Abstract:
A piston valve for improving the output efficiency of a diaphragm pump includes a central discharge base and a plurality of water inlet ports, wherein each of the discharge base and water inlet ports is provided with a top concave surface, and a plastic gasket is engaged with the concave surface of the water discharge base and a piston slice is engaged with the concave surface of each water inlet port so that a gap is defined between the gasket and its concave surface and a gap is also defined between each piston slice and its corresponding concave surface.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 61/129,973, field Aug. 4, 2008. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an improved piston valve for improving the compressing output efficiency in the diaphragm pump, which is exclusively used in the reverse osmosis purification, particularly for one that prevent the abnormal pressure and decreasing compressing efficiency. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     As shown in the  FIGS. 1  though  6 , which are the various views pertaining to a diaphragm pump  1  of the prior art for the conventional water filter of Reverse-Osmosis (RO) type. The diaphragm pump  1  comprises a motor  10 , an upper hood chassis  11 , plural wobble wheels  13 , a diaphragm  20 , a piston valve  30 , a hemisphere-shaped bowl anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  and an upper hood  50 , wherein said hood chassis  11 , which is disposed on the output shaft of the motor  10  (not shown in the figures), has plural screw bores  12  evenly disposed around the peripheral thereof, said wobble wheels  13 , which are disposed on the top surface of the upper hood chassis  11 , are driven by the output shaft of the motor  10  in rotatable manner to be converted into axial reciprocal movement, said diaphragm  20 , which is disposed over the upper hood chassis  11 , has the piston valve  30  inset thereon, said anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  is closely attached on the piston valve  30  centrally, and said upper hood  50  has plural perforated bores  51  evenly disposed around the peripheral thereof in corresponding with the screw bores  12  on the upper hood chassis  11  such that the upper hood chassis  11  and upper hood  50  can be compactly docked each other with foregoing diaphragm  20 , piston valve  30  and anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  being orderly interposed therebetween by running bolts  2  through aligned screw bores  12  and corresponding perforated bores  51  preset respectively (as shown in the  FIG. 6 ); 
     Furthermore, wherein: Said diaphragm  20  has a gasket groove  21  configured on the peripheral edge, plural convex humps  22 , each of which is stacked with an associating eccentric piston pushers  23  disposed thereon, such that each of convex humps  22  and associating piston pusher  23  has a central coaxial perforated bore  221 ,  231  created therein for being run through by a screw  24  to screw the diaphragm  20  and each corresponding piston pusher  23  on each corresponding wobble wheel  13  (as shown in the  FIG. 6 ); thereby, the diaphragm  20  and the piston pushers  23  can be simultaneously driven by the wobble wheels  13  to axially move in reciprocal displacement (as shown by the hypothetical dash line in the  FIG. 6 ); 
     As shown in the  FIGS. 2 and 4  though  6 , said piston valve  30  has a hemisphere-shaped bowl water discharge base  31  with an orientating hole  32  centrally concaved therein, three separating grooves  33  are evenly created on top surface thereof in radial way to form three equivalent sector areas between adjacent separating grooves  33  in each included angle of almost 120° with the orientating hole  32  as center such that plural water discharge spouts  34  are configured in each sector area, and three inversed flare piston slices  36  are evenly disposed at suitable positions outside of the peripheral of the central water discharge base  31  near each corresponding sector area respectively for blocking associated plural water inlet slots  35 , which are created therein; Said bowl anti-backflow plastic gasket  40 , which is unitarily one-piece molded hollow hemisphere made of soft flexible material and being closely attached on the piston valve  30  centrally, has an orientating stem  41  protruded beneath the bottom side thereof and three separating rib panels  42  with each extending projecting panel  43  are evenly disposed on top surface thereof in radial way to form a hollow hemisphere-shaped bowl with three equivalent inner sector cambers between adjacent separating rib panels  42  in each included angle of almost 120° with the orientating stem  41  as center such that each projecting panel  43  is protruded outside of the hollow hemisphere-shaped bowl as extender of each corresponding separating rib panels  42 ; By alignment of each projecting panel  43  of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  with corresponding each separating grooves  33  of the water discharge base  31 , inserting the orientating stem  41  into the corresponding orientating hole  32 , the anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  and water discharge base  31  can be properly docked each other so that the outer hemisphere of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  can closely attach over the top surface of the water discharge base  31  and each of three equivalent inner sector cambers thereof will totally block all the corresponding water discharge spouts  34  on the water discharge base  31  during rest mode of the compressing diaphragm pump (as shown in the  FIG. 4 ); Thereby, a preliminary low-pressured chamber  3  is created between each piston pusher  23  of the diaphragm  20  and the water discharge spouts  34  of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  40 , which is closely attached by the piston valve  30  after docking such that one end thereof is connected with the water inlet slots  35  of the piston valve  30  (as shown in the  FIG. 6 ); and Said upper hood  50  has a water inlet orifice  52  and a water outlet orifice  53  configured on the outer surface thereof as well as plural perforated bores  51  disposed over the outer rim thereof (as shown in the  FIGS. 1 and 6 ), a ramp groove  54  disposed beneath at the inner bottom rim so that the outer rim on the integral stacked unit of the piston valve  30  and diaphragm  20  can hermetically engage with the ramp groove  54  in compatible manner; Besides, an annular groove  55  is centrally disposed at the top inner wall of said upper hood  50  such that the bottom rim thereof hermetically attach the outer rim of the water discharge base  31  on the piston valve  30 , thereby an intensive high-pressured chamber  4  is formed among the annular groove  55  and water discharge base  31  (as shown in the  FIG. 6 ). 
