Double-membrane pump and method for operation of such a double-membrane pump

Abstract

A double-membrane pump has a pump housing and at least a first electromagnet associated with the pump housing. Magnet action elements that are ferromagnetic or permanent-magnetic elements or at least a second electromagnet associated with first and second membranes are alternately attracted or repelled by the first electromagnet, in contact-free manner. The ferromagnetic or permanent-magnetic elements may be metal bodies connected with the membranes or flexible metal layers associated with the membranes. The first-electromagnet may have first and second magnetic coils that can be operated independently of one another and that can influence the first and second membranes independently of one another.

Claims

1. A double-membrane pump comprising: (a) a pump housing having first and second parallel line sections and a magnet chamber, wherein the first parallel line section has a first membrane chamber enclosed between first and second ball valves that close in a first flow direction and divided into a first air chamber by a first membrane in liquid-tight manner and the second parallel line section has a second membrane chamber enclosed between third and fourth ball valves that close in a second flow direction and divided into a second air chamber by a second membrane in liquid-tight manner, and wherein the magnet chamber is disposed between the first and second air chambers; (b) at least a first electromagnet associated with the pump housing in the magnet chamber having a region of action; and (c) magnet action elements connected with the first and second membranes and disposed so as to move between respective first and second movement end points; wherein the magnet action elements are ferromagnetic elements, permanent-magnetic elements, or at least a second electromagnet separate from the first electromagnet and associated with the first and second membranes, wherein the magnet action elements are alternately attracted or repelled by the first electromagnet in contact-free manner, and wherein the first electromagnet comprises first and second magnetic coils operable independently of one another and configured to influence the first and second membranes independently of one another.

2. The double-membrane pump according to claim 1, wherein the first and second air chambers have first and second non-magnetic walls, respectively, at least on one side of each of the first and second air chambers that faces the magnet chamber.

3. The double-membrane pump according to claim 1, wherein the first and second parallel line sections are connected with different inflow lines.

4. A method for operation of a double-membrane pump, the method comprising providing a double-membrane pump comprising: (a) a pump housing having first and second parallel line sections and a magnet chamber, wherein the first parallel line section has a first membrane chamber enclosed between first and second ball valves that close in a first flow direction and divided into a first air chamber by a first membrane in liquid-tight manner and the second parallel line section has a second membrane chamber enclosed between third and fourth ball valves that close in a second flow direction and divided into a second air chamber by a second membrane in liquid-tight manner, and wherein the magnet chamber is disposed between the first and second air chambers; (b) at least a first electromagnet associated with the pump housing in the magnet chamber having a region of action; and (c) magnet action elements connected with the first and second membranes and disposed so as to move between respective first and second movement end points; wherein the magnet action elements are ferromagnetic elements, permanent-magnetic elements, or at least a second electromagnet separate from the first electromagnet and associated with the first and second membranes, wherein the magnet action elements are alternately attracted or repelled by the first electromagnet in contact-free manner, and wherein the ferromagnetic elements, the permanent-magnetic elements, or the second electromagnet comprise metal bodies connected with the first and second membranes or flexible metal layers associated with the first and second membranes; and moving the magnet action elements connected with the first and second membranes asynchronously by the first electromagnet.

5. The method for operation according to claim 4, wherein the magnet action elements connected with the first and second membranes are moved with different stroke frequencies.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

(2) In the drawings,

(3) FIG. 1 shows a double-membrane pump having a connection shaft that passes through it, and membranes mechanically coupled by way of this shaft, in a frontal, cross-sectional representation,

(4) FIG. 2 shows a variant of the double-membrane pump according to FIG. 1, with multiple magnetic coils, in a frontal, cross-sectional representation,

(5) FIG. 3 shows a double-membrane pump having multiple separate connection shafts and membranes that can be individually influenced, in a frontal, cross-sectional representation,

(6) FIG. 4 shows a double-membrane pump having metal bodies, which are directly associated with the membranes and are controlled by way of a common magnetic coil, in a frontal, cross-sectional representation, and

(7) FIG. 5 shows a variant of FIG. 4, with two magnetic coils that can be controlled separately, in a frontal, cross-sectional representation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(8) FIG. 1 shows a double-membrane pump having a pump housing 10, which is essentially composed of a first line section 1 on the left side and a second line section 2 on the right side. The two line sections 1 and 2 each form a membrane chamber, the first membrane chamber 11 and the second membrane chamber 21. These membrane chambers 11 and 21 are delimited by ball valves 5 and 6, of which the ball valves indicated with 5 are open, and the ball valves indicated with 6 are closed. The membrane chambers 11 and 21 are divided by means of a membrane 12 and 22, in each instance, into a liquid chamber 13 or 23, respectively, and an air chamber 14 or 24, respectively. In the position shown, the first membrane chamber 11 is filled with the conveyed medium, and therefore the first liquid chamber 13 is expanded and large, while the first air chamber 14 is compressed by the first membrane 12 and is small. The opposite is true for the second membrane chamber 21, in which the second air chamber 24 is large and the second liquid chamber 23 is compressed and small.

