Compact Vacuum Pump Using Flexible Bladders for Wearable Applications
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vacuum pumps are often bulky and unsuitable for wearable applications, such as breast pumps, which require both functionality and user comfort, as they lack compactness and efficiency in achieving high vacuum levels with minimal displacement.
Innovation Solution
A compact vacuum pump design featuring a hollow container with internal chamber walls, flexible bladders, and a plunger that moves between a home and upstroke position to compress and deflate the bladders, creating a vacuum, with a bias member to return the plunger and inflate the bladders, achieving a high vacuum-to-stroke length ratio of at least 20 Torr/mm.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional vacuum pump designs are used, then vacuum pumping function is achieved, but the device becomes bulky and unsuitable for wearable applications
Solution Approach 1:
The pump chamber is divided into multiple chambers, each containing a flexible bladder. The plunger has multiple arms that respectively extend into these chambers. This segmentation allows the pump to achieve vacuum functionality through distributed compression of multiple bladders, reducing the overall volume required while maintaining pumping effectiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible bladders are nested within the pump chambers, with each bladder situated between a plunger arm and the chamber wall. The bladders can be connected as a single monolithic piece or as multiple separate bladders. This nesting arrangement allows the pumping mechanism to be compactly integrated within the hollow container, eliminating the need for traditional piston-cylinder configurations that occupy more space
2Productivity
If conventional vacuum pump designs are used, then vacuum pumping function is achieved, but the device lacks compactness for minimal displacement applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses flexible bladders instead of rigid chambers for the pumping action. These bladders can be compressed by the plunger arms and then expand back to their original shape, creating vacuum cycles. The flexibility of these thin-walled structures allows for compact stroke lengths while maintaining effective volume displacement, achieving a high vacuum-to-stroke-length ratio of at least 20 Torr/mm
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic elements including the movable plunger with arms, flexible bladders that expand and contract, and bias members that automatically return the plunger to its starting position. This dynamic design enables repeated vacuum cycles with minimal displacement, improving productivity without requiring long stroke lengths
3Volume of moving object
If a compact pump design is implemented, then wearable applicability is improved, but the mechanism complexity increases with multiple chambers and bladders
Solution Approach 1:
The multiple chambers and bladders serve universal functions within the compact design. Each chamber-bladder-arm assembly functions as an independent pumping unit, but they can be configured to work together synergistically. The bias members universally provide the return force for all plunger arms. This multi-functionality allows the complex multi-chamber design to achieve compact dimensions while maintaining manageable complexity through functional equivalence across components
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design allows for a relatively high vacuum to be achieved with minimal plunger displacement, making it suitable for wearable applications and other end uses by ensuring both compactness and effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
The plunger is moveable between a home position and an upstroke position to compress and deflate the flexible bladders via the vents and thereby change the volume of the flexible bladders. The change in the volume draws a vacuum through the vacuum port.
Implementation Method 2
a bias member operable to bias the plunger toward the home position and inflate the flexible bladders through the vents
Data Source
AI summary
A vacuum pump includes a hollow container that has a vacuum port and internal chamber walls. The vacuum port opens to an exterior of the container and the chamber walls define chambers that are in fluid communication with the vacuum port. There are flexible bladders disposed in the chambers. The flexible bladders include vents that open through the container to the exterior. A plunger in the container includes arms that extend into the chambers such that each of the flexible bladders is situated between one of the arms and one of the chamber walls. The plunger is moveable between a home position and an upstroke position to compress and deflate the flexible bladders via the vents and thereby change the volume of the flexible bladders. The change in the volume draws a vacuum through the vacuum port.