     For functional operation, please refer to the  FIG. 7 . Firstly, as the diaphragm  20  is axially pushed by the reciprocal movement of the wobble wheels  13  alternately during operation mode of the diaphragm pump  1 , the tap water W, which flows into the upper hood  50  from the water inlet orifice  52 , is run into the preliminary low-pressured chamber  3  via the water inlet slots  35  of the piston valve  30  (as shown by the arrowhead in the  FIG. 7 ), where the pressure of the tap water W is pumped up to range of 80 psi˜100 psi by the repeated compression of the piston pusher  23 , which is acted by the axial reciprocal movement of the wobble wheels  13 ; Secondly, the tap water W in the low-pressured chamber  3  is pumped to the intensive high-pressured chamber  4  via the water discharge spouts  34  of the water discharge base  31 , where the pressure of the tap water W is pumped up to desired range preset; and Finally, the tap water W in the high-pressured chamber  4  is pumped out of the diaphragm pump  1  via the water outlet orifice  53  of the water upper hood  50  to flow into a filter cartridge for the conventional water filter of Reverse-Osmosis (RO) type (which is not shown in the figures). As described above, during rest mode of the diaphragm pump  1 , the hemisphere-shaped bowl anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  closely attaches over the top surface of the water discharge base  31  of the piston valve  30  and each of three equivalent inner sector cambers thereof will totally block all the corresponding water discharge spouts  34  on the water discharge base  31 ; Whereas, during operation mode of the diaphragm pump  1 , each of the three equivalent inner sector cambers of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  is activated by the water discharge spouts  34  covered thereof to repeat a kind of pump reaction in open-and-close manner by orderly turns. Because the anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  is unitarily one-piece molded from soft flexible material, each rest inner sector camber is easily susceptible to the interlinking action by the adjacent acting inner sector camber into ajar status so that the corresponding water discharge spouts  34  covered by the rest inner sector camber become ajar instead of completely being blocked, which is ideal open-and-close effect expected originally. Especially, the deformation δ of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  will get worse (as shown in the  FIG. 3 ) after service for a period of time due to aging effect of the material. Thereby, the overall effect in the discharging quantity and pressure of the output pressured water will be decreased in consequence of losing completely blocking function for the water discharge spouts  34 . That is the primary cause that the phenomena of the “abnormal pressure” and “decrease in the output quantity of the pressured water” will happen if the diaphragm pump  1  of prior art in the conventional water filter of Reverse-Osmosis (RO) type has been used for about 3 to 6 months. 
