This invention relates to an integrated pump and ceramic valve apparatus for pumping discrete liquid volumes to points of use of the liquid volumes. More particularly, this invention relates to an integrated displacement pump and ceramic valve for pumping discrete liquid volumes to points of use.
At the present time, discrete liquid volumes are pumped with a syringe pump comprising a barrel, a face seal which moves within the barrel and a reciprocating plunger attached to the face seal. The syringe pump includes a valve construction formed of a polymeric composition which directs the pumped liquid volumes to a point of use. The valve construction includes a housing having a hollow, essentially conical interior surface into which is press fit a mating, essentially conical rotor. The rotor is provided with fluid passageways that control flow of liquid into the syringe pump and flow of liquid from the syringe pump while providing sealing between a pump inlet and a pump outlet. Since organic solvents and diluents are sometimes used to form the liquid being pumped such as dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) or tetrahydrofuran (THF), the valve rotor commonly swells which causes it to deteriorate. Also, the use of the conically shaped seal limits the pressure at which the liquid is pumped while retaining desired sealing since higher pressures increase the difficulty in rotating the valve rotor. Operating pressures are also limited due to the use of polymeric materials in the valve such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) which tend to cold flow at elevated pressures.
While the available syringe pumps have been useful for their intended purpose, they also have disadvantages. In order to attain a tight fit between the barrel and the face seal, the manufacturing of both the barrel and face seal must be made at tight tolerances. In addition, when utilizing the most commonly used materials comprising a glass barrel and a (PTFE) face seal, undesirable shedding of the PTFE occurs which contaminates the liquid being pumped. Furthermore, a tight fit between the barrel and face seal results in chattering of the face seal during its movement within the barrel. This leads to a loss of control of the liquid volume being pumped. In addition, the average useful life of presently available syringe pumps is only about 10 to about 100,000 cycles.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a pump apparatus capable of delivering discrete liquid volumes to a point of use such as different areas of a sample tray in a manner which is repeatable for long time periods of 1,000,000 cycles or more. In addition, it would be desirable to provide such a pump apparatus which permits the use at pressures that exceed normal operating pressure for presently available syringe pumps. In addition, it would be desirable to provide such a pump apparatus which avoids shedding of polymeric particles during pumping. Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide such a pump wherein internal seals can be cleaned periodically.
The present invention provides a pumping apparatus comprising (a) a displacement pump having a liquid displacement element comprises a piston housed within a barrel, a high pressure seal and means for reciprocating the piston within the barrel and (b) a ceramic valve wherein the sealing surfaces of a ceramic rotor and mating ceramic stator are flat. Control apparatus, including a conventional microprocessor is provided to synchronize movement of the valve rotor and the piston position so that liquid in the barrel is delivered to a point of use while the piston is traveling toward the ceramic valve and liquid is supplied to the barrel when the piston is traveling away from the ceramic valve. The moving piston is spaced apart from the inside surface of the barrel so that a frictional force between the piston and the barrel is prevented during pumping. By providing flat ceramic sealing surfaces, in the ceramic valve, useful pressure at which the liquid is pumped can exceed useful pumping pressures with presently available syringe pumps.
Referring to
The stator 26 is positioned within housing 32 which can be formed of an opaque or transparent material which is resistant to the liquid being pumped such as acrylic, polyetherether ketone, or the like. Housing 32 can be a single piece or a plurality of joined elements. The piston 34 can be formed of sapphire, glass or a ceramic or the like and is spaced apart from the interior wall 38 of housing 32. When the piston 34 is so-positioned, a single stroke of the piston 34 during use of the pump will deliver a known volume of liquid depending upon the piston diameter and the stroke length. As shown in
Motor 16 causes gear box 40 to reciprocate through pulley 41, and gears 42, 44 and 46 and gear track 48. Gear box 40 is positioned within track 47 which causes the piston 34 to move in a repeatable linear path stroke after stroke. As shown in
The piston 34 is positioned within seal 56 which can be formed, for example of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene or the like and optional roulon guide 58. The roulon guide aligns piston 34 into seal 56. The piston 34 reciprocates within seal 56 and roulon guide 54. The piston 34 is fixedly positioned in ferrule 60 which, in turn, is fixed within arm 62 by knob 64.
As shown in
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3684409 | Sanz et al. | Aug 1972 | A |
3752167 | Makabe | Aug 1973 | A |
3781907 | Gerber | Dec 1973 | A |
4018565 | Fletcher et al. | Apr 1977 | A |
4883409 | Strohmeier et al. | Nov 1989 | A |
6269838 | Woodworth et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6959638 | Makino et al. | Nov 2005 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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002639066 | May 1990 | FR |
2188437 | Sep 1987 | GB |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040265142 A1 | Dec 2004 | US |