High-pressure control valve for high-performance liquid chromatography

1. A high-pressure switching valve for high-performance liquid chromatography, the high-pressure switching valve comprising:

(a) a stator including a plurality of ports, wherein each port is connected at one end to a port connection and each port having at another end a predetermined port opening cross section at a stator end face of the stator,

(b) a rotor including a rotor end face, in which the rotor end face presses against the stator end face and in which the rotor end face includes at least one or a plurality of grooves, the rotor configured to have a rotary position with respect to the stator where two predetermined port opening cross sections connect to one of the grooves in a pressure-tight manner,

(c) wherein the rotor and the stator are pressed together in a sealing manner in a region of contact at the rotor end face and the stator end face,

(d) the rotor and the stator each comprise a hard material, and

(e) in that the rotor is configured to wobble or tilt with respect to a rotational axis of the rotor,

in which the stator end face includes a planar region in the region of contact with the rotor end face, and the rotor end face includes a domed region in the region of contact with the stator end face, or

the rotor end face includes a planar region in the region of contact with the stator end face, and the stator end face includes a domed region in the region of contact with the rotor end face, or

the rotor end face includes a domed region in the region of contact with the stator end face and the stator end face includes a domed region in the region of contact with the rotor end face, in which a peripheral region of the region of contact has a reduced surface pressure when applying pressure between the rotor and the stator compared to another high-pressure switching valve that does not have at least one domed region of a stator end face or a rotor end face.

2. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 1 , in which each port is a duct.

3. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 1 , in which the hard material is selected from the group consisting of a metal, a glass, and a ceramic.

4. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 1 , in which a portion of the rotor at a region of the rotor end face is the hard material and a portion of the stator at a region of the stator end face is the hard material.

5. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 1 further comprising: at least one cushion-like element coupled to the rotor that causes the rotor to wobble or tilt with respect to the rotational axis of the rotor.

6. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 5 , in which the cushion-like element is sufficiently soft and elastic to allow a wobbling movement and is also sufficiently rigid to generate the pressure force necessary for the sealing manner at the rotor end face and the stator end face.

7. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 5 , in which the cushion-like element is a material selected from the group consisting of a polymer material, a polyimide, a polyamideimide, and a polyether ketone.

8. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 5 , in which the cushion-like element comprises PEEK.

9. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 5 , in which the at least one cushion-like element is disposed in a recessed portion of a rotationally driven part of a drive for the rotor, the rotationally driven part being arranged on a side remote from the rotor end face.

10. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 5 , in which the cushion-like element comprises a spring element.

11. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 9 , in which the rotationally driven part is coupled to the rotor for conjoint rotation.

12. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 9 , in which the rotationally driven part includes a plurality of engagement elements configured to engage in corresponding recesses in the rotor and couple the rotor to the drive.

13. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 12 , in which the engagement elements and the recesses are configured to allow wobbling movements or tilting movements of the rotor.

14. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 12 , in which the engagement elements comprise pins and the recesses comprise holes.

15. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 14 , in which the recesses have a smaller diameter in a foot region of the corresponding engagement element than in a head region of the corresponding engagement element axially adjoining the foot region.

16. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 1 , in which the stator comprises:

a metal body that forms the port connections and

a glass or ceramic insert part that forms the stator end face.

17. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 16 , in which the stator further comprises: a plastic layer at least partially disposed in between the metal body and the insert part.

18. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 17 , in which the plastic layer is a material selected from the group consisting of a polyimide, a polyamideimide, and a polyether ketone.

19. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 1 , in which the hard material of the rotor end face and the stator end face each comprise an amorphous carbon coating.

20. The high-pressure switching valve of claim 19 , in which the amorphous carbon is applied by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition.