JP2008525709A - Reaction drive energy transmission device - Google Patents

Abstract

At least a portion of the chamber includes a portion that is movable relative to another portion of the chamber, and the movable portion is adapted to change the volume of the chamber from a first volume to a second volume by movement of the movable portion. A fluid energy transfer device comprising a chamber for receiving fluid. The apparatus further includes a bender actuator attached to the movable part, wherein the bender actuator is at least one of (i) directly connected to the movable part and (ii) linked to the movable part, Forming a bender / movable part assembly, where the bender is not effectively connected to and effectively linked to any other equipment parts other than the moving part; It is adapted to move only by swinging the bender at a certain drive frequency.

Description

1) Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to devices and methods for carrying energy into large volumes of fluid, and more specifically to the field of linear pumps, linear compressors and other fluidic devices.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 638,195, filed December 23, 2004, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

2) Description of the related art In order to deliver energy to the fluid in the defined enclosure, the prior art uses positive motion displacement, eg mechanical stirring or stirring by applying progressive or standing acoustic waves, applying centrifugal force And a number of approaches have been used, including the addition of thermal energy. The transfer of mechanical energy to fluids by these various methods is, for example, compression, pumping, mixing, nebulization, synthetic jets, fluid metering, sampling, biological weapon air testing, inkjet, filtration or chemistry, to name a few. It can be used in a variety of applications, including driving physical changes by reaction or other material changes in suspended particulate matter, such as milling or agglomeration or a combination of these processes.

  Diaphragms are widely used in the category of positive motion displacement machines. The absence of frictional energy loss makes the diaphragm particularly useful in miniaturizing reliably operating machines while trying to maintain high energy efficiency. Interest in MESO and MEMS scale devices has led to further reliance on diaphragm-type devices to carry hydraulic energy into the fluid in small pumps. As used herein, “pump” refers to a device designed to provide compression and / or flow to either a liquid or a gas. As used herein, “fluid” is understood to include both liquid and gaseous substances.

  Actuators used to drive larger diaphragm pumps have proven problematic for MESO or MEMS machines because it is difficult to maintain efficiency and low cost when reduced in size. For example, to maintain high conversion efficiency, the air gap associated with electromagnetic and voice coil actuators must be scaled down, which increases manufacturing complexity and cost. Also, when the motor is scaled down while trying to maintain a constant mechanical output, the motor lamination is magnetically saturated. Within the accepted product cost targets, it is widely accepted that the electromechanical efficiency of these transducers decreases significantly with size reduction.

  These scaling challenges associated with magnetic actuators have led to the expansion of the use of other technologies for MESO and MEMS applications, such as piezoceramics and magnetostrictive actuators. A piezo disk is naturally a combination of a fluid diaphragm and an actuator in a single part.

  The advantage of using a piezo as a fluid diaphragm is offset by the inherent displacement limitations of the piezo. Because ceramics are relatively fragile, piezoceramic diaphragms / discs can provide only a small portion of the displacement provided by other materials such as metals, plastics and elastomers. The peak oscillating displacement that a pressed circular piezoceramic disk can provide without breakage is typically less than 1% of the pressed diameter of the disk. Since the diaphragm displacement is directly proportional to the fluid energy transferred per stroke, the piezo imposes significant limits on the power density and overall performance of small fluid devices such as MESO pumps and compressors. These displacement-related energy limitations are especially true for gases.

  Other types of piezo actuators that rely on the bulk deflection properties of the piezo material can provide high energy transfer to the liquid by operating at very high frequencies and even smaller strokes. These small actuator strokes make the pump design infeasible. In addition, high performance pumps use passive valves that open and close each pumping cycle to provide optimal pumping efficiency. These pump valves may not provide the required performance in the kHz to MHz frequency range of bulk piezo actuators.

  Currently, there is an increasing demand for smaller fluid devices that may not be achievable with current piezo pump technology or may not be functionally consistently useful. For example, there is a need for a pump and compressor that can provide a higher specific flow (ie, fluid volume flow divided by the physical volume of the pump) with higher pressure heads and smaller sized units. Examples of applications that require high performance MESO size pumps can be mounted on portable electronic devices such as portable computing devices, PDAs and mobile phones, circuit cards, and provide cooling for microprocessors and other semiconductor electronic components. There is a miniaturization of fuel cells for self-contained thermal management systems as well as personal portable medical devices for ambulatory patients. Accordingly, there is a need for a compact and economically viable piezo pump that remedies at least some of the shortcomings of current piezo pumps.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To meet these needs and eliminate the limitations of previous efforts, the present invention provides a novel reaction drive actuator for driving diaphragm fluidic devices such as pumps and compressors at or near their system resonances. Is provided as a fluid energy transfer device. In one embodiment, a fluid energy transfer device includes an inner wall shaped to form a chamber volume, a fluid chamber having an opening, and a fluid diaphragm secured to the periphery of the opening, a bender attached to the fluid diaphragm Includes with mold actuators. The reaction driven energy transfer device of some aspects of the present invention provides a unique system for driving the displacement of a fluid diaphragm that can be an order of magnitude greater than the displacement of a conventional piezo diaphragm.

  The reaction drive system of most aspects of the present invention allows high performance of devices such as MESO size pumps and compressors and synthetic jets. The pumps and compressors of some aspects of the present invention include tuned ports and valves that allow low pressure fluid to enter and exit the compression chamber in response to periodic compression. Can do. Reaction drive systems include various bender actuators such as unimorph, bimorph and multi-layer PZT benders, piezo / polymer composites such as PVDF, crystalline materials, magnetostrictive materials, electroactive polymer transducers (EPT), electrostrictive polymers and various "Smart materials" such as shape memory alloys (SMA) as well as radial field PZT diaphragm (RFD) actuators can be used.

  The fluidic device of the present invention operates at a drive frequency that can store energy at the mechanical resonance of the system, thereby providing a diaphragm displacement that is greater than the actual bending displacement of the bender actuator, usually much greater. . System resonances may be determined based on the effective moving mass of diaphragms, bender actuators and related components and the spring stiffness of fluids, fluid diaphragms and any other mechanical springs and / or other components / environments that affect the resonant frequency. it can.

  The pumps of some aspects of the present invention are, by way of example only, general compression of gases such as air, hydrocarbons, process gases, high purity gases, hazardous corrosive gases, compression of phase change refrigerants for refrigeration, It can be used in a variety of applications including air conditioning and heat pumps using liquids and other special vapor compression or phase change heat transfer applications. The pumps of some aspects of the present invention may also provide liquids such as fuel, water, oil, lubricants, coolants, solvents, hydraulic fluids, toxic or reactive chemicals, depending on the specific pump design. It can also be pumped. The pump of the present invention can also provide variable capacity for gas or liquid operation.

  More specifically, exemplary aspects of the invention include a fluid chamber having an inner wall shaped to form a chamber volume and having an opening. A fluid diaphragm is secured around the opening of the fluid chamber, the diaphragm having a flexible portion that can move between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions relative to the outer periphery, And the second position is at a different distance from the inner wall of the fluid chamber. The chamber is filled with fluid that constitutes part of the load of the system. The fluid in the fluid chamber constitutes a spring, and the fluid diaphragm also constitutes a spring. A bender actuator having an attachment point is attached to the fluid diaphragm. The combined effective moving mass of the bender actuator and fluid diaphragm and the mechanical spring and gas spring determine the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency, and the vendor actuator operates at a certain drive frequency to store energy in the mass spring mechanical resonance. A displacement of the fluid diaphragm that is larger (and often much greater) than the bending displacement of the bender actuator can be provided so that increased energy is transferred to the fluid load in the fluid chamber.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber including a fluid diaphragm adapted to receive a predetermined fluid, wherein the fluid diaphragm is secured to the structure of the fluid chamber substantially around the diaphragm and is attached to the periphery attached to the structure. A fluid chamber that includes a flexible portion adapted to move between a first position and a second position;
Including a bender actuator,
A bender actuator is attached to the fluid diaphragm to form a bender / diaphragm assembly;
The bender actuator is adapted to bend at a frequency such that the bender / diaphragm assembly moves between the first and second positions substantially only by the bending frequency of the actuator;
A fluid energy transfer device wherein the distance between the first position and the second position is substantially greater than the peak-to-peak bend distance of the actuator, typically about an order of magnitude greater than the peak-to-peak bend distance. There is.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber including a fluid diaphragm adapted to receive a predetermined fluid, wherein the fluid diaphragm is secured to the structure of the fluid chamber substantially around the diaphragm and is connected to the periphery of the mounting structure. A fluid chamber that includes a flexible portion adapted to move between a first position and a second position;
Including a bender actuator,
The bender actuator is at least one of (i) directly connected to the fluid diaphragm and (ii) directly linked to the fluid diaphragm;
Vendor is not effectively connected to or effectively linked to any other pump parts other than the diaphragm,
There is a fluid energy transfer device where the vendor is connected to an electrical lead, which in some cases is adapted to conduct electrons to the vendor.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber having an inner wall shaped to form a chamber volume and having an opening;
A fluid having a flexible portion secured around the opening of the fluid chamber and movable relative to the outer periphery between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions at different distances from the inner wall of the fluid chamber The diaphragm,
Fluid in a fluid chamber;
A fluid spring containing fluid in a fluid chamber;
A mechanical spring including a diaphragm;
A bender actuator having an attachment point attached to the fluid diaphragm;
The combined effective moving mass of the bender actuator and diaphragm and the mechanical spring and gas spring determine the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency, and the bender actuator operates at the drive frequency to store energy in the mass spring mechanical resonance, which There is a fluid energy transfer device that transfers energy to the fluid in the fluid chamber.

  In another aspect of the invention, the attachment point of the bender actuator to the fluid diaphragm includes a power extraction point, and the reaction mass is at a point on the bender actuator that moves in a time phase opposite to the power extraction point. There is a fluid transmission device as described above and / or below attached.

  In another aspect of the invention, the attachment point between the bender actuator and the fluid diaphragm further includes a tuning spring, and the force generated by the bender actuator is transmitted to the fluid diaphragm via the tuning spring, and the rigidity of the tuning spring is increased. There are fluid transmission devices described above and / or below that are selected to improve the mechanical power factor.

  In another aspect of the invention, the first point of the axial stabilization member is attached to the standoff, the other end of the standoff is attached to the moving portion of the fluid diaphragm, and the second of the axial stabilization component is A point is attached to the exterior of the fluid chamber so that the axial stabilizing component is axially offset from the plane of the fluid diaphragm, thereby allowing axial movement of the moving mass, but of the moving mass. There are fluid transmission devices described above and / or below that prevent lateral motion.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a fluid transmission device as described above and / or below, wherein the bender actuator comprises a piezoceramic bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a fluid transmission device as described above and / or below, wherein the bender actuator comprises a piezo / polymer composite bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a fluid transmission device as described above and / or below, wherein the bender actuator comprises a magnetostrictive bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a fluid transmission device as described above and / or below, wherein the bender actuator comprises a radial field PZT diaphragm bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, the wall of the fluid chamber further includes a synthetic jet port that fluidly communicates the interior of the fluid chamber to the exterior of the fluid chamber, so that the pressure in the fluid chamber fluctuates at the drive frequency. There are fluid transmission devices as described above and / or below that move and thereby generate a synthetic jet outside the fluid chamber to cause fluid to flow away from the fluid chamber along the cylindrical axis of the synthetic jet port.

