Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6322337
-
Patent Number
6,322,337
-
Date Filed
Saturday, July 24, 199925 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, November 27, 200123 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Walberg; Teresa
- Patel; Vinod D
Agents
- Moll; Robert
- @Patent Planet
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 417 519
- 417 502
- 417 503
- 417 504
- 417 291
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
The present invention provides systems and methods of dispensing liquids. In one embodiment, the system includes a pump with a removable pump module with at least one displacement piston and at least one piston valve. A motor and base assembly provide the supporting components of the pump which can be used in environments where precise small volumes of ultra-pure liquids must be transferred from a reservoir to a point of use. The preferred embodiment of the system prevents contaminants and air bubbles from being introduced into the liquid to be dispensed by placing a filter across the discharge line downstream from the pump, and providing a separate drawback line for performing the drawback of the liquid in the dispensing nozzle.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to dispensing liquids in precise volumes and more particularly to the transfer of liquid from a reservoir to a point of use by a pump having a displacement piston and a rotating piston valve communicating with one of a plurality of liquid ports.
The ability to deliver precise small volume amounts of liquids without introduction of contaminants is quite important in the manufacture of many products, especially in the electronics industry. A semiconductor foundry has several principal areas—metrology, lithography, and track where resist and developer must be rapidly and precisely dispensed. More specifically, photolithography requires precise repeatable delivery of photoresist and developer at different rates such as volumes of 0-10 ml±0.1%, repeatable to within ±0.1 volume % with substantially no contaminants or air bubbles. If these requirements cannot be met consistently, it adversely impacts the yield of the process. See, e.g., Chang & Sze,
ULSI Technology
(1996) hereby incorporated by reference.
The semiconductor industry provides, for example, different pumps such as piston pumps, diaphragm pumps, and peristalic pumps to transfer liquid from a liquid reservoir to a dispense nozzle above a silicon wafer in a spin station. After the liquid is dispensed any residual liquid left in the tip of the nozzle is drawn back slightly so that the resulting meniscus force prevents uncontrolled drips on the wafer and the wafer is rotated at high rpm to spread the liquid uniformly over the wafer.
The liquid dispensing system must also provide a filter to capture contaminants which might be introduced in the liquid dispensed. When the filter is upstream of the pump, it captures the contaminants generated for example at the reservoir and/or the reservoir line leading to the pump but will be ineffective at capturing contaminants generated in the pump which then enter the liquid dispensed on the wafer. When the filter is downstream of the pump, the filter may capture pump generated contaminants but may still release air bubbles and contaminants into the dispensing system during draw back mode when the liquid reverses direction through the filter which tends to dislodge some of the particles caught in the filter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides systems and methods of rapid delivery of liquids in precise volumes and with accuracy. The systems include a pump operating under the positive displacement principle. The pump includes at least one displacement piston, and at least one piston valve with a fluid slot, where the pistons in a cylinder define a pumping chamber. In general the displacement piston travels back and forth in the cylinder, producing suction, and discharging pumping action. The distance traveled by the displacement piston determines the dispensing volume of the pumping chamber and the direction of travel determines the direction of flow through any cylinder port. The piston valve rotates to align the fluid slot with a given cylinder port to communicate with the pumping chamber.
In refill mode, the piston valve rotates until the slot aligns with the intake port of the cylinder so the pumping chamber can communicate with the reservoir. The displacement piston retracts in the cylinder, expanding the pumping chamber, and drawing liquid from the reservoir though the intake port and into the pumping chamber. In dispense mode, the piston valve rotates closing the intake port so that the pumping chamber no longer communicates with the reservoir until the piston valve slot aligns with the discharge port out of the pumping chamber. The displacement piston slides forward, reducing the volume of the pumping chamber, expelling liquid through the discharge port.
In one embodiment, the piston valve includes a plurality of ports, such as an intake port, a discharge port, and a drawback port to permit precise delivery of liquids through a dispense nozzle without introducing contaminants, air bubbles, or liquid dripping. In drawback mode, in this embodiment, after the discharge step, the piston valve rotates closing the discharge port and the piston valve slot aligns with the drawback port, then the displacement piston slides back, expanding the volume of the pumping chamber, drawing liquid back in the dispense nozzle. The embodiment of the system also prevents contaminants and air bubbles from being introduced into the liquid to be dispensed from the nozzle by placing a filter across the discharge line downstream from the pump, and providing a separate drawback line for performing the drawback of the liquid in the dispensing nozzle so that drawback does not occur through the filter. This embodiment has special advantage in the precise control of semiconductor equipment used in dispensing liquid chemicals in ULSI technology.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a perspective drawing of an embodiment of the pump, and illustrates the assembled pump including the pump module and the motor and base assembly.
