VOLUMETRIC PUMP WITH FLOW PROMOTION

The present invention concerns a volumetric pump which may be used indifferent fields such as medical drug or fluid delivery (infusion Pump, IV pump, enteral pump, parenteral pump) or food, chemical or other industry, for example in conjunction with a compressor or an internal combustion engine.

Piston pumps with fluid module are already part of the prior art. US2004/101426 discloses a device comprising a cylindrical piston chamber whose upper and lower ends' profile have a specific gradient, said piston chamber containing a rotatable and axially movable pump piston. The profile of the upper and lower end surfaces of the piston has been determined to run concomitantly in contact with the respective two end surfaces of the chamber as the piston rotates. This rotation causes the piston to move alternatively upwards and downwards permitting one-way suction and one-way propulsion of a fluid respectively into and out the pump chambers. The rotational movement of the piston acts as a valve opening and closing alternatively the inlet and outlet ports. The drawback of such system results essentially from the difficulties encountered when assembling the piston with the cylindrical chamber.

GB 2060131, US 4,767,399 and US 4,850,980 disclose a pumping mechanism device whose suction and propulsion phases are achieved by means of a bidirectional linear movement of a piston inside a chamber. Unlike US 2004/101426, such pumping mechanism has a device acting as a valve on the inlet/outlet ports which is independent of the piston's movement. Accordingly, the movement of the valve as well as its synchronization with the piston's movement requires more parts thus increasing the cost of the pumping mechanism.

US 5,312,233 describes a rotary/reciprocating liquid dispensing pump mechanism for dispensing liquids in nanoliter range. This pumping mechanism has a device acting as a valve on the inlet/outlet ports which is dependent of the piston's movement. This pump is made up of numerous parts like the aforementioned pumps.

GB860616 describes a pump driven by means of the usual crankshaft and connecting rod. There are no other working parts. The piston works in a plain cylinder closed at one end with a cover and provided with two hollow bosses for the pipes at about the middle of its length at opposite sides. The use of valves is unnecessary by having ports on each side of the piston which alternately uncover inlet and outlet holes on the cylinder wall. To do this the piston has an alternating rotary movement of about 30°caused by an angular pin in the ball and socket connection between the connecting rod and the piston. The ports on the side of the piston are slots long enough to uncover the cylinder ports during the whole of the stroke except for the top and bottom dead centre.

Therefore, the aim of the present invention is to propose a low cost volumetric pump constituted of a reduced number of parts and having a trouble free assembly of the piston with the chamber.

This aim is achieved by a volumetric pump such as set out in claim 1. This volumetric pump comprises a piston in a cylindrical chamber having an open upper end, an inlet port and an outlet port, said piston being actuable by at least one rotor to cause said piston to slide back and forth inside the cylinder chamber while having a bidirectional angular movement. The combined movements provide an instroke of the piston for sucking a fluid from the inlet port through a first channel into the pump chamber, followed by an outstroke of said piston for propelling the fluid through a second channel to the outlet port. The inlet and outlet port are opened and closed alternately by the bidirectional angular movement of said piston which acts as a valve for said inlet and outlet ports. The volumetric pump further comprises a shaft that is mounted eccentrically on the rotor and is operatively connected either directly to the piston, said shaft comprising a spherical extremity clipable into a receptable adjacent to the top part of said piston, or indirectly through a piston head adaptable to an end part of the piston to cause said back and forth sliding of the piston.

Unlike US 2004/101426, the combined bi-directional linear and angular movement transmitted by the rotor has for consequence to deliver a steady fluid rate of flow from the volumetric pump. Furthermore, this volumetric pump is highly accurate as the amount of fluid delivered by said pump is closely related to the relative position between the piston and the hollow cylinder housing.

The invention will be better understood thanks to the following detailed description of several embodiments with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a volumetric pump with a piston located in a hollow cylinder according to a first embodiment of the invention, with the rotor removed.
• Figure 2 is a perspective view of a rotor comprising an eccentric shaft of the first embodiment.
• Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the engagement of this eccentric shaft in a receptacte adjacent the top of the piston.
• Figure 3a shows a detail of Figure 3.
• Figure 4 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the volumetric pump at the beginning of a revolution cycle of the rotor.
• Figure 4a is an axially sectioned rear view of Figure 4 and Figure 4b is a cross-sectional view taken on the line A-A in Figure 4a.
• Figure 5 is a perspective view of the volumetric pump after a 90° rotation of the rotor.
• Figure 5a is an axially sectioned rear view of Figure 5 and Figure 5b is a cross-sectional view taken on the line A-A in Figure 5a.
• Figure 6 is a perspective view of the volumetric pump after a 180° rotation of the rotor.
• Figure 6a is an axially sectioned rear view of Figure 6 and Figure 6b is a cross-sectional view taken on the line A-A in Figure 6a.
• Figure 7 is a perspective view of the volumetric pump after a 270° rotation of the rotor.
• Figure 7a is an axially sectioned rear view of Figure 7 and Figure 7b is a cross-sectional view taken on the line A-A in Figure 7a.
• Figure 8 is a perspective view of the volumetric pump according to a second embodiment of the invention comprising a piston head.
• Figure 8a is a perspective view of said piston head connected to the shaft of the rotor.
• Figure 8b is a perspective view of the piston of the second embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 9 is a perspective view of the volumetric pump according to a third embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 9a is an axially sectioned view of Figure 9 taken along an axe connected to at least one rotor.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 shows the volumetric pump (1) comprising a cylindrical piston (2) and a hollow cylinder (3) mounted on a support (4). This cylinder (3) has an upper opened end wherein the piston (2) slidably fits. Piston (2) is actuated by a rotor (5) bearing an eccentric shaft (6) that is mounted on a spring (7).