In another aspect of the invention,
An inlet port connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid into the fluid chamber;
An outlet port connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid out of the fluid chamber;
There are fluid transmission devices as described above and / or below.

In another aspect of the invention, the inlet port has a rectifying profile designed to provide flow into the fluid chamber, and the outlet port provides flow into the fluid chamber. Has a designed commutation profile,
Thereby, displacement of the fluid diaphragm causes a pressure swing in the fluid at the drive frequency, thereby flowing the fluid into the fluid chamber via the inlet port and out of the fluid chamber via the outlet port. And / or the following fluid transmission devices.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a fluid transmission device as described above and / or below, wherein the bender includes a piezoceramic bender actuator.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber having an inner wall shaped to form a chamber volume and having an opening;
A fluid having a flexible portion secured around the opening of the fluid chamber and movable relative to the outer periphery between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions at different distances from the inner wall of the fluid chamber The diaphragm,
An inlet port connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid into the fluid chamber;
An outlet port connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid out of the fluid chamber;
Fluid in a fluid chamber;
A fluid spring containing fluid in a fluid chamber;
A mechanical spring including a diaphragm;
A bender actuator having an attachment point attached to the fluid diaphragm;
The combined effective moving mass of the bender actuator and diaphragm and the mechanical spring and gas spring determine the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency, and the bender actuator operates at the drive frequency to store energy in the mass spring mechanical resonance, which There is a pump that transfers energy to the fluid in the fluid chamber.

  In another aspect of the invention, the point of attachment of the bender actuator to the fluid diaphragm includes a power removal point, and the reaction mass is attached to a point on the bender actuator that moves at a different time phase than the power removal point. There are pumps as described above and / or below.

  In another aspect of the invention, the attachment point between the bender actuator and the fluid diaphragm further includes a tuning spring, and the force generated by the bender actuator is transmitted to the fluid diaphragm via the tuning spring, and the rigidity of the tuning spring is increased. There are pumps described above and / or below that are selected to improve the mechanical power factor.

  In another aspect of the invention, the first point of the axial stabilization member is attached to the standoff, the other end of the standoff is attached to the moving portion of the fluid diaphragm, and the second of the axial stabilization component is A point is attached to the exterior of the fluid chamber so that the axial stabilizing component is axially offset from the plane of the fluid diaphragm, thereby allowing axial movement of the moving mass, but of the moving mass. There are pumps described above and / or below that prevent lateral movement.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the bender actuator comprises a piezoceramic bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the bender actuator comprises a piezo / polymer composite bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the bender actuator comprises a magnetostrictive bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the bender actuator comprises a radial field PZT diaphragm bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, the above and / or below pumps further comprising control means operatively connected to the bender actuator to change the drive frequency in response to a change in mass spring mechanical resonance frequency There is.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the drive frequency is equal to the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency.

In another aspect of the invention, the control means further comprises:
Means for measuring selected operating conditions in the pump;
Means for varying the drive frequency of the motor in response to the measured operating condition to maximize the measured operating condition;
There are pumps as described above and / or below.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the operating conditions include power applied to the pump.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the fluid is a gas.

  In another aspect of the invention, the gas is from the group consisting of air, hydrocarbons, process gases, high purity gases, hazardous corrosive gas toxic fluids, high purity fluids, reactive fluids and environmentally hazardous fluids. There are pumps described above and / or below that are selected.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the fluid is a liquid.

  In another embodiment of the present invention, the liquid is selected from the group consisting of fuel, water, oil, lubricant, coolant, solvent, hydraulic fluid, toxic or reactive chemical, above and / or below There is a pump.

  In another aspect of the invention, the first position of the fluid diaphragm is at the top of each compression stroke and closest to the wall of the fluid chamber, and the second position is at the end of each suction stroke. The first and second closest positions at different distances from the fluid chamber wall, the first and second furthest positions at different distances from the fluid chamber wall, and the diaphragm In response to a change in the driving force of the bender actuator, from a swing between the first closest position and the farthest position to a swing between the second closest position and the farthest position. There are pumps described above and / or below that can be operatively moved.

  In another aspect of the invention, the change in driving force of the bender actuator causes the diaphragm to move from the first closest position to the farthest position and from the second closest position to the farthest position. There are pumps as described above and / or below that operably move to swing between them, thereby providing a change in fluid flow rate.

In another aspect of the invention, the inlet port has a rectifying profile designed to provide flow into the fluid chamber and the outlet port is designed to provide flow into the fluid chamber. With a rectifying profile
Thereby, displacement of the fluid diaphragm causes a pressure swing in the fluid at the drive frequency, thereby flowing the fluid into the fluid chamber via the inlet port and out of the fluid chamber via the outlet port. There are pumps as described above and / or below.

  In another aspect of the invention, the method further includes an inlet valve operatively connected to the inlet port and an outlet valve operatively connected to the outlet port, wherein the inlet valve and the outlet valve each have a predetermined stiffness and valve duty cycle. The inlet valve prevents flow through the inlet port in the closed position, allows flow through the inlet port in the open position, and the outlet valve blocks flow through the outlet port in the closed position; In the open position, the flow through the outlet port is allowed, the rigidity and size of the outlet valve and the inlet valve, respectively, the timing of the duty cycle of the inlet valve and the outlet valve, the fluid flow filling and / or the fluid flow through the inlet port. Synchronized with the timing of the discharge of the fluid flow through the outlet port and the compression cycle in the compression chamber. To provide a single direction of net flow of the inlet valve and is selected in order to tune the outlet valve, there is above and / or below the pump.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the inlet valve is a reed valve and the outlet valve is a reed valve.

  In another aspect of the invention, each of the inlet and outlet reed valves has a spring stiffness and mass adapted to open and close in the correct sequence in response to oscillating fluid pressure in the fluid chamber, and There are pumps as described above and / or below, in which correct valve timing is maintained without a valve stopper.

  In another aspect of the invention, the fluid diaphragm further includes a flat section that moves in a plane, and the inlet port and the inlet valve are located in the flat section of the diaphragm, thereby controlling the operation of the inlet valve. There are pumps described above and / or below.

  In another aspect of the invention, the fluid diaphragm further includes a flat section that moves in a plane, and the outlet port and outlet valve are located in the flat section of the diaphragm, thereby enabling the operation of the outlet valve. There are pumps described above and / or below.

In another aspect of the invention,
A plurality of inlet ports connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid into the fluid chamber;
A plurality of outlet ports connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flushing fluid out of the fluid chamber;
There are pumps as described above and / or below.

  In another aspect of the invention, the fluid chamber wall further includes a radially shaped wall section, wherein the flexible portion of the diaphragm is free to flex when the moving portion circulates to a plurality of first positions. There are pumps as described above and / or below that are generally conformable in shape to a radially shaped wall section to minimize gap volume in the fluid chamber.

  In another aspect of the invention, the fluid diaphragm further comprises a first surface within the fluid chamber and a second surface outside the interior of the fluid chamber, and the pump is further fluidly coupled with the second surface of the diaphragm. A communicating outer chamber, a hole extending in communication between the fluid chamber and the outer chamber, the amount of fluid sufficient to equalize the pressure applied to the first and second surfaces of the diaphragm There are the above and / or below pumps that are sized to deliver the fluid through the hole between the fluid chamber and the external chamber and have a selected profile.

  In another embodiment of the present invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the holes are located in the diaphragm.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber having an inner wall shaped to form a chamber volume and having first and second openings;
A flexible portion secured around the first opening of the fluid chamber and movable relative to the outer periphery between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions at different distances from the inner wall of the fluid chamber A first fluid diaphragm having:
A flexible portion secured around the first opening of the fluid chamber and movable relative to the outer periphery between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions at different distances from the inner wall of the fluid chamber A second fluid diaphragm having:
At least one inlet port connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid into the fluid chamber;
At least one outlet port connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid out of the fluid chamber;
Fluid in a fluid chamber;
A fluid spring containing fluid in a fluid chamber;
A first mechanical spring including a first diaphragm;
A second mechanical spring including a second diaphragm;
A first bender actuator having a first point of attachment attached to a first fluid diaphragm;
A second bender actuator having a second point of attachment attached to the second fluid diaphragm;
The combined effective moving mass of the first bender actuator and the first diaphragm and the combined effective moving mass of the second bender actuator and the second diaphragm and similarly by the first mechanical spring and the gas spring and the second The mass spring mechanical resonance frequency is determined by the mechanical spring and the gas spring, and the first and second bender actuators are operated at the same drive frequency to form the first and second diaphragms, respectively. Are pumps that can be traversed simultaneously, thereby storing energy in a mass spring mechanical resonance and transferring energy to the fluid in the fluid chamber.

  In another aspect of the invention, the point of attachment of the first bender actuator to the first fluid diaphragm includes a first power extraction point and the first reaction mass is different from the first power extraction point. Attached to a point on the first bender actuator moving in time phase, the point of attachment of the second bender actuator to the second fluid diaphragm includes a second power extraction point, and the second reaction mass is There are pumps as described above and / or below that are attached to a point on a second bender actuator that moves in a different time phase than the power extraction point.

  In another aspect of the invention, the first attachment point between the first bender actuator and the first fluid diaphragm further includes a first tuning spring, and the force generated by the first bender actuator is the first Transmitted to the first fluid diaphragm through one tuning spring, the stiffness of the first tuning spring is selected to improve the mechanical power factor of the first bender actuator, The second attachment point between the two fluid diaphragms further comprises a second tuning spring, and the force generated by the second bender actuator is transmitted to the second fluid diaphragm via the second tuning spring; The stiffness of the second tuning spring is selected to improve the mechanical power factor of the second bender actuator There, there is above and / or below the pump.

In another aspect of the invention, the first point of the first axial stabilizing member is attached to the first standoff and the other end of the first standoff is at the moving portion of the first fluid diaphragm. Attached, the second point of the first axial stabilization component is attached to the exterior of the fluid chamber, the first point of the second axial stabilization member is attached to the second standoff, The other end of the standoff is attached to the moving part of the second fluid diaphragm, and the second point of the second axial stabilizing component is attached to the outside of the fluid chamber;
Thereby, the first and second axial stabilizing components are offset axially from the plane of the respective first and second fluid diaphragms, thereby allowing axial movement of the moving mass, There are pumps as described above and / or below that prevent lateral movement of the moving mass.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the first bender actuator comprises a piezoceramic bender actuator and the second bender actuator comprises a piezoceramic bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the first bender actuator comprises a piezo / polymer composite bender actuator and the second bender actuator comprises a piezo / polymer composite bender actuator. .

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the first bender actuator comprises a magnetostrictive bender actuator and the second bender actuator comprises a magnetostrictive bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the first bender actuator comprises a radial field PZT diaphragm bender actuator and the second bender actuator comprises a radial field PZT diaphragm bender actuator.

  In another aspect of the invention, the apparatus further comprises control means operatively connected to the first and second bender actuators to change the drive frequency in response to changes in the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency. And / or the following pumps:

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the drive frequency is equal to the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency.