FIG. 2
is a partial cross-section taken along A—A of
FIG. 5 and a
perspective drawing of an embodiment of the pump module.
FIG. 3
is an exploded view of the components of the pump module shown in FIG.
2
.
FIG. 4
is an exploded perspective view illustrating a preferred universal coupling for the piston valve.
FIG. 5
is an end view of the port fitting case, the valve bearing ball, the three ports of the port fitting case, and a clamp band around the port fitting case.
FIG. 6
is a schematic diagram illustrating the basic components of one embodiment of the precision liquid dispensing system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1
illustrates an embodiment of a pump
1
capable of transferring precise small volumes, e.g., 0-10 ml, of a liquid from a liquid reservoir to a dispense nozzle. The pump
1
can be used in a system such as that depicted in
FIG. 6
to deliver resist and developer to semiconductor wafers. As shown in
FIG. 6
, the components of the system include a liquid supply reservoir
143
, a liquid supply line
144
, a three-port pump
1
, an upstream discharge line
148
, a filter
149
, a downstream discharge line
150
, a dispense line
151
, a dispense nozzle
152
, and a drawback line
147
. The liquid reservoir
143
can be a variety of well known reservoirs, the liquid lines are preferably of Teflon, the tube hardware and fittings can be Parker, Parabound Adaptor, Paraflare x Pipe BA-4F4, one suitable filter
149
is the Pall model no. MCD9116UFTEH, and the materials of the pump
1
will be described in detail below.
In operation, the pump
1
and the liquid lines are preferably charged with liquid. In dispensing mode, the pump
1
displaces liquid through the upstream discharge line
148
, the filter
149
, the downstream discharge line
150
, the dispense line
151
, and out of the dispense nozzle
152
onto the wafer. In drawback mode, occurring preferably a short time after the dispense mode, the three-port pump
1
valve is actuated to communicate with the drawback line
147
and the displacement piston in the cylinder of pump
1
reverses direction to enable drip-free dispense by drawing the liquid back inside the nozzle
152
through the drawback line
147
avoiding the need to reverse the flow through the filter
149
. This feature helps to prevent contaminants from being dislodged from the filter
149
. In purge mode, the system can use the drawback line
147
to prime any air out of the nozzle
152
also without going through the filter
149
. This feature reduces air bubbles from being introduced into the liquid dispensed. Alteratively, the pump
1
might add a fourth port to allow purge of air from entering into the liquid supply reservoir
143
through a liquid purge back line (not shown) to conserve resist.
Referring again to the embodiment shown in
FIG. 1
, the pump
1
includes a pump module, a motor and base assembly, and an electronic controller (not shown), and operates by the positive displacement principle. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the displacement piston
80
pumps the liquid by traveling back and forth in a cylinder liner
30
, as indicated by the arrows, producing suction and discharging action. The distance traveled by the displacement piston
80
in the cylinder liner
30
is proportional to the volume of the pumping chamber
87
. For liquid intake the piston valve
81
rotates so that the fluid slot
82
aligns with an intake port
85
(
FIG. 5
) so that the pumping chamber
87
communicates with the liquid reservoir
143
(FIG.
6
). The displacement piston
80
retracts in the cylinder liner
30
, expanding the pumping chamber
87
, drawing liquid from the reservoir
143
(
FIG. 6
) though the intake port
85
(
FIG. 5
) and into the pumping chamber
87
. The piston valve
81
rotates closing the intake port
85
(
FIG. 5
) so that the pumping chamber
87
no longer communicates with the reservoir
143
(FIG.
6
). To discharge the liquid drawn into the pumping chamber
87
, the piston valve
81
rotates to align the fluid slot
82
with the discharge port
83
, and the displacement piston
80
extends into the cylinder liner
30
, expelling liquid from pumping chamber
87
through the discharge port
83
. To draw back liquid in the discharge line, the displacement piston
80
can retract immediately after the discharge step. However, in the preferred embodiment, the pump
1
draws back the liquid in the dispense nozzle
152
(
FIG. 6
) by rotating the piston valve
81
to align the fluid slot
82
with a drawback port
90
, and then retracting the displacement piston
80
.
