Australian vacuum services engineers for all types of pump

A rotary vane vacuum pump is a positive-displacement pump that consists of vanes mounted to a rotor that rotates inside a cavity. In some cases these vanes can have variable length and/or be tensioned to maintain contact with the walls as the pump rotates. Typically these pumps are oil sealed for high vacuum applications and can have one or two stages for increased vacuum. There are dry running versions with carbon vanes for lower vacuum applications such as pick and place machinery or carpentry work beds.

A turbomolecular pump is a type of vacuum pump, superficially similar to a turbopump, used to obtain and maintain high vacuum. These pumps work on the principle that gas molecules can be given momentum in a desired direction by repeated collision with a moving solid surface.  Turbo vacuum pumps are now the most popular choice in high vacuum systems.

Turbo pumps have evolved massively in recent years with development on blade angles for lighter gases such as helium and hydrogen in extreme UHV applications. There are compound units which have a large base fan to allow for lower backing pressures on dry compact applications such as helium leak detection. 

Balzers group released the early quality turbo pumps in the 1960s Pfeiffer Edwards and Leybold all followed making quality pumps. the extremes of engineering moving at around 600000 RPM. ceramic and high speed bearings used, and non contact magnetically levitating pumps now operational on harsh processes such as semiconductor.

A cryopump or a "cryogenic pump" is a vacuum pump that traps gases and vapours by condensing them on a cold surface, but are only effective on some gases. The effectiveness depends on the freezing and boiling points of the gas relative to the cryopump's temperature. 

A Cryo pump is deemed to be a molecular pump, similar to a turbo pump it requires a fore pump (backing pump) to remove the main gas volume before the cryopump can be used effectively. The usual backing pressure is ~0.05 mBar. The pumps can attain a pressure of around 1e-8 mBar. Cryo pumps have great water vapour pumping speeds, this makes them ideal for fast process applications and aluminium chambers.

The scroll vacuum pump became popular in the 1980s when it was being used as a load lock pump on semiconductor fabrication sites, the scroll unit is dry running so it has no oil or sealant, this is ideal on critical vacuum as there is no back streaming in to the pumping lines meaning a deeper and cleaner vacuum. Typical ultimate pressures of around .001 mBar, pump is suited to laboratory and industrial applications. The pumps do have a PTFE tip seal which requires a regular change for effective pumping. Dry pumps are also used in applications where pure oxygen gas is pumped.

A scroll compressor (also called spiral compressor, scroll pump and scroll vacuum pump) is a device for compressing air or refrigerant. It is used in air conditioning equipment, as an automobile supercharger (where it is known as a scroll-type supercharger) and as a vacuum pump. Many residential central heat pump and air conditioning systems and a few automotive air conditioning systems employ a scroll compressor instead of the more traditional rotary, reciprocating, and wobble-plate compressors.

At Australian Vacuum Services we can supply all makes and models of popular units such as Edwards, Anest Iwata, Pfeiffer, Varian / Agilent and many more, we provide spares support and rebuild services for these pumps.

An ion pump (also referred to as a sputter ion pump) is a type of vacuum pump which operates by sputtering a metal getter. Under ideal conditions, ion pumps are capable of reaching pressures as low as 1e−11 mBar as with usual molecular pumps a fore pump is required. Ion pumps are typically used on UHV “ultra-high vacuum” systems such as high energy beam lines and Synchrotron. 

The pump functions by creating a high energy field between an anode and two cathode plates, the resulting energy excites the Ions and the bash (move) the atoms on to the cathode plate surface trapping the molecules. Popular manufacturers of these pumps would include Gamma vacuum and Agilent. Ion pumps do eventually under long term use cathode plates become saturated and require replacement.

A titanium sublimation pump (TSP) is a type of vacuum pump used to remove residual gas in ultra high vacuum systems, maintaining the vacuum. They are typically used in conjunction with Ion pumps at the throat of the pump. The titanium heat element quite literally sputters remaining atoms in to the wall of its pumping port. Used primarily on Beam lines, synchrotrons and high energy physics research applications also including surface science.

The definition of a dry vacuum pump is a pump that does not use any fluids to create a vacuum or contact the process gas and can also discharge to atmosphere. Timing gears with oil reservoirs and close clearances between the rotors and housing are additional attributes that make up a dry vacuum pump. Typical dry pumps would include dry vane pumps, diaphragm pumps, WOBL piston pumps, some types of roots blower, lobe pumps and screw pumps.

Diffusion pumps use a high speed jet of vapor to direct gas molecules in the pump throat down into the bottom of the pump and out the exhaust. They were the first type of high vacuum pumps operating in the regime of free molecular flow, where the movement of the gas molecules can be better understood as diffusion than by conventional fluid dynamics. Invented in 1915 by Wolfgang Gaede, he named it a diffusion pump since his design was based on the finding that gas cannot diffuse against the vapor stream, but will be carried with it to the exhaust. However, the principle of operation might be more precisely described as gas-jet pump, since diffusion plays a role also in other high vacuum pumps. In modern textbooks, the diffusion pump is categorized as a momentum transfer pump.

The main manufacturers of Diffusion pumps would include Edwards Leybold Varian and CVC. The Edwards Diffusion pumps having held the best pump speeds for a number of years. The Diffusion pump is still used widely in industrial applications where large gas loads can be found, such as vacuum furnaces , large web area roll to roll coaters. The pumps usually run on a high grade silicon oil or even santovac. Poor oil quality will reduce pumping speeds and result in oxidisation build up within the pump. We can provide help and advice on all types of Diff pump, including heater elements oil and seals.

A molecular drag pump is a type of vacuum pump that utilizes the drag of air molecules against a rotating surface. The most common sub-type is the Holweck pump, which contains a rotating cylinder with spiral grooves which direct the gas from the high vacuum side of the pump to the low vacuum side of the pump. The older Gaede pump design is similar, but is much less common due to disadvantages in pumping speed. In general, molecular drag pumps are more efficient for heavy gasses, so the lighter gasses (hydrogen, deuterium, helium) will make up the majority of the residual gasses left after running a molecular drag pump. The turbomolecular pump, invented in the 1950s, is a more advanced version based on similar operation, and a Holweck pump is often used as the backing pump for it. The Holweck pump can produce a vacuum as low as 1e−8 mmHg (1.3e−6 Pa)

Rootes AKA roots pumps are a twin rotating lobe pump typically like what you may see used as a supercharger on motor car. they are also known as a blower pump. These pumps are what is more commonly known as a gas mover, they run at high speeds and are designed to move large gas loads. A typical application would be a transformer potting or an oil refinery application where large gas loads are being evaporated, they are used generally in conjunction with a backing pump and a diffusion pump. Main manufacturers of such blowers would be Edwards, Leybold, Pfeiffer, Busch, Rietschle, Pedro-Gil and others.