Micropump Dead-Zone Seal Section for Gas Bubble Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing micropumps face accuracy and reliability issues due to the presence of gas bubbles within the pump chamber, which affect the volume of liquid being pumped, especially under varying conditions of temperature, pressure, and flow rate, and can lead to undesirable gas expulsion during medical applications.
Innovation Solution
A micropump design featuring a dead-zone seal section that surrounds a significant portion of the dead-zone volume between the rotor and stator, forming a closed sealing circuit to capture and isolate gas bubbles, thereby preventing them from influencing the liquid expulsion phase and improving accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the pump chamber is designed to deliver small quantities of liquid with high precision, then manufacturing precision and measurement precision are improved, but gas bubbles may be trapped in dead-zone portions affecting accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The pump chamber is segmented into an active pumping zone and a dead-zone portion. The dead-zone seal section creates a separate sealed region that isolates gas bubbles from the liquid delivery path, allowing the pump to maintain high precision while accommodating trapped gas without affecting measurement accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The dead-zone seal section extracts and isolates the harmful gas bubbles by creating a separate sealed dead-zone volume. This removes the gas bubbles from the active liquid delivery path, preventing them from affecting the accuracy of small quantity liquid delivery while maintaining the overall pump function
2Manufacturing precision
If the rotor axial extensions have different diameters to control pumped volume, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional sealing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The dead-zone seal section is merged with the existing pump chamber seal structure. The axially extending portions connect to the pump chamber seal, creating an integrated sealing system that adds the dead-zone isolation function without requiring completely separate sealing components, thus managing device complexity while achieving volume control precision
Solution Approach 2:
The pump chamber seal serves multiple functions: it seals the pump chamber from the external environment and simultaneously creates the dead-zone seal section that isolates gas bubbles. This multi-functional design achieves precise pumped volume control through the different diameter axial extensions while avoiding additional sealing complexity through functional integration
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3D
AI summary
A pump includes: a stator (4); a rotor (6) slidably and rotatably mounted at least partially in the stator, the rotor comprising a first axial extension (24) having a first diameter (Dl) and a second axial extension (26) having a second diameter (D2) greater than the first diameter; a first valve (VI) formed by a first valve seal (18) mounted on the stator around the first axial extension, in conjunction with a first channel (42) in the rotor that is configured to allow liquid communication across the first valve seal when the first valve is in an open position; a second valve (V2) formed by a second valve seal (20) mounted on the stator around the second axial extension, in conjunction with a second channel (44) in the rotor that is configured to allow liquid communication across the second valve seal when the second valve is in an open position; a pump chamber (8) formed between the rotor (6) and the stator (4) and between the first valve seal (18) and second valve seal (20); and a pump chamber seal (22) circumscribing the rotor second axial extension and separating the pump chamber (8) from an external environment. The stator (4) further comprises a dead-zone seal section (40) surrounding a dead- zone volume (39) formed between the rotor second axial extension (26) and the stator (4), wherein the dead-zone seal section (40) comprises axially extending portions (58) connected to upper and lower radial portions (60,60') to form a closed sealing circuit.