FIG. 3
is an exploded view of the parts making up the pump module
10
. A valve bearing ball
96
is attached on a neck
35
(
FIG. 1
) of the piston valve
81
by a cone point socket set screw
161
. To form a liquid seal the pump module
10
preferably provides a cylinder end cap
160
, a Teflon thrust washer
158
, a flange
157
on the piston valve
81
, a Teflon thrust washer
163
, and a lip seal
162
. A conventional clamp band
43
is provided to hold a port fitting case
31
on the cylinder liner
30
. As shown in
FIG. 1
, a support
172
, preferably including a spacer
171
, is located under the port fitting case
31
to prevent rotation of the port fitting case
31
from torque produced by rotation of the motor
14
. The port fitting case
31
is preferably made of Teflon. Another liquid seal is provided by assembly of a cylinder end cap
79
, a lip seal
89
, and a cylinder liner
30
. A socket head cap screw
53
is provided which is inserted into a spherical bearing retainer
54
and a spherical bearing
75
with a race
154
(
FIG. 2
) and into the end of the displacement piston
80
to hold the retainer
54
, the bearing
75
, and the displacement piston
80
in fixed relationship with each other.
When the various parts shown in
FIG. 3
are assembled, the pump module
10
appears as shown in FIG.
2
.
FIG. 2
illustrates that the fluid seal includes a cylinder end cap
79
holding a lip seal
89
against the cylinder liner
30
and a contact surface
78
of the displacement piston
80
.
FIG. 2
illustrates when the fluid slot
82
described earlier is aligned with the drawback port
90
. The clamp band
43
holds the port fitting case
31
to the cylinder liner
30
so that the drawback port
90
aligns with the L-shaped port
91
of the port fitting case
31
. Similarly, the clamp band
43
holds the port fitting case
31
to the cylinder liner
30
so that the discharge port
83
aligns with the L-shaped port
84
. The L-shaped port
91
narrows to a passage
92
in a male connector
94
, and threads
93
engage a twist tight collar
33
(FIG.
1
). Likewise, the L-shaped port
84
narrows to a passage
99
of a male connector
101
and threads
100
engage a twist tight collar
32
(FIG.
1
). Again, the fluid seal at the valve bearing ball
96
end preferably uses the parts discussed earlier in connection with FIG.
3
. The piston valve
81
includes a relief band
156
which is slightly smaller in diameter than the rest of piston valve
81
to permit liquid to enter in the gap to prevent the curing of the liquid under the pressures and temperatures created by the tight fit and movement of the piston valve
81
. The piston valve
81
also includes an inner neck
159
, an outer neck
35
and is attached to the valve bearing ball
96
which has two slots
98
and
164
and a flat surface
97
for reasons discussed below.
FIG. 2
also shows that the spherical bearing
75
is held to a piston end cap
76
preferably made of stainless steel
316
. The piston end cap
76
is heat shrunk or glued on the end of the displacement piston
80
as shown in
FIGS. 2-3
. The displacement piston
80
, the piston valve
81
, and the cylinder liner
30
are preferably made of aluminum oxide or polished zirconia (YTZP) but can be also made of another suitable ceramic, a stainless steel, Delrin™, Tefzel™, or Kynar™. The advantage of aluminum oxide is it may not require lubrication beyond that provided by the liquid being dispensed or metered, it is extremely hard and resists abrasion, it exhibits little wear after many cycles, it is chemically stable, and it allows precision machining and diamond tooling with close running fits (100 millionths of an inch). Aluminum oxide's properties of low friction, hardness, and stability allow the pump module
10
to be primarily sealed by close clearance of the pistons
80
,
81
, and the cylinder liner
30
. This means no compliant seals may be needed which eliminates a set of parts which frequently fail and require replacement in conventional pumps.
As shown in
FIGS. 1-2
, the pump
1
includes motors
14
and
22
for driving the pump module
10
. First, a stepper motor
22
drives the displacement piston
80
by rotating a bottom pulley
65
coupled by a drive belt
23
to a set of pulleys
24
and
64
. In alternative embodiments, the motor
22
can be a servo motor or another suitable positioning motor. The pulleys contact the drive belt
23
with sufficient friction and tension to prevent slippage between the pulleys and the belt. One suitable drive belt is the Breco-flex 10T5/390. A suitable pulley is the LS21T5/20-2 made by Breco-flex. The tension of the drive belt
23
can be adjusted by loosening bolts
71
-
74
residing in the vertical slots of rigid plate
70
so that the pulley
65
can move up to reduce or down to increase the tension of the drive belt
23
. Thus, the rigid plate
70
provides an adjustable support structure for mounting the pulley
65
and the stepper motor
22
.
In a preferred embodiment if the stepper motor
22
rotates, the drive belt
23
transfers that force to the pulleys
24
and
64
which rotate precision lead screws
44
and
19
. Eastern Air Devices, Inc., motor series LH2318 together with Intelligent Motion Systems, Inc. Model IM483 drive electronics provide a compatible motor and controller combination for this purpose. One end of precision lead screw
44
attaches to the pulley
24
and the other end rotates in a lead screw and linear shaft bearing block
29
. One end of precision lead screw
19
attaches to the pulley
64
and the other end rotates in a lead screw and linear shaft bearing block like block
29
but not shown to expose other parts to view.
Spacers
63
and
62
space pulleys
24
and
64
from triangular shaped lead nuts
58
and
25
. Lead nut
58
is fixed to a displacement slide block
46
by bolt
57
hidden by drive belt
23
in
FIG. 1
, a bolt
55
partially hidden by spacer
63
in
FIG. 1
, and a bolt
56
. The lead nut
25
is bolted to a displacement slide block
21
by bolt
61
hidden by the spacer
62
, a bolt
59
, and a bolt
60
. A pair of parallel linear bearing shafts
17
and
45
guide the displacement slide blocks
21
and
46
. A piston coupling
28
is attached by bolts
51
and
52
to the displacement slide blocks
21
and
46
and to the displacement piston
80
by the socket head cap screw
53
, the retainer
54
, and the bearing
75
described earlier. Thus, the piston coupling
28
, and the displacement slide blocks
21
and
46
move as a unit to drive the displacement piston
80
in and out of the cylinder liner
30
as the precision lead screws
44
and
19
rotate and engage the threads of the lead nut
58
and the lead nut
25
, respectively. Preferably, the displacement slide blocks
21
and
46
have holes which are not threaded and therefore do not engage either the threads of the precision lead screw or bind the linear bearing shafts.
An adjustable flag
20
is held by bolts
49
and
50
to the displacement slide block
21
and overlaps an adjacent piston extended position sensor
15
when the displacement piston
80
fully extends into the cylinder liner
30
. Similarly, an adjustable flag
27
is held by bolts
47
and
48
to the displacement slide block
46
and overlaps an adjacent piston retracted position sensor
26
when the displacement piston
80
fully retracts in the cylinder liner
30
. One suitable sensor uses the Hall effect to detect when the metal flag interrupts a magnetic field emanating from the sensor. Another uses the photoelectric effect where a object fixed to the displacement block serves to partially or fully interrupt a light beam aimed at a photo detector. The Honeywell Microswitch 4AV series is suitable for performing this function.
FIGS. 1-2
illustrate that the pump
1
also includes a motor
14
for driving the piston valve
81
of the pump module
10
by rotating a pulley
38
coupled by a belt
13
to a pulley
12
. The pulleys
12
and
38
have sufficient friction with the belt
13
to avoid slippage. The motor
14
is preferably an air-powered rotary indexer because it quickly rotates the fluid slot
82
into alignment with a port when commanded by a conventional controller. In such a motor such as that manufactured by SMC, for example, the NCRBI-W30-1805 series motor, pneumatic air enters input
18
and a well known ratchet-gear mechanism converts the 180 degree movements of the motor
14
into the desired angular increment, e.g., 120 degrees for a three-port embodiment as shown in FIG.
1
. After an angular increment occurs the air is relieved at air exhaust
16
. In alternative embodiments, the motor
14
can be a servo motor or another suitable positioning motor. Preferably, a conventional controller using advanced solid-state electronics with microprocessor technology and sensors can be used to control the pump
1
, including the motors
22
and
14
to actuate the movement of the displacement piston
80
and the piston valve
81
at appropriate velocities, distances, and times.
A suitable drive belt
13
is the Breco-flex 10T5/390 and one suitable pulley is the LS21T5/20-2 made by Breco-flex. The tension of the drive belt
13
can be easily adjusted by loosening bolts such as bolts
40
-
41
in the vertical slots at corners of a rigid plate
39
and moving the rigid plate
39
supporting the pulley
38
up to reduce the tension or down to increase the tension of the drive belt
13
. Thus, the rigid plate
39
provides an adjustable support structure for mounting the pulley
38
and the motor
14
. A L-shaped bracket
37
includes a conventional sealed bearing for supporting the shaft of the pulley
12
and an universal coupling
11
shown in FIG.