In another aspect of the invention, the control means further comprises:
Means for measuring selected operating conditions in the pump;
Means for changing the drive frequency in response to the measured operating condition to maximize the measured operating condition;
There are pumps as described above and / or below.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the operating conditions include power applied to the pump.

  In another aspect of the present invention, the first and second bender actuators for varying the individual drive voltage amplitudes of the first and second bender actuators as needed to minimize pump vibration. There are pumps as described above and / or below, further comprising operably connected control means.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the fluid is a gas.

  In another aspect of the invention, the gas is from the group consisting of air, hydrocarbons, process gases, high purity gases, hazardous corrosive gas toxic fluids, high purity fluids, reactive fluids and environmentally hazardous fluids. There are pumps described above and / or below that are selected.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the fluid is a liquid.

  In another embodiment of the present invention, the liquid is selected from the group consisting of fuel, water, oil, lubricant, coolant, solvent, hydraulic fluid, toxic or reactive chemical, above and / or below There is a pump.

  In another aspect of the invention, the first position of the first and second fluid diaphragms is closest to the fluid chamber wall at the top of each compression stroke, and the second position is At the end of the stroke, the furthest position from the fluid chamber wall, the first and second closest positions are at different distances from the fluid chamber wall, and the first and second furthest positions are from the fluid chamber wall At different distances, the first and second fluid diaphragms swing between the first nearest and farthest positions in response to changes in the driving force of the first and second bender actuators. There are pumps as described above and / or below that can be moved operatively up to swinging from the second closest position to the farthest position.

  In another aspect of the invention, the change in driving force of the first and second bender actuators causes the first and second fluid diaphragms to oscillate between a first nearest position and a farthest position. There are pumps as described above and / or below that operably move from movement to a swing between a second closest position and a furthest position, thereby providing a change in fluid flow rate.

In another aspect of the invention, the inlet port has a rectifying profile designed to provide flow into the fluid chamber and the outlet port is designed to provide flow into the fluid chamber. With a rectifying profile
Thereby, the displacement of the first and second fluid diaphragms causes a pressure swing in the fluid at the drive frequency, thereby flowing the fluid through the inlet port into the fluid chamber and the outlet port. There are pumps as described above and / or below that flow out of the fluid chamber.

  Another aspect of the invention further includes an inlet valve operatively connected to the inlet port and an outlet valve operatively connected to the outlet port, the inlet valve and the outlet valve each having a predetermined stiffness and valve duty. Has a cycle, the inlet valve blocks flow through the inlet port in the closed position, allows flow through the inlet port in the open position, and the outlet valve blocks flow through the outlet port in the closed position Allow the flow through the outlet port in the open position, the rigidity and size of the outlet valve and the inlet valve respectively, the timing of the duty cycle of the inlet valve and the outlet valve, the filling of the fluid flow through the inlet port and the outlet port Synchronized with the timing of the discharge of the fluid flow passing through and the compression cycle in the compression chamber, To provide a flow, the inlet valve and is selected in order to tune the outlet valve, there is above and / or below the pump.

  In another aspect of the invention, there is a pump as described above and / or below, wherein the inlet valve is a reed valve and the outlet valve is a reed valve.

  In another aspect of the invention, each of the inlet and outlet reed valves has a spring stiffness and mass adapted to open and close in the correct sequence in response to oscillating fluid pressure in the fluid chamber, and There are pumps as described above and / or below, in which correct valve timing is maintained without a valve stopper.

  In another aspect of the invention, the first fluid diaphragm further includes a first flat section that moves planarly, and the second fluid diaphragm includes a second flat section that moves planarly. In addition, the inlet port and the inlet valve are located in the first flat section of the first diaphragm, and the outlet port and the outlet valve are located in the second flat section of the second diaphragm, whereby the inlet valve There are pumps as described above and / or below that provide actuation of the outlet valve.

In another aspect of the invention,
A plurality of inlet ports connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid into the fluid chamber;
A plurality of outlet ports connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flushing fluid out of the fluid chamber;
There are pumps as described above and / or below.

  In another aspect of the invention, the wall of the fluid chamber further includes a radially shaped wall section, and the moving portions of the first and second fluid diaphragms circulate with respect to the plurality of first positions. Sometimes the flexible portions of the first and second fluid diaphragms are free to flex and generally conform in shape to the radially shaped section to minimize the void volume in the fluid chamber, and / or There are the following pumps.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber having an inner wall shaped to form a chamber volume and having an opening;
A fluid having a flexible portion secured around the opening of the fluid chamber and movable relative to the outer periphery between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions at different distances from the inner wall of the fluid chamber The diaphragm,
An inlet port connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid into the fluid chamber;
An outlet port connected in communication with the fluid chamber for flowing fluid out of the fluid chamber;
Fluid in a fluid chamber;
A fluid spring containing fluid in a fluid chamber;
A mechanical spring including a diaphragm;
A bender actuator having an attachment point attached to the fluid diaphragm;
Providing a pump for compressing the fluid;
Introducing a fluid at a first pressure into a fluid chamber that acts as a fluid spring under varying pressure conditions;
Determining the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency by the combined moving mass of the diaphragm and bender actuator and the mechanical and fluid springs;
Actuating a bender actuator at a drive frequency to store energy in a mass spring mechanical resonance;
Oscillating the diaphragm between a plurality of first positions and a second position;
Compressing the fluid to a desired second pressure;
There is a method of pumping fluid further comprising evacuating the fluid from the compression chamber at a second pressure.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber for receiving a particular fluid having an inner wall shaped to form a chamber volume and having an opening;
A fluid having a flexible portion secured around the opening of the fluid chamber and movable relative to the outer periphery between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions at different distances from the inner wall of the fluid chamber The diaphragm,
A bender actuator having an attachment point attached to the fluid diaphragm;
The combined effective moving mass and the combined effective spring stiffness of the dynamic part and the specific fluid determine the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency and the bender actuator operates at the drive frequency to store energy in the mass spring mechanical resonance. There is a fluid energy transfer device that can.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber having an inner wall shaped to form a chamber volume and having an opening;
A fluid having a flexible portion secured around the opening of the fluid chamber and movable relative to the outer periphery between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions at different distances from the inner wall of the fluid chamber The diaphragm,
Fluid in a fluid chamber;
Fluid load including fluid, and
A fluid spring containing fluid in a fluid chamber;
A mechanical spring including a diaphragm;
A bender actuator having an attachment point attached to the fluid diaphragm;
The combined effective moving mass of the bender actuator and diaphragm and the mechanical spring and gas spring determine the mass spring mechanical resonance frequency, and the bender actuator operates at the drive frequency to store energy in the mass spring mechanical resonance, There is a fluid energy transfer device that provides a displacement of the fluid diaphragm that is greater than the bending displacement of the actuator and in which energy is transferred to a fluid load in the fluid chamber.

In another aspect of the invention,
A fluid chamber including a fluid diaphragm adapted to receive a predetermined fluid, wherein the fluid diaphragm is secured to the structure of the fluid chamber substantially around the diaphragm and is attached to the periphery attached to the structure. A fluid chamber that includes a flexible portion adapted to move between a first position and a second position;
Including a bender actuator,
A bender actuator is attached to the fluid diaphragm to form a bender / diaphragm assembly;
The bender actuator is adapted to bend at a frequency such that the bender / diaphragm assembly moves between the first and second positions substantially only by the bending frequency of the actuator;
A fluid energy transfer device wherein the distance between the first position and the second position is substantially greater than the peak-to-peak bend distance of the actuator, typically about an order of magnitude greater than the peak-to-peak bend distance. There is.

Detailed Description of Embodiments Referring to FIG. 1, a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a reaction drive system of the present invention is shown. A cylindrical fluid-filling cavity 2 is defined by an enclosure 4 and a circular diaphragm 6. The periphery of the diaphragm 6 is held between an O-ring 8 and an O-ring 10 that are clamped in the enclosure 4 by a screwed clamp ring 11. The standoff 12 is firmly connected to the center of the diaphragm 6, and the other end of the standoff 12 is firmly connected to the center of the bender actuator disk 14. These component connections can be made by adhesive, brazing or other types of flat joining methods. In most aspects of the invention, the bender disk 14 has no other mechanical connection other than the standoff 12, and therefore its perimeter is not subject to any mechanical constraints. However, in other aspects, if the energy is stored in the mechanical resonance of the system and does not substantially interfere with the operation of the reaction drive system at a drive frequency that allows the desired diaphragm or piston displacement to be provided, the machine There may be a static connection. The wire 15 serves to attach the bender disk 14 to an external voltage source and is mechanically elastic because it is constructed of, for example, a thin wire, a braided wire or a thin piece of metal. The point of wire attachment to the piezo disc can vary based on the type of piezo bender. To minimize rocking related stress on the wire 15, the wire is insulated and bonded to the bender 14, standoff 12 and then exited from the center of the diaphragm 6 to the enclosure 4 to provide an enclosure 4 (mechanical grounding). You may run around to return to. In this way, the wire will be mechanically supported along its entire path. When the bender disk 14 is excited by an applied voltage, it bends into an axisymmetric dome shape as shown in FIG. 2, and the deflected shapes 16 and 18 show that the bender disk 14 bends in response to an opposite polarity voltage. . Deflections 16 and 18 are exaggerated for clarity.

In operation, an alternating voltage waveform of frequency f is applied to the bender disk 14 of FIG. 1, causing it to swing at a frequency f between the bending deflections 16 and 18 of FIG. When the bender disk 14 oscillates between the deflections 16 and 18 at the frequency f, a force is transmitted to the diaphragm 6 through the standoff 12 as a reaction against the deflection, so that the diaphragm 6 is also in its basic displacement mode. Between the two extremes at a frequency f, thereby transferring energy to the fluid in the cavity 2. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the power extraction (PTO) point from the vendor disk 14 is at the center of the vendor disk 14. The reaction driven fluid system of FIG. 1 can have a mechanical resonance frequency f ₀ = (1 / 2π) (K / M) ^1/2 (K is the combined stiffness of the mechanical spring and the fluid spring) , M is the combined effective moving mass of diaphragm 6, standoff 12 and bender actuator 14, and f ₀ results in a clamped fluid diaphragm 6 that oscillates in its lowest order mode shape Refers to the system resonance frequency). Lumped element mechanical and electrical similar numerical models and other models can also be used to predict / estimate the fundamental resonant frequency of the fluid system of FIG. Furthermore, it will be understood that if the drive frequency f exceeds the fundamental system resonance frequency f ₀ due to excitation of other modes in the combined mode range of the system, the diaphragm 6 cannot respond in that fundamental mode. . These higher-order mode excitations can cause the net part of the diaphragm to move in opposite phases and thus reduce net energy transfer by cancellation, thus reducing the net energy transfer effect to the fluid, and possibly dropping it significantly. is there.

If the drive frequency f is chosen to be close to or equal to the fundamental resonant frequency f ₀ of the system, the energy is stored in oscillations in proportion to the resonant quality factor Q of the system at the drive frequency f. can do. When energy is stored in the system resonance, the displacement of the diaphragm 6 can exceed the actual bending displacement of the bender disk 8. In this way, low displacement bender disk actuators can be used to provide the higher diaphragm displacement required by current MESO and MEMS fluidics applications. The only substantial (or otherwise effective) mechanical connection to the bender disk 14 in FIG. 1 is to the standoff 12, so that the bending amplitudes 16 and 18 of the piezo disk 14 cause the deflection of the diaphragm 6. Even if only a fraction of the amplitude is present, the bender disk 14 can swing with greater displacement of the diaphragm 6.

