Patent ID: 8656955

Claim:
A rotary valve comprising a stator and a rotor mounted to said stator for rotation about an axis, said stator having (i) a plurality of pairs of component ports, each pair consisting of a first component port and a second component port opposing each other across said axis, said first component ports collectively arranged in an arc of a first circle centered on said axis and said second component ports collectively arranged in an arc of a second circle centered on said axis, and (ii) a valve inlet port and a valve outlet port opposing each other across said axis, said valve inlet and valve outlet ports both positioned inside said first and second circles; said rotor having first and second elongate recesses having no fluid communication with each other, said first recess comprising an arc of a third circle that is centered on said axis and is equidistant from said axis with said valve inlet port, said second recess comprising an arc of a fourth circle that is centered on said axis and is equidistant from said axis with said valve outlet port, each of said first and second recesses further comprising a first arm extending from said arc to a first terminus at said first circle of component ports in said stator and a second arm extending from said arc to a second terminus at said second circle of component ports in said stator, wherein said first termini are separated along said first circle of component ports by an angular spacing that is less than the angular spacing between adjacent first component ports of said stator, and said second termini are separated along said second circle of component ports by an angular spacing that is less than the angular spacing between adjacent second component ports of said stator.