Pump arrangements for pumping fluid

Abstract

A pump comprising a housing and a rotor rotatably accommodated in the housing and having an axis of rotation. The housing comprises a resilient seal member, an inlet and an outlet for fluid. The rotor comprises first and second surface areas, and the rotor and housing are cooperatively configured such that the second surface area is radially recessed from the first surface area, forming a chamber with an interior surface of the housing, and the first surface area seals against the interior surface. The seal member is located azimuthally between the outlet and the inlet. The seal member will engage the first and second surface areas, operative to prevent the passage of fluid from the outlet to the inlet as the rotor rotates. An edge of the seal member is coterminous with an aperture through which the fluid can flow.

Claims

1. A pump comprising: a housing and a rotor rotatably accommodated in the housing and having a longitudinal axis of rotation; the housing comprising: a resilient seal member, an inlet and an outlet for fluid; the rotor comprising first and second surface areas; the rotor and housing cooperatively configured such that the second surface area is radially recessed from the first surface area, a second surface and an interior surface of the housing defining a chamber, the first surface area having a sealing engagement against the interior surface to contain the fluid within the chamber; the seal member is located azimuthally between the outlet and the inlet; the seal member sized and shaped to engage the first and second surface areas as the rotor rotates about the longitudinal axis of rotation to prevent the passage of fluid from the outlet to the inlet; wherein an unattached edge of the seal member defines an aperture with the housing.

2. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal member comprises a diaphragm having a rotor-facing surface, and an under-surface opposite the rotor-facing surface; the unattached edge connecting the rotor-facing surface and the under-surface.

3. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aperture is substantially circular or square, or shaped as a substantially rectangular slot.

4. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unattached edge connects opposite ends of the seal member.

5. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aperture extends azimuthally over an aperture width, and the seal member extends azimuthally over a seal width, wherein the aperture width is less than the seal width.

6. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal member is configured such that at least a section of the unattached edge can travel through a greater radial distance than any other part of the seal member in response to the seal member being flexed as the rotor rotates through a full revolution.

7. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least a section of the unattached edge travels the radial distance from the outermost radius of the first surface area to the innermost radius of the second surface area of the rotor as the rotor rotates.

8. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing is configured such that the fluid is expelled from the chamber through the aperture to the outlet.

9. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal member is formed in one piece with the housing, the seal member and the housing comprising the same material.

10. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the entire aperture is defined by the edge of the seal member.

11. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal member comprises elastomer material.

12. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal member has a mean radial thickness of from 0.1 to 3.0 mm.

13. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal member comprises an under-surface opposite a surface of the seal member contacted by the rotor, and the housing and pump are configured such that a second fluid contacts the under-surface to urge the seal member against the rotor.

14. The pump as claimed in claim 1, comprising a resilient biasing member configured to urge the seal member against the rotor, wherein the resilient biasing member comprises a fluid-tight bulkhead to prevent the outlet from being in fluid communication with the under-surface of the seal member, and is configured to force fluid in the outlet towards the inlet between the seal member and the rotor if the pressure of the fluid in the outlet exceeds a contact pressure maintained by the resilient biasing member.

15. The pump as claimed in claim 1, comprising a resilient biasing member configured to urge the seal member against the rotor; wherein the resilient biasing member and the seal member are configured such that the resilient biasing member variably flexes the seal member in response to the rotation of the rotor, and at least a section of the unattached edge remains adjacent the surface of the rotor as it rotates through a full revolution.

16. The pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal member comprises: a diaphragm having a rotor-facing surface configured to engage; and an under-surface opposite the rotor-facing surface; wherein the unattached edge places the rotor-facing surface and the under-surface in fluid flow communication.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Example pump arrangements will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which

(2) FIG. 1A shows a schematic side cross-section view through an example pump arrangement, the view being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of rotation of the rotor in use, and FIG. 1B shows a schematic plan cross-section view through an example pump arrangement, the view being parallel to the longitudinal axis A;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic side cross-section view through an example pump arrangement, the view being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of rotation of the rotor in use;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a schematic side cross-section view through an example housing, the view being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of rotation of the rotor in use (the rotor is not shown in this drawing);

