Patent ID: 8215336

Claim:
A pressure regulating valve comprising: (a) a body including: (i) a wall with a first side which defines a process surface, at least one process void disposed in the process surface and adapted to be disposed in fluid communication with a fluid at a process pressure, and at least two vent voids disposed in the wall separate from the at least one process void; (ii) an inlet port disposed in fluid communication with the at least one process void; and (iii) an outlet port disposed in fluid communication with the at least one vent void, (b) a reference housing adapted to be disposed in fluid communication with a fluid at a predetermined reference pressure; and (c) a membrane having opposed reference and process sides, the membrane constrained between the body and the reference housing such that the process side is substantially coplanar with the process surface, and arranged such that, when the reference pressure is higher than the process pressure the membrane is engaged with the vent voids, and when the process pressure is higher than the reference pressure, the membrane is not engaged with at least one of the vent voids; (d) wherein the process surface incorporates at least one groove therein which defines a flow path between the near vicinity of the at least one process void and the near vicinity of the vent voids, wherein a significant portion of the open area of the process void lies within the at least one groove.