Patent ID: 7918657

Claim:
A head for a peristaltic pump comprising: a housing being adapted to receive a flexible tube having a curved wall; said housing being adapted to secure said flexible tube within said housing; a roller assembly being rotatable within said housing about an axis through said housing; said axis being coaxial to said curved wall; said roller assembly comprising: at least two compression rollers being peripherally spaced where each of said compression rollers coming successively into contact with said flexible tube during rotation of said roller assembly with successive compression rollers being operative to compress two portions of said flexible tube against said curved wall to confine a finite volume of fluid in said flexible tube; at least one guide roller being peripherally spaced between said compression rollers where each of said guide rollers coming into contact with said flexible tube during rotation of said roller assembly with said guide rollers being operative to guide said flexible tube to stay centered with said compression rollers and being operative to initiate decompression of said flexible tube to return to a partial compression dimension; said guide rollers having a channel with a width and a depth; said width being centered on said guide rollers guiding said flexible tube to stay centered with said compression rollers on a horizontal plane; and said depth guiding said flexible tube to stay centered with said compression rollers on a circular path; said width being the width of said flexible tube at said partial compression dimension initiating decompression of said flexible tube to return to said partial compression dimension and said depth being the height of said flexible tube at said partial compression dimension allowing said flexible tube to return to said partial compression dimension; a wall of said channel including an anti-friction wall, said anti-friction wall aiding said guide rollers to move over said flexible tube; said anti-friction wall being a row of bearings peripherally spaced on the wall of said channel; whereby fluid may be moved through said flexible tube by rotation of said roller assembly.