Patent ID: 8845305
Filing Date: 2014-09-30
Classification: F04B,F16K,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A pump comprising: a pump body providing a pump chamber, an inlet valve seat and an outlet valve seat providing for flow of a pumped liquid in and out of the chamber; a piston movably mounted in the pump body for reciprocation relative to the pump body; a diaphragm sealingly connecting the piston to the pump body so as to divide said chamber into a first sub-chamber and a second sub-chamber; an inlet manifold providing first ducting, said first ducting being in communication with said first sub-chamber to provide for the flow of the pumped liquid to and from said first sub-chamber from said inlet valve seat; an outlet manifold providing second ducting, the second ducting providing for flow of the pumped liquid from the first sub-chamber via the outlet valve seat; third ducting, said third ducting being in communication with said second sub-chamber to provide for the flow of a working fluid to and from said second sub-chamber to cause the reciprocation of said piston; a first valve associated with said first ducting and upstream of said first sub-chamber so as to be located between the inlet valve seat and first sub-chamber, and a second valve associated with said second ducting so as to be located downstream of said first sub-chamber, the first and second valves governing the flow of the pumped liquid to and from said first sub-chamber to cause the pumped liquid to move in a pumped direction; and wherein each valve is integrally formed of plastics material and includes: an elongated base sealingly connecting, and coupled between, the pump body and a respective manifold, the base being of a looped configuration and comprising an elongated aperture so as to have a pair of transversely spaced elongated longitudinal side portions joined by longitudinally spaced transverse end portions; a movable valve member located adjacent one of said end portions and configured to sealingly cooperate with a respective valve seat of the pump body to close a valve opening provided by the respective seat; a flexible bridge coupling the movable valve member with said one end portion providing, for movement of the valve member by resilient deformation of the bridge; and with said first ducting extending from the inlet valve seat to the first sub-chamber so that the valve associated with the inlet valve seat is located between the inlet valve seat and the first sub-chamber.