Patent ID: 6923055

Claim:
A flow meter adapted to measure the amount of a fluid passing therethrough, the flow meter comprising: a housing comprising an inner surface and an inlet port and an exit port; an inner component have an outer surface that defines at least part of a sphere; a first rotor mounted for rotation in the housing about a first axis and having a forward region and a rearward region and a first outer surface defining at least part of a sphere and adapted to intimately engages the inner surface of the housing; a second rotor having a forward portion and a rearward portion, mounted for rotation in the housing about a second axis offset from being collinear with the first axis by an angle α and intersecting at the common centers of the rotors, the second rotor including a second inner surface defining at least part of a sphere having a common center with the center of the first rotor and is adapted to engage the said inner component, a second outer surface defining at least part of a sphere and having a common center with the second inner surface and adapted to engage the inner surface of the housing; the said first rotor further having a first contour surface that is defined by a locus formed by points on the second rotor as the second rotor rotates about the second axis, and the first rotor further has a first engagement tip which is positioned in the forward region of the first rotor; the second rotor further having a second engagement surface that is defined by a locus formed by points on the first rotor as the first rotor rotates about the first axis, the second engagement surface having a base region; the points of each rotor that define the locus lie along an outer edge of a central axis is essentially a radius extending outward from the common centers of the rotor at an angle α/2 from a normal to the axis of the other rotor; a counter engaged to at least one of the said rotors where the counter is adapted to count the number of rotations of the rotors; whereas the contour surfaces of the first and second rotors define operating chambers that change in volume with respects to rotation of the first and second rotors where a certain amount of fluid passes from the inlet port to the outlet port per revolution of the first and second rotors and the counter indicates the number of rotations to calculate the amount of fluid passing through the flow meter.