     For the purpose of improving the foregoing drawbacks, the inventor of the present invention via research worked out a concrete solving scheme by contriving an improved compressing diaphragm pump, which was submitted to the USA at Oct. 24 and 26 in 2006 for patent application with Filing Ser. No. 11/258,027, and to Korea for patent application with Filing Number 10-2006-0103513. The structure of the improved diaphragm pump is as shown in the  FIGS. 8  though  12  with component revision primarily for the water discharge base  61  that from the previous hemisphere-shaped bowl water discharge base  31  is revised into following planar water discharge base  61 , which is centrally located in the piston valve  60  of the diaphragm pump  1  in facing upwards to the upper hood  50 . Accordingly, all the associated components of the revised water discharge base  61  are somewhat modified as below. Where in the water discharge base  61 , an orientating lump  62  with a central orientating hole  63  is centrally concaved in the top surface thereof, three equivalent sector areas are evenly formed on top surface thereof in radial way in each included angle of almost 120° with the orientating hole  63  as center such that plural water discharge spouts  64  are configured in each sector area, and three inversed flare piston slices  36  are evenly disposed at suitable positions outside of the peripheral of the central water discharge base  61  near each corresponding sector area respectively for blocking associated plural water inlet slots  65 , which are created therein; Moreover, component revision for the anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  is that from the previous hemisphere-shaped bowl anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  is revised into following planar multi-blade disk-shaped anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  with three separating rifts  71  are evenly disposed thereat in radial way to form three equivalent inner sector blades between adjacent separating rifts  71  in each included angle of almost 120° with an orientating aperture  72 , which is punched through in the center thereof with an orientating rim  73  protruded beneath, as center such that each of three equivalent inner sector blades thereof will totally block all the corresponding water discharge spouts  64  on the water discharge base  61  during rest mode of the diaphragm pump; For assembly, please refer to the  FIGS. 9 and 10 . Firstly, sleeve the orientating aperture  72  of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  onto the central orientating lump  62  of the water discharge base  61  by facing the orientating rim  73  towards the water discharge base  61 ; and Secondly, insert a T-shaped orientating stem  80  into the orientating hole  63  in the orientating lump  62  via the orientating aperture  72  in the anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  so that the anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  is securely anchored in the water discharge base  61 . 
     For functional operation, please refer to the  FIGS. 11 and 12 . Firstly, as the diaphragm  20  is axially pushed by the reciprocal movement of the wobble wheels  13  alternately during operation mode of the compressing diaphragm pump  1 , the tap water W, which flows into the upper hood  50  from the water inlet orifice  52 , is run into the preliminary low-pressured chamber  3  via the water inlet slots  65  of the piston valve  60  (as shown by the arrowhead in the  FIG. 11 ), where the pressure of the tap water W is pumped up to range of 80 psi˜100 psi by the repeated compression of the piston pusher  23 , which is acted by the axial reciprocal movement of the wobble wheels  13 ; Secondly, the tap water W in the low-pressured chamber  3  is pumped by pushing up each sector blade of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  alternately to the intensive high-pressured chamber  4  via the water discharge spouts  64  of the water discharge base  61  (as shown by the arrowhead in the  FIG. 12 ), where the pressure of the tap water W is pumped up to desired range preset; and Finally, the tap water W in the high-pressured chamber  4  is pumped out of the compressing diaphragm pump  1  via the water outlet orifice  53  of the water upper hood  50  (as shown in the  FIG. 12 ). Thus, all the tap water W coming from all the water inlet slots  65  will constantly flow through the water discharge spouts  64  in the water discharge base  61  alternately to activate each sector blade of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  in alternate “up-open and down-close” manner so that the effect in completely open-and-close water discharge spouts  64  in all sector areas is truly achieved. Therefore, not only the drawbacks in the “abnormal pressure” and “decrease in the output quantity of the pressured water” can be solved, but also the serving life span of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  can be increased. 
     Although the improving revision for the structure of the piston valve  60  and anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  can really achieve the effect sin “reducing the abnormal pressure” and “increasing the output quantity of the pressured water” after practical molding and testing to certain degree, the inventor of the present invention does not satisfy with the fruitful result. The inventor of the present invention believes that there must be certain feasible scheme to improve the overall compressing effect in better way for the diaphragm pump  1 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary object of the present invention is to provide an “improved piston valve for diaphragm pump” comprises a water discharge base, which is centrally disposed in the piston valve, and a anti-backflow plastic gasket, which is centrally inserted in the water discharge base, as well as plural water inlet port, which are respectively disposed at a suitable position outside of the piston valve, and plural piston slice, which are respectively disposed beneath each corresponding water inlet port, wherein the features are that the top surface of said water discharge base is contrived into a camber concave with the center of the orientating hole as lowest point, and the top surface of each said water inlet port, where each said water inlet port contacts with each corresponding piston slice, is also contrived into a camber concave with the center of the orientating hole as lowest point; Said anti-backflow plastic gasket with an associated orientating stem is made of soft elastic material by unitarily one-piece molding into an integral single unit such that the bottom surface thereof becomes a planar surface, and each said piston slice with an associated orientating stem is also made by unitarily one-piece molding into an integral single unit such that the bottom surface thereof becomes a planar surface; Thereby, after anchoring the anti-backflow plastic gasket into the water discharge base properly, a gap is formed between the bottom surface of the anti-backflow plastic gasket and the top camber concave surface of the water discharge base; Likewise, after anchoring each piston slice into each corresponding water inlet port properly, a gap is formed between the bottom surface of the piston slice and the top camber concave surface of the water inlet port. By means of the functions of foregoing gaps, the overall compressing efficiency is substantially enhanced because both the sucking forces of the anti-backflow plastic gasket and piston slice are further increased by the reciprocal actions of the piston pusher. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide an “improved piston valve for diaphragm pump” wherein both of said anti-backflow plastic gasket and each said piston slice are contrived into a plano-convex shape so that not only the durability thereof can be improved but also the effects of hermetical attachment onto the corresponding water discharge holes and water inlet holes can be achieved; Thus, the “abnormal pressure” issue in the piston valve of the conventional diaphragm pump is completely solved by the present invention. 
