Peristaltic Pump

Overview

A peristaltic pump moves fluid by squeezing a flexible tube, never by touching the fluid with any moving metal. As the Roller Rotor turns, its rollers press the Tube Element flat against a curved track inside the Pump Head. Each roller traps a pocket of fluid ahead of it and carries it toward the outlet; behind the roller the tube springs open and draws in a fresh charge. Because only the tube is wetted, the pump handles abrasive slurries, shear-sensitive cultures, and corrosive or sterile fluids cleanly, and changing fluids means changing one tube rather than stripping the pump.

The Drive Motor supplies the torque, the Reduction Gearbox drops its speed to the low rpm pumping needs, and the Speed Control Board holds the set speed so flow stays proportional to it. An Occlusion Adjuster mechanism trims how hard the rollers pinch the tube, and the Mounting Base base carries the whole train.

How it works

Flow is metered by geometry: each revolution of the rotor displaces a fixed volume set by the tube bore and the roller spacing, so flow rate is simply that volume times rpm. The Speed Control Board runs the Drive Motor at the speed dialed in on the Speed Potentiometer, and an Microcontroller keeps that speed steady regardless of back pressure, which is why these pumps dose and dispense so repeatably.

The squeeze itself comes from the Pump Roller set on the rotor hub. Each roller rides on a bearing so it rolls rather than scrubs along the tube, which limits heat and wear. The Occlusion Adjuster shifts the track a fraction of a millimetre: too much occlusion crushes the tube and shortens its life, too little lets fluid slip back past the roller. Setting it correctly balances flow accuracy against tube replacement interval.

Because the rollers fully close the tube, the pump is self-priming and can run dry without damage, and it holds prime against gravity when stopped. The tube wears as the only consumable, so it is routed to be swapped in seconds without tools. When pumping stops, the pinched tube also acts as a built-in shutoff, preventing free siphoning through the line.