(5) FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show schematic perspective views of example rotors.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) With reference to FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B and FIG. 2, example pump arrangements comprise a housing 10, a rotor 15 rotatably accommodated in the housing 10 and having a longitudinal axis A of rotation in use. The housing 10 comprises an inlet 11 and an outlet 12 for fluid, and a seal member 114. The seal member 114 may comprise a flexible diaphragm (such a seam member may simply be referred to as a diaphragm) comprising or consisting of resilient material, and may be formed as an integral portion of the housing 10, comprising or consisting of the same material as the rest of the housing 10, in some examples. The rotor 15 may comprise a first surface area 17 and a pair of mutually opposite, convex second surface areas 16 a, 16 b that are radially recessed from the first surface. The rotor 15 may be elongate, extending along its longitudinal axis of rotation A in use, comprising opposite ends connected by a side surface, which may comprise or consist of the first and second surface areas 17, 16 a, 16 b. Each of the second surface areas 16 a, 16 b will remain radially spaced apart from the interior surface 13 of the housing 10, each forming corresponding chambers 18 a, 18 b between itself 16 a, 16 b and the interior surface 13. In the field of medicine, in which example pumps may be used to supply medication intravenously to a patient, each of the chambers 18 a, 18 b may be referred to as a bolus. The rotor 15, housing 10 and seal member 114 are cooperatively configured such that the first surface area 17 seals against an interior surface 13 of the housing 10 as the rotor 15 rotates in use. In example arrangements, the first surface area 17 may completely surround each of the second surface areas 16 a, 16 b. In other words, second surfaces may not be present adjacent the opposite ends of the rotor 15, where the first surface area 17 may extend azimuthally all the way around the side of rotor 15, sealing against the interior surface 13 of the housing 10 to prevent fluid from flowing between the chambers 18 a, 18 b at the ends of the rotor 15. In the examples illustrated in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B and FIG. 2, the housing 10 and rotor 15 are configured such that the chambers 18 a, 18 b will never be in simultaneous fluid communication with each other nor with both the inlet 11 and the outlet 12 in use. The seal member 114 is located between the outlet 12 and the inlet 11 and will engage the first surface area 17 continuously and each of the second surface areas 16 a, 16 b periodically and sequentially in use (adjacent the opposite ends of the rotor 15, the seal member 114 may continuously engage the first surface 17 as the rotor 15 rotates in use). The passage of fluid from the outlet 12 to the inlet 11 will thus be prevented as the rotor 15 rotates in use.

(7) In the particular example arrangements shown in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B and FIG. 2, an edge 114a of the seal member 114 forms an aperture 115 through which the fluid will flow from each of the chambers 18a, 18b into a cavity 147a, 147b, the latter volume of the cavity being coterminous with an under-surface 113 of the seal member 114. The edge 114a of the seal member 114 may be thicker than the rest of the seal member 114 in order to provide the edge with sufficient strength not to tear or propagate a tear in use. The cavity 147a, 147b may be partly formed by a turret portion 145 of the housing 10 and a fluid-tight turret cap 146.

(8) A resilient displacer pad 141, which may be provided by a longitudinally elongate elastomeric displacement pad, in contact with or attached to the turret cap 146 may engage at least part of the seal member 114 and resiliently urge the seal member 114 against the surface areas 17, 16 a, 16 b of the rotor 15 in use, deforming by radial compression and extension as the seal member 114 engages the first 17 and second surfaces 16 a, 16 b, to prevent fluid from flowing from the outlet 12 to the inlet 11 in use. In the example illustrated, the resilient displacer pad 141 will bear against the under-surface of the seal member 114 to urge the seal member 114 against the surface of the turret cap 146 in use. Opposite ends 141 a, 141 b of the resilient displacer pad 141 may be sufficiently spaced apart from the housing 10 such that the volumes 147 a, 147 b of the cavity are in fluid communication with each other. The fluid contacting the under-surface 113 may urge the seal member 114 against the surface of the rotor 15 in use if the pressure of the fluid in the outlet 12 (and chamber 18 a) is greater than that in the inlet 11, or may counter-balance the force on the seal member 114 applied by the fluid in the inlet (and chamber 18 b).