(9) This basic position will be described only once at this point, but it holds true for all five figures. The medium is also conveyed from an inflow 3 to an outflow 4 in all the figures, with the exception of FIG. 5, where two inflow lines are present.

(10) The embodiment according to FIG. 1 possesses a continuous connection shaft 18, which mechanically connects the first membrane 12 with the second membrane 22. The connection shaft 18 has two magnetic sections 8 associated with it. These magnetic sections 8 can be attracted or repelled by the magnetic coil 9 that surrounds the connection shaft 18. A controller 20 applies a voltage progression to the magnetic coil 9 and thereby influences the magnetic field of the coil that is generated.

(11) If a magnetic field is now generated in the magnetic coil 9, the coil will attract or repel the magnetic sections 8, depending on their poling. In the present case, the two magnetic sections have opposite poles, but lie on the two sides of the magnetic coil, so that a magnetic section 8 that faces the first membrane 12 is attracted toward the coil, while at the same time, a magnetic section 8 that faces the second membrane 22 is pressed away from the coil. As a result, the continuous connection shaft 18 is pressed to the right in the figure, in other words toward the second membrane 22, which presses the second fluid chamber so that it empties. At the outermost deflection point, the controller 20 changes the magnetic poling of the magnetic coil 9, so that the continuous connection shaft 18 is driven in the other direction, and generates a pressure effect in the first liquid chamber 13 and a suction effect in the second liquid chamber 23. This process means a synchronous push-pull effect for the membranes 12 and 22, corresponding to the sequences in the case of the double-membrane pumps known from the state of the art.

(12) FIG. 2 shows a different embodiment, deviating from the above, having two magnetic coils 9, which push a magnetic section 8 of the continuous connection shaft 18 back and forth between them. For the remainder, the function of the arrangement is identical with what was said above, and here, too, the membranes 12 and 22 are driven in synchronous push-pull operation.

(13) FIG. 3 shows another alternative of the double-membrane pump, in which a first connection shaft 15 is connected with the first membrane 12, and a second connection shaft 25 is connected with the second membrane 22. The two connection shafts 15 and 25 are shown with a height offset here, but this height offset is only for reasons of the illustration.

(14) Fundamentally, each of the connection shafts 15 and 25 functions like the continuous connection shaft 18 in FIGS. 1 and 2, but now, because of the arrangement, asynchronous control of the connection shafts 15 and 25 by means of the controllers 20 can also take place. As a result, it is possible, for one thing, to prevent turbulent flows in the outflow 4; on the other hand, it is also possible, as will still be shown in FIG. 5, to mix different inflows together into the outflow, and, when doing so, to meter them differently.

(15) FIG. 4 shows a further alternative of the present invention, which makes do without connection shafts. In this case, a first metal body 16 and a second metal body 26, respectively, are assigned to the membranes 12 and 22; here, in detail, they are screwed onto the membranes 12 and 22. A non-magnetic wall 19 is disposed between the first membrane chamber 11 and the magnet chamber 7, just like between the magnet chamber 7 and the second membrane chamber 21, through which wall a field generated by the controller 20 using the magnetic coil 9 and amplified by a magnetic core is generated. In the position shown, this magnetic field attracts the first metal body 16 toward the magnet chamber 7 and presses the second metal body 26 away from the magnet chamber 7. The membranes 12 and 22, which are connected with the metal bodies 16 and 26, move accordingly. Here, too, the direction of action is changed by means of a change in the magnetic poling of the magnetic coil 9, and the first membrane chamber 11 is emptied of conveyed medium, while the second membrane chamber 21 is filled with conveyed medium.

(16) FIG. 5 shows yet another variant of the solution just shown, in which a controller 20 in the magnet chamber 7 controls two independent magnetic coils 9 which move the metal bodies 16 and 26 back and forth asynchronously, and, as needed, at different frequencies. The solution shown here furthermore implements a first inflow line 17 and a second inflow line 27, which can now be charged with different media. By means of a higher pump frequency, the conveyed medium fed in through the first inflow line 17, for example, is conveyed to the outflow 4 in a greater amount than could be the case for the conveyed medium in the second inflow line 27, which is conveyed at a lower pump frequency. In this manner, such a double-membrane pump can be used simultaneously for mixing different media in accordance with a predetermined ratio.

(17) What has been described above is therefore a double-membrane pump that allows electromagnetic control of the membranes, if necessary also independent of one another, as well as an asynchronous operating method for such a double-membrane pump.

(18) Although only a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.