Valve for use in high-performance liquid chromatography having a spherical seat with beveled outer faces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9291605-B2
Application number	US-90986910-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2010
Priority date	Oct 26, 2009
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

A valve for use in high-performance liquid chromatography has a spherical seat and a ball that, when it abuts against the seat, constrains a fluid from flowing through the valve and is capable of moving axially in order to allow the fluid to flow through the valve. The spherical seat has beveled outer faces in order that a force acting on the valve along the axial direction will generate a force acting on the ball. The inclination of the beveled outer face is such that a force acting on the ball counteracts a force exerted on the spherical seat by the ball and essentially compensates it.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A valve for use in high-performance chromatography, comprising;
a spherical seating structure having a sealing surface, and
a ball configured for constraining, when it abuts against the sealing surface of the spherical seating structure, a fluid from flowing through the valve and for moving in an axial direction in order to allow the fluid to flow through the valve,
wherein the spherical seating structure has a beveled outer face separate and apart from the sealing surface, the beveled outer face being inclined with respect to the axial direction, cooperating with a housing structure and being configured such that a force acting on the valve along the axial direction generates a force acting on the ball, and
wherein the inclination of the beveled outer face is configured such that the force acting on the ball counteracts a force exerted by the ball on the spherical seating structure and essentially compensates it.

2. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the force acting on the ball has a component along the radial direction.

3. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the force exerted by the ball on the sealing surface of the spherical seating structure is a first planar force field, and the force acting on the ball is a second planar force field and opposingly superimposed on the first force field and essentially compensates it.

4. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein a restoring force acting on the ball is configured to press the ball against the sealing surface of the spherical seating structure in order to constrain the fluid from flowing through the valve.

5. The valve according to claim 4 , wherein the restoring force acting on the ball is due to a spring, a weight, the weight of the ball, and/or an elastomer.

6. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the spherical seating structure and the ball comprises at least one of a ceramic, ruby, or sapphire material.

7. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the spherical seating structure includes a second beveled outer face abuts against a second housing component.

8. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the beveled outer face is inclined with respect to the axial direction by an inclination within a range of 20°-70°.

9. The valve according to claim 8 , wherein the inclination is within a range of 30°-60°.

10. The valve according to claim 8 , wherein the inclination is about 45°.

11. A high-performance liquid-chromatography system having a pump configured for moving a mobile phase, a stationary phase configured for separating components of a sample liquid comprised into the mobile phase, and a valve, according to claim 1 situated in a flow path of the mobile phase.

12. The high-performance liquid-chromatography system according to claim 11 , comprising at least one of: a sample injector configured for injecting the sample liquid into the mobile phase; a detector configured for detecting separated components of the sample liquid; a fractioning device configured for outputting separated components of the sample liquid.

Assignees

• Wagner Joachim-Richard
• Agilent Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Wagner Joachim-Richard

Classifications

• F16K25/005

  Particular materials for seats or closure elements · CPC title

• G01N2030/328

  valves, e.g. check valves of pumps · CPC title

• F16K1/42

  Valve seats (for double-seat valves F16K1/44) · CPC title

• G01N30/36 Primary

  in high pressure liquid systems · CPC title

• G01N30/20

  using a sampling valve · CPC title