(9) Example pumps comprising a resilient displacer pad 141 as described above may have the aspect of allowing the pump to be used at higher pressures, since additional pressure from the resilient displacer pad 141 will tend to resist the forced passage of fluid between the rotor 15 and the seal member 114. The force applied by the resilient displacer pad 141 may be chosen to allow the pump to operate at a lower end of a range of operating pressures for which the pump is designed, for example up to 0.5 bar where the inlet and outlet pressures are at or close to ambient pressure. The force applied by the seal member 114 to the rotor 15 will be the sum of the force applied by the resilient displacer pad 141 and the force applied by the fluid. The applied force may depend to some extent on the outlet pressure, an increase in outlet pressure resulting in a corresponding increase in the force applied to the seal member 114, thus reducing the risk of leakage between the seal member 114 and the rotor 15 as a result of the increased pressure.

(10) When the rotor 15 is oriented within the housing 10 such that a chamber 18a, 18b is in fluid communication with the inlet 11, fluid will be received into the chamber 18a, 18b, and subsequently conveyed about the interior of the housing 10 as the rotor 15 and consequently the chamber 18a, 18b rotates in use, until the chamber 18a, 18b is in fluid communication with the outlet 12 and it is no longer in fluid communication with the inlet 11, owing to the sealing effect of the engagement of the first surface area 17 of the rotor 15 and the interior surface 13 of the housing 10, which prevents the chambers 18a, 18b from being in fluid communication with each other, in the particular examples illustrated. As the chambers 18a and 18b sequentially come into fluid communication with the inlet, a volume of relatively low pressure will arise within the chamber, into which the fluid will be forced to flow. In some examples, a pressure drop of up to about 0.75 bar may readily be achieved. This transient low pressure volume will also have the effect of sucking the seal member 114 onto the rotor 15, thus further increasing the effective contact pressure. As the rotor 15 rotates further in use, fluid is expelled from the chamber 18a, 18b into the outlet 12. In the particular examples illustrated in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B and FIG. 2, the chambers 18a, 18b are opposite each other and so when one of the chambers 18a is in fluid communication with the inlet 11, the other 18b will be in fluid communication with the outlet 12.

(11) With reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the resilient displacer pad 141 may provide a fluid-tight bulkhead between the volumes 147 a, 147 b of the cavity such that the outlet pressure is regulated by the force applied to the seal member 114; then, if the pressure of the fluid in the outlet is higher than a desired value, the fluid will lift the seal member 114 off the rotor 15 against the force of the resilient displacer pad 141, the sealing pressure of which has been calibrated for sustaining an upper limit of outlet fluid pressure.

(12) With particular reference to FIG. 2, the outlet 12 may be located downstream from the aperture 115 and the cavity 147 a, so that the fluid will flow from the chamber 18 a, through the aperture 115, through the cavity 147 a, past the resilient displacer pad 141 and then through the outlet 12. The pump may be configured such that fluid will be expelled through the outlet 12 substantially perpendicularly to the direction in which the fluid flows through the inlet 11.

(13) With reference to FIG. 3, an example housing for an example pump arrangement may comprise a seal member 114, which may be a resilient seal member, formed as part of the housing, and includes an aperture 115 provided through the seal member 114, which may be a diaphragm, such the aperture is defined entirely by an continuous edge on the seal member 114 or internal edge 114 a, 114 b of the seal member 114.

(14) With reference to FIG. 4, an example rotor may comprise a radially outer-most first surface area 17 completely surrounding a plurality of second surface areas 16 a, 16 b, 16 c (the second surfaces visible in FIG. 4), each of which may be described as a smooth recessed area of the rotor surface, extending azimuthally about, and axially along the longitudinal axis A of the rotor. A portion of the first surface area 17 adjacent an end 15 a of the rotor may extend azimuthally all the way around the rotor surface so that fluid will be prevented from flowing past the end 15 a of the rotor in use. The first surface 17 is continuous and surrounds each of the second surfaces so that fluid is prevented from flowing from one bolus to the next either axially or radially. Certain of the second surface areas 16 b, 16 c may be longitudinally separated from each other by a portion of the first surface area 17.

