Peristaltic pump
First Claim
1. A peristaltic pump comprising a plurality of elongated tube rollers equally spaced and circumferentially disposed around and in surface contact with a central support roller, said support roller being rotatable about a central axis;
- first and second tube roller supports rotatable about said central axis and having a plurality of bearing means for rotatably receiving each end of said elongated tube rollers;
drive means for rotating said first and second roller supports about said central axis whereby said tube rollers are caused to orbit said central support roller;
an arcuate backing plate spaced from said tube rollers a predetermined distance in order to close a compressible fluid delivery tube disposed between said tube rollers and said backing plate;
drive means for rotating each elongated tube roller about its own axis as said roller supports are rotated about the central axis whereby said tube rollers are caused to roll along said compressible fluid delivery tube disposed between said tube roller and said backing plate, andstationary end plates supporting a central drive shaft rotatable about said central axis.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A peristaltic pump for precision metering of small quantities of fluid through a plurality of flow lines has a plurality of flexible liquid transfer tubes disposed between a set of tube rollers and an arcuate backing plate. The tube rollers are mounted on a roller support which is rotated about a central axis and causes the tube rollers to roll successively along the tubes, compressing the tubes against the arcuate surface of the backing plate and causing the fluid contained within the tubes to flow progressively in the direction of roller movement. The tube rollers are individually gear driven and turn at a rate which provides a roller surface speed equal to the rate of movement along the tubes, thereby eliminating any frictional drag along the tubes. The flexible tubes are mounted on the pump housing under uniform controlled tension to assure that each tube dispenses fluid at an equal rate. The tube rollers orbit about and are in positive contact with a inner support roller which provides lateral support to the tube rollers and prevents any radial deflection of the tube rollers under the compressive forces exerted against the flexible tubes.
64 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A peristaltic pump comprising a plurality of elongated tube rollers equally spaced and circumferentially disposed around and in surface contact with a central support roller, said support roller being rotatable about a central axis;
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first and second tube roller supports rotatable about said central axis and having a plurality of bearing means for rotatably receiving each end of said elongated tube rollers; drive means for rotating said first and second roller supports about said central axis whereby said tube rollers are caused to orbit said central support roller; an arcuate backing plate spaced from said tube rollers a predetermined distance in order to close a compressible fluid delivery tube disposed between said tube rollers and said backing plate; drive means for rotating each elongated tube roller about its own axis as said roller supports are rotated about the central axis whereby said tube rollers are caused to roll along said compressible fluid delivery tube disposed between said tube roller and said backing plate, and stationary end plates supporting a central drive shaft rotatable about said central axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of simultaneously pumping fluids through a plurality of compressible fluid delivery tubes comprising the steps of:
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mounting a plurality of fluid delivery tubes between an arcuate backing plate and a plurality of elongated tube rollers spaced from said backing plate a distance sufficient to close the lumen of each of said fluid delivery tubes in the area of contact with a respective one of said tube rollers, wherein the tube rollers are circumferentially disposed about a central axis and rotatable about said central axis, wherein each tube roller has at least one end with gear teeth circumferentially disposed therearound that matingly engage gear teeth of a stationary ring gear; rotating said plurality of tube rollers in one direction about the central axis and along the length of said fluid delivery tubes adjacent said arcuate backing plate such that said stationary ring gear provides each tube roller with positive rotational drive that causes each individual tube roller to rotate in the opposite direction to said direction of rotation, whereby said tube rollers roll along the length of the fluid delivery tube independent of any frictional contact therewith; and providing a central support roller in contact with the longitudinal surface of each tube roller to prevent radial deflection of said tube rollers under the compressive forces of said fluid delivery tubes.
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Specification