Fluid pumping system

Claim 1

A fluid pumping system comprising: a fluid-reception chamber having an inlet conduit leading from a fluid source site and an output conduit leading to a fluid delivery site; an elongate plunger means drivingly connected with said chamber and linearly reciprocable along its longitudinal axis so as to alternately expand and contract a volume of said chamber, thereby alternately drawing a fluid therein through said inlet conduit from said source site and pumping the fluid through said outlet conduit towards said delivery site; and electromagnetically operated drive means for effecting said linear reciprocation of the plunger means at a rate of reciprocation in the range between 0.01 and 10 Hz, said electromagnetically operated drive means including: an elongated member formed on said plunger means and comprised of magnetic material, said member being formed along one lateral surface with a plurality of equidistantly spaced magnetic teeth defining a row of such teeth, a plurality of magnetic flux generators disposed in a row opposite said row of teeth, each of said magnetic generators comprising a U-shaped core member having a pair of pole pieces confronting said row of teeth, the spacing between the pole pieces along said row of magnetic flux generators differing from the spacing of said teeth, and respective coils on each of said cores excitable electrically to generate respective magnetic fields at said cores, and a switching circuit connected to said coils for electrically exciting same in a predetermined sequence to displace said member in one and the opposite longitudinal direction.