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

Claim 7:
8. 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 first and second spatially varying pressure waves in the respective 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;
wherein the resilient isolator is a planar, layered structure comprising a plurality of annular regions between the side wall and the actuator, layers of the resilient isolator being configured such that at least one of the plurality of annular regions is less resistant than another one of the plurality of annular regions to out-of-plane bending under the oscillation of the actuator in the axial direction.