  For example, using a piezo bender disk with a diameter of 25.4mm, a "flaper valve" steel 3.5mm thick diaphragm with a clamping diameter of 32mm, and the height of the fluid-filling cavity 2 is 60 mil, as shown in Figure 1 A system similar to that was tested. The fluid used was 1 atmosphere of air. The piezo disc, when installed in a recoil drive system, was able to provide a peak-to-peak diaphragm displacement of over 3.0 mm, while providing only 0.20 mm peak-to-peak bending displacement without failure. Therefore, this reaction drive system allowed the fluid diaphragm to undergo a displacement 15 times larger than the piezo bender displacement. Depending on the tuning of the system, a displacement amplitude greater than 15 times and a displacement amplitude much greater than 15 times and an amplitude less than 15 times and an amplitude much less than 15 times may be provided. The resonance displacement amplitude of the bender actuator constitutes the characteristic driving force of the present invention and is referred to herein as “reaction drive”.

  The reaction drive system aspect is simple and robust and requires relatively low accuracy in assembly. In an embodiment driven by a bender actuator, there is no air gap associated with electromagnetic and voice coil actuators and the system allows non-axial swinging.

  As a result of driving a separate fluid diaphragm using an unclamped bender actuator (or effectively an unclamped bender actuator), the bender actuator is effectively a force opposite to the source of the displacement. It can be regarded as a source. Many different piezo bender shapes and topologies can be used within the scope of most aspects of the invention. For example, in some aspects of the invention, unimorphs and bimorph benders having rectangular, square, polygonal symmetry can be used. In some aspects of the invention, vendor actuator designs are prepared for use by taking into account bender characteristics such as actuator material, stiffness, mass, mass distribution, tradeoffs between power and bender mechanical resonance frequency. Can be optimized. Also, any bender that undergoes bending deflection in response to an applied voltage can be used with the reaction drive system of most aspects of the present invention. Unimorphs, bimorphs and multi-layer vendors offer many different classes of ceramics, piezo / polymer composites such as PVDF, crystalline materials, magnetostrictive materials, electroactive polymer transducers (EPT), electrostrictive polymers and various “smart materials” ", For example, can be constructed from shape memory alloy (SMA). For example, an actuator made from a material such as Nitinol can be used. Another class of PZT vendors are radial field PZT diaphragms (RFDs) that can also be used with the present invention. In short, within the scope of the present invention, any material that bends in response to a periodic energy load can almost certainly be used as a bender in a reaction drive system, which is collectively referred to herein as a “bender actuator”. Call it.

Reaction Drive System Tuning In most aspects of the present invention, system components are tuned to change (eg, increase / maximize) the power transferred from the bender actuator to the fluid load and change the power transfer efficiency. The For a given bender actuator, the power applied to the fluid load can be optimized in a number of ways. In such an aspect, the system resonance should typically be within the effective operating range of the bender actuator. As discussed above, the system resonance f ₀ can be varied, for example, by selection of the combined stiffness of the mechanical and fluid springs and the combined effective moving mass of the system. For example, in FIG. 1, the system resonant frequency can be changed by changing the stiffness and / or mass of the diaphragm 6, can be changed by changing the mass and / or stiffness of the standoff 12, It can be changed by changing the mass of the actuator 14 or can be changed by changing the nature and / or pressure of the fluid in the cavity 2.

  FIG. 3 provides an embodiment of the present invention that includes the addition of a reaction mass to a bender actuator that can improve power transfer. In FIG. 3, a cylindrical fluid-filling cavity 22 is defined by an enclosure 20 and a circular diagram 24. The periphery of the diaphragm 24 is held between an O-ring 26 and an O-ring 28 that are clamped in the enclosure 20 by a screwed clamp ring 30. One end of the standoff 32 is firmly connected to the center of the diaphragm 24, and the other end of the standoff 32 is firmly connected to the center of the bender actuator 34. An annular reaction mass 36 is rigidly connected around the bender disk 34.

Next, the role of reaction mass that can be used in some aspects is described. If the effective moving mass around the bender actuator is relatively small, much of the bender's output will be diverted aside, possibly swinging around the bender around the displacement extremes 16 and 17 shown in FIG. This results in reducing the power applied to the fluid load via off 32. The reaction mass 36 provides the mass that the bender 34 pushes, and thus can apply more force (as compared to without the reaction mass 36) to the diaphragm 24 and thus more power to the fluid load. . The optimal mass that can be added to achieve a given design performance goal can be determined, for example, by modeling or experimentation. Also, a change in the mass of the annular reaction mass 36 typically changes the effective moving mass M of the system, which on the other hand reduces the system resonance frequency f ₀ = (1 / 2π) (K / M) ^1/2 . Change.

  Some aspects of the invention can be improved by taking into account the power factor. A typical power factor is expressed in the form of cos θ, where θ is the time phase angle between the time-varying force F (t) = Fcos (ωt) and the velocity V obtained on the driven part. The applied power is FVcosθ. For maximum power transfer to the load, the ideal power factor is 1, implying that θ is zero. For a given power load design target, if the power factor cos θ drops below 1, the product FV must increase proportionally to maintain the power load target. Increasing F to maintain power transmission decreases efficiency, and increasing V to maintain power transmission increases device stress, vibration, and resulting noise. In the case of the present invention, the vendor force is applied through a path that includes the vendor's own internal spring. As such, the time phase θ between F and V for a given design does not necessarily equal zero at resonance. In order to optimize energy efficiency and minimize noise and vibration, it is desirable to tune the system to keep the phase angle θ as close to zero as possible.

The performance of some aspects of the present invention can vary depending on the size of the effective moving mass M and how M is distributed among the various moving parts. Referring to FIG 3, total effective moving mass M can be roughly defined as two separate moving mass which is defined as the fluid diaphragm mass M _D and reaction mass M _R. M _D is the effective dynamic mass of the diaphragm 24, it is equal to the sum of the central portion of the mass and vendors 34 of the standoff 32. M _R is equal to the sum of the part of the annular reaction mass 36 and the vendor 34 (portion extending radially towards the center of the vendor 34 in reaction mass 36). M _D and M _R are connected by the spring stiffness of the bender 34 and the time phase between each movement depends on the specific design, component values and operating conditions. In another embodiment of the present invention, the ratio of M _R / M _D may be greater than 1 to increase the mechanical power transfer to the fluid load. For a constant peak driving force, increasing M _R from a zero value while holding M _D constant generally increases conversion efficiency, and power transfer reaches a maximum at some M _R / M _D value I understand. Maintaining the magnitude of M = (M _R + M _D ) for a given application to a minimum and increasing the performance by accelerating the mass M by minimizing the amount of force diverted from the load be able to. In this way, minimizing the magnitude of M can maximize the energy efficiency of the entire system.

  All of the above mass and spring constants can be modified to optimize the power factor, but additional components can be added to further modify (improve) the mechanical power factor. For example, in FIG. 4, an elliptic spring 38 is used in place of the standoff 26 of FIG. Spring 38 provides an elastic connection between bender actuator 40 and diaphragm 42. Changes in the spring stiffness, mass, and damping constant of the spring 38 can be used to tune the phase angle θ, thus correcting for the non-ideal power factor characteristics of the bender actuator 40. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the characteristics selected for the spring 38 can depend on the performance specifications for a given application, but are generally selected to minimize the time phase angle θ. These considerations must also take into account pump body oscillations in response to diaphragm reaction forces.

  5 shows a bender actuator 44, a cylindrical reaction mass 46 attached to the center of the bender 44, an annular standoff 48 attached to the periphery of the bender 44, and a disk attached to the upper surface of the annular standoff 48. Another tuning spring structure is shown having a cylindrical standoff 52 with the tuning spring 50 and lower surface attached to the center of the tuning spring 50 and the upper surface attached to the center of the fluid diaphragm 54. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the area around the vendor 44 serves as a PTO point. On the other hand, the swinging force from the bender 44 is finally transmitted from the periphery of the bender 44 to the fluid diaphragm 42 via the standoff 48, the disc tuning spring 50, and the standoff 52. Alternatively, the reaction mass 46 can be connected to both sides of the bender disk 34 in FIG. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the characteristics of the spring 50 can depend on the performance specifications for a given application and can be selected to optimize the time phase angle θ.

  Various styles of springs, such as leaf springs and coil springs, may be used in place of the tuning springs shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and other exemplary embodiments to provide linear or non-linear stiffness characteristics. Let's go.

Depending on the specific application and design of the present invention, the bending amplitude of the bender actuator may be less than, equal to, or greater than the diaphragm and / or piston displacement. . For example, changing the ratio of M _R / M _D may result in a bending actuator bending amplitude that is less than, equal to, or greater than the diaphragm and / or piston displacement. Furthermore, the degree of linearity and non-linearity of the mechanical and fluid springs in the system results in a bending actuator bending amplitude that is less than, equal to or greater than the diaphragm and / or piston displacement. Can be made. The displacement ratio between the diaphragm / piston and the bender actuator is not necessarily constant during operation. In some applications, such as pumps or compressors, the ratio of vendor to diaphragm / piston displacement can vary from less than 1 to more than 1 or 1 during operation.

  Also, the vendor disk mechanical resonance frequency relative to the system resonance frequency may be beneficial to improve system performance and maximize mechanical power factor. However, in some aspects, care can be taken in system design to prevent the system resonant frequency from matching the bender disk resonant frequency. In many aspects, the selected vendor resonance frequency may exceed the expected operating range of the system. In applications such as pumps and compressors where the system resonance frequency can vary, a resonance controller can be used to keep the electrical drive frequency locked to the changing system resonance frequency. In some aspects of the invention, the mechanical resonance frequency of the bender disk may not be tuned close to the system resonance frequency, so it is unlikely that the two resonance frequencies will overlap during operation, and thus the resonance Alleviates possible problems with resonance control devices due to repulsion.

Axial Stability For the recoil drive mode of FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 5, the desired displacement to perform effective work is axial. As such, many embodiments have moving parts such as bender disks, reaction masses, or spring centers of gravity close to the axis of motion. Axial centering helps to minimize off-axis moments of inertia that can lead to lateral oscillations of the moving mass that can cause additional stress on the diaphragm and unwanted system vibrations. Also, the embodiments of FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 5 can have non-axial resonant modes that can be excited by an unbalanced moving mass, thereby enhancing the mechanical stress of the diaphragm. In many aspects, the design attempts to avoid matching non-axial mode frequencies to drive frequencies.