     The other object of the present invention is to provide an “improved piston valve for diaphragm pump” wherein said anti-backflow plastic gasket in the piston valve is made by unitarily one-piece molding into an integral single unit, the assembly procedure for the present invention is much quicker and much more time-saving than that of the conventional diaphragm pump so that the labor cost in the fabrication can be significantly reduced; Thus, for mass production of the diaphragm pump, the present invention offers better competitiveness in the economic effect of the mass production. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a exploded perspective view showing the conventional diaphragm pump of the prior art. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective schematic view showing the conventional piston valve and anti-backflow plastic gasket of the prior art. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective schematic view showing the deformation of the anti-backflow plastic gasket in the prior art. 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view showing the disassembly of the conventional piston valve and anti-backflow plastic gasket for the prior art. 
         FIG. 5  is a sectional view showing the assembly of the conventional piston valve and anti-backflow plastic gasket for the prior art. 
         FIG. 6  is a partial sectional view showing the assembly of the conventional piston valve and upper hood for the prior art. 
         FIG. 7  is an operational view of the  FIG. 6 . 
         FIG. 8  is an exploded perspective view showing the conventional piston valve and anti-backflow plastic gasket of another prior art. 
         FIG. 9  is a sectional view showing the disassembly of the conventional piston valve and anti-backflow plastic gasket for another prior art. 
         FIG. 10  is a sectional view showing the assembly of the conventional piston valve and anti-backflow plastic gasket for another prior art. 
         FIG. 11  is a partial sectional view showing the assembly of the conventional piston valve, anti-backflow plastic gasket and upper hood for another prior art. 
         FIG. 12  is an operational view of the  FIG. 11 . 
         FIG. 13  is an exploded perspective schematic view showing the improved piston valve of the present invention and conventional diaphragm pump of the prior art. 
         FIG. 14  is an exploded perspective view of the present invention. 
         FIG. 14   a  is a sectional view taken along the line  14   a - 14   a  of the  FIG. 14 . 
         FIG. 14   b  is a sectional view taken along the line  14   b - 14   b  of the  FIG. 14 . 
         FIG. 15  is an exploded sectional view of the present invention. 
         FIG. 16  is an assembly sectional view of the present invention. 
         FIG. 17  is a partial sectional view showing the assembly of the present invention and conventional upper hood of the prior art. 
         FIG. 18  is an operational view of the  FIG. 17 . 
