vacuum technology

vacuum technology, all processes and physical measurements carried out under conditions of below-normal atmospheric pressure. A process or physical measurement is generally performed in a vacuum for one of the following reasons: (1) to remove the constituents of the atmosphere that could cause a physical or chemical reaction during the process (e.g., vacuum melting of reactive metals such as titanium); (2) to disturb an equilibrium condition that exists at normal room conditions, such as the removal of occluded or dissolved gas or volatile liquid from the bulk of material (e.g., degassing of oils, freeze-drying) or desorption of gas from surfaces (e.g., the cleanup of microwave tubes and linear accelerators during manufacture); (3) to extend the distance that a particle must travel before it collides with another, thereby helping the particles in a process to move without collision between source and target (examples of uses are in vacuum coating, particle accelerators, television picture tubes); (4) to reduce the number of molecular impacts per second, thus reducing chances of contamination of surfaces prepared in vacuum (useful in clean-surface studies).

For any vacuum process a limiting parameter for the maximum permissible pressure can be defined. It can be the number of molecules per unit volume (reasons 1 and 2), the mean free path (reason 3), or the time required to form a monolayer (reason 4).

At room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure, 1 cubic foot (0.03 cubic m) of air contains approximately 7 × 10²³ molecules moving in random directions and at speeds of around 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 kilometres per hour). The momentum exchange imparted to the walls is equal to a force of 14.7 pounds for every square inch of wall area. This atmospheric pressure can be expressed in a number of units, but until relatively recently it was commonly expressed in terms of the weight of a column of mercury of unit cross section and 760 mm high. Thus, one standard atmosphere equals 760 mm Hg, but to avoid the anomaly of equating apparently different units, a term, torr, has been postulated; one standard atmosphere = 760 torr (1 torr = 1 mm Hg). This term was replaced in 1971 by an SI unit defined as the newton per square metre (N/m²) and called the pascal (one pascal = 7.5 × 10^-3 torr).

The first major use of vacuum technology in industry occurred about 1900 in the manufacture of electric light bulbs. Other devices requiring a vacuum for their operation followed, such as the various types of electron tube. Furthermore, it was discovered that certain processes carried out in a vacuum achieved either superior results or ends actually unattainable under normal atmospheric conditions. Such developments included the “blooming” of lens surfaces to increase the light transmission, the preparation of blood plasma for blood banks, and the production of reactive metals such as titanium. The advent of nuclear energy in the 1950s provided impetus for the development of vacuum equipment on a large scale. Increasing applications for vacuum processes were steadily discovered, as in space simulation and microelectronics.

Various kinds of devices have been developed for producing, maintaining, and measuring a vacuum. Several of the more significant types are described below.

Oil-sealed rotary pump

Capacities >are available from 1/2 to 1,000 cubic feet per minute, operating from atmospheric pressure down to as low as 2 × 10^-2 torr for single-stage pumps and less than 5 × 10^-3 torr for two-stage pumps. The pumps develop their full speed from atmosphere to about one torr, the speed then decreasing to zero at their ultimate pressures. One device of this type, useful for pumping both liquids and gases, is a two-bladed pump in which the rotor is eccentric to the stator, so forming a crescent-shaped volume that is swept by the blades through the outlet valve. Another variety, a rotary piston pump, is similar to a single-bladed pump, but the single blade is part of the sleeve fitting around the rotor. The blade is hollow and acts as an inlet valve, closing off the pump from the system when the rotor is at top centre.

Ultimate pressures attainable are limited by leakage between the high- and low-pressure sides of the pump (due mainly to carryover of gases and vapours dissolved in the sealing oil that flash off when exposed to the low inlet pressure) and decomposition of the oil exposed to hot spots generated by friction.

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Typical applications of this pump are in food packaging, high-speed centrifuges, and ultraviolet spectrometers. It is also widely used as a forepump or a roughing pump, or both, for most of the other pumps described.

Mechanical booster

Capacities are available from 100 to 70,000 cu ft per minute, operating usually in the pressure range of 10 to 10^-3 torr. The peak speed of the pump is developed in the pressure range of 1 to 10^-2 torr, the speed at the lower end of the pressure range depending on the type of forepump used. A typical mechanical booster utilizes two figure-eight-shaped impellers, synchronized by external gears, rotating in opposite directions inside a stator. The gas is trapped between the impellers and the stator wall and transferred from the high vacuum to the fore vacuum side of the pump. The mechanical booster must be backed by another pump in series when working in its normal pressure range. The most frequently used type of forepump is the oil-sealed rotary pump. Typically, the mechanical booster is employed for pumping vacuum-melting furnaces, in an impregnation plant for electrical equipment, and in low-density wind tunnels.