1
.
The universal coupling
11
eliminates the problem of how to exactly align the axis of the pulley
12
with that of the piston valve
81
. The location of the universal coupling
11
in the pump
1
is best shown in
FIG. 1
, but the details are in FIG.
4
. As shown in
FIG. 4
, an exploded view, the universal coupling
11
includes a coupling body
8
with a receptacle for the valve bearing ball
96
, and a set of pins
2
and
9
to hold the valve bearing ball
96
in the receptacle. Pin
2
engages slot
98
and pin
9
engages slot
164
on valve bearing ball
96
to provide a positive rotational coupling. Thus, the pump module
10
is held by the universal coupling
11
on one end and by the piston coupling
28
on the other. This permits the pump module
10
to be quickly removed from the rest of the pump
1
for cleaning or autoclaving. For example, to remove the pump module
10
, one would remove piston coupling
28
, then pivot the pump module
10
approximately 90 degrees with respect to the operational axis on pins
2
and
9
to the dotted line position shown in FIG.
4
. When slots
98
and
164
are aligned perpendicular to coupling
8
, the pump module
10
can be removed. To assist in that removal, the flat surface
97
of the valve bearing ball
96
provides clearance to the button
5
in universal coupling
11
when the pump module
10
is pivoted 90 degrees.
A biasing means holds the valve bearing ball
96
in place during operation and includes a button
5
biased by a Belleville washer
6
(i.e., domed shaped for spring action) and held by a retainer washer
7
. To install the biasing means in the coupling body
8
the following steps are taken. The Belleville washer
6
is inserted in the retainer washer
7
, the button
5
is placed on the washer
6
, and preferably three dowel pins such as dowel pin
3
are partially inserted in holes 120 degrees apart to protrude in the coupling body
8
to guide the retainer washer
7
along corresponding slots
174
,
176
, and
178
. When each pin hits the end of its slot, where a hole exists, the pin can be driven into the hole of the retainer washer
7
. Because of the tight fit and flared shape of the pins, this technique firmly attaches the retainer washer
7
in the coupling body
8
. A cone point set screw
4
travels through the larger top hole in coupling body
8
and engages in threaded hole
180
in the retainer washer
7
, acting to fix the coupling body
8
to the shaft of the pulley
12
. As shown in
FIG. 1
, conventional spacers (not shown) maintain pulleys
12
and
38
at an appropriate distance from respectively the L-shaped bracket
37
and the plate
39
.
FIG. 5
is a detail end view of one embodiment of a three-port case fitting
31
. It shows where the cross-section A—A is taken in the embodiment illustrated in FIG.
2
and can be understood in conjunction with embodiments illustrated in
FIGS. 1-2
. In those embodiments, the top port dedicated to a drawback line, includes a male connector
94
defining a passage
92
and having threads
93
. The bottom right port, almost completely hidden in
FIG. 2
, and dedicated to an intake line, includes a male connector
168
defining a passage
167
and with threads
169
. The bottom right port communicates with the fluid slot
82
by the port
85
represented by dotted lines. The bottom left port, dedicated to a discharge line, includes a male connector
101
defining a passage
99
and with threads
100
.
FIG. 5
also illustrates an embodiment for the valve bearing ball
96
including the flat surface
97
as well as the slots
98
and
164
for engaging pins
2
and
9
of the universal coupling
11
as discussed earlier.
Any given port can function as an intake or a discharge liquid depending on whether the displacement piston
80
retracts or extends into the cylinder liner
30
after alignment. Further, the port fitting case
31
is not limited to three ports as illustrated but could be a plurality of ports depending on the application. Accordingly, the pump module
10
could have multiple outputs and/or multiple inputs and/or multiple drawbacks and/or purge lines. In addition, a pump
1
could have a plurality of pump modules
10
disposed in parallel each having a stepper motor
22
or driven by the same stepper motor
22
and each having their own piston valve
81
and motor
14
or driven by the same motor
14
. Of course, this permits the compact pumping of different liquid chemicals with isolation between the chemicals. The design of the piston valve
81
dispenses and meters liquid without any secondary mechanism such as check valves which allows for longer life, higher reliability, and greater accuracy.
