Patent ID: 7311005

Claim:
A pressure regulator comprising a housing which includes an upper housing part and a lower housing part, said upper and lower housing parts defining an internal chamber therebetween, said lower housing part furthermore defining an inlet channel, an outlet channel and a valve channel therebetween, a flexible diaphragm mounted inside said housing for dividing said internal chamber into a variable volume upper chamber and a variable volume lower chamber, said flexible diaphragm biasing a movable valve element to open said valve channel when said flexible diaphragm moves downwardly to enlarge said upper chamber and shrink said lower chamber, and to close said valve channel when said flexible diaphragm moves upwardly to shrink said upper chamber and enlarge said lower chamber, first biasing means for biasing said valve element to close said valve channel when said flexible diaphragm moves upwardly and second biasing means for biasing said valve element to open said valve channel when said flexible diaphragm moves downwardly, and a bore in said lower housing part to connect said outlet channel with said lower chamber, such that a back flow of pressurized fluid medium into said outlet channel will flow through said bore into said lower chamber to move said flexible diaphragm upwardly to close said valve channel, said flexible diaphragm being upwardly flexible after the valve element closes the valve channel to provide a compensating volume for storage of back flowing pressurized fluid medium, and wherein said upper housing part defines an inlet bore for delivering compressed fluid medium into said variable volume upper chamber and an outlet bore for removing said fluid medium from said upper chamber.