  Lateral mode can be further suppressed by adding stabilizing components that allow axial motion while rejecting lateral motion. FIG. 6 provides an embodiment of the present invention in which a cylindrical fluid filled cavity 56 is defined by an enclosure 58 and a circular fluid diaphragm 60 to reject or substantially reject lateral motion. The periphery of the diaphragm 60 is held between an O-ring 62 and an O-ring 64 that are clamped in an enclosure 58 by a threaded clamp ring 66. A fluid diaphragm 60 is attached to the cylindrical standoff 68, and the other end of the standoff 68 is attached to the bender actuator 70. An annular reaction mass 72 is attached around the bender actuator 70. A stabilizing disc 76 is firmly connected to the enclosure 58 by being clamped between the clamp ring 66 and the second clamp ring 78, and the stabilizing disc 76 is connected to the bender 70 by a cylindrical stabilizing standoff 74. Is firmly connected to. Stabilizing disc spring 76 is designed to be compliant in the axial direction but relatively rigid in the direction transverse to the desired axial movement. Stabilizing disc 76 can also be constructed of a number of materials including metals, plastics or elastomers, so long as excessive motion damping / substantial motion damping is avoided. The stabilizing disc spring 76 of FIG. 6 need not necessarily be a disc, but rather can include, for example, a number of leaf spring shapes or profiles. The PTO point of the vendor 70 in this embodiment is presented in the center of the vendor 70.

  In FIG. 6, the alignment disk 76 is displaced from the plane of the diaphragm 60 by a distance D. Increasing D can result in increased lateral rejection. The exact value of D chosen for a given design can represent a compromise between the desired level of lateral rejection and the physical size of the system. The alignment disc 76 can also be constructed with a radially winding profile to increase its axial compliance. In short, axial stability can be enhanced by providing a component that is compliant in the axial direction and rigid in the lateral direction that is attached to the moving component at a distance D from the plane of the fluid diaphragm. As such, a number of stabilizing components can be used, such as sliding bushes, thrust bearings or springs.

  FIG. 6a provides an embodiment of the invention in which a cylindrical fluid-filled cavity 300 is defined by an enclosure 302 and a circular fluid diaphragm 304 to reject or substantially reject lateral motion. The periphery of the diaphragm 304 is held between an O-ring 306 and an O-ring 308 that are clamped in an enclosure 302 by a threaded clamp ring 310. A fluid diaphragm 304 is attached to the cylindrical standoff 312, and the other end of the standoff 312 is attached to the bender actuator 314. An annular reaction mass 316 is attached around the bender actuator 314. The stabilization disk 318 is firmly connected to the enclosure 302 by being clamped between the clamp ring 310 and the second clamp ring 320, and the stabilization disk 318 is firmly connected to the periphery 322 of the bender 314. . Stabilizing disc spring 318 is designed to exhibit low spring stiffness with respect to axial motion, but high spring stiffness in a direction transverse to the desired axial motion. Stabilization disk 318 can also be constructed of a number of materials including metals, plastics, or elastomers, so long as excessive spring stiffness and excessive motion damping / substantial motion damping are avoided. The stabilizing disc spring 318 of FIG. 6a need not be a disc, but rather can include, for example, a number of leaf spring shapes or profiles.

  Referring to FIG. 6a, many of the advantages of the present invention are that the vendor 314 connects to a fluid diaphragm 304 or similar fluid piston while avoiding a strong secondary connection between the enclosure 302 and other parts of the vendor 314. As a result. To prevent such secondary connections from becoming rigid, such secondary connections should be elastic in any way. That is, the secondary connection should have a small spring constant value k so as not to over-constrain the advantageous motive force of the present invention. For example, if the stabilizing spring 318 of FIG. 6a is made extremely rigid to effectively ground the perimeter 322 of the bender 314 to the enclosure 302, the displacement of the diaphragm 304 will never exceed the bending displacement of the bender 312. Will. However, the spring stiffness k of any secondary connection can have a range of stiffness values, such as a corresponding range of performance values such as the resulting diaphragm or piston stroke, power applied to the fluid load, machine It can be understood that there may be a conversion efficiency.

In terms of compliance, the stiffness k of the spring 318 can ideally be varied within a certain range, so that the constraints imposed on the vendor 314 are infinite (unconstrained) to zero (completely) within the compliance range. (Rigidity) will change accordingly. The performance will increase with the compliance C = 1 / k of the spring 318. For example, if the peak force of the bender 314 is held constant while the compliance C of the spring 318 gradually decreases from infinity to zero, the displacement of the diaphragm (or piston) 304 is the maximum value (component value and fluid Will depend on all of the characteristics) to a value equal to the vendor's maximum displacement. Thus, for a constant peak force, if the compliance C of the spring 318 is reduced so that the displacement of the diaphragm 304 is reduced by 10%, the performance will be reduced by approximately 10%. If the compliance C of the spring 318 is reduced so that the displacement of the diaphragm 304 is reduced by 20%, the performance will be reduced by approximately 20%. If the compliance C of the spring 318 is reduced so that the displacement of the diaphragm 304 is reduced by 30%, the performance will be reduced by approximately 30%. If the compliance C of the spring 318 is reduced so that the displacement of the diaphragm 304 is reduced by 40%, the performance will be reduced by approximately 40%. If the compliance C of the spring 318 is reduced so that the displacement of the diaphragm 304 is reduced by 50%, the performance will be reduced by approximately 50%, after which the compliance C will reach a value of zero and the diaphragm or piston displacement will be The same applies until limited to displacement. The above naturally assumes that the system is being driven at or near its system resonance f _0, which can be shifted with changing values of C. Therefore, secondary vendor connections with non-zero compliance are considered within the scope of the present invention.

Reaction Drive Pump The reaction drive method described above provides a compact diaphragm actuator system for the diaphragm pump and compressor of the present invention. The flat topology of the reaction drive system enables high performance miniaturization of diaphragm pumps to MESO and MEMS size ranges.

  FIG. 7 shows the recoil drive pump embodiment of the present invention showing a top view and a side view of pump 79, with the plane shown with the plenum cover plate 88 removed. In FIG. 7, the pump body 80 includes an O-ring seal 82 that forms a pressure seal between the pump body 80 and the actuator cover plate 86, and the pump body 80 is disposed between the pump body 80 and the plenum cover plate 88. An O-ring seal 84 is provided that forms a pressure seal. The pump 79 further includes a fluid diaphragm 90 that is held between an O-ring 92 and an O-ring 94 that are clamped in the pump body 80 by a threaded clamp ring 96. The fluid diaphragm 90 is typically constructed of metal, but can be constructed of other materials. The standoff 98 is firmly connected to the center of the diaphragm 90, and the other end of the standoff 98 is firmly connected to the center of the bender actuator 100. An annular reaction mass 102 is connected around the bender actuator 100. Wire 104 connects bender actuator 100 to hermetic electrical feedthrough 106, all of which serves to connect the bender actuator to an external voltage waveform generator. A compression chamber 108 is defined by a fluid diaphragm 90 and a pump body 80.

  The pump body 80 of FIG. 7 also includes an annular exhaust plenum 110 and a cylindrical inlet plenum 112, with the exhaust plenum 110 and the cylindrical inlet plenum 112 positioned coaxially in the pump body 80. The discharge plenum 110 is connected to the compression chamber 108 by six discharge ports 114 shown in the plan view of FIG. 7 but not visible in the side view. The inlet plenum 112 is connected to the compression chamber 108 by six inlet ports 116. The discharge reed valve 120 is seated on the floor 118 of the discharge plenum 110 and covers the discharge port 114, and its outline is shown in the plan view of FIG. Sitting on the floor 122 of the inlet plenum 112 and covering the inlet port 116 is an inlet reed valve 124, the outline of which is shown by the dotted line in the plan view of FIG. The discharge reed valve 120 is pressed against the floor 118 of the discharge plenum 110 by an annular spacer 126, and the spacer is pressed against the plenum cover plate 88. The inlet reed valve 124 is pressed around the upper surface 128 of the compression cavity 108 by an O-ring 92. The inlet and outlet reed valves of this embodiment are typically constructed from flapper valve steel and are 0.001 to 0.004 mils thick in the case of small compressors operating in the 200-300 Hz frequency range. A gasket 130 forms a pressure seal between the discharge plenum 110 and the inlet plenum 112. Within the plenum cover plate 88 is an inlet passage 132 that directs the flow from outside the pump 79 to the inlet plenum 112 and a discharge passage 134 that directs the flow from the discharge plenum 110 toward the outside of the pump 79.

In operation, an alternating voltage waveform of frequency f is applied to the bender actuator 100 to oscillate it at a frequency f between bending deflections, for example the bending deflection shown in FIG. When the bender actuator 100 mechanically oscillates at a frequency f, the oscillating force is transmitted to the fluid diaphragm 90 via the standoff 98, causing the diaphragm 90 to also oscillate at the frequency f, thereby causing the pressure in the compression chamber 108 to increase. Can be swung at a frequency f. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the power take-off (PTO) point from the bender actuator 100 is at the center of the bender actuator 100. If the electrical drive frequency f is equal to or close to the system resonance frequency f ₀ , the displacement of the fluid diaphragm 90 increases in proportion to or substantially proportional to the resonance quality factor Q of the system at frequency f. It should be. In such an aspect, the resonant frequency f ₀ of the system at a given operating condition is due to the damping associated with the pumping work, including the combined stiffness of the mechanical and fluid springs, effective moving mass, valve loss, etc. Can be determined.

  The suction stroke occurs when the diaphragm 90 moves down from the upper surface 128 of the compression chamber 108, and the exhaust stroke occurs when the diaphragm 90 moves up from the upper surface 128 of the compression chamber 108. During the suction stroke, the fluid pressure in the compression cavity 108 will be lower than the fluid pressure in the inlet plenum 112, and the resulting pressure differential will open the inlet reed valve 124, thereby allowing fluid to flow from the inlet plenum 112 to the inlet port 116. Pass through and flow into the compression cavity 108. When the diaphragm 90 reaches the bottom of its stroke, it turns to mark the start of the compression stroke and the fluid pressure in the compression chamber begins to increase. When the fluid pressure in the compression cavity 108 exceeds the fluid pressure in the inlet plenum 112, the resulting pressure differential closes the inlet reed valve 124, thereby sealing the inlet port 116 and from the inlet plenum 112 to the compression cavity. Stop fluid flow into 108. During the compression stroke, the fluid pressure in the compression cavity 108 exceeds the fluid in the exhaust plenum 110, and the resulting pressure differential opens the exhaust reed valve 120, thereby allowing fluid to pass from the compression cavity 108 through the outlet port 114. And flow into the discharge plenum 110. When diaphragm 90 reaches the top of its stroke, it turns to mark the start of the suction stroke and the fluid pressure in the compression chamber begins to drop. When the fluid pressure in the compression cavity 108 becomes lower than the fluid pressure in the exhaust plenum 110, the resulting pressure differential closes the exhaust reed valve 120, thereby allowing fluid flow from the compression cavity 108 into the exhaust plenum 110. Stop or effectively stop. In this way, a net fluid flow is generated that passes through the pump 79 and fluid is drawn through the inlet passage 132 and discharged through the discharge passage 134. Similarly, what supports the closing of the intake and exhaust valves is the spring stiffness of the valve that always attempts to restore the valve to the closed position.

  The diaphragm 90 of the pump 79 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 does not have a fixed displacement. Within the displacement limit of diaphragm 90, the displacement amplitude of diaphragm 90 can be changed by changing the amplitude of the drive voltage waveform, it can be changed by changing the drive frequency relative to the system resonance frequency, or the voltage It can also be varied by changing both amplitude and frequency. As such, the diaphragm 90 is free to move between a plurality of first positions and a plurality of second positions, the first position being the compression chamber 108 at the top of each compression stroke. The second position is located furthest from the surface 128 of the compression chamber 108 at the end of each suction stroke. The diaphragm can be operably moved to a plurality of first positions in a continuous compression stroke and operably moved to a plurality of second positions in a continuous suction stroke in response to a changing drive voltage or drive frequency. can do. This plurality of diaphragm displacement amplitudes provides variable capacity operation where changing the displacement of the diaphragm changes the capacity of the pump in the case of pump 79 and other pump aspects of the invention. This volume variability feature can be used with either liquid or gas.