         FIG. 19  is an exploded sectional view for another embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 20  is an assembly sectional view for another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to the  FIGS. 13  though  16 , which are the various views about the “improved piston valve for diaphragm pump” of the present invention. As the improved piston valve  100  is revised from the conventional piston valve  30 , so all the associated components of the improved piston valve  100  are somewhat modified as below: a water discharge base  101  is revised from the corresponding conventional water discharge base  31 , an orientating hole  102  is revised from the corresponding conventional orientating hole  32 , a water discharge holes  103  is revised from the corresponding conventional water discharge spouts  34 , a water inlet port  104  is revised from an integral holding unit for all conventional water discharge spouts  34 , a orientating hole  105  is revised from a holding hole for the conventional flare piston slice  36 , a water inlet holes  106  is revised from the conventional water inlet slots  35 ; Wherein said water discharge base  101  has a camber concave  107  of outer top surface with the center of the orientating hole  102  as lowest point disposed thereon (as shown in the  FIGS. 14 and 15 ), and each said water inlet port  104  has a camber concave  108  of outer top surface with the center of the orientating hole  105  as lowest point disposed, where each said water inlet port  104  contacts with each corresponding piston slice  300  (as shown in the  FIG. 15 ); Besides, a plano-convex shaped anti-backflow plastic gasket  200 , which is revised from the corresponding conventional hemisphere-shaped bowl anti-backflow plastic gasket  40 , and an associated orientating stem  201  are made of soft elastic material by unitarily one-piece molding into an integral single unit, and centrally disposed in the water discharge base  101  of the piston valve  100  (as shown in the  FIG. 14   a ) such that the top surface  202  of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  becomes a camber convex and the bottom surface  203  of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  becomes a planar surface and results in thickness t 1  is larger than thickness t 2 , where the t 1  denotes the thickness measured from the central top point of the top surface  202  to the bottom surface  203  and t 2  denotes the thickness measured from the top edge of the top surface  202  to the bottom surface  203  (as shown in the  FIG. 15 ); and A plano-convex shaped piston slice  300 , which is revised from the conventional flare piston slice  36 , and an associated orientating stem  301  are made by unitarily one-piece molding as an integral unit, and centrally disposed in each water inlet port  104  of the piston valve  100 (as shown in the  FIG. 14   b ) such that the top surface  302  of the piston slice  300  becomes an camber convex and the bottom surface  303  of the piston slice  300  becomes a planar surface and results in thickness t 3  is larger than thickness t 4 , where the t 3  denotes the thickness measured from the central top point of the top surface  302  to the bottom surface  303  and t 4  denotes the thickness measured from the top edge of the top surface  302  to the bottom surface  303  (as shown in the  FIG. 15 ). 
     For assembly and functional operation, please refer to the  FIGS. 16  though  18 . After properly anchoring the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  into the water discharge base  101  via inserting the orientating stem  201  into the orientating hole  102 , a gap G 1  is formed between the bottom surface  203  of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  and the camber concave  107  of the water discharge base  101  (as shown in the  FIG. 16 ); Likewise, after properly anchoring each piston slice  300  into each corresponding water inlet port  104  via inserting each orientating stem  301  into each corresponding orientating hole  105 , a gap G 2  is formed between the bottom surface  303  of the piston slice  300  and the camber concave  108  of the water inlet port  104  (as shown in the  FIG. 16 ). By means of the functions of the gap G 1  and gap G 2 , the overall efficiency of the compressing effect from the preliminary low-pressured chamber  3  and intensive high-pressured chamber  4  can be substantially enhanced because both sucking forces of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  and piston slice  300  are increased by the reciprocal actions of the piston pusher  23 ; Thus, the object of the “improving compressing efficiency” can be easily achieved; Meanwhile, comparing to the hemisphere-shaped bowl of the corresponding conventional anti-backflow plastic gasket  40  and the multi-blade disk-shape of the corresponding conventional anti-backflow plastic gasket  70  as well as flare shape of the corresponding conventional flare piston slice  36 , both of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  and piston slice  300  are made in plano-convex shape so that not only the durability thereof can be improved but also the effects of hermetical attachment onto the corresponding water discharge holes  103  and water inlet holes  106  can be achieved (as shown in the  FIGS. 17 and 18 ); Thus, the “abnormal pressure” issue in the piston valve  30  of the conventional diaphragm pump  1  is completely solved by the present invention. Moreover, because the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  of the present is made by unitarily one-piece molding into an integral single unit, the assembly procedure for the present invention is much quicker and much more time-saving than that of the conventional diaphragm pump  1  so that the labor cost in the fabrication can be significantly reduced; Thus, for mass production of the diaphragm pump  1 , the present invention offers better competitiveness in the economic effect of the mass production. 
     Furthermore, as shown in the  FIGS. 19 and 20 , which shows the other exemplary embodiment of the present invention, wherein the bottom surface of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  is configured into a camber concave  204  and the bottom surface of the piston slice  300  is also configured into a camber concave  304  (as shown in the  FIG. 19 ) so that the gap G 3  between the camber concave  204  of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  and the camber concave  107  of the water discharge base  101  becomes bigger than the gap G 1  and the gap G 4  between the camber concave  304  of the piston slice  300  and the camber concave  108  of the water inlet holes  106  becomes bigger than the gap G 2  (as shown in the  FIG. 20 ); Thus, the overall efficiency of the compressing effect can be more substantially enhanced because both sucking forces of the anti-backflow plastic gasket  200  and piston slice  300  are further increased by the reciprocal actions of the piston pusher  23 .