter of the body and statically sealed to the ends of the body (2), and a mechanism which may consist wholly of rigid members for intermittently expanding the entire periphery of radial sections of the element up to the whole of the inside diameter of the body in axial sequence between two ports (4) therein. A torus-like pumping chamber (3), fully sealed in all three dimensions, is thus created, which, in operation, progresses axially between the ports, transporting fluid trapped within it from one to the other.
Claims13
A peristaltic pump comprising:
- a rigid outer body which is tubular, said outer body having a longitudinal axis, an inlet and an outlet;
- a tubular elastic member located in said outer body with a radial space provided between an inside of said outer body and said elastic member, said elastic member being sealed to said outer body by an inlet seal and an outlet seal provided such that said inlet and outlet of said outer body are longitudinally therebetween;
- an actuating means housed within said elastic member for pumping a material along the space from said inlet to said outlet, said actuating means including
- a drive shaft,
- a series of actuating members located at a series of longitudinal positions along said elastic member between said inlet and said outlet, each said actuating member including a plurality of rigid elements extending around an interior surface of said elastic member, and
- a cam arrangement moved by said drive shaft which intermittently and sequentially moves radially in unison said rigid elements of said series of actuating members such that radial cross sections of said elastic member at each longitudinal position are intermittently and sequentially expanded against corresponding sections of the inside of said outer body to pump the material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.