  The pump 79 of FIG. 7 is approximately 2.25 inches in diameter as measured across the pump body. The diaphragm used is typically made of flapper valve steel approximately 0.002 to 0.005 inches thick. For air, the typical operating frequency varies from 200 to 400 Hz based on the system compression ratio, flow rate and specific design.

  In many other aspects of the invention, the relative diameters of the bender actuator and the fluid diaphragm are different from those exemplified herein. The diameter of the bender may be larger or smaller than the diameter of the fluid diaphragm. Both the force required to drive the fluid diaphragm and the flow capacity of the pump increase with the diameter of the fluid diaphragm. The diameter of the bender actuator required to provide the desired force varies with the type of bender actuator.

Pressurization and Pressure Equalization The O-rings 82 and 84 of FIG. 7 provide a pressure seal for the pump body 80 and allow operation with high pressure fluid. For example, the pump of many aspects of the present invention can be used as a compressor in a refrigeration or heat pump loop, which is useful for spot cooling or heating applications where a small compressor is required. FIG. 8 shows a vapor compression heat transfer cycle having a refrigerant compressor 140, a condenser 142, a pressure drop capillary 144, an evaporator 146, and a cooled region 148. During operation, the compressor 140 condenses the gaseous refrigerant into a liquid in the condenser 142, undergoes a pressure drop in the capillary 144, absorbs heat from the cooled region 148, boils in the evaporator 146, and finally Provides a flow and pressure increase for the refrigerant flowing clockwise along the loop back to the compressor 140 in the gaseous state.

  For applications of the pump 79 of FIG. 7 that require a fluid pressure increase, the diaphragm 90 can be prevented from distorting in response to an increase in average pressure within the compression chamber 108. The higher average pressure in the compression chamber 108 can inflate the diaphragm 90 away from the inner surface 128 of the compression chamber 108. For a given peak-to-peak diaphragm displacement, this diaphragm distortion can increase the gap volume of the pump and increase the bending stress of diaphragm 90.

  Pressure induced diaphragm distortion can be reduced by increasing the stiffness of diaphragm 90. Another way to suppress pressure induced diaphragm distortion may be to equalize the pressure on both sides of the fluid diaphragm 90. As shown in FIG. 7, pressure equalization holes 136 in diaphragm 90 can provide pressure equalization for the pump of the present invention. If the average fluid pressure in the compression chamber 108 rises above the fluid pressure in the actuator chamber 138, the resulting pressure differential causes fluid to flow from the compression chamber 108 into the actuator chamber 138 until the pressure is equalized. Can be made.

  The diameter of the pressure equalization hole 136 can be selected to provide a pressure equalization time constant that is a number of pumping cycles during the period. If the flow time constant is too short (the hole is too large), the flow capacity and efficiency of the pump may be reduced as energy may be wasted in and out of the hole 136 in each pumping cycle . If the flow time constant is relatively long (eg, the hole is too small), pressure equalization may be too slow to prevent diaphragm distortion. The sizing of the hole 136 can be determined from an orifice flow calculation based on a given pressure differential across the hole and the volume of the actuator chamber 138. As an alternative to the diaphragm hole 136, a perforation through the pump body 80 that connects the compression chamber 108 to the actuator chamber 138 can also be used.

Gap Volume In most aspects of the invention, compression ratio = (Y _s + V _c ) / V _{c where} V _s is the stroke volume and V _c is the gap volume The compression ratio can be based on the gap volume of the pump. Crevice volume is the volume of the compression chamber when the diaphragm is at the top of its stroke.

  When diaphragm 90 of pump 79 in FIG. 7 is at the top of its stroke, a substantial gap volume remains around compression chamber 108. In the case of a design like the pump 79, the gap volume at the maximum stroke can be, for example, 1/3 of the stroke volume. For applications where no pressure increase is required, the design of the pump 79 can provide the necessary performance.

  FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention that reduces the gap volume. In FIG. 9, a side view and a top view are presented, the top view being shown with the plenum cap removed. In FIG. 9, a pump 162 is provided, and a tapered ring 150 is used instead of the O-ring 92 of FIG. To avoid covering the exhaust port, the tapered ring 150 has a port that matches the exhaust port in the compressor body 160, but the port is not shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. It has not been. The pump 162 also uses an inlet reed valve 154 indicated by a dotted line in the plan view of FIG. 9 in place of the inlet reed valve 124 of FIG. The inlet lead 154 is located in the center of the upper surface 158 of the compression chamber 152 so as not to obstruct the tapered O-ring 150. In operation, when the diaphragm 156 is displaced toward the upper surface 158 of the compression chamber 152, the surrounding bending profile of the diaphragm 156 closely matches the radial contour of the tapered ring 150, thereby compressing the compression chamber 152. It is expected to reduce the gap volume. Alternatively, the contour of the tapered ring 150 can be included in the pump body 160 as part of its integral structure. Many methods and structures for reducing the diaphragm volume of a diaphragm compressor can be used to implement such aspects of the invention.

  FIG. 10 provides an embodiment of the present invention for further reducing the oscillating pump clearance volume, where the standoff 170 of the pump 168 has an upper section 164 of diameter D secured to the diaphragm 166. The area of the diaphragm 166 attached to the section 164 of the standoff 170 can be constrained to move planarly like the piston face, but with a diameter greater than D and smaller than the clamping diameter. It is believed that the outer section of the diaphragm 166 having it flexes freely like an enclosing membrane. This piston diaphragm structure, combined with a tapered compression chamber, results in a smaller clearance volume than the pump 162 of FIG. The piston-like design of the pump 168 can increase the stress on the diaphragm 166 for a given displacement and thus may force the choice of diaphragm material and thickness. However, improved performance can reduce the displacement for a given operating condition, thereby tending to offset higher stress on the diaphragm.

  The height and contour of the compression chamber shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 are somewhat exaggerated for clarity. When shaping the compression chamber to minimize the gap volume, the specific contour used depends on the shape of the diaphragm piston at maximum stroke, which is conversely a function of the specific design chosen. .

  For some aspects of the invention, the specific design can represent a compromise between a low gap volume and the way in which the spring nature of the fluid in the compression cavity affects system dynamics. Low gap volume can result as a result of less fluid remaining at the end of the compression stroke, and thus lower fluid spring stiffness and corresponding restoring force. If a very low gap volume is desired, a mechanical spring can be added to supplement the lost fluid spring stiffness. Such a mechanical spring may take the form of the alignment disk 76 of FIG. 6, may take the form of a leaf spring, or may simply involve the use of a more rigid fluid diaphragm.

  Those skilled in the art will envision many other ways to reduce the gap volume. Other variations of how the piston can interfere with the compression chamber to reduce the gap volume are disclosed in prior art patents U.S. Patent 3,572,908, U.S. Patent 6,514,047, British Patent 428,632, British Patent 700,368 and U.S. Pat. See in patent 4,874,299. The contents of all these patents are incorporated herein by reference.

Valves The relatively high operating frequency of the present invention means that passive valve designs often take into account certain fluid and mechanical dynamics issues that become increasingly critical at higher frequencies. These frequency-related effects include, for example, the inertia and spring stiffness of the moving valve and the associated opening and closing time, the inertia timing effect of the fluid as it accelerates through the valve and valve port flow path, and the size and cross-section of the valve port The profile has an effect on fluid flow timing. These parameters can be used to enhance the flow and pressure performance of a given pump design and can be well modeled using a number of numerical lumped element models. In some embodiments of the pump, a reed valve without a valve stopper may be used to provide a flat valve. Without a valve stopper, the valve must be tuned by selecting appropriate valve stiffness and valve mass to achieve good valve timing for a particular pump operating frequency, flow rate and compression ratio.

  Some aspects of the invention can be operated without moving a mechanical valve, such as a reed valve, by appropriate tuning of the valve port. Valve port tuning can take the form of various valve port types that are well known in the art, such as diffuser valves, nozzle valves, and Tesla valves, to name a few. These valve ports typically present varying cross-sectional areas for fluid flow through the port, presenting low flow obstruction in one direction, and presenting high flow obstruction in the opposite direction. Designed to be This difference in directional flow obstruction creates a rectifying effect that transforms the oscillating flow into a net flow in one direction. A tuned port alone cannot provide the flow and pressure performance of a mechanical valve, such as a reed valve, but provides simplicity and reliability and can be scaled to small size and high frequency.

  The pumps of some aspects of the present invention also include an actuating valve that can be moved by a bender actuator, electromagnetic actuator, electrostatic actuator or other actuator that can provide the displacement and frequency response required by a given application. Can be used. Some embodiments of the pump can also use a valve stopper that limits the opening height of the valve to optimize valve performance, as is well known in the art of pump valves.

  FIG. 11 shows another pump embodiment of the present invention in which the inlet reed valve is located on the movable diaphragm / piston assembly. In FIG. 11, the pump 172 includes a pump body 174, a bender actuator 176, a standoff 178 with a lower end rigidly connected to the bender actuator 176 and an upper end rigidly connected to the fluid diaphragm 180. The standoff 178 includes six inlet ports 182 in a circle, and only two of the six inlet ports 182 are shown in the plan view of the pump 172. An inlet reed valve 184 is secured to the center of the diaphragm 180 so that the petals of the inlet reed valve 184 cover the inlet port 182. The pump body 174 includes six outlet ports 186 in a circle, and only two of the six outlet ports 186 are shown in the plan view of the pump 172. The outlet reed valve 188 is tightly connected to the surface 190 of the pump body 174 so that the petals of the outlet reed valve 188 cover the outlet port 186.

  In operation, when a voltage waveform of frequency f is applied to the bender actuator 176, it excites the system resonance of the pump 172 as described above, and the fluid diaphragm 180 responds to swing between the two displacement extremes. Thereby, the fluid pressure in the compression cavity 196 is oscillated at the frequency f. In response to the oscillating fluid pressure in the compression cavity 196, the inlet valve 184 and outlet valve 188 are opened and closed in turn, one cycle per cycle, thereby passing low pressure fluid through the pump body inlet 194 and the actuator chamber 200. Through the inlet port 182 and into the compression chamber 196, then high pressure fluid is passed through the outlet port 186, through the outlet plenum 198, through the pump body outlet 192, and out of the pump 172. Positioning the inlet port and inlet reed valve on standoff 178 provides design flexibility and allows further miniaturization of the pump. Another advantage is that the piston motion provides a natural actuation of the inlet valve that shows the valve inertia and the piston motion tends to cause the valve to open and close in the correct phase with the pressure cycle.

  A simple redesign of the reed valve for the pump 172 of FIG. 11 positions the outlet valve on the standoff 178, thereby covering the back of the port 182 and positioning the inlet valve on the surface 190 of the pump body 174. Will make it possible. In this case, it is considered that the outlet valve, rather than the inlet valve, is advantageous.

