Micropump check valve and method of manufacturing the same

• US 20050158188A1
• Filed: 01/13/2005
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsui, Masatomo, Sone, Koji
• Granted Patent: US 7,565,744 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 417/410.100
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 43/043 Micropumps
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 15/144 the closure elements being fixed along all or a part of their periphery
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/7838 Plural
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49425 including metallurgical bonding

Abstract

The invention provides a method capable of manufacturing a micropump check valve, inexpensively and without much trouble or time, which does not cause disadvantages even if a material that dissolves an adhesive is contained in the fluid, and which allows bonding with high accuracy. After a valve forming member and a valve receiving member are bonded, a valve receptor is projected towards a valve part and pretension is applied. Thus, the valve forming member and the valve receiving member can be satisfactorily bonded through a solid phase diffusion bonding method and the like using a relatively inexpensive material, such as stainless steel, without using an adhesive, and the pretension is not reduced when in the annealing state.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a micropump check valve arranged in a flow path for flowing a fluid by pressure change, the method comprising:

forming a valve part in a valve forming member;

forming a flow path hole for such fluid in a valve receiving member including a valve receptor for receiving the valve part;

bonding the valve forming member and the valve receiving member with the valve part of the valve forming member facing the valve receptor of the valve receiving member; and

pressurizing and projecting the valve receptor towards the valve part from the side away from the valve part after bonding, and contacting the valve part to the valve receptor while applying urging force.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the valve forming member and the valve receiving member comprise a same material.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the valve forming member and the valve receiving member are bonded by solid phase diffusion bonding.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pressurizing is performed by pressing process.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a depression is formed on at least one of a location facing a supporting part of the valve part and a part of the valve receptor in the valve receiving member, so that at least one of the valve part and the supporting part is spaced apart from the valve receiving member during the bonding.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein a spacer material is interposed between the valve forming member and the valve receiving member, so that at least one of a part of the valve part and the supporting part of the valve part is spaced apart from the valve receiving member during the bonding.