Check valve, especially for the medical technique

• US 5,771,935 A
• Filed: 01/09/1997
• Issued: 06/30/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Original Assignee: Filtertek B.V. (Illinois Tool Works Inc.)
• Inventors: Myers, Jan Willem Marinus
• Primary Examiner(s): Ferensic, Denise L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Joanne Y.
• Application Number:
  US08/781,011
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: 137/859, 251/368, 251/61.1, 604/247, 604/249
• US Class Current: 137/859
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2039/242 designed to open when a predetermined pressure or flow rate has been reached, e.g. check valve actuated by fluid
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2039/2433 Valve comprising a resilient or deformable element, e.g. flap valve, deformable disc
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2039/246 being fixed along all or a part of its periphery
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 39/24 Check- or non-return valves
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 15/144 the closure elements being fixed along all or a part of their periphery

Abstract

A check valve, especially for the medical technique having a first hose connector housing (1) and a second hose connector housing (2) and further a flexible diaphragm disk (3) positioned between the two joined hose connector housings (1, 2). At an overpressure in an entry space (6) the diaphragm disk (3) can be lifted from a lip-shaped sealing ring (13), whereby a flow cross-sectional area is created, and wherein the diaphragm disk (3) at an overpressure in an exit space (7) safely and in minimal times can be pressed onto a sealing seat to close the valve. The circular diaphragm disk (3) is produced from liquid silicone, silicone rubber or natural rubber and the thickness (3c) of the diaphragm cross-section (3a) is uniform.

Claims

1. A check valve for the medical technique in a fluid pressure range from 0.1 to 0.02 bar comprising a first hose connector housing and a second hose connector housing, said first hose connector housing having a lip shaped sealing ring and a fluid entry space and said second hose connector housing having a compression ring (12) that defines a compression ring passage (16) and a fluid exit space, said first and second hose connectors joined together, and an imperforate diaphragm disk consisting of a flexible material positioned between the first and second hose connector housings, thereby forming a ring-shaped valve space (10) in the first hose connector housing and a generally annular bypass channel (18) around the circumference of said diaphragm disk (3), said diaphragm disk at an overpressure in the entry space is liftable from the lip-shaped sealing ring, whereby a flow cross-sectional area is created and said ring-shaped valve space (10) fluidly communicates with said compression ring passage (16) to permit fluid communication between said entry space and exit space of said first and second hose connector housings and which at an overpressure in the exit space said diaphragm disk is pressed onto the lip-shaped sealing ring to close the valve, wherein the circular diaphragm disk (3) is of a material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber or natural rubber and in that the thickness (3c) of the diaphragm cross-section (3a ) is generally uniform.

2. A check valve according to claim 1, wherein the circular diaphragm disk (3) has a diameter of about 10 mm and a thickness (3c) of about 0.2 to 0.5 mm.

3. A check valve according to any of the claims 1 or 2, wherein the first hose connector housing includes a ring-shaped seat (11), the diaphragm disk (3) has an annular margin (3b) sealingly clamped between the ring-shaped seat (11) of the first hose connector housing (1) and the compression ring (12) of the second hose connector housing (2), and the first and the second hose connector housings (1, 2) consist of plastic and are welded to each other.

4. A check valve according to claim 1, wherein said second connector housing defines a ring shaped valve space thereby providing on each side of the diaphragm disk (3) a ring-shaped valve space (10), said first connector housing includes a ring-shaped seat (11), and a valve space passage (15a) therein whereby each ring-shaped valve space (10) fluidly communicates with the valve space passage (15a) and the compression ring passage (16) by the generally annular bypass channel (18) distributed around the circumference of the diaphragm disk (3).

5. A check valve according to claim 2, wherein said second connector housing defines a ring shaped valve space thereby providing on each side of the diaphragm disk (3) a ring-shaped valve space (10), said first connector housing includes a ring-shaped seat (11), and a valve space passage (15a) therein whereby each ring-shaped valve space (10) fluidly communicates with the valve space passage (15a) and the compression ring passage (16) by the generally annular bypass channel (18) distributed around the circumference of the diaphragm disk (3).

6. A check valve according to claim 1, wherein the first hose connector housing includes a ring-shaped seat (11) and valve space passage (15a) provided therein, said second hose connector housing defines a ring shaped valve space thereby providing on each side of the diaphragm disk (3) a ring-shaped valve space (10), whereby each ring-shaped valve space (10) fluidly communicates with the valve space passage (15a) and the compression ring passage (16) by the generally annular bypass channel (18) distributed around the circumference of the diaphragm disk (3), and the diaphragm disk (3) has an annular margin (3b) sealingly clamped between the ring-shaped seat (11) and the compression ring (12), with the first and second hose connector housings (1, 2) welded to each other.

7. A check valve according to claim 1, wherein diaphragm disk (3) is die cut from a sheet or mat of material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.

8. A check valve according to claim 2, wherein the diaphragm disk (3) is die cut from a sheet or mat of material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.

9. A check valve according to claim 3, wherein the diaphragm disk (3) is die cut from a sheet or mat of material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.

10. A check valve according to claim 4, wherein the diaphragm disk (3) is die cut from a sheet or mat of material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.

11. A check valve according to claim 5, wherein the diaphragm disk (3) is die cut from a sheet or mat of material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.

12. A check valve according to claim 6, wherein the diaphragm disk (3) is die cut from a sheet or mat of material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.

13. A check valve for use in medical techniques comprising:

a first hose connector housing (1) having a longitudinal axis and inlet passage for fluid flow (6), said first housing provided at an outboard end thereof with a first outer ring projection (5), a discontinuous ring-shaped seat (11) of lesser radius than said first outer ring projection (5), and a lip shaped sealing ring (13) of lesser radius than said ring-shaped seat (11), said lip shaped sealing ring (13) axially extending from said first connector housing (1) a greater distance than said ring-shaped seat (11);

a second hose connector housing (2) having a longitudinal axis and exit passage for fluid flow (7), said second housing provided at an outboard end thereof with a second outer ring projection (4), and a discontinuous compression ring (12) of lesser radius than said second outer ring projection (4) and axially extending from said second connector housing (2), and adapted to overly said ring-shaped seat (11);

an imperforate flexible diaphragm (3) overlying said lip shaped sealing ring (13) and disposed between said discontinuous ring-shaped seat (11) and said discontinuous compression ring (12);

means for sealing said first outer ring projection (5) with said second outer ring projection (4);

means for clamping said diaphragm (3) between said discontinuous ring-shaped seat (11) and said discontinuous compression ring (12) to provide in combination with said imperforate flexible diaphragm (3) and said ring-shaped seat (11) a sealing relationship therebetween when the fluid pressure is about equivalent in said inlet passage (6) and exit passage (7); and

bypass channel means for fluid communication between said inlet passage (6) and outlet passage (7) when the fluid pressure in said inlet passage (6) is greater than the fluid pressure in said exit passage (7).

14. The check valve of claim 13, wherein said diaphragm is a disk of generally uniform thickness selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.

15. The check valve of claim 13, wherein said disk is generally circular and a thickness of about 0.2 to 0.5 mm.

16. The check valve of claim 13, wherein said diaphragm is a generally circular body of uniform thickness die-cut from a sheet of material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.

17. The check valve of claim 13, wherein said diaphragm is a generally circular body of uniform thickness stamped from a flat mat of material selected from the group consisting of liquid silicone, silicone rubber, or natural rubber.