Patent ID: 6840501

Claim:
A needleless valve for interconnecting with a blunt fluid supply nozzle, the needleless valve comprising: a housing having a fluid inlet end and a fluid outlet end; and a hollow flexible plug located within the housing, the hollow flexible plug having a distal end with an opening, the hollow flexible plug having a deactivated configuration in which the distal end is located in the fluid inlet end of the housing at which location the opening is closed, the distal end being movable away from the fluid inlet end of the housing in response to insertion of the blunt fluid supply nozzle into the inlet end and having an activated configuration at which time the opening opens to permit the flow of fluid through the opening and through the hollow flexible plug to a proximal end of the hollow flexible plug which is located adjacent the fluid outlet end of the housing, the hollow flexible plug moveable toward the fluid inlet end of the housing in response to withdrawal of the fluid supply nozzle from the inlet end at which time the opening closes to block the flow of fluid through the hollow flexible plug and resumes the deactivated configuration; wherein the flexible plug includes an expanding portion located adjacent the fluid outlet end, the expanding portion having a first interior volume when the plug is in the deactivated configuration, the expanding portion expanding outwardly when the flexible plug is moved to the activated configuration wherein the expanding portion has a second interior volume, the second interior volume being equal to or greater than the first interior volume; whereby a variable volume fluid flow path between the inlet and outlet ends is established by the flexible plug and residual fluid located in the fluid flow path is expelled from the valve through the outlet end as the plug returns to the deactivated configuration.