VACUUM SCIENCE BLOG

In December 19, 2019 we mentioned that dry screw pumps in food industry application are more often replacing wet pumps. We found a useful link about dry vacuum pumps in food packaging. Please follow https://blog.leybold.com/disrupting-food-packaging. In this blog, Jim Hupp, an experienced technician working in the Midwest USA explains the advantage of dry pumps compared to other pump types in this industry.

Given the situation with COVID-19, many questions are being asked about how vacuum technology (specifically mass spectrometers) can help with health diagnostics and research.

With this in mind, in this short blog we’ll explore how mass spectrometers can be used in the medical field to tackle pandemics like COVID-19.

Oil diffusion pumps have been the workhorse in high-vacuum pumping for many decades and remain the standard for industrial applications like brazing/soldering, E-Beam welding and large-area coating. Their investment costs are relatively low, and they can provide pumping speeds of up to 50.000 l/s. In this blog, we will explain the working principles of oil diffusion pumps, including how to apply and control them in vacuum systems, the typical dos and don'ts, and provide several application examples.

The evacuation of a vacuum chamber to a given target pressure is a common application for vacuum pumps – but as our article on Vacuum Simulation Calculation points out, the calculation of vacuum applications is a challenging task. 

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCSUSA) about 2,200 active satellites orbit our planet and an additional 100 are launched every year. Most of these satellites are used for telecommunication and, with GPS projects like the European GALILEO and the SPACE-X Starlink (which intends to bring internet connection to every spot on earth) on the horizon, their number will continue to grow.

Secondary pumps require a primary pump to initially ‘prime’ them for operation and/or to support their continuous operation. There are several factors which need to be considered for the correct combination or ‘matching’ of primary and secondary pumps to ensure safe and optimized performance.

Writing any text book is an enormous effort and undertaking but one on the subject of Vacuum Science and Technology has unique challenges. These include the enormous breadth of the world of vacuum; its dynamic range and associated principles within this, a continually evolving range of applications and their impact on the requirements for future generations of vacuum equipment and systems.

The Annual Symposium of the American Vacuum Society is the world’s main yearly vacuum conference held in Columbus, Ohio from the 20th to 25th October 2019.

There were 27 parallel sessions in a wide range of topics and over 2500 registrants.

Cryopumps offer several advantages compared to other high-vacuum pumps. For instance, their pumping speed for water vapour is up to 4x higher than any other vacuum pump with the same inlet diameter. Furthermore, unlike gas transfer pumps, i.e. turbomolecular pumps or oil diffusion pumps, cryopumps condense all the gasses within them. The goal of this blog is to explain to you how they operate and where their capabilities are beneficial to the vacuum process. 

According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, at least one-third of food is lost or wasted between harvest and household. In North-America and Europe, this means more than 100 kg of food lost per capita – summing up to 1.3 billion tons annually worldwide! A reduction to this huge mass of food produced in vain would contribute greatly to reducing the greenhouse effect.