Reducing Pump Swing In some aspects of the invention, the higher the fluid compression, the greater the potential vibration amplitude of the pump. FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention that can reduce pump vibration. Here there are two opposing fluid diaphragms. 12 includes a pump body 204, a first bender actuator 206, a first standoff 208 whose lower end is rigidly connected to the first bender actuator 206 and whose upper end is rigidly connected to the first fluid diaphragm 210. Pump 202 is presented. The first standoff 208 comprises six outlet ports 212 in a circle, with only two of the six outlet ports 212 being shown in the plane of the cross section of the pump 202. An outlet reed valve 214 is mounted on the same surface as the lower surface 216 of the first standoff 208 so that the petals of the outlet reed valve 214 cover the outlet port 212. The inner ring 218 of the outlet reed valve 214 is fixed to the lower surface 216 of the first standoff 208 so that the petals of the outlet reed valve 214 can be freely opened and closed in a cantilever manner.

  The pump 202 further comprises a second bender actuator 220, a second standoff 222 whose upper end is rigidly connected to the second bender actuator 220 and whose upper end is rigidly connected to the second fluid diaphragm 224. The second standoff 222 includes six inlet ports 226 in a circle, with only two of the six outlet ports 226 being shown in the plan view of the pump 202. An inlet reed valve 228 is mounted flush with the lower surface 230 of the second fluid diaphragm 224 so that the petals of the inlet reed valve 228 cover the inlet port 226. A central area 232 of the inlet reed valve 228 is secured to the lower surface 230 of the second fluid diaphragm 224 so that the petals of the inlet reed valve 228 can be freely opened and closed in a cantilever fashion. The pump 202 also includes a pump enclosure that includes a cylindrical housing 236, an upper enclosure cap 238 and a lower enclosure cap 240. The cylindrical housing 236 has a housing inlet 250 and a housing outlet 248. The cylindrical housing 236 is connected to the pump body 204 by a resilient annular ring 242 that provides a pressure seal between the discharge plenum 244 and the inlet plenum 246.

  During operation, a voltage waveform of frequency f is applied to both the first and second bender actuators 206 and 220, thereby causing both the first and second fluid diaphragms 210 and 224 to respond to their respective displacements. Swing between extremes. A voltage waveform of frequency f is applied to the first and second bender actuators 206 and 220 in the same time phase, thereby traversing their compression and suction strokes in harmony with each fluid diaphragm, thereby It is ensured that the fluid pressure in the compression cavity 234 is swung at the frequency f. In response to the oscillating fluid pressure in the compression cavity 234, the outlet valve 214 and the inlet valve 228 open and close in turn, once a cycle, thereby passing low pressure fluid through the housing inlet 250 and into the inlet plenum 246. Through and into the compression chamber 234 through the inlet port 226, and then high pressure fluid is passed through the outlet port 212, through the outlet plenum 244, and discharged from the housing outlet 248.

  The pump 202 of FIG. 12 can have the following aspects. Positioning outlet valve 214 and inlet valve 228 on first and second standoffs 208 and 222, respectively, provides design flexibility and allows further miniaturization of the pump. Another aspect of this embodiment is that the movement of the first and second standoffs 208 and 222 tends to cause the valve inertia and the respective standoff movement to tend to open and close the valve in the correct phase with the pressure cycle. That is, natural operation of the valve 214 and the inlet valve 228 can be provided. A further advantage is provided by a resilient annular ring 242 that provides a level of vibration isolation between the pump body 204 and the pump housing. The stiffness of the annular ring 242 is selected by the designer to minimize vibration transmission from the pump body 204 to the pump housing 242 as is well understood in the damping technology. Alternatively, the valve of the pump 202 of FIG. 12 can be fixedly mounted around the compression chamber 234 within the pump body 204.

  The pump 202 of FIG. 12 benefits from other aspects of other embodiments disclosed herein, such as tuning springs to improve mechanical power factor, stabilizing springs to improve axial stability, and the like. Can be obtained.

Drive Circuit and Control The pump aspect of the present invention provides a large fluid diaphragm displacement depending on the mechanical resonance of the system. Changing operating conditions can shift the resonant frequency of the system. For example, the pump of the present invention can be said to be a non-linear mechanical oscillator in that the resonant frequency of the system can change with drive amplitude. As such, a resonance controller can be used if the application requires a change in drive voltage to change the flow capacity and pressure of the pump. One exemplary resonance controller in which the pump 252 of the present invention comprises a function generator 254, a drive amplifier 256, a microprocessor 258, and a low resistance resistor 260 is shown in FIG. In operation, when function generator 254 provides a voltage waveform of frequency f to amplifier 256, the amplifier, on the other hand, applies the amplified voltage waveform to the vendor actuator terminal of pump 252. For a given voltage amplitude V ₀ , the microprocessor 258 causes the time-varying voltage V (t) across the pump 252 terminals, the time-varying currents I (t) and V (t) and I (t ) Is measured. Then, the microprocessor 258 calculates the power rate cosφ, and further calculates the applied power P = V (t) · I (t) · cosφ. The applied power P reaches the maximum value at the system resonance frequency f ₀ . Thus, the microprocessor 258 keeps the drive frequency f close to the system resonance frequency f ₀ by continuously executing a search routine that causes an incremental change in the frequency f, and then determines whether P has increased or decreased. . If P decreases for a given frequency change, the microprocessor 258 produces a step change in frequency having an arithmetic sign that is opposite to the previous frequency change step. If P increases for a given frequency change, microprocessor 258 produces a step change in frequency having an arithmetic sign that is the same as the previous frequency change step.

  Many other resonance control methods can be used. For example, the parameter maximized by the resonant controller can be a signal provided by a displacement sensor closest to the bender actuator, a pressure sensor at the outlet of the pump, or an accelerometer attached to the pump body. Another approach is to use a phase locked loop PLL to maintain a target time phase angle between drive voltage and current that matches the desired drive frequency equal to or close to the system resonance frequency. Let's go.

  In the case of a pump having two opposing fluid diaphragms, such as pump 202 of FIG. 12, additional control can also increase force cancellation. The circuit shown in FIG. 14 provides one aspect of the force cancellation control and the resonance control apparatus as shown in FIG. In FIG. 14, the dual diaphragm pump 262 of the present invention has a first bender actuator 280 and a second bender actuator 282, and further includes a first amplifier 264, a second amplifier 266, a microprocessor 268, and function generation. And a control circuit including a first current sensing resistor 272, a second current sensing resistor 274, a first displacement sensor 276, a second displacement sensor 278 and an accelerometer 284.

In operation, when function generator 270 provides a voltage waveform of frequency f to first and second amplifiers 264 and 266, each amplifier provides a respective amplified voltage waveform to first and second bender actuators of pump 262. Applied to 280 and 282. For a given voltage amplitude V ₀ , the microprocessor 268 measures the time-varying voltage V (t) across the terminals of the bender actuators 280 and 282 and the time-varying current I (t) across the resistors 272 and 274. The time phase angle φ between each V (t) and I (t) of the bender actuators 280 and 282 is measured. Then, the microprocessor 268 calculates the power rate cosφ, and further calculates the applied power P = V (t) · I (t) · cosφ for each vendor actuator. The applied power P reaches the maximum value at the system resonance frequency f ₀ . Thus, the microprocessor 268 keeps the drive frequency f of the function generator 270 close to the system resonance frequency f ₀ by continuously executing a search routine that causes an incremental change in the frequency f, and then decreases or increases P Decide what you did. If P decreases for a given frequency change, the microprocessor 268 causes a step change in frequency having an arithmetic sign that is opposite to the previous frequency change step. If P increases for a given frequency change, the microprocessor 268 causes a step change in frequency with an arithmetic sign that is the same as the previous frequency change step.

  Microprocessor 268 measures the displacement amplitude of bender actuators 280 and 282 by respective displacement sensors 276 and 278 while operating simultaneously with the resonance controller of FIG. Adjustments are made so that the diaphragms have equal displacement amplitude. Microprocessor 268 also monitors the output of accelerometer 284 and makes further adjustments in the relative gains of amplifiers 264 and 266 to minimize the acceleration signal of accelerometer 284, thereby minimizing pump 262 vibration To do. Those skilled in the art will be able to conceive of many other equivalent control schemes that can minimize pump vibration by controlling the relative displacement of the two diaphragm compressor of the present invention. Another feedback source for the control circuit is sensing the electrical characteristics of the bender actuator viewed from the bender terminal.

Synthetic Jet Another application of the reaction drive system of some embodiments of the present invention is in the operation of a synthetic jet. FIG. 15 shows a synthetic jet device 286 having the reaction driven actuator aspect of the present invention, which is rigidly placed in the middle of a bender actuator 288, a fluid diaphragm 292, a diaphragm 292 having a reaction mass 290 rigidly connected around it. Connected, the other end of the standoff 294 is provided with a standoff 294, a fluid filled cavity 296 and a mouth 298 that are rigidly connected to the center of the bender actuator 288.

  In operation, the bender actuator 288 drives the fluid diaphragm 292 at a frequency f such that energy is stored in the system resonance, thereby allowing the displacement of the fluid diaphragm 292 to exceed the bending displacement of the bender actuator 288. Displacement oscillation of diaphragm 292 generates oscillation pressure in cavity 296 at frequency f, thereby causing fluid to oscillate back and forth at frequency f in port 298. As is known in the art of synthetic jets, the rocking of the fluid within the port 298 generates a pulsating jet that travels away from the synthetic jet 286 along the cylindrical axis of the port 298. One possible result of using a reaction driven diaphragm actuator is that more energy can be transferred to the fluid in a unit of the same size, resulting in a higher jet flow.

Fluid Applications The recoil drive actuators of some aspects of the present invention can be applied to many applications where energy must be added to the fluid, especially smaller fluid applications. Reaction drive actuators of some embodiments include atomizers for a number of liquids including fuel, fuel, gas, two-phase mixing, eg, mixers for liquid and gas mixing and powders, chemical manufacturing, respiratory drugs It can be used for applications such as microreactors for mixing in conjunction with delivery. Some embodiments of the pump can be used when pumps and compressors are found in consumer, commercial, industrial, medical and scientific applications, with small size, high performance, low noise and low vibration. This is particularly advantageous when required. The pumps of the present invention further include applications including general compression of gases such as air, hydrocarbons, process gases, high purity gases, hazardous corrosive gases and compression of phase change refrigerants for refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps, and Can be used in other dedicated vapor compression heat transfer applications.

  Some aspects of the pumps described herein can be used with a variety of consumer and industrial products. By way of example only, some pumps are self-contained that can fit into portable electronic devices such as portable computing devices, PDAs and mobile phones, circuit cards, and provide cooling for microprocessors and other semiconductor electronic components. And can be used with miniaturized fuel cells for portable personal medical devices for ambulatory patients and the like. Thus, the present invention extends to apparatus and systems and methods that use the pump in such manner.

  The invention includes a method of implementing the invention, software for implementing the invention, and apparatus configured to embody the invention. Accordingly, the present invention provides a program product and hardware and firmware for implementing an algorithm for practicing the present invention, as well as a description of the control and method implementation of the apparatus described herein. System and method described in the document. Thus, by way of example, the present invention includes a processor with logic for controlling a pump or pump components in accordance with the present invention. It will be appreciated that "processor" as used herein encompasses simple and complex circuits and computer processors.