(15) With reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, example rotors 15 may comprise a radially outer-most first surface area 17 completely surrounding each of a plurality of second surface areas 16 a, 16 b (the second surfaces visible in FIG. 5), each of which may be described as a smooth, concave recessed area of the rotor surface, extending azimuthally about the longitudinal axis A of the rotor as well as longitudinally along the axis A, but not connecting the ends 15 a, 15 b of the rotor 15. A portion of the first surface area 17 adjacent each end 15 a, 15 b of the rotor 15 may extend azimuthally all the way around the surface of the rotor 15 so that fluid will be prevented from flowing past the ends 15 a, 15 b in use.

(16) In some examples, the seal member and the rest of the housing may be formed from an elastomeric, such as a thermoplastic material by a process including a single shot injection moulding process. The seal member may be a diaphragm that extends circumferentially from the inlet to the outlet (apart from the aperture formed at least partly by an edge of the diaphragm). For example, the thickness of the diaphragm may be about 0.15 mm. The material comprised in the housing and the thickness of the seal member diaphragm will be chosen such that the diaphragm can distort sufficiently when contacted by the first and second surface areas of the rotor to remain in constant contact with these surface areas, examples of potentially suitable materials being polyethylene or polypropylene. The diaphragm will be substantially thinner than the housing (or the rest of the housing), such that the housing will contact the rotor resiliently with sufficient contact pressure as well as to support a seal member diaphragm that is sufficiently flexible to distend fully into contact with second surfaces of the rotor chambers. A polypropylene housing may have a general housing thickness of 1.5 mm carrying a diaphragm 0.15 mm thick. A lower modulus material such as rubber may have a general wall thickness of 5 mm carrying a diaphragm 0.5 mm thick.

(17) In order for the seal member to be flexible enough to follow the contour of the surface areas of the rotor as it rotates, the seal member can be moulded with a very thin wall section. By careful processing using temperature and pressure feedback sensors and local venting to eliminate gassing it is possible to achieve seals with a wall thickness of about 0.1 to 0.3 mm. In an example process, a sliding portion of an injection moulding tool that will create the outer surface of the seal member may be controlled independently of the tool opening and closing. In some examples, molten plastic may be injected into the tool by an injection screw, the seal member wall thickness being approximately twice the desired thickness in order to allow for some of the molten material to flow across the seal member. In some examples, the sliding portion of the tool may be advanced at the desired time within the injection cycle to create the desired seal member wall thickness without knit lines and creating sufficient packing pressure at the same time. The use of a single shot moulding process may exhibit the aspects (separately or in combinations) of reducing the number of manufacturing processes, having a faster cycle time, requiring simpler mould tools and mould machinery and leading to higher manufacturing yield and lower production costs than a two-shot process. Pumps formed in a single-shot moulding process may have the aspect of having a longer operational life.

(18) In some examples, the use of a suitable flexible material for the seal member and the rest of the housing may require the incorporation of stiffening members such as flanges on the housing to provide it with sufficient rigidity particularly to maintain the desired interface pressure with the rotor.

(19) In example pumps, the interior of the housing and the exterior of the rotor may comprise complementary cylindrical surfaces. The operating torque and the maximum pumping pressure will likely be affected by the closeness of the fit between these parts and small manufacturing variations can have an adverse effect by increasing the required torque and by reducing the maximum pumping pressure through leakage.

(20) Certain terms and concepts used herein will be briefly explained below.

(21) In example arrangements in which a pump or part of a pump has a generally cylindrical (or conical) shape, thus having a degree of cylindrical symmetry, the use of terminology associated with a cylindrical coordinate system may be helpful for describing the spatial relationship between features. In particular, a cylindrical or longitudinal axis may be said to pass through the centres of each of a pair of opposite ends and the body or a part of it may have a degree of rotational symmetry about this axis. Planes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis may be referred to as lateral or radial planes and the distances of points on the lateral plane from the longitudinal axis may be referred to as radial distances, radial positions or the like. Directions towards or away from the longitudinal axis on a lateral plane may be referred to as radial directions. The term azimuthal will refer to directions or positions on a lateral plane, circumferentially about the longitudinal axis.