As shown by the Figure 3 and Figure 3a, the shaft (6) ends with a spherical extremity (8) which is clipped into a piston receptacte (9) in order to transform the angular motion of the rotor (5) into a bi-directional linear and angular movement of the piston (2). This piston (2) slides to and fro inside the cylinder (3) while having a bi-directional angular movement.

Shaft (6) transmits the movement of the piston (2) inside cylinder (3) as described below, while the spring (7) insures a smooth articulation of the extremity (8) inside the receptacle (9). Spring (7) is compressed when the piston (2) reaches the ends of the suction and propulsion strokes (Figure 4 and Figure 6).

When the piston (2) is in the suction or propulsion cycle (Figure 5 and Figure 7) spring (7) is relaxed.

The bidirectional angular movement of the piston (2) acts as a valve for inlet and outlet ports (10, 11) that are located on opposite slides of the hollow cylinder (3). Piston (2) contains two channels (12,13), which cause the inlet port (10) and the outlet port (11) to open and close alternately while the piston (2) moves angularly. At first, the instroke (or upstroke) of the piston (2) opens the inlet port (10) and closes the outlet port (11), sucking a fluid (15) from the inlet port (10) through the first channel (12) into the lower part of the hollow cylinder (3) (Figure 5a and Figure 5b). Then, the outstroke (or down stroke) of the piston (2) closes the inlet port (10) and opens the outlet port (11), propelling the fluid (15) from said lower part of the pump chamber (3) through the second channel (13) to the outlet port (11) (Figure 7a and Figure 7b).

Said channels (12, 13) have been curve-shaped according to both bidirectional angular and linear movement of the piston (2) in order to ensure a constant opening of the inlet (10) and the outlet (11) during respectively the instroke phase and the outstroke phase of piston (2). This ensures a constant flow of liquid (15) from the inlet port (10) through the piston (2) to the lower part of the cylindrical chamber (3') during the instroke of said piston (2) and a constant flow of the liquid (15) from the lower part of the pump chamber (3') to the outlet during the outstroke of the piston (2).

Several specifically shaped gaskets or standard O-rings (14) are positioned around the inlet port (10) and the outlet port (11) in order to seal off the existing play between the external diameter of the piston (2) and the internal diameter of the cylindrical chamber (3'). Said gaskets, which comprise specific sealing rib design, are part of the piston (2) or cylinder (3).

The present invention may be adapted for medical use as a parenteral system. The piston (2) and the cylindrical chamber (3') can be used as a disposable. Unlike existing pumps with disposables composed by soft parts such as a flexible membrane or tube as the peristaltic pump, the disposable piston (2) and cylindrical chamber (3') can be produced by injection molding methods as hard plastic parts and is therefore not influenced by the pressure and temperature. As a result, such system allows an accurate release of a specific amount of a drug by a preset angular shift of the rotor (5). A single dose is produced by a 360° rotation of said rotor (5). Several doses can be released with such system at fixed intervals of time by simply actuating the rotor.

In the second. embodiment of the present invention (Figure 8, 8a), the upper-end of the piston (2) comprises a ball-and-socket joint (16) which is firmly connected to a piston head (17) through two lugs (18). The rotor (5) bearing the eccentric shaft (6) transmits through piston head (17) a combined bidirectional angular and linear movement to the piston (2), the piston head (17) having a hole into which a shaft (19) is driven in for guidance. Such embodiment avoids abutment which may occur in the first embodiment of the present invention between the spherical extremity (8) of the shaft (6) and the piston receptacle (9) when the piston (2) is in the suction or propulsion cycle as shown by Figure 5 and Figure 7.

In a third embodiment of the invention, the combined bidirectional linear and angular movement of the piston (2) is imparted by mean of an axle (28) which passes through an upper part (29) rigidly connected with the piston head (17) as shown by Figure 9 and 9a. Said axle (28) can be actuated by at least one rotor (5). The movement of the axle (28) transmits to the piston (2) a movement such as described in the second embodiment of the invention.

In a further embodiment of the present invention (not shown in the drawings), the pump (1) is actuated by two rotors (5, 5') operatively connected to the upper and lower parts of said piston (2) as described in the first embodiment. The first rotor (5) transmits to the piston (2) the movement required by the suction phase while the second rotor (5') transmits to said piston (2) the movement required by the propulsion phase.

All embodiments of the present invention can be adapted so as to dissociate the relative linear movement of the piston with its angular movement. The linear movement can be transmitted by a first rotor and the angular movement can be transmitted by a second rotor. The movement of the piston can be converted from a linear movement to an angular movement at any time of its stroke.

In another variant of the present invention, the pump (1) can be used as a compressor. A sealed tight tank can be fitted on the outlet port, sucking the air through the inlet (10) into the chamber and propelling the air into the tank by the same mechanism described in the first embodiment.

The mechanism of this volumetric pump (1) can also be adapted for an internal combustion engine. Thus, another aspect of the invention is an internal combustion engine comprising a volumetric pump according to the invention, as described therein.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various other fields of application to the invention can be contemplated without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.