  Although the present invention allows miniaturization, the scope of the present invention is in no way limited to any given size aspect. Various aspects and enhancements of the invention are disclosed herein, and those skilled in the art will be able to use many different combinations of these aspects and enhancements. All the various combinations of these aspects depend on the requirements of a given application and are considered to be within the scope of the present invention. For example, the number of valves used, whether additional axial stability is required, the use of one or two diaphragms, whether control is required, the type of method of joining parts, used The type of bender actuator, the type of seal used, and the series or parallel use of pumps all depend on the performance and cost requirements of a given application. Another example of an application within the scope of the invention that would occur to those skilled in the art is to position one bender actuator between two adjacent fluid diaphragms, each with its own compression chamber, Will drive two diaphragms with push-pull structure. Furthermore, the pumps of the present invention can be increased or decreased in size and can be used in closed cycle systems as well as open systems, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

  Some of the foregoing descriptions of aspects of the invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or intended to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments clearly illustrate the principles of the invention and its practical use so that others skilled in the art will be able to make the invention suitable for the specific applications contemplated and in various modifications. It is selected and described so that it can be used well while adding. Although the above description includes many specificities, these should not be considered as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as examples of alternatives thereof.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate aspects of the invention and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the reaction drive system of the present invention showing the bender disk in an undeflected state. It is sectional drawing of the bender actuator which shows the deflection | deviation shape of the bender disc responsive to an alternating voltage waveform. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention having a reaction mass that can improve mechanical power transfer from a bender disk. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention having an elliptical tuning spring that can improve the mechanical power factor of a bender actuator. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention having a disk tuning spring that can improve the mechanical power factor of a bender actuator. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention having an axial alignment disc that can improve axial stability. It is sectional drawing of another aspect of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the reaction drive pump aspect of this invention. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a reaction driven pump embodiment of the present invention that provides refrigerant compression and flow in a closed loop vapor compression heat transfer system. FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a reaction driven pump embodiment of the present invention that provides a reduced clearance volume. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a reaction driven pump embodiment of the present invention for further reducing clearance volume, with the diaphragm having an increased diameter of a diaphragm standoff that is more piston-like in its displacement than the embodiment of FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a reaction driven pump embodiment of the present invention that reduces valve size and provides valve actuation by positioning an inlet valve on a fluid diaphragm. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a reaction driven pump embodiment of the present invention that drives two opposing fluid diaphragms and, therefore, in some embodiments minimizes the force transmitted to the pump housing by force cancellation and reduces pump vibration. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a drive circuit having a resonance control device for use with some pumps of aspects of the present invention. It is a block diagram of a dual diaphragm drive circuit having a resonance control device and control for balancing diaphragm drive force. It is sectional drawing of the synthetic jet aspect of this invention.

Claims (36)

At least a portion of the chamber includes a portion that is movable relative to another portion of the chamber, and the movable portion is adapted to change the volume of the chamber from a first volume to a second volume by movement of the movable portion. A chamber for receiving fluid;
A bender actuator attached to the movable part such that a part of the bender actuator can move independently of the movable part;
The bender actuator is at least one of (i) directly connected to the movable part and (ii) linked to the movable part to form a bender / movable part assembly;
The vendor is not effectively connected to any other device parts other than moving parts and is not effectively linked,
The bender / movable part assembly is adapted to move substantially only by swinging the bender at a certain drive frequency;
Fluid energy transfer device.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vendor is connected to an electrical lead adapted to conduct electricity to the vendor.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bender is elastically connected to an apparatus part separate from the movable part.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bender is connected to a device part separate from the movable part via a non-rigid connection.   The bender actuator is adapted to bend at a frequency such that the bender and moving part move between the first position and the second position substantially only by bending of the actuator, the first position and the second position The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distance between the first and second positions is substantially greater than the actuator peak-to-peak bend distance.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bender actuator is adapted to oscillate the movable part at a frequency to store energy in the system resonance of the apparatus.   There is further provided an axial stabilization structure connected to the bender / movable part assembly and adapted to allow axial movement of the bender / movable part assembly and to prevent lateral movement of the bender / movable part assembly. The device of claim 1, comprising:   The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a controller operatively connected to the vendor adapted to change the drive frequency in response to a change in the system resonant frequency.   The performance includes at least one of a flow rate of fluid exiting the device and a fluid pressure of fluid exiting the device, and the controller also automatically changes the vendor drive force in response to the monitored performance of the device. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a controller adapted to monitor the performance of the apparatus adapted to.   The controller automatically changes the driving force of the bender actuator so that the stroke distance of the movable part is automatically changed from the first process distance to the second stroke distance different from the first stroke distance. The apparatus of claim 9, further adapted.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the movable part is a diaphragm. A fluid, wherein at least a portion of the chamber includes a portion that is movable relative to another portion of the chamber, the movable portion being adapted to change the volume of the chamber from a first volume to a second volume. A chamber for receiving,
A bender actuator attached to the movable part,
The bender actuator is at least one of (i) directly connected to the movable part and (ii) linked to the movable part to form a bender / movable part assembly;
The bender actuator is adapted to bend at a frequency such that the bender / diaphragm assembly moves between the first position and the second position substantially by bending of the actuator;
The distance between the first position and the second position is at least one of a distance greater than and less than a distance between the peak-to-peak bends of the actuator;
Fluid energy transfer device.   13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the distance between the first position and the second position is at least about an order of magnitude greater than the actuator peak-to-peak bend distance. An apparatus according to claim 12,
At least a portion of the fluid present in the chamber;
A fluid system in which a bender actuator is adapted to operate at a drive frequency to store energy in a system resonance. An apparatus according to claim 12,
At least a portion of the fluid present in the chamber;
The apparatus has a system resonant frequency governed by a combined effective moving mass of the mechanical part and fluid and a combined effective spring stiffness of the mechanical part and fluid;
A fluid system in which the bender actuator is adapted to be operable at or near the system resonance frequency.   13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the bender is not effectively connected and effectively linked to any other parts of the pump other than the moving parts. At least a portion of the chamber includes a portion that is movable relative to another portion of the chamber, and the movable portion is adapted to change the volume of the chamber from a first volume to a second volume by movement of the movable portion. A chamber for receiving fluid;
A bender actuator attached to the moving part,
Providing a pump for pumping fluid;
The bender is oscillated at a certain drive frequency so that the force is transmitted to the movable part in a reaction to the bender's sway, and the movable part is moved by the displacement distance of the bender when the bender oscillates. Displacement in a manner that is at least one of greater or less than the peak-to-peak bend displacement of the liquid and moving the fluid into the chamber by moving the moving part to increase the volume of the chamber. .   18. The method of claim 17, further comprising oscillating the bender at a frequency to obtain a displacement distance of the movable part that is at least about an order of magnitude greater than the maximum peak-to-peak bending displacement of the bender encountered during bender oscillation.   18. The method of claim 17, further comprising oscillating the bender at a drive frequency that is at least one of a frequency close to and equal to the system fundamental resonance frequency of the pump.   By swinging the bender at a certain drive frequency so that force is transmitted to the moving part in reaction to the swinging of the bender, the moving part is displaced in a way that stores energy in the system resonance, and the bender The method of claim 17, further comprising obtaining a displacement distance of the moving part that exceeds a maximum peak-to-peak bending displacement of the bender encountered during the swinging of the moving part. Opening the entrance to the chamber and closing the exit to the chamber;
Further comprising closing the inlet to the chamber and opening the outlet to the chamber;
To draw fluid into the chamber, the operation of opening the inlet to the chamber and closing the outlet to the chamber is synchronized in time with the first movement of the movable part that increases the volume of the chamber;
In order to send the fluid out of the chamber, the operation of closing the inlet to the chamber and opening the outlet of the chamber is synchronized in time with a second movement of the movable part that reduces the volume of the chamber;
The method of claim 17, wherein fluid flows into the chamber during at least a portion of the time that the inlet is open, and fluid flows out of the chamber during at least a portion of the time that the outlet is open. The pump bender actuator is at least one of (i) directly connected to the moving part and (ii) linked to the moving part;
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the vendor is not effectively connected and effectively linked to any other device parts other than moving parts.   18. The method of claim 17, further comprising oscillating the bender actuator to oscillate the movable part at a frequency to store energy in the system resonance of the pump.   24. The method of claim 22, wherein the vendor is connected to an electrical lead that is adapted to conduct electricity to the vendor.   23. The method of claim 22, wherein the bender is elastically connected to a device part that is separate from the moving part.   The method further includes the step of operating the bender at a drive frequency to store energy in the pump system resonance, wherein the system resonance frequency is determined by the combined effective moving mass of the mechanical component and fluid and the combined effective spring stiffness of the mechanical component and fluid. The method of claim 17, wherein the method is controlled.   18. The method of claim 17, further comprising operating the bender at or near a pump system resonance frequency. At least a portion of the chamber includes a portion that is movable relative to another portion of the chamber, and the movable portion is adapted to change the volume of the chamber from a first volume to a second volume by movement of the movable portion. A chamber for receiving fluid;
A bending actuator including a bending portion, wherein the bending portion of the bending actuator is attached to the movable portion so that the bending portion can move independently of the movable portion;
The bender actuator is at least one of (i) directly connected to the movable part and (ii) linked to the movable part to form a bender / movable part assembly;
The vendor is at least one of (a) not securely connected and (b) not firmly linked to any other device parts other than moving parts;
The bender / movable part assembly is adapted to move only by swinging the bender substantially at a certain drive frequency;
Fluid energy transfer device. A refrigerant compressor comprising the apparatus of claim 1;
A condenser,
A pressure drop capillary,
Including an evaporator,
A refrigerant system, wherein the refrigerant compressor, condenser, pressure drop capillary, and evaporator are in a refrigerant loop. A refrigerant compressor comprising the apparatus of claim 12;
A condenser,
Including an evaporator,
A refrigerant system in which the refrigerant compressor, condenser, and evaporator are in a refrigerant loop.   18. The step of imparting movement to the refrigerant by performing the method of claim 17 and providing a pressure increase to move the gaseous refrigerant from the evaporator to the condenser to condense the refrigerant by performing the method of claim 17 wherein the liquid is a refrigerant. , Heat transfer method. The apparatus of claim 1;
A fluid inlet port in fluid communication with the chamber;
A fluid outlet port in fluid communication with the chamber;
The apparatus is adapted to draw fluid into the chamber through the inlet port in a manner that increases the volume of the chamber during movement of the movable part;
A pump, wherein the device is adapted to discharge fluid from the chamber through the outlet port in a manner that reduces the volume of the chamber during movement of the movable part.   A fluidic device comprising a synthetic jet comprising the device of claim 1. An apparatus according to claim 12,
A fluid inlet port in fluid communication with the chamber;
A fluid outlet port in fluid communication with the chamber;
The apparatus is adapted to draw fluid into the chamber through the inlet port in a manner that increases the volume of the chamber during movement of the movable part;
A pump, wherein the device is adapted to discharge fluid from the chamber through the outlet port in a manner that reduces the volume of the chamber during movement of the movable part.   A fluidic device comprising a synthetic jet comprising the device of claim 12.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bender is not connected to a separate part from the moving part, except for the electrical lead.

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