Patent ID: 7377291

Claim:
A rotary valve, comprising: a stator having plural fluid channels formed therethrough, each fluid channel defining an inlet at a first surface of the stator and an outlet at a second surface of said stator, and wherein the inlets at the first surface are arranged in a first orientation that is different from the orientation of the outlets at the second surface; a rotary disk having an upper surface with a plurality of flow channels arranged thereon, said upper surface of said disk fluidly sealed against said second surface of said stator, said rotary disk having an effective peripheral edge portion having plural slots therethrough; a motor for rotating said disk; a controller programmed to detect the rotational position of said disk relative to said stator and to control said motor to change the rotational position of the disk, said controller including an optical sensor capable of interacting with said slots for determining the position of the rotary disk relative to the stator.