Using check valves to improve fluidic systems

In high-precision fluidic systems it is often desirable to only allow liquids to move in a certain direction. The reason for this can be to protect sensitive upstream components, or to prevent contamination of reservoirs for liquid and gases that are introduced throughout the system. Occasionally the purpose may even be to eliminate the risk of chemical reactions to occur in the wrong places.

For all these situations, installation of a check valve is the perfect action to take. Inline check valves are designed to allow fluid flow only in one direction, while preventing it in the opposite direction. The construction of check valves differs between models but the principle of all is the same, and the sketch below shows a spring-assisted ball check valve to illustrate the working principle.

Some check valves are designed to be metal-free without springs, and these are particularly useful when the liquids are aggressive or if the fluid need to be protected from contact with metals because of biocompatibility or other reasons. Our check valves are manufactured with threaded fittings for 1/4-28 flat-bottom or 10-32 coned ports (male or female designs), making them easy to install into a variety of existing fluidic system constructions.

To learn more about different inline check valves we recommend you to read the product pages linked below, or to contact Biotech Fluidics to discuss your requirements and which inline check valves would be most suitable for your fluidic system layout.