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Turbo Pumps Julia Bobak Nanofab Workshop February 11, 2014.

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Presentation on theme: "Turbo Pumps Julia Bobak Nanofab Workshop February 11, 2014."— Presentation transcript:

1 Turbo Pumps Julia Bobak Nanofab Workshop February 11, 2014

2 Outline Turbo and turbomolecular pumps Vacuum pump comparisons History Design Operational considerations Applications

3 A quick definition to start Turbo vs. turbomolecular pumps Turbomolecular pump: high vacuum pump Turbo pump: propellant pump The space shuttle’s main turbo pump delivers 150 lb of liquid hydrogen and 896 lb of liquid oxygen to the engine per second.

4 Pump comparison To achieve ultra high vacuum, we usually rely on a series of three pumps: Rotary pump ( ~ Torr) Invented by Charles C. Barnes of New Brunswick! Turbopump (~ – Torr) Ion pump (~ – Torr)

5 History First developed and patented at Pfeiffer Vacuum by Dr. W. Becker. Became commercially available in Before that, there were molecular drag pumps, which had a tendency to mechanical seizure.

6 Design Bearings: can be oil lubricated or, more often now, magnetically levitated.

7 Operation The rotor blades spin around at up to 90,000 rpm When then hit gas molecules in the chamber they impart momentum The angles of the rotor and stator blades drives the gas molecules towards the exhaust Rotor Stator Outlet Inlet Net gas flow

8 Operating criteria At atmospheric pressure, the behaviour of gases is described as “viscous flow”. The gas molecules move in bulk and interact more with each other than with the walls of the container. Most turbopumps will not work in this case because the momentum imparted by the rotors is insignificant compared with intermolecular interactions. A roughing pump is used to get the pressure down to ~10 -3 Torr In this regime, gas molecules behave approximately independently. This is described as “molecular flow”. Now the turbopump can impart momentum on each molecule individually.

9 Limiting factors A turbopump alone is insufficient to achieve ultra high vacuum At a certain point the pressure will cease dropping due to… 1. Desorption of materials from seals and bearings, which increases at lower pressures. 2. Leaks through the seals, which are also enhanced at low pressure. 3. Reaching maximum compression ratio. K = P outlet /P intake K max = {exp[(v B M 1/2 )/(2k B N A T)1/2]f (Φ) } n v B = velocity of the blades M = molar mass of the gas T = temperature f (Φ) = function of blade angle n = number of blades

10 Pumping speed vs. pressure Different gases pump down at different rates Compression ratio varies exponentially with molecular weight of gases

11 Applications Focused ion beam system Scanning electron microscope Space simulators Thin film deposition Synchrotrons

12 Questions References: 1.T.A. Delchar. Vacuum Physics and Techniques, (Chapman & Hall, 1993). 2.Pfeiffer Vaccum. Working with Turbopumps: Introduction to high and ultra high vacuum production. 3.Weissler, G.L. & Carlson, W.R., eds. Vacuum Physics and Technology, (Academic Press, 1908).

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