Patent ID: 11933287
Assignee: TTP VENTUS LTD
Field: Engines, pumps, turbines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  B | IPC B  F

Claim 0:
1. A pump for a microfluidic device, comprising:
a lower pump body and an upper pump body comprising respective end walls connected to a peripheral side wall;
an actuator located between the lower pump body and the upper pump body and connected to the side wall by a resilient isolator so as to define two substantially cylindrical cavities for containing a fluid, the actuator being configured to oscillate in an axial direction so as to produce a spatially varying pressure wave in the two cavities;
first and second valves arranged to control flow of the fluid in a first of the two cavities, each first and second valve located on a same side of the actuator, and each first and second valve located at a pressure antinode of the pressure wave;
third and fourth valves arranged to control flow of the fluid in a second of the two cavities, each valve located on a same side of the actuator opposite that of the first and second valves, and each third and fourth valve located at a pressure antinode of the pressure wave; and
a manifold flow that forms a pneumatic connection between the first and second cavities between the second valve of the first cavity and the third valve of the second cavity;
wherein:
the manifold comprises a U-shaped channel formed in the lower and upper pump bodies, the U-shaped channel having open-ended first and second radial bores, and an intersecting perpendicular axial bore fluidly disposed between the first and second radial bores, the open-ended first and second radial bores each being sealed at their respective open-end by a close-fitting sphere;
the resilient isolator is a planar, layered structure comprising a conductive layer and a support layer and is susceptible to out-of-plane bending under the oscillation of the actuator in the axial direction; and
a first surface of the conductive layer is arranged on the support layer so as to strengthen a portion of the first surface against tensile stress imposed on the first surface by said bending.