Claims
- 1. A liquid dispensing pump system, comprising:a pump module including a displacement piston and a piston valve disposed in a cylinder and defining a pumping chamber, wherein the displacement piston travels back and forth in the cylinder, producing suction, and discharging pumping action, a port case fitting with a plurality of ports able to communicate one at a time with a fluid slot in the piston valve based on rotation of the piston valve, and the direction of travel of the displacement piston determines the direction of flow out of any port; means for driving the displacement piston back and forth in the cylinder; means for rotating the piston valve in the cylinder without rotating the displacement piston so that the fluid slot of the piston valve communicates with one of the plurality of ports in the port case fitting; and means for supporting the pump module, the means for driving the displacement piston, and the means for rotating the piston valve.
- 2. An apparatus for pumping fluid, comprising:a pump module, including a cylinder liner with a plurality of ports, a displacement piston slidably disposed in the cylinder liner, a separate piston valve with a fluid slot rotatably disposed in the cylinder liner, wherein the displacement piston and the piston valve and cylinder liner define a pumping chamber; and a first motor coupled to means for driving the displacement piston back and forth; a second motor coupled to means for rotating the piston valve to align the fluid slot with each of the liner ports; and a base supporting the pump module, the first motor, and the second motor.
- 3. The apparatus of 2, further comprising a controller coupled to the first motor and second motors during refill, discharge, and drawback modes to actuate:the displacement piston to expand the volume of the pumping chamber and to rotate the fluid slot of the piston valve so the pumping chamber only communicates with an intake port, the displacement piston to reduce the volume of the pumping chamber and to rotate the fluid slot of the piston valve so the pumping chamber only communicates with a discharge port, and the displacement piston to reduce the volume of the pumping chamber and to rotate the fluid slot of the piston valve so the pumping chamber only communicates with a drawback port.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the means for driving the displacement piston back and forth includes a plurality of lead screws parallel to the pump module, a plurality of displacement slide blocks, each block having a lead screw hole parallel to the pump module, a member joined to the displacement slide blocks holding the pump module, and wherein each of the plurality of lead screw resides in a lead screw hole in one of the displacement slide blocks.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first motor is coupled to the plurality of lead screws by a plurality of pulleys, each pulley being attached to one lead screw or the first motor, and wherein the pulleys rotate together by a belt contacting each pulley for movement of the displacement piston back and forth.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a plurality of linear bearing shafts, wherein each of the plurality of linear bearing shafts resides in a linear bearing shaft hole in one of the displacement slide blocks.
- 7. A pump, comprising:a pump module, including a cylinder liner with ports, a displacement piston in the cylinder liner, a piston valve disposed in the cylinder liner, wherein the piston valve includes a fluid slot and is fixed to a valve bearing ball; a first motor for driving the displacement piston; a second motor for rotating the valve bearing ball to align the fluid slot with one of the ports; and a base supporting the pump module, the first motor, and the second motor.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second motor is an actuator having a shaft, rotating forward or in reverse within a first angle, wherein the means for rotating the piston valve includes means for converting the forward or reverse rotation to a single-direction rotation of the piston valve within a second angle, wherein the first angle is greater than the second angle.
- 9. A liquid dispensing system, comprising:a liquid reservoir; a pump including an intake, a discharge, and a drawback port, wherein the pump is disposed downstream of the reservoir; a filter downstream of the pump; a supply line communicating with the reservoir and the intake port of the pump; an upstream discharge line communicating with the discharge port of the pump and the upstream end of the filter; a dispense line; a downstream discharge line communicating with the downstream end of the filter and the dispense line; and a drawback line communicating with the drawback port of the pump and the dispense line.
- 10. A pump module, comprising:a cylinder liner with a plurality of ports; a port fitting case with ports aligned with the plurality of ports; a displacement piston slidably disposed in the cylinder liner; and a piston valve with a fluid slot, wherein the piston valve is rotatably disposed in the cylinder liner such that the fluid slot can rotate to align the plurality of ports, and wherein the piston valve includes a valve bearing ball disposed outside the cylinder liner.
- 11. The pump module of claim 10, further comprising first and second cylinder end caps with lip seals for sealing each end of the cylinder liner.
- 12. The pump module of claim 10, wherein the port fitting case is attached to the cylinder liner and provides ports leading to external connectors for each of the plurality of ports.
- 13. The pump module of claim 10, wherein the piston valve includes a relief band slightly smaller in diameter than the rest of the piston valve to permit liquid to enter in the gap between the piston valve and the cylinder liner to prevent curing of liquid.
- 14. The pump module of claim 10, wherein the piston valve includes an inner neck at least partially within the cylinder liner and an outer neck attached to the valve-bearing ball, which ball has a plurality of slots and a flat surface.
US Referenced Citations (4)